>>103105168
Your progression is permanent and the world is a sandbox. You can do whatever you want and everything you do works towards building your character's skills and equipment and those things are never made obsolete by yearly patches that make you start the treadmill all over again. Everything in the game has character and significance, you can look at a player and instantly tell by their gear and their stats what aspects of the game they've mastered, nothing is bogged down by transmogs or rendered obsolete by a new expansion. It's just a much more cohesive, in-depth world in general, and everything from the quests to the items reflect that. You can hear the very well-spoken testimony from one such WoW convert yourself
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuaCg6XhWr0