Sure AoC is like WoW in many respects. I just think Funcom dumbed the quest aspect down and made the game less focused on questing. Like SB, I think higher levels tend to group and grind/contest over areas that are ideal. I remember, initially, in SB that it wasn't necessarily a quick jump to get to R7 (or whatever).
Simply put, AoC isn't what we've all been waiting for. It was the fact that most of us got tired of waiting for DF. It was a 'doable' enough game for most of us to sink our teeth into. You really don't start to see the game for what it is till you reach higher levels (50+).