In NA it took most people around 3 weeks to hit lvl 50.
The reality is that 1.2 is a more extreme patch where as 2.0 is very easy to accomplish almost everything. That's really the big difference.
I prefer 1.2 myself but I'll play whatever as long as there are LOTS of people playing it
Yeah there will be "LOTS" of people (aka a few thousands) the first 2 months. After that is gonna go downhill, in the newer "3.0" they will gather 10% of the ppl that left. And thats it, till the game is shut down or Aion 2 for PC.