Is Guild Wars Right for my Girlfriend?

To provide some background context, I am an avid gamer, and have slowly been pulling my girlfriend into my world. She has been interested in the story driven games on consoles, but has very little taste for the grinding aspects in any game. With the purchase of a PSP, she has finally begun to try playing games rather than merely being a viewer.

Yesterday, when we went to the wal-mart, she expressed interest in Guild Wars. This automatically means that I have an interest in the game. As for myself, I already play final fantasy 11, so I do have MMORPG experience already (therefore, if using comparisons would better clarify things to me in your responses, feel free to do so-but I do not wish to debate the merits between the games. As I said, that my gf is interested is enough for me). So I have some questions that do not seem to be directly addressed through the help topics and stickies, or by the main page for Guild Wars produced by the company.

1) If we do decide to go ahead and purchase the game, we would each have an account, and a character(s). How friendly is the bulk of the game's content to duo, or how much effort would we have to put into working with others (which could prove incredibly frustrating for my girlfriend)? (Bear in mind that I generally research character builds, and will select a build that is complementary to whatever character she chooses to build)

2) Assuming a casual gaming approach (maybe 5-10 hours a week tops), about how long would it take to complete the story aspects of the game?

3) How friendly are the controls with regards to the use of abilities and the like? To go along with this, would a mage, warrior, or hybrid type be easier for someone to control that is new to gaming, let alone new to MMO's?

4) If we experience an internet disconnect and are disconnected from the game, does this mean we will lose the progress that we have made towards a mission or quest objective? Or is the system more friendly and will allow us to pick back up when we regain connection?

5) In terms of aesthetics, I have seen a video with some dance moves from Guild Wars. I am wondering just how elaborate and expansive the emotive commands are?

6) a)How much reading is involved in this game? (in terms of the story)
b)The opening is vocalized: does this continue throughout the game? If so, this would go a long way to pull her into the game

I think that's all I can think of for now. Thank-you in advance for your responses. I'll check back in after my classes end and after some meetings.

Malakauth

I got my wonderful girlfriend into the game, so I think I can get you some help here . I have certain characters that I only play with her (I feel guilty if I progress without her, even though she often does it on me ). We mostly do it us two, complementary classes (sometimes) of course, with henchman or heroes, and have made it through both the Factions and Nightfall campaigns together (yet to finish Prophecies, she became addicted to Nightfall when it came out, putting that campaign on hold lol). There are some parts where teaming up makes it easier, but if you get into a casual Guild (like hey, look me up, very casual guild, both PvE and some PvP, but not serious).

Well, with school and work between us, together we put in about that tops (where I usually go off with my own characters else wise, 'cause I am way more addicted than her, and much more of a gamer), because she can get bored kinda quickly (she has kind of a short attention span), but she enjoys going through the game with me. It has taken us until now to finish Nightfall, but it hasn't been frustrating (except for one mission). We play through it slow, but if we played more we could get it done fast. The game really complements taking your time, there is no rush, and plenty to do between missions/after completing the game (IMHO). So depending on how consistent you guys are, it will take about a month maybe. It really depends on how in depth you go. My GF and I have gotten to the point where we do missions and primary quests (you'll catch that if you play) together, but then often do quests alone or together whether or not we feel like it. We have been slow in Nightfall, but in Factions we beat it in about a month. I alone beat Factions faster than that, but working with her was a much more fruitful experience. And that was only doing the primaries and missions. We are moping up some of the cool quests left in Factions. So, basically, how long it takes is how aggressive you are and how much you like attention to detail.

The basic controls are VERY easy, Ms. Moons (her in game chars last names), has never been a big gamer, loving NES and The Sims before I dragged her into GW. She took a little while since she was relatively new (actually complete noob) to RPGs, let alone one like GW. But she picked it up very well, considering her first character was a Mesmer (which is a bit more of a difficulty player to play in PvE). But now, a year and a half later of her playing , she has picked up the interface VERY well, I would say she really picked it up in her first few months as she got more serious about the game. She has even asked me why I do certain things the way I do, because she thinks I can do them better. She came to her own style, and I was completely surprised by that, but pleasantly. She doesn't study Guild Wiki or Guru or guides at all, she just plays. For character, just have her select what she finds most attractive, she will get the hang of it pretty quick. The most difficult classes that I wouldn't really recommend right off the bat (but DEF play them later, they are a blast), are Mesmers and Assasins (from Factions). They are just a little higher difficulty and not standard play types. I would say the rest are pretty balanced in learning curve otherwise. If either of you want to be those two (don't be scared of them, they ARE fun, just a little bit more of a learning curve), just be prepared to think outside of the box in terms of skills and execution a little bit more than usual.

The game currently has reconnects, but in my experience, they are finicky. Nothing regarding server reconnects ever works 100%, so I am happy there is at least a CHANCE I can get back in. The only disheartening disconnect is if you lose connection in a mission, as you have to complete a mission in one swoop, where quests typically have "checkpoints" of sorts in objectives. If you get disconnected and cant reconnect, you get sent back to the last town you were in, which can be frustrating. But there is an operating reconnection system in the game. It has saved me plenty of times after a local network hiccup.

We think they are fun. We are not big "emoters" but we have fun with them time to time. There are a ton of different emotes. There is no sound or specific quotes, but they are still pretty fun. Some emotes also have certain functions in the game or holiday events as well.

More reading that Diablo 2, much less reading than any D&D engine game. Actually, you have probably heard of the relation of GW with Magic:TG. It's kind of like that, there is a LOT of text you CAN read, but if you are not interested in branching lore, than you don't have to. Most of the story is given out during cinematics which are all voiced. So, to get the main story, no, theres not much reading


Hope that helps some! If you have ANY questions, just shoot me a PM or catch me on AIM. I think GW is one of greatest games I have played (and I have played a LOT), and its no monthly fees fits perfectly for casual BF/GF play .

just a small addition to what was said before...if someone else hasn't already mentioned it.

In order for you both to be able to play at the same time you will need 2 "cd keys" of whichever game you buy. (as well as 2 pc) but if you aren't going to play at the same time then you can each have your own characters..and "share" the account...although there is drawbacks to this approach...such as storage..guilds..money..etc

My wife, my son, and I all enjoy GW so I would definetly suggest trying it out.

I would probably suggest getting Guild Wars (prophecies) one for each so you can play together...it is the slowest learning curve of the series as well as more rewarding in skills and such...

One thing to keep in mind is that the only things set in stone with your character are its name, primary profession, and appearance (hair, face, etc.). Everything else can be changed at will, once you reach certain points in the storyline. As a result, there's no real "wrong" character build; you can swap skills/attributes any time you're in a town.

The first time I played through Prophecies it took right around 100 hours. At the time I wasn't in a guild, so I played almost exclusively with henchmen. There's a great deal of content available after finishing the storyline also; the "last" mission isn't the end of the line.

As for choosing a profession, I'd discourage new players from picking a mesmer or monk primary. Mesmers tend to be at the more complex end of the player spectrum, and healers inevitably take a lot of grief from the ill-spirited jerks you're bound to encounter eventually.

In contrasting GW and FFXI, this game is much less level- and gear-oriented. Typically you'll reach the level cap (20) about two-thirds of the way through Prophecies, and much sooner in the other two campaigns. This is potentially a big turnoff to people used to other games; they feel as though they've hit the wall and have nothing left to do. Perhaps there's some truth to that, but for good or bad it's the way GW works. Most of the game is balanced for L20 gameplay, and I think most people would really enjoy it if they gave it a chance.

Thank you for the responses. Guild Wars is sounding pretty positive for her. With regards to multiple accounts, yes, I was planning on purchasing two copies of anything we got, so I could play on our laptop and she could play on the pc. With regards to the Magic the Gathering game, that's something I haven't approached since the fourth edition, so I think I'm a little out of the loop there. The fact that the CGI's include talking for the story is good news, though, and brings another selling point to the game.

With regards to MMO goals, our goal for Guild Wars will primarily be storyline and questing to do things together. We might eventually go beyond that, but it will depend on her I suppose. In terms of characters, I will likely wind up going support and she will likely be a fighting-based class (similar to the warrior woman in the opening CGI). Well, I suppose we'll see, given that we can create some different characters anyway.

On a final note, I like the customization options in Guild Wars. You have no idea how many times I've wished I could customize my character in final fantasy xi.

Malakauth

......it would be a great time for the both of you.
My husband got me into the game, before gw I had only played civ on the computer.. nothing else. I got really into the characters and the pretty scenery in pre-searing (prophecys starter area)....and am very happy my hubby introduced me to the game.
It took us about 1 month of night time playing to get our characters to level 20 (the max level) and we played with each other and henchies for almost all of it. Very very rarely do we play with other people, and we have our own guild as well. I think your girlfriend will like the armors and such with the game. I dont like to kil kill kill but I still have a great time with gw...... I started with an ele and my hubby was the warrior so he killed stuff before it hurt me
so give gw a try----you will probably have a blast! (maybe you can be the other way around, your gf the warrior and you the ele she has to 'save'....or a monk.....or.......)
you get 4 character slots to start with so you can make a bunch of characters....if you dont like them you can delete them and start over. I started with one for about 2 weeks then quickly added 2 more...and then the last slot.....had an ele, a mesmer, necro and finally a monk.....still have them all and got 2 more slots with the 2nd chapter and now you can buy slots from the online store if you want more!
ok, I am rambling now, its late and past my bed time.

You can check out details of the game on GuildWiki at http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Main_Page

As to complimentary professions, if she will be playing melee, you should probably start a monk for gaming together. Otherwise, as a novice gamer, she will die a lot in the beginning and possibly get frustrated with the game. (This is if you start with the first chapter where the pre-level 20 henchman monk is not very good. If you start with Nightfall, the hero monks are much better.)

my lover just play like 2 weeks day, she is noob and get 20level Par/el,but she bring the hero and henchman beat 4 mission at the main land NF. , the first 1 to 3 ,I helped her, and she only bring the hero and hechman beat the no.4 to no.7 missions at NF
I canot believe that ...she is noob, and first time to play GW( she don't know english, so she won't go with other ppl in Amer dis),I play like 1 years, but I still believe that Nf's mission are pretty hard, but she beat them.........so crazy.......
I have ?????????? in my mind...... of course, (I help her to build the hero and her build, but still awesome.she is amzing....... rightnow, i still cannot believe that its true
even I went with ppl do the mission, sometimes we failed like 1 times or 2times... >_<

To answer your questions.

1) The game was designed for players with little to no social skills, therefore people don't have to struggle with attempting to engage in contact, this is why henchmen and other NPCs are allowed to be added to the party so you play the game by yourself.

2) To reiterate, the game was designed by people who don't leave the house or their room often, therefore you will not find yourself making much progress unless you spend 12+ hours a day playing this game.

3) Guild Wars has a very complex and wide control system therefore most of the time you will be figuring out which key does what and will find yourself very frustrated sometimes causing you to swear at your screen or bash your keyboard therefore each profession is as mind boggling to figure out as the last.

4) If you should disconnect from a game due to internet issues, as punishment your game will automatically reinstall as the game sees no difference between leaving the game on purpose or disconnecting.

5) Although Guild Wars has a wide array of ingame commands and emotes, no you will not be able to have sex with your girlfriend in game.

6) The dialogue for Guild Wars has often been compared with the bible or dictionary in terms of length.
b) Although the opening is vocalized, ArenaNet felt that having speech in the rest of the game is unfriendly to deaf mutes who may also play.

To summarise, it'll be great for her, if she likes being harassed and propositioned online.

I'd say it'll be a pretty good experience for both of you. If you want the best gameplay while for the large part ignoring how big the community is, get prophecies. It's cheaper than the newest game, nightfall, and provides a great tutorial and basics training area (in presearing) and also provides a much slower learning process after you get to the mainland. There is quite possibly about 100 hours of gameplay to beat the entire game, and it can be done (for the most part, at least) with henchmen the first time through. You don't have to travel with others if you want to stay as a duo. In terms of helpfulness, I'd say it's 50/50 in the game. Many people are too "busy" or too immature to make helpful statements, but you'll find there are lots of helpful people online (many of whom post tips on guru and other forums too). For your best resource, use guildwiki.org, or if you have a specific question that you can't find the answer to, you can always post here. Good luck!

There are plenty a girlgamers in GW, as for couple's we have two in our guild and it works well.

You can play most of the game duo, as you can play most of it solo too, though joining a good guild together can improve your experience a lot, you can still play together without anybody else, but have a pool to draw people from when the going gets though.

Now that has to be sarcasm as if it's true, it's nothing else then utterly nonsense all over !

I will personally never learn how people can post such nonsense as a reply to an honest question based on honest interest in a game.
Guess I'll never learn.

/Santa

List point five: true.

The other 231 words: complete BS.

I myself am a girl gamer, belong to a guild with seven other girl gamers, which contains six couples. Yes there are propositions, most are friendly and in a joking manner, and it's not advisable to tell other people being female because there are a few scenarios that will play out: A) They don't believe you and you are flamed B) You recieve a few pm's of "r u relly a gurl? fer relly? u haff a pic? asl?" or C) those who treat you as if being female affects your gameplay.
However this is not always so. GW's is excellent for people who wish to play with a boyfriend or girlfriend. Sure there are pro's and con's of the game, but if you're looking for something to just casually play, then GW would be a nice choice.

Please keep in mind, if you want to play together with your girlfriend, that means, 2 characters on screen, on 2 different PC's, you'll need to buy 2 accounts. You have have multiple characters on that account, but you can only log in with one at a time.

Which is why OP said "With regards to multiple accounts, yes, I was planning on purchasing two copies of anything we got, so I could play on our laptop and she could play on the pc. "

Most of the major points have been covered; it's a great game if you like having a life outside of it, and you can really make it what you want. You can get through it just fine with a few hours a week, because all of the maxed out gear isn't hard to get (but there's still lots to get past that in terms of different looks or skins or whatever). It's a pretty easy game to pick up, but always has something new to learn or master so that it's not just a matter of you learn it and that's it, there's always other ways to do things. I think what it comes down to it being a game that is what you make it, it's very flexible towards different ways of wanting to play (grind/no grind, solo/with people, learn fast/room for growth, time/no time, ect).

It's a fabulous game for someone new to these sorts of games; it's great for casual gamers, and great for those who want to be more hardcore. It's very pretty, and I personally would recommend it as a perfect game to introduce a non-gaming type significant other. A lot of my family plays (brother, his fiancee, my husband and stepson, roommate, friends) and sometimes we play together, sometimes with other people, sometimes all on our own when we feel like it.

I confess also that I'm girlygirl and LOVE the character creation options - I just love creating a cool looking character and then I can go get cool armor for them. So in my case, I have the additional lure that there's shiny things to get.

It's definately worth trying out - I personally would suggest picking up one of the chapters for both of you and starting with it (my own suggestion is Nightfall, the most recent).

Warrior Dance, combined with /kneel

In terms of actually answering your questions, the answers given so far are correct EXCEPT for the one about reconnecting.

On December 20, 2006 ANet changed their policy:

Ignore that entire post.


Guild Wars is a fairly simple game to learn. There is no need at all to play 12+ hours a day. You can play at any pace you like, and with no monthly fees there's no pressure to play in orde to get your money's worth. The game client automatically updates itself, so no silly patches to download.

Agreed. My girlfriend and I play, and its a good way to let her win once in a while. Strengthens the bond as people would say. But don't let her wear the pants, then ur doomed. You also might find it frustrating if she plays. You might be a lot better and having to constantly help her might get a little...you know.

^^or vice versa...she might have to help you cuz she is so leet

I have to help my husband. Since I prefer PvP, it's really rather annoying to help him through some PvE areas.

Yay for more girl gamers. This game will be great for her. My husband and I purchased this game together almost 2 years ago. We have 2 characters that we play together through the storyline but also have other characters to play if we feel like doing our own thing. It's been great fun playing together. We have about 4 couples in our guild as well.

Just wanted to add my 2 cents.....

Before we got together, my partner had not played any video games. I had a ps2 so she tried and loved Need for speed underground, GTA Vice City and San Andreas. We had also played The Sims Online but got tired of it. A friend introduced us to GW and she is now the biggest addict of the game.

As far as the controls go, I use the keyboard for just about everything. My first computer game was Doom and that was all keyboard, so it's easier for me that way. She uses her track ball for everything and that's the easiest for her.

The most important part, we play together and have a great time.

Having a gf who plays an mmo is very dangerous according to my sources. I hear they turn into zombies, don't want to spend time with you anymore and use up all your gold on dye and things that look cute and or shiny.

edit: not to mention clothes! :P

WOW PLEOPLE, have you played too much GW that you cannot tell the difference between sarcasm/humour and seriousness?

As a girl gamer, this was my first step into MMO territory, and i've been playing on and off since release, playing pvp, pve, and making friends. This is a great step in the door into getting her interested in other MMOs and things you like to play too. I play this game without my boyfriend, as he started out on FFXI, and cant seem to stop comparing the two. honestly comparing FFXI and GW is like comparing apples to oranges. My boyfriend and I actually play FFXI together, i bought the game to see what the big deal was about, and was insta hooked. Guild wars is still fun for me though, i play when i dont have 3+ hours to organize an experience party or do Cop or other missions. Guild wars is awesome like that, great for people who dont have several consecutive hours to play a game. Also, if your girlfriend is anything like me, she'll become addicted to buying expensive looking armor and wasting all your gold on dyes.
The armor in this game isnt like FFXI, sure theres prestige OMG AWESOME armor like Fissure of woe, but thats only because the materials required to make it are expensive. you can get armor with the exact same stats as it for much cheaper. Like the armor in my avatar is monk(think white mage, not giant galka with h2h weapons) fissure of woe, which is a very expensive version of armor you can get for cheap with a different look, but same stats. This game is much more vanity based in terms of armor because you can have decent stats on armor and still look really good. Also no auction houses, to sell things of worth you stand in town and shout. I personally love both games, i even tried wow, and came straight back to gw and ffxi. ill probably continue to play them both for a long time to come (BTW what server in ffxi are you on, offtopic i know >_>, im on Fenrir)

No, the sarcasm was not lost upon me. The difference is that many of us have been playing GW for twenty-something months. The OP is presumably unfamiliar with the game and was just asking for some honest feedback from the community. The reply in question didn't do much at all to help the cause.

i guess it all depends on yopur girlfreind if shell like guildwars....i think that guild wars just be the rite game 4 her

i guess it all depends on your girlfreind if shell like guildwars....i think that guild wars just be the rite game 4 her