AS OF: July 18th, 2016
It's been almost a year since I've originally written this review and since then the game has been improved greatly. There are still issues that exist in the game that have yet to be fixed, but overall it can be a more satisfying experience than before. Before I really go into the review, I must admit I had a lot of fun playing this game. It's very unique and I've yet to see another MMO come close to the smooth combat system that Vindictus has. The game, much like any other popular MMO's, is a drug and you have this tendency to keep playing (which still happens to me sadly). However, with that said, the other aspects of this game are atrocious. The easiest way to get into things would be a pro-neutral-con chart. Please keep in mind that this is a very tentative no. I love to play this game, but I hate the sh*t I have to go through to accomplish anything.

Pro

• Unique combat gameplay that requires timing and skill to deal the most damage (Dark Souls-esque but at 2x speed)
  
• Mechanics of the game work relatively well (Skill paths, different attacks, special attacks)
  
• Unique set of characters, each with their own play style and difficulty
  
• Full man parties against huge raid bosses are incredibly satisfying, and many of the bosses are unique and have interesting catches to them
  
• Wide variety of bosses, missions, etc.
  
• As of recent update, easier to get "rare" drops from bosses to craft higher level items (seal shop, higher drops)
  
• Interesting story that fits in with the Mabinogi series
  
• A multitude of content (from items, to enemies, to missions)
  
• 3 Different Seasons that are fleshed out (3rd currently being worked on)
  
• Customizing characers via in-game armor, inner armor, hair, makeup, outfits, costume armors, etc.
  
• The look of armors (all kinds and outfitters) and characters are both incredibly sexy and amazing
  
• Plenty of special events that occur often
  
• Level cap currently at 90
  
• The game still recieves content updates, even after so long (although it does take a while) and seems that it will continue growing
  
• Due to events popping up so often with notable rewards, it is now easier to get the overpriced scrolls and getting to a high enhancement level
  
• The PR team does really well with both advertising the game and interacting with the community, especially when devs play in the servers and the community manager streaming on Twitch (plus the dude danced like Delia infront of a lot of people, he's funny)

Neutral

• It's been a while that I've run into customer support since they've left a bad taste in my mouth over the years of terrible service. However, I've been hearing that the support has been improving as of late
  
• As trivial as the minor enemies are compared to the bosses, Season 3 seems to have somewhat fixed this due to the extreme difficulty of both the boss and the enemies
  
• Delia was just released, and is pretty fun
  
• The population of the game tends to be a bit sporadic, when good events are active or new content is relased (like areas or characters) then more people come on. When there's not much going on, the population seems to decrease for a bit until more interesting stuff is introduced
  
• People have tended to be more lenient on the damage requirements for raids. Although still a con, there are players out there that are willing to carry lower damage characters (normally within a 2k damage difference of the requirement: S2 = 18k)
  
• Sometimes it can be hard to find parties for raids. I've been having issues lately with S2 raids having no boats ready to leave, yet S1 and S3 have plenty
  
• Although the game is fairly linear (seen in Cons), Season 2 is somewhat open world in the definition that Monster Hunter is in their combat worlds
  
• Some of the outfitters kind of look out of place like the Urban Angel (which is casual modern clothes) or the Flamenco Dress (self-explanetory) considering the game is set in a fantasy world that primarly uses swords, magic, and arrows
  
• Many of the non-raid bosses are a joke and don't have much to them. It's not until much later in the game where the variety kicks in
  
• Dismantling materials for element stones can now be combined for higher tier varients of themselves, which is nice

Con

• Everything in this game is either time or farm based (raids once a day, AP generation, expertise, path transformations)
  
• The economy of the game can be inflated at times (to incredible amounts)
  
• The characters/classes you want to choose are gender-locked
  
• The NX store (real money store) has a lot of overpriced items, and you can easily spend $50 without really realizing it. Just to customize yourself with an outfitter can cost up to $40 for the limited edition version (higher stats) or $20 for the regular version
  
• Although skill plays a role, wallet warriors can still have the upper-hand
  
• Enhancing weapons, armor, etc. requires a lot of in-game gold, materials, and the looming chance that you will blow up your weapon. The whole Enhancing scheme is soley revolved around RNG (that can be avoided up to +10 by buying in-game runes to prevent leveling down items or having them be destroyed)
  
• Enchanting items (Rank 7-9) also has the chance of blowing up your weapon, which also can be avoided by buying runes. High level scrolls in the current economy are also ridiculously priced, so you're honestly better off buying a rune to not only save the Enchant Scroll, but to save your weapon
  
• Most later game raids require extremely high damage which can be hard to obtain. This leads to a "stagnant" period where you have enough damage to do early raids to have some progress, but still not enough to satisfy later game raids (Season 2 raids --> 18k attack)
  
• The game itself is poorly optimized (if hosting, your FPS will go down to 30, regardless of your PC specs. Capped at 60)
  
• Once you reach level 60, the grind for XP, Gold, AP, weapons, armor, etc. becomes excruciating
  
• Unlike most other MMOs, Vindictus is very linear and involves small time combat then to a boss which tends to be filled with trivial enemies and a difficult boss
  
• Materials to craft high level items either require loads of in-game gold or a lot of farming *cough* iron ore *cough*

Vindictus overall isn't necessarily a bad game by any definition. What makes the game great is the awesome combat system combined with doing full party raids to take down these heavy hitting bosses. The problem isn't that, it's everything else surrounding the combat system. The game is very poorly optimized, and strictly relies on Peer to Peer connections; this in combination with a heavily timing based combat system is a recipe for disaster. Not only this, but at higher levels, raids (at least most raid parties) require a minimum damage requirement, which ends up being an obsurd number that is difficult to reach without heavy amounts of grinding. The game isn't necessarily a "wallet warrior" type of Free to Play, and is definitely playable without the use of your money; the game just makes it harder to do so, especially with the current enhancing system in place. And don't even get started on expertise, as I've spent countless hours farming pre-pre-requisite materials to spend countless hours crafting pre-requisite materials to finally craft all that into materials I need to craft armor pieces, and it only yields a few armor pieces and a few points to level up my expertise. If I have to idle craft stuff in any game, that normally isn't a good sign.

TL;DR
The game is good; some of the stuff inside, not so much. If you feel inclined to play; I'd recommend that you reach level 60 and really decide if you want to continue playing, as the daily raids are available to you at that level.