I can agree on both of those points. WoW is an easy level grind. As it should be in my eyes. Sure you have more people at the top levels but that just means you need to be that much better than they do.

I compare taking 4 months to level to a cap to getting punched in the cods over and over again. Whoever wants to spend THAT much time levelling is a masochist. AION was no different than any other MMO where you kill monster after monster after monster to get experience.

Now, as for WoW being leaned at towards the casuals, in a way it is. But in a way it isn't. WoW is the perfect middle of the road game. You can be as casual or as hardcore as you want and still manage to get something accomplished. If you want to raid every night for 4 hours, you can. If you want to do Arena's for 4 hours a night, you can. If you want to do Arena's for 1 hour a night....well you can do that too.

That is the reason that WoW has I think around 11.5 million subscribers worldwide now. Because it's a game for everyone. Look at the "Hardcore" games, their subscriber count is low, they don't get updated as much and they stagnate leaving only the hardcore players there. No thanks. It is for some folks, but not really for me. I like alot of people, alot of things to do, places to go and things to kill. WoW fit that bill perfectly.

Now AION is a bit different but ONLY because it has such a huge following in Asia. It's a gorgeous game, it's the new wave of games that are starting to come out where the graphics are amazing. WoW's graphics are aged now, the cartoony look is losing it's appeal to a lot of people. The first company that can combine the ease of play, the constant updating of content and the graphics of the new era....will do very well.

I would also agree, a level 60 cap server would draw alot of people back, myself included. And as for nerfs.....LOL that is a sport in and of itself with WoW. Some class...somewhere...at some time...is getting the nerf bat in WoW. Just pick a class and a day and WHAMMO.