The root of all evil (true reason for Factions hate)

Found it here:

I can't take credit for this, of course, but I'd like to think that ANet has "seen the error of its ways" in succeeding at making Factions a short game and have reversed course to provide more content in Nightfall.

I've also seen comments about Nightfall having a larger map than Factions, so I'm hopeful

QFT

QFT...i don't think I can say it better myself...in prophecies, it seemed like there was never a "main" storyline, but instead a lot of little ones put together, and you only end up seeing the end of one.....WHAT HAPPENED TO ASCALON?!

Oh and like MaD BaRoN HahA said about the "guild wars" and "alliance wars", I'm in a 4 person(my real life friends that play gw.....if only I could get my WoW playing friends to play Gw.. ) guild that only pve's. Does that mean it should be called "pve wars" for me? I still see guilds....and aren't ten of those what alliances made of? Maybe instead of "alliance wars", it should be called "super guild wars", or better yet, "Guild Wars"....wait a minute.... Sry, but your reasoning to "alliance wars" doesn't make sence to me.....

Not IMO. Factions is 10 times better than prophecies, fun-wise for me. There just seems to be so much more to do in factions!

And now I suddenly remeber why I like factions so much more.....no anoying running making it incredibly hard to get groups for a certain missions, or people not going farther just cuz they want to farm....wait, isnt farming considered grinding? Which is one of the reasons why factions supposedly sucked occording to the op....grind...even though there seems to be a lot less in factions...

meh....reading just about the same thing over and over in different ways is getting sorta tireing..and its only the 3 page...I guess I'll just make a general statement to reply to all the posts I would have replied to had I read this all

You can't please everyone all the time....most of you on this thread are the people not pleased. There were unpleased people with prophecies, and I'm sure there will be for nightfall and the other chapters too. I'm sorry that you are displeased, but you don't have to say things like factions was a unfinished game....

Oh, and Sekkira, if you are still trying to convince them that factions isn't as bad as you say, then maybe you should stop. It's obvious just by how much they missed most of you're points that they probably won't understand...BTW, how did you come up with such good things, like the metroid ones? I wish I could come up with stuff like that!

Like gamecube, I really enjoyed Factions. It had its good points and its bad points, but overall I found it to be a fun, challenging, and rewarding game. I feel that I got my money worth and then some.

I realize that a fair number of people didn't really like Factions a whole lot, but really its gonna come down to personal opinion. Each GW game is gonna be a little different from the other ones and everyone is gonna have their personal favorites.

TBH, I did like Factions, at first. Scratch that, I loved Factions. A part of me still likes it a little. But there's one major thing it lacks that I think Prophecies didn't, and that's replayability.

Now this is just my opinion, so take it as you will.

I played both games with my main characters as they were meant to be played, of course. Fighting through every little thing, exploring every inch of space, completing every quest and every mission I could find. It's really fun the first time around for both games.

However, the second time through Prophecies, you have the freedom of skipping those missions you didn't like. The only missions you really need to do are the Crystal Desert missions & Sanctum Cay for Ascension, and ThK to head to the Fire Islands. The rest is completely free reign. That freedom of exlporation offers replayability.

In Factions, well I think we all know what's up with that. We're not only forced to do more missions and certain quests to move on, but the missions themselves are generally dreadful. I don't like being forced into Cooperative play if I don't feel like it. For that reason alone, I have 3 characters being blocked by Vizunah Square.

Not to mention the Bonus reward based on time. If you already dread a mission, and feel trapped because you have no choice but to do the mission, you don't want to do it more than once. So you feel rushed just to get as high of a bonus as you can the first time through, so you never have to come back.

Keep in mind, my opinion.

I have been taking a decent break from GW for about two weeks now. The reason, I feel, is that Factions simply took a lot out of me. I just felt too rushed, dreaded too many missions (like Vizunah and Gayala), and the moment that it felt like I had to work, well that was it for me. As I've said repeatedly on these forums, I am here to play, not work.

There is only one thing about prophecies I like better than factions and thats the choices for missions. In Prophecies you are able to skip some missions if you choose. You cant do that in factions. In prophecies you could do any of the desert missions in any order, that was cool. I'd like to see that in future chapters. Other than that, factions is way better.

I've played 5 characters all the way through Prophecies, and I had fun each and every time. I didn't mind if someone wanted to watch the cut scene, even if I'd seen it a couple of times before. I go back from time to time to do missions there just for the fun of it. Even though the story line was more of a series of short stories, there was continuity to it and had some interesting points. I was glad to finish the PvE game for the accomplishment of it, even though the transport back to Droks was a let-down.

With Factions, I took my Mesmer through the story-line and didn't have nearly the fun I did with Prophecies. By the time I got to Visnuah Square, I was thinking "Can we just get this over with?" I hated being in the city, not only because of the way it's laid out, but for the incredible lag issues that come up when getting into a fight with the baddies. And then, you get out of the city only ot discover that you get bogged down by having to get 10,000 faction points before you can go on to the next mission(s)! I got no feeling of accomplishment when my party finished that last mission, only relief that I was done with it. I won't take another character through because I didn't enjoy it the first time. Because it sucked so bad, I'm kinda glad that it wasn't as big/long as Prophecies!

I do enjoy the AB's...once you actually get into the fight!

Both games have their merits and flaws.

Merits of Factions:A huge population is cramped into a multi layered city because 60% of the continent is now barren and only inhabitable by the most hearty tribes. Every area has lots of things to do.Secret armor crafters. Alliance battles. Elite missions. Chicks dig the bald boy. Twin skills for extra strategies.No pro running.

Flaws of factions:Easy to finish fast. Almost non-existent story. Movies get totally messed up with hostile minions or bound heroes.No pro running.

Merits of Profecies: Sweet and sad intro. Huge lovely world. Kilroy Stonekin. Perdition rock.Gwen. Using Droks armor and SS to smash nubs and feel 1337.Tomb of primeval kings.Many remote outposts with unique skilltrainers.

Flaws of Profecies: You could cut out Maguma completeley and most players wouldn't even notice.Tutorial seems to go on until you reach Lions arch. Only temporary equipment before reaching Droks. "Pro runner going to Droks for 3K". Few cash rewards.

As you can see, one could praise or burn both chapters at will with very good arguments.

You said "OMG theyre trying to convince us that factions is longer!"

Think about it: Factions is smaller, but it has more content packed into it. Factions has about 230 quests while proph has about 200. Most people just bypass the quests because theyre L20 thru half of them.

"QFT...i don't think I can say it better myself...in prophecies, it seemed like there was never a "main" storyline, but instead a lot of little ones put together, and you only end up seeing the end of one.....WHAT HAPPENED TO ASCALON?!"

A little is revealed in the titan quests about ascalon. They dont need to give out every detail of the storyline because some of the mysteries of the game are what makes it interesting.

That was the original post. Did you read anything beyond it?

There may be more quests in Factions just as there are more skill points to be obtained from missions, but they're crammed into the same small Factions space. How many are FedEx city quests? How many are faction farming repeat ad nauseam quests?

Anyway, by this point I've taken all 4 of my "active duty" characters - Tyrian E/Mo, N/Me and R/W, and Canthan A/Rt - all the way through the Factions storyline. I've completed every quest and walked every zone with my main, and I have to say that I still find more flaws in Factions than I find good points. Even the "mission areas as explorables" concept that I loved seems to be just a way to squeeze in more bosses into the same space as there are more elite skills in Factions than in Prophecies and the bosses have to spawn somewhere. Why is it that only Gyala Hatchery explorable has an engaging quest start in it? I love the dynamic NPCs in Tahnnakai Temple explorable that react to your progress through the storyline with specific hints, but why is it that the only quest in that zone - the only quest starting in any mission explorable except for Gyala - is another FedEx wonder that you can only obtain by fighting through countless mobs?

As I've already said, there are things about Factions I like. Whoever designed the Jade Sea and the Luxon side deserves to have more input in Chapter 4. It's just that I feel Factions could have been a much more engaging game if it hadn't been designed to be so short.

Ill start off by saying that I do not use PvP toons, and even if I had a year to unlock all the Factions skills for my (non-assassin non-ritualist) characters it would still take me a year. I am just now starting to take my rit and ass to Tyria to unlock more skills for them (recently finished Factions - GREAT ENDING ANET! MORE REWARDING THAN HELLS PRECIPICE FOR SURE!!)




They didnt make that claim. Your little tirade about the PvP- well, the whole game was altered to reduce the 'pve grind' that people like you complained about on the original.

It IS a stand alone game- how is it not???

::sigh:: This should be good....

pre searing ends when you get your insignia and are allowed to leave the monastary. If you want to call it pre-searing (um.. different story holmes)


You sound like someone complaining that you cant get a 'droks run' in factions. It also sounds like you cant get past Naphui Quarter...



You realize that you can participate in Alliance Battles with a PVP character, right? Please tell me you knew that, because the ABs have nothing to do with the pve.



^this is all im seeing, sorry can you repeat it?


thats a cute way to say it, but it makes no sense. Faster and Grind should not be in the same sentance, Boy Wonder.

**OMG LOL LOL YOU CANT BE SERIOUS!>!? HOW CAN I READ ANY MORE OF THIS POST WITHOUT THINKING YOU HAVE LESS THAN TWO BRAIN CELLS??

TRY COMPARING THE <b>AMOUNT OF AVAILABLE EXPLORATORY AREAS</b> INSTEAD OF COMARING TWO DIFFERENT JPG FILE SIZES.

Seriously you post won my award for most ignorant post of the week.

Prophecies = indepth storyline, but rather monotonous and droning after a point (in my opinion)

Factions= go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go *completed game* but the storyline seems less drawn out than in prophecies (in my opinion)

S'all good.

*whupps spelt game wrong* =(

I agree. If anything at all, Factions is much more reasonable- and some people will still never be able to finish it (suck to be them!)

The problem with Factions was simple. There just isn't much of anything to do after you've finished the game.

In Chapter 1, you had the forge quests. You could go to SF. Or UW/FoW. Go running up Snake Dance. Tombs runs. Not to mention GvG.

What do you have with Factions? Alliance battles? Give me a break. And until people found the exploit to allow anyone into the elite missions (all two of of them) those were reserved for the few guilds stupid enough to have their members farm faction 24/7.

The ending missions for factions versus propehsies tells the tale. Prophesies end mission takes at least 30-40 minutes or longer. Factions? 28 seconds.

When you couple how fast you can finish Factions versus Prophesies, and lack of anything to do once you DO finish it, it's obvious where factions falls short.

I'm afraid I have to disagree. I believe there is more end game content in Factions.

First, both Factions and Prophecies have two large dungeon crawler type places. Prophecies has Sorrows Furnace and Ruined Tombs. Factions has Urgoz's Warren and the Deep. FOW and UW are available to both games so they count as "core" areas.

After those items, Factions has AB battles, challenge missions, and Fort Aspenwood and Jade Quarry. There are also repeatable quests and just like in Prophecies, you can go explore or work on titles.

Now I realize that some of the features I mentioned in Factions are unpopular, but they do exist and you can't just ignore them just because you personally don't like them.

The only way to prevent all the complaining is to offer a trial period of at least one week. And I don't mean trial events, I mean playing the real game. Players who really like it will buy it and the rest will leave. And with them most of the complaints. A company that really is convinced to sell a top product would have no problems with this strategy. More: it would actually force devellopers to make the game even better with each new chapter.

Thats a good idea and probably one that Anet has considered, seeing as how the have done trial type things in the past.

I'm afraid it's yours that takes the cake. You're replying to my original, 4-month-old post without considering anything that's been already said in the thread. I'd say that's the definition of ignorant.

Already replied to both points. The assumption on Factions release was that Factions would have as much content as Prophecies, because it was released by the same company in the same game world with the same price tag. ANet didn't say that the game would have less content because of the 6 month release schedule because admitting something like that would be financial suicide the way releasing play numbers would be.

Factions is not a stand-alone game because the "learning" part of the game present in Prophecies is completely cut out due to the rushed advancement and lack of skill reward quests. Only an expansion building on an existing game can afford to do that, as there would already be players familiar with game mechanics coming over from the original game.

So you have your insignia. What do you still have to do to leave the area with low-level monsters who won't attack you even if you aggro them? Follow the Saosiang Trail to Seitung Harbor, where you will find better armor and level 10+ enemies. You may disagree with the precise point at which "Canthan pre-Searing" ends, but you have to admit it is much shorter than it is in Prophecies.

And if you dislike the term "Canthan pre-Searing," how else would you like to talk about Factions in Prophecies terms when comparing the two games?

Funny... I seem to remember posting something right on this page...

I've done every part of Factions and have the titles to prove it. Look me up in game if you doubt me. My main (E/Mo) reached Droknar's Forge the hard way with AL30 armor I got in Ascalon City, and I paid for a Droknar's Forge run only for my N/Me, because I wanted to see what it was and how it was done. All of my 4 "active duty" characters have done Nahpui Quarter with Master's reward.

My main complaint about the Factions "leading quest" system is not that it can't be avoided by running, but that it's designed to stall the player in the same areas the player has already covered. This is most obvious with the "Befriending" quests and the city quests that seem to loop in on themselves or require repeating things.

And do you realize that PvP content is contingent only on other player input rather than designer input? PvP is guaranteed to be interesting due to changing player strategies. People will always find something that works extremely well (MM, touch ranger, EoE self-bomb) and use it with greater or lesser success, forcing everyone to adapt to new play styles and innovate on their own. But PvE content does not have this luxury of being dependent on player input, so it requires greater effort on the part of game designers to keep it interesting. Moving content from PvE to PvP is a cop-out in my book.

Yes I can. If you're going to take my quotes out of context, so will I.

How can I make an argument about a personal perception of the game experience without basing it on personal experience? Yes, I'm trying to extrapolate from it, but without personal experience of the game I have no basis for anything.

Alright, let me spell it out then. Factions storyline is extremely straightforward and allows no room for deviation due to the closed gates and needing the right quest to advance through, which can produce the appearance of a grind, especially the second time through - a sequence of tasks required to accomplish something that the player does not necessarily wish to complete, but has to. The "faster" is a reference to the fact that Factions storyline is also streamlined; if you dedicate yourself to grinding away you can (as people have) complete it in a very short time, compared to hours-long missions in Prophecies. Where in Prophecies missions took a long time, in Factions it's the quests in between - quests you can't avoid and explicitly have to grind for, like the "Befriending" quests.

By this point, my main character is a double Grandmaster Cartographer, and I stand by my initial assessment. You can receive a 0.1% increase to your "Exploration of Cantha" title progress bar by uncovering less "fog spots" (meaning the smallest possible part of the fogged area) than it takes to do the same in Tyria.

If that still doesn't convince you, go measure both maps in terms of how many screenshots of each side you need to take to cover it fully. The Factions overview map measures roughly 5.5 screens by 5.5 screens in 1024x768 resolution, while the Tyrian one is roughly 7.5 by 7.5 screens at the same resolution. Unless you specifically use different image compression methods, a map of Cantha will be smaller in bitsize to a map of Tyria.

And in terms of explorable areas, how many of them are rehashing content already available as missions?

In closing, if you're going to reply to the original post of any old thread, please take the time to see if the points raised in it have already been addressed. The only reason I revived this thread was because I had something new to add, something that didn't warrant starting a new one. Please respond in kind.

The Searing, maybe?

It may seem like there's more to do in Factions, but when it comes to overall content, Prophecies overwhelms the player with tasks (although they weren't mandatory) when compared to Factions.

Prophecies never required you to grind for anything. Only in one example were you forced to grind for money (Max AL armor), which could be replaced by collectors, if the player wishes to do so. Factions forced a player to go through tasks that they did not want to do, such as annoying Primary quests and the dreaded Befriending the xxx quests. Less grind? May seem like it to you, but when you get down to it, no.

Really? $50 dollars for a relatively short game? Sure, it could be entertaining for you, but I'm sure that you don't truely feel that it was worth the money you paid, compared to Prophecies =/ But then again, that's just me.

Now, how many people can access those two areas without a ferry (which aren't around 100% the time, and even if they are there, they may charge)?

Don't forget that it was the game developers' original intent to keep those areas locked and accessible only to the alliance that held the capital of each faction, possession of which was in theory tied to the PvE grind of repeatable quests or the PvP grind of "persistant warfare" Alliance battles. If it weren't for The Crusaders starting the ferry trend back when they held Cavalon, it would probably be that way today.

When Prophecies was released, neither Sorrow's Furnace nor PvE Tombs existed. Both of these were "add-ons" introduced into the game to keep it fresh out of ANet's good will. ANet has stated multiple times even before Factions release that there would be no "add-ons" for it. If you're considering the add-ons part of chapter content, isn't it obvious you're not getting as much with Factions as you did with Prophecies?

The root of all evil stems from the necessary existance of evil to define good.

Wrong, it simply is a stand-alone game. You don't need Prophecies to play it.

In computer games, a stand-alone game is one that can be played without requiring another game to provide most of its operating code (as opposed to an expansion pack, which adds to a previous game).

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand-alone

Hey Shyft, how ya doin?

First let me say I LOVE both Prophecies and Factions!!!

In response to the OP and comments since then.

I have completed both Prophecies (with 10+chars) and Factions (with 5 chars). I have Grandmaster cartographer and Protector of Tyria On 1 char from Prohpecies and working on those titles for Factions on the same char. I have Grandmaster and Protector of Cantha on 1 Cantha born who is now working on the same for Prophecies. I have a total of 8 chars, 1 of each profession at various stages of completion of both Prophecies and Factions. I have 2 chars with Phoenix for pet and 1 with a UW Spider. So I am not new to either chapter.

Factions as long as Prophecies: Mission and story wise- No. If you just do the primary quests and missions it can be completed rather quickly. Quest wise- yes (but see below).

Rushed: Missions are timed and its rush through or get lowest reward (Protector title- Must have fast time for Master reward). I prefer Prophecies method, I hate being rushed. Mission changes: Cooperative Missions- I like the idea of the Cooperative missions where a group from this side and a group from that side meet at point X and complete the mission together. I just hate how hard it is to get thru them with a decent time for master reward. Very difficult to complete with henchies ( I’ve done most of both games with henchies) and usually hard to get a human team (not many ppl in the towns). Difficulties with henchies: Vizunah- If one or both teams is comprised of all or partial henchies then as the foreign team approaches the local team the henchies will run to whoever the human is leaving Togo and/or Mhenlo vulnerable. Anet could have programed the AI a little better for these coop missions. Again, I hate the timer. Competitive Missions- Im not into PvP much but I understand a lot are. I don’t mind the AB set-up or the Competitive missions. I have done both. I just prefer not to PvP so I don’t do them much. They are not necessary for game advancement or completion. But the area are needed for mapping for those attempting to attain the cartographer titles. So how about a quest or something to allow access to the area without having to do PvP aspect of the mission. Challenge Missions- Again not needed for story or game completion but the areas are needed for map completion. Like the main story missions they are timed. Again how about way to access the areas as exploreable areas for mapping purposes.

Quests to open mission towns I don’t mind so much. I always hated the idea of runners anyway. All of my Prophecies chars completed the game in full .. all skills quests and missions and most optional quests, on 3 or 4 even completed the titan quests.

Grind: OK, Yes there are numerous quests for xp, gold and in most cases skill points. But these quests in and of themselves are a grind (go here talk to X, go back to here and talk to X, now go there and do X). All this while going back and forth from 1 zone to the next and have to repeatedly cover the same ground and kill the same mobs over again (and some really have nothing to do with the actual story). That is grind IMO. I do love the questing aspect of both Prophecies and Factions but, the constant back and forth over and over again irritates and bores me. Also one of my biggest dislikes as for the quests difference between Factions and Prophecies is the lack of skills quests. Yeah we get skill points to buy skills but I for one am not a millionaire in game (or out lol). So I cant afford to by enough skills to be effective in most cases. For example My Monk started in Cantha- I wanted to be able to change between heal, prot or smite but couldnt get enough skills to have the variety to do that. What to do? Does Anet want us to buy ebay gold?? So I deleted the char and started over in Prophecies again. Also (not really quest related) with the titles that they introduced, I understand why the PvP titles are account based not char based. Most hard-core PvPers have a char slot just for PvP so they can create whatever build is needed at the time. But IMO I think the skill hunter title should also be account based. Prior to Factions release I had capped all Elites available in Prophecies. But silly me I didn’t cap them all on the same char. Didn’t have the skill points to without some heavy high-level grinding to build up the points. Not to mention the cost to do that on all chars. Again, What to do? Does Anet want us to buy ebay gold??

Map size- to me taking the 2 side by side isnt really valid- Factions multi-tiered layout. I dont mind the map area being compressed due to the multi-tiered layout.

Henchmen: I do like the new henchie set-up where the farther along you go the more choices you have in henchie selection.

Scenery, while maybe not as pretty and colorful as most of Tyrias still has much to offer. I have found great scenes in all the zones( mission and exploreable) that I have found to be extremely captivating. Love the scenery of both chapters.

I was gonna say more but I think I’ve babbled on long enough.

Personally I don't think you can even really classify Guild Wars as an RPG. I mean they're pumping out an expansion per 6 monthes, and people are getting bored, most MMORPGs go on for years between expansions and even playing 6+ hours a day you haven't completed everything.

With that in mind, Guild Wars is still exactly as I expect it to be. Fun-Fast paced gaming, where you can easily pick-up where you left off, or switch gears to do something else very easily, widely because of map travel and the ease with which you can switch your characters build.

I don't try to make Guild Wars something it isn't, I don't try to force 5,000+ hours out of it just because I played FFXI and that's how long it took me to complete it. You just can't do that, and still have fun.

And in my experiences with people complaining, before you even get halfway down the list of what you can possibly do (AB, FOW, etc..) you start to get answers from the person like "But I hate doing that" or "*blank* isn't fun for me", so it's really not that the gameplay isn't there so much as the gameplay isn't there when people don't want to do certain things. Which brings me back to my point, you can't make a game something it isn't.

I love Factions and Prophecies. Now everyone shut up and go have a beer. Seriously. This has been run into the ground too much. If you love the game, great. If not, well, that's the risk you take when you buy anything.

Wow, not FFXI sounds like a god for keeping a player's interest o.o

i don't like the middle of faction, simply because i hate the the cramped city ( yeh i know, the hypocricy, i myself am from one)...

and for that reason alone, i don't like faction compared to GW, where the scenery and change of scenery was the most splendid i've seen....

that being said, shining jea and place outside mattu keep is rather pretty.... harvest temple also has some melacholy and confusion about it, which i rather pretty....

No, I didnt feel like reading 250+ posts. Sorry.

funny thing is that not all allainces are obssed with faction farming/abing. My allaince now has steered clear from that and is now doing hoh/gvgs. My guild used to ab/ff all the time but during summer allaince leader exhausted us and it disgusts me now. An saying allainces just worry about farming faction an abing is just a little over exaggerated,since allainces can be more benfical then just ff/abing just to get a underpiced merchant for owning a town or owning capital for elite mission.

One of the benefits of this happening was the number of people who left those alliances and are now focused on the community aspect of GW not feeding bad ego’s. Bad Guilds were recognized for what they were and the People HERO's rose up to set the standard of play. Overall Factions was a good thing that happened to GW and the community. It showed both design flaws and design success. It also set standards for what community expects from the developers it introduced us to new possibilities and concepts for future GW games. I can now look forward to Nightfall knowing the developers took the community seriously.

Meh..I didnt like Factions just because I didnt...no rant but it just didnt sit right with me.

I think Factions isn't as long as Prophecies.. but soo many people forget that there are quests that they can do.. that makes the game longer. While everyone else is tackling the huge ass story quests.. most people miss out on the small little quests.. heck, there is a "viagra" quest in Factions!

(off topic - http://maxwell.ucsc.edu/~stephanie/g...0of%20evil.jpg )

I've actually been playing world of warcraft, the last few days *grin*, and since I am not playing gw atm, I have been able to figure out from an objective pov, why factions turned me against gw.


1. The players. Rudeness, elitism, ignorance, scammers...I'm sure these people exist in both places, but hopefully I won't run into the degree that I am accustomed to seeing in GW.


2. Lack of skills, professions, aside from "you're a necro, making some bone things and make this stuff die" In WoW, I can learn to enchant things, go fishing.. it's kind of fun. Giving 5 wood and 5 dust to a crafter, just wouldn't suffice to replace the fun I have creating things in WoW.

3. Replayability. There is so much stuff to do, it just doesn't really seem like I will ever run out of things to do in WoW. All you can do in GW is pvp, the same quest on a different character, you have already done on another.. Same mission..farm, pvp. Small continents, smaller expansion continents with less content (i.e cantha) It's like running into a brick wall and having no where to go from there. According to people, the end game in GW, is pvp. Well.. That is boring, to me.

People claim that the end game also includes alliance battles, aspenwood and jade quarry. Those are repetative. Why would I want to replay the same mission, the same purpose over and over and over and over again day in and day out, unless I was farming faction for some town holding alliance. Boring.


"Repeatable Quests" Again, if this is end-game, fire the development team please.



4. No hidden costs. With WoW, you know where you stand. I know I will be spending 12.99 or so a month. With GW, more and more things are popping up with a price tag.


5. While it takes some getting used to, it is nice to see an economy that isn't bloated like GW. Getting a single gold is kind of a feat in WoW, and 5 gold, goes a really long way. My character is doing pretty well on less than a gold at a time, in all truth.

A. Auction House. This is awesome.. I can't even express how much I dig and would miss this. GW should be ashamed they do not have this.

B. Extended Storage. The lack of this in GW is inexcusable as well. I just don't understand how they have been unable to implement this over the last 1+ year.

6. Mounts. Need I say more.


Just a few things I have noticed..

The reason I hate Factions is because of the way they didn't beta test with henchmen. I find it near impossible to complete a mission with them because their attributes are so low, they aren't programmed to kite, the AoE nerf didn't affect them, Cynn uses Fire Storm and the healer henchmen leave people to die when they have perfectly good opportunities. When the bosses do double damage and hench attributes are so low, the henchmen cant heal themselves enough to deal with it. Ok, we all know anet want teamwork but I'd rather they left the henchmen out than subject us to this half-assed excuse for AI.

Another thing, why the major enchantment hate? yes, we farmed prophecies to death using enchantments but the sheer number of enchantment removal skills have made enchantments underpowered.

Lastly, so many Ritualist skills are so completely thoughtless such as 'Pain'. A summoed spirit which throws balls and foes? Time must have been tight in the drawing room.

@shadowfell:
enjoy your WoW honeymoon while it lasts

1. players are the same anywhere. Wait for the next login server crash and you get a nice survey of a**hats on the surviving servers. There are scams as well, and loot distribution is the most common source of bad blood.
2. crafting is ridiculous, often loosing you money while training. In the end you'll rarely craft anything unless you're the guild crafter. Notice that to get good receips you must farm mobs or reputation. Alchemie is a rare exception as its products are consumed, so demand never decreases.
3. Leveling up is the best part. Still it may often take far longer to form groups than in GW. Unless you're in PvP endgame is purely farming - equipment and reputation (and PvP honour). Unless you're in a big guild you won't ever see the endgame dungeons. Repeatable quests and reputation farming in Factions were copied from WoW btw...
4. costs - well, I spend nothing than the box cost on GW. Server transfer is not free. For 12.99 per month I would have a big budget for slots and the like. Also notice that many older WoW servers are really laggy compared with the free GW alternative.
5. Economy - wait till your 60. Of course in the beginnning buying skills removes gold. Later on when you know what to do and where to farm, gold is no issue. A gold in WoW is more like a plat in GW anyway.
A Auction house or more broker types would be wellcome in GW. On the other hand you can only sell a fraction of dropped items in the WoW AH.
B Buying more space ingame would be wellcome; Factions material storage was a good first step. But then WoW has way more equipment slots and uses storage as another money sink.
6 mounts - so what? you can just sit on them and travel slighly less slow... no fighting, no crossing water... another money sink like GWs luxury armor, a sink which needs you to walk where in GW you just zone...

Roleplay isn't really supported in WoW, but you can show off your achievements better. Notice the nets over trenches in the dwarfen Capital are there for a reason - the ego show kills performance...

On topic:
I dropped Factions fast but resumed playing lately. Some things still feel rushed or frustrating (like the mentioned quests over the same ground over and over), navigation sucks big time, and I dislike being forced to unlock every other outpost. Lag is still there but improved noticably for me. Boss double damage is a cheap fix and still sucks.

As I accepted its limitations and overlooked some faults, Factions actually became fun as an alternative to Prophecies. Still I wouldn't accept another Factions for part 3.

Oh, I know you're not talking smack about Pain! When I play an offensive Rit in PvE, I wouldn't think of going wihout Pain. Some details you forgot:

3 second cast (as opposed to 5 for most offensive spirits).

5e cost (as opposed to 10, 15, or 25 for most of the others), which makes it the only turret spirit that nets me energy with Boon of Creation.

Long duration. Not as big a deal if you use Rit Lord, but if you use, say, Wanderlust, you need to be very careful when and where you lay your spirits. Pain and Bloodsong have long enough durations that they can be laid down before combat, and in front. This gives the Rit a buffer, strategically, for getting the most out of his other, more expensive, shorter duration specialty spirits.

So...Pain, a quicker casting, energy-gaining damage spirit whose lifespan is longer than its recharge, which also does 21 armor ignoring damage every 2 seconds (almost double that under Painful Bond)? Yes, please.

how about Everquest?
http://everquest.station.sony.com/

a mmorpg thats been around for 7 years and already has 12 expansions

less than a year per expansion

His point is not function but form. I guess he expects something with a name like "Pain" to be more of a hex with devastating "physical" effects (maybe Cripple? maybe Deep Wound?) rather than a summoned, immobile spirit that lobs ranged attacks at things. Not really painful when you can just sidestep or get out of range. Then again, a hex like that would be more appropriate for a Mesmer, which is probably why "Accumulated Pain" and "Phantom Pain" do what they do.

In short, he's complaining about the naming of certain Factions skills that he feels don't really match what the skill does.

A little off-topic, but here's a little trivia fact for all commenting on the OP's title. The Bible doesn't say that Money is the root of ALL evil. It does say that the "love of money" is the root of "all kinds of" evil. Probably because the KJV was translated from the Latin and not the original language (Koine Greek) that there is confusion. Carry on.

haha Welcome to the club! I agree with everything u said mate but i think point 6 should be point 1!