Also, I'm not saying you shouldn't watch this. Actually, you HAVE to watch this so that you realize why I was so disappointed. Plus, if you watch it you will be able to partecipate in the endless flame war between SAO fanboys and SAO haters.
First of all, I absolutely hated how the main character and his group never really face any real crisis - Kirito basically never loses and there really aren't moments where you feel sad for the characters, as they always end up winning pretty quickly and predictably.
Another issue I've had with this anime is that the narration is horrible. The first half of the anime skips over a ton of characters that only appear a few times and end up forgotten. Moreover, the relationship between Asuna and Kirito starts off way too fast, not giving the viewer the time to start emphatizing with the characters, so the romance is horrible and not moving at all.
On the other hand, the second half of the anime was actually decent and the narration was okay as well, but that's not enough to make up for all of the initial mistakes.
If all of that isn't enough of a dealbreaker, there is no character development at all: the characters are the exact same as they were in the first episode. No weak characters has gotten stronger, noone's personality changed, nothing. It's as if the show was designed to go on forever with the same characters joining different MMORPGs every new season.
The lack of real crisis and proper romance ultimately annhilates any enjoyment I could've gotten out of this series. I'll still give it a 6/10 because the initial idea was good and the chara design is good.
