Does the game continue to be as boring as the first half of Prophecies?

Okay so, I've owned the game for about 5.5 years. Ended up quitting at the Crystal Desert because I kept dying after stepping out for just a minute, and it was rather boring. A few days ago I started a new Elementalist, and at the moment I'm on my way to Aurora Glade, and honestly the game feels BORING like hell.

All the random side quests are extremely boring. Spend 15 minutes running to some far, far away place to go collect some random stuff and bring it back for your reward. Actually that seems to be what most of the game is about so far. 90% of it is running around to far places which take forever partially because I'm an elementalist and I have to kill everything that's in my way otherwise they'll kill me.

There are also a bunch of side quests which offer skills, as well as other towns which offer new skills. The problem is that a lot of them are so far away it'll take me like 20+ minutes just to get there and it's boring like hell.

Even the main quests so far are rather boring. Run along the route, kill whatever's in your way. A bunch of times I get lost and waste time trying to figure out which way I'm supposed to go. Other times I realize I miss out objectives, and I have to double back to finish it before I'm able to proceed (I don't mean bonus objectives). And a lot of times I have to carry dumb items back and forth which is again, extremely boring.

Does the game get any more interesting than this? Is Nightfall and Factions just as boring where you spend 90% of your time just running to places and killing whatever mobs are in your way? Honestly I find this whole running around thing even more boring than grinding in other MMOs.

I mean I wanted to enter the Wintersday event, but then I find out that it's at the Temples of Ages and I estimate it'll take me at least 20 - 30 minutes to run there from D'Alessio Seaboard or Divinity Coast.

If you've only got prophecies then yes you are going to find it a bit limited. Factions,Nightfall and Eye of the North are similar in structure as in quest-quest-mission for eg.
The other 3 games add a lot more in terms of skills, settings, plots, armour/weps etc but if you find proph boring then chances are you'll probably find the others are too.

Tip: If it's boring you don't play. No ones making you.

While the game does offer variety, the basic gameplay is more or less identical all over. If you like preparing builds, carefully managing aggro etc. GW is the game for you. If you don't, you're probably better off if you go and find yourself a different game.

I don't know of any RPG that doesn't send you around doing quests and unfogging areas. Perhaps you should try a different genre of game.

Going by what you are saying .... the aggro of having to play through the game and how it takes ages to get from here to there etc, maybe PvP will be more your kind of thing. In PvP there is no quests, no running back n forth, just jump in and fight against other players.

The great thing about prophecies was the size of the world and game - after the searing you had this huge world to explore.

But that was its weakness too. After you did it once it was excruciatingly boring.

Thankfully, they accounted for that by allowing you to run almost anywhere and skip most of the missions if you want to.

To get to toa fast ask for a run from la. It will cost you about 1k from a stranger. If you join a good size guild a guildie will probably we willing to run you for free.

You don't really have to do side quests, just the Primary ones -- and even most of those can be skipped in Prophecies. Heck, even the whole Maguuma Jungle part can be skipped quite easily, though if you're having trouble with lower-level mobs, skipping ahead before you're ready probably wouldn't be wise.
Which henchmen are you taking with you? I notice in another post you mention also having Eye of the North -- have you detoured there from Lion's Arch to get heroes yet? They should make it much easier to blow through the mobs at a quicker clip. You can also get some max armor as soon as you hit Boreal Station, which should help.

As said, the general flavor of the game is the same across all campaigns: "Go here, fight those, do this." But I think it's a lot quicker and more interesting in Factions and Nightfall, as compared to Prophecies which is a slower, longer, more spread-out campaign with several missions that kind of run the same.

Guild Wars prophecies wasn't designed as a PvE game, it was designed as a PvP games. That's why all the quests feel sloppy and redundant, simply put: boring.

I think the storyline, however, is movie quality material, and cinematics are well worth watching, but all the quests in between are boring as fcuk. Try to skip as much as you can, and for what it's worth: it gets a bit more fun during the southern shiverpeaks and ring of fire islands due to there not being any quests or restrictions, aswell as elite caps.

Not generally... but you have to remember that this was anet's first campaign in the series before they learned what works and what doesnt.

You might want to do yourself a favor and get the rest of the series as theres heroes you can buy that will help loads opposed to henchies.

Some skills are specific to certain campaigns and you wont get access to them without the campaigns. They can make life a LOT easier.

Otherwise, i suggest learning how to make builds your character more effective and cap elites.

Just my opinion.

Prophecies tends to have the most time bloat of all the GW games.

The missions take around 40 minutes regardless of skill level, without the bonus. Many factions missions can be finished in less than 10 minutes, most less than 25 so you might enjoy that a lot more.

The gameplay in Guild Wars PvE is probably some of the less inspired in MMOs especially seeing as most players aren't just managing themselves, they are managing their heroes and henchmen (which is almost never fun but it's effective and efficient).Personally I stopped doing side quests that don't offer skills. The rewards are negligible, the story they tell is pretty ordinary (you won't find any quests of a similar quality to Stalvin Mistmantle's chain from WoW) and like you said, it usually seems as if you are just being given excuses to travel halfway across the map for 20 minutes to engage in a generic encounter and then finish.

If you aren't enjoying the game by the time you reach aurora glade I suggest you give it up. Sure you could learn to love it, but if it's not enjoyable it's not worth the effort.

Prophecies is when you will realize this was made as a PvP game.

Factions is when they made more casual PvP (alliance battles).

Prophecies PvE is hell if you don't have people to play with, since the henches are pretty terrible. They've been buffed since the original iterations. http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/List_...ecies_henchmen

Alesia is the worst monk before Ascension:
Heal Other, Healing Breeze, Healing Touch, Orison of Healing, Restore Life

Basically all the skills you don't want to put on your hero.

Both warriors have heal sig, and "Watch Yourself!" is on the sword warrior instead of the axe warrior with cyclone axe.

If you get killed in the Crystal desert, either you are going outside alone, and you shouldn't do that, or... well... you need more practice...

In terms of fun, Nightfall and Eye of the North are the best. More variety and funny events here and there.


Prophecies... well... without WiK, it's just basically 55 areas and 25 missions with 100..200 of the same 3..4 different monsters again and again, and a few quests here and there.

No bounties in shrines, no PvE skills, no heroes, drops not inscribed, no skills armors and almost no weapons for 4 of the 10 professions...
The biggest mistake ANet did when adding more campaigns was not unlocking stuff in previous ones by getting the new campaign.
Getting Factions should allow you to get assassins weapons, armors and skills in prophecies, for example.
No retroactivity means that when new great things are developed, they get added only to new content, and old content... well... pales in comparison.

What do you find interesting in a game because I get the impression the whole concept of this style of game isn't remotely interesting to you.

I am as confused as if this was a flight sim forum and someone wrote in saying flying planes is so boring is all there is in the game.

Wish I could help I find the quests fun on the whole maybe pvp and beating up real players is more your style.

DON'T DO THE SIDE QUESTS!

a lot of running around for some absolutely worthless garbage rewards . Stick to the main quests to get yourself faster to the important towns or outposts where all the action is and there are others looking for help and forming groups for more exciting missions .Get into a guild to find out where are the best places to be right now and what you need to get there.

Short answer: No. The first half of Prophs is the worst part of the game, bar none in my opinion. Its only close rival is the desert in Nightfall.

I always recommend to my friends that they start on Factions or Nightfall because of how long and painful Prophecies. I think the other campaigns are a lot more fun and interesting.

There are really only three reasons to do the "side" quests in Prophecies:

1. Skill quests. Most of the early (pre-Droks) quests are skill quests - they award skills in exchange for long hikes through the wilderness. If you're new to the game, these quests can help save you a bit of cash by providing some free skills and unlocks. Once you get some cash this becomes rather moot, tho', as there are so many skills in the game that hacking off a couple is often not worth the pain.
2. Profession quests. Found in the Crystal Desert, profession quests let you switch your secondary profession (as the name would obviously imply). You can switch your secondary in any campaign, however, Prophecies is the only campaign to give you quests to let you do this for free. The quests in question are actually really easy, so they tend to be worth doing if you're blowing through the area.
3. Because you're a masochist. Wait, wait, I mean - because you love it! As others have noted, adventuring in Prophecies can be amazing if you have someone to do it with. There are a number of gorgeous in-game areas that (some of) those quests will take you to, that you would otherwise have absolutely no clue existed.

Otherwise, Prophecies tends to come off as horrendously produced rubbish explicitly designed to piss you off. If you have the option to start elsewhere, I would do so, as that will remove the pressure to "complete" Prophecies just to have a decent character.

sounds to me like you are just not an RPG player. as others have already pointed out, you might just wanna do the PvP, but unless you buy the skill unlock packs(or spend alot of balth faction points) the way to unlock skills for PvP is by "capturing" them in PvE (unless your toon is rich and can buy craploads of tomes)

Honestly, I think the game really took off halfway through factions if you follow the timeline from start to finish. I also think it just gets better (desolation aside) as you go along. Early proph is just dry, bland, and uninviting. Kryta gets a little better but the mazes in the maguuma sap that fun away pretty quick,and it goes downhill in the desert. I just don't like places that are predominantly one color, especially yellow. Southern shiverpeaks are fun, ring of fire is OK.

Factions from KC onward is quite entertaining IMO but it doesn't get GOOD for me until we leave the city. From then on it's great.

Nightfall is great all the way until the desolation which feels like a pool of quicksand, but the realm of torment is awesome with challenge, amazing scenery, and varying environmental effects that might seem annoying but really draw you into the whole thing.

Eye of the north is just stellar overall. I don't have any complaints about any particular sections of it. I don't particularly like the re-hashed armor sets, they just scream laziness on Anet's part, but the gameplay alone is worthwhile.

Just my thoughts. Early prophecies is just bleh. It does get better.

If you're doing this alone, yeah it can be very boring, Prophecies especially. But 5 years ago with a group of 8 on TeamSpeak it was a lot of fun.

The desert was an area that broke a lot of players too, plenty of people hit Amnoon Oasis and uninstalled.

If you need help getting through the desert, let me know.

Without some guild mates way back then I might have dumped Guild Wars also. The lack of skills needed to get through the desert made it an almost impossible task.

Now, with all the other skills from Factions, NF and Eye it is a cakewalk.

The desert and the jungle are the worst places, period. They're huge and vast, and every 10 steps a patrol comes, or something pops from the ground, or drops from above. And unless you can run it, you'll have to fight them. I went through with my main who's tyrian, but since then I avoid it like the plague. I'd rather fight in the ring of fire than the maguuma or the desert. Just get in, do what you need to do, and get out at the earliest opportunity.

Seriously I think that the reason it's so hard for you is because, 1. you got no heroes. 2. I dunno but your build might be the most retarded one, new players tend to play the oddest things(No offence, it's fun to experiment but if you're an elementalist you don't got a build full of ranger skills if you get what I mean). 3. Prophecies was made for something, that GW is not anymore. It was made for teamplay between players. I mean back in the day (QQ cause I never played GW then but it must have been paradise) people had to team up for EVERYTHING. If you wanted to quest, well you had to get a team, if you wanted to do a mish you'd have to join a team.

Guild Wars changed this with giving us heroes and such. I understand that it's boring and irritating, but you need to join a Guild that wants to show and learn you about and how to play the game. Some people would actually like to help, I mean if I met you I'd prob help you out for almost a whole day just to be nice. Though, this REQUIRES you to ask for help, because me and many others are no mindreaders. :|

I think you should go and get EoTN atleast. That's on the same map as prop. It will give you a few usefull heroes aswell

I find prophecies to be quite boring. Not only are there no heroes, but the regions aren't as unique and interesting themselves. Get Nightfall and EotN and get yourself some heroes. Designing builds for multiple characters working together was when the game started getting addictive to me. Then dungeon exploration and other parts became for fun.

For what it's worth, it's always bugged me in GW that I can't just head out of town and walk to the next town without having to be attacked by pack after pack after pack of red dots.

That's one thing that other MMOs have better than guild wars. Being able to take a stroll about the countryside without having to fight stuff every 30 or 40 feet (or, alternatively, without having to sneak your aggro bubble around them). In WoW, I can ride from the Undercity, through Silverpine Forest, down into Hillsbrad Foothills (past Tarren Mill), and then continue down through Arathi Highlands, into Loch Modan and... well... you get the idea. I can go on a walkabout, and not have to fight anything. It's only if I go off the roads that I'll have to fight my way through monsters.

In Guild Wars, well, it's red dots within 100 yards of the door, no matter what door, and you have to fight constantly from any town A to any town B. If there is an exception, than it's really an exception.

Furthermore, even worse - since you have to be prepared to fight so many things everywhere you want to go, you can't go anywhere without a pack of skill-spamming, idle emoting, formation shifting, sound effect causing henchmen.

Looking forward to GW2 being solo-able, and being able to wander out to the old lighthouse without having to battle through the same 4 or 5 packs of Avicara or whatnot every.single.dang.time!

But 5 years ago, with core skills only, even finishing one of these missions was an accomplishment.

With everything wiki'd, pve skills, heros spirits discord, these missions seem bloated because all the timed events within the mission are blitzed in seconds.
Five years ago, everything in the crystal desert was a struggle.

It would have been very very much better if the Zaishen Bonus had been "You do it like you had to five years ago. Only campaign relevant skills. Only Pugs. And only pug Monks."

Hard Mode is nothing compared to 5 years ago GW pugs.

at this moment, with the current skills / heroes, hench / players, yes, prophecies is definitely the most boring part of the game (imo). It's the largest areas with mostly groups of the same enemies, everything takes long and can be pretty boring, although I did enjoy it the first time.

Well said!

This is one of the many reasons I'm looking forward to GW2.

The quests are just there to get you to the end of the tutorial when you've got a full selection of skills 200 attributes, max gear and map travel to wherever you feel like playing for the day.

I played GW from the start in '05 and then recently restarted. Prophesies was really team-focused and it is a different game now. It is without question a lot easier of a game now I think. Going through everything including ring of fire back in the day was more of an experience, without heroes and without the extra abilities that have been introduced (and henchies get infused armor now.)

Since restarting the game in the last year, I am amazed at how much easier it is PVE-wise.

Short answer: Play the new expansions and ditch prophecies if it does not appeal to you.