For WoW, you'll buy at least one expansion, plus the initial box, and there's a sub fee. It's going to be more expensive. With TSW, you have just the box purchase and no sub fee. However, WoW will be easier to get into. If you've never played an MMO before, you might want to start with WoW.

Also, as has been pointed out, WoW has a free trial so you can get an idea if you want to play MMOs.

Now, personal opinion time, I like TSW better than WoW, but that's because it isn't as easy to get into. With WoW, you really can kind of blunder through things and be OK. With TSW, you're going to have to at read a bit about the game and how stuff works at the start to really progress. It's not as forgiving with your character build and some of the quests require a bit more thinking than the usual fare. All that said, I did play WoW for over three years, so I don't think it's a wrong choice, especially if you've never played MMOs before. :-)

What lizardbones said.

TSW has a great storyline, just like Star Wars: The Old Republic. This makes it easy for new MMO players to get heavily immersed in an environment more akin to the single-player games they're familiar with. SWTOR is Free to Play, which might be a good argument in its favor. TSW is free after you buy it, which is good enough for me. WoW, imho, will turn you off of gaming forever, as its community is the worst I've ever experienced anywhere (worse than Darkfall.. and that was all about stabbing you in the face)

Originally posted by Linus41
I'm not new to mmo's btw. Which expansion of wow should i get then? And what game has the warmest and most social community?  I like how tsw is put together. Only i don't know is tsw will stand trough time like wow does...

If you're going to try wow, don't worry about expansions. Just play the free trial and go from there. Having said that, the best class they've ever designed, the Monk, needs the whole enchilada to play it after the free trial.

If you want to play any other class, you only need the basic WOW until you reach level 60. You can then get the expansions after that: Burning Crusades is 60-70, Lich King is 70-80, Cataclysm 80-85 and Pandaria 85-90.

TSW is a very fun but much harder to get into the game. The mechanics are far more complicated and you can get easily lost choosing skills and developing a class that will be viable after the first zone.

Community? TSW's is far friendlier and helpful. WOW seems to be full of bored people who have been playing for 7 years and just want to run the dungeon they have already run 100 times with other toons ASAP without a single line in chat and just get their loot and go.

Originally posted by Linus41
I'm not new to mmo's btw. Which expansion of wow should i get then? And what game has the warmest and most social community?  I like how tsw is put together. Only i don't know is tsw will stand trough time like wow does...

If continued longevity (healthy pop/future content) is a primary concern, WoW is the only choice then.  There will still be millions of people playing it  years from now. *shudders*   If this is the case, then you will have to buy all expansions.....iirc.  You might want to check on the accuracy of that last sentence though.

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Originally posted by Linus41
I'm not new to mmo's btw. Which expansion of wow should i get then? And what game has the warmest and most social community?  I like how tsw is put together. Only i don't know is tsw will stand trough time like wow does...

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WoW is fun but you're playing it to run dungeon after dungeon after dungeon with no communication between the people in your group unless you do something wrong or try really hard to get more than a word or two out of anyone. The game will most likely keep running for the next 500 years because unless Blizzard comes out with another MMO that's as appealing to such a large market there's no end to the money they'll make in subscriptions. 

TSW is fun with a very interesting world and lore, but it's more difficult. TSW is run by Funcom who still runs their first MMO (Anarchy Online) from 2001 and their second MMO (Age of Conan) from 2008. They've continued to invest time and resources into both their previous games so I feel pretty comfortable in believing that TSW will be the same. TSW is currently using a hybrid B2P/F2P/Sub system that I think they'll do well with.

You didn't ask about GW2 but I'll throw that into the mix as well. GW2 is a LOT of fun. It's super easy to play, yet has intricacies to it that not everyone will experience. Combat is very active if you want to be the most effecitve you can be, or you can just play casually and still be able to have fun. It's full of players and the way combat works you're usually battling in dynamic events with a bunch of other people. It's really a nice system.

GW2 is B2P with a cash shop and in-game gem-to-gold system where you can buy gems from ArenaNet to be used in the cash shop or sell your gems to other players for in-game gold. GW1 has been going strong for quite a long time and I don't see any reason for GW2 to fail any time soon. I expect it to be around for the long haul.

I'm torn between the three games, personally. I absolutely love GW2 as does my main gaming friend. My girlfriend likes GW2 but she's a WOW gamer and feels much more comfortable playing that. They both liked what they saw of TSW but with little experience in it asking them to buy yet another game is a hard pill to swallow currently. Although I think WOW has its moments of fun I just don't have nearly as good a time as I do playing other MMOs (just about any of them). It's a good game, just doesn't tickle my fancy as much as I'd like.

I'll share my experience because I'm stuck like you, OP.

I already owned TSW. I never finished all of the quest. So, I have returned to do that. I really like their quests. I think it's worth doing. When I finish, I'll move on and most likely revisit when enough new content has built up again then repeat the process over.

I'm considering buying MoP afterwards. Just to run through the quests and dork around. I'll probably never get into raiding or rated PvP. I just don't find it rewarding.

Both will most likely keep me busy for the total of 2 months combined. The real problem is finding something to play for the rest of the 10 months of this year.

Maybe check out AO after they release the new changes and engine. There's another old game too I'm waiting on.

Edit: The reason that I choose to play WoW later is because it seems they are still patching and nerfing things so by finishing TSW, it gives time for the dust to settle in WoW. Yeah, there is always nerfs, but I'll let the major ones hit now and deal with the minor expected ones later.

Originally posted by Linus41
I'm not new to mmo's btw. Which expansion of wow should i get then? And what game has the warmest and most social community?  I like how tsw is put together. Only i don't know is tsw will stand trough time like wow does...

WoW is definitely easier to learn, and has stood the test of time -- plenty of people still playing this game, and I recommend it  simply because I think everyone needs to play WoW at one time or another.  It's basically a great  MMO starter, as well as the  standard to compare to other MMOs.  It definitely has the most content and population of any other MMO available, and most important, is still lots of fun.

TSW has a great community and some great innovations (the ability wheel, investigations), but it definitely has a steeper learning curve.  I love TSW wholeheartedly, and will recommend it especially to those who want to try something other than fantasy, but if you haven't played Warcraft yet, you should certainly try WoW. 

I'd choose WoW. Also, if money is a factor, WoW has been on sale twice last month for $5 for Vanilla + TBC + WotLK, $10 for Cataclysm, and $30 for MoP (or $20 on Amazon sales).

Paying full price for all of them now would be a horrrriiibbble idea.

Now can someone explain the lvling situation in tsw? i hear it's a game without leveling? also the games of funcom have the habit to become free to play after a while.... so I don't know if that will be the case with tsw... otherwise buyin tsw would be throwing away money... 

About Wow... if you play the first release, would there be any pop in those parts of the game?? or will the majority be playin mop...? Starting out as a noob and not seeing any pop in the game is very frustrating...