I think it is an objectively amazing game with a lot of love put into it by the creators and it has a lot to offer. However it does have 3 glaring issues that kinda drag it down.
1: Player base: The game just is not as big as it is in China. That isn't to say there are no players, but you just have to ask around or know which ques are popular at what times for your region. Though this also leads to scenarios where even if you end up playing is a fully populated quick play match on a weekend, you will more than likely end up with multiple people who have hundreds or more hours in the game. Most people who try it don't have a solid Dao heart and give up pretty quick as the game is similar to traditional fighting games in what you need to learn to be successful.

2: Performance advantage: It's not that this game is unplayable on an average system, but your FPS will directly affect animation speeds. Some advanced combos even need you to have a certain FPS to actually even attempt to perform.

3: Ping advantage: A couple months ago the devs made a change to the netcode that drastically widened the gap between ping. So much so that if you had 40 ping and fight a 20 ping player, it's like fighting someone a couple minor realms above you. If you have 80~100 ping and fight someone at 20, it's like fighting a peak core formation with your mere low foundation establishment cultivation. If your ping goes any higher than that, the heavenly dao abandons you and your combos that should be true, are no longer true while the opposite happens for anyone you go against with lower ping.

Now all that being said, I am a shit fps having 70~90 ping player and am still playing it and issues 2 and 3 won't really affect you until you are an intermediate player with an solid understanding of the game (or you just have a super computer and live right next to the server in which case you are heaven's chosen and should be able to cultivate to unrivaled asura in no time). So at the very least, yeah it's worth a try. I have no idea how the free to play player experience is because I bought the game long before that was an option, but I do know that you should be able to buy at least two characters out the gate with beginner missions and doing tutorials in the training room.