If every expansion.. er.. 'new' game(?) is going to be a full priced 'stand alone', are new people just supposed to drop $90 on it to be fully competitive? Then after the next one like, ~130?
Each expansion has it's own quests, challenges, and zones. As far as being fully competitive, all the classes are balanced - a new class of character will be just as powerful as a "classic" character - it's more about the skills you pick to use (and how skilled you are with them) that will determine who will win in a PVP match.
Owning other expansions will give you more missions, spells, and zones, but that's about it (and new classes, of course). I can't see how it would give you an advantage over a player with just one install, provided that player had finished all the missions and acquired the skills...
edit: If you haven't played before, there's two things that will throw you. 1, your mana does not increase w/ your skill level, only by using weapons or armor. You have a finite amount, and you have to use it carefully, or wait for it to recharge. 2, you only carry 8 spells at a given time. So if person A has ALL the expansions and knows 100 spells, he can only carry 8. And if person B only has one expansion and knows 50 spells, he can STILL only carry 8. That's the balance. And based on that, I can't see one player having an advantage over the other, unless it's lvl based (say a lvl 5 guy vs a lvl 20 guy). But PVP chars start at lvl 20, so you're good to go out of the gate...
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GW: Nilaar Madalla, lvl 20 R/Mo / Tolyl Nor, lvl 20 E/Mo / Xylos Gath, lvl 13 W/Mo
http://www.goldfrapp.co.uk/This comment was edited on Mar 2, 16:31.