I heard that it's not as persistant as some of the other MMORPGs. As in, you conquer territory, etc. But every so often, ownership gets wiped and you start all over, or something like that. So, no one guild/group can own it all indefinately.
I was under the impression that it was the way it was going to be. Characters are not wiped, only territorial claims. It would be like eliminating all soverienty claims in Eve every 6 months or something.