I haven't had a chance to run the adventure so I can't attest to the playability.
The art and appendices are amazing additions to an AL adventure and amazing in their own right! I wish there was a printer friendly version though because of the addition of the art work.
In typical Season 8 fashion, the AL module style has changed drastically. While it seems to be well laid out, some of the changes don't seem necessary for the legacy and standards that have been set from previous adventures. The addition of the "Playing the Pillars" is a nice addition for helping DMs remind the players of the 3 core pillars of D&D gameplay.
I'm a huge proponent for box text as it really helps lay out a scene to players and the DM, and I think the lack of any box text really hurts this adventure. Waterdeep is a massive and fantastical city that while very fleshed out from previous editions, games, etc. players and DMs who are new to the world and just diving into Adventurer's League would be offput by the lack of the beautiful descriptions weaved into box text. I like to think Adventurer's League is for those new players, but the small changes like this can ostracize players and DMs who aren't as in the know. I also feel like the box texts are great educational tools for players and DMs alike in how to describe a scene and their characters.
As for the writing of the adventure itself, the adventure doesn't offer much in the way of an adventure hook and is a pretty weak one at that. Its simply that the party is given a map by the barkeep and told, "go follow this and tell me what you find, if you do that I'll offer you room and food." Assuming the party is out for gold and treasure, fine the party is offered a nice opportunity to follow 3 clues to reach the big reveal... nothing, you need to get DDAL08-03 for that. The adventure offers a lot of variety (probably reminded by the 3 Pillars of Play) in completing the goals and that is something I appreciate from an AL adventure, however it relies on the DM coming up with those ideas and doesn't allow for a DM to just pick up this adventure and run it.
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