Pugs in WOW have always been a nightmare - that game attracts the kiddies in the droves, it's best just to play that game within the context of a guild, otherwise it's one giant cesspool.  

But If she REALLY enjoys to play a healer your best bet is to go with WOW, it's also having a sale (expansions are at 5$ and 10$, good steal). I know there's a strong contingent of players in the WOW forums that have no interest in GW2 for the fact that they cannot play healers.

EDIT: got my pricing info wrong, do'h!  

This also may be worth investigating, But I believe since we are talking about 2 accounts, WoW has the RAF program which I think has some financial incentives.

Originally posted by GeezerGamer

This also may be worth investigating, But I believe since we are talking about 2 accounts, WoW has the RAF program which I think has some financial incentives.

RAF is helpful for exp boosts  --- 300% exp boost for 3 months, some bonus levels, mount

but being a new acct, you will be stuck with buying all the expansions

the only financial incentive is the recruiter receives one free month

http://www.wowwiki.com/Recruit-A-Friend

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Originally posted by evolver1972
I don't know where some people are getting their ideas but the price of GW2 will equalize with the other games in about 4 months, based on buying two copies. And, you don't have to spend a dime after initial purchase unless you are one of those "I gotta have everything right now!!!" type of gamers. Hopefully on your budget you aren't one of those. In GW2 you can actually buy character slots with in game gold (converted to gems, etc.) and you do NOT have to buy any of the expansions as they come out. You will still be able to do everything with the game you bought and PvP and WvWvW.

It sounds like you are fairly satisfied with WoW so in that sense I would suggest MoP if you want to keep with the familiar and are willing to pay the $15/month plus box price. Since you already have budgeted the $15/month apparently, that's not a bad option for you. As to quality, I'll leave that up to others as I don't play WoW.

At this point, I'd probably stay away from Rift as it sounds like there would be too much catching up to do in the game.

My personal suggestion for you is GW2 as I believe it's a great game and a great value, especially because it doesn't have the recurring monthly cost, and it's not necessary at all to buy anything from the CS and still compete in the game.

So it all depends on what you're willing to pay in up front costs.

Edit: Sorry about the wall of text, the editor doesn't seem to be willing to accept formatting at the moment

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How much of a time grind will it be to take all the gold you earn in the game to buy 6 character slots? Are you playing GW2 to earn slots or to play the game? While possible to do, I think it's still way to early for that advice. It will destroy his GW2 game experience trying to accomplish that. Not to mention not being able to have any gold in game to do things in the game that you need gold for, since it's all going to buy gems.

The OP needs to do the math. Compare all the incentives and special offers made by the 3 companies that might apply to him. Determine the actual monthly cost to play. How many months he wants to play and figure out the true monthly cost per game over the run. If we are looking at multiple months, then Rift and WoW aren't $15.00/mo. Probably closer to $10.00

Just do the math. My point from the start has been that is just not as simple as "Sub Fee vs. no Sub Fee". There is more to all 3 sides.

And for the record.
I have a frend who has not yet purchesed GW2 but is planning to, He's an old fan of GW1. But it's a game where he enjoys it for periods of time. Playes it, puts it down for something else, then comes back and picks it up again whenever he feels like it. This will be possible with GW2, not the other 2.

GW2 is probably the best MMO released in terms of being able to just go do something with the least preparation or planning possible.

If you want to do DEs, you don't need to start contacting people to do DEs, just go out and do them...people are there and you'll play with them.   Of course if you want to play with people you know you can certainly contact them and do so, but it is not necessary.

sPVP, well about the same as WoW.   You click a button and go play them.   Nothing new there.   Of note though is the fact that any character you create is ready for sPVP immediately.   If you want to play multiple classes in PVP, you don't need to take time out gearing each one out/grinding currency etc to make them viable.   Just make a character, go through the tutorial, then join sPVP and have all the best gear/levels/traits etc right there for you to get immediately, instantly competitve power wise.

For WvWvW, well a lot of people are there.   Again, no real organization on your end required if you don't want to be.  Click a button to join it, and go play with everyone there.   Go off on your own, join the zerg, anywhere in between, you can do it by just logging in and playing alone without knowing anyone if you choose to do so.

Perfect game for a couple I would think.   You can just pop in and do stuff.   No scheduling needed for anything.  

Originally posted by cdblue

So me and my fiance are saving money so we can get married. The obvious answer to the question I am about to ask is try them all. With money being so tight though that is pretty much impossible. I am on temporary disability due to back surgery that came out of the blue. So I have decided post this on the games we are interested in. Those games are Rift, WoW, and GW2. All of which have expansions coming out. We have to buy two copies of each game and that is beyond our expenses for the moment. We can basically afford one, hence the forum post. 

Right now we are playing WoW. We only been back maybe two months. WoW is great game but there is some problems running into. She works midnights and it is impossible for her to raid. PuGs have really gotten bad socially. She decided to make disc priest and honestly wasn’t so hot starting off when it came to instancing. She would tell the group before hand that she had never healed said instance before. Didn’t matter (we only ran three). The last one the tank called her the big “C” word and my fiance got so upset she just dropped group. She is yet to do another. She hardly is playing. Looking for Raid is completely out. She played LoTRO for years so I know she is decent player. Even I who played since Vanilla till mid WoTLK dread PUGS now because it seems if I am not getting cursed out someone else is. I am more thick skinned but she is not.

Out of the three I must say GW2 is the one that raises my eyebrows the most. I know there is no raiding and it seems like the dynamic world is going to be superior to that of Rift. Also I know the gear grind isn't involved as much as the other two. From what I read GW2 seems to be the winner at least to me but I do have some concerns. On WoW there is other things to do other than quest and PvP. I like to do things like archeology, fishing, professions, collect pets/mounts, and farm transmog items. I am not sure if GW2 going to have anything like that. Another big selling point to me is also (perhaps?) a turn off. I missed out on DAoC and really think the idea of server vs server vs server pvp is splendid idea. Yet, I fear its going to become extremely competitive and that guilds are going to require scheduling which is hard for us to do. We hardly have time together as it is. Also I have a worry about the community due to it being a buy it once and never pay sub fee again. I want to stay out of a bad community at all cost but I am already on WoW and far as I am concerned its bad community central anyway. As said though from everything I read GW2 seems great. Sometimes though what you read is a lot different than you get... Example Warhammer....

So I hoping some of you beta GW2 players could help us out here. To those who played GW2 beta, Rift and MOP perhaps could get some comparisons and maybe suggestions which one would be better for us?

BTW she is more PvE player, and likes to solo/duo. Me, I do a little bit of everything as I said.

Again trying them all out is going to be impossible. 60 X 2=120$, 40X2=80$, and 40X2=80 more. 280 dollars is simply out of our range for the moment so do want to hopefully pick the best.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

Good Evening. I have beta'd MOP, and GW2. Playing Rift currently. Was subbed to WOW but it's done now.
 So let's get down to business shall we.

Firstly they are all good games...from what limited time I had playing GW2 I could tell it's the game for me. I won't stop playing Rift and will get the expansion. However based on what you have written I would probably go with GW2 with Rift at a close second.

The major factor for this is simple. If you are saving for a wedding then if you can play one game it might be best to play the game with out the sub. Especially considering the fact that you are paying for two people. So for the short version GW2.

However if paying for the games and the sub is not an Issue I would Say Trion's Rift. For one the community is better on the forums and in the game. I have not personally had the issue where I dread doing dungeons or raids because of the owe I haven't healed it before mentality. I have a chloromancer and a rogue at 50. I off heal with my chloro. I loved rogue so much that I switched to that so that is my main. I have not tanked any Raids with him but I have dungeons. I was doing Hammerknell with my guild as a bard but then I fell off due to RL issues and lost track of it. Also around that same time I started hearing about GW2.

WOW: I would agree with your assessement of how the community is in WOW. It is really freaking bad and its in the game and the forums. Diablo 3 is the same way. I remember days when people would just talk bad about people not even caring how that would make them feel...myself included. I'm a grown ass man, but getting talked down to...let's just say I have anonymity sometimes. With that being said I would put WOW at the end for only that one reason and that is enough.

So you already know how WOW is, I wish you could at least test GW2 and Rift..I think actually you can test Rift until like lvl 10 or 20. Something like that.

I'm going to remain subbed to Rift but I'm going to play that and GW2 as the latter has no sub fee. I think personally you would really like the game from having read your post. It's a different playstyle that alleviates a lot of the competition problems you see in WOW and Rift.

However If you don't do GW2, please do not go back to WOW, and I think WOW is a great game. Just that the community itself is sour from the inside out.

If you do decide to get GW2 and you need someone else to run around with just PM me here and I'll look you up.

Good Luck.

First off congrats on your upcoming marriage!

I won't comment on WoW - haven't played more than 4 months of it.  Only beta'd Rift so I won't comment on it.

You mentioned LOTRO in your OP so I thought I'd give you perspective on GW2  from a LOTRO lifetimer on the off chance that it is helpful for your fiance:

1.  GW2 world is created with as much love if not more than LOTRO's.  Bree is a crossroads village compared to Divinity's Reach.  Each of the cities is very different in feel with tons to explore and mini games to play.

2.  Combat is more active than LOTRO but not hard to learn.

3.  There is tons of content in the game some of it hidden away to reward exploration.  There are also a ton of achievements which are very similar to LOTRO's deeds and titles.  Though I haven't run across anything as painful or majorly time consuming in GW2 like World Renowned is in LOTRO.

4.  Crafting is better in GW2 than in LOTRO.

5.  The GW2 devs have included more cute and humurous stuff than LOTRO has (though LOTRO has some of this).

6.  You get downleveled automatically and earn xp and loot in all PVE zones - no running skirmishes when you can't find content on level that you want to do that day.

7.  There is no quest list to keep track of - you have one quest - your personal story quest.  Everything else appears when you are near it and disappears when it's complete or you've moved away.  For DEs when you move away any participation is rewarded when others complete the event.  For Renown Hearts when you move away your progress is saved and you can just go back later and finish it.

Hope this helps!

P.S.  On WvW - it is easy to get into - me and hubby spent one stress test in it.  We started out escorting supply caravans and got involved in many skirmishes ending with assaulting a keep.  I was surprised at how much fun I had considering I hate PvP normally.  So far thoughout the game whether PvE or WvW it's been very easy to just jump in and participate in all of the content.  And EVERYONE can REZ and does - it's amazing how many TY appear in chat.