To further answer your question a bit:
I have followed many dev teams through alpha. This is probably the most impressive development team I've seen in a long time. They know what needs to be done, and they're simply getting it done.
The game is definitely not for everyone. People love to cry about the broken combat, and their crops getting stolen then promptly rage quit. If you've played full loot games before, I wouldn't worry about it. If you haven't, you're in for a rude awakening. The first time you die and lose all your shit can be rather unsettling. The addition of guild claims makes this a LOT better.
The community is mixed. Most are really helpful, and friendly...until you kill them. Seriously killing people in this game brings out the inner demons. I've gotten yelled at, called names and even banned from servers for simply PvPing (didn't break any rules).
The crafting in this game is great, clearly so far it has been their focus. The combat is good if you know how to play the systems, but things like armor are completely useless and need to be rebalanced, big time.
The game needs work, but for an early release....well I've put in over 700 hours. It's really addictive, and really fun.
As for guilds to join: check out
www.nightswatch.ca. We're an established guild with great players, and top notch PvP players.