Good game for a college student?

I'm starting full-time school and part-time work soon. I have a few questions about the game.

Is this a good game to get into if I don't have a lot of time to devote to it?
How long does it take to reach level 20 and be competent at PvP for a fairly smart person?
What's the best campaign if I don't have a lot of time?
Are some guilds accepting of casual gamers?
What's a good class to roll?

I know casual gamers tend to cause trouble for the hardcore by complaining about dungeon lengths and quests that take too long and being complete morons sometimes but I hope that most players understand if I can only hop on for about 10 hours a week.

If you could answer just a couple of these questions I'd be very grateful, thank you!

I know the game is a much better choice than a full blown MMO, but I still want to know more about it.

1. I you can control yourself very well, it's no problem. If you get fairly quick addicted to something like games I wouldn't recommend it. I just calculated my playing times on GW, 2731 hours of playing in 31 months. That is an average of 88 hours a month and 3 hours a day(just realised, that's a lot o.O)

2. - How long it takes to get to level 20? Hmm, that differs a lot from campaign to campaign and from your playing style, also, if you have any helpers it would speed things up a lot. Others can probably give you a better answer on this one.
-GW has something called PvP-only characters. These characters will be immedietly lvl 20 when you create them. They will also have the ability to use all unlocked skills on your account. Armor and weapons will cost nothing for you once they are unlocked on your account.
I don't recommend to play PvP with a PvE character, especially when you're not that far in the game yet.
-Once you unlocked some skills that make together a nice build(and as you are a fairly smart person) you will be able to get into PvP. BUT, first doing PvE is recommended(from my perspective), as you can learn the basics of the game there.

3. If you want to get a PvE character as fast as possible to lvl 20, I recommend GW Factions. For me it's still the best campaign, it's also fairly easy. Prophecies is not a good option for you because it takes ages to level.
Nightfall would also be nice, especially because you get heroes(a sort of NPC's that fight with you).

4. I think finding a guild shouldn't be a problem.

5. I'd say, try some classes yourself and see what you like best. Otherwise, an elementalist is always nice. With that class you can play with some elements(fire, earth, air and water). Also the Necromancer class is nice to play with. Personally I prefer the Ranger class. Loads of different opinions.

GW is built around the casual gamer.
1 Yes
2 Not long, GW is not about level so you reach max level FAR before you even complete the game.
3 All the campaigns are pretty similar in terms of pick up and go, while Nightfall is slightly more time intensive.
4 Look in the Guild Recruitment Forums of this forum.
5 All classes have different abilities and rolls in the party, it just depends on your play style.


Edit: Mister Me, I was interpreting question 3 as in how long would he have to devote to GW each session not how long does it take to complete a whole campaign.

Is this a good game to get into if I don't have a lot of time to devote to it? Depends, the low level stuff then yeah
How long does it take to reach level 20 and be competent at PvP for a fairly smart person? depends on how smart you are
What's the best campaign if I don't have a lot of time? probably NF or prophecies, eton is an addon and a grindfest, dont buy it until you have alot more spare time, and factions is just shit.
Are some guilds accepting of casual gamers? Yup, but dont just join the first guild you see. get to know some none newb players and see if theres room for you in their guild
What's a good class to roll? Necromancer, makes stuff nice and easy

Yes! Absolutely. As a college student myself, this was a major attraction to the game. I think this game targets those kind of users, most hard-core gamers will play WoW and probably others as well.

Level 20 can be reached within 10 hours or so (It's a bit of a guess, I've never really timed it). In Factions, it is especially fast. If you want to jump right into pvp (which some choose to do), the game supports that as well. That's one of the coolest things about this game: no level grinding! Getting to level 20 is just the start...there are so many combination of skills to try and master.

I think you will not have trouble finding a guild that accepts casual players. Many don't have rules regarding AFK time. My guild, for example, allows for up to 2 weeks AFK without notice. Some of the dungeons are a little long for me...I don't really sit and play for 4 hours at a time, but I haven't found this a hindrance to my enjoying the game for a couple of hours in the evenings.

As for which campaign to buy, I recommend this page. Factions is the shortest campaign, prophecies is your best bang for buck, but the heroes of Nightfall make the experience vastly more enjoyable.

As for professions, I think Ranger is a good place to start. It's pretty easy to pick up and pretty versatile in its roles. I've played a bit with each of the professions and I still enjoy going back to my ranger. Obviously professions vary heavily on play style and personal preference. The primary professions (those included in Prophecies) are fairly standard as far as MMOs. So if you've enjoyed tanking in other games, you may like the warrior...etc.

I love the game, I hope you will too. I put some links below that may help you get a better feel for the game. Welcome to the Guild Wars universe.

~Druzhina Warrior


Guild Wars Wiki
GuildWiki
PvXwiki

I hope this helps you with your decision on playing Guild Wars!

That depends upon whether you're mainly interested in PvP or PvE. If PvP is your thing, then I would say no. (see next answer)
If you are into PvE, GW is an excellent game for a student. No monthly fees - no feeling you're wasting money when you can't play.
Because GW has Henchmen and Hero NPCs you can play most of the game by yourself, just using H&H to fill the party. This allows you to play whenever you can for however long you can. Of course, you can also play with humans (and maybe some non-humans, ya never know. )
It takes a ridiculously short time to reach level 20 (for an RPG, imho). However, due to the age of the game and the current state of PvP, you need to have access to all skills available in the game, and you need to have lots of experience, to have any real chance in PvP.
(Note - PvP is basically a separate game from PvE - there is no PvP during PvE.)
I'd say Nighfall because Nightfall is the only Campaign where you can get Heroes (except for some special cases.). It's not so much the time thing as it is the ability to play solo with henchmen AND heroes.
There are plenty of Guilds looking for new players and new guilds are still being formed.
Any class will do really. It just depends upon what you like. There are various choices for classes, but as you are just starting out, I would suggest you stick to the "core" classes first.
If you like to get right in the action using swords, axes, or hammers, try a Warrior.
If you like to cast spells, go for Elementalist or Necromancer.
If you want to be the healer in a group, try a Monk (I don't recommend trying to be the healer with an H&H group though)
If you like to stand off a bit and shoot arrows, and have a pet, go for Ranger.

You can get details on the professions on the wiki at http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Profession You start with 4 character slots with your first campaign and add 2 with each additional full campaign. If eight is not enough, you can purchase additional slots from the on-line store. This means you can try out all of the professions until you find the ones that you enjoy the most.

Guild Wars PvE is perfect for a casual gamer. You can do most of the missions/quests with hero/henchman groups. There are only a few that really require joining with real people. There is no penalty for not playing and your account is never deleted.

Reaching max level is not exactly a goal in this game. It just signifies the end of training which varies from campaign to campaign - Original GW (Prophecies) long, Factions short, Nightfall medium.

The wiki also describes the different kinds of PvP available.

If you are serious about PvP, you could contact the teamlove.us group at http://teamlove.us/kisu/
They are working to keep GW PvP active by training new players.

I'd say it's a great game for you, because at least for me i've never found GW to be addicting. I could easily go away from the game for some time and not even think about it, unlike some other RPGs i've played. It takes no time at all to get to level 20, leveling up isn't what the game is about, the game doesn't really start until you've reached level 20. I say the best game to play is Prophecies, because you can spend a ton of time on it doing missions and quests at your own pace, unlike other campaigns where the missions and quests must be done in a linear order.

The PvP, if you can forget what you've learned from other games and take the time to learn about it with a competent attitude, you'll be playing at a decent level in no time. Most of the "higher-end" pvp such as heroes ascent and guild vs. guild groups are strict as to which rank their players are, because although it doesn't necessarily show the skill of players, it effectively shows players experience through their rank in that type of PvP. There's still casual PvP you can get the hang of before getting into other ranks, like RA, TA, AB and that kind of stuff.

Thanks! The information everyone has provided really helps. I was hoping I could kind of jump right into PvP if I wanted but I guess that was an unrealistic expectation.

The game sounds perfect. I'll probably play Nightfall and maybe Factions as well if I decide I want to devote a little extra time. I have a few days to power level and practice with skills before school starts so maybe I can eventually get into PvP.

The Dervish seem pretty cool looking.

Thanks again!

you will most likely like the game but if u got a job and full time in school just dont get to addicted and lose track of school and your studies.

I hate nightfall because its the only campaign with required grind.
(Honing your Skills *grind to level 5*, The Honorable General *grind to level 12*, The Time is Nigh *grind to level 17*)
and then there's the horribly hot, desolate, dry, hideous, endless landscapes that make me want to gouge my eyes out.

Your question has, for the most part been answered, but...

If you are going to get a PVP package then it doesn't matter which campaign you have but if you want to play the game and pvp with the same character I would go for Prophesies ( also called Guild wars..the first campaign), Factions and Nightfall. My personal favorite changes as I play, with Prophesies being the top usually closely followed by Nightfall then Factions. All are great imo. Eye of the North is also a worthwhile investment. Its free so you can take as much time as you need to.

Thanks again everyone. I went with Nightfall, made a Dervish and just hit level 20. That was a lot faster than getting to 20 in WoW and a lot more fun.

I have another question and decided I would just reply to this instead of making another topic. Would purchasing EoTN or the Mission Pack be the fastest way to get better gear and skills? I know I can probably do this by finishing the campaign but I want to try some PvP as soon as possible and see how badly I get my ass handed to me!

Eye of the North, definitely. It's added skills to the game, for one. Some of them are PvE-only and can't be brought into PvP though. (Such as [Pain Inverter], [Mindbender], [Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support])

now that I have logged in on my new computer, I will give you my $.02...

I started this and played it while I was in school. It is great for college students. You don't have to play every night, you can log in for a couple hours on the weekends and be ok. You can binge during holidays and breaks if you like. If you can't play for a month (which often happened to me), then no big deal, you are not 'behind' the rest of your guild/friends as you might be in some MMOs.

Since you don't pay a monthly fee, you don't have to worry about getting your money's worth either. All in all, this is a great game for students.

If you want to PvP without worrying about being underequipped, the snowball fight is open and should be for the next few days. While you won't learn about the build and skill interaction of 'real' PvP, you can brush up on tactics and positioning ie. dodging, bodyblocking, knowing when to support or attack etc

There's a guy in Kamadan who takes you there.

I say it's very late in the game to be starting fresh. The general population has age and many players are very unforgiving when it comes to new players.

Having said all that, GW is still a great game to pass your time.