I made the switch to UO four years ago and I'm loving every minute of it. UO's 'end game' is still has me involved. So, the reason for my visit on this forum is that i'm curious how WoW's end game is these days. I know back when I quit it was nothing compared to UO's.
...
It's changed. A lot.
There are 2 general endgame: PvP and raiding.
Raiding:
Has changed. No longer hardcore. Guilds with only 10 active people in it can raid and get decent gear, and the raid itself for 10 people doesn't take more than 4-5 hours, 2-3 for more experienced players. There are also 25 mans, instead of 40. The big endgame raids are 25 men, and involve a decent amount of strategy. Some, like archimonde, require you to be on your feet as blizzard has become a fan of "random" events (fire randomly attacking someone, someone randomly being targetted for some ability), so you can't just sit back and dps (though there are some fights like that). PvE gear, top end, can let you do 1500+ dps, and people [still] generally regard those with top end gear as gods (similar to pre-bc).
PvP:
Has changed. In addition to the battlegrounds we all know and love, there are "arenas." Arenas are tiny well....arenas in which teams of 2v2, 3v3, or 5v5 duke it out. One life per person, whichever team has no players remaining loses. The gear that is rewarded has requirements (team and player rating must be above, say, 1800 etc. Your team starts at 1500. Each match you win you can get anywhere from 1 to 30 points, and likewise, each loss can lower your score.) The gear rewarded from arena is often time useful in top end raiding, but top end raiding is not generally useful in arena. Lower-end arena gear is also available by doing battlegrounds.
