Curse

Slash Winder · May 20, 2006, 11:51 PM // 23:51

I will put my input about WoW vs GW in pvp.

First, as others said, you don't need to play your character for hours (doing the pve game to get from 1 to 20), because you can make a new character which is set for only pvp playing. This is something I love because you won't be playing all the time the same character in pvp, and you can change at your own will. This is something that you can't do in WoW, though possible if you create many characters.

Also, there is no world pvp in Guild Wars, pvp being all instanced (like everything in GW, except towns). This might seem weird, but at the beginning GW is not a MMORPG, it's a CORPG.

If you want to play pvp matches without waiting a few hours to organize a team, you can go to Random Arena, and like you said do some pvp action while listening to music. There is more serious pvp arenas (mostly the Hall of Heroes and Guild Vs Guild combat) if you want to get in depth pvp (with TS or Vent and more advanced strategies, etc.).

One last thing is that compared to WoW, you don't need to grind endlessly hours in PVE to get your best armor set and weapon to keep up with other players. If you play the PVE campaign normally, you get most of the skills for your primary and secondary profession, and maybe some runes and weapons unlocks. Then after you can play right away in pvp, and given the right build you might be the best player of the match, without endless hours of grinding. This is due to the skill choice, and the way you are playing your build, not the equipment that one have to grind for in WoW.

Also, if you don't want to play the PVE game, you can start from the second after you have created your character to play in PvP, and not be doing any PvE. There is a system for those players in Guild Wars, that is called the balthazar faction, that you earn for killing others in PvP, completing objectived, etc. There is npc's in PvP areas that let you turn in that faction into skills, weapons, upgrades, runes, etc. for PvP only characters, and if you play enough, you can get your character the strongest equip that one can have.

In general, PvP in Guild Wars is pretty much balanced, and every "not stupid" build can succeed, but not against everything. There is counters to every builds, but its not every classes that can have the counter. Also, you won't be a killing machine like you can be in WoW (lets say before the trinket nerf, a good mage could kill 5 players in less than 30 seconds, without taking any damage). If you are looking for balanced pvp, I think this is a game that you shouldnt miss.

TheOneMephisto · May 21, 2006, 01:04 AM // 01:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by ikickedbutt

well it is possible to unlock any skill through PvP, it just goes faster with PvE. in fact the only advantage to PvPing with RP characters is that you look better and you can swap armor.

Actually, it also lets you have 4 sets of customized weapons (more if you want, but much less convenient). Armor swapping is very useful, especially swapping sup runes off against spikes, and even checking out the other team and swapping armor accordingly (switching to + vs lair against FC air spike, switching to + vs physical in a warrior-heavy team, switching to +health against generic spikes, etc.). However, I don't see a lot of people actively doing this...

wddwmmandalore · May 23, 2006, 03:52 AM // 03:52

I saw that you were still seeking an answer to #5 and i skipped everything so if it was already answered w/e.

Its 2 completely different games. In WoW I was a rogue and it was just spam Sinister Strike/Eviscerate, even in PvP because thats all you really need. But in GW, since you get the limited number of skills, you better use everyone well. If you find yourself spamming just 1,2, or 3 skills constantly unless your a healer, then something is wrong. But yea, final verdict GW pvp > WoW pvp, more competition in GW.

Viade · May 23, 2006, 03:35 PM // 15:35

1. No solo pvp of the wow variety. GW pvp is pretty much like a vastly improved bg system in wow.

2. Skill is the defining factor in GW pvp, much moreso than wow. Equipment is everything in wow. Fine if both guys are in pvp sets, not so good when you meet the hardcore pve guys, which is the only place to obtain high end weaponry in wow without spending 80+hours/week for multiple months. If mudflation in wow was bothering you, as it was me (I simply couldn't maintain the raiding required) gw will be a breath of fresh air.

3. Character customization is one of the important elements of the skill in the game. The talent and attribute systems are similar after a fashion, however GW attribute system has a much larger impact on your character than wow talent system.

As an example, in wow, a mage with no points in ice can still throw a reasonable frost bolt, or more importantly, frost nova. In guild wars, an elementalist with no points in water magic is going to be mostly worthless if/when attempting to throw ice spikes or a frozen burst.

However the customization in guild wars goes further than that. Choosing your characters skills is important. You can't have them all at the same time, unlike wow, you have to choose which you will bring to any given fight. In addition to that, because gear is so easily available, you are free to make choices about which gear you will bring to any given encounter as well.

Yes there are cookie cutters, although not to the same extent, somewhat due to having a second class on each character. To use warriors for example (one of the most varied), top guilds atm are using warrior/elementalists, warrior/rangers, warrior/assassins, ranger/warriors, even warrior/monks. None of those characters operate in similar ways, the only connection between them is that they are melee fighters.

Keep in mind that the warrior class has its own set of subtrees, with large differences between a hammer warrior, a sword warrior, and an axe warrior, and no clear 'best', and you'll see that while cookie cutters exist, they exist simply because they are the best at performing one particular role (although that role may be the 'all-rounder' role).

Even in cookie cutter builds like a boon prot monk, or a gale axe warrior, while there are skills that are beyond debate, there is still room on the skillbar for skills that are better in certain situations or roles, and sometimes just skills that are personal preference.

So, yes, there are common builds, but it doesn't have a huge impact on the game, because those builds are not necessarily better. Although, I would say the exception is that there is only one truly versatile and powerful pvp monk build. Other kinds of monks are often needed however!

4. This one is interesting. With 8 skills on your bar, there's only room for a certain amount of the various kinds of skills. Offensively you are probably looking at 2-3 different ways to hurt your opponent each time. Of those, some skills will be used a lot. For example, it's an unusual hammer warrior that doesn't use either backbreaker or devastating, as well as hammer bash. Similarly, a healer needs to do something to maintain his energy(mana), and so you will often see monks using mantra of recall.

I'd have to say yes on this one, each kind of character has a few skills that they will use quite a lot, although with the wider variety of characters due to the superior customization, that doesn't mean you will know what to expect from any given class combination. certainly not to the extent of 'oh warrior, watch out for the mortal strike'. Also in mitigation is that using those skills well tends to mean a lot more than the repetitive spamming of wow.

5. GW pvp is everything wow pvp said it would be, while wow is pretty much EQ trying to be GW. That's about as honest and accurate as I can make it.

WoW has a lot of depth in the storyline and zone creation and other pve elements that I found lacking in guild wars (I never even finished the PvE campaign of GW). However to go along with that it has the mudflation, requiring an absolutely insane time sink*, and an inferior pvp system, both in game mechanics and environmentally. GW is less like a mmorpg than it is a cross between magic the gathering and a first person shooter.

*To the point where I couldn't keep up with my guilds raid schedule even without a job or going to school, simply because I liked to see the sun and maybe some friends now and then 0.o We weren't even the top guild on the server, and the server wasn't even a high pop. At that point I snapped and picked up a friends copy of GW. The one time I logged on wow since then I was depressed at the lag and dismal graphics, went to AV and got owned by some rogue I'd never heard of spamming SS with a thunderfury, and logged off.

So yeah, I played wow for a good while, I got 3 purpled 60s on 2 different servers, I invested a lot of time into that game, and I realized now the only thing keeping me there was the time I had already put in. GW has no such addictive hooks put in to the game, if it ever starts sucking, people will leave. It keeps you playing by being a good game, not with the 'keeping up with the joneses' mentality of wow.