Propechies or Factions - which do you prefer?

I prefere both, I mean, having the 2 games make GW a more complete game, togeter is best than any of them alone.

Because it's got a hella lot more content than any other "expansion pack" that I've seen. While I don't play tons of different games, here's some expansions that I've actually bought.

Diablo 2: LOD- expansion pack, added a medicore amount of new areas(compared to factions, approximate equal to the starter island), new items(also in factions, but at least in GW they aren't sickeningly overpowered), runes, and charms. In my judgement, ~1/3-1/2 what was added in Factions.

Civ 3: Play the World- Added some mediocre multiplayer support(which should have been in the original), about 4 new game types(regicide, etc), and half a dozen units. In my judgement, ~1/16-1/8 what was added in Factions.

City of Villains: Also released as a stand-alone, added some new classes, and content that was basically identical to CoH(new missions, but in the same 4-5 levels that all the other missions were in). Added PvP as well. In my judgement, ~1/2 what was added in factions

Warcraft 3: Frozen Throne- Added a few new units and half a dozen new heros. Expanded the single-player story by about 1/3-1/2 of what was in the original game. In my judgement, ~1/8-1/6 what was added in factions.

Heck, even one of the greatest games/expansions of all times:
Starcraft:Brood wars- Added ~4 units per race, some more storyline missions(which few played, but were good for 10-15 hours or so of solo playing when your connection was down). In my judgement, ~1/6 what was added in factions.

Regardless of how much you whine that GW:Factions is an "expansion" of GW:Prophecies, it doesn't change the fact that ANet added far more in their "expansion" than is in expansions to other games. To be similar to an expansion to another game, they'd have to cut out 4-5 storyline missions(say everything up to Tannakhai Temple), the Challenge Missions, the Elite Missions, Fort Aspenwood/Jade Quarry, about 1/2 the quests, and the new skills for the old classes. Then it would be similar to what other companies sell you for your $29.99 expansion pack. Since I see probably at least double the content in Factions as I see in expansions to other games, ANet is quite justified in charging more for it than the typical expansion.

As for time it takes to finish the game, I can run a character through Prophecies in a similar amount of time as I can through Factions(~20 hrs)- the sad thing is that in doing so, I've already played most of the Prophecies content(not counting stuff added months after release), whereas with Factions, playing through the game in 20 hours, that's not touching things like Fort Aspenwood/Jade Quarry/Altrumn Ruins/Zos Shivrous Channel/etc or half the quests.

Meh. Silly question. Prophecies wins, hands down.

LMAO.

i like both games i think they both are cool. it doesnt bother me how big the game is along as its good. games to me that are big you normally get bored either when you gettign to the end or when u do a new char.

at the moment though i dont think that will happen with factions because it is small but its fun. and it can get hard in some places unlike the first one

First, I'm enjoying Factions and like the ability to add new skills for the characters I had in Prophecies.

Second, if I could just own one of the two it would be a no-brainer: Prophecies. I think new players who only buy one of the two - people who don't own either - would be much happier just buying Prophecies.

With Prophecies I like the fact that I can play in an non-linear way, making my own decisions about where to go next and what to do. With Factions I feel as if I'm a train on a track, forced to play the game in just one way, just follow one path.

On the plus side, I think some of the missions with Factions take more skill and are more rewarding. But things move really fast between creating a character and finishing the game.

I've been playing for a year and I'll still be playing months from now. But if I had only purchased Factions I don't think that would be true.

Disclaimer: Prophecies changed a lot over the time I played it with new areas and new content. That could happen with Factions and, if it does, it could end up being every bit as good as Prophecies.

Prophecies hands a crushing defeat to Factions.

Factions - because i got bored of prophecies and there is less grinding and seems to be higher chance of getting gold drops and closer to perfect items. The elite missions are the best PVE experience ive had since those UW and FOW days were no one knew what to do.

12 man teams are ridiculously fun in PVE and fighting 100s of level 28 monsters. I hate the new alliance battles and no longer participate in those since they are now parties of 4. too much grind in prophecies to get to lvl 20.

I'm not usually one to give a balanced answer, but...

Prophecies could be considered better because:

• Pre-Searing was just wonderful
• Tyria had a big range of unique landscapes and cities and outposts that were 'nice' to be in - we could believe it was basically an entire world until Factions came in, especially with all the different races and architectural styles etc.
• It was the first Chapter, and lasted 12 months before Factions, leaving lots of time for changes in free updates
• We were newbies then
• I, personally, felt more enjoyment going around questing and doing missions in Tyria
• Tyria felt far less cramped
• Tyria contained more creatures and races that we are generally familiar with, such as dwarves, minotaurs, hydras, giants, trolls, gargoyles, etc.
• Generally more content in the first chapter, even without all the free updates.

Factions, because:

• PvE gameplay is more of a challenge
• Several features have been implemented according to player feedback
• (I believe) The gap has been narrowed successfully between PvE and PvP players
• Alliance Battles, even though the system has some flaws,.are enjoyable to play in
• Massive big city
• Locked doors prevent running
• Shing Jea is a fairly nice Pre-Searing equivalent (though it gets you all the way to lvl 20)
• Kurzick/Luxon cultures, factions wars, alliances forming provide some excitement
• New content
• Different styles of missions are interesting
• Landscapes are nice, though I feel there is less of a range compared to Tyria
• New enemies

However, my vote might shift slightly towards Prophecies because I feel as the first chapter with a large continent, it felt less limited than Factions does (which seems limited to just a few cultures and not so many landscapes). Plus, I was a total newb to the Guild Wars style of play back in Chapter 1 as were many others, and it was just fun to play through.

I believe gold drops and drop quality was increased universally with that update right before Factions was released.

My vote goes to Prophecies.

Haven't played this long enough to see if factions is still amazing in half a year.. But I have more fun playing this.. actually, I have the most fun switching and doing quests in both worlds with all my chars

Prophecies no questions asked.......
There is tons more to do in prophecies and I have to say I'm dissapointed in Factions. I know the interest level in our guild is down and the membership is declining so what does that tell you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tyria is much more explorable place than Cantha. Therefore my vote goes to Prophecies.

I wonder if Gaile will pay a visit to this thread soon, with the majority of votes going to prophecies and not factions.. Hmm.

I'll take the massive, beautiful tyrian lands over that horribly cardboard city any day.

Factions is too linear. But its better to have both.

Hmm, both have their positives.... factions has a more challenging pve, though it's still relatively easy and the AI is still horrible. But I think it's significantly better than the prophecies one

Factions added some nice new PVP alternatives, sadly all of them have some horrible random factor to them and GVG still shines above any other option, unless you like the thought of having 6 dolyak signet tanks on your team in which case The Jade Quarry is for you. I think Alliance battles are really good fun though, very rarely are all 8 of your other team mates completely terrible, at least not on Luxon's, I've only been in a couple of losses anyway.

Factions has some really interesting skills too, I have fallen in love with Deaths Charge and it hasn't left my warriors bar. In a recent alliance battle I teleported next to an ele and tore him apart in a second... he blamed lag because he didn't see me coming ^^.

The storylines of them both needed a bit more work in my opinion, but I can't really say I play GW for any form of story so couldn't care less

prophecies

Factions sucked pretty much, went through it twice, did challenge missions *yawn* bored now. Look at the damn world map... 50% of it isen't even explorable, just there to look pretty. I can't beleive the lack of content... you'd think since they already had the engine completley developed and can devote alot of time to just creating content you would get more than prophecies at least? Especailly since its the same price.

Apparently not.

Im not getting chapter 3 unless it has some new classes or something I might really enjoy. Factions was overhyped and let me down. I was really excited to hear about challenge missions, till I finally did them when the game was released and diden't enjoy them too much. Can the possibly make the areas any smaller or more mundane?

The general artwork for Factions was great though besides the city area.

But oh, to answer the question: Prophecies

Prophecies, because I don't like to fight in ugly towns. Also Factions is not very playerfriendly. I get the feeling that the mob spells are tweeked to do more damage and be faster casted than the ones on my own skill bar.
Ritualist defending spirits don't have enough life to be effective and the assassin is easy nuked when trying to kill the enemy caster. Not even to mention that many aggro mobs have multiple casters, making the assassin kinda useless. Having multiple assassins in your party doesn't help, because they are often so easy to kill.

Prophecies runs much smoother on my computer. No graphics (Not even the boring black and brown cities of Cantha) can beat the awesome scenery of Kryta.

Pets are cool, but still do as much damage as a mosquito bite.

Prophecies an 8 of 10 and Factions a 6.

An expansion that dont need the core.

I like both. Each for different reasons. I mostly play PvE so I say Prophecies. In other hand, for something new and more content to enjoy more, I say Faction.

Overall: Both are good to me.

Prophecies

they did a pole already, factions or Prophecies. Prophecies won by far

My vote goes to Prophecies, hands down. Cantha is great, but Tyria was simply much better. King Symeon outlined it perfectly (in post #48); I feel Tyria had a more innocent feel to it. The game was gradual in leveling up, you didn't have quest rewards netting 3-4k XP one after another. Thinking back to how the game evolved with the various game mechanics updates (such as the change to Capture Signets in June-ish of '05, adding the Faction point system in PvP, and so on); nothing can change the excitement we felt from those updates.

Also, I feel Tyria was much more welcoming to casual players. You didn't feel the pressure to be among the <1% who have access to elite missions. I feel Factions caters to the hardcore players, those who are willing to sit in front of their computer for hours on end farming and grinding. It's frustrating for me as a guild leader to basically tell the ones in our alliance that we simply don't stand a chance competing for town control with our present guild/alliance situation. This type of pressure was almost nonexistent in Tyria. I'm not jumping on the 'I hate Factions' bandwagon, as there is much in Cantha that I love. But nothing can change the fact that Tyria was much more accomodating to players such as myself.

Cantha is very nice... but.. I don't like the "go go go, rush the mish if you want the bonus" thing.. neither the "your guild have to be able to farm X factions points /day if you want to be our ally"
I prefer this big whole explorable world that is Tyria

Yeah, dumbest thing ever is the timed bonuses. When I took my assassin to Tyria, it was so nice to do a mission without having the clock at the back of your mind. I ignore the clock anyway, and everyone I've grouped with seems to, as well, but it's disappointing knowing that you'll never get the bonus no matter how well you actually did during the mission in terms of enemies killed, exploration, and things like that.

As far as all the other stuff goes, like elite missions, I've just decided to ignore that, like I do with the timed bonuses, and get what I can out of the game. However, I'll not be preordering chapter 3. I'll wait for reviews of the PvE play before buying (if there is any PvE).

One interesting note is that for one of the guilds I belong to (I have two accounts and each account belongs to a different guild), nobody except me has Factions and nobody is chomping at the bit to buy it. Still lots of Prophecies only players out there.

Prophecies wins hands down.

In Guildwars:Faction there is not enough teamwork,I already completed half the game with henchman (Only in a few missions i used some Humans but other than that all hench.)

Finish Prophecies with hench all the missions (even THK for those who hate it), what the diff here?

For me Prophecies wins - no contest. Better content, more content, missions are well designed and interesting, and the pace of overall game play was perfect. Factions to me is more geared toward a console style "twitch" player. Everything is rushed. The bonuses for missions being timed is plain silly, plus I am tired of every mission have some dimwit ally I have to keep alive and follow. Its like playing the game on a rail and I am just being taken from one point to the next with no chance for exploration.

A perfect example is the Temple mission where you have to take out the 8 controlled bosses. The whole mission is one big rush and I found myself having to close all the dialogue boxes and ignore the story in order to keep pace and not have the clock run down on me. A timed mission can be fun if well implemented, however the ones in Factions are not.

I am still going to play Factions but already I am spending just as much time back in Tyria as I am in Cantha. There will be no pre-ordering for me when chapter 3 comes out. I am going to wait and see if the next chapter heads back down the road prophecies started before I spend any more money.

Funfactor.

That doesn't change my point anyway. Well, we must have everything to make a world. No matter which game is the best or not, you always get pugs, noobs, jerks and scammers in both continents.

I play the Monestary Island, just to get a nice pet or a different character. When in the Market Place, I go to Lion's Arch as fast as possible.
Master Togo, and other Allies are noobs, who aggro everything that moves. It is very difficult to find a good healer in Canta, so it is very hard to keep those rushing npcs alive.

I have left my Guild, because since factions, they have different goals, than from the start in Tyria.

For me: Factions. It is much better designed and actual feels much more as a 'world' then prophecies has ever felt. The factions missions are much better done and varied then the prophecies ones. My only regret is that the lack of missions (which is in away replaced by more quests).

Tbh: I think most of us are just being nostalgic about prophecies. My girlfriend for instance was bored to hell with pre-searing but is (for some strange reason) actually liking Shing Jae. I wouldn't be surprised that those that start GW with factions and then move to prophecies would chose for Factions.

No it isn't.


Again - your totally wrong.

This is just the cherry on the cake. Factions sucks , Prophecies on the other hand was pretty much perfection.

Looks like Tortoise is going to get anet employee of the week.....

Dizzying use of logic there sirus.

No it isnt.
Your wrong!
Factions sucks, Prophecies rules!
[insert generic insult]

As per the thread, one thing i like about fractions is that the missions do not last 2+ hours long. Some of the later missions in the original campaign were just too long, especially if your group wasnt terribly effective.

But spending so long to do one [possibly meaningless] mission is soooooo fun.

I haven't gotten anywhere near completion of GW:F..but since GW:P was the first, of course its the better of the two. I do like the flexibility of it though..you can get out of Pre at lv.1, do a couple missions > powerlevel > ascend for example..or play through the game, etc. I had never been to the desert for more than a few minutes until my third character..and it was worth it. (Jungle <3)

Plus if I needed something to do with spare time, running and farming were always available..which aren't as much in GW:Factions. On top of that, I originally though the multifaceted Tyrian world was stupid...the desert, jungle, mountains, etc all thrown together..but it grew on me I guess..the different atmosphere of different areas is awesome.

Gotta go with Prophecies. The quests there at least feel like you're doing something to better your character and are nowhere near as tedious as the Factions ones. Factions simply doesn't have enough map space, so you're constantly going in circles. On top of that, I can't stand the mazes and ugly city map for the first half or so. The saving grace for factions is the amazing armors, though.

Edit: One other point. I hope this will change, as I haven't beaten the whole Factions storyline yet (stupid Finals), but Factions is just too easy. Haven't failed a single attempt at a quest or mission yet, and I've been henching and PuGing it all.

At first, I liked factions. Then the more I play the more disappointed I become. However, I haven't reached the part where you choose a faction yet. I am hoping that at that point the game becomes more enjoyable.

So far Prophecies for a no brainer.

Please go to the following places in Tyria - Majesty's Rest, Ice Dome, Dry Top, Twin Serpant Lakes, among others. These places exist for no reason (other than to enable you to skip nearly every mission) and they are wonderfully designed places that few will ever see. There are none of these places in factions.

So, you are either angry that there are fewer explorable outdoor areas or that you cant just skip through the large body of content anymore. I wonder which it is.

People need to stop, because the expectations were extreemly high with this release. They couldnt make it the same as before for some game mechanics reasons, in addition to needing to make it different to keep some of the content style fresh. If they merely just continued to rehash the old, it would have been a far worse release than it is and i wouldn't have bought it.

There is still a ton of dead space in the old tyria areas, so there is still a hope that it will get filled in sporadically with different updates or content filler to help bridge future expansions allowing people who like the old pve areas a chance to periodically go back and remeber what they liked about it.

With my 2 new character slots that come with merging the Factions CE with my previous copy of Prophesies, I created a Ritualist and a Necromancer.

I felt the cosmetic options for Ritualist to be adequate.

However, I did not like the spectrum of cosmetic options in Factions for Necromancer, hence I started her out in Prophesies.