When comparing Star Wars: The Old Republic vs World of Warcraft, the Slant community recommends World of Warcraft for most people. In the question“What are the best online multiplayer games on PC?” World of Warcraft is ranked 9th while Star Wars: The Old Republic is ranked 23rd. The most important reason people chose World of Warcraft is:
The game is very old now but has been under constant development since release so despite its age it still looks and plays very well.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Free to play
You can play through the full story for each class as well as each planetary story absolutely free.
Pro Fully voiced characters
For as many characters as there are and how much dialogue is present in the game the voice acting is superb and comparable to the best offers out there. Quests are not just text boxes to read but actually told to you by the NPC asking for your help.
Pro Subscription bonuses
As a subscriber ($15 a month), a player gets a significant XP boost for completing Story missions. At 12x the experience gain, this allows players to progress through a character's class story without having to repeat planetary quests that can become mundane when leveling multiple characters. Other perks include a 500 Cartel Coin allotment per month, useful in the cartel market; as well as faster quick travel cool downs, more character slots, and many more. These perks are quality of life improvements rather than pay to win.
Pro Companions in any role (4.0)
Companions can now fulfill any role: Tank, Healer, Damage. Also companions no longer use gear stats, and so do not require constant gear upgrades. Gear is only used for cosmetic changes now.
Pro Movie like Star Wars universe
Play as a character from the beloved Star Wars universe, and immerse yourself in a fantastic story from Bioware set 1000 years before the movies. Choose a side and fight for the Sith Empire or the Republic as a Jedi, Sith, Trooper, Bounty Hunter, Smuggler and Imperial Agent.
Pro Stream-lined leveling (4.0)
With game update 4.0, Knights of the Fallen Empire, and later, leveling has been streamlined to highlight quests that are relevant to your personal story, so it's easier to move forward rather than waste time on side quests. This includes on your Map, Minimap, quick travel and flight paths.
Pro Very polished
The game is very old now but has been under constant development since release so despite its age it still looks and plays very well.
Pro Most recognized MMO in existence
WoW is the defacto MMO, almost every MMO created after it came out has been influenced by it in some way. Still to this day it is one of the most played MMO's online and has one of the largest brands tied to its name.
Pro Constant stream of new content
Title says it all. Best MMO ever made.
Pro Low system requirements
Due to the stylised 'cartoon' graphics you won't need a top end gaming rig to be able to play WoW and have it look good.
Cons
Con Generic MMO quests
Like most MMOs this game features mundane fetch or collect quests that can become not only repetitive but pretty boring.
Con Pay for Convenience
While Bioware has been careful to avoid pay-to-win, being a subscriber or paying some real money for in game quality of life perks can be a big bonus, and offer monthly rewards.
Con Tedious experience
WoW doesn't offer an engaging story [until endgame] or anything beyond point-and-click gameplay, especially with the many other MMORPGs following its model, which leads it to quickly become tedious.
Con Class homogenisation
In the early days of WoW there were significant differences between the classes; classes had unique skills which defined that class and giving it its identity. Unfortunately, over the years, most of that variety has been stripped away and now all of the classes have minimal differences other than being ranged, melee, healer or tank.
While this was done to (unsuccessfully) bring balance to the classes, it ultimately resulted in a lot of the flavour of the game being stripped away leaving a much blander experience overall.
Con It's all about the destination, not the journey
Vanilla Wow used to have a very slow leveling process, this allowed people to experience and enjoy the world and dungeons as they leveled up. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case and the leveling process has been completely destroyed by being made trivial. It is so fast that if you enter a dungeon you will almost certainly have out leveled any loot you find by the time you finish it. Not that most people worry about loot while leveling as most players have access to heirlooms which further trivialise the leveling process and turn your character into a leveling God.
Con Subscription required
WoW requires a $15-a-month sub to play. This can definitely deter some people from playing. There is a trial mode, but it is very restrictive.