Have to say I'm impressed by what they've done with the new zones in regards to levelling new characters.
I think it was level 54 before I hit a wall where I was a level short for the next zone after doing all quests that weren't bugged. However I've hit 56ish and feel I've hit a wall where the quests all feel the the same again.
While I've not done any raids yet I'm hearing good things about them; Difficult and requires some thought unlike the wolk ones. Whether I finish levelling the new char and do any is a different question though.
Gobo mage that I've been levelling is not in any guild and it strikes me as difficult to join / find a worth-while guild. Unless you know someone already in them there's no real way to identify the good guilds let alone join them. All you see is a guild name on random ppl around the cities and it's not as if epics are rare anymore (ah for the good ole' days of being the only ppl with Might)...