Too late to get into GW?

I haven't played Guild Wars before, but I've been following GW2 pretty closely and it looks great. I'm a veteran of quite a few other MMO games, including EQ, EQ2 and WoW.

I've been kinda interested in playing GW now and getting the Hall of Monuments items when GW2 comes out, but everyone I talk to about it says GW is dead. Is it worth picking up the original trilogy and EOTN to play through them for the remaining time (a few months/a year?) until GW2 launches? Is it even possible to get anything done in the game today or will I hit a brick wall if there aren't any other players around?

Thanks for anyone who's able to provide some honest answers.

IMO, yes. A lot of the people who say it's dead are people who've been around for many years (GW is nearly seven years old now) and have done everything multiple times over. For a new player it's definitely still worth playing, especially in terms of cost. You get tons for what you pay for. Look around online and see what prices you can get for the Trilogy/Complete Collection (don't buy the campaigns individually; it's much more expensive that way).

Honestly, GW right now is basically single player with online capabilities. You're going to spend 99%+ of your time with only AI companions unless you have a friend that wants to play with you all the time, which is probably unlikely. Everything in PvE, without any exception whatsoever, is doable with AI companions, so that shouldn't be a worry.

ugg, i hate it when people try to claim the game is dead.

No, GW is not dead. Far from it - a lot of people still play GW (and I mean a lot). Is pugging (pick-up groups) dead? Yea... but that isn't something that you should want anyway. If you want the multiplayer aspect, then join a good guild (there are many good, active guilds with members that will join you for random quests or adventures). If you dont care much about the multiplayer and just want to experience the story and work on your hall of monuments, then the death of pugging shouldn't affect you anyway.

In conclusion: no, the game is not dead.

Guild Wars world "imo" is fulfilling.
Take the opportunity to explore the Guild Wars lore/universe before playing GW2, since GW2 takes place 250 years after the first GW game.

One of my reasons I enjoy the GW game; it's the story.

If I were you and would like to follow the story line, I would play each campaign in order of their released dates: Prophecies, Factions and Nightfall. The Eye of the North expansion is the last addition and ties with GW2.
More will reveal to you as you play, you don’t need to play Eye of the North first to get your Hall of monuments reward for GW2, you may claim it after you are done all the 3 Campaign games if you like to follow the story line.

Here is a Retail box you should look out for:
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guild...ete_Collection

Hello all, thanks for the quick replies. It definitely sounds like something I'm interested in. I don't mind playing solo - in fact I usually kinda prefer it in MMORPGs. I was just worried that not having others around would lock me out of content, but it sounds like that isn't going to be a problem.

AmyLynn, that's actually a big reason why I want to play GW before GW2 comes out. I'm something of a lore buff and missing out on the original story would detract from my GW2 experience, even if it were only small details - I like knowing the full story.

Is it even possible to get anything done in the game today or will I hit a brick wall if there aren't any other players around?

Join and guild and plenty of players always around in your guild and its alliance. Nice guild halls here. I call it the country club.

You will have little trouble with the game play with your experience. Start with Nightfall and complete that because that will give you a full set of heroes. You play this game with a party, party of 8 once you get rolling and the other 7 can be heroes, henchmen, or even other players! Henchmen are presets and pretty good on the average. Heroes are even much better than that because you can equip them with better weapons, and add runes and inscriptions to their armor. Hero armor levels up automatically, so you do not have to worry about that. And you can set your hero skills how you like.

From Nightfall you can move your character to Prophecies and Factions and do all the campaigns there. In Eye of the North you will get even more heroes and of course there is the Hall of Monuments and some dungeons that an old WoW guy should like.

Welcome aboard and good luck!

Only "joined" myself 11 months ago & wish I'd started sooner! Only thing is there're not enough hours in the day for me!

Even for a noob like me you can see when your travelling that it's far from dead.

Only "locked" content when solo would be a couple of missions/quests in Pre-Searing (Prophecies "tutorial") but they're easy to remedy with a quick shout for someone to "open the gate".

Join in & enjoy....

No, you're not too late to get going in GW. The community has dwindled down quite a bit from its heyday, but there's still plenty of active guilds out there and GW has become, like others have said, very playable with only the help of heroes and henchmen.

But I must warn you, all of the good names are taken. (Legolas Skywalker is mine! LOL)

Maybe if you choose not to play with other people... I certainly don't feel like it's a single player game, lol.

It's almost Wintersday (the GW's equivelant of Christmas), the main towns will be packed soon. All the people claiming it's dead will be there no doubt, waiting to get their hats (you get a special hat during the finale of Wintersday if you attend)

It's a bit sad when I go to places like Piken Square and theres no longer so many people around selling 'Althea's Ashes' etc. But the constant rambling in guild/alliance chat makes up for that.

You should try to get into a guild early on. Although I wouldn't get them to run the game for you which some overhelpful people will be no doubt willing to do. But you can quiz them about what your unsure of without having to constantly check wiki, tips/advice on builds etc.

No, the game is not dead.
Yes, it has almost become an RPG with co-op mode. But you can join a Guild if you want to play with other people more often.
Yes, it is worth getting. You get way more content for much less money than most other games.

Note - GW1 will not end when GW2 is released, so there's no concern about having enough time to finish GW1. There may be a limitation on how long after GW2 is released, that you can still gain anything from the HoM, but those things are just cosmetic and it's not worth playing GW1 just for the HoM. Play GW1 for the fun of playing GW1.

If you want to kinda fill hom quickly. Quick 30 guide has a lot of good tips. Theres a thread here too about it. Tempted to run one of my alts thru for it.
http://dragonseason.com/Home/tabid/5...Monuments.aspx

Here you go.
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/h...t10498555.html

Its neva to late ... compared in its earlier years yeah it can be considered dead... but by no means will u hit a brick wall because of lack of players.... You may not see alot of players in some missions but there are certainly people here that are willing to go with you.

My suggestion to you is play the game without focusing on accomplishment just yet.... don't let people run you or bring their all powerful heroes with you... otherwise you may skip content you otherwise might enjoy... and having someone mow everything down for you is the quickest way to turn the game into a grind....

other than that find yourself a nice social guild willing to provide a place of learning.... and refer to wiki often http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Main_Page The encyclopedia of guild wars will serve you well.

The only thing that you might be "too late for" is being an altaholic (meaning playing lots of characters [I have 25]). At this point you want to stick with 1 character and maybe an extra for each campaign, as the starting area stories are different for locals and foreigners.

Here's what I suggest:

2 prophecies characters, making one a permanent presearing character, because once you leave the prophecies tutorial you can't go back. Sear the other.
1 factions
1 nightfall

Of the 3 characters pick your favorite to play the other campaigns and eye of the north.

Avoid monks and mesmers as they are the 2 hardest to be good at.

The only rush part is getting enough stuff to get the minimum 30 points for the Hall of Monuments so it that unlocks stuff for GW2. Even if you don't make it they won't be anything game breaking or over powered.

Play it !

Even playing the whole game solo is heaps of fun!

It's definitely NOT too late to get into guild wars. It's a great game.

Yeah thats kinda what I meant. I used to do that & go to Ascalon etc. and ask if any newbies needed help. I'd just plough through the monsters even before the person I was helping had time to cast a spell, must have been so boring for them. It's not so bad if it's not your first time around or if you stuck on a mission but otherwise I'd avoid that kind of help.

Nowadays all they get are my decent skinned drops that I'm too lazy to sell

OP, I just ordered the GW complete collection today for my wife and myself, we will be playing the game as soon as next weekend, I talked to another player that made a hall of monuments guild with a couple friends and my wife and I might join thier guild, may be a good place for you since you will be in the same boat as everyone else.

I dont think its to late like Others have Said the game has lots of great fun content and hours of fun!
Truely a great game and story well worth a go!