[SpiritWarrior]

Totally up to you. GW doesn't charge you monthly so you may like that aspect. I don't play it often as I have said but then I don't worry since I amn't paying and 'wasting' money when I don't use my paid time. WoW charges a monthly subscription which I have always said I feel is money well spent. The day I feel it isn't well spent I won't pay. Sometimes when I know I will be busy or when I am getting bored I deactivate my account for awhile.

The whole "investing" time into a game is overrated. You will want to play a game you pay for and you will want to play it frequently. If you don't then you shouldn't be paying for it in the first place. The jokes people make like "It will steal your lfe and job away" are just that: jokes. What they mean is these are good games and like Baldurs Gate and NWN's you will play them alot at first. Baldurs Gate and Thief 1 stole my social life away for a good week or so when I first got them.

I remember before I ever played any MMO's I heard horror stories about EQ and swore that these games are gimmicks people get hooked on, like gambling in a casino. The difference is in a casino you win or lose (mostly lose) and if you do lose you have nothing to show for it when you finish. With a game that you pay for you always have something to show for it; you played for a set amount of time in a fantasy world. We don't read a fantasy novel and after 2 chapters start saying that we have nothing to show for it. We ecaped into that world and intend to see the book to its end by revisiting it again and again.

I know people who play WoW once a week, and I know some who play it once a day. What matters is that you enjoy what you're doing despite how much time you spend doing it. It is not a job after all, but just a game.