dude i was upset when i opened this post the first time around to discover that Vanguard was not in any way related to the kickass anime of the same name :P
hey man, im still playing l2 es when i can get on. but have not seen anyone else, only glor. dont think i will try vanguard, forgot to cancel my l2 account and it billed me for another 6 months :(. and yeah i agree wow sux the big one
I got it (missed the beta was in china :P ). Its nothing like L2. World is much more immersive, Quests after level 10 are more fun. Its got a much more involved crafting system and the things you craft have various grades of quality. The economy model they say the game will have seems good. Its got shit like harvesting, mining and stuff lol. You can build boats have houses. Theres various mounts.
PVP is basic though. you have a choice of free for all and you win some of their money if ya win or faction based pvp. Problem is there is nothing to fight over. You can't take control of anything and guilds can't in game declare war on each other like l2. But L2 at release didn't even have castle sieges so i hope they post what they plan to do with the pvp soon.
Essentially pve side of things shits ove L2, pvp seems to have better mechanics its just not as advanced yet :(. I will probably stick with it a bit, depends if it can be played casually though. Im finishing up uni so thats more important :P