As the title states I have played WOW for roughly 8 years on and off and it is finally time for a move to a different game.  However since I am currently on deployment I can't really experiment with any of the games that are currently out, or watch any youtube videos about these games.  Some of the things that I look for in games are as follows:

1.) The ability to go into a raid and or a raiding type environment.

2.) The ability to join / create a guild of some sort.

3.) Some type of PVP (not a neccessity)

4.) The ability to Gear myself enough to differ from someone who plays a decent amount or someone who just plays casual.

Any help that I could recieve would be awesome and much appretiated.  Thanks.

Just to throw it out there before anyone else, you might give RIFT a try. You can play for free up to level 20. It's similar in that it's a solo to level cap then raid hamsterwheel but different as you have more freedom of choice with classes and the environment for the most part is much darker than good ol' Azeroth.

Rift

Yeh I was exactly the same. WOW was just boring and so I tried RIFT but found it bland and a bit boring. I am however really enjoying TERA and the combat mechanic is just such a breath of frsh air. It takes a while but once you discover you don't need to get hit and can actually dodge blows then its a revelation. The graphics make WOW look really old and dated and if you have the machine give it a try. You get 30 free days as well.

EVE

Originally posted by Muffinx

As the title states I have played WOW for roughly 8 years on and off and it is finally time for a move to a different game.  However since I am currently on deployment I can't really experiment with any of the games that are currently out, or watch any youtube videos about these games.  Some of the things that I look for in games are as follows:

 

1.) The ability to go into a raid and or a raiding type environment.

2.) The ability to join / create a guild of some sort.

3.) Some type of PVP (not a neccessity)

4.) The ability to Gear myself enough to differ from someone who plays a decent amount or someone who just plays casual.

 

Any help that I could recieve would be awesome and much appretiated.  Thanks.

From the info you have given i would also agree that rift would be a good bet. If you want to try something more different  with the same sort of gear ladder and raids + anti-casual mechanics try DC Universe Online. It's free to try and if you like it lay down a sub. It has plenty of raid type content, PvP and gear isn't tied to appearance so gear what you like and look how you like.

Originally posted by pierth

Just to throw it out there before anyone else, you might give RIFT a try. You can play for free up to level 20. It's similar in that it's a solo to level cap then raid hamsterwheel but different as you have more freedom of choice with classes and the environment for the most part is much darker than good ol' Azeroth.

Got any link? - i was just now looking into tera, and i spend hours downloading the full game for a 7 day trial, that apparently only works for US.

Any trial for EU?

Rift.

I appretiate all the comments that I recieved.  When I get back from deployment I think I will give both Rift and Tera a trial run to see how I like both of them.  Another question, are both of these games fast paced as WOW was or are they slow like FF online was?

Originally posted by Muffinx

I appretiate all the comments that I recieved.  When I get back from deployment I think I will give both Rift and Tera a trial run to see how I like both of them.  Another question, are both of these games fast paced as WOW was or are they slow like FF online was?

None of them are as smooth as WoW but I think you will like Rift more than Tera if you are looking for the same type of gameplay. Personally I will stay in WoW, Pandaria is just around the corner! :)

EQ II, Vanguard.

Originally posted by Muffinx

As the title states I have played WOW for roughly 8 years on and off and it is finally time for a move to a different game.  However since I am currently on deployment I can't really experiment with any of the games that are currently out, or watch any youtube videos about these games.  Some of the things that I look for in games are as follows:

 

1.) The ability to go into a raid and or a raiding type environment.

2.) The ability to join / create a guild of some sort.

3.) Some type of PVP (not a neccessity)

4.) The ability to Gear myself enough to differ from someone who plays a decent amount or someone who just plays casual.

 

Any help that I could recieve would be awesome and much appretiated.  Thanks.

RIFT

Similar but different, I guess that means RIFT from the looks of your list. TERA might not be completely of fthe books either, it's combat differs more from WoW, but that might be just what you're looking for.

RIFT 

If you're willing to get into older looking games 

Lord of the Rings Online and Everquest 2 are also good traditional MMOs.

I'm gonna suggest Tera.

Why play something so similar to WoW that you might as well just keep playing it?

Starwars the old republic seems to be good with some very nice storylines.

I did try Rift, but found it bland, if your only interested in jumping from invasion to invasion then so be it, fastest way to level, dont need to do any quests and dont even hope of doing any instances at all, nobody bothers (or didnt in the month i was in the game for plus a free 7 day comeback trial that was available quite a while back).

I dont know what its like thesedays but i have not been in Rift for some time. I wont purchase online gametime for it untill i know if its actually worth it or not.

Tera i have never played. Age of Conan was ok but no playerbase, since gone F2P so in my opinion thats a failed game. Lotro also went F2P and again lasted untill 2nd/3rd expansion (which was a flop) and pushed it to going F2P with the dwindling playerbase, aka another failed game. Now EU playerbase was moved to the U.S servers and EU servers closed = loss of account so wasted money buying that.

Secret World i have not looked at or tried, read many reports, some good and alot bad, now even the supporters of it have started to place not so good feedback, so i dont think i will even bother. If its F2P i wont bother with any of these anyways.

Seems WoW has no competition because creators are trying to copy this one and failing badly. I could give them idea's on what a game should have, should be able to be done thesedays with todays systems and technology, but they seem to be stuck 10yrs in the past or so. For me Sw-ToR comes in 2nd right now, just have to make sure you start on one of the fuller servers (as 80% are empty)

Originally posted by Muffinx

I appretiate all the comments that I recieved.  When I get back from deployment I think I will give both Rift and Tera a trial run to see how I like both of them.  Another question, are both of these games fast paced as WOW was or are they slow like FF online was?

I suspect Rift will do it for you. They kept many of the basic mechanics of the WoW interface, so you'll already know how to set things up the way you like, which I thought was great. I find the combat and pace very similar to WoW, relatively fast, responsive, and fluid. Graphics and character customization are satisfying - the "soul" system is a great idea, basically like choosing a group of classes for your character that can be swapped at will (eg, ranger + rogue + buff/healer/support). I thought I was going to take a break from WoW and fool around with Rift, and never even logged back on to WoW to tell my guildmates "so long"... Tera combat is really fun and more dynamic than WoW, and you'll find plenty of familiarity the the basic progression. I do think the Tera questing pace is a little slower and not very creative - endless "kill 10 boars" quests (which does let you play with the most fun part, combat, but you could do that with interesting quests, too). The combat is the highlight, but specialization seems simplified and I stopped playing after about 40 days. Good luck!