OK, playing it for 4 days in Early Access.
Some impressions.
Basically it's WoT improved. And when I say improved it's improved in all areas, from graphics/sounds to game mechanics.
All what is bad in WoT in AW is patched.
RNG. More subtle, around +-10%.
Gold-ammo. Doesn't exist. You have some improved ammo but is researchable and it cost slight more than standard ammo (WT style). Beside that it only have some marginal improved penetration and damage.
Matchmaker. Everybody (almost) is playing tier 2-3 so MM is fine. Obsidian promise us something about +-1 Tier and also skilled MM. Not sure yet if it's implemented or not but for now it's fine from what I see.
Arty. Capped to 3/team. It has decent reload/aiming/accuracy but low alpha, low splash HP damage (but it can take some modules though). Beside that tanks are warned when they're targeted by arty and also arty players can see enemy arty players after shoot so it's somehow easy to hunt enemy arty with your arty.
In picture above you can see my damage to enemy tanks. Any shot above 250 HP is from multiple hits on same target. otherwise the damage is in 200 HP area for a direct hit and way less for a splash.
Grind. You have WT style of grind. You're not forced to research modules for current tank to unlock the next one. Every battle gives you different XP: one for research next tank and one for current tank modules. Those are separate so basically you can play a tank stock (and stock tanks are not so bad like in WoT) until you unlock next tank. You also have some free XP.
Battle results. Again WT style. You did nothing you receive (almost) nothing. You did well you'll receive enough even for a loss. Victory bonus is 25%.
You can see from the picture above that the guy from losing team with 0 damage have same XP like the guy from my team with 0 damage.
But not everything is bright. They have some problems with mouse sensitivity in sniper mode, I still don't understand how camo/spotting works (I was obliterated in my MBT by invisible tanks for example), when I'm hit (multiple hits especially) I don't have a nice feedback about this (or maybe I must get used to it because is not the same as in WoT).
Also some tanks looks OP and ones UP but this is a balance issues and not so important in this stage.
Bottom line: as an ex-hardcore WoT player (46k battles) and ex-WT player (13k RB battles) I can safely say that AW has a very nice start. And the better part is still to come (graphic optimizations, PvE, new tanks, customization, and so on).