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.

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.

As long as it is not a mod that automates gameplay, it is safe. User Interface (UI) mods are fine. weirjf

Pretty much what he said. Anything that automates gameplay is considered "cheating" and will possibly get you banned. Personally, I use a number of modes. Most of them are information tracking like xp rates. There's also a few helper add ons I use, like the auctioneer package. Informant and Enchantrix are extremely helpful. (I had no idea how much money I threw away deleting grey items I assumed were worthless before getting Informant and seeing how much they can be worth).

Decursive is another add-on I'm finding invaluable for my mage and priest.

So far, I'd rate the system a C. Though, as a gaming system alone a D+ right now. There's potential there for the system, but the games just aren't coming yet. Most of the great games are already available on the 360, or will be eventually. Personally, there's nothing exclusive I was dying to own on the system outside of Resistance Fall of Man. I'm hoping Heavenly Sword and Killzone 2 will be good, as well.

The main thing giving this system life for me right now is Blu Ray and BC. I tend to use the system to catch up on PS2 games I missed last go round more than for anything else.

There's definitely potential for the system, but it needs some great exclusives. The sooner the better. Hopefully a payoff for getting the system is eventually coming.

Bioshock, Two Worlds, Halo 3, and Mass Effect for the 360. With the exception of Mass Effect, I tend to not put any on pre-order more than a couple months ahead.

I'm thinking about pre-ordering Heavenly Sword.

EDIT - Forgot to add that Guild Wars: Eye of the North for the PC.

Ok so I just finished it. Wow! Like I said the graphics are top notch, and none of the video I've seen of it really do it any justice. The combat is really intense, I fought several splicers and a few security droid things. It is really fun to shock someone and then hit them with a wrench, very brutal... The hacking mini-game is awesome, it is essentially a clone of that Wnddows 3.1 game Pipedream... god you really will have to play it for yourself. It reminds me of the feeling I got when I emerged from the sewers in Oblivion, or playing Half-Life when it first came out. It has been a while since a game has blown me away like this.rragnaar

I had about the same reaction you've posted here and in other posts in this thread. I really wasn't expecting the game to look as good as it did. That starts right in the water after the crash, and then the game becomes even more impressive as you move into the city. I love the art direction in this game already.

The gameplay is a blast. Very reminiscent of SS2 and Deus Ex. I've been gushing about this game here and there since playing the demo. I planned on buying the game no matter what, but I didn't expect get so excited about it after playing the demo like I have. Bioshock seems to be shaping up to be the game I've been dying to play since Deus Ex. (Invisible War should have been that game, but there were too many changes to the fundamentals of the gameplay. The map sizes didn't help either.)

Not sure about GOTY or any of that. I'm expecting it to be an awesome game in the vein of System Shock 2 and Deus Ex. I've seen gameplay videos before, but they didn't quite prepare me for how awesome the atmosphere in the game actually ended up being. It's quite beautiful, too.

Deus Ex and SS2 happen to be my all time favorites. Unlike IW, this game looks like it's going to be great.