I love how connected this game is now. It's basically what I wanted WW's online to be.
It definitely isn't an MMO of course, but being able to send global messages to your online friends, and see who's online, and with how easy they've made opening your gate and checking who else's are open... it's so much more connected. Aside from that, there's stuff to actually do. The island is a big bonus to prod you to play with other people, and on top of the cash (expensive bugs)/item bonuses it offers, it actually has minigames. What a concept for the series. No more playing games of hide and seek or tag where basically you have to enforce the rules.
Selling stuff to other players is also much improved. Instead of leaving it at your Gyroid, you can actually display up to four items at the ReCycle shop. That goes a long way towards making things more attractive to buy. Plus any time something is bought the cash goes right to your savings.
I was highly skeptical of this game because City Folk burned me bad, and even Wild World left a kind of bland taste in my mouth (even though I poured hundreds of hours into it.) I basically saw the first screenshots with the elongated limbs and said "NOPE" (although, I'm still not entirely hot on them I suppose.) But playing online with two groups of people today (first with Himu and EmCee, then with someone on another forum), my experience has already passed the small bit of multiplayer I had with my sister in Wild World.
tldr, I'm really happy with this game's online. The game finally feels like an interconnected, online world.