I haven't played before, so I can't comment on the state prior to open beta. However, even now there seems to be a tremendous lack of content. After the tutorial, there's just no guidance on what to do next. I presume it's mining resources to gain exp and upgrade your gear, but I have no idea what I should be working toward. In chat, some people also suggested (or that's the way I read it) that the effect of most of the upgrades has not yet been implemented. So upgrading gear may not even be of any use... and given that this is the only thing you can do in the game (that I have found), that's really weird.