New to GW and don't really get it...

Hi

Let me just start of by saying that I'm neither trying to insult any of you GW lovers, game devs or anything...

I'm a new GW player. Just read about the game the other day and it sounded so exiting that I rushed home and bought the trilogy pack.

Being a long time fan of D&D games I could hardly wait to get it going. Especially Neverwinter nights (and Storm of Zehir) was my favorite.

I started a new game with a warrior using the Prophecies campaign and was utterly disappointed but maybe I just don't understand the games full potential yet..?

Compared to what I'm used to the game seemed very hack and slice. I moved around, met some NPCs and got several quests. As I moved through the landscape I also met several monsters but none of them attacked me even though I was rather close to them. Just to get some action I started fighting some of them and even then the others didn't join (think I experienced it ONCE in 50 battles or so). Even more the battles seemed boring - hack and slice like with no real variance.

Compared to Neverwinter Nights the character building system also seemed very shallow - wheres the skills, feats and all?

Furthermore I really love party based games. I kind of knew that I wasn't able to build my own party from the beginning so I was prepared for that but in this game it seems I can't even get cohorts to join me (other than other players?).

Am I missing something here? Would really love to find out out that there was much more to the game than what I've seen so far.

Right now I'm back to NWN2 Storm of Zehir again and enjoying it..!

\Skodkim

In Pre-Searing (where you are currently), monsters of level 0 (the newbie monsters), will not attack you if you come within range of them. Certain level 1's will not either.

You MUST remember that Pre-Searing is an introductory "newbie zone" that is just there to teach you the basics of the game and get you prepared for more intense things later in the game.

A big part of appreciating this game is to learn the lore. Pay attention to what NPC's say and you'll have a better understanding of why things are they way they are.

Once you leave Pre-Searing and get to the real stuff, finding players for missions won't be as much of a problem and you'll be able to hire henchmen if no players are around.

Enjoy.

Well as Warrior you'll be bashing things with whatever weapon you're holding. However there's a ton of skills you can unlock in the game for variety, and make use of your 2nd profession (not recommended much until you know basics) for variety x100.

The tutorial area in Prophecies is the peaceful part, so enjoy it while you can. Once you leave that you'll be in areas where everything hostile on the map will attack you once you enter their aggro range (the bubble around your character dot on the radar - watch it).

After leaving the tutorial you also get to add henchmen to your party, which are AI controlled players you can bring with you. At first you don't have much choice, but more are being added in higher level areas. When you get to Nightfall or Eye of the North campaign you will also unlock Heroes, which are customisable henchmen.
You can change their behaviour, skills, runes, insignias, weapons, attribute points. So don't worry, you'll have plenty of customising to do later in the game.=P
If you think Prophecies is really that boring, you might wanna make a character in Nightfall instead, so you get Heroes early on.

Well duh you judged the game from the very early tutorial of the first campaign, which is like 0,01% of the game.
As others said, the real game begins when you leave that peaceful area, and believe me you'll miss all those pacific foes. Just follow the quests there, if you go around just smashing things I'm not surprised you find it bad compared to nwn, as you're not expeciencing the lore at all. And believe me, there's tons of skills, group play and everything you want, just a bit more patient as the game is huge and particularly Prophecies has a pretty slow progression.

I remember the day my oldest son sat me down saying, "mom, there's this really cool game I think you'd really like called Guild Wars. If you want, you can make a character on my account and see."

First I watched his 'toon. He had a character in Pre-searing Ascalon, and I thought it was all very pretty but also pretty boring. Then son said, "now the game begins" as he took his 'toon to Post. WOW, talk about a difference!

Yeah, I made my first character. That was shortly after the game was released publicly. I have all campaigns and EotN on one acct, and last year son gave me the acct I first played on which only has Proph and Nightfall. I've made, played and deleted (for a multitude of reasons) more characters than most people keep and play. And I like it. I get bored, I go away for a bit and come back.

If you are adamantly opposed to the game AFTER you take your toon to Post-searing and play a bit, by all means erase it. But until you go to post, you haven't even played!

I didn't care for it at first either. Give it a chance, it will mug you.

I didn't care for the Warrior much either when I first started (Warrior is actually my favorite right now though...). If you want a more cerebral profession, maybe consider rolling a caster or a ranger. You can have multiple characters anyway, so you might as well give a few a try for a few levels.

I started playing in earnest fairly recently. I bought the games about a year ago, but other things vied for my interests till now. What I have appreciated about GW is that the campaigns are very story oriented. Other MMOs of old had lots of grinding for levels and such. With GW, you get to your top level fairly quick(comparison to other games) and then the stories really open up.

If you have Nightfall(NF), you may like to start a character in that game too. As you get HEROs, which is your own little party to control and command. I started in NF, and just last week started a warrior in Prophecies. Also, when your Prophecies warrior gets to Lions Arch, he can go to Nightfall(if you own it) and pick up some cool heroes fairly quick.

Give the game a chance, the size and scope of all three games and the expansion combined is deceptively quite large.

Everyone who starts playing GW, and it's not on a free trial account they got from somewhere, is ought to get at least as far as Lion's Arch. The reason is that the post-searing Ascalon is f-ugly, and may let a lot of players down (i remember my fiancee complaining how the game suddenly got ugly and unplayable with all those devourers, ugly gargoyles and shattered environment - but luckily she was wise enough to check the game on YT before we even started playing and we were well aware it's just a temporary let down). If it doesn't 'click' before a player is somewhere around Lion's Arch, then, well... continue playing, i'd say, but try to get into groups with other people. As our personal likings of games strongly depend on our earlier expectations, the lack of social part when playing may be the cause of problems for quite a bunch of players.

Like everyone has said, you're in the tutorial area and it's geared as such. If you want a taste of what the main part(s) of GW is like, ask someone to take you into The Northlands. Muuuuahahahahahahahahaha!

After you attend the Acadamy (wait until your level 7 or 8 before doing that), you'll find that all the red dots want to kill/eat you. You'll also find NPC henchmen to help you along. And, as you progress through the game, you'll find that need for strategy and tactics and skill will increase.

You will also find docile enemies in the very beginning areas of Nightfall and Factions as well, so don't be disappointed when you first step out into Sunqua Vale (factions) or the Plains of Jarin (Nightfall) and the critters there don't pounce when you approach. (Some do, though, so beware!)

A lot of enemies in the early areas (Pre-Searing included) stop attacking you after your level is high enough.

I agree with the others saying you should give it a fair chance and experience the game more deeply before you judge, if you liked NWN I'm fairly certain you'll love it.

Ah man this game is nothing like never winter nights. You can't really compare it, nwn2 is slowpaced ever compared to pre searing prophecies.

This game is not about the dialogue, it's more about the global story, but for me an excuse to go outside and kill hordes of monsters.
I don't think this is the game for you, I too have played nwn2 and thought it was pretty good, but boring as hell. And then I found GW

I was lucky, since I first saw the game in the Open PvP Weekends, so I got to see its full potential from the very beginning.

You'll have to play for quite some more time until you see all the goodness you are missing.

Number one tip for people coming from other games: if you're bored, that's because you're running around outside looking for something to happen. The game is instanced. Stuff "happens" when you take quests and do those quests. Stop grinding random mobs, start grabbing quests and doing them; you level up, get skills, fight more interesting opponents, and get out of the tutorial much faster.

Once you get past the tutorial, EVERY red dot on your compass automatically aggros when you get within range (that white circle on your compass is your aggro range).

I personally don't "get" the entire prophecies campaign and hate it adamantly. Skill acquisition, the terrain, the monsters, the story, everything is bland and boring.

I love the Factions campaign however, and Nightfall is decent too because you get your own customizable heroes there.

Maybe start with a Nightfall character, get a few heroes, and then move to Factions. Much better experience than Prophecies, IMO. I only finished the Prophecies campaign 3 years after the game came out.

While I would advise making the most of the learning experience of the presearing part of prophesies you can jump to more challenging areas if your really not having fun.

Prophesies is designed to gently introduce a new and inexperienced player to the game first by the very gentle presearing and then by a slow character progression game.

Factions and Nightfall have faster character development, if your really not finding it fun then by all means try your skills elsewhere in the trilogy.
All the games link together and you can eventually do all the games no mater where you start your character.

Thanks for all the repplies - really appreciate them!

Following all your comments there's no doubt I'll return to GW when I finish my Storm of Zehur campaign :-)

\Skodkim

Just wait until you have to do places like The Desolation and Realm of Torment in Nightfall. :P Pre-searing is like a jolly tea party with some adorable old ladies in comparison. :3

I understand where you are coming from, I grew up on baldursgate, icewind dale, Nwn etc I can tell you this game is nothing like what you experience in those games, Guildwars is NOT an RPG in the same sense... Later on once you get past Pre searing guildwars picks up regarding storyline, combat and skill builds, you start trading items with other players and have fun in guilds But even then I fear you will not have the same experience your've had with past games you have mentioned.
Eye of the north probably has the most immersive content in my experience.

On a somewhat unrelated note, if you really liked NWN2, if you haven't already, you should almost certainly try Dragon Age: Origins. It pretty much takes everything that made NWN2 great, and makes it better.

The first Dragon Age (and it's Expansions and DLCs), that is. Not the second one. Dragon Age 2 was kinda...meh-ish.