do you think factions is a let down?

Right this should be a great stand alone and addon for guild wars

BUt
They messed it up. Fight as one of two factions fighting for control of areas and control of the map actually not a lot changes no matter which side you pick you can still goto either place its just means the npc wont talk to you the gameplay pve side of the game is rubbish go here talk to him then go all the way back and so on and on.You no longer do quests to unlock skills you have to buy them.In the end it costs 1000 gold per skill times that by 8-50 skills you soon become broke. next point making cash is hard so buying above skills is even harder grrrrrrrr.leveling has become grind after grind. PVP not a lot changed to be honest regarding gvg or arenas but you can now fight alliance battles "on either side no matter which side you pick" you earn faction point to give to your alliance or buy jade or amber to buy armor or sell for cash.

ohhh the next part is the worst you can set up an alliance with up to 10 guilds all earn faction and take over towns and outpost. Now this seems like a good idea apart from two things

1.there is only one elite mission per side which you now need 10 million+ faction to control.You lose 10%+ of your faction per day which means a lot of alliance battles and endless pvp only to keep hold of the town.Most guilds allow you into the mission anyway which makes trying to earn the town pointless.........

2.you can control towns and outpost...cool all you have to do is gain 2 million+ faction remembering you lose 10%+ per day and what do you get for all your effort you get to do a fireworks display and the big one 20% discount on merchants. so it makes more sense to buy amber with your faction point and sell it so that part of the game is totally pointless... all this said and done i played the first guild wars for a year and played nothing else.but i am bored of faction already.


I wish they would do something to sort this game out, as i am already thinking of looking for another game to play.Also all you can do in guildwars is fight, fight pve, fight pvp no character development.how about getting some sort of market place,food catching,armor making skills in there.
They are going to release 2 stand alone/addons per year which is £60+ pounds a year is only £30 cheaper than other games which offer much more gameplay variety.And dont even get me started on the L a g......

I doubt i will be throwing £60 a year into the guild wars pot if they become a production line for sub standard releases.


cheers for reading my vent.

The game you are looking for is WoW.

Doubt they will ever have skills like "making food" etc, but what I certainly did hope to see was more depth to the whole factions idea. The current implementation is, bluntly put, bullcrap.

It was a let down at first, but I have been enjoying Alliance Battles.

Factions just has a somewhat "uncompleted" feel to it. It could be so much better, but I feel they rushed it release to quickly.

As much as I like to see things like fishing, food crating and mini-games added to the game, its not going to happen since Guild Wars is more a Co-op game, then a RPG fantasy type of game.

Factions has both surprised me (positively) and disappointed me at the same time. It's a mixed bag, but I'm generally liking it a lot more than I'm yelling at my screen.

Incidentally this thread does brings this next question to my mind, so on the box it advertised about these new types of missions.

Has anyone here ever played "Dragon's Throat" more than a couple times? Likewise for Zos Shivos or Amatz Basin?

Somehow while these missions seemed interesting, but the reward doesn't seem there. Besides they seem shallow..

Food catching? Know what... I'm a damn hero of Tyria. I'll just assume I floated some gold at the tavern for some mutton and ale lol... I'd rather be out adventuring.

And yeah, I agree with Firebat, Alliance Battles really have made this game pretty awesome for me. Quite a few shortcomings, but overall I'd say thumbs up. I'll buy chapter 3.

They screwed up the territorial aquisition part of the game, instead of Factions fighting each other it's mainly alliances fighting themselves in the Factions. But other than that, I was hardly let down by the experience.

Factions was a big disapointment for me.

Prophies had a hugh story where you advanced to a different area each time the story advanced (Which was more or less every single mission). In factions it looks like alot of "Quests" have replaced missions, thus you run over the same area again and again, which is crap.

Factions just isn't as big as prophies was.

First of all. Graphics, art & music is very top notch for a MMO(CRPG). Skill based battle system is wonderful mix of strategy and tactics (well at least in GvG).

but,

Basic concepts like dynamic battleline etc. were really exciting when I first heard of them, but the execution wasn't the best one. It really doesn't make any difference if we fight any AB or not. Or wheter to be Kurzick or Luxon.

It's has very superficial feeling, but what hurt me most was the lack of proper challenging areas. Only two dungeons in the game that give some challenge...I would have hoped that there would have been more those challenging areas where you can actually feel that you're in danger...

Yeah, no matter how many these threads are, and how many have already said, Factions feels a little bit rushed.

Yeah Factions quests are very unannoying and uninteresting.

In Tyria most the quests were fun to do, and you even took the time to read what the NPCs had to say.

Factions your've too busy hoping they don't send you on another Fed-ex run to point B from there so of quest.

Oh come on, like Tyria quests arent Fed Ex? How about Weaver of Nebo? The artisan, Blankets for Settlers, the sightseeing in Augury, Stolen Supplies in Ascalon and the list goes on.

Maybe you should read the Cantha quests better, they have a wicked sense of humor at times and there are numerous references to comedy and SF shows in them.
Nah, sorry, while Factions has not been wholly satisfying to me I do not buy the argument that Cantha is Fed Ex and Tyria is not.

Shows I don't know, jokes I care little for, its only funny if you see a reference to team, otherwise its a waste of programming

Some Tyria quests were Fed-Ex in nature, but not every single of them. Factiosn quests are also fairly dull, most involving killing something or taking an item halfway across the map, only to be sent back again for the reward!

Tyria quests didn't involve endless backtracking. Most rewards were given by the end of the quest NPC, or often the NPC that did give the quest is within a town, or right outside it.

Fed-Ex issue has been dicussed often since Factions was released, not much/never during Chapter 1... so clearly its a bigger and more annoying issue in Chapter 2.

It's not had the same hook as Prophecies did, but probably because I played Prophecies a lot, if that makes sense.

Trouble is there's only so much running around doing quests/killing mobs (PvE campaign) you can do before the basic premise starts to wear out... at which point people end up just farming. That might be fun for some but not for others, especially if you take a break from it and then have a go - it kinda hits you how pointless it is to grind in the same places over and over, for virtual items and stuff which are in reality pointless/worthless.

Right, if you dont get it its wasted. Too bad for you then, I do get it and I enjoy it.

Not every single Cantha one is Fed Ex either, moot point, the quests in both continents are very similar. As for having to go back for rewards, maybe you need to play some more in Tyria, there's quite a few of those there too.

Maybe that is more an issue with players expectations then an actual difference between Cantha and Tyria, also in Cantha it is not necessary quite often to do these quests unless you need to amass skill points whereas in Tyria you needed to do them for skills or to level up.

Let down, I'm sure they rushed factions and hopfully they dont do the same with chapter 3. The storyline/plot was pretty scrappy and the missions to me was boring and was time consuming, as for faction battles its ok for a change.

these "problems with Factions" threads reminds of when Prophecies was released and there were many threads complaining about

Unlock All Skills (PVP)

Lack of PVE updates

*shudder*

The horrors of the UAS debates, glad that is all over.

No it wasn't, because it gave me a reason to keep loving my characters.

I like the More CowBell quest...

Anyways I like Factions cause it cuts out the bs unlike Prophecies. After running through the first campaign I found myself skipping alot just to get to the desert so i could become level 20 after beating the dopplegager. And Prophecies had loads of running around missions for what, 200 or 500 xp. Bleh, at least in Factions you can get 3 times that.

Factions eiliminates that and with all the easy quests, leveling up is done faster. Also I like the fact Factions has more and more mobs. After playing it for a month now, Prophecies is easy as hell.

I say if you own both you can;t go wrong. If you just got Factions, well Prophecies is a cake walk if you ever pick it up.

Also I like replayign old missions so I never really get bored. If it wasn;t for Keys I don;t think that would be the case, but yeah, I got a major key habit.

Hi can someone point out to me whether I should buy Factions please, I bought GW when it first came out but have not played in a while, only recently returning after throwing SWG into the nearest trash can.

I am not sure what benefits I would gain or what I would lose by getting factions.

Also, as it is a stand alone game I assume that means that it would not overwrite/upate my current GW files like Trials of Obi-Wan did on SWG for example, but rather be a totally new game. That being the case can I play my current characters when I login to factions?

Sorry for all these nOOb questions, I just want to get all the info before I spend money on this.

Overall, I like factions as well. But I think it is light on content. The mere fact that I and most of my guild has pushed through all of our characters on both sides of Factions seems to tell it all.

It seems that they made the faction farming quests with the belief that they were 'dynamic' in nature to fill some of the void.

Don't get me wrong, I love this game. But I will admit it has faults just as I do.

I got to agree with all the recent posts about factions been a bit rushed, and this whole thing about a new 'chapter' every 6 months. Its really got me thinking (and to be perfectly honest abit down). Its not that I mind spending the £40 for my nice new shiny game, its the fact the release times are going to become so short, I just wont have time to keep up.

And as for the bleeding running back forth to complete quests... highly annoying.. at least in Tyria it wasnt as bad, you may have run back and forth 2 or 3 times, but not bleeding 4 or 5 times

The other thing mentioned is character development, while its great to have new characters, it just doesnt have the same quality feel to it like in Tyria, where it takes a bit longer to build up. You actually felt like you were getting to know your character, now it just feels like it should be over yesterday. I realise it would be grossly unfair to the new characters to have a long build up time, so what does this portend for the future? Will we continue to get new classes, or just follow the yellow brick road...

im enjoying factions a lot now. at first i was frustrated by the fed-ex quests (which by the way, you really dont HAVE to do many of them), but once i got into the kurz area i started having fun. most of the missions are pretty fun and challenging, and the 15k armors absolutely pwn anything tyria had to offer.

the only complaint i have- and its a huge one for me- is not being able to choose to run characters around the map. yeah, id do it myself with one char, and yeah i wanna explore the map fully with my warrior (my title character), but i really dont want to HAVE to do it with the other 5 chars (although im doing it anyway...).

overall, im not dissappointed in the factions content. i still have yet to finish it, but thats just because im more concerned with moving each character along to certain points at the moment. im glad i bought it, although i wont be buying it for my 2nd acct- actually ill probably buy 2 slots and remake the only 2 profs i dont have on that acct when the option becomes available.

No, I don't. I can see why some people don't like it; like other people said, character creation is a lot faster, and there's less "development", and the story is beyond generic. The voice acting is particularly terrible, especially Togo and Shiro.

Aside from that however, it kicks ass. The mix of authentic-feeling Kaineng with the imaginative other factions is really cool, and the new zones are fun to explore. Plus, you can now make money without farming, so people like me now have a decent amount of gold instead of a few thousand.

As for the quests, I don't see Tyria's having a chance. Like Tijger said, some are genuinely humorous (if you actually read the text! ), and there's actual plot arcs to them. Finish one, you move on to the next bit, like the ongoing war against the Afflicted in the city, and containment of the Jade Brotherhood and Am Fah. Tyria? "Bring this quest item to [insert name] and he will give you a crappy reward for wasting 10 minutes. Kthnxbai."

So yeah, I love it. It's not generic, it has plenty of replay value, and the new professions are as cool as advertised. Thanks Anet. I'm a hardcore Morrowind fan, but I play Factions more than Oblivion. And that's saying something!

I love both Factions and Prophecies. And as far as fishing and crafting skills, go play Lineage 2 if you want that crap. I'll be happy if I never see another mmorpg with player craftable armor and weapons.

Well, I think its worth the money but as always, you're the only one that can decide that.

The benefits are the ability to take your characters (if you choose to link the two) through each continent and play all the missions and most of the quests.
You do not lose anything.

GW:F does not overwrite anything, current characters stay where they are with the equipment they have, nothing changes and you can play your existing characters as much as you want.
You can start a new character in Cantha if you choose or simply take a Tyrian character to Cantha, all of that is up to you.

So basically, you get more and do not give up anything that you have now.

I love Factions but it is a different flavor than Prophecies

- Prophecies has more under 20 quests
- Factions has more level 20 quests

if you choose to buy Factions
you have the choice to merge with your existing account (and get 2 extra character slots) -- I recommend doing this

or just have it as a standalone game with 4 new character slots

I like Factions, but my main beef is most of the new skills. While I like the Ritualist's skills, with my Prophecies characters, I still find my skill bar filled with Core/Prophecy skills with a small dash of Factions skills.

I also don't consider Factions a stand alone product and am unsure how long I'd be able to keep up with 50 dollars every 6 months. Even to the point that I might say that a game with a monthly fee might be a better value when you stack up content per dollar.

Factions has issued and solved many problems of Prophecies. It's a great game, but as standalone product it seems quite small to me.

Still quite a match for many of all that rub* out there

On the bad side. 2 products each year? . Well i think the'll burn the game... or maybe not. I cannot say

Factions has a lot of positive features and improvements. But many downsides as well. Too many locked gates, elite missions that need "taxis," and an overall feeling for casual players that they are not part of the "in-group" and will never be "in-group" that I think has hurt its popularity with new players unfamiliar with Guild Wars.

It does have a "rushed to market" feel about it. The starting island is excellent. But the city seems to have expanded to replace whatever environment was supposed to precede the Kurzick and Luxon areas.

Casual players make up the great bulk of game sales. Factions seems to be aimed at serious and experienced GW players, leaving newbies feeling that they are holding the short end of the stick. I think the generally lukewarm professional review ratings coming in around 8.5 suggest that there is room for improvement and that the next expansion pack ought to be less elitist.

I prefer Prophecies much better than Factions. Factions is not, in my opinion, a standalone, it's more of an expansion for the price of a standalone...

I've been playing a lot more Prophecies than Factions since I bought Factions on its release day, what does that tell you?

like a few others factions has been a mixed bag for me.

things i like: no grinding for level, having to actually do the missions for advancement, 12v12, new armors, new skills, new professions, new maps, the ending is actually ending-like, a new importance given to the pve player, titles

things i do not like: having to do every mission to advance every one of my characters (as far as i'm concerned having towns and missions unlocked by account is a much better solution to running), little to no reward to pvp toons with the new battle systems (the only thing you can give them which has any impact is balthazar faction), rewards for holding a town are minimal and hardly worth the gold loss thru donated faction, kurzick/luxon map advancement does nothing strategic (this seems to have absolutely no value), allliances are all around disappointing (either you are in a large pve alliance to faction farm for a town, in a pvp oriented guild looking to save money on guest invites, in a giant social alliance, or in something that is neither here nor there), bugs that take forever to get fixed (i'm at 12/13 mission completion and have master completion symbols on 14/15 mission sites, the 15th, visunah square local, it still will not give me access to; ferocious strike skill still has not been added to factions although it is a core skill; the closed arenas, and thier lobbies count toward map completion, so characters younger than the battle isles are SOL for tyrian grandmaster title; etc, etc...), the storyline has no continuity (how did shiro get emmisary status? how did a man known for fighting prowess unleash such a powerful magic in death? did the emperor actually plan to kill shiro? if shadow stepping can not take you through obstacles how did visu get thru the masses thronging the temple and the walls using "shadow arts"?...), most important gripe about chapter 2, 3, 4, 5... they keep getting used as excuses for not fixing trade, storage, getting trapped in stairs, and ramps, and bridges, and anything else that needs to be improved.

Bah, the money isn't the issue... the problem I see is chapters coming out too quickly. My first Factions character (assassin) hasn't even finished all the Kurzick content yet (did the Luxon first) because those danged alliance battles and Aspenwood keep luring me away from questing. Releases ever six months may be too quick to give me time to fully to Factions. Of course I'll buy chapter three, but if it were in the nine to twelve month release window I'd be a bit happier, plus they'd have that extra time to add that much more.

No criticisms to ANet, love the games. But with only an hour or three an evening to spend playing... sigh... plus, I start SCUBA classes next week, to that'll be two more nights I don't get to play (after work, four hour classes...)

OK, just bragging on the diving certification.

Still, slow down the releases a bit imo. HOWEVER... this also has the negative effect of reducing the cash influx ANet needs to keep these great games going, and free. Oh the pain.

1. £40? It cost about £25 for a pre-order.
2. Those of us that play Guild Wars a lot are happy with a new chapter every 6 months. The problem occurs if they're rushed and not that great.

If you want food catching and armor crafting, you're playing the wrong game. Go try EQ or something.

I'm disappointed in Factions. Every time I get a new quest, I dread doing it. Can't stand the Undercity, and if I have to go back in there one more time, I'm gonna kill someone. Sick of the fetch quests, and I don't like the Kurzick side of the map because it's so dark, I have to play in a dark room just to see where I'm going. I have three other characters to get through Factions, but I don't think I will. I'm no masochist. I sure hope Chapter 3 is better.

Yeah, that's another problem I have with this release platform. 6 months seems hardly enough time to make 50 dollars worth of content. Both in quantity and polish.

what's funny is lot of people were crying factions was too hard.. so they beefed up the henchmen.. now it's a joke if you say anything's too hard- used to be pretty tough going out of harvest temple after unwaking waters with henches to do caps- the henchmen are so beefed up after the cry me a river updates you can't lose now.. the game's so easy like the original anymore it's no wonder everyone's bored- pretty disappointed they made the henchmen so good just because of the whiners- really makes factions a easy game with little to no challenge on the pve side

Do I think Factions is a letdown?

No.

And OP did you seriously name yourself after a Warcraft map what is wrong with you

is that sarcasm or have you actually missed all the repeated

THERE ARE STAGGERED TEAMS EACH GIVING ONE YEAR OF WORK ON A 6 MONTH STAGGERED RELEASE SCHEDULE

i really hope you were sarcastic on that

yes it is a let down, but is the route that anet wanted to take. Will i buy in the future I don't know!