Back.... After 6 months..

Hello everyone...
My name.. Is Darth Lasings Clone, I have a story to tell.
I thought, I quit Guild Wars. I quit it right before Nightfall came out. The reason?




Prepare for it



I quit it for WoW. Yes, I did, and I never thought I would.
In this game, I was very successful.
Darth Lasings Clone 20 W/X 15k Luxon, had almost all builds warriors could use.
Decius Painkiller 20 Mo/X Healing PvE,
Arathorn of Elonia R/X 15k Druids Barrage/Pet, Interrupt
Emo Hellspawn N/X 15k Luxon SS/MM/Blood
I forgot many of the builds I had. But yes, to me, I had alot of things in this game.
Why'd I quit?
The game itself felt so boring at the time, and a new $60 expansion collectors set didn't feel like it deserved it. What other choice but to simply quit the game? And that was the only choice, I bought WoW, pre ordered BC. Why WoW? Large community, many of my RL friends play it, and many of the reviews I've seen of it said it was great. But believe me, it was hard to quit. I literally lied to my guildes so I could play. I told many of my close friends I've gained in Guild Wars the same lie.
Time passed on, and WoW well.
For the time being was simply a great experience leveling a UD rogue to 40 for the time being. But by that time, it got boring and boring. I made many friends, and played on a PvP server to try to keep the fun up raiding starting areas. So time passed on and then..
BC came out, and as the others, I was greatly disappointed with the expansion, as other reviewers. The only way you could have fun with it is if you're 58. I leveled to 58, and when I finally was able to hit outlands.
The same repetitive quest happened. I just couldn't take it. Still nothing could take me back to guild wars...

Until,

"GUILD WARS 2". I saw the PC Gamer magazine and swiped off the shelf. Bought it and read the whole article within 10 minutes.
So now I just bought Nightfall, and about to log in. I learned a lesson though, and many differences between the games. I now respect WoW, and will never bad mouth it again.
Though..
Guild Wars
- No overpowered class
- Greater PvP system
- Graphics engine is mind blowing
- Short term debuffs and fast attacks will make small battles look huge
- In depth, more and more skills to come.
- Economy can be turned into a "little depression" depending on runes for builds
- Nerfing classes can destroy loved builds
- PvE can get way too repetitive.
- Getting into and winning in high end PvP = bad community, and to reliant on exact builds and items

World of Warcraft
- Huge lore, basically a universe.
- Dozens of quest, very in depth.
- Economy is very balanced
- PvP IS THE SHIT, but not that great of a system
- GM's (Game Masters) can easily ban you for no reason what so ever, or just by saying a joke.
- Turned into a huge addiction.
WoW player = zOMG can't wait to play WoW tonight
Guild Wars player = I don't know, 300 or Borat?
Guild wars players don't talk about it.
- PvE and PvP can get, way, way, way too repetitive.
- Professions leveling requires to much time.
- Gaining money for "mounts" again requires to much time.
- Hard to level for casual players.
Hands down
Guild Wars will stay a CORPG or a "MMORPG for the rest of us"
World of Warcraft will stay a classic style MMORPG
If this doesn't belong on this forum, I apologize. But I learned I missed so many events, and nerfs . If you could ever inform me on events, please whisper any of my characters.
It may not be a sad story, but I just wanted to know a few people I was back.
I know many who read ^^.

I have come and gone, tried several of them over the years and in the end I think GW and hopefully GW2 has something over all the rest. The variety in how I can play and that using the right tactics and skills>grinding xp to get to the tougher areas.
I just hope GW2 doesn't focus on grinding xp to level up to get to new areas, but on experimentation and exploration.
I still play EQ2 and WoW to this day, but it's not as often as I play GW. I just love making builds and using them. It really doesn't matter where and why, it's just experimenting with and exploring the skills.

WoW may have a more interesting PvE but fails miserably in PvP. It's system is extremely unpractical.

For example, in a 1vs1 match, you basically have two guys running in circles, attacking at the same time, with no penalty for it. You hit exactly the same if you attack while running. It's frustrating and, the worst of it, it's irritating. Like you're trying to run behind your opponent to back stab him, and the guy is running and jumping around you like a drunken bee while hitting, and, wins the match, simply because you get confused with how unrealistic that erratic movement looks. If you're looking for a good looking fight, forget it. You have to surrender to what it really is, and start using the "erratic movement" strategy while PvPing if you want to win something.

Some classes are so, stupidly overpowered while others are weak as hell. Shaman/Hunter anyone? If you manage to win a Shaman or a Hunter with any other class, your opponent was either a noob, or you were lucky. A Hunter will simply send his (overpowered too) pet after you, and keep shooting with his shotgun, WHILE walking backwards. Until you get near him, you are dead. Warrior vs Hunter? It's a match to laugh about.

The ONLY thing I like about WoW, are the Battlegrounds. Imagine having, in Guild Wars, GvG with 20 vs 20 people or even 40 vs 40.

And, of course, raiding an enemy town is always fun. It's not worth what they ask for it though.

Dont forget Guild Wars is MUCH more expansive and the enemy's come in pairs most of the time.Not ones.

Welcome back
(Read the news when u can)

The only other MMORPG Ive tried is Everquest 1 and 2... though I'd love to see what all the fuss is with WoW, but from what I've seen of it to me IMO Guild Wars just looks so much prettier. And pretty wins ;D


Welcome back ^^

Welcome back.

I actually got WoW for christmas, and 2 of those Prepaid cards......played for a few weeks....but ultimatly the difference in the games was too much to handle.

^ Has never played WoW...or hasnt played past lvl 10

Both WoW and GW are great games...and yes they both get old just like any other game

The most awesome fight in Everquest 2 I had was against another cleric, inquisitor vs. inquisitor.
Lasted so long we both said 'enough!' and quit.
It last for more than 30 minutes. A 1 on 1 fight.

I played guild wars for about a year and quit for warcraft.
Warcraft lasted about 3 weeks and a lvl 22, it SUCKS balls.
totally wasted SO much money....

the thing about wow is that.....the quests are all the same
kill 5 spiders
find 8 berries under the trees
kill 10 birds
new area~
kill 10 bigger spiders than the previous area

...repeat for 70 lvls

so in my opinion guild wars > wow

I still dislike "you know who" and its repetitiveness; Blizzard had the option to take up the offer of a free streaming server system and said “nah, we want to be lazy.” Ever since then Blizzard has yet to make another decent game that has not gone into development hell. GW still works fine with me.

Welcome to WoW, the Prequel...

I just cancelled my account from WoW after thinking it was the end all be all game. I did just get bored of it. The reality was that I knew so many of the quests were boring (kill 10 spiders, etc.) but it didn't matter because I was becoming more powerful. Well, I got to level 70 as a warlock, got geared up as much as I could without raiding (don't have the time) and thought, "What now?" I quickly got bored with battlegrounds and was sick of paying 15 bucks every month, so I quit.

Long and short of it - I love rpg's and read about guild wars. Honestly, so far, this game seems much better than WoW. Graphically, Guild Wars pisses all over WoW. Trees and grass that actually move, what a concept? I realize that Guild Wars came out after WoW, but I honestly don't see why WoW became as popular as it did. There is always someone in a group of people I meet that plays WoW.

What do I like better about GW so far?

1. No frickin' flight paths. I mean, really, what's the point? I know I need to get from one town to the next. It's instant with GW. No more 5 minute Gryphon flights.
2. When I leave town, I have the countryside all to myself. No more times where I see other people are trying to complete a kill quest so I have to wait 10 minutes for the buggers to respawn.
3. Graphics are way better - much more organic-like. Such a nice change.
I'm sure there's more, but w/e.

I don't like how long it takes to decompress files before getting into a new area. Once it's decompressed it's instant the next time, but holy crap it fragments the game sometimes.

WoW = mundane and a waste of money

GW= Build wars and mundane pve that has no replay value except to get new characters new armor and skills.

On the flipside.

WoW= highly complex RPG based system with a larger, more interactive world.

GW= Very strong PvP system with a different approach to PvE that can be exciting the first time through each area. Unique classes such as the dervish and mesmer make for interesting concept builds.

Well for me...everytime I get down on GW because of boredom I try other RPG's or new MMO's ....problem is that they never seem to be as good as GW so I always come back.

Last ones I tried:

Neverwinter nights 2
Last Chaos
Lord of the Rings Online
Archlord

Graphics are sucky and the controls tend to be more cumbersome and the gameplay is slower.
Archlord was probably the most playable...but I could hardly play it because the camera would either zoom in completely or zoom out completely so you could rarely see where you where goin...

So for variation I still grab back to Diablo 2 and Neverwinter Nights 1

It is kinda sad that new games seem to fail miserably, in my eyes at least.

OR

1) from a roleplaying aspect (if you play on an RP server and are a die-hard rp'er), it's more about immersion. You don't just 'warp' to another place like Mario, unless you're a mage or are summoned.
2) You don't meet new people as much adventuring or have some nice fellow come along when you're getting your ass handed to you and help you out. I quite frequently help people I see having trouble as I'm going to the place I need to be. It depends on server/type though as I'm always playing on an RP server.
3) The first time I saw Orgrimmar and Stormwind after playing GW my jaw dropped. They are huge. The graphics may be cartoony, but it doesn't detract from their immense beauty. Also at 1920x1200 WoW gets a bit of a better framerate than GW.

Both have their merits. If you just look at the end results of any quest then you're going to get bored. What is interesting is finding out why so and so wants those spiders (or Wardens) dead and how he reacts afterwards.

Some people may be better off with a leveling first-person shooter than an RPG.

Besides, Oblivion beats them all where RPG graphics is concerned.

Here's a tip that I'm surprised most people don't know by now that will help you out greatly.

Create a Shortcut icon to GW. Right click it. Go to Properties. In the Shortcut Tab you'll see a bar called Target. Inside that bar it should say something along these lines: "C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\Gw.exe". Put a space after the quotation mark and type -image. So now it should look like this... "C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\Gw.exe" -image.

The next time you run the game it will download all files that need to be downloaded. This way you'll never have to load at a town again. Be warned though, if you are pretty new and havn't downloaded much yet it can take quite a bit of time depending on your connection and how many Campeigns you have. Hours possibly. Hope that helps. Oh and remember that if you want to use that shortcut to load the game you must remove the -image tag or else it will just close. I suggest you use the -image command after every new build of Guild Wars.

I tried Diablo2, WoW, Lineage2 and GW.

I played daiblo2 before I knew of GW and it was an okay game.

Then I went over to Lineage 2 and it was way too slow for me. Slower grinding than wow :s

Then I went over to GW, first I found it kinda boring, but then I made it to LA and joined a new guild - with some cool people. After that I was in love with GW - and still is after nearly two years.

Sometimes I get tired and bored of GW, and one time it was so bad that I bought the biggest MMORPG ever - WoW !

The was a wast of my good money, after 1½ months with WoW I went back to GW. WoW was boring to me.

Didn't like WoW myself that much, only tried a 10 day free trial and it just felt like a NWN ripoff ala 3 towns style.

GW has one of the better MMORPG ideas IMO, limit people to focus on their build and not level or uber gear, but not resticting to get that expensive gear :P
And so now and then i'm playing Oblivion on the side it's a nice change.
Currently waiting for the GW expansion and gonna see how Soul of the ultimate nation, chronicles of spellborn and AOIN work out

Heh, imagine that... most people on a GW website prefer GW over WoW.

What disturbs me is the religious zeal of the Guildwars Playerbase. Both games have their strengthes and weaknesses, otherwise no one would play them. Yet every suggestion in the GW Community is bombarded with a constant volley of harsh Anti WoW comments.
Just mention WoW on a GW board and you're in for one hell of a ride. Why the hate? Both games are good in their own way, not like they're stealing players from each other as they cater to different things. And just because something is in WoW doesn't mean its the most rubbish thing ever to be implemented into a game. Despite, WoW most likely wasn't even the first game to have it.
Seriously, why the hate?

1) from a roleplaying aspect (if you play on an RP server and are a die-hard rp'er), it's more about immersion. You don't just 'warp' to another place like Mario, unless you're a mage or are summoned.
2) You don't meet new people as much adventuring or have some nice fellow come along when you're getting your ass handed to you and help you out. I quite frequently help people I see having trouble as I'm going to the place I need to be. It depends on server/type though as I'm always playing on an RP server.
3) The first time I saw Orgrimmar and Stormwind after playing GW my jaw dropped. They are huge. The graphics may be cartoony, but it doesn't detract from their immense beauty. Also at 1920x1200 WoW gets a bit of a better framerate than GW.

Both have their merits. If you just look at the end results of any quest then you're going to get bored. What is interesting is finding out why so and so wants those spiders (or Wardens) dead and how he reacts afterwards.

Some people may be better off with a leveling first-person shooter than an RPG.

Besides, Oblivion beats them all where RPG graphics is concerned.

Mmkay, I'm not saying WoW is a bad game. I logged more hours on that game than any other game I've played combined. And I do understand the immersion aspect, but at the least they could show the gryphon flying away from Stormwind, for example, black out the screen, then show it flying into Ironforge. Voila! 10 seconds max. Or at least have the option to do what I just stated.

2. Very valid point. I loved being able to help people when I knew they were obviously screwed. I often got the same help in return. I don't know that there's a perfect way to do this. Blizzard tried with having faster respawn rates in Outlands but man I remember going wtf when things would repop so quickly and I'd get swarmed.

3. Graphics are still much better in GW, but I loved the vastly different races/classes in WoW.

I am going to miss the complexity of my warlock, I must say, though. Having 8 cast icons for my elementalist vs. like 30 for my warlock is going to take a bit to get used to.

These opinions on this board catered to GW, what did you think was going to happen; a non-biased opinion, of the differences between the two games? Also not everyone here is against WoW (I am). I see some things that are leant to WoW being a very interesting game. As for me though I have played most every RPG and tested every MMO out there and I still dislike WoW. It had so much potential in doing something grand and they let it slip way-ward for some repetitive crud you have to pay monthly fees for. Alas that is my opinion you’re the one who as to decide for yourself, who you take seriously or not.

Not only that, the founders of Anet, and especially co-founder Jeff Spain worked on WoW before leaving Blizzard. This GW vs Wow is also enforced by the gaming media to some degree as well.

The truth there are very different games and agree, if you haven't tried wow, don't slam it, if you have and don't like one more then the other or think the other is better say why, like the OP did.

I haven't played wow, but not intersted, (after FFXI - refuse to pay ANY monthly fee), but I really like how the OP listed the strengths and weakness. This give me far more information then WOW sucks or GW sucks.

What sindex said, and every MMORPG fanbase is like this ;p

Grats to sindex for completely dodging my question and going on another "Bash WoW" Rampage. The question was, just to repeat: Why the hate? I can understand if a Community does not like another game but why the extreme and utter hatred towards WoW? Down to a religion.

Example:
Go ahead and make two threads. Let's take the popular suggestion of mounts. So make those two threads about mounts. In one of the two threads, you mention World of Warcraft as the offspring of the idea. In the other thread you take Everquest. Watch those two threads evolve and I guarantee you right here, the WoW referencing thread will be a flamefest while the Everquest thread most likely has a civil discussion going on.

So once again the question, why the hatred and loathing towards WoW? And just WoW. I somewhat doubt it's some kind of loyalty to the employees of A-Net. I doubt many know who worked for whom before A-net, many still even go "wtf, who is that?" when someone mentions Gaile.

You obviously haven't been to a WoW board. Seriously, EVERY game community does this. It's like you join a team and want to point out that your team is better. I've seen ROSE bash WoW, WoW bash Lineage, Lineage Bash WoW, WoW bash GW, GW bash WoW... if someone played a game called "Wizards of the Lost Cocky-Poo Poo" they would bash every other game. What I saw on the WoW boards was worse than anything I've seen here.

WoW is awesome. GW is awesome. Lineage... I'd have to go with cocky poo poo... but.. at any rate, they just have different flavors..

I stoped playing Guild Wars actively back in september. My main reason was that the guild I played in broke up, one of them told me about Lineage2, I had my trial key from Factions so I gave it a try. I was addictited to it for a few months, then stopped for awhile and just recently started playing it again. There are somethings I really like about L2 that GW really doesn't do.

- Raids are awesome. Aura bosses are nice but they aren't anything like a monster that takes 20+ people to take down, and then there are Epic raids that take 100s of people. It's great stuff, and feels really fufilling.

- Castles. Large scale pvp is really a lot of fun, 8v8 bah what about 50v80 and more! Castles also have affects directly ingame in taxes and the manor system(it earns both castle owners and general people ingame money), so pvp has real pve effects, not just access to elite area's that are restrictive.

I also realized that I like persistant games better, meeting people on the fly is interesting, cool, and really adds a lot to the game. It does have some drawbacks, but meeting people mid-hunt is fun and heavily out weights them. Also an open pvp system is a lot of fun too, clan wars, dueling members of your party, fights over xp spots. Fun stuff, I'm even finding myself liking the whole gank party aspect. Something about knowing at anytime some enemy clan can drop out of nowhere as destroy you makes grinding for levels a little bit more interesting .

But I've always loved Guild Wars more. It's just a better game. The limited skill bar, levels, and items are brilliant and the gameplay is just more fluid and active. Things are actually somewhat ballanced and it really does take some skill to play. I've experienced nothing like the tatical thrill of GW.

as a last note, L2 defenetly has several problems depending on taste,It lacks a coherent storyline or missions and has a massive grind for levels and items coupled with a punitive death system. There's more but just wanted to make sure this wasn't an add for L2. I mentioned those things just to show some game features that I enjoy and wish were in GW. I found so far that, in the end friends to play with makes all the difference.

Let me be “frank” since you actually want to dodge the answer to your own question. I severely dislike WoW, and have nothing to do because it’s in competition with GW. As I stated before I have gone through many different RPG’s and MMO’s (even the Matrix online, though I dislike Sony). It’s the way Blizzard has presented their product to me (again my opinion). If you read some of the other posts here; some of them actually praise WoW for being a great game, and of course there are some who do not.

Let me ask you what is Blizzard doing now? Making another Starcraft game or Diablo 3, which will come (maybe) in a few years down the pike? I might pick those up because I don’t “hate” Blizzard. Quite the contrary I have played the Warcraft series and loved it, up until WoW. Problem persists in ideologies, we all love certain flavors of Ice Cream (minus lactose intolerant people) but not everyone loves “chocolate chip cookie dough.”

If certain people did not have problems with certain games, there would never be a conflict of interest and everyone would be happy right? The answer to that question would be “No;” since most people would be bored and irritated, because there is nothing to consult about. WoW and GW is far from perfect games in the minds of most “gamers.”

Trust me WoW is not the only one to be criticize on these forums, GW gets a good amount as well. Furthermore Darksun is right in the fact if you do go on other boards you will see other people bashing “GW” and WoW alike. We all have decisions to make and you may agree with one side or the other (sometimes not at all); but it’s you who have to contend with those decisions.

If there is no satisfaction from what I suggested, then try my alterative strategy. If you don’t want this so called “hatred” or biased opinion about WoW, try and find another forum board(s) that might suite your interests.

Hm. How to start...

First off, I am an avid WoW player. Being a mostly PvE buff, I find it very satisfying. Grinding can be tough, sure, but the end-game content is simply awesome (especially compared to Guild Wars). The graphics aren't too shabby, either, even though the polys are low count. Ansiotropy can go a long way in prettying your game.

I'm sure I can go on, but there are a lot of things WoW has thay I was hoping to get out of Guild Wars (most awesome are the GMs). So I signed up and loved it.

To each his own, of course. I'm sure I could go on, but we'll see how this thread goes.

Didn't mean for it to be a huge comparison but.

Thanks for the few welcome backs, just did the 2nd mission of nightfall and...
It's unbelievable, the musical score really got me into the fast pace Guild Wars action again.

You've hit on the key there I think. Almost nobody will complain about the artistic quality and creativity of Guild Wars. It is truly amazing. It looks great. The backstory and amount of in-depth history is great. It doesn't have the expansiveness of say a capital city in WoW (even Droknar's doesn't compare to something like Orgrimmar), but it makes up for it in the detail. I think the most problems come with the game after the honeymoon wears off and you get down to wanting the 'extras'. You'll most certainly enjoy the game with a character or two. If you want some advice, don't make 5-10 characters and try to play through it with them all. It'll hurt. I don't think it was meant for that, especially when you want to start differentiating them with high-priced items and armour. Other than that, enjoy..

*Looks at all the WoW arguing*

Funny... I don't think I'd ever even consider playing World of Warcraft... not so much because of the fees... and definitely not the grinding..... but more the lack of instance-play... and my fear of not being able to play solo or with an AI party.

And why is this? I didn't start my online gaming just with GW...


I started in PSO .... on the Dreamcast.

I came into Guild Wars being entirely familiar with instanced play... but also being used to things happening on a much smaller scale... with being able to solo entire areas with pretty much any class if I felt so inclined, and having a maximum party-size of 4.
Guild Wars seemed huge to me... and the number of people I first encountered in Shing Jea Monastary frankly creeped me out (when compared to what I saw in the PSO lobbies). I've become totally used to it now... but I'm still totally dedicated to instanced play... personal drops... playing "solo" without help from other people... and at the most only dealing with another 1 to 3 people.

WoW just seems (though I haven't played it) so far to the opposite extreme from that.... I couldn't cope with it.

I LIKE grind.
PSO had me grinding for levels at an obscene level. I never managed to get Nightshade to level 200 in EpI&II on the GC... and nor did I ever manage to get her an Imperial Pick despite farming Gulgus Gues in Ultimate Forest for months... well over 50,000 times.
I was ok with that (and it puzzles me that others might not be)...


... But I wouldn't give up Guild Wars builds... instance-based play and AI for the world.

I have played both games, they're both great game. Nothing in common whatsoever between them, well....maybe a few things. Anyway, the only thing in WOW that I like more than GW is town, village and outpost. I mean in GW the hub city is good, you have shops and stuff you need for you adventure, but in WOW towns and villages have this,...um....rpgish feel to it.

My first time in Stormwind was just awesome, the size of the city was just huge! Imagine if Lion Arch is more open and you can visit that tower you see, go inside a building etc. Anyway I stop playing wow ages ago, but still playing GW.

Well, you don't need AI players to solo because it's not needed. The non-instanced world is balanced around a 1 person party. If you bring a friend it'll be easier, you just share the XP and loot. In Guild Wars, the whole world is party-based. And since not every outpost has at least 8 people in it, AI teammates had to be implemented or else Guild Wars would blow.

The reasons for having no AI party members for instances is simple: Blizzard wants people to play with other people. Unlike Guild Wars, Instances in WoW aren't required to progess through the story, so instances are totally optional. And if you don't find a group, so what? You can solo and grind for a bit until you want to try looking for a group again.

I hope this helped you a bit. I too was addicted to PSO, but only played offline. I played the whole thing solo, it felt like an awesomized and futuristic Diablo.

EDIT: I'd also like to inform people about ganking in WoW, meaning killed by players of the opposite faction. *It only happens if you want it to happen*. If you choose to play on a Normal server, enemy players cannot harm you in any way whatsoever unless you turn the PvP option on. If you decide to play on a PvP server, only then can they attack you without warning. So in other words, saying that ganking is a huge problem in WoW is an invalid argument, because it's pretty much your own fault for rolling on a PvP server.

I've never gotten into WoW because for me... it's a simple rule:

Monthly Fees = Thumbs Down and Zero Interest

That's only because I don't always have time to play every week... so I don't want to feel pressured into "getting my money's worth" every month.

That said, I play a lot of Magic Online... and have spent MUCH MORE money in that game. The difference is the choice. I'll spend nothing in Magic Online for 6 months... and then blow a lot of money in one month when a new card set comes out.

Anyways... my point is... I don't compare GW to WoW because WoW has monthly fees. So even if WoW was kick-ass great... I would still stick with GW.

I tried WoW on a trial account about a year ago, and I had trouble getting into it. And I'm a huge Blizzard and Warcraft (and Starcraft and Daiblo I) fan, but something about it online didn't work with me.

I think it also had something to do with the amount of time my gf's brother spent on it, I just couldn't believe it. He also played GW but quit about 2 months after it came out due to lack of PvE replayability. But I'm much more of a casual player, I'll take a couple months off every now and then (hadn't played from Jan - March this year) and really like the art of GW and the story is pretty good.

I'd have to agree with the comment that WoW and GW are different games and cater to pretty different crowds...

WoW vs GW --- No contest...no winner.
CORPG
MMORPG

I just got WoW 2 weeks ago, and to be honest, i havent played GW since. I know that a lot of it is the "new game, cooler." I know the view i have on it will drop and i will play GW again, but for now, its WoW. WoW just takes much longer time to lvl to the cap (70 compared to 20). Much more grinding, but when you reach that one goal youve been stretching for, maybe a small goal, but its there; it feels great. I love the open-ness of the world. So, my opinion:

WoW

• PvE without much strategy
• Open-world
• Lots 'o grinding

Guild Wars

• PvE - Heavily strategized
• Closed world
• Get to lvl 20 in 2 days

For a PvE player, thats all i can gather up so far with main concepts. Basically just look at the list and these games are FAR different.

I don't think GW is anyone's favorite game. If it is, man... are you missing out. The one thing that I like about GW is it evolves, and I know there's a group of people always working to improve the game. Also, the fansites are pretty incredible and promote a sense of community. Therefore, while GW may not be the favorite game, it surely is one where we spend alot of time, perhaps the lions share. Now GW2, and the things I hear about it? I think it will definitely be awesome, and I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes my favorite game. It has a good pedigree.

GW is my favorite game

yes, I'm currrently playing WoW (and have 3 70s) and have played EverQuest, EverQuest2, DAOC, Anarchy Online, etc

but I always return to GW
personal reason why?
I love how balanced GW is and how the game is not about gear

Gear is primarily a fashion statement in GW - wish it was the same way in other games

I usually don't like 'WoW vs gW' threads but ppl here don't post random 'gw sux or wow sux' comments so I can join =P
I bought WoW 1 year ago.. a lot of my friends played it. I didn't like it. the whole game is pve and 'kill 10 wolves' quests aren't interesting for me. One year later I bought BC.. ebveryone were saying that the new starting areas and end game (outlands) is really good etc. Guess what I found.. kill 10 mosses quests == I really don;t see this wonderful pve in WoW.. anybody can tell me what's so greate about it? EQ2 is 10 times better then wow when it comes to pve imo.
I don't play GW much.. after NF I got a little bored with it but I still log in occasionally to observe some gvg (I love pvp in GW).
I have a problem with new mmos right now.. I compare them with GW.. most of them don;t have insta travel, storylines, balanced classes etc. I don't play much GW and I can't play other mmos b/c they lack all those cool features GW has =P