I'll get in to more detail soon. It was just an initial impressions write up. 

I'm going to start adding videos to the website, so I might. Although, WoM isn't in any state to be trying a playthrough!

I picked this up yesterday on steam, and....This is IT, the game I have been waiting for all of these years, it's really fantastic.

Early beta, crash's, all the usual, but what a game, and what a game it promises to be.  I get that immersed in it I forget what day it is.

I am so happy I feel like going out flower picking.  

I bought the Early Access too. It may succeed at becoming everything I wanted Elemental to be (and tried to steer towards, from my humble position - sometimes with somewhat harsh remarks, I will admit).

Yes, it has the potential to be, in all but name, Master of Magic 2. It's still early of course and many, many things can go wrong yet.

Races are diverse and have impactful characteristics. Draconians fly! Need I say more? Well, more generally the game isn't afraid to have "true" fantasy effects: Flying, Levitation, Invisibility, you name it. A lot of things are just MoM analogous, but when they aren't, it's because they are "more and bigger"! The spell system fits this category, from what I've seen so far.

Spells finally are under the spotlight, yes, LOTS of spells are in and lots more are planned. Magic is based on a cool, interconnected circle system. Really, really cool.  There are combined requirements for several spells (you have to have access to different schools to cast them), but the highest tier ones are always school specific so you have to master the one required school to cast them. Instead of two planes (MoM had Myrran, remember?) there are several, which will enable wildly different game dynamics (they are Prime, Paradise, Shadow and the four Elemental planes).

All in all, it feels a lot like MoM.   Also, CRAFTING. 

(/post)

Well, it really looks like it can be the Real Deal, imho. Keeping my fingers crossed! The thing I'm most worried about ATM is performance. Here, they could honestly take a page from Elemental and the whole multi-thread "pioneer" logic (I've even said so in their forums).

P.S.:

I hope I don't sound too negative towards Elemental, which in its LH iteration I've come to appreciate (both in its own right, and for the effort it required on Stardock's part). It just that it started from something that was so far away from MoM, that it never could hope to provide a similar experience.

I haven't played it, but I've watched both Das' and Tokshen's Let's Play for it.  It's definitely early still, but reading the wiki for it, I'll say it does the following right:

1. It keeps the important parts of MoM.  These sound like small game mechanics things, but they're the magic of MoM for me:
1. Choosing how to partition your mana budget between researching new spells, storing mana to cast/maintain current spells and summons, and increasing your casting ability.  This is one of the best game systems around, as far as I'm concerned, but one which none of the fantasy 4X games since have bothered to replicate for some reason.  It makes my wizard feel like a conduit for all the power flowing into him.  And it makes me constantly thirst for more mana income.  I need to fuel my wizard!
2. The summoning circle.  I love the fact that summoned creatures appear where your summoning circle is, and you can research a spell to relocate your summoning circle.  Neat mechanic.
3. Not having your wizard on the battlefield.  The wizards are supposed to be beings of incredible power.  Having them on the battlefield forces them to be mundane units for balance reasons.  The only way to have them be properly special is to treat them differently than other units.  Wizards should be in their towers/capitals, exerting their influence over their forces and the world around them.  They are the beings of power who are channeling the mana from the land, summoning armies from other planes, and trying to shape the world to their will.  Don't belittle them by having them running around bonking people on the head with a mace.  That's beneath them.  Leave that for their champions and heroes.
4. Multiple planes of existence.  Enough said.
5. Massive unit diversity, particularly in summoned creatures.  This is a fantasy game, and having a small scope is a wasted opportunity.  Look to Dominions 4 for further inspiration.  I don't care about art assets, just swap colour palettes for all I care.
2. Things Worlds of Magic appears to improve on (again, it's still in early development and I've only watched videos):
1. Go big with endgame summoned units.  Again, this is a fantasy game, dream big or don't bother.  WoM has a long list of unique titans that can be summoned in the end game if you capture the right structures to do so.  Each of these is completely unique.  Again, look to Dominions 4 for inspiration.
2. More planes of existence (there'll be 8 in total), each with a unique character.  The Plane of Shadow favours the undead, the Plane of Air is a bunch of disconnected land masses floating among the clouds.

I'm still waiting for someone to do these things properly, and Worlds of Magic may be it.  Please be it...

Looks very,very  promising.  This is the number one game I'm keeping my eye on...

I can understand the concern, but I'll tell you this: please consider backing these guy by buying the Early Access. They could use the influx. I was wary myself, but then I realized that this is our one chance to get a true MoM successor, one that's faithful to in it in both spirit AND mechanics.

And I actually mean: our ONE chance in our lifespan. If this seems like hyperbole to you, consider that exactly 20 years have already passed since MoM. If this fails maybe someone else will try again sometime, but at the very least it won't be something as close to MoM as Worlds of Magic tries to be. And so far, they've been staying the course.

I am little bit surprised by all this enthusiasm. 

I have played 10h so far, and I am not that impressed. 

First of all, the early games drags so much .... Armies move so slow that it hurts. It takes also lots of turns before you have an army that can survive on its own and actually attack some ruins (unless you play as summoner). Big tactical maps are all good, but in the beginning all the battles take forever to fight - it gives also huge advantage to range units. Auto-resolve is similar to one of FE, it does not really simulate the actual battle but somehow just compare overall strength of army. Very quickly you discover that some impossible battles can be win by auto-resolve with no casualties ... Especially against range or magic casting units. 

Thus, the epic battles are better to auto-resolve, and the boring ones better to play manually .... 

Spells are many, but ... If you want to play pure damage - dealer it probably takes hundred of turns again before it is possible. Early spells are very, very expensive and do little damage. And you need your mana for research and spell power. That means again less things to do in the early game. 

I think all this issues can be tuned and balanced, but so far, also bc of many game-breaking bugs, I am not overly excited. 

Yea, I am pro-4x games so I pre-order anything that looks promising ...

Even if the games turns out blatant, but it sells on early access, it encourages other companies to try. 

There is a patch that just went through - 5.5 mb.

@ditoLoco:

I hear you, but those issues are addressed via a simple tuning of parameters. For example, the devs acknowledged that spells need to do more damage. As it has been said, the real balancing will come after the full features are in.

Even Elemental had lots of balancing issues, and they all have been addressed (more or less) now. The issues that remain (for me) have more to do with the underlying design philosophy. Whereas the design philosophy of Worlds of Magic seems already perfectly sound (to me, and for my tastes): that's why I'm optimistic about the end result and I'm willing to support the game as much as possible.

I think the battle grounds are to receive much more love in the future, but what you might be missing is that it's all about magic.  Stacks take a back seat.  

Ha, funny Wolfy.  I feel the exact opposite.  I wouldn't even call EL a game, it's more a art exhibition.  I lost my money on that one.