For any of us that have played WoW for a good amount of time (as in past the trial), we see it as a generally better game than Runescape. Although this is the opinion of many, we can look at both games in comparison, evaluating the economy.
Currency is the base of every economy, real life, and in game. In Runescape, they use a gold system. Gold is the single source of currency. In WoW, they use a gold, silver, copper system. 1 gold = 100 silver, 1 silver= 100 copper. WoW wins on this one. As I see it, the more currency types you have, the better. Also, in WoW, gold gets you a lot futher. Gold is easy to earn, professions (equivalent of RS skills) can earn you upwards of 500 gold an hour (if you know how to use them, as few do). A weapon similar to a godsword would cost 5000-10000 gold.
The Auction House (AH) and Grand Exchange (GE) are the same concept. Again, I think WoW has this one. The AH has many more features that the GE does not. One feature is that you can browse, and narrow browsing by weapons, armor, consumables, and other categories, which are split into sub categories (ie: Weapons – One Handed Swords). Others include bidding, and a buyout price. A player can take an item, and put it in the AH starting at 5 gold. Players can bid on the item, or they can pay the buyout price, which is often higher. It also has the advantage of open prices, which Runescape does not.
Skills in Runescape are very hard to get to level 99. It is the same for WoW professions, although not nearly as hard. To max WoW professions, you need to be level 70 (out of 80). That is a feat in itself, so it makes leveling professions harder. Runescape presents a different problem- 99 skills are hard to level and involve dumping massive amounts of cash into most of the skills. I do give this category to Runescape, as they have a much bigger selection of non-combat related skills. It is a lot harder to train on Runescape, but it can also be much more enjoyable.
That is all for this week. Part 2 may be out next month, or in the next few weeks. As always, any suggestions go as a PM on the forums or an email to okerrigan94@gmail.com.