Guild Wars: worth getting or try another MMO???

[jonj320]

Hi everyone, im looking to get a new MMO. I used to play Final Fantasy 11, but i kinds started to hate how dated it looks. i already tried WOW and i can say that it isnt for me. So ive been looking at guild wars. it looks decent and seems pretty fun. im asking if anyone has any suggestions or imput on guild was or just experiences with the game. i know that i donot like games that play by dungeons and dragons rules(dice and stuff).

I also heard that there is no fee for guild wars, and im wondering if that is true and also wondering how the expansion packs play with the origional game, do i keep the same character, things like that,

any imput is apreciated. thank you all very much.

 

[computer_noob]

Well, Guild Wars has PvE content, and while they they've made a lot of changes to favor PvE the core of the game is it's PvP, namely Guild vs. Guild (hence "Guild Wars). It's pretty hard for a completely new person to get in a good PvP guild, a lot of the better players only want to play with other players who've been around as long as them. No one really ants to break in a random new guy.

There is only one true expansion for Guild Wars, and that's Eye of the North. Prophecies, Factions and Nightfall are all stand alone campaigns that you don't need one of to play the other. You need to have at least one of them to play Eye of the North. It is indeed true that there is no fee whatsoever to play Guild Wars, outside of the initial purchase of the game.

The PvE content in Guild Wars is very limited. The level cap is at 20, and it shouldn't normally take long to reach it. PvE is largely doing quests to get different skills. Their are dungeons, some are quite fun, but getting groups nowadays will be a severe test of patience. The game isn't as well populated as it once was, with GW2 on the horizon. Most people are too busy rep grinding. You can use henchmen to fill out (or in most cases make up) your group. Henchmen are npcs with limted skill bars and silly AI. Anet also introduced Heroes, which are Henchmen that you can build up yourself on your own dime/work, as far getting them skills and equipment to use. This is what most people do, use heroes and henchmen groups. So if you like your "MMO" PvE to be a largely single player game, GW is the one for you.

You have the option to start a level 20 toon for PvP purposes. You fight in PvP battles to gain faction and use the faction to unlock new skills and items to equip. You can not take a PvP premade to PvE, but you can take a PvE toon that you leveled to 20 to PvP.

Eye of the North is the first and only true expansion to the game and it is largely catered to the PvErs (though 10 skills per profession were introduced that were allowed in PvP). Most of the games dungeons are in this area and their is a lot of rep grinding if you are into that. Most people are doing rep grinds nowadays because there is word that it opens up new things in GW2. There are PvP rep grinds too if you want a change of pace...from PvE rep grinding.

I first started playing Guild Wars in September of 05, quitting in December of 07. I had done all of the PvE content and never got into the PvP hardcore though I did have some fun in Halls of Heroes and Alliance Battles.

 

[Onus]

I've been playing Guild Wars since 2005 also. I really enjoy it, especially the PvE. Of the three campaigns, Prophecies (the first one) has the best skills, although there are some good and/or interesting ones in the others too.
I enjoyed the storylines of all three, but again especially Prophecies.
It is hard to understate how much better heroes are than henchman. The game is entirely playable without them, but as was mentioned, since there are now fewer players, it is harder to get good player groups for the more difficult missions.
The instanced environment limits griefing to occasional rip-off artists in town, economy-screwing gold and item farming for sale on eBay, and (much more rare) leeches on missions. All that is against the user agreement of course, and the developers seem to actively pursue people that engage in these practices. Having heard of the kinds of griefing that happen all the time in WoW, I don't think I could stand it there. I have patience for many things, but griefing is not one of them. It isn't a problem in Guild Wars.
The level-20 cap seems low, but the rationale is excellent. At lvl20, you are fully trained. You can continue to gain skills (there are hundreds!), but your raw power has reached its peak. I think this makes a lot of sense.
There's a lot to do in these campaigns, from attempts to farm a specific item you want, to helping other groups on favorite missions or quests. There are a number of titles your character(s) can get, possibly requiring the "rep-grinding" the previous poster mentioned. If you like difficulty for the sake of difficulty, once you've beaten a campaign you can re-play it in Hard Mode. I refer to it as Bogus Mode myself, as I don't care for it (and it makes the storylines irrelevant. There'd be no human civilizations if everything out there was level 22-30), but the highest ranks of some titles require it.

Hardware requirements are modest. The game played well on a 7600GT (1280x1024), although a 7900GS (1440x900) was notably better. From there to a 3850 (1680x1050) did see a FPS increase with all options at their highest settings, but going from there to a 4850 (same) didn't make a visible difference to me.

For maximum enjoyment, you'll want to form or join a "guild" of other players. This way, you'll be more likely to find people you know available for missions or questing. I'm running a Teamspeak server for my guild now, which can be very helpful in some parts of the game.

I think it is an excellent game, and continue to play it regularly.

 

[delsaber]

I played guild wars for a year or two. It lacked something so i got bored and went to WOW.

I have played many MMOs and out of them all I would definately put wow and guild wars at the top. Guild wars is also nice if you are not a hardcore player where as with warcraft you need to play alot to keep up with other players in end game content.

I would also like to know how long you played wow for as the first time i played it up to level 5 I thought it was rubbish then a year later a freind pursuaded me to go a bit further and then i got really into it. The real game doesnt start until you hit level 80.

Tried EVE online recently and found it very dull. Its a bit more of a technical players game than a players game.

Give guild wars some time as its a great game and if you dont get into it i would try wow for a bit longer. There is fewer expansions and the mere £8 per month is nothing compared to what you save not buying other games.

I also would mention warhammer online as a half decent MMO but its a wattered down world of warcraft with a bit more realism. The pvp lacks alot of gameplay as well and I quit. I hear many others have doen too so the numbers are decreasing.

Its a shame but alot of MMORPGs just turn into ORPGs in the end because they lack enough players

 

[MykC]

I have to agree, Guild Wars and WoW are the top MMO's I've played. Guild Wars is what I refer to as the no-bullcrap version of MMO's, bascially it takes most of the stuff thats in MMOs that makes you play unecessarily long out of the game.