Started playing it back in late 2017-2018. Took a long break and started playing again in 2020. This game can be your new favorite game or the game you hate like the plague. So let's talk about pros and cons of this game and my thoughts after 1000+ hours.I will also give my thoughts on p2w aspect down below.

Pros
-This game is both a single player and a multiplayer game. Unlike other mmos you can play BDO alone or with a group of friends. I have seen people that are solo players and are doing end-game content. So if you are not that social and choose to play solo, you can def. do so and still have fun. Playing in a guild and with friends awards you with different buffs and easier understanding of the game (in case you are in a guild with some veteran players, which you should be in).
-The amounts of things you can do in this game is huge. Let's say that you love PvP, you can do that, if you love PvE you can do that too to an extent and they said they will add features like a dungeon in the future and so on, so the future of this game's PvE is bright. If you love profession and life skills, they are 100% viable and you can definitely only do these if you don't enjoy combat. There are so many things and completionist will definitely love this games, as there are so many things to do, you will find something anytime.
-Combat. I have to say that comparing BDO's combat to other mmos is simply not possible. This game's combat is so good and immersive. It's not like the classic mmos system where u choose a class, then level up and heal/tank/dps via an target system in a dungeon. Even the support class, shai can do massive PvE in endgame and the combat is noting like i ever saw. Overall the combat is great.
-Catch up mechanics and awards. If you are thinking of starting to play anytime soon, don't be afraid of the fact that there are players that have been playing for years. There are many catch up mechanics and awards that will bring you a little bit closer to the endgame.
-Classes. There are many classes in BDO and they will add more in the future. All the classes are designed fairly good, with some being amazing. You have a lot of choices.
-Community. The community is really cool in BDO. After starting playing again in 2020 i found a guild really easily and have bonded with them really fast. Veteran players from the guild always answered my questions regarding the game and of topics.
-Sense of progression. At first you progress really quick. You can level up to 61 in one day if you really want to. As you get closer to the endgame things start to get way harder and every single upgrade means something. It feels really good.
-Art and graphics. This game look beautiful. It's graphics are amazing and you can get some really good screenshot :).

Now i want to talk about some topics that can be either pros and cons. I will leave p2w at the end tho.
-AFK and semi-AFK systems. This can either be a pro or a con depending on you. There are many things in the game that can be used AFK or semi-AFK and most of them bring out a pretty substantial profit and perks. Just to give out some AFK activities: Fishing, Training horses, Combat and Skill points training, etc. As to semi-AFK: Cooking, Alchemy, Bartering etc. Most of these can be done actively too. If you have an old computer and a big electricity bill, this can be a con, but usually this aspect of the game is a pro for most.
-Dedication. Again it can be a pro or a con depending on you and your goals. You can play BDO for 2 hours a day and have fun and progress or you can play it for 12h a day and progress. If you choose to get to the endgame and you set really high goals, you will have to dedicate a lot of things to this game, including time. This one is up to you if it's a pro or a con.

Cons
-Fps and lag. BDO is known to have problems with latency, and having a bad interent connection yourself is definitely not helping. Also having an older computer might mean u need to lower your settings by a lot. Many classes and combos in this game depend on high fps and even people with good computers will generally lower the settings to low or very low for the sake of efficiency. You might need to lower the settings and miss on the amazing art style and graphics of this game in order to play it at a decent fps.
-Awards that make you feel like you have paid/played for nothing. Let me explain. Awards are given out really often. Especially for events. You could buy something from the pearl shop today, or grind for 50 hours, just so tomorrow with the next maintenance you get the same reward you have bought from the pearl shop or the value of the things you have from your grinds decreases.
-Enchanting. I won't even start on this. This system is awful and you can easily get mad and uninstall the game. Luckily this system is not that mandatory these days but it's still bad.

Now for the p2w and pearl shop. This can be either a pro or a con but i left it at the end because there is a lot to talk about here.
First, this game does not a have a subscription. It has a pearl shop where you can buy different things with real money. A lot of people had said this shop is p2w but i don't think so. You can't buy liquid silver from the shop but you can buy items that u can later sell on the market place. These items are in high demand and you can make the money to buy the end-game gear at least on sheet. You will need >200,000 probably to get the end-game gear, and there is a really really low amount of people that would have the money to pay for this, and even fewer that will pay for this, when you can get this gear in-game by playing. With that out of mind i don't consider the pearl shop p2w. I do consider it p2c.
Secondly. P2C means pay to convenience. This game has a lot of systems that are made so players that pay have it easier.
That doesn't mean that a free to play player can't get to the end-game, it just means it's much more convenience when it comes to player that pay money. Now, i get it that because they don't have a subscription they need to make money from a shop, but some of the things you get are so good it's really hard to abstain from buying them. As i said you can definitely play if you don't pay but it's a little bit less enjoyable.

With that in mind i want to conclude my already long review. So should you play this game? If you enjoy a good mmo and can put a little bit of time in it, even if you don't want to pay money, yes, play it. If you are that kind of person that can't manage his money and can't abstain itself it's probably better to not play this game as you will probably spend a lot of money on it. The future of this game looks bright and with Pearl Abyss taking over the game we might see less p2c and more good stuff, so overall i recomend this game to most people.