MMORPG Old Timer

Hey there all. I just heard about this game last weekend. What caught my eye is no monthly fee. I've played EQ 1 for over 4 years, leveled 2 chars in Wow to 60, currently playing EQ 2 and loving it.

I would like to cut costs though so I am checking this out. I notice you can only be humans which is a turn off. But you do have something called elementalists and necros which is a plus. That is if they are like EQ necros and elementalists (mages or conjurors). Loaded with Dot's and kick ass pets.

I am a soloer mainly and love to do quests. I don't mind grouping either or guilds and guild events. But not be too dependant on them. I think between EQ 2 and this I could slowly progress here and not get level cap and be bored fast. Before the next content release.

Questions:

Necros/Elementalists have Damage over time spells and pets?
Could one solo all the way to the top if they wanted to?
Is there a counter that keeps track of quests you have done?
How many quests can you work at once?

Thanks and look forward to checking it out.

Yes, lots of classes have DoT spells. Rangers have pets.
One could solo the entire game, but it's a bit tough with Henchmen (NPC party members)
I don't know of any counter or permanant quest log. I don't think such a thing exists
It's not rare to have 4 or 5 quests in your quest log and a couple of them usually overlap.

As for your main concern, races... There's a possibility expansions will include more races to choose from. Given the role of dwarves in the current game, I wouldn't be surprised to see them as a choice in the next pack.

Question number 1- the only character with pets are rangers, or a combo char with ranger either primary or secondary profession.

Question 2- Solo all the way to finish? No, the majority of the game is centered around grouping, whether you choose other players as a group or the AI controled henchman, its up to you.

Question 3-Yes you have a Quest log, when you accept a quest it is logged and gives details to complete the quest. Once the quest is completed it is erased from the log.

Question 4-There are the main primary missions that continue the story line, but there are hundreds of side quests that can be completed for a variety of rewards.

As for you statement about the level cap, reaching the level 20 for your char is not quite even half of the game. I myself am about level 15 and I have not reached the halfway point by far. I have heard that the game only begins when you reach the cap of level 20, there is more to this game than you are anticipating, trust me.

necro "pets" are not like the ones in EQ. they are minions here (u summon them from corpses and they die slowly) good thing about those minions is that u can have more than one and if u got soul reaping skills once it dies u get mana

only rangers have 1 pet (at a time)

mesmer/necro have dot

new areas will be streamed in soon

level cap is only 20 and most of the game and future chapters will stay at that level

HONEST ADVICE?

you can try it and see if you are playeng the others the 50 dollars is not a problem

WHAT I THINK

if you love the others you will not likethis because the core of what you love (the crafting,mining,and such are missing here)

want better armor?
get drop from enemy salvage crafting material
take to NPCcrafter and poof the finished product is in your inventory

solo no

but npc henchmen are free and not to shabby

there are 25 missions (non pvp) to start
there are 60-70 explorable areas (non pvp, not small) to start with additional content to be added by streaming in

and here is what will be streamed in soon

http://www.guildwars.com/gameinfo/lo...wsfurnace.html

from GW

Guild Wars, in contrast, is based around your skill as a player. Our maximum level is twenty and you hit that very quickly, after about 20-30 hours of play. ,We call that 'The Point of Ascension'. Almost all of the content in the game and in the future Chapters is only available to Ascended characters, which means we don't have to worry about providing different levels of content. All the good stuff will be available to everyone. It's not our intent to force people onto the levelling up treadmill, so the level cap in Guild Wars is almost meaningless.

1. Yes
2. Yes, but very difficult.
3. Not that I know of. I know what maybe you are referring to, the completed quests part of EQ2? I love that feature and wish there was one in GW actually.
4. Well, I have about 25-30 sitting in my monks quest book right now. I am just going through missions and collecting them. I haven't seen a limit in it like EQ2 has.

You forgot to mention, GW's is not a typical MMORPG. If your looking for an EQ2 replacement, you will be sadly disappointed. They're very different, team work is a MUST (either humans or NPC's as mentioned above). Tho alot of people would say otherwise, i still believe that character skills, player skills, and team tactics out weight by far the hours played. GW's is a new type of game, refreshing from most other MMORPG's, ive heard the phrase "Diablo 2 on steriods" which is more accurate than than saying its like EQ2 or WoW. When you leave town, you are given your own copy of the map, you wont run into other people in the wilderness, the plus side to this is, there is no KSing or Looting in this game, everything on the map you load is just for you and your team mates. Grouping with people you do in town, then leave to get your private map. In the end GW's is a completely different kind of RPG, all i can suggest is that you buy it and check it out, if you hate it, then its not a huge loss there is no monthly fee, its just the 50$ purchase price. If you end up loving it, then you just found a replacement for all your monthly fee MMORPG's hope that helped somewhat, and sorry if it sounds alittle biased... i love this game lol

*edit* woah i must have taken forever to type that up, Loviatar covered alot of the same things as my post.

Avoid this game like the plague if you're looking for a replacement in terms of pve content. If you are interested in competitive pvp (its more like... slower paced deathmatch with more planning involved), consider investigating (wait for a free trial or check out a friends account).

You will be *sorely* disappointed if you buy this game to quest and explore challenging dungeons, especially alone.

I can tell you that this game feels a lot different. Your pets as a necro are not permanant like the skellie, rather, you conjure them temporarily from the corpses of your victims. The combat is also much faster, so though you have dots, its not like you're going to sit there and watch it work for 2 minutes. In PvE your foes are generally dead in 1/2 to 1/4 of that time. None the less, you get your poisions, your life taps and the like.

The elementalist does seem similar to the EQ wizzie, with a wide array of nuking spells. You can specialize in different element types, or try to be a generalist, though I imagine most pick one to become uber at.

Also, since the game is entirely instanced for combat zones it has a different feel than EQ. This is a mixed barrel. Its great never having to run an hour to a zone only to find it camped, or not having to deal with kill stealing, but, you don't get the same interaction as you do in EQ. The combat is so fast that there is no down time (if you were an EQ caster you know what I mean). This means more exp, but no time to chill and get to know your group. There are also no random amusing shouts throughout the zone, or people to help you out, so in a sense its kind of empty. Then again, if you are a soloist, that is your ideal environment.

One great feature of this game is that it has a great story line, and it can feel like a single player game, even though you are grouped witha bunch of your friends. The best comparsion I can give this is a good marriage between NWN and EQ, with a great graphics upgrade.

Well maybe that is what people need. People who bitch about EQ or bitch about diablo or nwn now have a melding of the two. This may work.

Another concern is the NO montly fee. What's to stop this company from pulling the plug? How can they handle the load and maintenance without charging? Setting themselves up for disaster? Will they have an even more lax attitude towards support and listening to people's suggestions on class balancing if needed?

patches come out on a regular basis (on one weekend I think there were at least 3 patches) and some things that people have suggested I belive have turned up in the game after a patch. and to help with the cash flow and to keep people interested they're going to be releasing expansion packs (with overlapping areas, so you can still play with people that don't have the latest expansion yet).

Do yourself a favor and forget everything you know about MMO's if you try this game. It's NOTHING like a standerd MMO, EQ least among them. Travel is slow at first (what game is it not slow at first) but it gets real fast and far sooner. Once you've discovered a town you can warp to that town instantly via the map. Elementalists play more like wizards. Necro's have pets but not like what your used to, and Necros in this game play a little diffrent as well. The necro here raises bone minions from the dead littering the battle field as opposed to using bone chips in EQ, and thier life span is generally very VERY short. The necro is more based around support and as such is WAY more group friendly. No, this does not prevent you from soloing in any way what~so~ever. In fact, depending on what skills you choose (as you discover them, yes, you have to find and quest for them) and depending on the secondary job you choose, a necro (just as anybody else) can survive with little worry. This is not to say there is no challenge, the challenge is in the stratagy. There are at LEAST 75 (im told more) skills per a class, and with your secondary thats over 150 skills each character can wield. The trick is in choosing which 8 to use. you can switch your skills out in any city, but once your in the field your stuck with those 8 till you get back to town.

Fair warning, you can and likely will hit level cap (20) before you finnish exploring the content of the game. Dont let this turn you off, because from what I understand most of the content cant be done untill level cap anyway. This game does things so DRASTICALLY diffrent from any other MMO out there that no explinations can really do it justice. It is fun, the quests are very soloable (as are the missions, like i stated before its all in the stratagy) and the PvP is out of this world; and this comming from someone who normally would shoot PvP down at the mere mention of it. One more thing, Soloists generally "Hire" henchmen (i use the term hire loosly, they dont cost anything really except that they take a portion of whatever loot and gold would drop, although its no more then if that henchman were a human player) to get them through missions and such, since going it alone can be VERY challenging indeed ~and by alone i mean with no henchmen~.

So there ya go, my (short? HAH thats a laugh!!) summery of the game. As stated before, this one broke the MMO mold and standards when it came out, theres no comparison. If your still wary of it, i'd check with friends and see if any of them have it and if they do, "barrow" a slot from them ~no peeky at the password ~ for 20 mins or so and try it, since theres no demo and no other way to give it a test run.

To answer the question above, a.net will support thier servers through the release of expansions (called chapters) every 6-9 months or so. These chapters are not required to continue play, you can keep playing with just the basic content (what every ones playing now) for free as long as you like. They expect to cover all thier costs server and otherwise through the release of these expansions. Each expansion is supposed to be as large as the main release and competitivly priced.

Madjik summoed it up nicely. I too come from EQ and EQ2 (Post time raid guild). GW is entirely different. Character development isn't even close to what EQ had, although niether is the endless grind. GW lets you spend time having fun instead of just "spending time". You can't really compare GW to EQ. They're apples and oranges. I can tell you that I probably won't be playing GW in 4 years (EQ was such a huge successs), but I can tell you that i'm going to have a blast between now and whenever the trail ends.

I just canceled my subscription to EQ2 not long ago for the very same reasons (had multiple accounts). This game will keep you busy for a while and at a fraction of the cost and time. Just have an open mind when entering GW. It is different. How happy you are in GW really depends on what type of game play you're looking for. For me, it's worth every penny.

If you'd care to discuss specifics, feel free to PM me.

So I take it there is NO tradeskills in this game. Anything that drops is either for use or vendor food? I read about drops that are used for hand-ins to an NPC for armor?

These instances you are in, is there respawn mobs? Or rare named mobs that are there one time and not the next? If no respawn I imaging you keep going in and out of the instance in hopes of the named?

No tradeskills at all by EQ standards. In fact the vendors are actually the Tsers. You still collect components (and buy some), then bring them to the vendor (crafter) and he'll make the item for you.

Mobs don't repawn to my knowledge (havent seen it yet), so each instance is like "clearning a zone". Named mobs are always up. Just zone in and kill them. There is however lots of dynamic content that can only be accessed via quests/missions.

To put the "game play" in simple terms for you, think of the EQ expansion LDON. Small groups, clearing zones (or dungeons), has a purpose, has boss mobs etc. It's of course more detailed than this but I hope you get the point.

Well I have to say guys this sounds interesting. I think I'm gonna buy that sombish today after work. I will read a bit about the classes but I still will probably go necro.

Are there servers to choose from? Anyone interested in an upncoming Necro for their guild? Don't worry I'm well aware of assisting on the same target and not in to loot stealing and all that crap. Sounds like me and henchmen will still be spending a lot of time together :P

No servers, everyone is on one - everyone plays in their own instances, so outside of towns, there's no interaction with other players.

Target assist is handled via the interface, loot stealing is not relevant, as loot is random and auto distributed.

You will probably grow to hate the henchmen... but usually pickup groups are worse :P Join a guild!

LDON!! I completly forgot about that expansion (I got rid of the game last year). Yes this is a perfect example of our game play. It's not exact but it comes by far the closest game play wise for a discription.

One correction Madjik, this is LDON with a story line. Me, I loved the LDON zones, quick, easy, objective oriented missions. That pretty much sums up the PvE side of the game, well, with a little Diablo feel thrown in.

Not exact, i.e. there are diffrences. Storyline included.