Guild Wars

[Raiders Army]

Has anyone gotten this game yet? I haven't seen the reviews, but the "reader" reviews at Gamespot are pretty encouraging. For those who don't know about it, it's a PC MMORPG set ala Everquest, WOW, etc. There is also no subscription fee. If anyone has any thoughts on it, please post em!

[condors]

guy i work with beta tested it, he is not a mmo player at all, he said its the next great game(his last great game was rome total war)

[Bonegavel]

When I first heard about this I was jazzed. I made lame attempts to be involved in their free beta dealies and never got to play the game.

The concept is great and I will definitely pick up a copy especially since there isn't a monthly fee.

It is going to have to be extra great thanks to my addiction to CoH (which is my benchmark for MMOs).

[Raiders Army]

Bumping above HA's thread. :)

[Raiders Army]

From Warcry's unofficial FAQ:

After reading through many many interviews I’ve come up with a few points from many different sources. Below are questions raised from here at Warcry, as well as from HomeLAN, GameSpot, IGN, The Guild Hall, RGPVault, GameHelper, Game Banshee and The WarGamer.

What is some background information about ArenaNet?

Over three years ago a few members of Blizzard Entertainment broke away from the company to form their own group, ArenaNet. Their first game; Guild Wars has been developed in a shroud of secrecy. Guild Wars was finally revealed the first details to the public a few years ago and is still currently being worked on for its final release. The founders of Guild Wars, Patrick Wyatt, Mike O'Brien and Jeff Strain will be having Guild Wars published by NCSoft.

The FAQ on GuildWars.com has listed Guild Wars as a MMOG instead of a MMORPG. Can you give us a bit more insight on this?

According to the ArenaNet Team, they think of Guild Wars as more of a CORPG, or competitive online role-playing game. They don't want people using the term MMORPG because it makes people think of games such as EverQuest, Guild Wars isn't about spending hours and hours leveling your character, its not about spawn camping, or hours of running across a vast world to get to where you need to go. A new unique style of game play will provide all the good parts of an MMORPG without the tedious hours spend leveling or running to where you need to go to only to find the place camped by a group or more of people.

Can you give me a more in depth explanation on how the leveling system will work in Guild Wars?

As you compete in quests or slay monsters you gain in experience and acquire gold, as in other games. The experience points and the gold can then be used to obtain skills. The difference between Guild Wars and other games is that the skills you obtain are not variations on a few basic abilities, and do not grow more and more powerful as your levels rise. Instead at higher levels you will find more unique skills to choose from. This means that as a lower level character you wont be weaker, you will just have less skills to use. It will take good strategy and skillful playing to defeat a higher level character. Guild Wars also supports dual professions, and there will be a maximum to higher levels which is 50, but that may change during further development. Maximum character level will be able to be achieved faster in Guild Wars than in most other RPG's

The title "Guild Wars" implies PvP or player versus player, How will this aspect work, and will players have the option if they want to participate in it or not?

You will always have the choice to participate in PvP, and will never find yourself being random player killed. Guild Wars is a mission based game, and the choice is yours whether you would prefer to enter into cooperative or competitive missions. You will never find yourself attacked by surprise by another player, which will eliminate much grief. After you've learned the game and have built up a character through questing you may choose to participate in battlegrounds, where teams of players engage each other in combat, and then beyond in casual team warfare. The unpleasant character costs associated with death in other games, such as experience loss, item decay or loss are not a factor in Guild Wars.

Will there be any sort of PvP practice between just you and guildmates?

Yes, you will have something where you and your guildmates can test out your new skills before a big battle.

What will the items be like such as armor for example?

Items really won't unbalance the PvP aspect of the game; they will have abilities like 'more damage to undead' or something like that. The monsters in the missions really don't care how powerful you are, they are just there to try and stop you. In Guild Wars as things get more powerful, they become more specialized." Such as armor that helps you with protecting against fire damage, but is less resistant against cold.

Are we going to see a wide variety of strategic missions, like in E3, mission three had a catapult, and you would use it too win the match, will we see some more missions like this game?

Yes, you will see lots of maps you would have to thoroughly think out in order to win

Will there be a lot of focus on Guild Hall customization?

People should enjoy having a guild hall, so yes, there will be, and you will be able to upgrade and buy different decorations for it. You will also be able to buy archers, fighters, and casters to defend your guild.

Will you be able to join a guild with each character?

Yes, however, there is always the danger of spying, but you will be able to see every character of a person's when they are on your list, so they won't be able to sneak too easily.

What about guild tabards and color customization?

The players won’t be able to upload any designs because of the lack of security in that. You will get to design your own logo from a tool that will be provided in game. You will have your own banner.

Will all guilds get a guildhall?

Yes, but they will be customized with money so not all guild halls will look the same

Will there be guild ranks?

There will be a set number of ranks, but you will be able to name them. There will also be several permission levels.

Will there be a ladder system?

Yes there will, it has not been decided yet on how it will be shown to the public but there will be some sort of statistical system. You will be able to become the "best in the world" and that competition is something that the developers want, and think is an important part of the game

How will tournaments work?

You will have to go through all the missions before you are able to participate in the tournaments, however we will have PvP arenas along the way so you will always be able to get your fill of PvP. Once you have gone through all the missions you will be able to reach ascension around level 15-25. The benefits of ascension will be more skills, skill points and equipment. There will however be multiple ways to acquire ascension.

What will the single player campaigns be like? Can a player be associated with a guild but not need to involve themselves with the guild they are in?

A great deal of effort is being put into the single player quests for several reasons, in Guild Wars you will be able to play the game when you choose, where you choose, and with whom you choose. There will be a significant number of quests that are built specifically for the single player experience. Guilds will form for both social and competitive reasons, but as in the real world if you belong to an organization you will be expected to participate in it. If you prefer to play solo you aren't required to join a guild to play with your friends, you will be able to play with your friends and form ad-hoc teams, even challenge other teams in competitive quests.

What is the primary design goal with Guild Wars?

The primary goal is to create an online RPG that supports truly meaningful competitive gameplay. Guild Wars is a game that offers a full range of gaming choices: competitive play in one-on-one duels, team play and in massive group battles; cooperative play, and single player gaming. This will all be offered on a global network that will allow true world championships, all provided without a monthly fee.

According to the Guild Wars website there will be no monthly charge to North American players, how do you plan on updating the game with new content without having a steady stream of income?

Guild Wars is designed around a network of technology that is very efficient in terms of bandwidth and hardcore utilization. In addition to lower operating cost, The ArenaNet team believes that they can sell a lot more copies of Guild Wars by not charging a monthly fee. Not charging this fee allows larger communities of gamers to enjoy the online role playing game experience. The money earned from game sales will be turned right back to support the game and to develop the expansions which will be called chapters. The ArenaNet team is highly motivated to keep their customers happy and keep them coming back for more, if they've liked what they have experienced they will want to buy an expansion pack when it comes along. It was once believed that you could not offer a gaming network for free and remain financially successful, which Battle.net has proved wrong. A goal of ArenaNet is to prove that you can offer an excellent online game with full support without a monthly fee.

Can you explain what sort of "Death Penalty" system will be found in Guild Wars? What is the philosophy behind this choice?

The philosophy behind the death penalty system is “don’t punish people for having fun.” Losing items permanently is not fun. Losing two hours of accumulated experience is not fun. Searching for hours out in the wilderness trying to find your corpse is not fun. The goal with any death penalty system is for the player to believe that death matters, and to break into a sweat when doom is imminent. However, that goal needs to be carefully balanced against the possibility of player frustration when “reaching” into new areas and risking frequent deaths. Our solution is to impose a death penalty that lasts only for the duration of your current mission. This death penalty reduces your health and energy, but disappears when you leave the mission. We have had this system in place for quite a while, and it has proven to be a good balance between these two goals.

One of the potential advantages of the streaming technology that has been mentioned involves cheat/hack/exploit prevention. Could you explain how the streaming technology will help in this regard? How do you intend to handle cheaters?

Streaming technology is just one tool Guild Wars uses to combat cheaters, albeit an important one. There is no magic bullet to guarantee that a game is cheat-proof. However, in the team at ArenaNet's experience, creating and running large-scale global game networks we have identified a few technologies that are essential to reaching that goal. One is a pure client-server infrastructure, in which only the server holds the authoritative game state and clients simply react to server commands. Another is putting the client on a strict “need to know” basis for all information about the game world. For example, your client knows nothing about monsters that you will encounter or items that may be spawned in a mission until it actually happens. However, even with these structural safeguards in-place, there is always the possibility that someone will find an exploit, and when that happens, we have to act fast, and that’s where the streaming technology comes in. Because we are able to patch individual assets, rather than viewing your entire installation as being at a specific version, and also because we are able to build new versions of the game and very quickly distribute them to our data centers around the world, we are able to address cheats or exploits within minutes. Since the process is built-in and completely automated for the player, we avoid “patch paralysis,” in which necessary updates to the game are delayed for months while the developer frets about breaking something. Our alpha testers often joke about the fact that a problem is fixed before they can finish typing in the bug report and this ability to respond rapidly will one of our most effective tools to ensure a balanced game with a fair playing field.

What kinds of gamers do you see as your core target market, and what will make Guild Wars stand out in their eyes relative to other fantasy RPGs of the same generation?

We've always tried to develop our games to be approachable to the largest audience of gamers we can. Initially, the game should be easy to play and help players learn what they need to know to overcome later challenges, while providing a depth of play that will keep them coming back for the long term, which we call "emergent complexity."

In order to attract this broad audience, we made the game easy to learn by building an intuitive interface for Guild Wars. We made it mission-based so people can have fun and achieve a sense of accomplishment even if they don't have three to five hours to play in one sitting. We designed the character system so that the outcome of combat is determined by which player is the most skilled, not by which player spent the most hours building up his character.

We also designed Guild Wars from the ground up to be a competitive game so that players of different experience levels can compete against each other, and as a side bonus of that system, enabled friends to continue to play together even when they have characters with different experience levels. Finally, we created new server technology so that Guild Wars will not have a monthly subscription fee. We believe that all these aspects of Guild Wars will make it stand out, and give players a game that they'll want to play for a long time.

What kind of personal Storage will Guild Wars offer?

You will have a shared storage that any of your characters will be able to access, which makes it easy to share items that you think your other characters will need. Now we are still tossing around the ideas of Guild storage, and we think it would be hard to do guild money banks.

[Danny]

The one thing that does sound great is the streaming technology.

[HomerJSimpson]

That sounds like something I would be interested in.

[Greyroofoo]

The BWE would've been great for me if my internet didn't diconnect every 15 mins :(

[Ragone]

I'd be interested in this as a part time thing if fofc got a guild together :)

[QuikSand]

Maximum character level will be able to be achieved faster in Guild Wars than in most other RPG's

I'm mixed on this... while I never even got a single character to maximum level on any of the many NWN servers I played, I also realize that if leveling is quick and easy, I never find myself valuing the process. I don't want to run around in the woods for 400 hours to build a powerful character (do you hear me Avlis?) but I also don't want to feel like I'm gaining something for nothing.


Their comments on "death penalty" are assuring to me, though -- their balance sounds okay to me, in general, and their thinking sounds right on.

[Dutch]

Yeah, I remember my lone experience in "Avlis". Yeah, I got skills with the bo-staff, but against three or four brown bears? No contest.

[Raiders Army]

I'm going to pick it up this weekend (since I'm not getting a Master Replicas Lightsaber FX). I'd be interested in joining/forming a FOFC guild as well.

[NickSaban]

I was in the beta for this. It's an awesome game, and it got better the more development they put into it.

[Raiders Army]

I was in the beta for this. It's an awesome game, and it got better the more development they put into it.
Hopefully you'll put more time in it and the 'Fins will get another high draft pick next year. :)

[NickSaban]

Hopefully you'll put more time in it and the 'Fins will get another high draft pick next year. :)

Definitely. We have to angle to get Leinart, after all..

[Thomkal]

Guild Wars has some interesting and/or puzzling design decisions. Here's a few I've encountered so far. I may be "misinformed" about some of these, so please correct me if I've got something wrong.

1) You get to choose from two of the six classes, starting the game with one, and having the option to pick a second very early in the game. The primary class gives you a unique ability, you don't get the secondary class's unique power. You can pick and choose from the available skills from both classes, but you may only have a total of eight powers available to use at any one time. And you can not change any of the eight until you enter a town or outpost. So you can't change this mid-mission, or in the countryside. I like the strategic choices this provides, but its also very limiting, and having to go back to a town and outpost to change them is not a very good idea.

2) You start out only being able to team up with one other player and gradually (not sure how gradually) expanding to 4, 6, and 8. Seems a very puzzling design decision here, especially when you consider that there's no competition for prime "camping" spots because once you leave a town or outpost you enter a totally individual zone or instance-that's right you (and your team) get their own individual version of the zone you enter to explore. I have two friends in the game, and right now can't team up with both.

3) You go through the first few levels only to find out that once you have a second class and probably are up to sixth level or so, you should go through the Academy, the start of Guild Wars individualized missions that deal with the world's history and current events. You team up to go in the Academy I believe (haven't done that yet) and you end up apparantly in a different time frame from when you started the game, the "Searing". I believe you lose all your current quests when you do this, so make sure you go through them before you enter the Academy. I'm probably a bit off in my facts here since I haven't gone through the Academy yet, but again seems a bit of a odd design decision in my mind. Many people say the game doesn't really start until you go through the Academy.

4. Crafting. You can't do any crafting yourself, but you can "break down" items you find with a salvage kit to individual components, then bring them to an NPC crafter in towns (along with some gold) to get crafted items. You can also "customize" your existing items at another NPC (haven't tried that yet)

5. Henchman-Don't want to group with someone but need help with a mission or quest? Hire a henchman, a NPC to work with you. Haven't found a henchman to hire yet, so not sure how good or bad they are at their job of helping you.

The game just hasn't really "grabbed" me yet. Everything just seems "ok" to me so far, not spectacular or interesting. Maybe when I go through the Academy I'll be more into it.

[Ragone]

So its just one server right? i got the game.. but got some wow raiding to do.. we gonna have a fofc guild? :P

[Thomkal]

One US server, and there's an international server I believe. When you enter a city or outpost there are several different "instances" of the same city to prevent overcrowding. They are called districts, and its easy to move from one district to another to find your friends. Once you've been to an outpost or town you can instantly travel there with a click on a map, which is a nice touch.

[Bonegavel]

Picked it up last night. Just trying to get a feel for it now, but so far so good. I can see this sharing time with City of Heroes.

Combat is old school click on beast and your character does his thing. :( But, no monthly fee will keep me playing this. I could never justify a monthly fee for a Fantasy based online game since I am heavily steeped in sit-down-with-your-friends-with-pencil-paper-and-dice role playing games. These games have EONS to go before they can compete with good old DnD like RPGs.

But, CoH has shown me that a lot of what makes it fun is the people you choose to play with and I think this forum is a good source for that.

How do we get together in game?

[Thomkal]

you post your name here and then hit the letter n in game to call up the friends menu, then put people names in the box there. Double click on their name if they are online to send a tell to that person. I have a solo character Kallor Silverbranch you can add for now until I make a new char for an FOFC group. He's a 6th level Ranger/Elementalist about ready to enter the Academy.

[Thomkal]

Just bumping to see who else has the game now and what their character names are. :)

[Bonegavel]

Ranger / Kal Kazzar

[Raiders Army]

Dammit. I gotta wait till we go out for dinner to get it. I'll have it tonight and I'll be on.

[HomerJSimpson]

Gareth Conquer, Warrior

[Thomkal]

I have just created a necromancer, Devin Blackpool to adventure with my FOFC brethren. So add me to your friends list and send me a tell. Just let me know you are from FOFC. :) If you are looking for a class to play and it appeals to you, Monk would be a good choice for a primary class as its the healer class. But play what appeals to you. I'll be taking monk as a secondary class.

[Raiders Army]

Alastor Slayton, Ranger.

[Raiders Army]

Made another. Jarel Grimking, Necromancer.

[Thomkal]

Copycat :)

[Raiders Army]

Doh! I'll take Ranger as my secondary. Necro is cool looking though. :)

[Bonegavel]

What level are you at now RA? 30th?

[Bonegavel]

Well, after spending a bit more time with the game it does seem to be more of a single player game with coop thrown in.

Can't share mission/quest info. In City of Heroes, you can view all other missions of teammates (at least those in same zone).

Finding others isn't too bad. You have to be in an outpost or city and in the same District number.

There is a lot of mystery about game play and that isn't intended, I believe. Just a byproduct of being this sort of game. The book with the game talks about seeing trainers for skills and I don't believe that is the case. You have to visit people and do quests/missions to get skills.

I'm really hoping that with their "streaming" technology that means they will constantly be adding new stuff to the game (new NPCs, new missions, new spawns, etc).

Final verdict is still out on this one, but having a decent time with it thus far.

[gi]

I have limited game playing time, as my lack of time in CoH shows, but if this is a game where everyone is at, I'm in.

[Bonegavel]

I have limited game playing time, as my lack of time in CoH shows, but if this is a game where everyone is at, I'm in.
Hard to say at this point.

This really seems like Neverwinter Nights only the servers are run by the devs rather than just fans. I'm all for that.

They just need to make the teaming thing a bit better and I'd be real happy.

[Raiders Army]

I would also vote for more varied costumes. Again, CoH spoiled me, but we all look alike. Made it to level 5, and I think I'm going to enter the academy. I think that the trainers for skills are after the academy (not pre-sear).

This (http://www.guildwarsguru.com/content/road-to-level-10-id1195.php) is a pretty good guide for newbies. I've found it helpful.

[Raiders Army]

You can also name your pet by pressing enter, and typing /namepet *name*

Or you can use /petname *name*

[Thomkal]

There are Skill trainers in post-Ascalon City (post-Searing) but they appear to only give you skills that you might have missed in pre-Searing. At least from what I read and what happened when I sent my first character through the Academy. I was only given one skill to add.

The Academy is an intense little bit of action against another team. When you enter it you get random people and henchman added (you keep your current team) and then get sent off to face another team. Pretty chaotic especially if you haven't gone through it yet, and your damn computer continues to lag in every single MMORPG and nothing seems to help with it. But I digress. :)

If you are on the losing team you get a new quest which I won't spoil, but you get some added help to make sure you get through it. Make sure you watch the cut scene whenever you win so you get an idea of what happened to the pre-Searing world.

Post Searing Ascalon City is pretty overwhelming at first. Most of the familiar landmarks and geography is changed or simply gone. A lot of people running around, and not too sure what you should be doing or where you should be going. A helpful tip is turn off the trade and emote chat, at least for now, and to use the ALT key so you can see where all the NPC's are in the city.

Grouping could be much better handled as mentioned with the ability to share missions so people in your group know what the heck to do and look for.

I still need to level my Necro up a bit before entering the Academy, but he's not too far off.

[wade moore]

Strongly considering this game, but probably won't be able to get it for a bit...

[Raiders Army]

The Academy is an intense little bit of action against another team. When you enter it you get random people and henchman added (you keep your current team) and then get sent off to face another team.

Wish I had known that. I quit after we got our asses kicked.

[Peregrine]

I think I'm going to wait on this game, I'm hearing very mixed feedback overall, and am not sure how much depth there is to it. But I watched a friend play it a bit, the graphics seem okay. I wish everyone wasn't the same race though.

[Yellow5]

Playing and loving it. Ranger named Johnny Chilled and a E/Mo named Myra Maines.

[Bonegavel]

Didn't go on last night, but I'm a bit aprehensive about hitting the academy. RA, going to be on tonight?

[Raiders Army]

Didn't go on last night, but I'm a bit aprehensive about hitting the academy. RA, going to be on tonight?
I'll probably be on tonight between 6-9 P.M. EST. That was very weird not knowing what was going on when I went to the Academy. Also, for some reason I can't get my quest to show on my failure mission.

[Thomkal]

Devin Blackpool is now 6th level and ready to go through the Academy. I'm also holding on to some potentially helpful magic items for you guys. That is if you don't go and sell them without ID'ing them like a certain someone did. :) Not sure if I will be on or not tonight, so you'll have to wait for your goodies if you go through tonight. :)

[Peregrine]

Well, I broke down and bought the game, it's been pretty fun so far. I have a Monk/Mesmer at level 5 and just started a new Elementalist as well.

[jbmagic]

Well, I broke down and bought the game, it's been pretty fun so far. I have a Monk/Mesmer at level 5 and just started a new Elementalist as well.


i saw it at the store today. its looks pretty good. i might get it when it goes on sale.


is this game similar to NeverwinterNights. you make a character and fight monsters?

is there solo play on there too?

thanks

[Raiders Army]

Well, I've decided that level 5 is too low to go to the Academy. I'm getting my ass kicked in Ascalon (post-sear). I can't travel too far without getting killed. It's like I'm a blaster in CoH or something...

IMHO, you could play this solo easily. The hiring henchmen option is pretty cool.

[Schmidty]

I broke down and bought this.

My only character (so far) is Cameron Icecrusher (dumb, I know). he's a warrior who I plan on making into a Warrior / Elementalist. seems like a pretty cool game so far. Look me up if you are so inclined.

[Blackadar]

Ok, what's the final verdict? I heard a lot of negative stuff before the release, but now I'm hearing a ton of positive stuff.

And provide details. We want details!

[Raiders Army]

Ok, what's the final verdict? I heard a lot of negative stuff before the release, but now I'm hearing a ton of positive stuff.

And provide details. We want details!
What details do you want?

To me, the graphics are good, not exceptional, for a MMOG. The gameplay is interesting and simple to pick up. The music/sounds leave a lot to be desired. I can see how you could play this game solo or grouped, although grouped is much more fun.

To focus on the gameplay for a bit, I would say that it is interesting that you can play two different classes (a combination of being a Warrior, Elementalist, Mesmer, Monk, Ranger, or Necromancer). So there is a bit a strategy to that. Another plus is the ability to respec your character immediately; in other words, you just leveled up, and you spent your attribute points in Air Magic. You later find out that you wanted to spend them in Healing Prayers, so you can move them around at will, although there is a limit to how much you can move your points around per level. So, if you make a mistake when you level up, you can correct it without going through hoops.

Travel is nice as well, since once you've been to certain waypoints, you can bring up the map and "teleport" there immediately. The problem with this is that you have to leave your party in order to do so. I don't know why they made that a requirement.

On the downside, everyone looks alike (at least in the early game). Also, from what I understand, the U.S. has a server and Europeans have a different server. When you sign up, you are assigned to the geographical server at your location...so if MIJB got this game, I wouldn't be able to play with him. There is a workaround to this; just register in the country that your friends are playing in.

Overall, it was worth $50. Hell, I spent $70 filling up our two cars with gas last weekend. It has some problems, but from my perspective (still a n00b), it's not a bad game...not a bad game at all.

[Blackadar]

I'm hearing it's *very* geared towards PvP. Is this true? Are all the higher levels centered around PvP? Can you avoid it?

[Peregrine]

From what I've heard the higher levels are definitely centered around PVP, but maybe not in the way that you think. You can make a PVP character from the get-go who is a max level character, and I think those are the ones that do most of the competition PVP. Interestingly, they can only use skills you've found/unlocked with your regular characters, giving you an incentive to dabble a bit, I guess. I don't know much of the details of PVP, however, but I think it's going to play a big part. A lot of the guilds are looking forward to forming teams to compete against each other, I think there are tournaments with various prizes available.

[Yellow5]

If anyone needs something better than starter weapons please let me know.

War Hammer of Fortitude: Blunt dmg 11-17 (req. 3 in Hammer spec), +20 to health, +25 dmg against Charr.

War Hammer: Blunt Dmg 11-17 (req. 3 in Hammer spec), +15 dmg when hexed.

A cane that does 6-10 Chaos Dmg req. 2 in Illusion Magic to use. (This has been claimed)

Will give these away to anyone that needs 'em.


edit: Cane is taken!

[jbmagic]

how is guild wars compare to Neverwinter Nights, Dungeon Seige, and Diablo 2?

[Thomkal]

About the servers and not being able to play with people outside your country. That is not true. There is a North American, Korean, and European server true. But each city/outpost has an International District(s) where you can get together with people from any country.

The game is called Guild Wars, with a guild meaning a group of people working together, so of course there's a lot of focus on the group/PVP play. But so far as I've gone you can solo, especially if you take some henchmans along with you. The game has some odd design decisions (see my earlier post) in my opinion, and needs some work with the interface to make it more group friendly (share quests, or at least show quests your groupmates are working on), but for a MMORPG with no monthly fee, I was expecting a lot worse than what we have. And it doesn't have near the connection problems (well outside whatever the hell is wrong with my computer) that WOW has.

[Peregrine]

I'm still enjoying the game, but some of the interface decisions are starting to bug me. Is there any way I can see my current total armor rating? What's the deal with the little blue person and a number over people's heads in the hubs? Are they trying to form a group? If so how do you trigger that? Is there any way to see other people's equipment, etc?

I tried to do the necromancer profession test today and couldn't figure it out at all, there are all these traps you have to get rid of, and somehow you need to use your pets, but I couldn't figure it out. I asked several necros that I saw how they did it, all of them said they just ran into a trap, died, came back, ran into the next one, etc. Heh, good design on that one.

[Yellow5]

I don't think you can see your total armor rating. The little person and number means there is a group and the number is the number of people in that group. No way to see other peoples equipment that I am aware of.

For the Necro thing and the traps... I've never played one but I would summon a pet and run it into the traps to trigger them.

I still have the hammers listed above available if anyone wants them.

[Peregrine]

Well the problem with Necro pets is that they aren't really controllable, they just follow you around and attack what you attack, but I couldn't figure out a way to make them go into the traps. Oh well, not a big deal.

By the way, I found out that R is the default auto-run key. I had been trying to figure that one out for a while. Also you can follow a party member by clicking on their name and hitting space, it will follow them till they stop.

[gi]

Gamespot has this game at 9.2

hxxp://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/guildwars/review.html

I'll pick this up soon. CoH might be cancelled if everyone is playing here.

[Bonegavel]

My thoughts thus far are that it is a nice "filler" game where you can spend 30 minutes and log without feeling like you've missed anything.

[Raiders Army]

My thoughts thus far are that it is a nice "filler" game where you can spend 30 minutes and log without feeling like you've missed anything.
I agree. Due to taking daughter to karate and Lost being on last night, I had very little time to play anything. I played CoH instead of GW due to Issue 4 coming out. This is a good game, and reminds me a little bit of Dungeon Siege.

[jbmagic]

can this game be play offline too? and play solo?

i know online is better. just curious if it can be play offline too.

[Peregrine]

It's all online.

[SlapBone]

I'm still enjoying the game, but some of the interface decisions are starting to bug me. Is there any way I can see my current total armor rating? What's the deal with the little blue person and a number over people's heads in the hubs? Are they trying to form a group? If so how do you trigger that? Is there any way to see other people's equipment, etc?

I tried to do the necromancer profession test today and couldn't figure it out at all, there are all these traps you have to get rid of, and somehow you need to use your pets, but I couldn't figure it out. I asked several necros that I saw how they did it, all of them said they just ran into a trap, died, came back, ran into the next one, etc. Heh, good design on that one.


There are corpses laying on the traps or on the other side. You basically get close enough to summon bone horrors from those devourer corpses and they will trigger the traps on summon or when they try to make track to you.

[jbmagic]

I agree. Due to taking daughter to karate and Lost being on last night, I had very little time to play anything. I played CoH instead of GW due to Issue 4 coming out. This is a good game, and reminds me a little bit of Dungeon Siege.


is this game better than Dungeon Seige?

[Raiders Army]

I'm undecided at this point whether it's better than Dungeon Siege (which was a very good game, IMHO). The graphics are definitely better.

[Peregrine]

There are corpses laying on the traps or on the other side. You basically get close enough to summon bone horrors from those devourer corpses and they will trigger the traps on summon or when they try to make track to you.

I tried this and it definitely did not work. Some of the horrors spawned right in the trap and never triggered it. Unless I have to do something special like click on it as they walked through it?

[Bonegavel]

I really hope they exploit this streaming tech to its fullest.

Daily (at the least weekly) they should be pushing out new quests, new NPCs, new loot, new spawns, updated terrain, new buildings, etc. etc.

That is what I wish CoH was doing. Instead, we get (roughly) quarterly Updates called Issues that contain new material.

Anyone want to start up an MMO with me as lead designer? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

[NevStar]

Marek Thorgaard W/Mo

Probably going to do the Academy later today. Good call on the comparison to Dungeon Siege, I see that too.

[Raiders Army]

So the question is...who's going to start the FOFC guild???

[Calis]

So is this game more akin to say Diablo or more like a traditional MMORPG?

If it's the former I'd go pick it up right now, but for the latter...I'm sick and tired of MMORPGs.

So is the combat involved and fun?

The comparisons to Dungeon Siege worry me a little bit actually. Dungeon Siege was a horribly linear game with a very bland character advancement system. Just didn't work for me.

So what's the verdict?

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

I'll wait till the Dungeons & Dragons game to come out before deciding.

[jbmagic]

I'll wait till the Dungeons & Dragons game to come out before deciding.


Guild wars is free to play online

D&D you have to pay to play online

[Schmidty]

Guild wars is free to play online

D&D you have to pay to play online

Doesn't matter to me if D & D is a quality game. Frankly, GW is losing my interest already. I still love WOW after all this time, and I'm starting to get into CoH (after being bored to death at first).

[Yellow5]

So the question is...who's going to start the FOFC guild???


Everyone is welcome to join Legion of Lions.

We've been involved as a group since the Unreal Tournament days, into Dark Age of Camelot, then World of Warcraft and now GW. Only three of us have made the jump to GW but I expect more to follow.

[CleBrownsfan]

I just bought the game and started a Ranger/Mesmer - name is Nolan Ramez (lvl 6)

[Mustang]

Anyone still playing this? Just recently purchased this and started playing. Is there a FOFC guild somewhere?

[Peregrine]

It's a decent game, but I lost interest pretty fast, the team PVP stuff is pretty fun but I've moved back to my regular MMORPGs now, that's what I really prefer. Not sure about the FOFC guild.

[CleBrownsfan]

I'm still playing here and there - having fun with it but due to nice summer days it's hard to sit inside and play.

In game name is Nolan Ramez - lvl 14 Ranger/Mez

[Mustang]

It's a decent game, but I lost interest pretty fast, the team PVP stuff is pretty fun but I've moved back to my regular MMORPGs now, that's what I really prefer. Not sure about the FOFC guild.

I probably see this happening with me. Very hack n' slash... I'm not sure of the whole crafting thing either. Always find alot of crap but, not sure what the hell to do with it. :confused:

[mrsimperless]

Anyone still playing this? I just went out and got it...

[Bee]

bumping from the depths in hopes someone will comment on the current status of the game. Is it worth adding to my Christmas wishlist? I'm pretty thin on the wishlist in the $40 price range and have been asked by some relatives to add some stuff.

[GrantDawg]

bumping from the depths in hopes someone will comment on the current status of the game. Is it worth adding to my Christmas wishlist? I'm pretty thin on the wishlist in the $40 price range and have been asked by some relatives to add some stuff.
I have friends who still play religiuosly. I am talking Evercrack level of devotion. But to me, there is just not enough depth there. It just all depends on you. The only great thing I can say about it is that there is no monthly fee, and they have even expanded a bit since starting and didn't charge people.

[mtsouth]

Curious about the game as well. I couldn't continue to pay $15 for CoH and play only a few hours a week (wife/kids/job). Is GW an easy game to get into and spend an hour or so and still feel like you are making some progress?

[RebelMan]

Curious about the game as well. I couldn't continue to pay $15 for CoH and play only a few hours a week (wife/kids/job). Is GW an easy game to get into and spend an hour or so and still feel like you are making some progress?

Yes, you'll level up pretty quickly. Most of the game primarily relies on doing quests and missions that are pretty straightforward and relatively easy for the most part. It's not like Final Fantasy XI where you spend months of fighting monsters over and over and over just to level up. In fact, you'll be at level 20 (the max level cap) by halfway through the game if you "prioritize" certain quests and missions.

That and I like that it has a henchman system. I've gone through most of the missions and quests with henchmen since they're a bit more competent than some of the pick up groups I've been a part of. Of course, my char is a Mesmer, so I'm not really left with much choice. :D

[Bonegavel]

Curious about the game as well. I couldn't continue to pay $15 for CoH and play only a few hours a week (wife/kids/job). Is GW an easy game to get into and spend an hour or so and still feel like you are making some progress?
If you are used to CoH, you will probably hate GW. They stole $50 from me and I want it back.

[mtsouth]

WHy do you say that Bonegavel? What don't you like about it?

COH just became too time consuming and I couldn't justify the $15 a month. I'd like a game I can jump into for 30-45 minutes at a time, play, and then jump out and still feel like I'm making progress.

[GrantDawg]

WHy do you say that Bonegavel? What don't you like about it?

COH just became too time consuming and I couldn't justify the $15 a month. I'd like a game I can jump into for 30-45 minutes at a time, play, and then jump out and still feel like I'm making progress.
Then GW is a game you'll get more out of than COH. It is much easier to play shorter stints in it than COH. The biggest concern would be that it does get hard to keep moving forward in the story without teaming (you can hire NPC that help, but it still much more difficult than it is with human players helping).

[ISiddiqui]

Hey, I just got this game.. even though Oblivion is out on Tuesday, and I'm picking it up THAT DAY (I'll play Guild Wars at some point in the middle, I'm sure!)

So far it's a blast. I haven't done any co-op adventures yet. Just single player stuff to try to build up my character.

I'm a 4th level female warrior/elemental named Kat Stormfrost (yeah, I know... but I didn't know of a good name... though think of Kat as short for "Katrina", as hurricane ;)).

So I'm having fun. I know soon I'll have to join with another player, but not yet.

Oh, and the graphics are TOP NOTCH... I have all the graphics on high, 1280*1024, with 4X anti-alising. Brilliant. I think I may read up on fansites about the game and then put in some good time tomorrow :D.

Any suggestions, btw?

[sabotai]

The game not charging a monthly fee keeps it on my radar, but other games keep coming out...some day.

[Bonegavel]

WHy do you say that Bonegavel? What don't you like about it?

COH just became too time consuming and I couldn't justify the $15 a month. I'd like a game I can jump into for 30-45 minutes at a time, play, and then jump out and still feel like I'm making progress.

Hard to say, really. I guess I was hoping for more of a multi-player Baldur's Gate type of experience and that wasn't what I found.

If other's here are playing this I might fire it back up and do some team work.

[Raiders Army]

I fired it back up today. I'm Alys Fairchild, level 4 Elementalist. Fire is cool.

[CleBrownsfan]

Any1 playing the new installment "Nightfall" of GW? I bought it over the weekend but haven't played to much of it...

[twothree]

I've been playing this quite a bit lately in spurts, after having picked it up when it was first released. I finally completed the original guild wars campaign a few months ago with a warrior, "The Brute". That led to my purchase of all the other campaigns. And, I quickly completed the main story line in the Eye of the North campaign with that same warrior with the addition of heroes. Heroes really make a big difference in how you can play the game, and now I wish I had picked up Nightfall when it first came out. And, Eye of the North is a really nice expansion. It is too bad they moved on to Guild Wars 2, because another expansion similar to Eye of the North would have got more of my money. I don't think I will be in a rush to buy Guild Wars 2, because there is still so much I haven't done in Guild Wars.

I haven't played very much of Factions or Nightfall yet. However, I have gotten a ritualist to level 20 in Factions, my only other 20th level character. And, she has only explored the initial island and just a bit of the main land. Also, my warrior has explored Nightfall to acquire some more heroes.

I have one character for each of the ten classes each at various levels. All of them are RPG characters. I really don't care for the PvP in game, except for the rollerbeattle racing during the 4th of July weekend. Snowball fights during wintertime are also OK to do for awhile. PvP is really not my game since I don't use very good builds, that's why the holiday PvP with their set builds work better for me.

Having gotten the other campaigns, I now have several options available in where and what to do in the game. And, I am finding this pulling me back to the game more than when I only had the original Guild Wars and it's story and quests available to me. I even, finally!, got around to getting my remaining 3 original characters and their birthday minipets out of pre-searing Ascalon and into the main storyline.

[Critch]

Are there any free trial offers for this game? I quit WoW cos I wanted the $14 a month for Setanta Broadband, so the no monthly fees is appealing. But I'm too much of a cheapskate to just go and buy without trying.

[ISiddiqui]

Oops... misread!

But here:
http://www.guildwars.com/support/gwtrial.php

[Critch]

Oops... misread!

But here:
http://www.guildwars.com/support/gwtrial.php

Yeah, found that but it needs a trial key. Unfortunately I'd downloaded before realizing.

No problem, I've found a Tabula Rasa trial so that will keep me happy.

[ISiddiqui]

Huh... missed the trial key thing. Wonder where that comes from?

I have Guild Wars (the first one), so I wonder if I have one in my game box?

[Blade6119]

My buddy and i co-oped the first game, using NPCs for our extras when the mission required 4, and had a blast. He went out and bought nightfall ect, and i didnt :)

I still boot it up from time to time, it was a pretty good game from ex-blizzard guys and the free play time was the big draw for me.

[Critch]

I have Guild Wars (the first one), so I wonder if I have one in my game box?

Well if somebody did have a trial key in their box that they were not planning on using, I would be very grateful if it was PMed to me :D

[twothree]

Well if somebody did have a trial key in their box that they were not planning on using, I would be very grateful if it was PMed to me :D

My nightfall campaign had two unused trial keys. One for the original campaign and factions. And one for nightfall. I have sent you both via PM.

Have fun.

[Critch]

My nightfall campaign had two unused trial keys. One for the original campaign and factions. And one for nightfall. I have sent you both via PM.

Have fun.

Thank you very much, you truly are a prince amongst men :)

[tyketime]

I know I'm a little late to the game on the whole MMO universe, but decided to give Guild Wars a go over the Holidays. I picked up Nightfall as I had read this was a good campaign for continuing players as well as newbies. I've enjoyed it enough that my son and I also bought the Eye of the North expansion. I have a Level 18 Ranger/Dervish getting my butt kicked "up north" right now.

I went ahead and bought the original Prophecies campaign, and have a Necromancer/Warrior.

I've spent the majority of my playing time flying solo and grabbing Henchmen and Heroes along the way. It's only recently that I've started playing it with my son (the beginning of Prophecies limits you to a party size of 2). I guess I don't yet "get" the whole guild aspect of this game (and similar clan-like organizations of other games). When do you just join up with fellow guild members (I don't mean "joining" the guild, but rather forming a party together)? Don't you all have to stay relatively close in Levels and Quests so you can do them together? For me, I log on at different times (around my kids sports schedules, and mostly at night after they and the Mrs have gone to bed) and play when I get the chance. It wouldn't be fair to have the rest of the guild play during similar timeframes.

So to those of you that are experienced with this game, how do you determine when to play solo, PvE, and finally PvP (I haven't even tackled this entire aspect of the game yet)?

I also just started reading the manual for the first time, and would now like to go back and start over (between what I've learned playing the game and reading some of the mechanics). I dabbled with my second profession being a Monk, but am not enjoying the whole Healing part. I much prefer to be on the front lines instead of a support character. What has been your favorite character class combination?

Cheers...

[RomaGoth]

I gave GW a try last year when I became bored with WoW. I did not really care for the game all that much and got rid of it. Things I did not like:

1) Everytime you leave a town you enter your own instance (private world). This means that you will never come across any other players, only NPC's. Makes the entire game seem very lonely at times.
2) Some of the areas I wanted my character to walk to were inaccessible. For example, when I wanted to go down the side of a hill, I had to go around it to get to the bottom, rather than just jump down or walk down the slope itself. This made for a very unrealistic experience.

I thought the graphics were decent but not as great as some people had made them out to be. The questing was ok but again, nothing special.

I was really excited about this game when it first came out but was already playing World of Warcraft so I did not try it until last year. Was very disappointed. :(

[RomaGoth]

I know I'm a little late to the game on the whole MMO universe, but decided to give Guild Wars a go over the Holidays. I picked up Nightfall as I had read this was a good campaign for continuing players as well as newbies. I've enjoyed it enough that my son and I also bought the Eye of the North expansion. I have a Level 18 Ranger/Dervish getting my butt kicked "up north" right now.

I went ahead and bought the original Prophecies campaign, and have a Necromancer/Warrior.

I've spent the majority of my playing time flying solo and grabbing Henchmen and Heroes along the way. It's only recently that I've started playing it with my son (the beginning of Prophecies limits you to a party size of 2). I guess I don't yet "get" the whole guild aspect of this game (and similar clan-like organizations of other games). When do you just join up with fellow guild members (I don't mean "joining" the guild, but rather forming a party together)? Don't you all have to stay relatively close in Levels and Quests so you can do them together? For me, I log on at different times (around my kids sports schedules, and mostly at night after they and the Mrs have gone to bed) and play when I get the chance. It wouldn't be fair to have the rest of the guild play during similar timeframes.

So to those of you that are experienced with this game, how do you determine when to play solo, PvE, and finally PvP (I haven't even tackled this entire aspect of the game yet)?

I also just started reading the manual for the first time, and would now like to go back and start over (between what I've learned playing the game and reading some of the mechanics). I dabbled with my second profession being a Monk, but am not enjoying the whole Healing part. I much prefer to be on the front lines instead of a support character. What has been your favorite character class combination?

Cheers...

I have the same problem with World of Warcraft with time management. Many people can play for hours upon hours upon hours. I, however, work, go to school, have kids, and many other things going on in real life that do not allow me to play as much as others do. I will never have the best gear or the most characters, but I enjoy playing at my own pace. I do alot of solo stuff as well. I play at night alot after everyone goes to bed (makes for some sleep deprived nights).

Anyway, I recommend you just keep doing what you are doing. Play when you want to and don't worry about other people in guilds and stuff. We all have different commitments in real life and cannot always play when others want us to. :)

[twothree]

Probably the last "major" update to the game before Guild Wars 2.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Game_updates/20081113

Highlights:
Storybooks (like the Hero's Handbook for Eye of the North) are now available for all of the original three games.
Wisdom and Treasure Hunter titles are now account-based.
Luxon, Kurzick, Sunspear, Lightbringer, and Eye of the North titles have been rebalanced.

The major thing I have always liked about Guild Wars is no subscription fees. I can go months without playing the game. And then get back into playing the game for several months, and it doesn't cost me anything extra.

As for my accomplishments since last year (post #93). I completed both the faction and nightfall campaigns with my main character. I have also unlocked all heroes (26? of them) and got them all to level 20 for my main character, finally getting Razah unlocked just last month. I also have been trying to collect one of every stackable collectable drop (like a minotaur horn or grawl necklace) that exsists in the game by defeating a monster that drops the item (instead of just purchasing the items from another player). I don't have an "in game" reason to do this, but it has become a goal that determines what areas I goto.

Things that I still haven't tried are: vanquishing an area, playing in "hard" mode, maxing any titles (like skill hunter or guardian), hunting for unique weapons, upgrading my heroes' armor, or pretty much almost anything related to PvP.

[condors]

That is cool twothree.

My experience with the game is get quest, get npcs, party wipe, repeat (I really enjoyed the first 10 levels or so of the game)

I do get the urge to try again and with it being free maybe i will jump back in this weekend.

[sachmo71]

Haven't played in a while.

[PilotMan]

So, a little late to the party but, my oldest son and I each picked up GW at Half Price Books for 10 bucks each. I have never played an MMORPG, so for 10 bucks I would give it a shot, plus no sub fees and a great game made me do it.

I have been having fun with it, my only character is up to level 13 now. Wondering if anyone else is still playing?

[CleBrownsfan]

So, a little late to the party but, my oldest son and I each picked up GW at Half Price Books for 10 bucks each. I have never played an MMORPG, so for 10 bucks I would give it a shot, plus no sub fees and a great game made me do it.

I have been having fun with it, my only character is up to level 13 now. Wondering if anyone else is still playing?

I fire it up once in a while - It seems like I lose interest in GW pretty quick though. But I do like how I can do a mission in less than 30-40 min...

[tyketime]

WOW! If ArenaNet is able to successfully implement the ideas detailed in this blog (http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/dynamic-events/dynamic-events-overview/), they could actually help redefine the MMO genre in a good way. This pushed GW2 into a must buy category for me.

[Abe Sargent]

Hello mega bump