[*]Shields and defense are great. Between the abilities and the huge life and armor boost, it can stand up to a dual wielder without much trouble. A well timed deflect or immortality can, and has for me, changed the outcome of a fight many times. And that leads us to the 2nd thing......
[*]Rejuvenate is over powered. You end up healing something around 2k+ health. This is an ultimate ability, mind you, but filling up to ultimate isn't that hard when using shield abilities (or really any abilities mind you, but I digress). This will likely get nerfed.
[*]The combat triangle is a lot more balanced in beta than it is now. While it is still possible to own a melee-er while you range, you'll find yourself losing a lot more than you win. Unless you fight somebody lower leveled or your opponent is an idiot.
[*]IF I had to choose a combat style that got shafted, it'd be ranging. Rune crossbows can only shoot up to runite bolts and there is only one one-handed ranging ultimate, though that can be worked around by bringing an extra crossbow or a shortbow with you and switch before ultimate. 2 handed bows are also good with range, though the lack of a shield and it's abiliites can screw you over. Especially no rejuvenate. God I hate rejuvenate.
[*]Defenders suck. Moving on.
[*]Maging cost a lot less runes. All the spells from the regular book only cost element spells, so you can cast air surge with just an air staff. Bloods and deaths are used in the ancient book.
[*]The dps between 2h's and dual wielding is more or less the same. That being said, 2h's don't suck as much as I thought they would. I still prefer the dw abilities, but 2h's are pretty cool too.
[*]Having off-hand versions of pretty much every weapon in Rs is stupid. I don't think having one version costing more than the other is a problem, but there is just no reason for it. Idk, I just don't like it.
[*]A lot of weapons and items have been made obsolete. First of all, the dungeon prayers augury and rigour, which were basically piety for mages and rangers respectively, have been given to all players once they hit 70 pray, with everybody getting there tokens refunded. Things like restore spec potion, that special bar ring from dungeoneering, and that special bar aura have to be reworked to fit the adrenaline bar. And the worse of all, weapons that were coveted for their special are more or less shit now. having a claw for a hand isn't really cool. And getting Korasi is useless if you can't do it's special and it's stats are now slower and weaker than a whip.
[*]Skill can be a key factor in a fight. I've beaten people into the 200's, and I'm sad to say I've been beat by people as low as 170, in fights. This is usually due to combat triangle situations, but I've beaten higher leveled meleers with melee and range before. Basically, the combat level system doesn't suck completely.
[/list]Just my immediate thoughts on the EoC. Feel free to discuss, offer your own realizations, or just call me an idiot with a logical reason as to why.