Current population

hey, I've played Guild Wars back when it just got out, really enjoyed the game but had to stop due to several reasons. anyway, I want to start playing again and i've seen that there are a lot of new packs/expansions, is the Eye of the North the latest update to the game?
Also, is it not too late to start? will I see a sign of life(people) on lowbie missions of Eye of the North?

There are still people playing but they are mostly veterans which do everything by themselfs or guildies.
1.Proph-original game
2.Factions
3.Nightfall
4.Eye of the north- expansion pack

People do still group up for parts of eye of the north missions but I wouldn't really say any of them are lowbie missions because everything in eye of the north is level 24 and up I think.

Depends. I always say: If you interested in playing GW as an offline RPG (Obviously it's online, hence the as an), Guild Wars is still a perfect game to play, if only once.

if you're looking for an online experience, a PvP-experience or even a game which can keep you hooked (End-Game), there is far better options out there than GW.

GW rite now mostly nostalgia and the building up to GW2. And the latter is hardly a reason to play GW. (Farm titles, huray, WiK is semi-enjoyable, is hardly enough to be called actual content)

I have played since 2005 and then took random breaks time to time. Over year, then couple months, half year and such.

Always find myself returning to play those PvP missions Fort Aspenwood, Jade Quarry and Alliance Battles. Fort Aspenwood is my favorite. It is really shame that Anet didn't add more. Probably the only thing in this game which you play purely for fun, not for faction farming or anything. It is like RPG UT2004 with one map. Quite slower tempo but still.

so basicly, it's not worth to start GW right now but to wait for GW2?

We can't know if it's worth for *you*.

I often play with heroes and henchies. People annoy me, mostly. If people define your fun, in a way that more people more fun - you have much better options online, really. Even in GW, you have other people. Since you already have the game why not login and check. Guild, Alliance, Friends list.

Technically speaking, GW is still great and among the best in what it does.

if you can convince 7 of your friends who've never played gw before to buy it and play through it with you, you'll have a great time.

otherwise you'll want to gouge out your eyes just so you never have to experience anything like GW again.

dont get me wrong, I dont mind doing missions alone.
its not that more people more fun, I just dont want stuff that REQUIRE people(if there are any in EotN, to ruin it for me) for example PVP events in prophecies against bots were pretty boring. I did most missions alone in GW prophecies up to around where you upgrade your armor thingy to survive against some elemental mobs I think, from there i started grouping with people to end the game and finally pvp.
what i want to really know if i'll be able to enjoy the content throughout the game :P

OP, only you can decide if it's worth it to you. I can tell you it's worth it to me, and I'm a new player. My spouse and I play together, and we joined a relatively casual guild a few weeks back. We're now just over 2 months in, probably close to 100 hours played and still feel like there's a ton to do. Considering the game and all x-packs can now be found for $30-$40 (for everything, including EoTN), I certainly wouldn't call it a wasted expense. Hell of a fun game, even when playing without a group.

Buy it from Steam, or a legit 3rd party seller (stress on legit, there are places that will sell you cheap but bannable int'l accounts and such) to save a few bucks. It will be cheaper for you to rebuy the entire game with all campaigns than to restart your old account and add each campaign and EoTN individually.

doh, sorry for double post

Well that's a little harsh. To someone who's never experienced the content before, the game is still fresh and fun the first time through, maybe the first couple if you like rolling alts. It's a fun little single-player action RPG at the very least, with a very nice battle system that's fairly unique. You might want to gouge your eyes out at the thought of playing through it again, but that's because you've probably already played through 10 times or more.

Since the release of Nightfall, Guild Wars changed from a co-operative online game into a solo game about managing heroes and henchmen (which is never fun but it's efficient and how most players complete content these days as their builds will do all the work for you). I can tell you now, that is no where near as enjoyable as playing with other people but that's how it is now. People group for elite areas but you have to know how to get into a group (usually through a guild which specialises in that area) which can be challenging for a lot of people. Groups will almost never play a balanced style and always run some gimmick build that is about as interesting as reading a spread sheet and incredibly unforgiving to new players - they are more about knowing where to stand or when to use a specific skill rather than actively playing - but it's fast, so it probably won't be that enjoyable either.

The only place you will find people grouping is for the daily quests which are useless for making your way through the game and mostly just a grind to occupy the addicted people who remain even though they've done everything and would probably be best served moving on.

If you don't already own the new games (Factions, Nightfall, Eye of the North) I strongly recommend spending your money elsewhere or waiting for Guild Wars 2 if it's any good. You might get a few hours out of GW1 and all the expansions, but you will likely do it alone.

The economy has moved on from a healthy one where players are able to purchase things easily to one where nothing a lowbie/new player can achieve will have significant value. This is OK if you want to buy pre-eotn items (if you can find someone selling them, they hold so little value most greens get merched), but crap if you want to sell your found items to other players to afford armour etc.

My recommendation is don't come back to Guild Wars. Buy a Final Fantasy game for whatever console you own and play that. They are better games to begin with and were designed with solo play in mind, so you will definitely enjoy them better. If you want to play a computer game then Torchlight is a really good single player RPG and it will have a free to play and download MMO come out in the next year or two.

If you do want to solo GW, start with Nightfall. Finish the chapter and get a full set of well equipped heroes. Then you can solo Eye of the North easily.

Dancing Gnome is right, however. There are a lot of good solo games out there. I spent a few happy months with Borderlands; yeah it is online too, but solo works fine, probably better. Or Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction for an old game that will keep your attention; if you've never played it before.

GW 2 is going to be a very different game from GW in both structure and play style. Stay tuned!

Come on, people are overrated and some of you are just being nostalgic. The truth is that playing with people is double-edged blade. Yes, something might be more efficient and enjoyable. On the other hand it can be very frustrating and - fail. In terms of efficiency, one can finish a campaign with HH much faster than someone who plays with PuGs - if you're any good.

In that case you should start playing. You can do everything without people except, I guess, few endgame areas, where you can find people anyway.

Not only that, but you only played Prophecies so you never met Heroes. Heroes are henchmen you can modify - give them skills you want and other equipment.

People mostly played Nightfall and GW:EN alone when they came out anyway, so it's not a big deal. Factions I'd skip just because it's the worst of the 3 and you really don't need that much GW at this point of the game's life cycle unless you've done the others and want to. Besides you'll want the benefits of those other games first since there's a ton of extras thrown at soloers like heroes and PVE skills.

The problem is Guild Wars is a game designed and balanced for group play. It's an online game and they are about playing with other people. When you aren't doing that the content isn't really worth the experience in comparison to a good single player game.

Someone already said it but you now get Heroes which are like your own henchmen and you can decided what skills they bring.

I've completed all the chapters+expansion with just heroes and henchmen, I didn't dabble into much elite content but I did do the elite area in EotN with only Heroes and Henchmen as well.

I completely disagree I play GW pretty much as a single-player game and it's among the most "rewarding" games that I have ever played.

It depends on what you're searching for. In terms of creativity, I can't think of a single singleplayer game that tops GW. In GW, I can make all kinds of fun but viable builds - and it's not stale because of skill balances (which are rare now, ok). When I want, I can still easily PvP.

What good singleplayer game do you know, with good replayability and with many viable choices for skills, attributes etc - something beyond just storyline? I cant say a lot here because my time is very limited and GW is atm the only game I play, and I have tried very very few games last few years.

I started playing Guild Wars for the multiplayer aspect just after Factions came out. Then it was still pretty good and you needed a group of actual people to be able to get through most missions.

Then Night "fell". Heroes were introduced and everyone was like "ohhh customizable henchies." It was right around here that I took my first major break from the game. By the time I got back however, everyone was soloing everything with heroes. No one wanted an actual party anymore. I had a hard time finishing Prophecies and Factions by then, and I still haven't finished Nightfall OR EotN (which, by the way, made the Hero problem worse). It seems Guild Wars had turned from an MMORPG to just an RPG.

I still prefer playing with actual people. However, one can barely find that anymore. Even if you find someone to play with, chances are they're a n00b that bought the game yesterday and doesn't know what they're doing.

So if you want to come back for the multiplayer, don't even bother. You won't find good multiplayer anywhere except PvP (and DON'T get me started on that).

But if you like playing RPGs by yourself, by all means go ahead. It's not the best RPG ever, but you could do much, much worse. The multiplayer you'll come across now and then would just be a plus.