Hi im new to Guildwars!

Hey guys, Ive really wanted to get into an MMORPG for a while now
so Ive heard about guild wars, and I wanted to test it out on my laptop.
I have a laptop since im in college, except the problem is, it doesnt have the greatest graphics card and since its built into my laptop I can't upgrade it =(

So I really want to try out the game to see if it'll run smoothly on my laptop
but I dont wanna dish out 40 bucks and find out it doesnt run very well

So does anyone have a trial key they could let me use?
To see if the game runs smoothly, becuase if it does, then im going to
buy Guild wars factions.
thanks!

Ouch, Factions. Thats not the best choice for a new guy. I'd suggest, like most of the people that may reply, that you get Nightfall because of the heroes.

However, you could always buy the Prophesies + EotN set for about the same price, so i'd say go with either.

And yeah I do have a trial key, but unfortuntly i've already used it. My computer when I got the game wasn't top notch (it isn't now either) but now it runs the game very smooth, and I have crappy PC specs (until xmas, new PC ftw!)

Oh well its upto you.

You can get a trial key for all three campaigns at some places, or you can go to http://www.srtest.com and see if your laptop can run it right now.

Unless it's very ancient, it should work. Most decent computers can run Guild Wars. You don't need a brand new $3000 gaming rig to play it, even though that'd be pretty awesome.

Thanks for replies, if anyones got a trial key, feel free to send it my way haha.

But why isnt factions a good choice? I read about what each one was about and they said that factions is mainly pvp, and thats what interests me the most id say.

my laptop isnt ancient, its pretty low end though, its toshiba satellite for like 500 bucks, its just ive had problems with some games, like I bought counterstrike source but it doesnt run smoothly, waste of money =(

Video HW Transform & Lighting: Required
Vertex Shader Ver.: Required - 2.0

And does anyboyd know what these do on the graphics cards? i ran the test and it said i was missing this?

I guess best I can do is tell you my system specs which run it just fine.

AMD 1800 2 meg ram machine is now 5 years old and the graphics card is a venerable geforce4 ti4800 128 meg.

If your laptop has a Intel GMA those are emulated with software. Basicly you can play anyway but you will have performance issues. I play on my main pc, but I also play on my laptop with a GMA 950 and it works ok.. I can't max out the settings like on my desktop but it works well.

Transform & Lighting is pretty important, without it the game will run slowly and textures on armor won't show up correctly. Lighting calculates appearances of objects according to light cast on it from different angles. Transform allows for complex/more objects to appear on your screen without reducing the frame rate.

Then why do you want Guild Wars?

Get Out While You Still Can

Agreed completely. Guild Wars is fun, but if you come into playing it with the expectations of an MMO - which it isn't - then you will be disappointed.

Besides that, it is a completely solid and fun RPG. As to what campaign will really keep you comfortable, I'd say Prophecies. Best and most comfortable learning curve, in my opinion.

Heroes are great once you know how to play the game and have a large selection of skills, but that would require a lot of gaming time. And what use are heroes if you don't really know how to use them?

Also, Johnathan, asking a fan forum about the game is generally not so great. People on forums could be outraged by the most simple thing and they'll take that hate out on the game. They'll make you think it's the worst game in the world (see WoW forums). So generally, watch where you take your advice.

Uninstall before its to late.

I would strongly recommend starting off with Prophecies, or the Prophecies+Eye of the North pack. Nightfall is best for more experienced gamers, as heroes require a good deal of unlocks to be made effective (however, they do not play a major role in PvP anymore). Factions is simply bad, and for various reasons, probably the worst to start off with. Also, I would suggest playing some PvE first, to get the hang of the controls, and unlock some skills to start with.

And as stated, this game has several key features that are not consistent with those of MMO's, and while it is similar, you should not expect it to be one.

And as for those who say don't buy / uninstall now - they do have a point. While the game remains good, it has seen a steady decline ever sense the original Prophecies. With most of ArenaNet's resources going towards developing Guild Wars 2, it is unlikely this will improve at all, if it could have been improved without a complete overhaul to begin with.

As for a trial key, I cannot help you there, but as long as your computer was made in the last 4~6 years, it should run the game fine.


On a side note - if you do like the game, and intend to play PvP, you will need to purchase all 3 chapters for access to the skills & professions - EotN, although useful, is optional as it does not add much to the PvP gameplay.

Factions is fine. It gives you some of the most balanced skills in the game and gets you to the interesting part of the game (PvP) faster. The atmosphere of Cantha is probably the most striking, with some of the best architectural and texture work the game has to offer.

Which cantha are you looking at?

The one I know of is 400+ damage attacks from bosses, grey green houses, and a crapload of acid trees.

Nightfall first, welcome to Guild Wars.

Please explain clearly and without just rubbishing Guild wars why it fails to be a MMORPG

1 Massively
2 Multiplayer
3 Online
4 Role Playing Game

We don't need to bother about 2 and 3 as they are true, even though stand alone play is becoming more popular.

Is Gw Massive ?
Well Lets see Massive well it isnt small but that should be decided by comparing it to the rest of the Genre.
"How Does the size of GW compare to the other games such as WOW" ?

Is GW an RPG ?
Since the interaction with ai is quite limited compared to other RPGs I have played and there and is no actual game reason to role play with other players other than trading.
So this is probably GWs weakest area.
"are the other games more of a RPG experience and why" ?

Yeah... ....

Wrong question. MMORPG doesn't stand for "Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game," it stands for "Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game." Massively is an adverb modifying "multiplayer," and implies that the game world is full of other people playing the game with you. Since GW lacks persistence (thank god) and only allows you to play with at most 7 other humans (15 in special places) at a time, it is not massively multiplayer.

Incidentally if GW2 follows through on its "persistent world" notions it will be an MMORPG, unfortunately, and would thus be of a different genre than its parent game.

Prophecies first, welcome to Guild Wars. He has no use for heroes with the limited skills he has unlocked. He won't know how to construct a good skillbar for any class except for the one he starts with, so heroes will be useless. Let him focus on one class before expanding to others. Learn the game before you get Nightfall.