1. The tutorial was clear enough, for me at least. But... for people who have never played a classic MMO, the lack of a little handholding is definitely going to drop retention. That's why many MMORPGs start you in a random cellar or whatnot and tell you to kill rats and chop trees, so afterward you have an actual, understood goal to lean towards, rather than leaving them to fumble around for 10 minutes wondering what the point is - even if they figure it out, their mood is already soured. I'm going to assume this is the largest factor in low retention. For every person that complains about a tutorial there are 10 that need it and won't tell you (or sometimes even themselves).
2. I initiated as a mage, and the instruction to use 'space' to fire wasn't immediately clear. I attempted this to no result, though people who probably played longer than that 10 minutes might realize you need to craft another kind of wand/staff to have access to range.
3. The ability to access the service without making an account definitely would have raised my likelihood of trying the game, for one. But once I was there, I found it instantly offered skills to get into, and most importantly, no class-locking of equipment, something I love.
4. After 15-20 minutes? Honestly, my biggest complaint was that there wasn't a button to 'sell all' of an item in the shop. About an hour in, though, it's probably the lack of difficulty I'm exposed to - none of the enemies I encountered in the early game were really a threat, at all; I'm aware I didn't go particularly far (from Ravenenton to Elmmoor Keep), but I shouldn't need to travel across the continent to find something I need to be careful around. Hours later, exploring a good chunk of the continent, I have still yet to find anything that could remotely hurt me. And while it's not a bad MMORPG as it stands, I had not seen particularly much that makes it stand out and provide reason to play it over competitors.
And a side note: I did notice iron boots don't give anything over copper. I'm also annihilating quest bosses for quests I supposedly don't have the level to accept the quest for.