Thinking of Making the Switch - Guild Wars Forums

pickles8806 · Mar 30, 2006, 03:29 AM // 03:29

Hey guys, I'm new to the forums and have a few questions about GW. I've recently come from WoW, which I quite because I needed a break. I then wanted to pick up another MMO and went with City of Villains. To me, it was a mistake. I've been playing for all of two weeks, and was only enthralled for the first few days. Now, I've set my sights on GW. I'm basically wondering how you guys feel about the game. Is there an end game? Is it a dying MMO, do you often see people while online? How does it compare to other MMOs? Maybe this will help. I didn't like City of Villains because it had practically no item system, the quests were all the pretty much the same, and their was NO endgame. People said it was aimed at the experience of leveling, but to me, if you've invested hundreds of hours in a character to make him your own, and get to the level cap, you kinda want to be able to play him. Also, the zones did not differ very much. They all looked like pretty much the same cities except with different level characters or mobs roaming the streets. So, with this in mind, how does GW compare? Also, specifically about the game: How do you travel the map (other than on foot if possible, i.e. mounts and such)? How is the item system? Is there an auction house? Is there endgame content? How is the quest variety? How is the size of the map? Are there a lot of loads? Are there raids? How populated is a main town/city on a day to day basis (with players)? Is there a variety of things to do (I ask this question because I rember that in WoW, I could always go do something, like work on my proffession, go do raids/instances, do quests, go explore a new zone, PvP, hang out in a main town and go to the auction house)? Thanks for all your help guys, I'm sorry as they are pretty newbish, the search engine is down. But I'd just like to know what I'm getting into, as I just blew thirty bucks on City of Villains and don't wanna waste another fifty on GW if it's not worth it. Thanks.

Maria The Princess · Mar 30, 2006, 03:39 AM // 03:39

I LOVE GW!!!! im a 20 years old girl and trust me and my bro who's 14 fight over the PC!!! thats the thing, real game begins after you reach lvl 20 (highest lvl). after you finish ALL quests, theres still TONS of things to do. its a game that you can play forever! you can do quests or farming trips on your own to look for rare or uniq items, with a team or with Guild team. you can explore the HUGE map. you can RUSH people for money between diffrent towns, hang out in towns, sell and buy stuff, chat with other players you meet, go PVP alone(random team) or with guild team! its incredible how even after you finish the quests you still play and enjoy it even more! and trust me, theres ALOT of diffrent quests. anouther thing is that you get to personalise your character with special builds, looks, items and armors, so you end up with a character perfect for you! I love my ranger, with expensive armor, complete set of bows and all the skills.... but my bro like shis ranger totaly diffrent and we both can kick ass! lol i know people who play for hours (i wish i could but i got college to deal with) who are aged between 10 to 50!

dude, its totaly worth the 50$... and you pay only ONCE

sleepin4lyf · Mar 30, 2006, 03:40 AM // 03:40

lets just say GW just hit 1,000,000 players...

the single player mode (called PvE) is just decent... but most of the whole campaign mode is geared so that people PvP... PvP plays a huge deal in this game. There are so many skills and so many combinations that PvPing is never different and also enjoyable.

Plus no monthly fee so definitly pick this game up.

scars of insanity · Mar 30, 2006, 03:44 AM // 03:44

the PvE is not repetitive like most games. and the PvP is unbeatable. and there is always something to do. join a guild and your options increase even more.

NatalieD · Mar 30, 2006, 03:45 AM // 03:45

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Originally Posted by pickles8806

Is there an end game?

Lots of people keep playing PVE even after they've finished all the missions and quests. The goal, if you need one, would be to get cool-looking equipment. Guild Wars makes it easy to find maximum-level equipment, but there are also many very rare and expensive items with the same stats but a different and cooler appearance.

If you want a really long-term experience out of GW, though, you should turn to PVP. That's where this game shines.

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Is it a dying MMO, do you often see people while online?

Plenty of people around most of the time.

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How does it compare to other MMOs? Maybe this will help. I didn't like City of Villains because it had practically no item system, the quests were all the pretty much the same, and their was NO endgame. People said it was aimed at the experience of leveling, but to me, if you've invested hundreds of hours in a character to make him your own, and get to the level cap, you kinda want to be able to play him. Also, the zones did not differ very much. They all looked like pretty much the same cities except with different level characters or mobs roaming the streets. So, with this in mind, how does GW compare?

GW compares quite favorably on those criteria. The item system isn't intricate, but it's there. Same with the "endgame". And it's much better in terms of areas looking different from each other.

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Also, specifically about the game: How do you travel the map (other than on foot if possible, i.e. mounts and such)?

On foot, but you can freely teleport to any town or mission outpost you've already been to. Completing a mission will also place you in the "next" town or outpost in terms of the storyline.

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How is the quest variety?

Better than WoW, certainly. Quests are more often of the "go here and kill this" variety, rather than the "kill this type of endlessly-respawning thing over and over till your eyes bleed" that WoW favors. You won't spend nearly as much time running across the same small vicinity doing various carbon-copy quests.

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How is the size of the map?

No idea how it compares to WoW sizewise, but it ends up feeling bigger just because you keep moving through it as you play. When I played WoW, I usually came to an area and stayed there for several levels on end before finishing the quests there and moving on. That doesn't happen so much in GW.

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Are there a lot of loads?

A fair number, but they shouldn't take long unless your system is very old.

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Are there raids?

No. The max party size scales up to 8 over the course of the game, but that's as high as it gets.

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How populated is a main town/city on a day to day basis (with players)?

Heavily! The game splits towns and outposts into "districts" (i.e., instances) when there get to be too many in the same instance (to avoid the lag you're probably quite familiar with from Ironforge and Orgrimmar), and the major cities always have at least a dozen or so districts, usually more. You can freely transfer into any district you want if you need to meet up with friends or look for new people to group with or whatever.

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Is there a variety of things to do (I ask this question because I rember that in WoW, I could always go do something, like work on my proffession, go do raids/instances, do quests, go explore a new zone, PvP, hang out in a main town)?

You'll run out of quests eventually, but you can still find groups going through the various high-level areas for loot. And there's always PVP to be had.

Rayne Nightfyre · Mar 30, 2006, 04:02 AM // 04:02

Personally, I've been playing since May of 2005, and literally 98% of my play time has been all PvE. There is tons of end-game content, and incentive for saving up gold. I've completed the storyline with 6 characters, one of each profession and have yet to become bored with PvE. So although much in the game is geared toward PvP, the PvE is just as fun and rewarding.

SnipiousMax · Mar 30, 2006, 04:14 AM // 04:14

While it'd be another 50$ investment on top of the initial Guild Wars, part two, Factions promises to add alot more PvE and PvP content. There aren't raids, but in factions at least, there are a few large scale PvP 'Missions' that blend with the PvE experience. The few that we were able to try out in the Preview event were alot of fun.

As will all MMO's you will run into Grinders and farmers, but that doesn't take away from the massive content of the game.

Only beef with I have with Guild War's is that there isn't much RP in town. Very few (VERY) few people play the game 'in character.' But it is a very fun and engaging game.

tuperwho · Mar 30, 2006, 04:24 AM // 04:24

I spent $50 and have just passed 600 hours played. I still really enjoy it and look forward to it nightly. There are plenty of friendly people online and on guru constantly, and there's no such thing as PKing (unless you're in PvP and that's the poing

) As far as if it's waning or not.... my guild and friends list grow at least a name or 2 every week. This game is great, there's ton of "end game" content and challenge. Plus, with the expansion coming out soon, there will be a big surge in activity. It's a great game and a great time to get in on it.

Edit: and Snipious' single complaint is one of my biggest pleasures in the game. You sign in, group up, and kill stuff, instead of RP'ing... to each his own, I guess.

pickles8806 · Mar 30, 2006, 04:27 AM // 04:27

Thanks for the quick responses guys. All of that stuff is good to hear, there are a few things that concern me though. I read that when you are traveling the world (lets say just running around a zone) you will not see other players, is this true? For example, if I was running around a forest, I couldn't see my friend if he was going right by? If so, do you only see people in towns, and do you have to load everytime you enter or exit a town? Also, rayne commented that he's played 6 characters since may 2005. Is this necessary? Would I get bored with continually using the same character? And lastly, are armor pieces and weapons found on monsters and such, or do you have to buy them from an NPC? Thanks again.

NatalieD · Mar 30, 2006, 04:37 AM // 04:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by pickles8806

Thanks for the quick responses guys. All of that stuff is good to hear, there are a few things that concern me though. I read that when you are traveling the world (lets say just running around a zone) you will not see other players, is this true? For example, if I was running around a forest, I couldn't see my friend if he was going right by?

Everything is instanced. When you leave town, a new instance of the area you're going into is generated for your party.

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If so, do you only see people in towns, and do you have to load everytime you enter or exit a town?

Outside of towns you only see your party members. (And your opponents, if it's a pvp arena, of course.)

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Also, rayne commented that he's played 6 characters since may 2005. Is this necessary? Would I get bored with continually using the same character?

I can't really answer this. I'm mainly a PVP player, and change characters all the time.

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And lastly, are armor pieces and weapons found on monsters and such, or do you have to buy them from an NPC? Thanks again.

Weapons drop from monsters. There are also NPC weaponsmiths who will craft weapons for you in exchange for money and crafting materials, and "collectors" who will give you one of a selection of weapons in exchange for a few of a specific, otherwise-useless monster drop. Armor can be gotten from crafters and collectors, but doesn't drop.

arcanemacabre · Mar 30, 2006, 04:44 AM // 04:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by pickles8806

Thanks for the quick responses guys. All of that stuff is good to hear, there are a few things that concern me though. I read that when you are traveling the world (lets say just running around a zone) you will not see other players, is this true? For example, if I was running around a forest, I couldn't see my friend if he was going right by? If so, do you only see people in towns, and do you have to load everytime you enter or exit a town? Also, rayne commented that he's played 6 characters since may 2005. Is this necessary? Would I get bored with continually using the same character? And lastly, are armor pieces and weapons found on monsters and such, or do you have to buy them from an NPC? Thanks again.

You're coming from a couple of MMORPGs, and I can understand how you are looking at this game. Thing is, this game isn't really in the same classification as other MMORPGs, in fact, this game is not officially labelled as such.

What it is closely related to is Diablo/Diablo 2. If you've ever played those games, you have a pretty good understanding of what Guild Wars is. Instead of a chat room (Battle.net) before teaming up and heading out into a multiplayer world, though, in Guild Wars, you have Towns, Outposts, and Cooperative Missions where you essentially "chat" and look for groups before going out into the multiplayer world.

Like Diablo 2, you also have henchmen (hirelings/npc's that fight with you) that can fill up your team if you don't want to team with another player, or you can't find someone to fill a spot on a team.

Outside of these towns/outposts is the world where you do the fighting, which is all in instances, or an area specifically designed for you and your team. This is all controlled by load zones, which can be a slight pain, but they load fast and it keeps everything running smooth for everyone no matter their bandwidth.

I seriously doubt you'd get bored using only one character, in fact, contrarily, this is the first MMO/whateverRPG that I've stuck with my one main character since I bought the game. This game is centered around player skill rather than getting UBER items. Don't worry, the items are there if you want to strive for them (after all, what else is there to do with your gold?), but the challenge to get better is by far the #1 selling point to Guild Wars.

It sounds by your post that Guild Wars is really for you, but only as long as you see it as a simple Multiplayer game of skill, rather than compared to the trendy MMOs out there. It's a breath of fresh air, methinks.

Poison Ivy · Mar 30, 2006, 04:48 AM // 04:48

Just to let you know, many GW players have 2 accounts, because they love the game so much and want to have every profession in PvE, they actually brought 2

And yes, it's worth $50, I wouldn't be surprised if the game costed 100$.

pickles8806 · Mar 30, 2006, 05:15 AM // 05:15

Ok, well I guess my final question for now is this: Should I buy factions or prophecy? I understand they work independently from one another, and if I like the one I buy will probably end up getting the other eventually, but which should I start out with? Thanks again.

LordMahal · Mar 30, 2006, 05:27 AM // 05:27

They are both stand alone, but can also be played together. If you get the Core game, prophecy, you can play factions with your characters from prophecy. Just getting factions alone only allows you to play that. Coming from prophecy I am bias of course, but, you can get just factions and you will still have the same skills, some new, as those coming from prophecy. I guess if you really wanted to see the story, Id pick up prophecy first, try it, then get factions... Besides factions is a month a way still. In that time you will have beaten prophecy back and forth with just a few hours of play a day.

Enix · Mar 30, 2006, 05:57 AM // 05:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by pickles8806

Ok, well I guess my final question for now is this: Should I buy factions or prophecy? I understand they work independently from one another, and if I like the one I buy will probably end up getting the other eventually, but which should I start out with? Thanks again.

I would start with Prophacies since it is out now. I have 2 accounts with 6 chars as well, and I would suggest trying a few chars until you get the hang of what purpose you like to play (Healing, Warrior, Hexing, Damage Spiking, etc.) In PvE, Warriors are pretty much the easiest to play, but they can be a pain in the butt when they dont consider the other teammates' energy. Eles are pretty fun because they can lay down lots of damage by using the Fire line. Mesmers are really booring at first, and I dont suggest playing one as your first char. Rangers are fun to play and viable for farming and many team builds. Necros are pretty universally useful - decent damage, excelent hexing, second best self-healing in the game, and lots of other stuff I wont bore you with. Plus, female scar pattern armor is hawt.

stickyballs · Mar 30, 2006, 06:48 AM // 06:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by sleepin4lyf

lets just say GW just hit 1,000,000 players...

Lol, picked up a million like in August. W/ Japan and Taiwan also, I'm sure it's a bit more.

Anyways, yeah, one time fee, so if you stop, you can just keep your items. Not like this MMORPG where your account is deleted after 3 months (can't remember name cuz it was so bad lol).

Maria The Princess · Mar 30, 2006, 06:33 PM // 18:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by pickles8806

Thanks for the quick responses guys. All of that stuff is good to hear, there are a few things that concern me though. I read that when you are traveling the world (lets say just running around a zone) you will not see other players, is this true? For example, if I was running around a forest, I couldn't see my friend if he was going right by? If so, do you only see people in towns, and do you have to load everytime you enter or exit a town? Also, rayne commented that he's played 6 characters since may 2005. Is this necessary? Would I get bored with continually using the same character? And lastly, are armor pieces and weapons found on monsters and such, or do you have to buy them from an NPC? Thanks again.

i've been playingfor at least 8 mounths and im still using my first character (my pretty ranger) more then 3 other ones... i dont think i'll ever get bore of it. my 4th character, ivebeen deleting and changing until i made a nice pvp mesmer. but i still spend 90% oftime using my ranger and my invincible 55hp monk in PvE. pvp its for when i dont have all the time to really enjoy some gruop quest, but i know ALOT of people love pvp, so its just personal what YOU like

btw, evry time you go in city you see ALL the people IN that city. when you go outside you get your own map. if you go with a team you guys all play on same map and see each other.

SnipiousMax · Mar 31, 2006, 08:41 PM // 20:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maria The Princess

i've been playingfor at least 8 mounths and im still using my first character (my pretty ranger) more then 3 other ones... i dont think i'll ever get bore of it. my 4th character, ivebeen deleting and changing until i made a nice pvp mesmer.

My first character was a Ranger as well, and the one I enjoy playing the most.

Truely any one character in Guildwars can be played a number of ways.

And to answer the OP's last question, I would start with Prophecies.

Mar 30, 2006, 03:39 AM // 03:39	#2
Maria The Princess Forge Runner Join Date: Mar 2006 Guild: Aequitas Deis	I LOVE GW!!!! im a 20 years old girl and trust me and my bro who's 14 fight over the PC!!! thats the thing, real game begins after you reach lvl 20 (highest lvl). after you finish ALL quests, theres still TONS of things to do. its a game that you can play forever! you can do quests or farming trips on your own to look for rare or uniq items, with a team or with Guild team. you can explore the HUGE map. you can RUSH people for money between diffrent towns, hang out in towns, sell and buy stuff, chat with other players you meet, go PVP alone(random team) or with guild team! its incredible how even after you finish the quests you still play and enjoy it even more! and trust me, theres ALOT of diffrent quests. anouther thing is that you get to personalise your character with special builds, looks, items and armors, so you end up with a character perfect for you! I love my ranger, with expensive armor, complete set of bows and all the skills.... but my bro like shis ranger totaly diffrent and we both can kick ass! lol i know people who play for hours (i wish i could but i got college to deal with) who are aged between 10 to 50! dude, its totaly worth the 50$... and you pay only ONCE Last edited by Maria The Princess; Mar 30, 2006 at 03:44 AM // 03:44..

Mar 30, 2006, 03:29 AM // 03:29	#1
pickles8806 Pre-Searing Cadet Join Date: Mar 2006	Thinking of Making the Switch Hey guys, I'm new to the forums and have a few questions about GW. I've recently come from WoW, which I quite because I needed a break. I then wanted to pick up another MMO and went with City of Villains. To me, it was a mistake. I've been playing for all of two weeks, and was only enthralled for the first few days. Now, I've set my sights on GW. I'm basically wondering how you guys feel about the game. Is there an end game? Is it a dying MMO, do you often see people while online? How does it compare to other MMOs? Maybe this will help. I didn't like City of Villains because it had practically no item system, the quests were all the pretty much the same, and their was NO endgame. People said it was aimed at the experience of leveling, but to me, if you've invested hundreds of hours in a character to make him your own, and get to the level cap, you kinda want to be able to play him. Also, the zones did not differ very much. They all looked like pretty much the same cities except with different level characters or mobs roaming the streets. So, with this in mind, how does GW compare? Also, specifically about the game: How do you travel the map (other than on foot if possible, i.e. mounts and such)? How is the item system? Is there an auction house? Is there endgame content? How is the quest variety? How is the size of the map? Are there a lot of loads? Are there raids? How populated is a main town/city on a day to day basis (with players)? Is there a variety of things to do (I ask this question because I rember that in WoW, I could always go do something, like work on my proffession, go do raids/instances, do quests, go explore a new zone, PvP, hang out in a main town and go to the auction house)? Thanks for all your help guys, I'm sorry as they are pretty newbish, the search engine is down. But I'd just like to know what I'm getting into, as I just blew thirty bucks on City of Villains and don't wanna waste another fifty on GW if it's not worth it. Thanks. Last edited by pickles8806; Mar 30, 2006 at 03:34 AM // 03:34..

Mar 30, 2006, 03:40 AM // 03:40	#3
sleepin4lyf Frost Gate Guardian Join Date: Dec 2005	lets just say GW just hit 1,000,000 players... the single player mode (called PvE) is just decent... but most of the whole campaign mode is geared so that people PvP... PvP plays a huge deal in this game. There are so many skills and so many combinations that PvPing is never different and also enjoyable. Plus no monthly fee so definitly pick this game up.

Mar 30, 2006, 03:44 AM // 03:44	#4
scars of insanity Academy Page Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Katy Texas Guild: Soldiers of Heaven [soh]	the PvE is not repetitive like most games. and the PvP is unbeatable. and there is always something to do. join a guild and your options increase even more.

Mar 30, 2006, 04:02 AM // 04:02	#6
Rayne Nightfyre Wilds Pathfinder Join Date: Dec 2005 Guild: Acolytes of Lyssa [AL] Profession: Me/A	Personally, I've been playing since May of 2005, and literally 98% of my play time has been all PvE. There is tons of end-game content, and incentive for saving up gold. I've completed the storyline with 6 characters, one of each profession and have yet to become bored with PvE. So although much in the game is geared toward PvP, the PvE is just as fun and rewarding.

Mar 30, 2006, 04:14 AM // 04:14	#7
SnipiousMax Perfectly Elocuted Join Date: Sep 2005	While it'd be another 50$ investment on top of the initial Guild Wars, part two, Factions promises to add alot more PvE and PvP content. There aren't raids, but in factions at least, there are a few large scale PvP 'Missions' that blend with the PvE experience. The few that we were able to try out in the Preview event were alot of fun. As will all MMO's you will run into Grinders and farmers, but that doesn't take away from the massive content of the game. Only beef with I have with Guild War's is that there isn't much RP in town. Very few (VERY) few people play the game 'in character.' But it is a very fun and engaging game.

Mar 30, 2006, 04:24 AM // 04:24	#8
tuperwho Wilds Pathfinder Join Date: Jul 2005 Guild: Tenacious Knights of Doom [TKD]	I spent $50 and have just passed 600 hours played. I still really enjoy it and look forward to it nightly. There are plenty of friendly people online and on guru constantly, and there's no such thing as PKing (unless you're in PvP and that's the poing ) As far as if it's waning or not.... my guild and friends list grow at least a name or 2 every week. This game is great, there's ton of "end game" content and challenge. Plus, with the expansion coming out soon, there will be a big surge in activity. It's a great game and a great time to get in on it. Edit: and Snipious' single complaint is one of my biggest pleasures in the game. You sign in, group up, and kill stuff, instead of RP'ing... to each his own, I guess.

Mar 30, 2006, 04:27 AM // 04:27	#9
pickles8806 Pre-Searing Cadet Join Date: Mar 2006	Thanks for the quick responses guys. All of that stuff is good to hear, there are a few things that concern me though. I read that when you are traveling the world (lets say just running around a zone) you will not see other players, is this true? For example, if I was running around a forest, I couldn't see my friend if he was going right by? If so, do you only see people in towns, and do you have to load everytime you enter or exit a town? Also, rayne commented that he's played 6 characters since may 2005. Is this necessary? Would I get bored with continually using the same character? And lastly, are armor pieces and weapons found on monsters and such, or do you have to buy them from an NPC? Thanks again.

Mar 30, 2006, 04:48 AM // 04:48	#12
Poison Ivy Forge Runner Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Toronto Guild: Hopping Profession: Mo/A	Just to let you know, many GW players have 2 accounts, because they love the game so much and want to have every profession in PvE, they actually brought 2 And yes, it's worth $50, I wouldn't be surprised if the game costed 100$.

Mar 30, 2006, 05:15 AM // 05:15	#13
pickles8806 Pre-Searing Cadet Join Date: Mar 2006	Ok, well I guess my final question for now is this: Should I buy factions or prophecy? I understand they work independently from one another, and if I like the one I buy will probably end up getting the other eventually, but which should I start out with? Thanks again.

Mar 30, 2006, 05:27 AM // 05:27	#14
LordMahal Krytan Explorer Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Germany Profession: R/Mo	They are both stand alone, but can also be played together. If you get the Core game, prophecy, you can play factions with your characters from prophecy. Just getting factions alone only allows you to play that. Coming from prophecy I am bias of course, but, you can get just factions and you will still have the same skills, some new, as those coming from prophecy. I guess if you really wanted to see the story, Id pick up prophecy first, try it, then get factions... Besides factions is a month a way still. In that time you will have beaten prophecy back and forth with just a few hours of play a day.