Should I pick this game up?

Hey guys, I know this question probably gets asked all the time, but I figured I may add a tally mark to the board and ask it yet again. I'm looking to play Guild Wars (WoW's endless grinding just isn't cutting it anymore for me) and I was interested in knowing if it's still worthwhile? I used to play when Prophecies was first released but, obviously, that's when GW was in its prime. Although xfire says it's the 2nd most played "MMO" (I use that term loosely here), I'm wondering if I'm going to have a hard time finding people to group with and whatnot. In addition to that, are there still active guilds to join?

Thanks so much in advance to anyone who contributes to the thread. ^_^

Still plenty of active, large guilds, which is really rather necessary if you plan on partying up with people regularly. PUGs are few and far between, and the ones you do find are, on average, worse than simply grabbing henchies and heros (better, personally customizable henchmen you get if you own Nightfall or Eye of the North) and going by yourself, which is what the vast majority of decent players do now for normal PvE. The heros do make solo play much more enjoyable than it was in Prophecies, however.

Yes, Game is rly active, id pick it up as you, well not rly active but active, and theres loads active guilds and you can find ppl to group with for most things, depending your time to play though

your old account should still work. no reason to fire it up again and find out for yourself.

Right now the economy is at it's lowest. If you plan on making money, you'll have to get lucky. As far as gameplay itself goes, it's the same you'll remember.

Fortunately, given that the economy is at its lowest, there's really not much that's very hard to get.

u'll have the most fun if u can find a fun accepting guild to play with =) that's what makes this game worth playing the most

I'd say yes. I've been playing for about 4 months and I love the game. There's still plenty of active people around to play with, too.

Yep, come on in, the water's fine. Tons of changes since you played, lots of new features.

Sympathies on WoW's grind. I picked up Wrath of the Lich King. Got my Druid up to level 75 and said if I have to stuff one more pup into this sack I'm going to go mad! Got a Death Knight up to level 72. But then, it was all the same again.

For me, WoW eventually comes to an end. GW never comes to an end.

If all you are interested in is PvE and the occassional low level PvP (RA, AB, and CM's) then yea, I guess the game is worth it to come back to. If you have any interest at all in high end PvP (GvG and I suppose you can include HA if you want to be picky) then no. High end PvP is all but dead outside of Europe and is impossible to get into for anyone just starting off. So if you are content with PvE only then you'll be fine.

Unless you plan on doing elite missions and such, H/H (hero/henchway) is the best at tackling PvE. Unless you have friends of course.

Unlike what many people here claim: GW is past it's prime, definatly.

It's still a REALLY good game, tough, and the storyline of all 3 games (4 really) feels like one big well-written movie. So gameplay/storyline you should be OK.

Forming PUG'S (groups as you say) hasn't been mainstream for a long time. All people do now a days is simply grab heroes/henchies, and maybe a good friend once in a while.

It is also safe to say that GW is more of an RPG than a MMORPG, in PvE anyways...

So it really depends what you're looking for. Too put everything on a nice line for you:

If you enjoy strolling through a Storyline, killing all kinds of stuff along the way, completing some fun quests, GW is your game for you. That's it tough, nothing more. GW has no end-game PvE-content what-so-ever, aside from the grinding for your titles.
Don't let people fool you tough, alot of PvE'ers on these forums would like you to believe there is no grind in GW, but in reality, once you've completed the main storyline, there is NOTHING LEFT BUT GRIND.

If you enjoy a game that will last for a long time, in which you can work towards your character progression and watch it, and your friend's, evolve along the way, stick with WoW. WoW definatly is more fun once you've reached the upper-levels/end-game...

PvP in GW is not really worth talking about. There is some massive PvP, and some Random PvP, but for the High-End PvP you've pretty much missed the train.

Is it worth spending 100+$ on a game thay you'll play for 1-2 months, and then grow tired of? (As you stated, you're sick of the grind, so if you play casual, you should complete all GW campaigns in about 1-2 months)
That's your call

To be honest WoW is a better overall game but guildwars does have better farming and it offers quick satisfaction. I was the same way as you and got tired of WoW. So if you are looking to play a game even remotely close to the game quality of WoW GW is the game.

You get what you pay for, and the advice from above was free.

You can get guild wars relativity cheap now. It's worth coming back.

I hate when people say "There are no more PUGs". The only reason that is, is because there are 3 (and 1/2 counting EoTN) continents, so everyone is spread out.

Even after, coming up on 4yrs, the game is still thriving with life. This isn't something you go hardcore on. If you're casual play this. If you're harcore/huge PvP (PvP is basically dead) I suggest not trying.

Overall, it's like 20$ for it, it's not that much at all.

I'll put it simply - the only games I've got more value for money out of are Fallout 1 & 2, which I've *completed* over 40 times each.

I've completed all 3 campaigns in GW with my main character (Necro MM). Because of the way I like to play (clear out all quests in an area, etc) it took me over 1.5 years to finish them (and I haven't finished EotN yet). I've also got several other characters that have done many other things.

Now, I mainly play single-person CRPGs, so GW with heroes/henchmen works very well for me. I find it fun to either join PUGs or party with friends, but I like that GW doesn't force me to - I don't have to organise times with people, thre's no real commitment required.

...and not all GW players are so die hard focused on the endgame, and think it's the only thing left. I've played the game for 3 years, and I still haven't done all there is to do in the 4 campaigns. If you have a life simultaneously, I really can't figure out how you could see everything there is to see within 1-2 months.

GW is loaded with content that will keep you entertained for a long time, and it is as cheap as ever. Buy buy buy.

Have to agree with martinross. The game is what you want to get out of it. I played D2 for 5 years and enjoyed for ~4.5. When I felt it was boring me to tears, I moved on. I'm on my 2nd year of GW and still have lots of stuff that I haven't touched. I actually enjoy some of the title grind, if it's done with people I enjoy playing with. I haven't touched but one of the elite areas. So, is it worth it? For me, and many others, yes. For those that have finished the game and are looking for some other means of instant gratification, probably not. Start it up again and you decide.

Yes. There's plenty of content across the 3 continents and GW:EN expansion if you have hardly played the game since release. Find a good guild and go exploring. The good thing about a lot of the frequent updates and the new campaigns and such is that it's the same game but it's totally different at the same time.

Highly suggested.

I just want give a big thanks to everyone who responded. Great input and advice; much appreciated it. I think I'm gonna pick it up as it seems to be the only "casual" friendly MMO out there right now... With that said, I suppose I was just assuming, given what GW has always been about, that PvP was still a huge part of the game... If I may ask, why did the PvP die out? It's not like the pve content in GW is extremely strong (from my shallow understanding, heh).

A lot of the original High End PvPers have left the game for various reasons. Boredom, and wanting something new, lack of real life prizes, friends leaving the game, graduating from college and getting a job that doesnt allow for as much free time, or graduating from high school and deciding you'd rather spend college studying and partying (mainly partying), rather than gaming.

The game has been difficult to start up GvG in since I started playing it (just before nightfall) because of the lack of competetive like-minded players, at your own skill level who play at the exact same time as you do. A lot of people don't like playing Guild Wars with heros so they need 8 humans, meaning either 8 guild members or at least 4 guests.

Combine that with the serious lack of reaching out to the newer community with open arms from the higher community and you just dont have the people to take the spot of those who leave the game.

The skill balances have driven a lot of players away, as well as the fact that, nothing is fresh anymore so everyone knows what wins and there is hardly any room to experiment anymore. It makes for a stale game where it becomes more about winning than actually playing. So all the newer players want results and they want them fast, they want to play with people who generally have a much higher experience level than they do, and they dont want to sit and wait 30 minutes to get a match with a bunch of fellow inexperienced players and lose 7 out of 10 matches.

TLDR - old players left, skill balance made and fact games been out 4 years made game stale, population of newer players drastically lower than old players who left.

Note: this counts for America, PvP is very much alive in Europe, and non existent in Korea and Japan.