Played a few games so far and it is a blast.
As has been mentioned the people I have played with (PUGs the lot so far) have been a pretty cool bunch and having fun and not freaking out (I was also exclusively on newb-friendly servers so perhaps they are more forgiving).
I tend to die a LOT more than I kill anything. Even fucking Skulks seems to own me (even when I see them coming but then I have never been good with my FPS twitch response). That said I seem to be a magnet for the enemy which allows the other people to kill stuff so perhaps I am of some use if even only as a distraction for the enemy (when I had a flame thrower equipped magnet barely covers it…no matter what the enemy bee-lined it for me, ALL of them and repeatedly, when they saw I had a flame thrower).
Commander is definitely a critical role. I have played some games with a shit commander and the results were easy to see (we got demolished). A good commander is crucial. It is not an afterthought pasted on to the game.
I love the “old style” system to find games. Have not seen that in a long time and have missed it.
Game looks great but definitely pushes the limits of my system. With everything maxed (except triple-buffering for v-sync) I am getting 90+ FPS but the fans on my video card ramp up considerably. This is the only game I have (so far) which for some reason seems to tax the video card this hard as judged by my cooling system ramping up to keep things cool (it is a very good video card too).
Anyway, having a ball and will toss in a recommendation for others to get it.