Thoughts on Guild Wars

[Hydro]

I started playing guild wars about an hour ago, and finished playing guild wars about 15 minutes ago, probably forever. Call me crazy, but there was just something, missing, from the game. Did anyone else feel this way as well?
(It may just be that its not WoW, so it could never measure up. It would kind of be like making "whoopie" (politically correct 60's term here) to a Tauren, then going to a gnome. The gnome will never have a chance of being seen as good...)

[Semidi]

I enjoyed the combat part of it, but th social part of it was lacking, then again it's really early in it's beta (actually I think it's pre-beta)

[Sentinel]

Guild wars to me isnt an MMO. Its d2 with a graphical area to get a party together, nothin more.

IMO, which is of course the word of God, its just diable 3. Arnt ArenaNet set up by some ex-bliz guys? Could explain a few things.

[Hydro]

Yea I didn't even like it as much as I did the early Diablo 2 beta (I mean very very early, the first push). I can't put my finger on why though...

[Dooplanger]

I dont find everything being instanced very attractive. One of the things I always liked about MMORPGs is running into someone doing the same quest or killing the same monsters that I am and talking with them eventaully adding him/her to my buddy list. I felt all alone in that game, more alone then I feel playing single player games. Does anyone ever make new friends in an actionless town?

[Dragonflame]

Good combat but not enough stuff to do

[Hydro]

I dont find everything being instanced very attractive. One of the things I always liked about MMORPGs is running into someone doing the same quest or killing the same monsters that I am and talking with them eventaully adding him/her to my buddy list. I felt all alone in that game, more alone then I feel playing single player games.

ohhhh everything's instanced. That is definitely part of what was bothering me, I thought I was all alone because no one else was playing.
Sorry for my ignorance, I dloaded it on a whim and started playing with absolutely no knowledge of the game. Do you ever see other people?

[AAAdrummerboy]

i have juno so im still downloading it, should be done some time in th morning....
...I know it wont be as great as WoW, but i need something to do while i wait for OB

P.S. the males on the character selection screen looked so stupid i just had to pick a fem.

[Khal'jur]

I didn't enjoy it, especially after hydro so kindly let me and some others try out WoW :) Just like Sentinel said in another post, it did feel like a diablo 3, but not as fun as diablo 2...

[Dooplanger]

well schlong im gunna spam your thread with just this 1 post so I can reach post 100. Maybe I should comment on GW atleast..... I think the game has potential if they would atleast make the instances more lively, the few I experienced although had some good landscapes lacked alot of life. it was fine doing an instance for the first time, but the same thing a second time, then a third time and firth and fifth and sixth....

[Solaquin]

I rather like it so far. It's not on the same level as WoW, and doesn't really feel like a MMO, but it still has the makings of a decent game. The missions so far feel like they are balanced for a party of 4-5 people. Three was definitely too few, but six just steamrollers through them.

[Taajstein]

I enjoyed it in the E3 preview much more, even though overall the game is more polished.

The PvP is fun, and I think the Guild aspect could be fun...

But I'd rather do all this in WoW.

Plus the drop sucks and the items are not fun at all (like Morrowind, only worse)

[Hydro]

I think I will try it again tommorow, and try to get far enough to experience parties at least. The only game I might consider to be a true challenger to WoW would be progress quest... I am lvl 2 now.

[kabe]

this game needs more UI polish, not to mention moveing from area to area sucks...
it feels a lot like dungen sidge...

and some of the class combos are useless, so..
to sup it up,
dont waste your time. :howdy:

[Taajstein]

I think I will try it again tommorow, and try to get far enough to experience parties at least. The only game I might consider to be a true challenger to WoW would be progress quest... I am lvl 2 now.
Try the PvP for an extended period, it's pretty fun.

[Dooplanger]

I enjoyed it in the E3 preview much more, even though overall the game is more polished.

The PvP is fun, and I think the Guild aspect could be fun...

But I'd rather do all this in WoW.

Plus the drop sucks and the items are not fun at all (like Morrowind, only worse)

morrowind drops are useless when you can just still anything you want at level 1 as long as you know where to look and what potions/spells to bring. I dont think GW drops are that useless although pretty close (maybe its just because of our level)

[Rushster]

I think where everyone gets confused is the term MMORPG. The game is not an MMORPG, it's a competative online roleplaying game in essence so it's not even the same as WoW to be compared really :)


morrowind drops are useless when you can just still anything you want at level 1 as long as you know where to look and what potions/spells to bring. I dont think GW drops are that useless although pretty close (maybe its just because of our level)

[FrozenYak]

ya, i havent even had the time to play the game yet, but even watching my brother play it for an hour (at different times through out the game) i just couldnt find anything that really caught my interest.

I felt like i was watching another game of gauntlet legends or dynasty warriors where its just a bunch of people going around slaughtering the others with the occasional challenge popping up that can be easily solved if you have a head on your shoulders.

Usually theres something in a game that just draws me to it and makes me want to play, but when all i hear is "yup...this is pretty much all ive done in the game so far" it doesnt inspire much confidence.

I think it was the result of the seemingly endless amount of spells and regain ability. People could do the stupidest things in combat, then 30 seconds later be at full hp/mp hunting again. Even when i played baldurs gate there was a certain amount of determining when to use certain spells and pots and scrolls to last the longest, but here it just seems mindless. The only challenges ive seen so far are when mass amounts of monsters launch onto a group, and when in a game isnt that a problem anyway that people know to try and avoid?

[Hydro]

I think where everyone gets confused is the term MMORPG. The game is not an MMORPG, it's a competative online roleplaying game in essence so it's not even the same as WoW to be compared really :)

Ahhh cmon, you know after a few hours of playing Guild Wars you started thinking to yourself "Dang I wish I was playing WoW right now."

WoW is a disease, I can't even play War3 anymore, I just build heros and get mad that no ones nurfed Paladins yet. I mean, being able to resurrect 12 people at once is a bit much don't you think ;) ?

[Dooplanger]

I think where everyone gets confused is the term MMORPG. The game is not an MMORPG, it's a competative online roleplaying game in essence so it's not even the same as WoW to be compared really :)

why are you quoting me, Ive already said that it wasnt an MMORPG in another thread, how does my response post make me look confused. I declare you evil.

[Xlorep DarkHelm]

Guild wars to me isnt an MMO. Its d2 with a graphical area to get a party together, nothin more.

IMO, which is of course the word of God, its just diable 3. Arnt ArenaNet set up by some ex-bliz guys? Could explain a few things.
I concur. It feels like 3D Diablo

[EdrictheWild]

Overall, I think Guild Wars is an okay game. However, I do find that the overall game structure is too plain for my taste in RPGs. I do realize that this is only a preview, but I still feel that it's lacking something...

I would switch over to WoW open beta as soon as it launched, regardless of whether I liked Guild Wars or not. I've waited too long for WoW to give up now...

[Lanlord]

In respect to GW being compared to Diablo 2:

I liked Diablo 2 and not GW that much for 2 reasons. The first being the endless quest for the best items in Diablo2. Items made such a huge difference and there was such a volume of things dropped, they were, for me, the focus of the game. GW to me, did not seem to draw on this aspect of diablo & co as much as I would have liked. It is hard to tell at this point of course though because it is prebeta.

Also the combat in D2, though extremely repetitive, was very fast paced for even the slowest of classes. This kept me interested and willing to put up with meph run after meph run after meph run.... after meph run....... after....
Guildwars however, seemed like it lacked that quick pace, though faster than most MMO's it still seemed slow.

The base reasons I liked Diablo was that it was more or less a deathmatch rpg. GW seems like it threw on the lead boots but didn't change gameplay alot. This is of course, comparing it to D2 and not WoW. I'll also have to agree that it doesn't have much business being called an MMO.

Btw hey hey first post on rpgforums in probably 3-4 years. :flip: (forgot acctname, but remember password :( )

[SkyGhost]

Played GW for 30min and stopped after that simply because the game plays, feels and looks so much like Lineage 2.

I'll give it a try again if I got nothing to do.

[Ifrit18]

Guild wars just didn't feel fun playing.

Quests were pretty cool but it needs more development time.

I give it a 6.6/10 for now.

[Baryonyx]

I found it quite a disappointment, regardless of it's early state. The simple fact that the world has walls everywhere was a pretty instant tip-off that something was very off here. It did indeed feel like a 3D Diablo 2, with some overtones of Lineage II, as SkyGhost noted. Most of the game seemed highly derivative of better titles that have come before. I most certainly won't be going back, especially since I know what I can be expecting from WoW and some other games deserving of my cash.

[powermongor]

This game is really, really bad. I mean like Shadowbane bad.

[Baryonyx]

This game is really, really bad. I mean like Shadowbane bad.
Yes, but it wasn't Neocron bad... that thing was so awful I still get nightmares from my VERY short beta experience. *shudder* And to think, GW is headed up by ex-Blizzard people... looks like all the right ones stayed on for WoW. :)

[pjmosling]

This game is really, really bad.

YES.

I only skimmed previous posts on Guild Wars but it didn't seem like anyone mentioned the obvious comparison to Dungeon Siege. This game is freakin MMO Dungeon Siege. The only difference is you can't control your hired mercs (more on that later). The drops are essentially the same, even the text display for the drops is the same. Mob interaction is the same. Camera interaction and movement interaction (even the marker when you left-click for automove) are almost identical. Did Blizz just send over some vixen to Gas Powered Games to subtly "extract" their game engine? I am only kidding a little bit here.

The controls and gameplay are typical MMO quality, which means they're pretty good. I already found one majorly lame feature, though. My first mission I decided to solo with two mercs, a ranger and a warrior. This was so that I could learn my class (monk aka healbot) without risking a party wipe on the first day/hour of play.

So the ranger runs off, gets a few adds, they all somehow decide to target the healer (smart AI, I guess?) otherwise known as me. I promptly die, being that I am wearing n00b armor galore and the level 15 heal is a whopping couple % points of my health. So we're all standing near this poison river. I can't rez myself. Rangers have no rez. Warrios do, so I'm covered, right? HAHA no, the warrior decides to stand in the river, with no apparent way to get him to move. He never gets the chance to rez me because he keeps having to spam Purify and Heal on HIMSELF. WHEN THERE IS A HEALER A FEW FEET AWAY. This guy is level 15, too, he should be somewhat intelligent, right? I don't know who decided to include "perpetually heal for miniscule amounts of health rather than rez the healer" into the game code, but it's a really lamebrained decision.

End rant. :(

[Deaths.Utility]

i got to lvl 16 and then stayed in the gladiator arena....its just not world of warcraft

[DarkFury]

Too lazy to read through the whole thread, but I kind of like Guild Wars. I joined up and immediately found a group to go on the first Mission. It was really fun, and now we have a guild together. We implemented, I'm sure not the first too, some good teamwork and while our Warrior tanked away while being healed by the monk, my Elementalist and two archers rained away on the enemys. It was really fun, I think it's definately worth a look.

I should add, I read the last few posts, and i agree, it's just like Dungeon Siege. And yes, definately not WoW. I won't become an avid player, but from my 1 hour experience, it was entertaining ;)

[Dooplanger]

So the ranger runs off, gets a few adds, they all somehow decide to target the healer (smart AI, I guess?) otherwise known as me. I promptly die, being that I am wearing n00b armor galore and the level 15 heal is a whopping couple % points of my health. So we're all standing near this poison river. I can't rez myself. Rangers have no rez. Warrios do, so I'm covered, right? HAHA no, the warrior decides to stand in the river, with no apparent way to get him to move. He never gets the chance to rez me because he keeps having to spam Purify and Heal on HIMSELF. WHEN THERE IS A HEALER A FEW FEET AWAY. This guy is level 15, too, he should be somewhat intelligent, right? I don't know who decided to include "perpetually heal for miniscule amounts of health rather than rez the healer" into the game code, but it's a really lamebrained decision.
End rant. :(

yeah the AI is kind of weak, I wish they would have atleast given us some control over our henchmen rather then them attacking whatever we attack, which gets annoying as a spell caster who isnt just concentrating on 1 target but trying to attack multiple enemies at a time. Agro is really bad as you said, they all constantly attack me even though im running away and its my henchmen dealing out the damage, one thing I like about WoW is agro control, as a hunter/warlock its a very necessary skill to develop or else you will end up dieng alot.

I think its the AI that really hurts the game, if the AI were upgraded I would definitely consider buying this game to go along with WoW.

[blindcside]

i liked it at e3 for every one. after playing wow today for the last time until ob.. i will never play GW again. i played it thinking it was fun but i didn't enjoy the hour and 1/2 that made me late for my job interview. so no i don't like it and i will no longer(i planed on) buy it.

[Tevush Kasht]

I found the game to be very weak. I played until level 16.5 or so, but it just didn't seem all that interesting. I was NOT pleased by the gameplay, and it doesn't feel like the usual MMORPG quality. Control of my character and the camera was very, very weak in my opinion. At times, I was even thinking that I'd rather be playing EQ2 than this.

[borrokii]

I never played Diablo (1 or 2), but I've been trying out GW for the last few hours, and am not too impressed. It is definantly NOT a MMORPG in any sense. All I kept thinking was how much it reminded me of Warcraft 3. The graphics are similar and a lot of the mobs look a lot like W3. Even the drops off of mobs reminded me about drops fom W3.

Anyways, it's fun enough to kill time untill open beta, but never would I consider purchasing it. I hate games that make me feel like I have to keep going in a certain direction and get to the end, instead of me wanting to explore, take my time, and experiance the world.

[Black Knight84]

I was rather excited when I started playing GW mainly because I have never played a MMO before. So there were a few things that took alot of getting used to. I found it quite enjoyable for the duration that I did play it until my connection froze. The following are the Pros and Cons I can see so far:

Pros

Great quality graphics. Fortunately I have a Radeon 9800XT so I could afford to turn the graphics all the way up and boy is it pretty! The environmental effects are really nice as well.

Fast paced fighting

Absorbing - yes despite the fact that alot of the time was me standing around trying to figure out where my group was and wondering what the hell I should all that was part of the fun in a way.

I had no idea what anything was for though, like why we should get skins or what dye potions are and and what have you but that is the fact that I am a newb, nothing else.

Cons

I found it confusing having people talking yet I couldn't find them on my screen. This is prolly because this is my first MMO game. However it would be nice if you could find someone on town by clicking on the name in the chat screen and then a corresponding arrow sorta points to them on the map or something. It took a while to get a party together because no one knew where the other was.

It is rather linear i.e. go down a path and don't stray from it. However this could just be due to the nature and style of the game?

********* WoW looks to be a totally different game. I think I am going to spend a long time (i.e. about 3-6 hours so not really) soloing in WoW before I start grouping so I can get a feel for this game and know what to do before I start playing with others.

I did feel that sense of loneliness at some points and a sense of detachment as well which I can't quite put my finger on, however the game still has a long way to go before retail!

I really liked how I was introduced to the game, starting solo and then coming to the city with everyone. That was neat.

I think I made a bad combo with my mage: fighter mage... I am not really sure how this complements however I only played the game for 2 hours so it is probably just my newbiness.

I'm definitely going to play it after dinnner though as it is an enjoyable game and it shall take the mind of WoW for a while. At the moment I have a character called Lord Teclis so give me a yell if you see me and we can group up if we need a group.

On a random note, I did meet a guy called Aloysius Knight which is a character from this book called "Scarecrow" by Matthew Reilley.. Aloysius also goes by the name "Black Knight" which is what I base my forum name on lol. I found that quite a random and funny experience, so we grouped for a while. :)


Anyhow catcha all.

-BK84

[Vaeth]

Ok, 1) the AI did suck royally.

2) Soloing sucked even more. It was almost impossible for me to solo, which is lame. If guild wars is gonna force us to group like FFXI does, then crap. I'm done with it already.

3) It's free. So, I would say it's definitely worth getting. Sure, you might not play it at all with WoW around. But.... It's a free game. I know I get burnt out on a game if I play it too much, so it'll be sweet to be able to switch to this crappy game for about an hour every once and a while and remind myself how much more I love WoW.

William Moon
16 War/Nec

[powermongor]

It is hard for me to find the words to describe how much I feel this game sucks.

I think the words, "a whole lot", do the trick.

[gL_Zan]

GW was fun the first hours, but i got tired of it fast after that, feelt like "3D Diablo" as someone stated. Doesn't seem to have any "lasting" content. All of the different areas feelt the same after awhile, and just pressing the same 3 key combo on every mob was kindof boring. Not much of a challange.

[richijefe]

I liked GW, was playing until 4am(swedish time) ^_^ it was damn fun, was pvpin all the time in tomb of premieval kings..... a bit in gladiators arena as well =) I thought the game was fun, and the pvp was great, cool graphics and all ^^

Cant judge the game more than that since this is like alpha testing atm hehe

cheers :buddies:

[Jarlo]

Ok will pound out some impressions after staying up too late playing this game.

Pro:
It is FUN. Lots of action and easy to learn but alot of variety with skills. The graphics are amazing, some of the landscapes are just drop dead stunning. The missions are tailored TO YOU really making you feel like the hero and having specific goals. I played a war/necro with my RL buddy on teamspeak playing an elementalist/monk and we had a monk henchman healing us. The henchmen are a great idea, it is so nice not having to play or find a healer.. just have a computer one follow you around! And they are GOOD at it! We had a really good time exploring and working thru missions.

Con:
Could be too easy for many people. Virtually no death penatly. If your party dies it simply resets the mission/area and sends you back to town. Easy to level and levelling makes your skills & spells a bit better but you don't get big HP raises and such.
Didn't even try grouping with the general populace, they seemed pretty bad overall.
Armor upgrades- they seem to have some bizarre crafting system where you can salvage craft parts from drops then pay a NPC crafter to make items from those parts. I started lvl 15 with studded and to get an upgrade to half plate will cost HUGE amounts. I got to 17 in one night and could not even get close to upgrading one armor slot. Couldn't find any weapon crafters or merchants at all.
Most of the missions seemed longish, well over an hour. This could cause problems in people with limited play time. Think LDON runs with alot more detail and scripted events.

Overall I enjoy it but it won't compete with WOW for me. I may get it when it finally comes out to play when I'm bored.

[Jarlo]

Soloing sucked even more. It was almost impossible for me to solo, which is lame. If guild wars is gonna force us to group like FFXI does, then crap. I'm done with it already.


Dude.. henchmen.. use them.

[Donsta]

Ditto on the henchmen advice. If you don't want to group with strangers then hire some henchman. The first mission is pretty easy with 3 henchmen in tow. I'm going to go back and try it with some fellow players now that I have somewhat of a feel for the game.

[Mendaveth]

I started playing guild wars about an hour ago, and finished playing guild wars about 15 minutes ago, probably forever. Call me crazy, but there was just something, missing, from the game. Did anyone else feel this way as well?

I only played for a 1/2 hour so far, but I have the same feeling. I will play it to death this weekend while waiting for OB and draw my definite opinion then.

All new games feel like that to me for the first little while, though.

[Hydro]

I played it a bit more and one of the other things that bothers me is how little you can explore. I guess I got spoiled on WoW (Where you could go virtually everywhere) and now when I see an area, I naturally assume I can go there. The game itself is quite pretty, and the combat isn't all that bad. I think with a lot of tweaks it could almost be decent, but never good enough to make me even consider considering not playing wow.

Powermongor - I am getting this weird feeling that you really didn't like this game... :innocent:

[Morphina]

I for one didn't like guildwars much, walking alone in a solo zone does just not cut it for me. I quit after 2 hours, though back to E3, i was much more intrigued by the game, could it be that the game actually became worse, atleast it didn't grow much.

The only highlight is the character building system. Dual class like Final Fantasy XI, but then a little better.

[Dunbar]

pjmosling:

I agree, the game totally reminds me of Dungeon Seige. In both good and bad ways. Dungeon Seige was fun to play through once, and that's about it. I can see Guild Wars being the same way...fun to play though some of the missions, but after a while it seems rather same-old, same-old.

I played for about 2 hours last night. Had a warrior/monk. Picked up 4 henchmen (monk, ranger, warrior, elementalist) and ran into a random instance. It was cool to have henchmen back you up. I think it is a GOOD thing that you don't have a lot of control over them. They should be there to help round out a group, but they shouldn't be a substitute to having an actual other person in your group. And the AI seems to work well enough.

But all in all, it feels like Dungeon Seige. And it's lacking in the same ways. It's graphically cool and fun to play for a while, but I can't see getting addicted to it. It's like D2 with a huge graphical upgrade, but a few steps backward in terms of quality of gameplay and interesting loot.

[Taajstein]

I for one didn't like guildwars much, walking alone in a solo zone does just not cut it for me. I quit after 2 hours, though back to E3, i was much more intrigued by the game, could it be that the game actually became worse, atleast it didn't grow much.


I felt the same way about it not being as fun.

Keep in mind though, the monsters are lowbie monsters, and later on the monsters are supposed to all use the same spells and combos you can.

All I know was the E3 missions (last one and the bonus one) were HARD.

[RavenFirecaster]

It's a free game. I know I get burnt out on a game if I play it too much, so it'll be sweet to be able to switch to this crappy game for about an hour every once and a while and remind myself how much more I love WoW.
Hit the nail right on the head with this one. WoW is, and will be, and enrapting, immersive game world.

Guild Wars has gorgeous graphics and is the kind of game you can pick up when you're burned out, and also the kind of game you can put back down easily.

Will definitely be a backup for me.

Raven Firecaster, lvl 17 Ranger/Monk

[TheClaps]

I actually hated the game at first and then ended up binging on it until 5:30am :P. The crafting system is ADDICTIVE AS HELL. They have some of the best trading going on in that game I must say.

One think I don't like about the game is how the world doesn't feel organic enough. It's all disjointed since you load from one area to another. It doesn't feel like one cohesive world.

The fights are fun, but get repetitive, and PvP is always the same. I played a ranger/mesmer, an elementalist/mesmer and a elementalist/ranger.

I gotta say though, you CAN solo pretty well if you're a complete badass like my last character. I laid down the AoEs around myself and with quickening zephyr, was able to recast even the longest cooldown ones like right away at the end of my casting order. I basically blew the HELL out of everything that came near me.

Oh yeah. I also enjoy their character customization. Blizzard should take note: They have a GREAT respec system. You get "refund points" which allow you to respec an an amount of points equal to the refund points you have. You gain these points by completing the missions :D. So you get to mess around but not tooo much. However, I can still see it as being all too liberal.

For teh win:

Elementalist/Ranger, Fire Magic, Energy management(?), and maybe some in wilderness survival to make your zephyr last longer.

Oh yeah, and the quality of the groups really make the difference
the problem is, you can NEVER know if someone's competent until you're on a mission with them, since there's very limited social interaction beforehand!

[TheClaps]

another note,

PvP in GW is pretty flavorless. In WoW, it's built into the story and the world. On the PvP server I can walk around in contested areas stalking the enemy while they go about their day. In WoW, PvP has a context in terms of defending a certain town which you known intimately from other players who choose to raid it.

While GW PvP is well engineered and entertaining, it feels like it remains without a real sense of purpose, motivation and real pull. I just go in to show everyone I can kick their butts :P

[Dooplanger]

another note,

PvP in GW is pretty flavorless. In WoW, it's built into the story and the world. On the PvP server I can walk around in contested areas stalking the enemy while they go about their day. In WoW, PvP has a context in terms of defending a certain town which you known intimately from other players who choose to raid it.

While GW PvP is well engineered and entertaining, it feels like it remains without a real sense of purpose, motivation and real pull. I just go in to show everyone I can kick their butts :P

you should know that after 10 years of warcraft, no game can compare with the warcraft story/lore.

[TheClaps]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm going to sit around Gnome Town with my Horde Rogue after release and just wait to kill some Gnomes... Coz I just HATE GNOMES

There's non of that in GW. There's actually really little "fantasy" to it.

[Tevush Kasht]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm going to sit around Gnome Town with my Horde Rogue after release and just wait to kill some Gnomes... Coz I just HATE GNOMES

There's non of that in GW. There's actually really little "fantasy" to it.

So will I. And contrary to what the board tells me, my message is not too short, it's the Gnomes who are too short. There are some rough times ahead for the little punks.

[Hydro]

So will I. And contrary to what the board tells me, my message is not too short, it's the Gnomes who are too short. There are some rough times ahead for the little punks.

Exactly. Part of me wants to play a Tauren Warrior and get the biggest maul I can find, so I can pretend that I am playing that Whack-A-Mole game, only it will be gnomes, and they won't be coming back up...

[Bebles Kioto]

Skyghost put it best.

It feels like Lineage 2, not a good thing. :grrr:

[Cursive]

I didn't like GW all that much. I don't like everything to be instanced and only 6 people in a party goes wrong everytime because everyone wants to be a necro or warrior so you never have someone to heal efficiently. I made it pretty far, but everything I did was useless, no good drops and a bunch of kids who are probably from bnet. 3/4 of the groups I was in argued about the dumbest sh*t and then tried to screw one another by leaving the party at a vital time. Needless to say, I will never play that game again.

[Taajstein]

Skyghost put it best.

It feels like Lineage 2, not a good thing. :grrr:
It's nothing like Lineage 2.

When I played Lineage 2 I was scared out of my mind every second.

You NEVER knew when some Dark Elf would pop up behind you, and back stab you (in Lineage 2 there's a bleed attack that basically puts you at 1/4th health and you'll bleed to 1 hp within seconds) and watch as whatever enemy you were attacking kills you.

Not so bad, you could always get them back, but dying in Lineage 2 meant 3-4 hours to regain what you lost, and that's just at level 20-30.

[BrimSt0ne M0nkey]

I dont find guildwars too impressive. I think it looks beautiful but it will never be enough to drag me away from WoW. I dont think the gameplay of GW's even compares to WoW's.

[Pub-O]

Why even compare guild wars to WoW?

Guild wars is a free online game.

Its totally new, and allot of people in this thread dont know what they are talking about.

First of all - Its not even in beta! Its still in some kind of aftermath of Alpha phase! This game is already a hugh achivement for a new founded company, doing something which has never been done before.

The game is about 80% instanced. All towns and outposts are totally persistent like normal MMOs!


Remember that guild wars is not trying to be WoW or EQ2!

They call it a competition online role playing game.

The reason why you dont see uber gear is that they want to reward personal skill, use of tactics over uber gear.

Its not about how much you played.. its not about how many uber items you have farmed! It's just about using your abillities and tactics to it best from your char pool of minimum 150 abillities!

This game is more like a demo! most of the game is totally cut off.. Its just designed to give a sneak peak of the gameplay.

It was not created to give hardcore gamers 16 hours of day enjoyment!

The comparison is not justified!

I think I will play both WoW and GW because I like them both!

Just because im going to play WoW, it does not mean I can't play anything besides it...

It is just not fair to compare. Apples and Oranges.

Tottaly different games.

[powermongor]

If Shadowbane and Diablo I got married and had a kid, and that kid took a crap, that crap would be Guild Wars.

[Wuntvor]

I didn't really like it either, and I don't think that'll change until release. Basically, it just never felt like a even half-way "real world". There are no houses you can enter, NPC's all look the same and are pretty lifeless as well, and the whole world consists of walled-off paths.
I haven't encountered a single mission where I had to do anything but follow the path and kill everything that is on it, a bit more originality would be nice, really.
That's also the biggest weakness in exploring, it is very obvious that you have different zones, as there are walls that only have a breach every now and then, so when looking for a part that I had not explored yet I sometimes had to run quite far. I like that the map shows exactly where you have been so far, though.

The skill system is a nice idea but becomes really, really confusing due to the sheer number of skills. Battles seem to be quite confusing, at least I had a hard time realizing what was going on around me. Sometimes, I died because I didn't even notice my life was draining because I was so much occupied with all the rest.

In total, it just doesn't seem to be fun to me.. I have played quite some time by now, but I must say that I am about to give up. There is potential, in my opinion, the skill system could be great if they find a way to make combat as a whole less confusing.

[Patroklus]

I've been playing a monk and the healing system has some neat ideas behind it. There is a spell that heals whenever someone takes damage, so like if you get hit for 15 pts you get healed for 10 pts. They've obviously tried to create some thoughtful ways to spice up the healing game. Maybe it's just me, but I found the quests to be exceedingly boring and exactly like phantasy star online w/o voicechat. I also don't think I'll get too pumped up at the idea of sorting through 150 skills to pick seven for a particular situation. 7 skills means alot of spamming 2 or 3 of them.

GW = :sleep: with a few :idea: s thrown in

[Sadow]

I suppose if you did not like Diablo 2, you will be very slow to identify with the game. It has a lot to offer, however - having played it extensively, I can definately say that it is very enjoyable.

The skill limit is there so that it promotes smart management of your skills. If you try to rely entirely on one set for a particular mission set that does not encourage that, you will likely fail - likewise with PVP vs. PVE.

The mission system is quite possibly the best part about the entire game. I have not once worried about my level within the game - that is, I play missions not to level up, but to play the missions. About the only three things I can complain about are the lack of real music, some poor AI in some parts (Mission 4 rings a bell in the final battle.), and some rather poor storyline progression. (It's pretty stereotypical and the dialouge is by no means top notch.)

[Pietoro]

Meh, I only got to play for a half hour today before the server maintenance booted me [and i haven't been able to get back on since], so I haven't formed an opinion yet. :/

[EdVir]

I suppose if you did not like Diablo 2, you will be very slow to identify with the game. It has a lot to offer, however - having played it extensively, I can definately say that it is very enjoyable

I don't know about that one. I enjoyed D2. It just felt like something is missing with Guild Wars. I kept looking for more. I would stray off the path just to see if I was missing something and I wasn't. I did several missions and had no sense of accomplishment at all. It never felt as I ever did anything. I know that things will change before it is released, and that some even enjoy it now as is. To me just running down a path and killing the few monsters that were there is not enough. Going to the arena was unsatisfying as well. Overall I never really had fun playing and that is what a game is supposed to be fun. I felt like a robot going and doing only what the game wanted me to do.

[Sadow]

Guild Wars is almost entirely based on the accomplishment of getting better and better equipment - the whole system of crafting and the rare drop system proves this. Perhaps I am simply biased due to my overindulgance in the rather simplistic kill-this-and-level-up format. A more structured game is far more appealing to me now than more open ended hack and slash.

[Pai Mai]

I didn't like GW all that much. I don't like everything to be instanced and only 6 people in a party goes wrong everytime because everyone wants to be a necro or warrior so you never have someone to heal efficiently. I made it pretty far, but everything I did was useless, no good drops and a bunch of kids who are probably from bnet. 3/4 of the groups I was in argued about the dumbest sh*t and then tried to screw one another by leaving the party at a vital time. Needless to say, I will never play that game again.
Not when you make your own groups. I ended up making a Monk/Mes and my group was one of the few groups to make it to where we made it. Don't remember the exact name of the encounter, but you had to fight five knights and five healers and their leader in a sacrificial circle of power. The first time people were sloppy and letting the healers live while they focused on the melee (duh..). Second time was smooth.

My group had:

1. Monk/Mes (my two mes spells were anti healer: drain mana and feedback)
2. War/Ran
3. Ele/monk
4. Ran/Monk
5. Nec/Ele
6. Ran/War

The game is a lot more interesting when you have people that actually stay together and aren't all war or nec (like you said). That, and when you can actually connect to the server...which is an impossiblity right now on a Friday night at prime time.

I don't know about that one. I enjoyed D2. It just felt like something is missing with Guild Wars. I kept looking for more.
So did I at first. And while I still think D2 was more fun, GW isn't that bad. It's more like a cross between D2 and WoW (gee, I wonder why) than Diablo 3d.

[Jarlo]

Hey I find war/nec really damn good.

Torn between that and war/elly right now :(

[Pai Mai]

I tried a War/Nec and didn't find them all that useful. The really good spells cost a bit of mana and you don't have that much as a War. The ones that you could cast that were good enough were some of the drain life abilities and armor reducing curses. But with a healer in the group, the drains become somewhat pointless. I tried to have some minions but I only ever had enough mana to summon one after each battle, and it takes a while to raise them.

[Cursive]

Hmm, this guy down the hall from me was telling me about how the company that's deving GW was having this meeting with another dev company and something happend were the GW devs got accused of stealing all kinds of ideas from them. Pretty heated debate I guess, funny though.

[Sadow]

Not when you make your own groups. I ended up making a Monk/Mes and my group was one of the few groups to make it to where we made it. Don't remember the exact name of the encounter, but you had to fight five knights and five healers and their leader in a sacrificial circle of power. The first time people were sloppy and letting the healers live while they focused on the melee (duh..). Second time was smooth.

Bloodfen? We were fortunate enough to have some fairly bad AI happening in that one - all of the abbots and the Justiciar kept trying to run into a pathway to somewhere. The Justiciar himself is incredibly simple - just keep pounding away on him. Necromancer/Warrior is an incredibly effective combo. I can keep chaining Soul Feast and keep myself alive indefinitely.

[Jarlo]

The main abilities I use as war/nec is the death magic ability to make pets. At lvl 17 I can make lvl 10 pets and they are fairly useful especially when the monk henchmen keeps them healed 8)

As far as melee using your power.. don't pick skills that use power pick ones that use adrenaline. THen using your melee skills won't chew up your spell power. I have found ax to be the best weapon skill for adrenaline abilities.

I am leaning a bit towards war/ele though just not sure which class of ele magic I am going to pursue.

[1have2much3time]

8 hours in and i doubt i'll play it anymore. I like the fact that it's not about gear and more based on player skill, the graphics are neat, and i likethat there trying a new thing with the download as you go, which actually works pretty well.

I dislike everything else. It gets boring FAST. I don't think GW will hold many people's attention for long, i only played that long because i really wanted it to get better, but it didn't, same old, same old.

I know it's really early stages, and don't wanna sound too harsh, but the phrase "you can't polish a turd" comes to mind. Ok, it doesn't, i just love that phrase.

~1have2much3time

[Bahumat]

I tried out Guild Wars and didn't like it at all. Dunno I couldn't connect with it. The graphics are great but besides that it was a big dull dud. I know it's pretty early in its testing but still...

[MegaLing]

First of all, this is not the full game of course. So im gonna leave out the things that can be fixed with TIME. Now let's get some crap straight

1. very limited interface...or maybe im just dumb? 10 skills max on a interface? that seems bad, plz tell me im wrong.

2. like some1 said, no social side. but again, this is not a mmorpg after all. is it gonna have a b.net similar place to hang? i dont know, some1 tell me plz

3. the combat is..just like d2, nothing more.

4. graphics are STUNNING. im still taking tons of screenshots everywhere

5. the ideas of the teams, arenas, etc are great. however, it's too reliable on that IMO.

I had some great time tho nevertheless, playing with my War/Monk and it was a blast to have the...err..forgot the thing that heals you when you take dmg, whatever. after some random runs, we got a GREAT group together. lead by a higher lvl Monk/??. we had

1 Monk/??
Me War/Monk
War/Nec
R/??
Elementalist/??
Nec/??

and it was a blast. we were kicking alot asses in mission 2 after going thru misson 1 together. then 2 of htem had to leave and we proceeded to get owned mid way thru mission 2.

[Pai Mai]

Hmm, this guy down the hall from me was telling me about how the company that's deving GW was having this meeting with another dev company and something happend were the GW devs got accused of stealing all kinds of ideas from them. Pretty heated debate I guess, funny though.
That's possible but I highly doubt it. GW has a lot of little nuances that are in WoW...and is it any wonder why?

3. the combat is..just like d2, nothing more.
Not quite. It's nowhere near the same speed and nowhere near as mindless. But yes, it is just an action hack fest when it comes down to it.

Bloodfen? We were fortunate enough to have some fairly bad AI happening in that one - all of the abbots and the Justiciar kept trying to run into a pathway to somewhere. The Justiciar himself is incredibly simple - just keep pounding away on him. Necromancer/Warrior is an incredibly effective combo. I can keep chaining Soul Feast and keep myself alive indefinitely.
Yes Bloodfen. Which was a moderately far point to reach for the average group last night. Maybe not much of an accomplishment by now, but it was then. And like I said, the draining powers don't mean much once you have a healer in your group. You would be better off being a War/Monk so that not only can you heal yourself but you can heal others if you have to and also rez. The drains heal you and damage an enemy but the heals cost less and heal more. The minions aren't worth it when you already have a necro and ele in the group with two rangers.

[Donsta]

I was quickly tiring of the game until I finally got in a group with some friends. Now I can't wait to go back.

[RootY-"D34d-Ra1n"]

The e3 event was pretty good when u got a decent group together can't really play gw atm but with what you guys are saying.. might not bother anyways im off to play sum runescape :lol:

[Hydro]

I just hate linear games.

[Pietoro]

After playing a bit more, I dislike the 'stick to the path' way the areas are set up. I mean, the smallest little gully and you have to go around it, and you can barely go up a hill, its all 'walking on a path to the end' sort of thing. It really makes the pretty environments less interesting, once you find you can't really explore them very much, and are basically stuck to the path.

Also, I think having at least one more skill slot would be a good idea.

[Gobbo]

the camera is poo :rant:

[Pub-O]

1. very limited interface...or maybe im just dumb? 10 skills max on a interface? that seems bad, plz tell me im wrong.

It's 8 mate!

The system they are trying to create is tht your supposed to use the skills best for your group. If you have 2 monks in your Guild Vs Guild fight, your supposed to pick different skills to work with each other, for maybe 16 different healing spells and buffs that will stack with each other. Also, if you have two Warriors it's designed being able to be an uber tank with a sword and a shield, or a total dps freak with the giant hammers and offensive hammer mastery attacks.

Your supposed to change from each round, and find out whats the best situation for you to use.

All possible combos have a minimum of 150 skills to choose from when at lvl 20! It's all about creating a template, but not cookie cutter style like SWG or the current broken WoW class talent trees(of course it will get fixed and balanced;) )


2. like some1 said, no social side. but again, this is not a mmorpg after all. is it gonna have a b.net similar place to hang? i dont know, some1 tell me plz

Yeahh I agree with you mate! I wish that they have crreated stuff like Inns, even if just for show! Also it would be great to have a few emotes to boot, like /sit and /wait and /meditiate(great for monks)!

In release they will have guild halls though!


5. the ideas of the teams, arenas, etc are great. however, it's too reliable on that IMO.

Well, as far as groups and missions go, I just used all the hencemen I could find. It was pretty cool cause you feel like a commanding general when they are attacking what you are! But the AI is pretty tricky sometime... On my 3 mission, they enemies started going after my Monk hencemen who was healing the party.. When he had died it was over for me and the rest of the hencemen!



After playing a bit more, I dislike the 'stick to the path' way the areas are set up. I mean, the smallest little gully and you have to go around it, and you can barely go up a hill, its all 'walking on a path to the end' sort of thing. It really makes the pretty environments less interesting, once you find you can't really explore them very much, and are basically stuck to the path.

Well, it was just a sort of a demo. As far as I know the world will be totally hugh! The hole map(press m) will be filled with towns and outposts!

But the point of Guild Wars was also to elminate stuff like Money sinks, long time travels, high death penelties, time sinks, durabillity and so on...

This is also what makes it different from a MMO IMO! Instant fun like a FPS, just as an action RPG:)

Well I still like the game! I hope I will see some of you WoW folks in the game in the rest of this preview or maybe release:) I thinik it's gonna be sweet to play next to WoW;)

-Pubo

[bootstrap]

regardless of all the .."i didnt like it." posts i find it quite interesting and i will follow the development of this free MMOrpg. Sad that they dont have a CB or smthn.

[Sentinel]

MMOrpg

Dont insult the genre by classing Guild Wars as an MMORPG. Thats like saying D2 was an RPG, u should be shot.

[Daemonaz]

There's lots of bias in this thread and I shall put up some pro Guild Wars opinion here. First of all, I am a WoW Euro CB beta tester and I can tell you I have not touched my WoW since the Guild Wars event started. My wife, who once in awhile played my WoW, would now have the perfect opportunity to play more WoW. Guess what she's playing? Guild Wars.

WoW is an excellent game which I will definitely buy but in order to play WoW you need huge amounts of time. If I don't feel like investing time I won't fire up my WoW client because I know my session will be pointless. You usually spend a good time travelling to your target destination and if you don't have more than an hour I find it not worth my time to fire up WoW. Furthermore, WoW is highly level and item based, which means the person with the most time on his hands is by default one of the best players in PvP. Sure, there's some skill involved but PvP encounters are mostly solved around the fact that the person with the highest level and the better equipment wins.

Guild Wars is a game you can fire up. Join the fray for an hour and shut it down again. It's a quick fix. The content and gameplay in Guild Wars is in no way comparable to WoW but it is good enough and very good at what it needs to be good at: fast paced action. The decision to limit players to 8 skills is brilliant. The respec system is brilliant. The items system is great. Combine all these things together and the skilled player knows what skills to select for what mission or in PvP for his designated role. Skill in Guild Wars means more than levels and items. A definite step away from the current RPG trend where everything has to be bigger and better.

My only real problem with Guild Wars is the linearity. You are forced to move down a certain path and although there's many paths available it still feels like you are being steered towards the ending goal. Then again this is a problem in most RPGs so nothing ground breaking but I think it would be good if Guild Wars would allow a bit more freedom. I also think that the missions in this event aren't quite as good as the missions in the E3 event. Everyone who remembers the E3 event will remember the sense of accomplishment when standing on Rotscale's corpse in the last mission. That was extremely tough. I find the missions (apart from that insane last one) in this event way too easy. We have played most missions with guild mates and they are a walk in the park if one leader calls the targets and you know what you are doing. Bloodfen was a joke, don't tell me that was a tough mission. My wife and I beat it with 4 hirelings on our first run.

The NPCs AI is decent, it is flawed in many ways but good enough to get the job done in an alpha version of the game. It definitely needs tweaking though. Nevertheless, they do a better job than the random pick up guy. One person complaining about the spam healing instead of rezzing should tell us the real picture why that happened. The NPC monk will not rez if there are enemies in the vicinity that proof a thread. With good reason I might add because when rezzed you won't have much hitpoints and you will most likely die immediately again. Instead the Monk concentrates on keeping herself alive because if she dies it means it's a complete party wipe out and you will have to start the mission anew.

No death penalty? There's a bigger death penalty in Guild Wars than in WoW. You get a -15% penalty to all your attributes. Dying repeatedly will increase this death penalty to a maximum of 60%. With such a death penalty you will not be doing much. You will be commanded to stay in the back and make certain you stay alive. Your death penalty slowly removes itself by killing enemies. Very slowly. You will lose the penalty when travelling to town. It will carry over to new missions if you do not go to town in between.

In the end, it's a matter of preference. WoW for the long run addiction and Guild Wars for the quick fix. That's my take. And remember Guild Wars is still only in Alpha. Beta starts next weekend.

[Pai Mai]

Dont insult the genre by classing Guild Wars as an MMORPG. Thats like saying D2 was an RPG, u should be shot.
Lol..it always irked me when people would use "D2" and "RPG" in the same sentence.

The NPCs AI is decent, it is flawed in many ways but good enough to get the job done in an alpha version of the game.
What's really sad is that often three NPC's are better than three human players, simply because you can keep them focused easier.

[pjmosling]

One person complaining about the spam healing instead of rezzing should tell us the real picture why that happened. The NPC monk will not rez if there are enemies in the vicinity that prove a threat (?). With good reason I might add because when rezzed you won't have much hitpoints and you will most likely die immediately again. Instead the Monk concentrates on keeping herself alive because if she dies it means it's a complete party wipe out and you will have to start the mission anew.

If you're talking about my GuildWars experience with the NPC healers, I must clarify the situation as you asked. All the enemies in the vicinity had been killed; at the time of my character's death one simple ranged enemy remained and the NPCs quickly disposed of it. Then, for some reason, the NPC's AI return path took him one step into a poison river. Just one step, but then he refused to get out to save his own life. You mentioned "preserve self in order to prevent a wipe" and I agree, that's a good AI strategy for a healer. But this wasn't preserving the healer's life ... this is the AI just not knowing enough to take one step to the left to stop poison from recasting itself perpetually. There's also a point where the AI should have realized that I, myself, was also a healer, and could have helped with the "preservation of life" task handily.

Yes, it's in the Alpha stage. But the NPC merc-AI seems to be in some sort of pre-alpha where they haven't worked out all/any of the kinks. The D2 mercs know more than the GW ones. Heck, even that solo Darkshire guard who runs to his immediate death when Stitches (WoW) first appears knows more than these guys. And he DIES in a few SECONDS.

I'm not trying to tell ya' that you're wrong, because you're not. You made a lot of good points in a thread obviously dedicated to how much GW sucks. But with linearity issues, AI issues, and a community that treats in-town conversation and character naming like a convention in n00bspeak ... there's still a lot to be desired.

[Daemonaz]

Thanks for clarifying the Monk situation. That is indeed a big flaw in the AI. And like I mentioned the AI is far from perfect but good enough in my opinion. If my wife and I can finish Bloodfen with the help of 4 NPCs they can't be all that bad. They are better than the random pickup guy who knows nothing and charges alone into mobs, etc.

I would like to point out to you that the General chat in WoW isn't far from what happens in Guild Wars. People in there are spamming chat too and childish names occur in there too. Granted, the difference will be upon release when many B.net kiddies will play the free Guild Wars and things will go downhill from there. It's one of my major concerns.

I don't think that many people in this thread are being fair towards Guild Wars and most of the misconceptions stem from their huge bias towards the game. First of all, many in this thread worship WoW while they've never even played the game. Don't get me wrong. WoW is great and all that but it definitely has flaws too. Many of the people who have posted in this thread are MMORPG fans and as such Guild Wars cannot satisfy them because it simply is not a MMORPG. It is an action RPG with somewhat more extensive online options than Diablo 2.

I find the whole comparison between the two games hilarious because they are so immensely different. I can understand the comparisons between EQ2 and WoW but let's not get into that one. Guild Wars is, like I mentioned, a quick fix. You fire it up and play a bit then quit again. It wasn't intended to immerse people like WoW.

I can understand your viewpoint on Guild Wars. I'm not making this post, or my previous one, to convince any of you that you are all wrong. I am just posting my opinion of the game, which is vastly different than most posters in here. Naturally, this is a WoW forum. I have been on both sides of the fence. I've also played the EQ2 Beta and I know where I will spend my money: WoW and GW. WoW is beautiful, addictive, immersive and truly polished the Blizzard way. Everything is taken care of down to the detail. It just isn't a game I can always play. Sometimes I need something simple and full of action. Sometimes when you just have only an hour or two to spare to play. Granted, you basically need a good group of friends to enjoy GW and that might be part of the reason why I enjoy it so much. I'm in a GW guild with a bunch of great guys and it makes playing fun.

[Hydro]

Dont insult the genre by classing Guild Wars as an MMORPG. Thats like saying D2 was an RPG, u should be shot.

I started playing D2 on Friday again (no CB test :( ), and got a necro to lvl 40 something in very little time. It was quite a change to never die, to never do quests, and to never really pick up items. I just ran around with all my minions and spammed potions when needed.
Man I miss WoW.

By the way, yes I did just hijack my own thread with OT material...

[spunkspewer]

I am highly suspect on whether Daemonaz was actually a WoW beta tester.
Because if you played WoW, you would know that you can play for 1 hour and you can go through a FEW mini quests.

Guild Wars on the otherhand, is not so friendly. Quests generally take 45 mins - 1 hour to complete so you are stuck for that amount of time. ALSO, if you decide to exit the game...you must restart the quest over again.

Having played in the stress test for 10 days, and having played guild wars till level 18; I must say that the only thing I like about guild wars are the graphics. If you compare guild wars to Diablo 2, team play is much more important and it works well.

However, if you then compare guild wars to WoW...it just simply does not measure up.

Another gripe I have with guild wars is the lame loading system. Towns/Cities are divided into segregated zones. Anyway, I just hate it...there isn't that cohesive feeling in the game. It does not feel that you are in a bigger, overall world.

Also, the quests have been lame and unrewarding so far. I'd much prefer diablo 2 quests (and they sucked too).

As far as I can tell, I am not going to buy guild wars. It has left me dissapointed. I cannot even stand playing the game for 1.5 hours straight.

This is coming from a totally unbias point of view from someone who has played both the WoW stress test and guild wars.

In terms of "fun factor", I had more fun playing diablo 2 than this game..so far. I understand that it is still in the so-called alpha stage...but still.

[spunkspewer]

Anyway,

Daemonaz probably

a) wasn't a WoW beta tester and is outright lying (that's my guess)
b) did not know how to play WoW and only got to like level 8
c) Is working for Arena Net

[Pai Mai]

However, if you then compare guild wars to WoW...it just simply does not measure up.
Try comparing like to like, not two dissimilar things.

Guildwars is like: Guantlet, Golden Axe, Phantasy Star Online, Diablo 2 (somewhat).

Guildwars is unlike: WoW, EQ, DoAC, AC, UO

[spunkspewer]

Guild Wars is similar to diablo 2

Basically, when you are in the "Massive multiplayer" areas in guild wars..it is the same as being in a battle.net chat channel. THAT IS IT, that's where the "massive multiplayer" aspect of guild wars stops.

Thus, guild wars just took a battle.net chat channel and turned it into a 3d environment...and the massive multiplayer element of guild wars stops and ends there.

However, this 3D simulation of a chat channel does have benefits...it allows you to find parties more easily etc.

[Daemonaz]

Wow, just as I thought people were slightly mature on these boards. Guess I was wrong. I am a Euro CB beta tester and whether you believe me or not I don't really care. I am not even saying that GW is better than WoW. They are completely different games. I never came on here to promote the game, I just gave my point of view. It's not much of a wonder that the post comes from a person with the name spunkspewer. I hope you do know that your name violates the naming policy in WoW? This was a waste of my time, good day to you all.

[spunkspewer]

guild wars and WoW are not dissimilar things, fool.

The only reason why they may seem to be "dissimilar" is because WoW is vastly superior to guild wars. I am being totally objective here.

Basically, if guild wars was made by blizzard, it would be the middle game between diablo 2 and world of warcraft. IT is the middle step in the chain of progression (if you neglect guild war's sweet graphics).

Guild Wars and WoW are very similar in terms of play mechanics, camera etc. etc. It is not like comparing counter-strike to WoW..now those are different games in a different genre.

Anyway, trust me, Guild wars is just crap from what I can tell so far.

[Pai Mai]

Basically, when you are in the "Massive multiplayer" areas in guild wars..it is the same as being in a battle.net chat channel. THAT IS IT, that's where the "massive multiplayer" aspect of guild wars stops.
As opposed to WoW, in which you only interact with more than five other people when trading or doing a zerg raid. The majority of the time you are either solo or seperated in your own pocket dimension with five other people. And this makes it more of a "Massive Multiplayer" game over any of the others in what way?

Guild Wars and WoW are very similar in terms of play mechanics, camera etc. etc. It is not like comparing counter-strike to WoW..now those are different games in a different genre.
Actually, Counter-Strike is what people like to call the PvP in WoW, since that's all it is right now. I couldn't see myself playing GW for very long, but it wasn't as bad as what some are making it out to be. It's NOT a damn MMORPG and it never claimed to be.

[spunkspewer]

OUTSIDE of the games themselves, the main difference between guild wars and WoW is the monthly Fee.

Anyway, what Guild Wars strives to be is a MMORPG but it fails miserably. Basically, it is stuck in the middle and the result is a mediocre game AT BEST.

To say that guild wars and WoW cannot be compared is complete rubbish. Back your shiit up with points, not denial.

[Daemonaz]

guild wars and WoW are not dissimilar things, fool.

The only reason why they may seem to be "dissimilar" is because WoW is vastly superior to guild wars. I am being totally objective here.

Basically, if guild wars was made by blizzard, it would be the middle game between diablo 2 and world of warcraft. IT is the middle step in the chain of progression (if you neglect guild war's sweet graphics).

Guild Wars and WoW are very similar in terms of play mechanics, camera etc. etc. It is not like comparing counter-strike to WoW..now those are different games in a different genre.

Anyway, trust me, Guild wars is just crap from what I can tell so far.

You know nothing of what you are talking about. You claim to be unbiased but your posts are full of it. WoW is a MMORPG and Guild Wars is not. Nor do they claim it to be. Get the facts straight and then come back.

[Pai Mai]

Anyway, what Guild Wars strives to be is a MMORPG
Too bad it's not, and too bad it doesn't try to be and they even said it wasn't. You keep trying to compare two different types of games.

[Squarebob Spongepants]

Daemonaz is right. Guild Wars is not a MMORPG nor do ArenaNet make any such claims.

_______________________________

The game is ready for lunch.

[Pai Mai]

For the reading impaired.

What kind of game is Guild Wars?

Guild Wars is a competitive online role-playing game. Players can engage in cooperative group combat, in single player adventures, or in large head-to-head guild battles. Guild Wars is a mission-based game set in a stunning 3D fantasy world that offers full, integrated support for guilds. Because the team that is developing Guild Wars has had experience creating successful online game series such as Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo, the members are familiar with the complex issues surrounding online games, and are creating a game that's both easy to learn and compelling to play long term, and yet doesn’t require players to spend hundreds of hours slogging through the preparation just to get to the fun bits.
Similarities between GW and WoW: cooperative group combat, single player adventures or large head-to-head guild battles. That is where the similarities end. GW is completely focused on action and teamwork, and the PvP aspect, even in it's limited state is much more fun than WoWs.

[Kalm]

YES.

I only skimmed previous posts on Guild Wars but it didn't seem like anyone mentioned the obvious comparison to Dungeon Siege. This game is freakin MMO Dungeon Siege. The only difference is you can't control your hired mercs (more on that later). The drops are essentially the same, even the text display for the drops is the same. Mob interaction is the same. Camera interaction and movement interaction (even the marker when you left-click for automove) are almost identical. Did Blizz just send over some vixen to Gas Powered Games to subtly "extract" their game engine? I am only kidding a little bit here.

The controls and gameplay are typical MMO quality, which means they're pretty good. I already found one majorly lame feature, though. My first mission I decided to solo with two mercs, a ranger and a warrior. This was so that I could learn my class (monk aka healbot) without risking a party wipe on the first day/hour of play.

So the ranger runs off, gets a few adds, they all somehow decide to target the healer (smart AI, I guess?) otherwise known as me. I promptly die, being that I am wearing n00b armor galore and the level 15 heal is a whopping couple % points of my health. So we're all standing near this poison river. I can't rez myself. Rangers have no rez. Warrios do, so I'm covered, right? HAHA no, the warrior decides to stand in the river, with no apparent way to get him to move. He never gets the chance to rez me because he keeps having to spam Purify and Heal on HIMSELF. WHEN THERE IS A HEALER A FEW FEET AWAY. This guy is level 15, too, he should be somewhat intelligent, right? I don't know who decided to include "perpetually heal for miniscule amounts of health rather than rez the healer" into the game code, but it's a really lamebrained decision.

End rant. :(
You guys are judging a game based on a preview version, + an interface you aren't familiar with. It's really obtuse.

First off, I'll point out what you did wrong.

You should use a full party. The quests are made for a full party to do, so you should have had a full compliment, ranger, warrior, monk, ele, you.

A level 15 heal IIRC is about 40 life, compared to your say 160. That's quite a good bit. After the very first quest you can buy more skills which heal better as well. You shouldn't sit there, back up, let the warrior and ranger hit. But, like I said, you should have had a full group, so it's no wonder you wiped. Even my lvl 20 w/ a lvl 20 pet had trouble soloing some of the first areas.

You're wrong again. Henches don't have res, well only monk henches. Every character besides a monk starts out with a Res Signet, which you can use once per mission, each time you start it.

Now if you want to hear the opinion of a person who knows what he's talking instead of a frustrated kid, here goes.

The graphics are very good, and there are almost no bugs at all. Given, most of the content isn't in yet, but the game played like a released game this early on. There were small pathing bugs occasionally, but no crashes or anything. It did take me a while to get used to the interface, tabbed enemy changing attack with space, forming a party, finding missions, finding healers, craft, but only a few hours.

The classes each have their own unique feel, with a lot of cool aspects to each. There is really no reason to play one class over another besides what you prefer. A ranger can get a party as easily as a warrior or elementalist. What they've shown of the plot so far is pretty good too, and the pvp works well. From the considerable time I spent in the Gladiator's Arena, I'd say a good warrior is pretty overpowered because their signet heals sooo much. But, it might just be my frustration talking. I made my character pretty good, and the salvaging system is fun as well. It means even crap loot you could only sell for a couple gold could be useful to you. Also, you basically make money off of it unless you have terrible luck. Buy a superiour salvage kit for 20 gold, you salvage one metal item and you have a few ingots, which pays for the kit, which has 25 uses. Anyway...

For a demo, damn good. It kept me as enthralled as d2 every did ever since it started, and while it does have a lot of similar features, every game has things alike. If it worked so well once, why change it just to make a few people happy? Undoubtedly there would be just as many people mad about them changing certain aspects just to be 'different'.

If they added more quests/skills/levels, fixed a bit of camera problems I'd buy the game, especially since it's free to play. But, I'm still probably going to be playing WoW, and when the open beta starts it won't be a big contest which to play. :)

[Kalm]

And for the people saying 'it has no story behind it' etc, it's a freaking demo. Take the demo of d2 where you only go up to stony field, don't learn about the prime evils or the world, any other monsters, areas, etc. Oh, and cut yourself down to the first couple lines of skills.

The game isn't even in beta yet...it's very unfair to compare it to WoW which has been in beta for like a year.

[spunkspewer]

dude do not talk about maturity lol.

Anyway, guild wars, at its current state; Is crap.

Hopefully, when the game releases, it will be better...I see potential there but they have a lot of work to do.

[spunkspewer]

pai mai,

IF you believe that WoW and Guild Wars cannot be compared you are a moron.
I am a grad student, I got to where I am becuase I can argue.

However, I am not goin to waste my time writing up an essay (yes I can) on how WoW and Guild Wars is similar in scope. I think anyone with half a brain will notice that they are indeed VERY similar and the only thing that differentiates their respective markets are........players that want to pay vs. players that do not want to pay. THAt is it.

Anyway, i am not about ot waste my time typing up something that a 13 year old such as yourself cannot critically engage in.

And for Daemonaz, ok fine...i am glad you like guild wars. Good for you. But for most of us, it (at this state) has nothing to offer cept for some really sweet graphics.

You could argue that Guild Wars is in a pre-alpha phase..but is it really? My cousin played thiis shiit a few months ago. PRE ALPHA PHASE? That's probably an excuse a company makes to keep its shortcomings latent...hell that's what i'll do if I released a POS.

Let me put it bluntly, if you are willing to pay the price to play World of Warcraft..you can just skip right past guild wars. Basically, everything that's offered in Giuld Wars you can find in World of Warcraft. Cant say the same for the other way around though.

End of story.

[Pai Mai]

pai mai,

IF you believe that WoW and Guild Wars cannot be compared you are a moron.
I am a grad student, I got to where I am becuase I can argue.
For someone who takes pride in arguing, you can't form convincing arguments. When you can't win, you just throw flames.

Good day.

[spunkspewer]

Also, if Daemonaz can advocate guild wars based on so-called "pre" alpha assumptions...then I can sure as hell bash it and my points woud be equally as valid.

[Backdoor Bandit]

For someone who takes pride in arguing, you can't form convincing arguments. When you can't win, you just throw flames.

Good day.

Very true. The comment above is nothing short of ridiculous. I am a grad student because I can argue...simply pathetic. Cant believe you said that.
What University are you from if I may ask?

-Backdoor Bandit

[Ifrit18]

Lets lay off the flames people ;). Got a problem with someone, please take care of it through private messages or take it up with the admins.

This is a thread on "thoughts of guild wars."

Guild wars has some work to be done. Its a decent game right now, but it could be a lot better by release.

Its all about release :thumbsup:.

[pjmosling]

First off, I'll point out what you did wrong.

Thanks, but what I REALLY did wrong was expecting too much from a game in its Alpha stage. There's really only so much they can do PRE-beta, right? Most people here don't want to flame the game, well maybe it's current AI implementation, but that is about it. Graphics are good, quests have good albeit limited stories.


But, like I said, you should have had a full group, so it's no wonder you wiped.

You're wrong again. Henches don't have res, well only monk henches. Every character besides a monk starts out with a Res Signet, which you can use once per mission, each time you start it.

Now if you want to hear the opinion of a person who knows what he's talking instead of a frustrated kid, here goes.

Don't know why you flame me as a frustrated kid. I am pretty sure I'm older than you. It's great that you know what you're talking about, for an Alpha of a game. Really, I respect that. But...

You seem to have not read the follow-up exchanges about my AI gripes. I mistakenly did not reveal the whole situation in that post you have singled out as frustration. I had a monk, who was the healer. I confused monk and warrior at the time of my post. I also had a ranger. The rez was up to the monk. He just stood in the poison and refused to move. My group did NOT wipe. In fact the only one dead was me. That's a wipe? After 10 minutes of the monk repeatedly healing himself, I just turned the game off and reloaded the level. To me, and apparently to many other people, some of the AI implementation seems really flawed. If they fix it ... great! If they don't, expect people to continue to gripe.

I think you and Daemonaz made some very good points that made me (at least) reconsider my dislike of the game. I still don't like it, and that's because of the linearity and the AI. It seems to have everything else working for it just fine. The linearity seems to be the BASIS of the game, which means it's not going to be my cup of tea in the first place. Now I know that.

You made enough well reasoned points and there seems to be enough support for them on these boards that I wonder why you had to disparage a rookie on these forums as a "frustrated kid" whose arguments you seem to boil down to "sucking at the game." I joined this board because it seemed cooler than the b.net or WoW beta forums. Veterans of these boards, is that really the kind of treatment this community offers?

[frauenhund]

Guild Wars is nothing like WOW. I can't even start to play Guild Wars for 10 minutes without making me dream of playing a far better game in WOW. It's to bad though because I really thought that I would like the game.

[pjmosling]

Guild Wars is nothing like WOW. I can't even start to play Guild Wars for 10 minutes without making me dream of playing a far better game in WOW. It's to bad though because I really thought that I would like the game.

GW isn't supposed to be like WoW at all. They're not even the same genre. If you had been playing Mario Kart and I gave you Halo, you'd be stunned at the difference between those, too. Guildwars = beautifully mastered semi-cross between Diablo 2 and Dungeon Siege (or whatever mostly linear online games you want to input). World of Warcraft = MMORPG set in the Warcraft universe. It's a pretty hefty difference in cores.

[frauenhund]

GW isn't supposed to be like WoW at all. They're not even the same genre. If you had been playing Mario Kart and I gave you Halo, you'd be stunned at the difference between those, too. Guildwars = beautifully mastered semi-cross between Diablo 2 and Dungeon Siege (or whatever mostly linear online games you want to input). World of Warcraft = MMORPG set in the Warcraft universe. It's a pretty hefty difference in cores.
No crap sherlock, I know that. I was responding to earlier threads to people who think they are. Guild Wars is beautifully mastered piece of trash. Sure the game looks great but thats all that it has going for it. I have tried 5 different times to sit down and play it but each time I turn the game off that much faster.

[pjmosling]

Guild Wars is nothing like WOW.

GW isn't supposed to be like WoW at all.

No crap sherlock, I know that.

I don't get it. You said ... well anyway, I AGREE with you. I wasn't trying to elicit hostility. I don't like GW, either! and most people here also would say the same. Considering this is a World of Warcraft board, I'm sure we're all more pleased about the upcoming ST and OB of WoW than we are about the advent of Guild Wars.

[Dynamix]

If there was no such thing as WoW, thank god there is though :lol: . I bet GW would have got a better responce then it did. The same for EQ. WoW is certainly drawing lots of attention from the MMORPG fans and community.

Most people think EQ2 is just a gfx/content update. Not that there is anything wrong with that. But WoW is looked opon as the next step in MMORPGs. Justing looking at the screen shots makes you yearn to play. People are checking the websites every 5 mins to see the news on Open Beta.

With that much anticipation, Guild Wars had no chance in getting a good responce. Its like people waiting for the SuperBowl, and a rerun of the first game of the season is playing. People assume, "Seen that, Played that, Done with that." GW might have great gfx but it has nothing new to offer.

WoW on the other hand is full of new stuff. And its being built on the stongest foundation in the gaming community. True its a RTS foundation and WoW is a MMORPG.

[Chaosas]

I liked Guild Wars. Really.
When I started crafting stuff and completed the mission after which you discover a new town... With new skills... It started being even more fun :thumbsup: I liked explorable areas, crafting system, PvP, but probably I liked missions best. Ah were were so stuck at Henge Portal mission (tried 4 times) but we finally did it then we got the new city :thumbsup:

P.S. Felexitus Darksun PM me/

[ramrally]

i think fanboyism has biased some people's judgement of guild wars.

it is like a super diablo 2. the large PvP arenas are like mini MMORPGBBQs. they were at 64 players, 8 groups of 8, max. but recently were made to only 16 players 2x8. the PvP aspect is fun nonetheless. the levelling is slower than wow. the classes are like those in diablo2, but you can have major and minor professions, allowing mroe customization and specialization in groups . it is a hack and slash, there isnt much in ways of timesinks, moneysinks, and typical crappy eq-style MMO garbage.

the minimap features are amazing, and really should be implemented into wow, or any other game with a minimap, nuf said.

the large towns and mission base's provide an MMORPGBBQ feel. there are tons of people, spamming the chat window with WTB, FS, chat and general garbage that shouldn't be on a general chat channel. i havent seen a FS/WTB channel, so thats something that should be implemented, come gw's release.

one thing is certain, to be successful, a well working group is a must, perhaps guilds could take mmorpg gaming to the next level by practicing team based tactics and strategies, because the game does take some skill to be the best. a difference between gw and wow is that in gw, time doesn't equal skill, like it does in so many MMOs

/end ranting review

[Rhocky]

I dont' like to sell myself on only one game... I like many games. I like gaming.

I'm not too fond of GW right now though. I don't really want to go into all the details of it, no point really, it's all preference I suppose. I am hoping they'll have another 'preview' event directly prior to release so people can get a feel for how things have changed again. I know I'm not alone in the crowd of people who were optimistic about this game after the e3 demo, but are somewhat displeased now.

[Xinhuan]

Guild Wars... ok

1. Interface wasn't very good. I couldn't turn off click-to-move. Mini-map couldn't zoom in/out, and you couldn't find lost party members! Once lost, forever lost until you bump into him again. Ability to doodle on minimap was nice though. Party box only showed HP and whether member was poisoned... didn't have the buffs/curses status or anything.

2. Missions are too linear. Solo regions are identically linear with a few different paths to choose from. With a huge land area, the places you can actually walk on is about 5% or 10%.

3. Availability of henchmen seemed to have despoiled the game. Almost every group I have joined uses a Monk henchmen, because they work better than a real Monk (healer). Real Good Monk players are hard to find and nobody really wants to be Monks.

4. Walking from one end to the map to the other (through the solo zones) takes about 2 hours maximum I think. I walked between 2 mission outposts, and roughly took the time, and scaled it across the whole map. A bit small perhaps, the game world, and add the fact it's 10% walkable terrain.

5. Lack of player interaction. The places where you can play with party members and friends, are in 2 places: Missions and PvP Missions. Want to play with your friend? Must be in a Mission or a PvP Mission.

6. Spam. There isn't any trade system in place, no auction house, no chat channels for auction, so everybody just goes to town and spam WTS, WTT, WTB, etc etc.

7. You suddenly realise you don't know how to log out of the game, until you check the Keyboard Controls and find out that to log out, you press F10. I'm talking about logging out to log in another character/account, not quitting the game.

8. They got rid of the skill gem system, you now buy all skills. You can't trade skills anymore. It had the promisings of a good trading economy.. but nooo..!

----------------

What I like about Guild Wars.

1. Their PvP system is excellent. The way you can team up and discuss strategies for even and fair PvP matches is very fun. You can get into known groups, pickup groups, random matches, etc. Very nice.

[Sentinel]

7. You suddenly realise you don't know how to log out of the game, until you check the Keyboard Controls and find out that to log out, you press F10. I'm talking about logging out to log in another character/account, not quitting the game.

ill be damned. I had no idea you could actually log out, I just quit and loaded. Stupid game :grrr:

[spunkspewer]

Guild Wars is only good for those people who do not want to pay for WoW.

But objectively speaking, Guild Wars strives to be a MMORPG ala WoW but falls flat on its @ss. And if you disregard the price, WoW is a far superior game to Guild Wars.

And if Guild Wars actually did charge a monthly fee, then it would be just a really shiitty WoW wannabe with prettier graphics.

[Pai Mai]

Guild Wars... ok

1. Interface wasn't very good. I couldn't turn off click-to-move. Mini-map couldn't zoom in/out, and you couldn't find lost party members! Once lost, forever lost until you bump into him again. Ability to doodle on minimap was nice though. Party box only showed HP and whether member was poisoned... didn't have the buffs/curses status or anything.
Agreed. My biggest complaint was that I could not tell exactly when a buff ended on someone.

2. Missions are too linear. Solo regions are identically linear with a few different paths to choose from. With a huge land area, the places you can actually walk on is about 5% or 10%.
Agreed again, but they somewhat have to be to keep a coherent story in an action game.

3. Availability of henchmen seemed to have despoiled the game. Almost every group I have joined uses a Monk henchmen, because they work better than a real Monk (healer). Real Good Monk players are hard to find and nobody really wants to be Monks.
Guess that makes me in the minority then, because people kept letting me know that the reason they won X mission is because they had a real monk with them. And it wasn't so much because of just heals either...the Monk npc was "ok" enough for that, although pretty stupid when it came to rezzing people.

5. Lack of player interaction. The places where you can play with party members and friends, are in 2 places: Missions and PvP Missions. Want to play with your friend? Must be in a Mission or a PvP Mission.
And this is different from Diablo 2 in what way?

6. Spam. There isn't any trade system in place, no auction house, no chat channels for auction, so everybody just goes to town and spam WTS, WTT, WTB, etc etc.
Any game that has chat that everyone can see has spam. The only difference is that in most games you can filter it out. You could in this game to, but it was only by putting each individual on ignore...which would take more time than it's worth.

7. You suddenly realise you don't know how to log out of the game, until you check the Keyboard Controls and find out that to log out, you press F10. I'm talking about logging out to log in another character/account, not quitting the game.
I never knew how to log out and it was pissing me off...I would have to keep exiting and then restarting the game.
----------------

What I like about Guild Wars.

1. Their PvP system is excellent. The way you can team up and discuss strategies for even and fair PvP matches is very fun. You can get into known groups, pickup groups, random matches, etc. Very nice.
That is why I keep saying that if you want real PvP, get GW because it's way better than anything WoW has currently.

[Rhocky]

Guild Wars is only good for those people who do not want to pay for WoW.

But objectively speaking, Guild Wars strives to be a MMORPG ala WoW but falls flat on its @ss. And if you disregard the price, WoW is a far superior game to Guild Wars.

And if Guild Wars actually did charge a monthly fee, then it would be just a really shiitty WoW wannabe with prettier graphics.

Actually, i don't think Guild Wars strives to be an MMORPG. It has a pace closer to WoW, but the action is 'instanced' like Diablo, with limited people each game. It has a strong PvP element like WoW, but whereas WoW focuses on an ongoing struggle between two alliances, GW's focus is smaller arena fights. WoW may have arena as well, though I'll wager that it actually plays out better in GW.

[Pai Mai]

WoW may have arena as well, though I'll wager that it actually plays out better in GW.
I doubt it. There are a lot more combinations you can have in GW than in WoW.

[Daemonaz]

Guild Wars is only good for those people who do not want to pay for WoW.

But objectively speaking, Guild Wars strives to be a MMORPG ala WoW but falls flat on its @ss. And if you disregard the price, WoW is a far superior game to Guild Wars.

And if Guild Wars actually did charge a monthly fee, then it would be just a really shiitty WoW wannabe with prettier graphics.

You are truly unbiased. Please stop already before it truly turns rediculous. You are trying to start a flame war and I'm not willing to go there. I like Guild Wars, you don't. That's fine but don't try to force your opinion down our throats as the be all end all. I will play both WoW and Guild Wars that's for certain. And for the last time: Guild Wars is not a MMORPG, nor did it ever claim to be.

[Rhocky]

I doubt it. There are a lot more combinations you can have in GW than in WoW.

Won't matter. You have so many compulsory skills that there's little room to play around. That's one of the things I kinda don't like about it, actually. So many kinda neat skills that won't likely get use.

Big example: Mantras, for the Mesmer. In PvE if you know you'll be facing one type of damage, that's one thing. In PvP? If you know you'll be facing one type of damage, it's probably cause that type has spells which are better than the others, which means that there's an imbalance which needs to be fixed. With only 8 slots, if all spell lines were 'balanced' then it would hardly be worth a slot for protection to only one.

But as far as skill playing a role in PvP, GW has done a fairly good job. Fights last long enough that you actually have to use a bit of strategy and teamwork rather than just "Get my spell off before they get theirs". There are also no spells that completely incapacitate for extended periods of time (Read: Polymorph or Fear), so that you actually get to play your character.

[Jarlo]

Wow alot of misinformed people out there.

1) You can play with your friends in the explorable areas. Each post mission gathering spot has a mission as well as an explorable area. The explorable areas are fairly large but overall a bit bland. A few chests here & there and the one off Lion's Arch has 2 submissions and a trainer but I haven't found any others. These areas are nice to roam and hunt for salvage gear with henchmen. I wandered one so long yesterday my henchmen leveled to 16.

2) Party display- THe HP bars are colored. If the bar is pink they have a DOT on them, if it is green they are poisoned. Easy to see if they need a cure no? As far as monk buffs, if you buff a player a small icon is displayed above your skill bar. It tells you who the buff is on. If the buff fades (they only fade due to distance, death, or dispell from enemy) the icon fades.

3) Story- I have only won the first 3 missions but it is clear there is a story involving the White Mantle that is remarkable similar to the White Cloaks from Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.

If WOW was out I would definatly play it, but I may end up getting GW.

[Hopfrog]

Wow alot of misinformed people out there.

1) You can play with your friends in the explorable areas. Each post mission gathering spot has a mission as well as an explorable area. The explorable areas are fairly large but overall a bit bland. A few chests here & there and the one off Lion's Arch has 2 submissions and a trainer but I haven't found any others. These areas are nice to roam and hunt for salvage gear with henchmen. I wandered one so long yesterday my henchmen leveled to 16.

2) Party display- THe HP bars are colored. If the bar is pink they have a DOT on them, if it is green they are poisoned. Easy to see if they need a cure no? As far as monk buffs, if you buff a player a small icon is displayed above your skill bar. It tells you who the buff is on. If the buff fades (they only fade due to distance, death, or dispell from enemy) the icon fades.

3) Story- I have only won the first 3 missions but it is clear there is a story involving the White Mantle that is remarkable similar to the White Cloaks from Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.

If WOW was out I would definatly play it, but I may end up getting GW.

Downloaded last night and messed around with GW a little this morning.Cant really comment too much and this game is a shell of what it will be in the future(I Hope)!Found the end of first quest only to discover I had to download ANOTHER patch to move on!!!!ACKKK, shoulda explored more.Will do so as soon as patch is loaded (5 hours?!! curses to my 56 k connection).I dont see how you could really go wrong with GW, what with it being free and all- plus its comin from Roper and co(correct me if Im wrong).I will follow the game with mild interest. :spy:

[Masamunae]

Possibly the most boring and pointless game I've ever played. Honestly, if WoW wasn't an option, I would rather play EQ over this game. I found no strategy whatsoever in this game. It was just mash the buttons as soon as they refresh. Rinse. Repeat. It's even more mindless when you pick a full party of NPCs because they can play better than normal players!

And everything being that insanced? I thought the point of a MMOG was to actually meet people? I litteraly saw maybe 20 people the entire time I played. If that's the case, why the hell are they wasting their time making it a MMOG? Just set it up like most other online games, where one person hosts the game and he can invite 10 or 20 people into it. I was hoping this would be a fun little game I'd pick up and play every now and again just for a change of pace. Unless there are some pretty sweeping changes made, I would never pay money to play this game. Hell, it's free and I've already uninstalled it.

[Pai Mai]

2) Party display- THe HP bars are colored. If the bar is pink they have a DOT on them, if it is green they are poisoned. Easy to see if they need a cure no? As far as monk buffs, if you buff a player a small icon is displayed above your skill bar. It tells you who the buff is on. If the buff fades (they only fade due to distance, death, or dispell from enemy) the icon fades.
Goes to show you didn't play a monk then. You do not see temporary buffs that you cast on other players. The only thing that is displayed are enhancements that you pay an upkeep for by having your mana regen lowered. I am talking about effects that mitigate damage or cause you to heal when hit that are on timers. You do NOT see those, just like you do NOT see the effects that you cast on an enemy. You see what is on YOUR character and that's it.

[Arioch]

I played GW for a few hours, and it didn't "grab" me. The graphics are nice, but it seems like there's an awful lot of detail that seems to serve no functional purpose (like the ships and huts near the starting city), and the full-screen bloom (which you can't turn off) gave me a headache after a while. The backgrounds are very nice, but there's a lot of stuff (like those giant castles in the distance) you can't seem to get to. The spell icons are huge and ugly. The group features aren't as smooth as in WoW, and when I joined a group on a mission there was almost no communication. There also wasn't much of a sense of who I was or where I was, or what was going on and what I was doing. The game did run very smoothly on my machine, at 1280x960 with details cranked up.

I realize it's only a preview, but that's all I have to go on.

[Hydro]

Hell, it's free and I've already uninstalled it.

I feel you brother Masamunae...

[Chawx]

I have to say that I was pretty dissappointed as well. I was expecting more than what I got, even in beta. I guess I was not expecting so much focus to be on PvP, I personally like to play a game for a little while before I jump into PvP, and there really wasn't much there other than PvP. I was looking forward to this game very much for a very long time, and I am not impressed so far. :sleep:

[Kalm]

Guild Wars... ok

1. Interface wasn't very good. I couldn't turn off click-to-move. Mini-map couldn't zoom in/out, and you couldn't find lost party members! Once lost, forever lost until you bump into him again. Ability to doodle on minimap was nice though. Party box only showed HP and whether member was poisoned... didn't have the buffs/curses status or anything.

2. Missions are too linear. Solo regions are identically linear with a few different paths to choose from. With a huge land area, the places you can actually walk on is about 5% or 10%.

3. Availability of henchmen seemed to have despoiled the game. Almost every group I have joined uses a Monk henchmen, because they work better than a real Monk (healer). Real Good Monk players are hard to find and nobody really wants to be Monks.

4. Walking from one end to the map to the other (through the solo zones) takes about 2 hours maximum I think. I walked between 2 mission outposts, and roughly took the time, and scaled it across the whole map. A bit small perhaps, the game world, and add the fact it's 10% walkable terrain.

5. Lack of player interaction. The places where you can play with party members and friends, are in 2 places: Missions and PvP Missions. Want to play with your friend? Must be in a Mission or a PvP Mission.

6. Spam. There isn't any trade system in place, no auction house, no chat channels for auction, so everybody just goes to town and spam WTS, WTT, WTB, etc etc.

7. You suddenly realise you don't know how to log out of the game, until you check the Keyboard Controls and find out that to log out, you press F10. I'm talking about logging out to log in another character/account, not quitting the game.

8. They got rid of the skill gem system, you now buy all skills. You can't trade skills anymore. It had the promisings of a good trading economy.. but nooo..!

----------------

What I like about Guild Wars.

1. Their PvP system is excellent. The way you can team up and discuss strategies for even and fair PvP matches is very fun. You can get into known groups, pickup groups, random matches, etc. Very nice.

1st off, for people calling it beta, it's not BETA, it's a DEMO. You start at lvl 15, they give you pretty good gear, etc.

To the person he said he saw 20 people..I've seen thousands of people, and probably grouped with a couple hundred.

1. The interface does need to be prettier, but I don't think the minimap should zoom in and out. You have the full map for that, you just press M.

2. Missions are linear because the game has a storyline. WoW for example is just kind of sitting there at a standstill between the factions, but in the demo (keep that in mind) you go from being White Mantle (cultists masquerading as religious figureheads) to being allied with the Shining Blade. You go from quest to quest, normally when you finish a quest you find a town or a new area, + there's a ton to explore. Anyway, I'm sure in the real game you'll have several quests you can choose at one time.

3. Most smart people will choose a monk player over a henchman. It's just that a lot of the monk players suck, so it's hard to tell. At the later levels, where only the 'good survive' you might say, people rarely buy henchman.

4. Walking from one end to the other, sure, but the map isn't set up like that. First off, you'd have to fight monsters, or they'd follow you and kill you, second, there's so much space in between, saying 2 hours is misleading. To explore all the space even in the demo would take several days.

5. Player interaction? You have every quest, the places between quests, the cities for trading (you HAVE to trade to get better gear), the gladiator arena, the tomb of kings, etc. The only time you should be alone is the first quest or if you're with henchman.

6. It's a beta. I admit it was annoying, but I tended to ignore it or read it if I was trading. If someone is spamming nothing useful, then I ignore listed him.

7. I agree, they should tell you somewhere. Demo though.

8. I don't understand. To get better gear you have to trade. How is that not a good trading economy? I like the base material/crafter system as well. Although, it would be nice to find some armor off a monster. :(

[Rhocky]

2) Party display- THe HP bars are colored. If the bar is pink they have a DOT on them, if it is green they are poisoned. Easy to see if they need a cure no? As far as monk buffs, if you buff a player a small icon is displayed above your skill bar. It tells you who the buff is on. If the buff fades (they only fade due to distance, death, or dispell from enemy) the icon fades.


I wasn't fond of the HP bars as a mes/monk. It was fine if all I was doing was healing, and wasn't worrying about the enemy warrior/necro and warrior/monk trying to pummel me into the ground. But if I'm in a hectic situation (usually PvP), one small display off on the right of my screen with slender bars and full names written on them was no good at all. I'd like to think I'm usually pretty good at multi-tasking in MMOs (I'm not so good at multi-tasking macro/micro in RTS'es though). I was playing a class that wasn't that hard to do under optimum circumstances. I backfired or chaos stormed when the situation was appropriate and I didn't have to reveal myself too much, energy tap as often as possible (since I was always low on energy), and other than that i basically healed. When things got gritty thuogh... I'd have to use that Midnight Signet on a warrior near me, ether feast them for a quick self heal, backfire enemy mesmers before they get me, use the itnerruption signet on a caster, slow another warrior chasing me, and all this while I'm trying to cast Heal Orison on one teammate and Heal Other on another.

When multiple teammates are wounded, my party bar is no help in determining which one is the warrior and which one is just an elementalist surrounded by 4 enemeis and about to die anyway. It doesn't tell me if the guy I'm about to try to heal has run off on his own ont eh other side of the map and will take me 10 seconds to reach. The same goes for dead people, if I'm about to throw off a quick rez I want it to be the right person. By that i mean... the class combination that I need up most importantly, and they have to be close enough that I can do it immediately.

The little party graphic is almost no help in the crucial pvp fights.

edit: And I believe I listed 9 skills up there, obviously I was exaggerating a bit. ;) I did use them at different times, though my typical 4v4 skillset was backfire/chaos storm/ether feast/midnight signet/energy tap/heal orison/heal other/rez. Sometimes I swappred out chaos storm for the interrupt signet (can't think of the name), against the good teams interrupt was more important, but most groups just had a caster/monk sit next to eachother spamming spells, and chaos storm was a great way to eat some of their energy fast. 8v8 I didn't use the interrupt signet at all, too laggy to see who was casting what in time, and chaos storm was more useful with more enemies. Course I also played aroudn with other skills, Holy Veil for instance is a great skill, but I was usually quick enough to avoid the painful hexes like backfire and I hated using a slot on it, plus sucking up my energy.

[Chaosas]

Remember it's only a pre-view, not even beta!
I've completed about 7 missions (maybe I'm wrong... I mean mission when you get new town and mission after that, too) then I started getting a feel of the game...
GW is good :thumbsup:

BTW talking about "WoW wannabee" is full bull****, the game is DIFFERENT from WoW... You can't compare them.

[Leuchovius]

I think a lot of people will like GW, especially people with no money to spend on monthly fees (a.k.a. kids). GW is where the Bnet morons go when D2 shuts down, unfortunately.

I didn't dislike Guild Wars though. It won't require as heavy an investment in time and energy as WoW or other MMORPG's. GW is just some good ole' hack 'n 'slash, beautifully rendered. I might even buy it if they fix the quest linearity and battlefield confusion. :thumbsup:

One thing I think could be very interesting is the Guild system and PvP. I'm thinking alliances of people who invest in group dynamics, customizing their skills and spells to develop particular team tactics. You'd get healer-heavy holy crusader never-dying teams, offensive elementalist blaster teams with heavy mana-regen support, charging warrior warbands with plenty damage and speed buffing, etc. Since you get XP for killing other players, you'd get powerful PK rogue bands roaming the lands, pushing newbies around. Could be fun. :cheesy:

As for the comparison to D2 loot and itamz... its friggin ALPHA. WPE was not even beta. There weren't even complete icon graphics for most of the weapons. For all we know, GW could become even more item-heavy than D2 once it's finalized.


...what's with the Gnome-hatred? :scared:

[Scipio]

Good game. Too bad my internet provider decided to have server maintenance on friday and saturday, so I could only play on sunday. Didn't take away the fun though :D

Edit: spelling

[Anaram]

I played the guild wars preview and found exploring to be incredibly boring. The explorable areas are quite large (in terms of what it takes to move around and kill the enemies) and you have no chance of encountering anyone. The most interesting thing you could find was some "big" monster - which with a good party was wussy anyway and didn't drop anything neat. In one explorable area you can find a trainer, and even there you get sent on a side quest so you don't just randomly stumble on them. Who wants to explore things if you don't discover anything? This isn't the final game so perhaps the final will have something in the explorable areas.

If someone from your party leaves you also have no chance of getting anyone to replace them - you really need to have a group of mates if you don't want half your party vanishing mid-exploration.

PVP seemed like it could be fun but I couldn't test that too much due to lag.

Just a few observations. I won't step into the swamp of comparing guild wars to WoW. They are too different though I believe I'll enjoy WoW more assuming it has decent PvP.