Guild Wars

[Zero]

Thinking about picking it up. Can anyone who has it tell me how it is so far?

 

edit: ergh sorry thought it came out on tuesday.

[LadyCrimson]

I have a net bud who's been playing it all day...he knows I love Kotor2 and he's urged me to try it. The screenshots he took are pretty. heh

 

I think I will check it out. He says you can solo well enough at the beginning, which is important to me...so I'll give it a shot. Looked like it might be fun, for an on-line game.

 

If the store's not sold out I'll get it pretty quick...I'll report on it more then, if bunches of others haven't already.

[Llyranor]

Guild Wars rocks!

[LadyCrimson]

Well I bought it.

 

The graphics aren't as good as they look in screens - I mean, they do look good, just not quite that good.

 

I'm not fond of a few of the interface things, such as when you enter combat, the ability to change your point of view while fighting seems kind of awkward/annoying. But maybe I just haven't figured out all the keys yet.

 

I don't like the fact that, as a bowslinger, anyway, I click on an enemy and then the game auto-fires, and I just sit in my chair picking my nose while my character either wins or I decide running is the better part of valor.

 

The quest system, so far (and I really haven't gotten very far, so take these comments with grains of salt) is essentially the usual "click on NPC with a ! over their head, get a quest, go do it, return" thing.

 

It's solo-able in the beginning, which is nice for those who like such things, and at least on my fairly high-end system, it runs smooth and I've had no lag/tech problems at all (i'm running on 1600x1200 w/high quality settings).

 

Anyhow...I'm not sure how much I like it yet. I think it's nicely done, but maybe not very....interesting?...even compared to other action-RPG's like Diablo.

But as I said...maybe it'll get more fun as I get higher level/get out of the newbie areas.

 

EDIT - and I think if you hate games like D2, you definitely wouldn't get much out of this one.

[LadyCrimson]

I now have a 'pet' kitty familiar, and that's making the game more fun to me, particuarly since I like to solo as much as possible, so he's like my party member. He's cool. :D

[LadyCrimson]

Picture of my ranger and her kitty:

http://crimsonkeep.com/images/gw/gw-0002.jpg

[LadyCrimson]

OK, I've played for 2 days now, and I'm out of the 'training world', so to speak. So here's my current thoughts on this game, for anyone interested. Again, it's not like I've played for weeks/months, so keep that in mind....

 

General good points from my POV:

 

1) You can solo the game most of the time, either alone or with use of NPC 'henchmen,' once you reach the 2nd area - their AI is incredibly stupid, they don't talk, and you can't control them at all - but it's kind of like having a RPG party tagging behind you and that's been fun. Plus if you're trying to solo, or if you and your party are 1 member short for a mission, you'll need their help sometimes. This feature is one of my faves.

 

2) Items and crafting are a bit limited (not as diverse as D2, say) but it's still an interesting part of the game. Iparticularly like the small feature of dying your clothes so you can look more distinctive.

 

3) The ability to 'buy back' attribute points whenever you want and re-distribute them is a great feature - you can go to town, redistribute points to emphasis melee or healing or ranged skills, go out, go back to town, and switch them around again. Along with the concept of having a primary and a secondary 'profession' (kind of like dual-classing), this makes characters extremely flexible for parties and the amount of 'builds' to try numerable. Plus it prevents you from feeling like you have to start all over from spending points 'wrong'. Nice touch.

 

4) The game uses the system whereby when you leave town, the world is drawn for you and your party alone. No worrying about people camping for kills etc, because you won't encounter any other players. This is nice for several reasons (feels more like you're playing a vast-world SP game with just some friends...) but it can also make the world feel a bit empty at times.

 

5) Items are not completely random - ie, monsters drop certain ranges of stuff, and that's it. If you want icy lodestones, you gotta go where the monsters who drop them, are.

 

General bad points from my POV:

 

1) You level up too fast in the beginning - when you're exploring for the first time and checking everything out in the first map, you'll feel too powerful even solo. This can lead to a bit of boredom in the inital world map if you aren't the type to rush to the next area as fast as possible. But like w/many MMORPG's it gets exponentially harder later, and it won't seem so easy anymore etc.

 

2) Still don't like the combat interface very much. Hard to target enemies when party members get clustered in with them, even with 'target closest' hotkeys available.

 

3) Like always, it can be hard to find a group to play with if you're not part of a Guild/have lots of friends.

 

4) The transition trip/quest from 1st training world to the more 'real' world (where shopping means something) is fast, out of your control, and can be quite a confusing shock-mess the first time. Could have been dealt with better.

 

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

Summation:

 

If you like MMORPG and the typical kill monsters for exp and items type games, you'll probably like this one well enough to make the purchase worthwhile, especially if you get it for $30-40 at Wal mart or something. It's not pay-to-play, so that's a bonus.

 

There's a lot of emphasis on Guilds and team PvP, (you don't have to be involved in that if you don't want, tho). This is not like Diablo's PvP or FPS fragfesting at all. I normally loathe PvP, friendly or unfriendly, and avoid it with a passion, but the little bits I've seen here make me think that I'd actually find the team PvP in GW fun. Kind of like co-op war gaming maybe?

 

If I were to rate this game (for it's genre - I'm not trying to rate it against non-genre games) right now, I'd give it an overall 8. It's solid action-RPG fare and once you get past the inital, always irritating 2-6 hour hump of 'where the heck am I supposed to go/do??' it's quite addictive.

[Llyranor]

About the bad points:

 

1) The game was meant for fast-leveling. No freaking level-grinding crap. They want everyone to get to an equal playing field fairly fast. Once you reach lvl 20, that's where the bulk of the content is supposed to be played at.

 

2) Hold CTRL will bring up all target names, allowing for easy targetting. CTRL-space will make you call the target that you're attacking, allowing teams to focus fire. CTRL-clicking your skills will make you say what skill you're using on who. There are many things yon can do with CTRL. ALT allows you to bring up the names of NPCs in town.

 

3) Perhaps. Too bad it doesn't concern me :D

 

4) Didn't bother me. Then again, I played in the betas, so 'story' was never a surprise.

 

PvP pretty much destroys any other RPG in the market. Without proper teamwork, tactics and coordination, you'll find your face mopping the floor soon enough if against a competent opponent. Levels and items become irrelevant. And that's the nice thing about it.

[LadyCrimson]

I wasn't talking about story as the problem - honestly, one doesn't play this kind of game for story. It just gave me no indication that it would be a sudden party-fight and I felt like 'what now?' during the whole transition.

 

As to controls - my main beef is being unable to easily turn my viewpoint once I start combat, since you can't use the 'move forward' etc. keys to change your view then. The r-click mouse thing sucks, to me, for this purpose - too slow and inaccurate when things are happening so fast. Half the time I'm fighting something while not viewing it. I tried the Z key that kind of helps but then I have to keep it pressed the whole fight. I looked at re-mapping keys but I don't really see how to bind 'change view direction without physically moving or stopping combat action' there. (edit - I know if I'm completely zoomed out I can see a lot more w/out having to change viewpoints but everything gets too damn tiny then and I can't see anything, let alone read text that's no taller than a few periods stacked on top of each other)

 

Didn't try things like using CNTRL+W or anything yet tho. Does that work?

Eh...even if it does - too many keys to press in the midst of chaos.

 

Is lvl 20 the cap then? The cap so people can just pummel away at each other in the arena after that? :cool:

[Felix]

Whats so different between Guild Wars and the other MMORPGs? (Except the pay-to-play thing)

[Invoker]

Guild Wars is free. No monthly cost.

 

Other than that? I don't know. Ask someone who plays it. I'm stuck with World of Warcraft

[LadyCrimson]

There's nothing radically different about it. There never is. It's all environment, people, and what kind of character building fits your playstyle - and where your friends are, if that's important to you.

 

In the end, no matter what frills and variations they try to make, they're all about monster bashing and/or player bashing with groups of other people.

[Zero]

There's nothing radically different about it. There never is. It's all environment, people, and what kind of character building fits your playstyle - and where your friends are, if that's important to you.

 

In the end, no matter what frills and variations they try to make, they're all about monster bashing and/or player bashing with groups of other people.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

You make it all sound so depressing :'(

[Sarjahurmaaja.]

"Whats so different between Guild Wars and the other MMORPGs? (Except the pay-to-play thing)"

 

Well, it's not really a MMORPG.

[LadyCrimson]

Sorry, didn't mean to make it sound depressing. Just how I see the gameworld, after many years. You get a bit jaded, I guess - like with movies. Only so many variations in the world. :D

 

I kind of disagree that it's not a MMORPG. Even in past MMORPG's, you form parties of 2-8 or whatever and go out into the 'world' and do stuff - it's about the party etc.

GW has just elimited the hassle of having your (co-op, non PvP, questing) party be annoyed by other parties. The towns are the same, giant clusters of people to talk to/form parties with etc. Doesn't WoW do the same thing too?

 

Maybe on-line games are headed this way. I for one like it.

there's a few preliminary review previews out now from gamespot and such - you can read those.

 

One more bad thing to add to the list, however. Per account, if you join a Guild with one character, ALL characters on that account join the Guild and are visible to all guild members. ie, no 'character/friend privacy/seperatism'. Some may not care, but it's annoying to many and many who'd like it changed.

 

EDIT - But want to re-emphasize that I still really like the game. Good fun and a good option to try if/when one gets bored with a current on-line RPG they're playing.

[Kaftan Barlast]

Today I spoke with My friend the new WoW fan:

 

-I f*cking hate mmorpgs, they're so pointless.

-No they're not, WoW is awesome.

-How is WoW awesome? Could you tell me something cool you've done?

-Yeah, today I killed a lvl38 sea troll i found walking on the bottom.

-And?

-What do you mean? I killed a lvl 38 sea troll FFS!!

-Nevermind...

[LadyCrimson]

@ Kaftan -

 

heh....I mostly think that way about these games too. I'm actually surprised I like GW as much as I do.

But still...they're for when you want to leave your brain at the door and just have fun or hang out w/buddies and goof off with adreline rushes. At least they're a lot better than FPS games that serve the same kind of purpose, IMO.

[Llyranor]

The main reason I love GW so much is by far the PvP.

 

Once you have reach lvl 20 and have the skills you want and the equipment customized for your build, it doesn't matter anymore how much time you've played - it all amounts to your team's ability skillwise. With a well-organized group, it's loads of fun. I've lost count of how many hours I've spent with guild buddies making character builds, not only individually, but also to form the team that complements itself. Seeing how you're only allowed to bring 8 skills into a battle, choosing them is a very important decision. They're pretty well-balanced, and all have their advantages and disadvantages depending on the situation. Some skills are better than the rest, but those are labelled 'elite', and you can only have 1 at a time on you. Of course, while in town, you're free to swap skills around. This is awesome if you like character creation.

 

PvP is a matter of dedicated teamwork, coordinated tactics, focusing fire when approaching, countering the enemy's strategies, all in fast-paced real-time. A definite adrenaline-pumper, all while trying to make up a plan frantically via typing or mics.

 

There's a lot of variety to it, as well. 4v4 with random teams. A tournament pitting 8-player teams in a series of battle for domination and to have their names and victory announced to everyone in the gameworld, with simple 8v8 battles, to capturing relics, holding strategic points, escorting Heroes to a central point, from 8v8v8 to 8v8v8v8v8v8. And then there are guild battles, pitting two 8-player teams from different guilds as they fight for victory, with 6 different guild halls providing vastly different battlefields and requiring different strategies (with catapults and so on), a central point you can fight to hold and acquire morale bonuses, and so on.

I haven't unlocked the other PvP areas yet.

 

There's a lot of room to goof off, but there's also a lot of room for serious gaming.

 

Other MMORPGs can screw themselves for all I care.

[LadyCrimson]

My like for this game is based largely on the player vs. monster aspect.

But I definitely think, from what I see/read, that PvP in GW is better than any other game I can think of. Definitely more intelligence/strategy etc. needed - even in player vs. monster, really.

 

a party just flailing away individually, ignoring teamwork and planning, will lose/die. Impatience isn't rewarded.

 

Too bad I don't have time to devote to keep up with people who do. It'll probably be a long time before I get all the skills/game knowledge and such to be competitively helpful in any PvP.

[mkreku]

a party just flailing away individually, ignoring teamwork and planning, will lose/die. Impatience isn't rewarded.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And which game do you think this works in?

 

WoW has pretty weak PvP right now (although they are working on it), but even at this basic level, it rewards well-balanced groups where everyone plays out their strengths and cover each others backs, to nullify (if possible) the weaknesses. It's great fun when you find the perfect group, with quick-minded people and experienced player killers. Unfortunately, WoW was designed for mass PvP, which means combat one on one has suffered a lot (unless you're a rogue).

[The Great Phantom]

My friend just got it about 2 days ago, and she's getting up at 4 in the morning just to play it, so she convinced me to get it. Besides, it's a new fantasy realm, and one that has not yet been (really close) to ruin via things like 'psionics' ('inner magic'? Isn't that sorta like having Draconic blood? Did they have to make it so telepathic sounding??? :ph34r: )

 

I'll get it, mainly because of the no-fee thing.

[Llyranor]

Gamespot review up, 9.2 + editor's choice http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/guildwars/review.html

 

"Unlike many other online RPGs, which often take a lot of flak from their audiences for lacking a definitive endgame, Guild Wars gives the impression that it was built with the endgame competition as a primary concern. However, one of its big surprises is just how much noncompetitive content there is. Even if you have no interest in player-versus-player battling whatsoever, Guild Wars will still provide you with more than 100 hours of quality gameplay, which you can tackle either alone or together with other players pretty much every step of the way."

 

"You can have exactly eight skills readied at a time, which correspond to the number keys on your keyboard. Which eight skills you bring to battle and which skills you discover during your adventure is really at the heart of what makes Guild Wars such a compelling experience. It's what levels the playing field in PvP and keeps the action manageable even when things get really intense. Each of the game's six character classes has 150 unique skills, and each one has its own little icon graphic, description, and purpose. For the most part, skills are not inherently better or worse than other skills--they're just different. Depending on how you've developed your character or your role in a player team, the skills will be better or worse for your circumstances. Many skills have obvious uses, while many are much more specific to certain types of situations. Some will serve you better when exploring the role-playing portion of the game, while others will be better suited to PvP battling against real opponents. It's definitely an interesting selection process. It shares a lot in common with collectible card games, and similarly offers a very satisfying reward whenever you discover that great, new skill that makes you feel much stronger while also causing you to make significant changes to your overall strategy. Guild Wars' skill system is a resounding success."

 

"Guild Wars is one of those games that you can easily play for long stretches while losing track of the hours--suddenly it's dark out, or light out, as the case may be. However, in contrast to many other RPGs, there's very little about Guild Wars that inherently demands a lot of your time all at once. It was clearly designed from the ground up to allow you to play in brief spurts, for minutes or maybe for an hour at a time. The PvP battles are action-packed affairs along the lines of what you'd expect from a competitive shooter. The role-playing quests and cooperative missions are typically less than an hour long. Also, you never need to worry about saving your progress or logging out in a safe area, because you can quit whenever you want to, and you'll always restart in the nearest town with all your skills and experience intact. There are no severe or permanent penalties from getting killed--just a temporary hit to your maximum health and energy levels that goes away when you get back to town."

[Squidget]

I'm sold.

 

Odds are I'll be getting it tomorrow. I might type up a review of my own once I've played it for a bit.

[LadyCrimson]

At this point, despite any reservations I initally had and the few I still have, all I know is that I'm still playing.

And playing.

And playing.

 

The longer I play, the more I play.

[Brickyard]

I've not entered into PvP (barring getting two characters to post-Searing), but it is one aspect of this game I'm looking forward to.

 

I've had it since Friday, and played quite a bit. But one thing I like, at least compared to EQ 2, is that unlike in EQ 2, I don't feel COMPELLED to play at all times. (I played EQ2 from release until around early-Jan, but then tailed off and let my account lapse in mid-Feb)

 

I like the options on builds, with 6 classes, and pretty much a forced secondary class (which you never have to actually use any skills from, if you choose not to, so you CAN play a single class if you choosea). I've messed around with an Elementalist/Monk (first char, level 10), Necromancer/Ranger (2nd char, level , and have been playing the past few days an Elementalist/Mesmer (level 8, but still pre-searing).

 

With only being able to actually use 8 skills from your two classes at any given time (choosing/changing them in towns only, out in the wild you can't change on the fly), and with dozens of skills for each class, any combination can be rather unique, if you choose to try to be unique. For example, my E/Mes that I'm currently playing has around 15 or so skills to choose from, but picking only 8, I can definitely get totally different play-styles at only level 8. At level 20, with more skills, I can see a huge variety of effective characters in PvP (with 30 different class combinations to start from, plus the dozens of skills that each brings).

 

Hoping to settle on a final choice of character by sometime tomorrow (still one more combo I want to mess around with, pre-searing), and then get into post-searing heavily with the missions and quests there, as well as PvP.

 

My impression is that it's both a simple and complex game, and will be even more complex in things like 8v8 guild battles.