Roleplayers in GW? (Should I switch from WoW?)

Hi, I'm a lifelong roleplayer, and I've been playing WoW for a couple of years now. I'm bored with WoW, and would really like to find a new online game to play. I've looked around at the GW site quite a bit, and it looks -really- nice, I'm very interested, but I'm not sure yet if it's what I;m looking for. So I'm hoping you lovely, friendly people here can answer a couple of questions for me!

My questions are:

1) Why should I switch from WoW to GW? Just give me your opinions as to what makes it a more fun game. I know that's all subjective, but I want to see what you think. Or, along the same lines, why should I choose to come to GW rather than one of the many other MMORPGs out there, like EQ2 or DDO?

2) Is there a significant roleplaying community in GW? I mean people playing in character, developing personal storylines, having RP scenes, RP events, RP guilds, etc. I realize that many players will not be roleplayers, and that's fine, but I want to know if there are a decent enough amount of roleplayers here that I can fit in with and play with my own way.

3) I'd really love to be able to at least try the game a little bit before I decide to buy it or not, as I'm not wealthy and the $50 investment is a serious one for me. I can't seem to find any kind of free trial offer for GW. Is there any way for me to get a trial key or anything like that?


Anyway, thank you all so much in advance for answering my questions!

For one GW has a storyline with cool missions and quests (and cuscenes) =)
i think thats way more fun that just sitting in one area "grinding" like ppl i wow do (lets just stay in the forest killing boars).
RP dont know never seen ppl to do RP in guildwars perhaps youll be able to find a rare RP guild out there.
Now that the third chapter is coming it inclueds a bunch of friend keys for testing (demo like) so next week when Nightfall (the third chapter) is released u can ask someone for a buddy key and try it out.
Meanwhile read around the forum check the screenshots and stuff.
And check the cool trailers on the GW site if u havent already =)
OH and MAP TRAVEL !!! you dont need to travel 20 mins on a smelly creature.

1: You should switch to GW because GW has the best PvP system in the history of PvP systems. The only game I can think of that has a better balance is chess. RPG-wise, WoW basically eats GW alive.
2: There are many RP events (hell, there's been some kind of weekend every other week lately) to the point it almost gets boring. Lots of RP guilds as well.
3: no idea

There are many reasons why GW is an alternative well worth looking at for any WoW player, but I'm afraight roleplaying isn't one of them. If RP is your main focus you're probably better off with other MMORPGs. The vast majority of GW players don't care about roleplaying and don't do it. The RP scene is very small. It is possible to enjoy RP in GW, but you should join a dedicated RP guild.

..and just so you know, RP guilds do exist, when I was seraching for a new guild I came across a couple, but as has been said, they are few and far between

also i think thomas has RP and PVE players confused...

Well... If you've been roplaying in WoW, it can't be worse in GW. Seriously, if you can RP while grinding for XP and killing the same respawing monsters over and over, there is no reason why you can't do better in GW where you basically need no grinding to complete the storyline + side-quests. Yet Tetris is right, you'll have a much more enjoyable RP experience in a dedicated RP guild as the RP scene is slim.

by role playing do you mean playing along the story line?

if yes you should DEFENETLY change to GW because the story line is so much more dynamic

now how it works:

you meet all the players in a town. you can join a party taht is doin a quest or a mision. if you go out of the town you have a personal map, meaning no other players that are not in your party (which you joined in the town)

there is 3 types quests.

Primary quests: you need to complete those quests to go ahead to a mission town and to advance in the story line

mission towns: its a town that is fully dedicated to a mission. you can repeat that mission as much as you want even after you are done. the missions are the main story line. normally every mission leads you to a new towns (there is only 3 missions in the whole game that are exception)

secondary quests: you dont have to complete those quests to be able to advance. but they give you experience and skills that help you level up

you have alot of skills on every class you play, but you cant equip more then 8 at a time, and you can change your build only in a town, so that means that you have to think in advance and make sure your build has damage output, self defence, self heal. since you cannot have more then 8 people in 1 party your party has to also plan a "party build", which makes RP of GW a strategy that requires team work and planning.

as for PVP, there is an "arena", which has 2 3 or 4 teams in it. a team cannot hold more then 8 or 6 people, so again, the party has to develop a strategy before heading out (example: ok so we have a elemental which is base damage dealer, Ranger which is gonna support by interrupting ennemy's spells, 2 wariors to take first waves of damage, 2 monks to heal the party etc)

the leveling up doesnt take long at all (comparing to WOW) since highest level you can get to is 20, and its only after you get to level 20 that the real fun and challenge begin. you done HAVE to spend alot of gold on armors or weapons, because the low cost ones do the same functions, but look way diffrent the the more expensive equipment.

have fun

It may have to do with the fact that in the character creation screen you can choose between creating a "PvP character" or a "roleplaying character". So for ANet the counterpart for PvP is roleplaying? Hmmm ... not really.

Traditional roleplaying is much more than that. You try to act as the character you're playing, develop a background story for it, immerge deeply into the virtual game world.

thats what i was thinking (;

I think he's refering to actual roleplaying...

Basically he creates a past for his character and acts it out as if it was really his life... So he would never speak about his personal life of the computer, refer to his real details in game or talk about how cool eastenders was last night. He would always act if he was really an axe weilding warrior or bow weilding ranger with an intresting fantasy past.

As for the roleplay community... I've came across afew Guilds, but i've never been much of an avid roleplay fan so politely refused. You won't see many people roleplaying in the main districts purely because alot of idiots like to abuse and make fun of them for roleplaying. What i've found though is alot of roleplayers play in the international districts which are alot quieter... So they definately do exist but just keep out of the way which is a shame. I reckon Anet should set up a proper roleplaying district...

and that is very possible with guild wars. story line develops fast and weather you want it or not, your charcter is shown in every cinematic and is active in the story development

2) Not that I am aware of.

rp is "hey big heary wolf guy, lets go to town and sit at the tavern and drink some ale cause im done grinding for now"

big heary wolf guy: yea that sounds like a great idea.

Sinsuality

1) I can not give an answer to this as I have never played WOW.

2) When you are in a town you can interact with everyone else in the same town over the public chat channel. However there is very little roleplaying that goes over the public chat channel. When you are in a mission or in a guild's private chat channel or in the guild's private guild hall you interact only with those present, this is where most actual roleplaying takes place.

I say all the above just to explain why many people may not ever hear/see any roleplaying in GW, if they are not in an actual roleplaying guild.

I was in a very good guild for a period of time. It was large, had active players and had a lot of seperate roleplaying story lines. All of the roleplaying took place in the guild hall and in the group's private channel while involved in a quest or mission. I am no longer in that guild. However there are others like you in GW you just need to look for them. I am sorry to say that finding the "right " guild for you is not necessarily an easy thing to do. I suggest you look through the guild database on these forums, use the searech option and look for guilds that say they roleplay. I am sure you know that there are different levels of roleplay , you just need to find the guild that is the best fit for you.

3)There was a recent pre-release bonus pack released for the upcoming new chapter of Guild Wars, Nightfall. It contains a key that will allow you to play the first 2 chapters of GW for 10 hours. You can either purchase this for yourself ( $10.00) or perhaps ask on these boards for a kind person to PM you their key since anyone who already has the first 2 chapters has no need for this key.

Hi, and welcome to Guildwars Guru.
I'm also a long time role-player, however, I can advise you a bit on the subject is you wish. I'll do my best to answer your questions.

I believe GW lends itself to RP much better than WoW. The fact that the missions and explorable areas are instanced means that you can form a small party perfect for role-playing (4-8) players and do what you want as you adventure without any interference from unwanted guests.

The towns and outposts in GW are mostly for hooking up and selling your loot but you do not have to spend the majority of your time there. (You will have to get some quests in towns and outposts and they are the starting points for missions.) Town can be busy places with hundreds of individuals going about meeting their own in game goals. You can mostly avoid towns by buying and building up your guild hall to support all of your in town needs. When you have to visit towns the international districts are usually the least congested.

The community is divided into many sub-communities and guilds. Each guild has it's own agenda and there are several good RP guilds listed. If you don't find the one you want at first you can always switch if you think you have found a better one. Better yet, after you get to know the game, start your own guild and invite friends and other players that are interested in the same things you are interested in.

As to why GW over the other MMORPG. No Monthly fees! That is a big incentive to most folks. Instead of paying monthly to play you only pay for additional content. New stand alone chapters are added about every 6 months and they keep getting better! Even though there are no monthly fees I think you will find the support is much better than any other Game available at this time. Technically, GW is a CORPG, Cooperative Online RPG. It is geared more towards small groups of competitive players for Player Vs Player or Player Vs Environment adventure.

Again, you will have to search for an RP guild but there do exist. It will just take a minimal effort to find one. The good thing about GW vs WoW is that once you are in an established RP guild you can pretty much avoid all the Non-RP people most of the time if that is your desire. You will never have to worry about griefers.

I'd be happy to give you a trial key. I have several laying around. Just PM me and I'll send you one when I get home from work. I'd be happy to let you join our guild temporarily to get to get a feel for the guild life. Illustrious Chromatic Enigmas [ICE] is a small, casual, theme oriented guild. We do not do a lot of RP but several members tend to act out roles on occasion.

You are very welcome. Good luck! I hope you find just the game you are looking for.

Sinsuality, you may want to have a look at the Lyssa's Fiction forum, which covers roleplaying, and at this thread.

Yes, of course it's possible. It's just that very few people do so. Most people don't even bother to read quest descriptions, skip all dialogue and all cinematics whenever they can. They rush through the game and don't take time to immerge in the story that came with the game, let alone create a story for themselves that fits with the big picture.

You seem to have a wrong idea of what roleplaying really is. It's more than seeing your character in a mission cutscene. A roleplayer sees himself as the character he's playing and acts like it.

Read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roleplaying

^ i know what role playing is, but what im saying is that it IS possible in GW because of the more dynamic story line.

i am not a RPer, I hardly even know what happened in Factions, all i know is there was shiro and we killed him, but a person who IS a RP it would be very easy to "dive" in the story

Wow, thank you all very much for your helpful responses.

Yeah - but the point is that if you're wandering round pretending to be Conan The Barbarian and you're the only one doing that then it's gonna get very boring very quickly. What the other posters are trying to say is that roleplaying is far more prevalent in WOW than it is in GW and therefore if someone wants to roleplay then WOW is a better bet!

Why you would even try to RP in GW is beyond me.

Seriously, go find an IRC channel, or a MUSH. That's roleplaying. Graphics, numbers, all of that is completely unnecessary and just takes away from the real experience.

I personaly think RP with GW would be very good expirience if you find the right ppl to play with.

I have friends who are in a roleplaying alliance, currently consisting of 3 active guilds. They have a very active forum and regularly play together, either in character or out of character depending on the situation. Of course, whether you'd fit in that little community depends very much on if your roleplaying styles match If you decide to play GW and are interested, give me a PM ingame (in-game names are in my profile) and I'll tell you where to find them so you can sort things out

I'm an active rper in guild wars, just a few things to add:

Finding somewhere to rp is easy, most of the time the international districts are very quiet (with 2-3 major excepetions), and ideally suited to roleplaying. Your guild hall will often become a focus for role-play too, and they're big and varied enough areas in themselves to keep things interesting. I've played the 14 day trial of WoW on an RP server, and found that the minimal amount of Rp that happened there to be dissapointing.

As long as you find yourself an RP guild, you'll have a great time. Rp'ers have been asking Anet for more emotes for a long time now, it seems possible we might get some with the release of Nightfall, though I'm not going to get my hopes up!

I can;t believe no-one has linked to Guild Wars Role-players Association which has rp forums, and a whole listing of RP guilds. Have fun, contact me in-game if you want to know more, or RP!

Code sent. It's in your Private Messages. Good Luck Sinsuality!