It's always the case when something is extremely popular and is deemed "over-hyped" by the people who doesn't like it.

The anime is definitely pretty mediocre so far just judging from only the contents showed, but it really doesn't deserve all the hate it's getting. I just feels like some people in that thread are determined to hate the show just because there are some novel readers who are ready and willing to defend it. It's just one of those things that is best left alone.

Maybe the SAO anime is just a victim of the overwhelming popularity of the novels.