*Feels initially happy that his prior psychotic playing of WoW will be able to provide insight, yet is sad that WoW stole a year of his life*
Saying that, PS will probably get to the time-consuming, soul stealing status of WoW, but how they go about it is different.
With WoW, everything is fairly linear. You do all the quests and the people tell you where to go when you're done (each area's end quests generally lead to the next level-up area's beginning quests), professions are unbelievably easy to learn (just get mats and click create), and you either end up: an alt junkie, a PvP nutso, or an 'MC Raider' (We ain't got no liiiives!). There isn't really any RP. Not to mention that the only thing a player can do with their character is change the gear. It's like a game for a 10-18 year old who doesn't want to, or can't really, put any thought into making a character stat or personality wise.
With PS, you've usually got to put yourself out there to find the quests. No NPC that I remember ever gave me a quest to go to Ojaveda because Tilavi needed help, and that Tilavi was on the second flood of Brado's Inn in the first big section of Ojaveda through the big doors. That's WoW.
PS also gives you the ability to change your character to the way you like; you can go all strength, you can go a mix of them all, or a mix of a few, but everyone generally does something different with their points. There aren't any 'real' classes, due to this mix and ability to change stats, just more of a gray area when it comes to casters and meleers.
Professions get progressively harder as you get more deep in specialization. Mining is simple, you dig in the ground. Metallurgy gets a bit harder, because if you blank out, you can end up turning your hard earned into piles of dust or slag. Blacksmithing and the various specialties require lots of time hammering out blades, hilts, and combining them together.
The professions of PS are also far more variable in what they produce. Whereas every blacksmith in WoW can create a Moonsteel Broadsword that does the exact same thing whether it's crafted by a lvl150 or lvl300 BS, with PS the higher levels of metal supply quality and BS knowledge can get you either a cruddy shortsword, or a pretty sweet shortsword.
PS is a more mature game overall. WoW did get mature once you hit the level cap, as good guilds would find the good people to raid/play with, but getting there was sometimes very painful.
In essence, PS is far more involved on the character basis (At least now) than on the stuff to loot and kill basis. I have rarely if ever been in a group to quest with; most group things are RP events that, although don't necessarily have you killing and looting stuff, you can still get rewards from GMs or others for taking part.
PS also takes more time. Getting a character to a good level doesn't take the weeks to month a good leveler can on WoW; it seems to take several months to a year to get really 'good.' Leveling is different, as progression points let you build what you want, but also takes longer to get 'leveled up.'
I like PS because I can be less 'intense' than I was on WoW and still feel like I've accomplished something. It also doesn't require me to devote 5 hours of my life a night to do something, and I can drop it and give an IC response that'll be taken in context.
RP is fun anyway. It's nice to get used to and you can really screw with some people.
