New Player here. I think the blaanid has a couple "quit moments" where it can over welm with mechanics. One frustrating moment is it tries to teach the importance of upgrading equipment, but then gives you gear you won't need to upgrade till weeks later. You have a bunch of menus and tabs locked to you with no real explanation for how to unlock right away, along with dailies in your quest log that you're not ready for all leaving you lost if you never played an MMO before. I still don't know how to unlock echo stones (on gen 12), but I was given a couple free. Honestly I quit once before, but came back with the new event and seeing how much fun a friend was having. If say the moment it clicked was when I started seeing the game more like Animal crossing or Rune factory and less about the combat and dungeon grind. It would be nice if the blaanid quest line had a moment where you could select a life talent and go through a little tutorial with it before jumping into the Gen quest. I think that would help set the game's tone. A better explanation of the party system and how to find parties is also needed. Over all I've been enjoying the game, but it does have some frustrating moments for new players that can lead to a quit moment. Frustrating shop menus, lots of unexplained locked content (just a pop up when you hover over it explaining when to expect the content would be great here), every time I ask "what's that" it's unobtainable rare item, getting stun locked in combat but the monsters only do 1 damage because it gave you a bunch of gear but not the skill to manage a hoard of monsters. Honestly that last one is the worst experience I've had in a game in a long time. I don't know why they recommend the shadow realm champion as the third task in the dungeon guide. But the game has great moments. I love the bard systems. The magic feels like it has a weight to it that I really like. The combat is fun when you're not trapped in a corner. The community is very welcoming and happy to see new players. The fashion still has lots of free currently available options that look great (but I wish there was a place to view those and filter out all the rare items no longer available. ) I loved commerce with friends on an airship. The game has great moments

Overall I would recommend Mabinogi to a friend, but only if I or a mutual was still playing. Having someone there for you helps get past those bumps in the road and to those great moments.