first person view?

hello folks. I am brand-new to Guild Wars, having just started today in the tutorial. The scenery looks really nice, and I would like to give it a go. At present I am looking at my character all the time - can I switch into first person view please, as you can in Oblivion?

thanks

Zoom in all the way with the mousewheel or whatever you have the zoom set to.

Hey Gracietoo, welcome to the game.

You can by rolling your mouse-wheel all the way forward, but it isn't advisible. In Guild Wars you are working in a team, so you need to be aware of your surroundings, and everyone's position. Oblivion is single-player, so you just charge into battle and kill everything that moves; no need to look after your teammates.

On I side note, I rather enjoy watching my character in her shiny armor firing arrow after arrow into her foes.

Gr. Arduinna

ok, thanks for that both. Arduinna, am I never alone then? It is useful when you are in the middle of a battle to have plenty of mates around, I agree, but what about when I just want to explore the countryside, sniff the flowers, talk to the rabbits - that sort of thing? Is there an ability simply to explore, and to rest or are we always on the go, being driven from one fight to another?

Another downside to first-person view, if your a melee class, is that the constat attacking and spell effects make it almost imposible to see anything.


Edit: First-person view is fun to look around at the great enviroment and get cool screenshots though.

well that is what I want to do for now thezed - look around and get my bearings, get used to the environment. I am a Ranger in the game ( coo, I never looked like THAT when I was her age!!) and fighting, although it is essential, is not the first and last thing I want to do. First I just want to get used to it all...

well sounds like you are still in presearing (the orginal guild wars) so you should have no problem being in FPV for the majority of the time and in presearing you don't have to team up with anyone unless u want to...later in the game its is rare that you will wander around by yourself (although u can with the right skills) since most areas have large amounts of bad guys in them. As was mentioned earlier you will normally have your team mates to be conserned about so you will want a birds eye view of the battlefield if at all possible. (by teammates i don't necessarily mean other "real" players but NPCs as well) So it will behove you in the long run to get used to the birds eye view.

As far as resting and stuff goes that is entirely up to you once u find a safe place...stay as long as u want and enjoy the sights etc...but it is not "necessary" to rest your characters except to heal...which happens fairly quickly even without a monk.

also a great websit for you to visit would be

www.guildwiki.org

bookmark it...I know I and many others that frequent the site daily!

Good luck!

Coridan, that sounds OK. Don't know what pre-searing means ( yet). I am in the tutorial of Nightfall is all I know. It sounds like I will be able to mooch for a while

There is first person mode, but it will give you seisures whenever you take damage.

Ah I see, you've just started Nightfall Dont worry about fighting that much yet as most enemies there won't attack you unless you hit them 1st. Learn the control, get use to the heroes and the instruction booklet will help you get start on the basic.

Oh! 1 more thing, when you're outside of town always talk to the sunspear scout, he will give you a bounty, after that just go kill stuff and you will go up in sunspear ranks. Handy to get start in sunspear ranking.

Have fun

thank you etta. It seems I have to fight at present. We have just sorted a village out and seen off the corsairs by sinking their ships, and I am learning to better control my character ( she kept on running even when I wanted her to stop on the mouse - is there a walk option?). Now I have to go to another village and do some more training it seems. Really I would like to get out of the tutorial and just start learning on my own, but I see no option to do that, unless I create a new character perhaps.

if you are using the keyboard to walk...then W is forward R is run..S is backwards..A and W are left and right ...i think if i remember correctly.

Also you can use the mouse to run around as well....regular click on some part of the landscape and you character will move to that point (sometimes easier to navigate rough terrain this way instead of finding your own route)

Don't worry about what I said about presearing...its a guild wars chapter 1 thing...you have NightFall which is Chapter 3. I believe soon as you are done with the first few "quests" or "mission" you will be free to do what you want. You should try to follow the "storyline" by doing the primary quests...(pressing L will show u a list of active quests) any NPC with a Green ! above there head has something to tell you.

Good Luck...

One of the features that first attracted me to Guild Wars back in 2005 was that I read that it was possible to scroll-wheel into a First Person View. I've always preferred games with a First Person perspective as it makes them more immersive, imo. However, when I started playing Prophesies in pre-searing Ascalon I was very disappointed to find that in FPV you cannot clearly see the weapon you are weilding and in general it is difficult to play the game like this. I almost gave up on GW because of this, but gradually I got to enjoy the third-person perspective and now I only change to FPV to take a close look at certain things.

well thanks you two - that is encouraging. I shall keep going to give it a fair try

Something to keep in mind as someone coming from Oblivion. I love GW, and I'm a huge fan of Oblivion, but they are VERY VERY VERY different games. Oblivion is very much an RPG, while GW is more of a team action/strategy game than a RPG. In fact, I don't consider it an RPG at all. I see it as a team strategy game with RPG-lite elements.

That said, I think you'll find that most of the game is designed to be played as a team, whether that be other people, henchmen, or heroes. There are some character configurations that will allow you to "solo" certain areas, but most areas are made to be challenging...even for a group of 6 to 8 characters. In Oblivion, it's possible to develop a wide range of skills, allowing you to be mostly autonomous. In Guild Wars, you're purposely limited to 8 abilities (skills) at a time in order to force you to play a particular role in a team. It forces people to communicate with their group and configure their characters to synergize with one another.

Again, you'd be better off to forget everything you know about Oblivion going into Guild Wars. They're nothing alike.

Dex is right on the money; in fact, I often use one game to give me a break from the other as they are so different in gameplay.

I think this is where I am going to hit a problem then. I like Oblivion BECAUSE I can 'go it alone' and take my time. I hated the awful scenes inside the Oblivion gates, and was looking around for another good-graphics but no-gore rpg, and someone recommended GW, so I got it - but I have to say it probably isn't going to keep me. No criticisms on the game itself, just my preferences. I am not a team-player and I am not good at making quick decisions, nor do I like constantly fighting. I will give it a shot, just to make sure, and because, having paid a goodly sum, I don't want to give up until I AM sure ( I can't sell it on to anyone else I understand).
Someone else mentioned City of Heroes, so I might look into that, although now, having found a mod that deals with the corpses in Oblivion, I am much happier in that game - but as you say, a change is a rest, and another rpg would be nice, when the piggy-bank has recovered.

You don't have to play with other people, you have Heroes and Henchmen.

yes, Mitch, thanks, someone has explained about that - but I do still have to play as a team with the NPC's don't I? Ok they don't require much from me, just seem to follow me around and get in the way when I am fighting ( though they are much better at it than me), but it still feels like I am with people, having to make decisions, watch out for them, dialogue, follow orders ( at least, in the tutorial).

Oblivion is the only rpg I have played, and I like that style of being alone and being able to advance at my own pace - be in control of what I do next. So far in GW I have not had that - which is reasonable enough as I am only in the tutorial, but the team thing will continue, the action will continue as well I guess; it is a faster-paced game than Oblivion. As has just been said, these are two different styles of gaming - and that is the possible problem; I want something of similar pace and singularity as that which is in Oblivion.

I play most of my missions/quests with heroes and henchies, it really does mean you can take them at your own pace and not be rushed. PickUp Groups (PUGs) can have the advantage of getting stuff done faster and having a good laugh, or they can be abominable - give one or two a go and then you'll see how much you like the henchies
It's certainly worth playing through Nightfall further than the tutorial bit, the scenery is stunning and the storyline is decent. Hope you have fun!

Yeah GW is very different to Oblivion and Morrowind, GW is very action pack for one thing. And "You'll never fight alone" is pretty much sum up everything. As far as online game goes I can't really think of anything that have the same system as Oblivion or let you be by yourself, it's online for a reason. You did say Oblivion is the only rpg you have played, maybe you could try Morrowind?

The graphic may not be as good, but you can download the hi-res pack mod which make everything look more up to date. And a lot of people said that Morrowind is way better than Oblivion in term of RPG and freedom in game, which I myself agree.

well thanks taffete, comments like that encourage me to keep going - and in any case, I can't resell ( can I?) so I may as well keep going, just to get me money's worth!

Etta, I do have Morrowind, but found the characters so 'unfinished' and the overall feel so gloomy, I didn't really get into it. However, if, as you say there is a mod to improve how it looks, then I might go back to it. Several folk have said that in some respects it is superior to Oblivion. Thanks

hopefully u will stay until you hit lvl 20...because that is when the game actually begins.. as to selling your CD key. It is agaisnt the EULA to resell it and it is tied to whatever email address you used when you created your account.

Coridan, thanks for that advice about the key. I shall abide by the EULA - and maybe I will keep going

not to sound like a gaming newb (I am) but are there ANY RPG's that allow you to solo? My husband's done quite a few, and I can't recall any actual RPG's where he could solo.

ya just zoom in on the mouse

Welcome to the magical world of Guild Wars its a place where incredible things can happen. But as for your problem just push the mouse wheel up until you are in first person view. If you ever need any help feel free to Whisper me in game IGN:Superbow Man

hey gracietoo,

glad to hear you're going to give it another shot. I have been playing for about 9 months now, and after playing the first chapter for a couple months, ended up buying all of them. I hardly ever play with other real people, only my real life friends who also have the game. Getting used to the henchmen and heroes has a bit of a learning curve to it, but I find that they are very good in almost any area of the game. The game is definately RPG lite, and very action packed. I find it most closely resembling Diablo and Diablo II, which is one of the reasons I bought it because I got so much enjoyment out of those games. I find all the various classes are fun to play and each has their own unique challenges. At the moment my favourite characters out of my 8 are my necromancer, paragon and assassin.

Once you finish the tutorial area, I'm sure you will start to feel more in control of your actions as you can go almost anywhere you want, but to progress farther into the game, you need to complete primary quests and missions. Doing these will open up more of the map for you to adventure in and take you farther into the storyline. Elona has some really beautiful scenery, and I do find myself just stopping to look some cool looking landscapes. Also, if you decide you want to keep the game and continue to play it, you can purchase the other chapters and travel between the continents, completing quests and missions in Tyria (Chapter 1: Prophecies) and Cantha (Chapter 2: Factions). Just make sure to link any new chapters to your current account rather than making a new one. Once you link or create a new account with a CD-Key, it cannot be undone.