Guild Wars IYO

guild wars is great, particularly in its pvp, since its well balanced and theres tons of variation in what you can do. The higher level stuff can be difficult to get into, but generally therell be enough other new ppl to form a group. If you just want to kill people, theres random arenas and alliance battles (which, if youve got the money and enjoy the game, make factions a worthwhile purchase).

Its community... theres a couple of areas where people go seemingly just to have random and often stupid conversations, they can be entertaining but if you prefer maturity, most other places are fine. Well, mostly... the game does have a lot of idiots, i guess since its got no online fee's and its fairly easy to get into. But, avoiding them isnt too hard...

The pve side of guild wars is good and bad. It has great storylines(in prophecies and nightfall at least), however a lot of people have got sick of useless random groups, and use heroes and henchmen (i do). Finding a good group for all the but the hardest missions can be difficult, if thats how you want to play.

Also, the economy is very screwed up. High end items are worth a ridiculous amount, while pretty much everything else can only be sold to merchants. If youre not extremely lucky, getting enough money for a good set of armour can take a long time.

On the other hand, the game looks pretty darn good, and if you manage to make money somehow, you can get some sweet looking weapons and armour.

Finally, gw is free! Well obviously you have to buy it first, but then you pay nothing. I dont regret buying all 3 games so far, even though ive only got one serious character, and have only been through the campaigns once. The pvp is good enough that i still get on and play it more than a few times a week. And farming is fun, killing things by yourself in a team based game gives a decent feeling of acheivement. Id definitely reccomend you try it.

the game is good, you can play whenever you want to without paying every month, it has good community

story is good, gameplay is good, graphics are great

If you enjoy competition and PvP then guild wars is for you. If you enjoy PvE then guild wars is also for you. Guild Wars has something for everyone really....it's all you need. A great series that I have played since beta and plan on playing it for many many more years. I can't wait for GW:EN and GW2!A1B2C3CAL

Guild Wars is a great game, but I've found it better to not approach the campaign like a regular MMO. I made the mistake of doing that with Prophecies when it first came out, and ended up being burnt out on it for quite awhile. Most folks who seem to stay really into the game really get into PvP. I find AB in particular to be a blast. You can also make PvP only characters if you don't want to bother with the campaign. Though I recommend it at least once or so to open skills and items for PvP items. There's also PvP packs that unlock at least the skills (can't remember if they also unlock items), but I think they're abou $40 for each campaign. They used to offer class specific skill packs, but I don't see those on the GW store anymore.

The community can be rather poor. Especially in the lower level areas like "pre-Searing" Ascalon and the starter island in Factions. Unfortunately, you can get pretty far into the campaign without being so great, or in some cases can find runners to do things for you. So there's not as much of a stopgap for the kiddies and other poor players as there could be. (This is true of WoW, as well, but fortunately it takes a bit longer to reach level cap there). Thankfully, these types do get thinned out once you leave the lower level areas. You'll still run into them, but not as much. This is also one area in which it's great that the game is largely instanced. :p

As others have said there's no monthly fees, which is also nice. You don't have to cancel your account when you get sick of it. You can leave it alone and come back to it when you feel like it.

Guild Wars, imho, is just some WoW wannabe. The game itself is ok, but the game world is not. When you leave a city, its all you, no one else unless you group with people, and to me, that just defeats the whole purpose of it being titled a MMORPG game. Also the PvP is rather bland.Grodus5

Guild wars isn't really titled I mmorpg.

That said, most of the people who don't like Guild Wars don't like it because they try to compare it to games like WoW which it's really not much like at all. I'd more compare it to Diablo in glorious 3D. Personally I love the game.

1. Storyline is pretty good.

2. Love the graphics

3. Community sucks for the most part. Most of the time you can ask a question and no one will respond at all. And I mean no one.

4. The use of Henchies makes the PVE very satisfying as you don't have to wait around in cities spamming: "lfg for mission and bonus". Which you will see quite often to the point of annoyance.

This is from the official site:

Is Guild Wars an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game)? Guild Wars has some similarities to existing MMORPGs, but it also has some key differences. Like existing MMOs, Guild Wars is played entirely online in a secure hosted environment. Thousands of players inhabit the same virtual world. Players can meet new friends in gathering places like towns and outposts where they form parties and go questing with them. Unlike many MMOs, when players form a party and embark upon a quest in Guild Wars, they get their own private copy of the area where the quest takes place. This design eliminates some of the frustrating gameplay elements commonly associated with MMOs, such as spawn camping, loot stealing, and standing in a queue in order to complete a quest. Guild Wars takes place in a large virtual world made up of many different zones, and players can walk from one end of the world to the other. In Guild Wars much of the tedium of traveling through the world has been eliminated. Players can instantly return to any safe area (town or outpost) that they have previously visited just by clicking on it in the world overview map.

Rather than labeling Guild Wars an MMORPG, we prefer to call it a CORPG (Competitive Online Role-Playing Game). Guild Wars was designed from the ground up to create the best possible competitive role-playing experience. Success in Guild Wars is always the result of player skill, not time spent playing or the size of one's guild. As characters progress, they acquire a diverse set of skills and items, enabling them to use new strategies in combat. Players can do battle in open arenas or compete in guild-vs-guild warfare or the international tournament. Engaging in combat is always the player's choice, however; there is no player-killing in cooperative areas of the world.

Players in Guild Wars can play with or against players from around the world in the global tournaments and arenas. And while players are initially placed in a region based on their selected language (so that there is a greater likelihood that others will be speaking their language) they can join up in the always-available International District to form parties and to play with anyone from anywhere in the world.

This is from the official site:

Is Guild Wars an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game)? Guild Wars has some similarities to existing MMORPGs, but it also has some key differences. Like existing MMOs, Guild Wars is played entirely online in a secure hosted environment. Thousands of players inhabit the same virtual world. Players can meet new friends in gathering places like towns and outposts where they form parties and go questing with them. Unlike many MMOs, when players form a party and embark upon a quest in Guild Wars, they get their own private copy of the area where the quest takes place. This design eliminates some of the frustrating gameplay elements commonly associated with MMOs, such as spawn camping, loot stealing, and standing in a queue in order to complete a quest. Guild Wars takes place in a large virtual world made up of many different zones, and players can walk from one end of the world to the other. In Guild Wars much of the tedium of traveling through the world has been eliminated. Players can instantly return to any safe area (town or outpost) that they have previously visited just by clicking on it in the world overview map.

Rather than labeling Guild Wars an MMORPG, we prefer to call it a CORPG (Competitive Online Role-Playing Game). Guild Wars was designed from the ground up to create the best possible competitive role-playing experience. Success in Guild Wars is always the result of player skill, not time spent playing or the size of one's guild. As characters progress, they acquire a diverse set of skills and items, enabling them to use new strategies in combat. Players can do battle in open arenas or compete in guild-vs-guild warfare or the international tournament. Engaging in combat is always the player's choice, however; there is no player-killing in cooperative areas of the world.

Players in Guild Wars can play with or against players from around the world in the global tournaments and arenas. And while players are initially placed in a region based on their selected language (so that there is a greater likelihood that others will be speaking their language) they can join up in the always-available International District to form parties and to play with anyone from anywhere in the world.

rgsniper1

IMOI would call it CORPG but change the C to cooperative...

I'd more compare it to Diablo in glorious 3D. Personally I love the game.rgsniper1

Yep. Too bad this has to be pointed out so often. But it's true. An MMO like WoW it ain't.

1. Storyline is pretty good.rgsniper1

To be honest, I haven't been able to get into the story for Factions or Nightfall as much as I did with Prophecies for some reason. They're still good, though. I'm really looking forward to Eye of the North and hope it will be a continuation of Prophecies story-wise.

2. Love the graphics

3. Community sucks for the most part. Most of the time you can ask a question and no one will respond at all. And I mean no one.

4. The use of Henchies makes the PVE very satisfying as you don't have to wait around in cities spamming: "lfg for mission and bonus". Which you will see quite often to the point of annoyance.

rgsniper1

Agreed on all counts. I forgot to mention graphics above, but they are good and get better with each release.

I can't believe I forgot to mention henchies earlier. They are easily one of my favorite aspects of the game. And they're highly underated, as well. Particularly by poor players. I'm not saying I'm real great, but I find them better than your average PUG member. I've left some terrible groups that couldn't even pass the first encounter of a mission only to complete it with a group of henchies. Heroes makes this even better.

That's not to say all groups are bad. I've been with some excellent groups where henchies can't even compare.

Actually, I LOVED the idea of henchies/heros. It's frustrating to play an MMO late'ish at night and you can't get a group for ANYTHING. What I like most about Guild Wars is the fact that is seems to be a much more flexible game than other MMOs. No monthly fee, so you never feel like you're not wasting your money if you don't get a chance to play it much. No group requirements. And do to the PvP focus it's easy to hop on for 30 minutes and still have a good time. But back to my original question; am I really missing out on important storyline stuffs if I don't play Prophecies? I'd rather just spend the money to get Nightfall, but Prophecies is only 30$ and if it's got a sweet story I don't mind :DVerdance

They are all three different storylines for the most part. That said parts 1 and 3 are the best. I'd pick it up.

Personally I liked Prophecies the most, but you don't need to play it or Factions to get into Nightfall. The only thing which can make it a bit harder for you is some useful skills you get in the earlier installments, but that's just a small nuisance.Kokihatu_

[QUOTE="A1B2C3CAL"]If you enjoy competition and PvP then guild wars is for you. If you enjoy PvE then guild wars is also for you. Guild Wars has something for everyone really....it's all you need. A great series that I have played since beta and plan on playing it for many many more years. I can't wait for GW:EN and GW2!Verdance

Hmmm

I wonder if a tome could allow you to get a skill that you needed?

But I'm not sure if you can get a skill if you dont own the chapter it originated from.

I have all three chapters and look forward to GW:EN and GW2. Definately get it.

well I wouldn't exactly say you're gimped owning one campaign but you're most likely going to want skills from another campaign if you play alot.

The community is fairly active at standard times but don't expect to get groups at 3am. If you want questions answered you're best off joining a clan most of which are constantly recruiting.

I liked nightfall but I think it has the worst community of all the GW games. This is mostly because the heroes, and runners. Alot of players get ran in nightfall meaning alot of people really suck at nightfall. Also most people just use their heroes meaning finding a group even-though it's a fairly new game is harder. Most people just find one other person and use their heroes.

Overall I'd say all the games are about even Prophecies has the most PvE, factions has extra PvP (+2 good professions) and nightfall has heroes, and 1 good profession (I didn't like Paragon).

I'd say just buy the cheapest one you can find first and get your collection that way.

[QUOTE="A1B2C3CAL"]If you enjoy competition and PvP then guild wars is for you. If you enjoy PvE then guild wars is also for you. Guild Wars has something for everyone really....it's all you need. A great series that I have played since beta and plan on playing it for many many more years. I can't wait for GW:EN and GW2!Verdance

2008, just get the one of those that available now...