Thinking of Trying Guild Wars: WoW Player

Now, I know the basics of Guild Wars. However, I still
have many questions before I give this game a shot.

1. I love playing a spellcaster who can wear heavy armor.
A battlemage. Can I do that in this game?

2. Exactly how much free roam is there in this game? The
reviews made it sound like you are forced down a path.

3. I love crafting. Are there a lot of crafting options?
Are they useful? In most MMORPG's crafting is useless
because you can always get better drops then what you can
craft.

4. I rarely do PvP. Is PvP the best part of the game? Or
is PvE pretty good too?

5. Are there a ton of quests like in WoW?

6. How huge is the world? As big as Wow? Lots of dungens?

7. Whats max level? How long in hours does it take
typically to max a character?

8. Is there an email system to email money and items to
your alt?

9. Is there enough content for a solo gamer here? Or is
grouping almost always necessary?

10. How is the community?

11. Is the game FUN? Thats the point of playing.

Thanks in advance

You do not know the basics, dont kid yourself. Its obvious from your questions.

I wouldnt recommend using a warrior to cast spells.

the reviews said wow was fun, and i think they lied. Factions is more linear, the original is quite open ended

you can craft an identical item to anything you will find in the game. armor is ONLY crafted, not found.

argueable by anyone. I love the pvp and the pve both.

yes.

not as big as wow.

not long

as in alternate account? why buy two accounts?

you solo the endgame of wow, huh? I dont think you should play any mmos at all. Nightfall will be able to be solod the whole game if you are good enough.

more mature than wow players

More fun than WoW, in the opinion of practically anyone on these forums.

But if I were you, I wouldnt bother with Guild Wars- go buy another time card and have fun in wow- bye.

I tried wow and I think its boring as hell and quite pointless at the endgame... whats the point of 60 levels anyways. leaves more and more room for unbalanced pvp. but you dont care about pvp, or even playing with other people in general as you said.

Guild Wars is a super-charged diablo in single player mode, thats all you really need to know if thats all you want it for.

You're too close to comparing GW to WoW, the comparison of fools. No offence, by the way.

GW is nothing like WoW. It's not an MMORPG, and all explorable areas are instanced (Your party gets its own copy of the map) and you have to form teams in the safety of towns and outposts. You also have a set story to follow. Think Diablo 2 and you're close.

You may favour the Warrior/Elementalist profession combo. This gives the benefit of high armour with some painful spells, but you'll miss out on the Energy Storage attribute, which gives an Elementalist/Whatever an insane pool of energy to play with.

Crafting is restricted to NPCs at the moment. Take the necessary materials and gold to a crafter NPC and choose the weapon you want. There are also collectors dotted around the world, who will take trophies from slain foes for weapons too.

PvP is fun, but I will admit, it's not without idiots. People leaving Random Arena matches because there's no Monk in the team annoys me the most.

Quests, that depends on your definition of "a ton"

The world isn't as big as what WoW's seems to be. But don't let that put you off. New campaigns will be released every 6 months. Faster than Burning Crusade is taking, I beleive.
Max Level is 20, for the sake of Balance. You won't have to grind as long as you try to do all the quest you come across up to that level. But L20 is not enough. There is Ascension and 2 quests, each rewarding an additional 15 Attribute Points each.

There are "Xunlai Agents" in every town and outpost. Farce-free (The Material Storage is restricted to Factions owners though).

For Missions, grouping is a must, but most quests can be done with the Henchmen, AI-controlled characters ready to help. They're a bit thick, though.

Community? Sadly, there are a lot of immature imbeciles, and a bit of Proffession discrimination (Mesmers will suffer this... a lot)

The game is fun. Don't let the idiots ruin it for you.

Um.. Horseman of War you hate WoW don't you.
I think it's invalid to assume he wants an no monthly fee version of wow.

Here is a good video review (a bit out of date but basics accurate about what gw is and how it works).

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...ld+wars+review

GW is mix of Magic the Gathering, Diablo II, and "elements" of mmorph. It offers a mix of pve and pvp (different styles).

You can be whatever you want to be. Moreso than in WoW. There are no set classes like Paladin, Shaman, Hunter (etc...). You can be a fiery sword wielding warrior who throws fireballs at people and can still charge into battle and slice some faces. Or, you can be an Axe wielding spellcaster who uses his melee weapon as his last line of defense. Be whatever you want to be. That's what makes Guild Wars so much fun.

You aren't forced down any paths. There are zones for each area. In that zone, you can explore the entire surface of it. Once you're finished with it, you can move on. Yes, there are REALISTIC surface restrictions (like not being able to wall climb) but they add more to the game than take from it. Example: In PvE or PvP you can use terrain to your advantage for spellcasting to block melee classes from getting to you as easily.

No, not really. I mean, you can collect materials and create armor / weapons but they have absolutely nothing to do with how skilled your character is at creating them. They're bought from merchants.

It's a mixed bag, really. You can enjoy both freely without either ever interfering with your main playstyle. Such is not the case in WoW. You won't get ganked in Guild Wars, for example as there is no free world roaming PvP. But, you can go to an Alliance Battle or many other PvP options and mess around in there for a little while if you feel the urge, then go right back to stabbing monsters.

PvE in this game is awesome. Henchmen make up for failed party attempts (granted, they aren't as good as some players can be, but other times they're a little better). Some people don't like the PvE, but personally,I really enjoy it. I don't pay attention to story lines and I have never been bored pushing through the PvE aspect.

There are a LOT of quests. A LOT.

It's pretty freakin' big. If you explore from the beginning of Prophecies to the end of Nightfall (coming out at the end of this month) you'll realize that games can be massive and not un-inviting in terms of travel (zepplins, hearthstones, mounts...barf).

Max level is 20. It can take anywhere from 5 hours to weeks to finish your character, depending in your playstyle and if you're starting in Prophecies or Factions. Factions is MUCH more forgiving on leveling than Prophecies is...but Prophecies is where the bulk of the Elite skills are located and where most of the action happens (FoW, UW, Tombs, etc)

We have an in-game Storage system, like the Bank system in WoW. The only difference is, your Storage is linked throughout your entire account. So, whatever character A puts in the bank, Character's B,C,D,E... can all access it.

You never have to group with real people if you really don't want to. Especially if you're a Monk primary. Being the main healer yourself really eases the energy management issues the AI can experience with henchmen...but everything is doable as any class.

Terrible. It's like WoW, in the sense that a lot of people are jerks for absolutely no reason, call everyone noobs, and constantly demean others for their skill levels. Yes, you will probably meet some decent people in GW, just like in WoW. Unfortunately, for the most part, these people are moms, dads, or anyone over the age of 20. Sorry, but it's true. Anyone disagreeing is lucky to have talked to someone in the game who was under 20 and didn't end up stealing / lying / guild-quitting for no reason other than they wanted to own a town in a bigger alliance / scam / or anything else immature players get themselves into (can anyone say "trying to hit on people over general in Lion's Arch"?)

This game is a blast. If you get over the fact that you'll run into your fair share of douche bags, and realize that there is so much to do, you'll no doubt have a lot of fun.

1. yes, but you use spells to boost your armor
2. pretty free, you dont have to follow any path, but to progress, yes you must follow a certain path
3. crafting can be done, and you are capable of crafting max weapons and armor
4. depends on play style, most casual players enjoy PvE...and there are some hardcore PvE only people out there
5. i wouldn't know what tons of quests are, but there are plenty to keep you busy for quite some time
6. not knowing WoW...i think the world is pretty huge
7. 20 is max, and can be acheived quickly...or slowly...dependant on what campaign you start on...Factions (chap 2) 20 is quickly reached within a few days if not hours. I believe i hit level 20 on average 11-12 hours of play time. This is not the focus of the game...its more or less what skills you have and how you put them together.
8. you have a storage chest, where you can put items and gold into...log on with your alt character and access the same storage to pull items and gold out of.
9. grouping helps on certain missions, but many have solo'ed a great majority of the game/if not the whole game.
10. the community is dependant on the eyes of the beholder...i think its fair to say there are helpful people and jerks...but that is true of all games.
11. its fun enough for some people to make all the characters and beat the same game objectives over with each of these characters.

Pretty rude response here. I guess you answered #10.

All I did was ask some questions..

guild wars also has elitists like me who think all other games suck.

yeah i guess that was kind of rude... but the questions asked were common to many poeple who are griefers and gw-haters. The guy will probably ragequit when he finds out there is not any kind of Mounts anyways..

Despite bad 1st impression, the community is not like him.

There been issues "tradational" mmorph player div in to guildwars then complain how gw should become there favorite mmorph.

Casters typically have lower armor than say a warrior. However, some armors give bonuses to physical or all damage or extra health etc.

Factions is very linear. Prophecies was much more open to going where you want without being forced to follow the missions

There is virtually no crafting in GW. You basically take your materials to an NPC and they give you the item. It is pretty easy to get max weapons and armor pretty quickly. This may seem very strange after WoW.

PvE is really good. You can still do a lot without ever touching PvP. I almost never PvP with over 1500 hours into the game.

I'm not sure if there are quite as many as WoW, but there are a lot.
Here is the quest list for Prophecies.
Here is the quest list for Factions.
That should help you compare.

1 chapter alone is not as big as WoW, but once you start adding multiple chapters together it gets quite large. There are several high level areas with repeatable quests.

max level is 20. How long it takes depends on how hard you play and which chapter you get. Prophecies levels you much slower, it could take a week or two or longer (depending on how much you play). Factions will get you there in a day or two easily. Nightfall appears to be somewhere in between. GW isn't about leveling. It is about being max level and playing from there. Many say the game doesn't really start untill you reach level 20.

no email system. but your account has a shared storage that can be used to transfer money and items between yout characters.

for going through the story (quests/missions) you will almost always need a group. However, if you want to play alone, you can hire NPC henchmen to fight with you instead of other people. Most missions can easily be done with Hench if you so choose.

That one is hard to answer. This forum seems pretty nice and civil most of the time. some areas in the game seem to attract the bottom of the barrel. I highly suggest finding a good guild, it will make the experience quite different.

I have a lot of fun playing it. Since there is not monthly fee, you should easily be able to get your money's worth. The various chapters, (Prophecies, Factions and the up comming Nightfall) are all very different. I'd say to start with Prophecies (the origional Guild Wars, it doesn't say Prophecies on the box). It has much more land to explore, is open to moving around the world as you see fit, and has the slower, more traditional leveling speed.

Factions is fun, but comming from WoW it will be quite a shock. (extremely fast leveling, must finish missions before you can move to the next area, very small land mass, Max armor and weapons available after the 2nd mission, etc) Nightfall is just a couple weeks away and from the preview it seems to be very good.

Thanks in advance[/QUOTE]

Your welcome.

Horseman!

donjn, I would suggest you get hold of a "Play Now" key. This will give you 14 Days/10 hour play (Whichever comes 1st). Pop into any games store and ask for the Nightfall Pre-release pack. There's a code in there. 10 hours should be enough to learn the ropes of GW

Pm me donjin, I would gladly give you a trial key. Also see how many response's that are not like horseman you are getting. Getting the pre-release kit may be hard to find now.

yeah hindsight says to me the same thing.



Original Poster- I have a few Play-Now keys... Ill send one to you myself within the hour.

I just really hate when people complain about certain things in GW and it seemed like you were one of those.

Confused about Prophecies, Factions, etc.

Are they different worlds? I know they are different purchases. But can I have them both installed? Can my character go from Prophecies to Factions back and forth? Do I have to create a new character when I try the other one?

Or are they treated like completely seperate servers??

Prophecies and Factions can be played on their own, but they can also be added to the same account to allow Travel between the 2 continents of Tyria and Cantha. You do not need one to play the other, but you get some benefits of having both.
Also, Nightfall is on its way, adding the continent of Elona and more options

Prophecies is the basic fantasy setting, it eases you into the game better than Factions.
Factions is based around Asian stylings, throwing in some German and (possibly) Native American stlyings further on. It kind of throws you in at the deep end. You level faster via the quests, but you don't get skills as rewards, like Prophecies. It also features 2 new professions unique to Cantha.
Nightfall is based around North Africa and the Middle East. I'm not entirely sure how this will play out in terms of player ease, but again, 2 unique professions.

No problem man its all good. I should also not be so bloody sensitve on message boards. Text come sout differently sometimes.

Send me what keys you got. Much appreciated!!

Actually the opposite of griefing GW is true. I am looking for an excuse to not play WoW anymore. Dont like monthly fees.

I dont care for the Diablo comparison though. Diablo was surely more mindless right? Although I did enjoy Fable which was an action RPG so who knows?

I am confused about the dyanmic that one continent levels faster than the other. What happens when you bring over a lvl 20 from one to another? Would quests then be too easy?

in my opinion the community is pretty good. but you will run across the average 4th grade pervert, the scammer, account seller, and the so called "elitists" that think that they know everything about the game and find great plesure on going into the newbie area and flaming on everybody just because they are a lvl 5

Not too big a problem, since you can return to almost any area with a higer level character. In the case of Prophecies, once you leave the Tutorial Area (Pre-Searing Ascalon), you can't return there, as time will have advanced 2 years by way of the story and you will be in the Ascalon that has been brought to ruin. The quests are only optional, you can skip as many as you want at your own peril, and there is a quest in the kingdom of Kryta that should only be bothered with using a team of L20s. By the time you reach Kryta with a Tyrian, you should be at least Level 10, I think. Do all the quests on the way, and that minimum should be about L15.

as promised, your trial key has been sent. check pm's.

Im probably one of the worst trolls here on the forums, again, my apologies. I can see now that your questions and stuff werent just flame-bait but honest questions. I assumed; made an ass out of myself, as usual.


edit- Im glad i got it sent before the mods read this and slap the ban on me again.