A solid and entertaining rpg. Guild Wars is a appealing game that will have you playing for months to come.
It on one hand offers solid and balanced pvp, but on the other hand the PVE elements are quite linear. One example I can offer is: the game unfolds in missions(very much like party sized quests). This requires you to stand in an outpost untill you get an invite to a party. If you are a monk, warrior, or orther popular class you won't be spending much time looking for a party.
If however you find yourself playing one of the more unpopular classes like a Mezmer it will be more chalanging to find groups. If you are looking for open ended pve this is not your game. But if you are looking for a game with interesting and often fun pvp go for guildwars. I however stress the shelf life of this game exists in the pvp content, and not the pve content of the game. However both are enjoyable.
In matter of fact if you so desire you don't even have to play the pve content.
Instead just bust into pvp. With every kill your party scores you will be collecting faction, which allows you to unlock various skills, weapon upgrades and runes to better equip your pvp characters. PVP occurs in three different styles. Which are: Random Arenas where players are grouped in random teams of 4 (4vs4). Team areans which is a good start for higher level pvp. Here you can assemble teams of 4 people allowing you to construst or participate in an organized build(also 4v4).
Heroes Ascent, this is where teams of 8 players face off agains other teams of 8 with the end goal being makeing it to the Hall of Heroes and winning there for as long as they can. This plays a role in how players from different continents can access certain areas of the game.
Altough PVP in Heroes Ascent is the primere pvp for Guild Wars.
Some players often have a hard time finding a group. Most groups want rank 3+ players. However to new players feel this is like a double standard, since to get in a group you need to be rank 3+, but not being able to get into a group means it will be hard for them to even get fame at all(fame is required to get rank). This just means you will need friends and or a good guild to play pvp with. Or just alot of patientience.
After all is said and done, guild wars is a very worthy rpg to spend your time on. I in fact logged over 1200+ hours in this game. If that alone can't convince you to buy guild wars, you have no business playing video games.