As I mentioned last night, I played over the last Beta Event which just happened to be over a weekend when I had some time to play. I got two characters up to 7th level and another to 15th. Yes, there are similarities between this game and others, but for me, what makes it interesting are the world events and local events (Rifts) that open up randomly all over. You have to always be aware of your surroundings. One minutes you may be safe in a city, the next you have high level group mobs all around and you better have some help with you.
I believe the dungeons start up around 20th level or so, but I do not recall.
The game has many interesting aspects in my opinion, and as you both have already stated - it is a beautiful game as well.
J