Never played WoW so I'll just tell yah what EQ2 has to offer.
If you can keep yourself from falling into the power gamer trap of XP grinding to 50 ASAP, there's actually a huge amount of content to explore. Tons of quests that reveal lore about the world and its history. On the order of 1300+ quests last I checked.
Yes the basic combat can get repetative like any other game, but there's alot of other things to hold your interest.
Quests involve a combination of the following tasks:
1) Kill x number of some common mob
2) Kill various mobs for specific drops
3) Kill a boss type mob
4) Interact with some object/NPC
5) Find a location
6) Sneak past mobs/NPCs to reach some location/object
7) Harvest raw materials for an NPC
8) Dig up collectable sets of objects
9) Craft an object
10) Complete 1 or more of the above tasks within given time limit.
The variability of task combinations along with interesting and often humorous dialog and a variety of rewards keep the quests from becomeing overly repititious. With what, 6 years worth of EQ1 content to draw on and a few hundred years history gap to fill in, the lore is prety rich.
Crafting is appealing to alot of ppl. The system does actually require some skill as a player, and some financial strategy to work the market for profit. It does however become VERY tedious to acheave a high tradeskill lvl. Player made goods from all professions are actually in high demand.
Harvesting/Collecting
Some players enjoy harvesting and collecting, basically running around the world diging up raw materials and collectable obejcts, to be sold to other players, without any combat requirement. At the least, its another diversion when you're bored with your normal play style, can't find a group and don't want to solo, etc.
Housing provides a creative outlet for many players. There are a ton of objects that can be used to decorate your house and some of the most creative setups combine objects in novel ways to simulate objects that aren't otherwise available. Housing also includes trainable pets.
Status is a special reward given for completing special tasks and is often a motivating factor. High status gives you access to special goods and titles. Alot of players, even after reaching max Adventure and Artisan lvls, continue to work on status for the special rewards.
Some of the latest environments/missions include some Legend of Zelda style puzzles. Use explosives to open passages, arange boxes to climb to remote ledges, and planks as makeshift bridges.
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