[quote name='crystalklear64']The 8 skill thing is comparable to Magic the Gathering. You have to build a good "deck". The instanced thing is good IMO because you don't have to worry about people stealing your drops/killing all the monsters you're trying to kill/killing you when you're minding your own business.[/quote]
I see what you mean but I disagree. I like the WOW model better. You have several trees and you cannot excel in all at once but you basically get a whole tree or two of skills for that character and then you mix and match by choosing. You can redistribute skills by paying but at some point it becomes way too expensive and you have to decide.
Here is my example of why the 8 skill thing is not so good. I am mainly a necromancer, and I like summoning minions a lot. But if I want to summon minions I have to not include my skills that do damage. So in many instances I am unable to perform properly unless my team is killing enough people. But somethimes they can't becuase I they need the damage that I am supposed to be providing.
The points you make about item stealing and mob killing are all true. The item thing is not that important though, most games tie the item to the person who killed the monster. But I still would like people wandering about. The world just feels so empty. And I never really had the problems you mentioned to such an extent where I wished I was alone with NPCs. It just feels bleak.
Another reason I do not like GW is becuase to get the end game stuff you need an incredible amount of money and resources. You are basically left grinding. Oh, and to just buy the end games stuff you have to run a large lenghty mission with 7 people just to get to the vendor. I am talking about Factions, BTW. I am left with nothing to do except run about and get money. In most MMOs you spend long amounts of time leveling up to the next level but in this game and in Factions more then in Prophecies you level up so fast that you are left with nothing to do. Every body is level 20, and skill points do not matter much at all. I have a couple of nice elite skills but they are not that much better than regular skills. And there are not that many skills I want anyhow. I have over 50 skill points left with nothing to spend them on. Experience is just annoying, becuase I know that I am not using it toward anything.