Hi VHK, Welcome to EPW.Short answer: Yes, the design of private servers is that the rates for exp/spirit/prestige/influence/coin are boosted, so you are able to reach endgame much sooner than PWI. I have been here for 4mths and I have 4 endgame characters and I'm a lazy player at times. Some people have many more.This server is not a P2W server either. There is a donation option, but it's more to give yourself a boost and is welcome but by no means necessary.As for population, Epic definitely has one of the largest p.server populations that I have seen. Many big and small factions, plenty of TW and PK, active staff, plenty of custom and automated events and active forums.As for being the same as PWI, it is really quite different. We have a different currency system, custom gear, custom leveling, custom instances and several other differences. The best way to find out about these things is to visit our Guides section (http://epicpw.com/guides). That section has a guide for pretty much every game feature from gear to farming to class builds to leveling to pets/mounts/fash/flyers to the economy and much more, best place to start for new kids.If you find yourself a little lost when you enter game, check for the EpwSupport chatroom in game. It's usually open and populated with GMs and supports who can help you out. Feel free to message me on forums if you have any other questions.In summary, p.servers are definitely the place to be for PK, socialising and general playing, as opposed to putting your life savings or slaving your backside off into official.Hope that answers your questions.EDIT: Don't forget to vote! (http://panel.epicpw.com/index.php) for in game cubi to get yourself started. You can vote every 6hrs per IP which gives you gold to spend in the EPW boutique for goodies to help gear yourself, as well as other nice content.
Thanks for all the replies guys! I can tell that this is a way better community from the threads I've read so far compared to the one at PWI. Also what do you mean by custom gear? Do I create my own or do you mean gears that aren't in PWI? Also are there ranked gears? And one important question I forgot to ask, are all the skills the same as PWI? Are there new skills that are only available at Epic Perfect World?I'm really looking forward to playing PWI again. I'll start the download tonight before I go to bed that way I can start in the morning
First of all Welcome to EPWWe do have rank 8 but no rank 9. By custom gear we mean that our very talented Admin Agatio has edited gear with custom stats to fit the server. Rank 8 reforge is, of course, completely customized by the players. If you have any questions do not hesitate to PM a GM or Support member. Good luck and Happy Gaming