Note, this is not your typical asian MMO. You have a lot more freedom, you can do nearly anything. This is going into the sandbox direction. You can plant trees, make your own farm, have an own ship etc. etc. etc.
The possibilities in this game are nearly endless, you are nowhere bound to only combat, there is a million other things to do too. I doubt you will need a lot of farming to have fun or do anything of impact in the world. Though, to be honest, I can't say for sure. Archeage is too new to make promises yet. But for me, personally, it is a Lineage III how it should have been, before they screwed Lineage II up with all the horrible updates.
Definitely, especially this. I see a lot of people wanting a game like Lineage II. Where they can get the same level of nostalgia and fun. And I assure you, if anything, then for me it is ArcheAge.
Nothing final was announced yet. But I suspect it will be P2P just like Lineage is. Though the beta's that are currently running are free to play. IF you manage to get in, that is. But then again Betas are always free.