Will Factions keep people playing as long as Prophecies did?

Agreed. Getting a character to lvl 20 in Prophecies took about 8 hours, and in Factions it takes about 10. Ascension really helps the time in Prophecies =P

Prophecies had a lot more places to go, but I find Factions more challenging (meaning more fun). Plus, you can bring your Factions character over to Tyria and do some stuff too while you're at it.

I don't get this at all. In very little time, I find myself with five lvl 20 Factions characters on my hands. You get to lvl 10 just by doing all the trainer quests and the insignia quest (you may not even need to do the latter to achieve it).

I started a necro in Tyria about a week before Factions came out. I've played him as much as some of my level 20 Factions characters, and he's just about to make lvl 9. I really can't see getting to level 20 faster in Tyria than in Cantha. Perhaps it's different styles of play, but Factions levelling is definitely accelerated. Getting to the desert in about the same time you can finish Factions: yes, I can see that, if you ignore optional quests and blow through the missions. But not getting to lvl 20.

you play ALOT.

I played all six professions through Tyria but I can't imagine doing anything similar with Factions. I've played one character through Factions already but I don't have much drive do play any others. It just doesn't sound that fun right now as it was in Prophecies. I'll probably keep playing GW but not as often. I'll probably start playing some other games besides GW too.

Both GWP and Faction are dying, but Faction is dying at a faster rate. At least GWP was well thought out. Faction was a rush game.

Factions is a great game I like it just fine. The only thing is its shorter. I will try to get my primary chatractor maxed out on tiltes he already has 179/180 caps and is working on the "Ally of the Luxons" and "Protector of Cantha", after he gets the "not a big deal title". I will simpley bring my other toons though the game, so I figure i'll be busy for three months, not bad I'll be ready for chapter three and I dont mind cutting back on my GW hours. Its still fun and factions alollows you to complete everything without a major time investment. I actually appreciate that.

Personally I don't mind the look of the city so much, but the quests! Gods, they're *all* fed-ex from one end of the map to another (with mandatory area change, so you have to kill each mob twice).

Every single quest, and there's dozens upon dozens of them everywhere, is dreariness like the Red Cloaked Deserters in Prophecies. It's so obvious they're purposely designed to delay you and take as long as possible to complete, and that's horribly annoying.

The missions in Cantha are fun and varied, but the quests in Kaineng city are sheer torture (it doesn't help that I'm anal-retentive about doing *every* quest with *every* avatar, and can't even pass up on those I know are extra painful, like Passing The Buck).

But, like I said, I like the missions. Even the cooperative ones, which I initially hated because I only play with henches.

I only read your question, all I can say is...NO!!! I have been reading up on Factions to do research on whether to buy it or not. It sounds like it sucks.

Cant wait to get out of the slums and see green again.....but my computer has such bad lag in the slums its unplayable....cant wait to get a new computer so I can get out of there!!!

Wow I've learned some of you play games 24/7!

Yeah I pretty much beat every game that comes out in like 8 hours!! NOT

Another reason why I think people are blasting through Factions so fast is because we are use the the Guild Wars playing style already. When Prophecies first came out, it was brand new, and everybody has to learn the skills. WIth Factions we didn't have to learn that many skills and gameplay tactics (not counting new skills or new classes).

Yeah. All the quests seem like Minaars Trouble > Worry> Iron Horse War Machine types. Incredibly annoying and boring, which I do not define as fun, much less content.

I've said this many other places but just look at the title of the game you bought its called "Guild wars" for a freaking reason people. The main point of factions was to emphasise more towards this. Altough GvG wasn't expanded much (Just a few new maps) Guilds can now control outposts therefore emphasising the "Guild" part of the name

I'm so sick of people bleating this old point. The name is Guild Wars, yes, but it has NOTHING to do with GvG.

Wrong. GvG is the soul of the game. Everything else is window dressing to sell retail boxes.

i have to agree GvG is at the heart of this game. I don't GvG myself, but everything revolves around it... Otherwise why the hell would they have "favor" and all that jazz

100% agree. The entire faction system for me falls flat on it's face and becomes the most boring game I've ever played. I could care less about PvP, the silly challenge missions* and the competitive missions are just oddly put together. So what I have left is a bunch of repeatable quests (which Anet keeps making more difficult**) that become a "how many more times must I do this to get enough amber/jade?"***

* Challenge missions are seriously dumb in my opinion. Let me see, spawn, wait a minute. Run to portal. Run up hill, kill. Run down hill, run up hill, kill. Return to portal. Run up hill, kill, run down hill, kill, run up hill kill, run down hill run to portal. Repeat till you are a drooling blathering maniac till you get your needed faction... ugh

** The changes to the repeatable quests have done nothing but slow down the rate at which ALL players can gain faction. The changes do not in any way shape or form help anyone and hurt the entire player base. Smaller alliances still have the same chance to gain access to elite missions as they did before the current changes. All the changes have done now, is literally force players into player groups (as the henchies have had no adjustments to their skills to compensate for the constant increase in mob skills). So now, it's 10 minutes "Lfg" and 5 to 10 minutes for the actual quest to gain a measly 400 faction. Pathetic.

*** Since only the largest alliances will ever have a chance to control the elite missions (who really cares about controlling an outpost? There's nothing there), the only other reason for faction is the friend of title (something I was working for) and the amber/jade. With the system at work, the game becomes a bore fest of counting how many more times do I need to do this. Major lack of content on the PvE side. Look to Sanitarium, I have a few ideas for this and I hope people like them, and maybe Anet will pick them up so PvE has something to do.

Here's the link

Can only speak for myself, been at "puter" for an hour now browsing through the Guru forum and just thinking about starting GW makes cleaning the house once more today seam like a good idea.

Will Factions keep people playing as long as Prophecies did?

Not a chance in hell - chap 1 kept me interested for 9 month's and had enough variety for me to take 5 characters through it and still keep playing, but with Factions I was already bored after 2 weeks, there's just not enough to do and what there is, is too similar and repetative - so much so that I finished with one character (and I'm not just referring to doing the stuff required to finish factions, I did every mission/quest I could find in both Luxon and Kurzrick side, uncovering 77% of Cantha in the process) and am really struggling to keep interested in taking a 2nd through, I certainly can't be arsed to take the other 3 through let alone start a new charcter.

Prophecies was pretty much all I played for 9 month's and there was always something fresh to do/try, Factions was done in 2 weeks and I spent most evenings playing other games and tbh with the World Cup coming up in 3 weeks and 3 matches a day to watch I can't see Faction's holding my attention and once thats gone, I doub't it'll return.

IMO the biggest faults are:

Lack of content
Lack of variety in quests and too much back-tracking
New skills available to buy all at once early rather than being earn't through quests
Some new skills identical to old ones - why not just use the old ones ffs?
Quests resetting if you leave an area - bloody annoying especially if error 7 is the cause and obviously only implemented to make the game seem longer to do
Bonuses now dependent on speed in missions rather than an additional task
Factions was full price but lacks half the content and only a third of new characters of Prophecies
Forcing PvP onto to PvE players
A lot of the promised stuff not materialising (re-joining a party after error 7, auction house, quests/missions needing 2 parties of 8 - only seen 1), but instead effort was wasted on implementating the faction system which even makes favour seem a good idea (it's not)


Roll on Neverwinter Nights 2!!!

For the love of god, someone find their manual. Flip to the "Lore" section and find/post the passages that explain the "Guild Wars" to these people who obsessively believe that because of the title, the game revolves aroud Guilds or PvP.

If we took every game title litterally we'd have some screwed up games.

Yes it does.Major pain in the arse.What a waste of cash

rofl!
Great idea, actually would be a hell of alot more fun to cut my lawn with a pair of sizzors.Or maybe burn some ants with a Magnify glass.

No. The name of the game is guild wars because it is set after a war in the world which was known as, yes, the guild wars. It has nothing to do with player guilds at all.
It's all in those little booklets you got with your game.

Rubbish. Which came first, the game design or the little booklets you got with your game? Guild Wars could have been named Flying Monkey Hopscotch and it wouldn't change the fact that GvG is the core, the point, and the focus of the game.

Been playing prophecies for 10 months or so straight. I can say factions main dissapointment for me was that it was so damn easy to get to level 20. The missions are generally much more difficult that prophecies but this is because you're almost always up against level 20+ monsters and insane mob placing. The game itself doesnt take long to beat, but hey prophecies could be beaten just as fast. The one difference where prophecies needs 2 missions to be beaten to get to certain areas factions makes you do all the missions and primary quests. I think the scenery in cantha is beautiful but it gets old fast since there arent as many ranges. Like Wasteland to Ice to Tropical to Dense jungle To desert. I will be playing factions untill the next chapter comes out or I stop playing online games. Theres still much content for me to experience and I think this will easily last my 6 months to the next release.

Everyone thinking there will ACTUALLY be a chapter 3 in 6 months needs to get a clue. If we are lucky we will have the "improved storage and auction house" by then. Wait ... we got our improved storage with the "stacking scrolls"!!!!!!!!!

Beat it with my necro , got monk and tank to Kurzick Capital(gawd the slum grind makes me wanna punch my monitor so bad), think i'll just leave them there . I really dont see any purpose on going further in factions, been back in Tyria last 5 days .
Seems to be the general opinion of my whole guild and friends in other teams, a shame really ive never been so reluctant to play a game I enjoyed so much in the past but it just comes off as being such a chore. Maybe im just missing something ? I dunno.

You just summed how I feel up exactly! I've already ordered counterstrike and i'm sure my monk (2nd char through factions) will be stuck at Raisu for a looooong time.

I've beaten factions so far with two characters, one of which was started within factions. I'm currently working on the third and final character for now, once I have beaten the game with him I will slow down and focus more on PvP. Armored Core LR is coming out soon as well so I will be spending some time on that also.

I don't think factions will need to keep people hooked as long as prophecies did as chapter three is coming out a lot sooner than factions which came out a year (?) after prophecies.

That is assuming people are going to be foolish enough to be scammed yet again by another weak storyline and unoriginal new concepts

I played 10+ toons to lvl 20 and logged over 1500 hours in tyria and bought 3 copies.
I played one toon in factions to lvl 20 and another to lvl 5.

Is anet doing anything about their VERY disappointed/pissed community
Every time I see a thread about C3 it just pisses me off. If they think they are gonna put a junk game like this and then just shift the focus to C3 they must think were morons. If there is no additional content/changes made to factions I hope not many of us will shell out another 50bucks just to be screwed again.

Maybe some devs from SWG moved to anet, cause I haven't seen a game take a dive like this since SWG.

What Prophecies has:

UW
FoW
ToPK
SF

What Factions has:
*same* UW
*same* FoW
2 restricted areas

The kindness of the controlling guilds notwithstanding, I'd be so bold as to say that Factions virtually offers *no* new repeatable fun and exciting high level PvE content as did Prophecies with SF and ToPK.

Look at the number of districts and local messages for "LFGs" and "GLFs" when SF and ToPK first got opened, can you find such a district in Cantha today? Nope.

The only reason Im still around is because of my guild/alliance, honestly.

As far as Cantha goes.. I like the plot better, nearly all the art better (though Im not fond of that never-ending city myself), and never do quests in the first place unless I hafta. (In Tyria, I only did the skill ones.. Cantha, skillpoint and luxon faction reward ones.)

Playing back in the Tyria map feels awkward, though. I grew bored with Prophecies long ago. Will Cantha keep me as busy as Tyria did? No, there just isn't as much to do. Its real pretty, the plot is nice.. but that's not content, that's icing.

Titles dont keep me in, because that start to feel like work really fast to me. Only one Im working towards actively is the one tied to luxon faction.

I do have faith in Anet, though. I do wish they'd be more frank with us, but they have server the community well in the past, so heres for the future..

I have beaten factions I am bored i don't like the grind. I don't want to do quest it too much point and click. I made a ranger finally and took back the first chapter. I am will do that to my asassin to as well.

i realy dont think so

i havent finished the campaign and already getting bored of it, i find myself doin alot of stuff like just hanging out in my GH, just cuz i dont feel like going FF right now....

i feel like all i got is better graphics, but not a better game

I like Factions a lot more than Prophecies. With the original campaign, I beat it within the first month or so(moderate player, not hardcore all-day long kind of thing) and I couldn't get a single new character out of Old Ascalon, and I seriously think there is a level 10 curse on me in Prophecies, because none of my new(as in, not my first char) as been played long enough to go over level 10.

With Factions though, I enjoy playing tons of characters through the story...4/6 of my characters are doing such, like I said, prophecies crapped out for me, so I never used up a lot of slots, Factions comes out, they're all used but one, which is for pvp characters I liked playing through Shing Jea 4 times, and I like the environment the city sets up, and I like the jade sea and dead forest, so I can't imagine why playing through them again will upset me.

I seem to be a lone ranger on the topic though, as I haven't met anyone else who enjoys Factions as much as I do. Though, I feel that the "Affliicted" is reminiscent of "The Flood" on a first person shooter I dislike quite a bit(I won't go into that here, it would be a long flame about a game this forum isn't concerned with).

PVE-wise, if you compare the two games by themselves, I find GW:F to be a much better game.

The content is more dense, there's less vast low level areas of very little stuff other than scorpions.

The various conversations between the henchies Mhenlo/Cynn, etc flesh out characters more than Rurik ever did, there's more quests and stuff tucked into explorable areas.

You get to choose what sort of build you want to play from the beginning rather than being shackled to fire elem, etc.

The monster groups in GW:F are much more balanced and interesting. No more 50000 identical hydras wandering around.

Most of the content in GW:F is for lvl20s, and therefore is "high-end" and "repeatable".


HOWEVER.... after a year of GW1, I'm fairly bored of the formula. GW:F doesnt offer enough FRESH gameplay to keep me interested as long as GW1 did. I think that will be a problem ANet will run into more and more as they release chapters.

Then again, perhaps they're less interested in keeping returning customers? A big disincentive for a new player to start a game like FF11 or Everquest 1 is the sheer number of expansion packs they need to buy... perhaps the chapter system is just a way of keeping new people constantly flowing into the game, whilst some old people get bored and leave. Who knows.

What would keep my interest in Ch3, are some fundamental additions to gameplay.

Give every class a new mechanic to play around with.

Have some scripted battles with real atmosphere, story etc.

Have better procedural content (better than the challenge missions, which are a step in the right direction).

Have more varied challenges during missions (not just time, but also % kills, number of deaths, mission objectives etc.)

Improved henchie and monster AI, with more variation in behaviour, so that PvE battles require more thought and adjustments to tactics.

Better graphics, especially for combat stuff like skills and spells. For multiplayer, they're competing against games like BF2, UT2007, etc. For single player, they're competing against games like Grandia 3, FF12, NWN2. They need to step up the effort and really put some oomph into the combat graphics. (And no, better graphics do NOT require more computer power. It just requires good artistry.)

1. No auction house (instead we get the most useless substitute ever, a WTS/B filter....any player could have have told them that would never work)
2. No additional storage (scroll stacking? talk about an insult)
3. No key rings (throw us a frikkin' bone here)
4. Faction is worth nothing and pointless
5. Alliance battles NOT what was advertised and a step down from the Beta version
6. Little to no admin moderation (took them months to ban 1000 bots that we could have pointed out in 1 day)
7. Ability to grief 12v12 Aspenwood/Jade PvE missions not adressed within 30 days of release.
8. A.Net response at an all time low (where are Alex and Gaile? They don't respond because we stop praising them with every post? Not cool...)
9. Full price for a game half the size of the original
10. Same UW, same FoW, 2 new missions I'll never see......ie. Nothing new and rewarding for the average player
11. Dual party missions where you fail consistantly because the other team consists of 1 guy who doesn't know what he's doing and 7 henchies that inherit his ignorance.
12. Thirteen new missions, but some are on the Luxon side so it's not as if I actually get to do those ones before I finish the game anyway.
13. Missions are timed in the place of adding additional tasks (it's not about what you do, but how fast you can do it)
14. Owning any towns beside the main two is meaningless and a waste of time
15. Plotline is as horrible as pretty much any game I've ever played
16. Dialogue is laughable ("It's madness, I tell you! MADNESS!!!")
17. Quests are ALL the same (a. go here, b. talk to x, c. go back, d. talk to y, etc.)
18. All gates are closed to stop running but it also stops exploring for fun forcing us all into a linear movement
19. 80% of new skills feel untested and mostly underpowered (especially for Monks....boon prot is still the best option with very few, if any, changes)
20. Amazingly fast levelling process creates a high learning curve that may be great for seasoned players but causes a lot of new players trouble (imagine being new, picking Assassin, and going up against high level Afflicted within 2-3 hours of installing the game....)

That's off the top of my head. There are good things about Factions as well (and I'm determined to get my money worth in play time) but they are easily shadowed by the monstrous number of faults in the expansion.

I will play this one for as long as I can but I was having more fun before Factions was introduced than after. Prophecies kept my interest for a whole year and could have kept it longer. Factions frustrated me and lost me in under a month.

My time with A.Net is now limited and based on how long it will take me to find a different game that I enjoy playing.

Everytime i see a post like this it makes me want to pull my hair out. If you want to beat on factions, do it RIGHT.
1. Was listed as a CHAT FILTER IMPROVEMENT not a TRADE IMPROVEMENT, STOP DRAWING A LINE BETWEEN TWO DOTS THAT DONT CONNECT, and this has nothing to do with factions itself but the overall game. In addition they said it would be after the release of factions and not on the release of factions.
2. They didnt say making scrolls stack was a storage fix, it is still coming see above. Also this is about the overall game and not specifically Factions.
3. And what does this have to do with factions exactly?
4. only 1.5k-2k per 1k faction, sooo worthless....
5. Yes they are, unfortunatly many people including yourself do not understand the term 'beta'.
6. Wrong again, just because anet does not gloat every time they ban someone doesnt mean they arnt doing it. Try fileing abuse reports with customer service.
7. Aspenwood is not 12v12, the 12v12 guild vs guild bug was fixed on a holiday, actually rather rapidly.
8. Check dev tracker. and you are referencing something that is completely out of context, check dev tracker again for the real story.
9. And more lvl 20 content than the original, more repeatable content. Not as empty as the original is.
10. Sure and then there are competative missions you could be doing. Oh wait those dont 'count' in your mind.
11. And thats your oppinion. Yes it is quite frustrating if you fail due to the other teams actions, but it is also twice as fun when you get 2 good teams rolling through the mission. Action gets fast paced.
12. One is exclusive to the luxon side, only one. Unless you really want to do unwaking waters from the luxon side which is the same as doing it from the kurzick side. Switching sides does not take much time either, cash in all your faction do the cavalon quest and you already have more luxon faction than kurzick.
13. Many of the additional tasks were extremely time consuming, for the lot of us spending over an hour and a half in a mission is too much. Factions is at least awarding good play even play that takes more risks with higher awards.
14. True, but at least it is some global recognition.
15. Not that I want to argue with you here, but personally I thought factions plot was better than the constant backstabarific plot - too much plot twisting in prophecies.
16. And prophecies was any better? Really?
17. Most RPG's are exactly the same way, go do x here, run here and do y get item for x return to x. Going to any other game really wont see you getting into anything new.
18. It is actually possible to get around most of the map without doing any of the missoins, you are simply locked out of the next mission zone until you get there in the storyline. You can explore up to the vally outside maatu keep and the one outpost beyond that without completeing any missions in the city. I like the fact that the storyline is continuous instead of allowing you to skip the majority of the plot.
19. o.k. whatever you say.
20. Also consider that the developers have stated that the game really begins at lvl 20, as in the goal of the game isnt just to reach that level but to progress beyond that point. If you dont like the speedy version suit yourself, again your opinion. (BTW if you dont rush the game you are easily lvl 17+ before hitting the mainland)

I would agree, I play 6 hours a day in evening, and during the weekend even longer - Still PLENTY of things for me to do in factions!..

and I dont think anyone who has "beaten the game 6 times" has really played the game at all, any fool can rush through the game.

and for that matter, prohecies was just as easy, if not easier than factions to rush through!.. the only real challenge was THK

Cant see me going back to do anything on prohecies for ALONG while, even then, only to get titles.

if you've rushed through factions and are now bored... all I say is, "har har, sucks to be you!"

heck I am going to continue playing.

Grind are we palying the same game, crafting materials falls like rain, everything pays. All my characters have sup vigor and my warrior has 2 sets of armor with sup absorbtion. I can easily clear 50k a week just by playing the game, granted the quest are fed ex, but the pay in garunteed. Rewards are better, who cares about killing a lvl 28 titan for 50k exp, I have more skill points than I need give me the cash any day.