Factions -- What the hell? (spoilers)

You're supposed to use the gold (which is significantly more than it was in Prophecies) to buy the skills if you need them. Otherwise, well, you have some extra gold.

Or, level up in Factions, then go to Kryta to get free skills. Best of both worlds.

It's not that easy. There are dead ends, place that look like they link, but don't. You can't just follow the arrows, you need to know the city layout to find the best path. The fact that's a "rundown diseased city" does not help, either!

Then you don't understand the concept at all.

Guild Wars is not "about" gaining levels. That's a very small, and very early part of the game. If you're only playing the game to gain levels, then I hate to use the cliche, but you're playing the wrong game.

I have to ask though: why not spend the Gold you don't care about on Skills?

Go pick up a different game.
Guild wars was not made for endless rewards and THOUSANDS of hours to get to max level. Getting to max level quickly means that you can do decent fair PvP quickly. I enjoy GuildWars for its storyline and playing with friends. I have reaped most of the "rewards" for all my characters to my satisfaction. I continue to play cos I love pissing around with guildies and having a good laugh. Having a laugh is what its all about.

Ah yes the dead ends...I would kick the walls but I would hurt my foot.
Ok Ill be honest, when I first went through Cantha it was difficult but I looked at it as a challenge. Mayhem in the Market is a spot of hell in terms of navigation, but if you do some exploring you can find the easy route.

I still haven't played through all of Factions once yet. Keep in mind I play several hours a day and I only play one character, so it's not like my time is spread thin over a dozen accounts you know.

If asked, I couldn't definitively detail just what it is about Factions that I loathe so, but for me it's as if...it's as if every time I go to PvE in Cantha, it's like I'm performing Do-It-Yourself dentistry on myself without anasthetic. Me vs. The Pain - how far can I go before collapsing in a heap of rage?

It's not because I suck. I'm going to go out on a limb here and objectively identify myself as a competent player. But I know what I like...and Factions isn't it. Someday soon I'll actually finish the game, and then probably never again after that. I'll take the skill, rune, and mod unlocks and retreat back to my happy little HA/GvG utopia thank you very much. Hey, I mean, I can't completely condemn Factions - the Rt is God's gift to HA, even if Psychic Distraction is broken and goes through Mantra of Concentration (hey, any of you devs interested in actually like...fixing that...ever? 'Cause that'd be great).

Anyways Shepard, you're hardly alone seeing Factions as borderline intolerable.

-Jessyi

See, I like GuildWars because it offers play options. I can team up with henchies and it's like a single-player RPG, or I can be social and enjoy it as an MMO. There's no other game like that, to my knowledge. (And yes, I can play it like a fantasy Counterstrike, but I hardly ever PvP.)

I also like the fact that I can put it down for six months until I have time to try out the latest expansion, and that time spent not playing doesn't cost me any money.

But the only incentive to playing it like this is to see new areas and get new items and skills. Yes, I'm buying the skills I need, but that's not the point -- the point is, I want to earn rewards commensurate with the challenges. Right now the only reward I'm expecting is the chance to get out of this depressing city and see some more pleasant terrain.

I stand by what I said. Factions is a vast vast improvement over Prophecies in nearly every way. Almost all of Tyria was pure slow-paced drudgery, and once you're done with the storyline, there's one or two repeatable high-end dungeons/things to do at all.

Trust me, outside the city is so much better and so much more fun Once you hit the "Befriending The Luxons/Kurzicks" quest the game opens up. With your RP character you can go in small 12v12 PvP missions, do small quests, turn in faction for armor materials, turn in faction for guild, do elite quests... and then continue the storyline (btw there is a nice green at the end of the game).

If you want a good reward try heading for 15k Luxon/Kurzick armor and getting the amber/jade on your own. The average spent on 15k luxon/kurzick is about 120k, so its something nice to work forward to. No additional stats, but looks cool.

Indeed lovely, but you remind me of another reason I like it.
In a standard MMO if you leave the game for a month, your friends that you play with usually are a lot higher level than you and you cant really play together. In GW the level gap is small, so this problem is fixed.

GW is lovely cos its a game you dont have to work at constantly for ages to get anything good out of it.

Factions has Alliance Battles, Fort Aspenwood and Jade Quarry. These three things alone makes it more fun than Prophencies. These game types are not as serious PvP as GvG, HA, RA or TA because enemies just don't try to kill you. They have other objectives too.

I have to object to one part of your post. If you just try to kill the other team in GvG, you generally will not be very successful.

/endnitpick

For me I think the incentive to play is the sake of completion. I can't stand leaving anything open ended and I feel that a campaign is adequately finished when all my characters have done every quest/mission and I buy all the new skills for every class(even though I hardly ever pvp). Of course I also buy any new 15k armor or weapons if the skins catch my eye. After a campaign is officially complete time to start hording skill points to buy the skills in the next campaign. (not hording skill points on assassin for Nightfall cause highly unlikely there will be any new skills)

another reward for me is that I like to get all my characters the protector title from their home continent

To Shepherd,

Michel Longshorts is correct when he/she states that the game really opens up for you when you finally leave that god-cursed city. You finally are free to explore the Luxon side or the Kurzick side (or both, which I recommend). The game doesn't seem like you stuck in a tunnel after you get out of the city. I personally HATE the first part of Factions, inclunding the starter island. I have much more fun and freedom outside.

Factions does have its problems, I can't really say that I am a die hard fan. But like all games, it has its Good things and its Bad things. Stick with it and you are sure to find something that you will like and have fun doing.

I really don't get why some people dont like the factions map.Tyria was huge but is was also a run past everything situation for a large chunk of the players and in 70% of the game you could only find useless items.Profecies is great imo, but the tutorial lasted until Maguma it seemed. At least in Cantha the mainland areas are full of rewarding things to do.

Cantha sucks except for the Luxon part and a bit of the Kurzick part.
City = boooooring

I hear that. I've been in the city too long... time to get along with the missions and get the hell out.

Other rewards: Elite skills, 15k armor, hunting for Greens, etc.

Also, I want to take back what I said earlier about leveling not being what Guild Wars is about. That's my assumption, but I'm sure there are those out there who love to just make new characters, take them to level 20, then make another character and level them up, etc.

I think there are many ways to play and enjoy this game, and I hate it when people make assumptions about what I enjoy, and I'd hate to do the same to you.

You will be rewarded, the scenery beyond the city can be excellent, at times the Jade Sea can look as if it was stolen from paintings.

Those were what I consider the best example of what "grinding" really means. And to think they said that Factions isn't about grinding

I can imagine you wouldn't want to do those.

You were faking quotes there, no matter how funny you might have thought it to be.

i will be level 19 (same as my rit) or 20 when i hit the mainland.

WHAT YOU ALL ARE FORGETTING.

1 the first few levels take very few exp to get.

2 you can solo monsters to get levels easy/early.

my ele/monk is level 5 without doing a single quest except for the ele trainers and has not touched all of those other high reward secondary profession quests or any other quest including ludos party quest.



5 levels in a few hours (4) and all those high exp quests to go

Just saying someting
I agree. I was pretty mad when I discovered that idiotic 3 degen would stay there... forever, until I finished that goddamn quest. Return to town, farm alittle to cool down before trying again after a miserable defeat? No chance, that 3 degen is after you!

Sarcasm doesnt come across well in written form especially if you're dead panning it and because of the outrageous things people do say in seriousness.

Don't worry your not the only one, i prefer factions and have two characters there opposed to only one prophecies character....Only thing i don't like about cantha is the Asian sort of theme going on..(not that i'm racist or anything) it just dosn't look right.

Oh my,

And I thought I was the only one!

Thanks!