Looks like CoH was in some way compromised yesterday:
here
here
here

Non Redname (Admin or Dev) threads:

here
here
here

I'd like to be able to give a first hand account, but i was playing WoW :biggergri

WoW consumes EVERYBODY.
Give in to the WoW.

I beta tested for WoW and thought it was generally too easy... like a game for a little kid. After the beta was over i played EQ2 instead and really liked it.

I like WoW so far. Let me ammend that: after i found a website with detailed maps, i like WoW so far. CoH definitely has better graphics and a lot more options to customise the appearence of your character, but so far it's looking like WoW has CoH beat for content: variety of, that is...well, probably amount too. The combat system is pretty similar with the exception that my mage can't pop off spells while moving (makes kiting interesting ). I'm looking forward to trying some third party plug-ins (Cosmos), but i'm going to hold off untill after the new patch goes live. The GUI is pretty intuitive, and after the patch i'll see what the plugins do for it (Blizzard was ultra cool about allowing 3rd party add-ons to the game...something that is a huge no-no in CoH). One thing that i think CoH did better was character chat (set up and channels, etc). WoW's isn't bad, but it's not as nice as CoH's. Another thing that CoH beats WoW at is the Mapping system (the only aspect that i think CoH maps are lacking in is a transparent map): the maps in CoH are awesome about placing icons at locations of interest (stores, contacts) as the player encounters them. On the same note, this is indispensable for characters who have to travel out of zone to do a mission (it makes it oh so much easier to get back to the contact when the mission is completed...something that WoW could greatly benefit from). Then again, i'm still a WoW newb, perhaps these options exist and i just haven't found them (i don't think that's the case, but ya never know). One thing that WoW absolutely wins at is spell/skill info. In WoW, you know exactly what you're getting (they provide numbers), and it makes it a lot easier to plan a character build/make an informed decision. For some reason, CoH is dead-set against giving players any numbers for the powers. I could live with that if the system that they have in place was uniform and accurate (it's not): some of the power descriptions are misleading/wrong and the descriptions aren't accurate enough. For instance, a power with Long recharge time could mean anything between 60 - 400 seconds (second post on page 6 sums it up ). I found it down right frustrating to realize that if i built my toon solely using the power descriptions in CoH, i was going to have to respec the toon because some of my choices would be misinformed and poor (in order to get any worthwhile info about powers, you really have to scour the forums for posts by people that have figured out base numbers).
Really, my biggest gripe with WoW, so far, is something that GK touched on: to me it does look like a kids game. IMO, what gives that impression isn't so much game dynamics as it is character appearence (my gnome mage looks and sounds...well, childish). Granted, so far, WoW doesn't appear to be incredibly challenging, but neither is CoH (for me, both games have enough going to keep me interested without getting frustrated). I'll see what happens as i level up, but so far the playability is very similar for both WoW and CoH (mob AI, aggro range and behavior,and tactics are pretty darn similar for both games).

5 Hours Later:

Ok, i'm hooked on WoW. The hook that caught me? Professions and the WoW economy. Professions allow you to do things in game with certain skill sets. For instance, I'm a Tailor and an Enchanter. I can make clothes and cloth armour as well as enchant items (the more that you use a skill, the better you get and the more stuff you can learn to make). I like that a lot, but what really got me was the auction house. Basically, you can go to an auction house and bid on items or sell items. It's the WoW equivelant to Ebay and it rocks! There's just so darn much that a toon can do in WoW. I really like this game (but that's in spite of the somewhat cheesy graphics); there's sooo much content.