Yes and no. There are some major differences, primarily improvements.
- Modern Tanks are significantly faster and differently armored/armed than WWII ones.
- You do not get one-shot-gibbed by Artillery (and it's reworked towards support)
- Crytek Engine is much better than BigWorld (game looks more uniform, runs faster).
- My.com has a chance to be a better publisher than Wargaming, and so far they are doing the right things. Hiring Obsidian to develop the game was a good move.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsidian_Entertainment
- There are Cooperative PvE Missions
- Armored Warfare competes on price - so far My.com has kept the Gold/Credit ratio at 1:1600 compared to WoT's abusive 1:400. This impacts the cost of unlocking and credit packs - which is highly abusive in WoT.
Wargaming has been keeping WoT on a skeleton crew, re-investing in multiple other projects instead of significant content and rapid re-works. ArmoredWarfare is likely to break this monopoly by re-working the same concept and removing the major annoyances.
Hmm, why bother with the 'giveaway', if it is going to be open beta anyway?
Do the early access guys get something different as a reward compared to the open beta?
Yes. You get to try out the game, a head start, and a low tier exclusive tank.