Why should I buy Factions given all the negative opinions of it here?

I am a PVE player and I enjoy both Prophecies and Factions

Honestly I wouldn't spend the 50 bucks on it if I had the choice again. It's woefully short, the "bonus" material is prohibitively exclusive, The skill accquisition is aggravating, the quests are usually Fed Ex style with no real thought put into them and I think the two new classes are gimped. On the positive side the graphics are gorgeous and the new skills are fun to play with. I'm calling this the sophomore slump for NCSoft and I think that chapter 3 will be better. Remember how awesome DMC was? Then remember what a festering pile of crap DMC2 was? Yeah same thing going on here I think.

Same here, I have occasionally ventured into PvP but I spend 98% of my playing time in PvE and I consider Factions worth it. YMMV

pve only and add me to the list of people having fun (lots of fun)

I hope I'm not adding more fuel to the (potential?) fire here, but I just wanted to ask explicitly: If you're *much* more interested in the pvp aspect of Guild Wars (and not so much the pve), is buying Factions important?

I played prophecies last summer and got really into the multiplayer, mainly the Hall of Heroes and GvG stuff (then took a break from the game for a while). For me, that's where I got the most fun out of the game.

Cuz everyone has to be negative to live in this world, don't believe em and see for yourself, 30 days later don't like it? return it

The problem with Factions PvE is that the ability to buy skills instead of having skills given to you facilitates the mass amount of pure stupidity running rampant in Guild Wars.

Most places won't take opened software back otherwise I probably already would have. I don't think it's negativity for negativity's sake here. You'd have to be blind not to see some of the really ugly gameplay in this expansion. I think for PvP Factions is nice but if you really really really like PvE I don't see it holding your interest for longer than a week of solid play, maybe a couple of weeks if you're a casual player.

To answer the OP's question. It's really a good game but the sequel cant hold up to the original and its sort of a let down in that sense. It lacks the community prophecies had. Its also less of an in game gold machine for farmers, which drives the PVE. We have Ebay and real currency sellers to thank for this.....

Gold machines drive PvE? Do explain because I dont get it.

Who cares about what negative things people with no real life say about a game they probably even dont own.

Considering the negativity:

1. The only way a person can test to see if something is positive is to first deny it.

This may seem strange, but it is the very nature of inquiry. You can only question or quest on something which you do not have positive evidence of. If you did have positive evidence you would not need to question or search it out (quest on it). Scientific inquiry is based on a control group and denial of the something to find a result. Gossip is based on an idae and its denial to determine its truth. (Person 1: They eloped! Person 2: No, Really? Person 1: Yeah, really it was on such and such date at...)


My opinions on:

Pro's on GW: Prophecies:
1. Involved story webbing meant to capture interest for 1 year of play.
2. Skill access readily available either thru PvP unlocks (roughly a build a day for most) or skills reward quests.
3. Extensive area to map out with many yet developable areas for links to future campaigns.
4. Leans to Occidental story telling style.

Con's (excluding bugs I think):
1. Details of play poorly or completely not elaborated by manufacturer in provided materials.
2. Character builds uneven in power to concept forcing players to play standard builds, and eliminating optional possibilities.
3. AoE nerf lessening the value and power of many spells, but especially the elementalist class.
4. Original key codes in nearly illegible script.
5. Excellent but repetitive graphics.
6. Gold intensely difficult to get for most players (inspiring E-baying and high levels of scamming).
7. Desirable drops intensely difficult to get for most players (inspiring E-baying and high levels of scamming).
8. Promoted as a Massive Multiplayer On-line Role Playing Game (MMORPG) when it is a Massive Multiplayer On-line Game (MMOG).
9. A poorly executed system of Favor meant to coerce casual players into professional PvP play at the Hall of Heroes by denying access to content then established for that purpose. This is a continuing issue that disregards the opportunities to play of local people with alternative life schedules to their regions peak hours access. Nor was the statement that people who do not have access should go win it for themselves, since the majority of players cannot be professional Hall of Heroes combatants.

Pros GW: Factions:
1. Involved story webbing meant to capture interest while drawing players into a PvP orientation over 6 months of play.
2. Skill access available for purchase earlier than in Prophecies.
3. Smaller areas with greater amount of enemies to increase intensity of action (slightly overboard on this one).
4. Leans to Oriental story telling style.
5. Improved graphic detailing in almost every artistic way.
6. Armor attributes no longer controls style options - improved options of play.
7. Desirable weapons and off-hand items now available from collectors along with more options for collectables in general.
8. Lower and higher level green drops available from beginning area on thru.
9. Interactive with most of the Prophecies campaign.
10. New key codes clearly legible.
11. Gold easier to get.
12. Drops improved with Factions upgrade.
13. Addition of titles as game play optional goals.

Con's (excluding bugs I think):
1. Access to skills via skills quests eliminated after initial secondary quests.
2. Details of play still poorly or completely not elaborated by manufacturer in provided materials.
3. Character builds uneven in power to concept forcing players to play standard builds, and eliminating optional possibilities.
4. Adjustment of Death Attribute Skills to balance PvP play of Minion Masters based upon Factions based access permanently destroys traditional Minion Master builds, resulting in many hostile players.
5. The number of gold sinks exponentially increased.
7. Promoted as an extension of Prophecies play where PvP would recieve some improved status.
8. A poorly executed system of Faction resulting in player over player control of access to game content areas (again meant to coerce casual players into professional PvP style play).
9. A poorly prepared marketing and production plan for determining demand for Collectors Edition of game, resulting in a hostile community.
10. Changes in play (particularly alliance battles and GvG) after the preview event so that people felt they did not get the product expected.

In addition:
The term ''rift'' in the following is used to mean a gap of perception, opportunity, or agreement.
1. There are rifts between avid PvP and PvE gamers who would like to see the game defined solely as the style of play they prefer, resulting in much negativity.
2. There are rifts between longstanding players who may or may not have experience back to Beta work in original game, but who have always had access to every exploit available since game release, and those who have come later expected to achieve the same things/wealth/personal experience as those with a year in game. (This rift is ofcourse bridged by those with varying degrees of time in game.)
3. There are rifts between professional players and casual players where each define the other as snobby or lazy respectively. The first appear to define self-esteem based on excessive effort to accomplish and impune that of others if they do not do the same things. The latter appear to relax thru the social and gaming opportunities available and find the excessive effort tediously unneeded.

Fitz

I would say that the main thing it offers is the same thing buying a new expansion of Magic cards offers: More options. A lot of the new skills have similar effects as old skills but with a new twist, but there are also two new professions with completley new mechanisms for getting things done. Both have had a significant effect on the PvP metagame.

Also, for those who primarily want to play PvP, but don't mind playing through the PvE story once or twice to unlock stuff, the PvE game provides much faster skill unlocks compared to the original. I've also found that the faster pace, higher intensity, and more balanced and difficult enemy groups makes it somewhat more interesting for most PvP leaning people, though of course it will never win over the hardcore PvP only crowd.

You also get the Alliance Battle PvP mode, which is a lot of fun for many of us. And the option to buy a few new Factions Guild Halls.

I'll let you decide it all that makes it worth $50 to you.

good job I glade I am not the only one who sees this.