Poll: Guild Wars and I: Compatible?

[TikiShades]

I'm used to playing games like World of Warcraft, and I did my time on Runescape, but it was only recently that a post perked my interests to finally check Guild Wars out.

Reading through the professions (which I like the name of instead of class), it appears you pick two different classes, and then specialize with a specific part of your primary class, which sounds like you can have numerous different combinations. I think I count about 2700, without the whole "half-speccing" thing.

It appears that they utilize the community in the game, which is something I've always desired. They also mentioned that each group gets a unique quest map, but does that mean that Guild War quests are done in areas not linked to towns, and cannot be accessed by foot? I'm the kind that loves to explore, and I can't stand when a game just ports you to a quest area that I couldn't find myself.

I heard Guild Wars has an active PvP system by using Guild vs Guild tournaments that are frequent, and that the game doesn't require you to put hours into it to get the full experience. Is that true?

I'm also into roleplaying, so it having some of that would be nice.

I also added a poll to see what would be the worst feature of the game.

 

[Internet Kraken]

I'll try and answer your questions to the best of my ability.

There are several different classes. Not only can you mix 2 classes together with the dual class system, but the large pool of skills for each class allows you to create many unique characters specialized in different areas of combat. Each class can fill a different role on a team, and the key to the best group is to have variety among players.

The world open for exploration and the towns holding other players are not linked. When you leave a town, you are teleported into your own world to explore and fight in. This removes problems such as spawn-camping. Players can team up when insdie towns and then explore the world as a group. There world is fairly large. Some areas are linear while others are more wide open. There are a good number of places you can explore on your own that exist outside of the main quest. Many of the environments in Guild Wars are well designed and appealing to look at.

I never played PvP much in Guild Wars. When I did play it I enjoyed it, but someone else would probably be able to provide a better analysis on it.

Oh yeah, the biggest flaw with Guild Wars in my opinion was the dependency on other players. Don't get me wrong, this dependency is sometimes good. The level cap of 20 may seem limiting but it prevents you from simply grinding your way to ultimate power. In order to survive you have to use your skills effectively and work with your team to take down the games tougher foes. Sometimes the henchmen AI the game provides is not enough to complete a mission. So you team up with other players to win, which is obviously fun.

But then their are some missions and areas that players avoid like the plague. This is usually because that part of the game is poorly designed. The problem is that these missions are to hard to do with the AI, so you need humans to beat them. But with a lack of players willing to complete these missions, victory becomes nearly impossible. This is what killed the game for me. You may have a different experience though.

 

[Mewick_Alex]

Not really sure what I'd consider the worst part of the game as I really enjoyed it back in the day (on the other hand its the only MMORPG that i've ever played so I cant really compare it to anything). I guess I would have liked more customization in terms of physical appearance, all you can really do is change the height and choose from a very small selection of faces and hair styles....... meh, i'm just nitpicking really.

They also mentioned that each group gets a unique quest map, but does that mean that Guild War quests are done in areas not linked to towns, and cannot be accessed by foot? I'm the kind that loves to explore, and I can't stand when a game just ports you to a quest area that I couldn't find myself.

Almost all main quest area's can be visited on foot, but theres not usually much point unless a side quest happens to take place there too.

 

[MrSnugglesworth]

Pvp for me is the most bland.

 

[NeutralDrow]

The worst things I found about the game were the limited character slots (which they may have fixed by now, I don't know), the infeasibility of soloing, and the entire playable world being an instance.

Those last two things might seem contradictory, but really, Guild Wars didn't feel like an MMO to me. I like going out and exploring on my own, far from other players, but in WoW for instance, I enjoyed the feeling of solitude with the knowledge that I could really go back to civilization (so to speak) if I needed to, or even ask for help from the nearest players. The Guild Wars world felt...empty. And since I was never really impressed with the henchmen or the other players, that emptiness eventually became seriously unnerving, so I left.

I also never really liked being limited to eight skills per instance. I could understand and appreciate the skill points, and having to choose between focusing on water and earth magic over air, or swords over hammers, or curses over minion summoning, but when it came to the skills themselves...I know a lot of the appeal is supposed to be being forced to think tactically, but I never got over the feeling that I was being forced to severely limit myself for no good reason.

 

[jobobob]

Well i know alot of this game i played for about a year so lets see what i can say.

The dual classing was very fun and every class has 1 atribute that only they have if its your main proffesion I.E. monks (healer) have an attribute that makes them heal better i think and elementalists (mages) have an attribute to give them more energy or mana. also it can make for some interesting class combos even though most people go monk as their second proffesion so they can rez.

The gameplay is amazing you get your own world when you go into the fighting zones so there is no camping or kill stealing because you get a group or henchmen and you get towns as you go so you can fast travel to places and dont need to buy flight paths or anything.

Then theirs pvp witch is fun too you have random arenas 8v8 fights and then team arenas where you get to pick your party then there is the kurzik VS. luxxon battles that i think is 16 on 16 and helps out pve by capturing towns or pushing back the invaders.

the worst feature might be that there is no threat system really (at least last time i played) so healers get hit alot but other than that its a great game.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

the infeasibility of soloing

Man do I hate a game that does not support soloing. Not all of us want to be paired up with some idiot while we journey through the fantasy MMO du jour.

Everything will aggro and/or chain your character, even when grossly underpowered. The experience drop-off is horrible, with many of the frequent attacks netting you a total of 0 exp.

 

[santaandy]

I think the worst thing about it was not that the level was capped at 20, but that you hit it too early and that the rest of the game continues to grow stronger without you. However, I have not had to grind too hard or long and I have not had too much difficulty with any area of the game thus far.

I think it is the most fun MMO with the best community and story/world/etc. Also, it's the only good MMO without a subscription fee where you can't just buy your way through the game. That alone is why it is the only MMO I will ever play.

 

[Iggy Rufflebar]

The fact that it's hardly updated and when it is, there's reskins. PVP is nothing but gimmicks and bad skill updates * I'm sure the skill balancer, Izzy has been replaced with some monkey* and the whole atomosphere of "GW2 is coming and it's going to save everything" with the news of GW2 delay and Anet being obviously strapped for cash (charging for things in the latest update)I doubt GW2 is looking as safe as it was this time last year.

Also, GVG got RUINED a few months back, almost everything that made it stand out from the basic PVP was removed. Heroes ascent was nothing but gimmicky rubbish when it was useful (allowing access to other realms or high end areas.)

but saying all that, compared to games like WOW, it can't be beat graphically, storylines could be improved but meh they arn't by any means bad.

 

[alabaster67]

play guild wars, it is the best mmo on the market today in my opinion. i played it for about 3 years, but after a while it doesn't tend to feel like more and more of the same hing. its not that it is grindy, its just that after you play as long as i have you tired tired of its formula. good point made above, it is awesome that there is no subscription fee or special donation gear or anything like that, thats my problem with most other free mmo's, it is free, bu you have to donate to be anywhere near as powerful as everyone else in the game.

 

[YuheJi]

Everything will aggro and/or chain your character, even when grossly underpowered. The experience drop-off is horrible, with many of the frequent attacks netting you a total of 0 exp.

They typically attack the lowest level character, and I believe you don't get experience from killing enemies four (?) levels lower than you. Or something like that.

The reason that I stopped playing, was that I had basically beaten all of the missions, at which point the game really just becomes a grindfest for achievements. It isn't necessary, of course, but that is just what people do after they beat the game. And it is definitely much more fun when you're in a good guild, or play with RL friends.

 

[Abedeus]

the infeasibility of soloing

Man do I hate a game that does not support soloing. Not all of us want to be paired up with some idiot while we journey through the fantasy MMO du jour.

Everything will aggro and/or chain your character, even when grossly underpowered. The experience drop-off is horrible, with many of the frequent attacks netting you a total of 0 exp.

Too bad he lied. Game is (except for Elite Areas and some Hard Mode areas, obviously) completely soloable.

The worst thing is Eye of the North. Grind, grind, short, more grind, lame PvE-only skills that made the final boss a cakewalk.

 

[Abedeus]

the professions and skill system is pretty bad, basically people pick combination that prove most powerful - and being able to put only a few spells out of literally hundreds on your action bar doesn't exactly help...

You mean you don't want to have hundreds of possible customized builds on your disposal? It's not like there's only 1 or 2 builds for every profession.

 

[Sewblon]

The worst part is all the instancing makes it hard to find a group online, only play if you have real world friends to play with.

 

[IxionIndustries]

You cannot jump in Guild Wars..

That is all...
*sarcasm*

 

[Arcticflame]

You cannot jump in Guild Wars..

That is all...
*not sarcasm*

Honestly, I couldn't stand that, it just made the game feel blocky and broke immersion. It may be a hugely small detail, but that very small detail just broke it for me.

 

[Sevre]

I have clocked in around 600 hours of Guild Wars and I think it is the best MMO out there, Gormourn mentioned something about the best build wins? Well that is not the case as every class can counter these builds in some way. Occasionally a meta-build does pop up and it is annoying to try and beat it but when you find out a way to beat it you will be smiling. You'll also be at the top of the ladder. If you don't,ANet will nerf it anyway. I could ramble on about all this but I already wrote a review for it so I'm not going to bother.

 

[Woe Is You]

Those last two things might seem contradictory, but really, Guild Wars didn't feel like an MMO to me.

That's because Guild Wars isn't and never was an MMO. Seriously. [http://www.guildwars.com/products/guildwars/features/default.php]

As for me, well... I especially liked the PvP in Guild Wars since you start off on equal footing against everybody else. If you get trounced, you know it's because it's something you did badly, not because the other guy happens to have the edge because of all the time/money he spent twinking his character.

 

[Ghostkai]

Those last two things might seem contradictory, but really, Guild Wars didn't feel like an MMO to me.

That's because Guild Wars isn't and never was an MMO. Seriously. [http://www.guildwars.com/products/guildwars/features/default.php]

Yup was about to say myself.

I'd say go for it though OP. It's a laugh for a while, and theres no monthy sub, so you can pick it up and put it down whenever u like.