Triple Triad forum dupes - please ignore

Value and cost is one area Guild Wars 2 has really tried to differentiate itself from WoW. WoW has a box fee which is currently $20 for the base game plus all expansions before Pandaria. Pandaria is $20 itself and the next expansion will be $50 (which will require the you to buy the first two). So for a minimum of $20 you can get in the door but really you'll want to spend at least $40 to be up to date. That $50 new expansion will be looming in the distance though.

On top of these fees you also have to pay $15 a month, $180 a year. Find deals and you can get that somewhat cheaper but $270 for the first year and $180 for every year after is kinda nuts.

Guild Wars 2 can be had for a flat rate of $50. After that you don't have to buy anything, presumably eventually they will have a paid expansion, maybe more than one but even with figuring in the game and say 3 future $50 paid expansions your still $70 under WoW's FIRST year. Even tossing out WoW's box fees, one year of sub alone would only be $20 less than Guild Wars 2 + 3 full paid expansions.

Price isn't everything though, despite WoW's high cost it's still a great game and can be a lot of fun. I find Guild Wars 2 more modern and up to date. It's gameplay is more fluid and it's fully voiced. The combat is so smooth, love it or hate it... it's still hard to go to back to not being able to move while using skills... it just feels clunky. WoW has the lore and mountains of content but Guild Wars 2 has the potential and a much more modern base to build off of.

WoW needs a full refresh, it's a great world. If it were Buy-to-Play or F2P this would be a lot closer for me but I don't know how I could ever pay the ridiculous amounts of money WoW wants to play a game that Guild Wars 2 at the very least isn't much worse than. Especially at this stage of WoW's life.

 

Do it, it's can be a lot of fun if you like simulators.