I played EVE for about a year before I grew tired of using bootcamp on my Mac so I can understand some of your complaints. I would like to comment though...

1-The skill system is actually fairly good at leveling the playing field better than any other MMO. The reason being is that the skills are ranked 1 to 5 with each increased level granting a smaller increase. The analogy would be on a scale of 1 to 100 where 100 is the max performance the level 1 grants you 50%, 2 gives 75%, 3 gives 85%, 4 gives 93% and 5 gives 100%. It is pretty fast to level up many skills in the 3-4 range which puts you behind older players but not by leaps and bounds.

2-The game content is very repetitive but it serves as a means to end rather than the "main show".

3-The UI is downright crap. Not only is it not configurable things like the overview window can slow down the client from trying to track dozens of moving objects in real time.

4-This aspect of PvP has grown worse of the years. When I played most combat was still 1v1 mainly with small 3v3 types skirmishes at times.

5-The single game world is a big plus community wise but since the PvP and economy rewards large groups of players in small areas the server resources can't adapt quick enough. The lag around JITA was, and probably still is legendary. Also for a game that is primarily rendering "empty space" with some stations and ships the frame-rates were never very good.

WoW should serve as an example of how cutting edge graphics do not rule the MMO landscape the way they do in other games. It would be nice if other developers took note that WoW has initiated millions into the MMO market. Despite all their collective faults, actual or perceived, the WoW subscribers have more appreciation now regarding issues like PvP/PvE balance, bots, grouping, crafting, housing, etc. Old MMOs when in development found their forums flooded with questions about screenshots/movies. Now go look at the new Star Wars MMO in development and you have daily questions about will it be released with a native Mac client or how will it handle PvP/RvR or crafting vs looting gear. The consumers have gotten over the glitz factor being the number one selling point with MMOs and are now showing interest in gameplay aspects that before they didn't even have the vocabulary to discuss. Now we just need some developers to spend more time on the rules engine as they do on the graphics engine.