Guild Wars Reviews

• Solid game - encourages teaming & PVP, not powerleveling

  
  By A3R56AWX8PRQLP on 2005-04-29
  Guild Wars is a very solid MMORPG that strongly encourages team play. The graphics are top-notch (if not up to the cartoon levels of World of Warcraft), the play addicting, and it's well-balanced. With no monthly fee, it's one of the best bargains in the MMORPG world. I take off a star and a half for the forced team aspect as well as the focus on pure fighting versus creating a world, but add 1 back for the value proposition so give this 4 and half stars, or a 4/5 fun/overall split.
  
  This is a tough game to master with no outright 'uber' classes. Players choose 2 of 6 fairly standard basic professions (1 tank, 1 mezzer, 1 healer/defender, 2 nukers, 1 mezzer/nuker) with the second profession lacking one of the strongest attributes of the primary (including which armor you can wear and runes you can use). As you level, besides gaining hit points you do two things - specialize in the various basic class attributes and gain access to the real key: skills. You're limited to a certain number of active skills while in combat, so strategy and careful character building take precedence over getting to level 20. Experience to buy skills can be gained through basic PvE, missions, or PvP. Using a small set of skills wisely along with picking and choosing your attribute development is far more important than getting all the 75 skills available to each profession. This is definitely not a game that is easy to blindly powerlevel.
  
  Cleverly designed, this sidesteps a lot of the problems surrounding the genre. Rather than deal with constant kill stealing, maps and missions are instanced, and you don't have to spend a whole slug of time traveling between regions. (Once you've been to a locale, boom, it's yours.) Recovery time is minimal as is non-combat time. You don't need to spend time harvesting mats and begging a friend to make your next weapon. Instead, kill things, complete missions, and you can bring mats straight to the NPC crafter to make a custom weapon (that can only be equipped by you, likely eliminating much of the secondary market for gear in this game.)
  
  My reservations are four fold but minor. First, the way to truly advance in this game is through missions - and the only way to accomplish many missions is in a balanced team. Thus, you're basically forced to group despite the nominal ability to solo. This really means you have to figure out proper character development early - rather tough with your first few characters until you find a good guild, and frankly, sometimes many of us feel like playing solo. Second, the lack of any real crafting system here means you fight...and fight...and fight. CoH has done well with a similar model (without the PvP aspect) and it's worked well - not to mention the biggest headaches in most MMORPGs are the messes created with a bad item creation system - but if you enjoy socializing more than fighting (the typical harvester/crafter) this isn't the game for you. Third, the game really revolves around PvP much more than PvE for the above reasons - so if you're looking for a game without conflict, this isn't it. Finally, while the focus on instanced events does prevent many of the problems found in most other MMORPGs, it also reduces the multiplayer aspect except in non-instanced locales like towns. The net effect of all of these is to slightly dilute the 'world' aspect, and for those looking for total immersion this may not be a perfect match.
  
  Still, this is a great game and deserves 4 1/2 stars, and if you're looking for an alternative to the hordes of WoW that strongly encourages teaming this should be at the top of your list. One final note: this actually runs quite well even on my soon-to-be discarded Athlon 1100 and is geared towards doing well on slightly older systems - and even 56k modems! - unlike most new games. Big plus.
  
  

• Engaging Team-Based Play

  
  By A1YEPFLLH42OU1 on 2005-05-13
  Guild Wars has been touted as being revolutionary in several ways. For those that haven't read the game overview, these can be summarized as follows:
  
  1. Doesn't require immense amounts of time to be really 'fun.'
  2. Little or no time spent doing repetitive tasks and travel.
  3. Competitive guild-based play, with custom guilds.
  4. No monthly fees and dynamic content change/addition.
  
  The last point is of great interest to many people (myself included) in that this is the first MMORPG to be completely free of fees. However, everyone knows expansions are planned, so this is only 'kind-of sort-of' true.
  
  Though you don't do repetitive tasks like gathering food or resources, to find anything remotely useful you do have to kill enemies over and over again. Additionally, the travel waypoints are sometimes very spread out, so you are still going to do a lot of walking. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, however (more on that later).
  
  The level cap is 20, and it's true that this doesn't make it very hard to become as powerful as you'll ever get. In PVP only mode, you start at 20, so you spend no time at all building up a character. However, this doesn't mean you can become level 20 overnight- it does take quite a while, and the quests are challenging enough that you will likely need (human) help.
  
  That said, this game is definitely built for guild-based play. The designers say that solo play is optional, but truth be told it probably isn't. Now that the main features have been addressed, a general overview of the game is in order.
  
  The only 'MM' part of the game is towns. While in towns you can see other players in the same district, form your party, trade items, start quests, and configure your skills (a maximum of 8 can be used at one time). You can also take along henchmen if you want to fill out a party or go solo.
  
  You can leave town one of two ways- by walking through a portal or by starting a mission. The missions address the main quest and often take you to major cities, thus saving you the trouble of walking. They also reward you with experience and skill points. Quests are separate from these, and reward you with experience, skills, and items. In general, the mission and quest design is well done, but you will find the occasional glitch- some of which can force you to repeat one. When in a quest area, a pointer will show where the next objective is.
  
  PVP can be done at arenas, and there's a level cap for each to prevent overly unfair competition. You get experience and (if you play enough) fame for winning matches. This is always a team-based mode, and teams are selected either at random or by party assignment. In RP mode, however, it's quite possible to get far superior equipment than your competition, and thus have a massive edge in combat. A winning team will continue to play matches, and the game doesn't seem very good at auto-balancing the parties.
  
  While exploring the wilds, you'll encounter many and varied monsters, which range in classes and difficulty. Most come in groups, and usually are too dangerous or numerous to solo. This is where my first complaint shows up. Frankly, the henchman AI is beyond pathetic, which is why playing with other people is generally advisable (on occasion, however, I've found human players that are worse in that regard than the henchmen. Such is life). If you're in a party, you'll divide the gold, experience, and spoils. This applies to henchmen party members as well.
  
  Exploration is really the meat of the game. I've done PVP, but it gets old pretty fast- especially if you keep ending up in a poorly balanced team, which seems to happen alarmingly often. You also get no loot for winning, and nobody really cares about fame. The wilderness areas are very well done, with excellent graphics and accompanying music. The world is massive, and the monsters are hard enough that you have to think about what skills you take- and what your fellow party members are taking. Unlike many other RPGs, a bunch of offensive-oriented people each doing their own thing will likely meet a very quick demise. Guild Wars really forces you to coordinate (especially with healing others and focusing to take down hard enemies) and punishes you if you fail to do so. I personally find this a welcome change in direction.
  
  If you should happen to die, you can either wait for a party member to revive you, or (if everyone's dead) you'll respawn at an altar. Sometimes these are placed in very awkward places, which does need to be addressed. You don't lose items, but suffer a 'death penalty' that reduces your health and energy up to 60% (15% per death). You can work this off by gaining experience, killing boss monsters, or completing mission objectives. Going to a town negates the penalty, and this is highly advisable if you get to 60%. Nevertheless, sometimes you really can't go back to town, because leaving an area causes all monsters to repopulate. This can lead parties to conduct suicide raids, in which the sole objective is to kill at least one more monster blocking the way to that quest goal. At times it can be rather frustrating- especially with the more difficult quests. Since the max level is 20 and many monsters are higher, even if you're an experienced player you will likely die scores of times doing quests and missions.
  
  As for character customization, you have a choice of skills in which to invest points (a max of 200, which each successively level costing more), and you can design guild capes and dye items various colors. This, aside from the standard appearance choices at character generation and of course equipment, is about all that makes you unique. If you decide you want to change your skills, you can acquire 'refund points' by gaining experience. These let you reallocate skill points. There are six classes to pick from, and you can have one 'sub-class' that gives you access to some skills from another. This is a permanent choice, so it's best to choose wisely.
  
  The classes in general are quite well balanced, but there is a 'paper rock scissors' arrangement there. That is, Rangers dominate Elementalists, Warriors dominate Rangers, Necromancers dominate Warriors, etc. If you know what you're fighting, there are skills designed to counter every other class, but some are necessarily better than others. Usually you'll learn what to pick the hard way. Fortunately, there's unlimited refund points available, and you can quite quickly rebuild your character if you decide to just junk it all.
  
  In sum, Guild Wars isn't an easy game. This is especially true if you're not a team player and don't like to make friends online. The bottom line is, this isn't a game for everyone. I personally like the party-based exploration and missions, but I know some others that despise it. If you haven't played in the beta and aren't sure which sort of player you are, I'd advise you to get the game and find out. Since there isn't a monthly fee, it won't hurt too badly to try, and- if you decide to quit- you won't feel like you're losing something you paid for by ditching your characters.
  
  

• Just Didn't Connect with Me

  
  By A217E6IJ6MLD0D on 2005-05-24
  (Word of caution: I explained all the acronyms and on-ling game lingo I used in my review, in case those who are reading don't know the vocabulary. If you're an experienced player, just read past it ... I didn't do it to annoy you. :) )
  
  Just about all of the features of Guild Wars really got me excited to play, especially the minimap arrows pointing where you should go to finish quests and teleporting here and there (rather than yachting or flying). I bought it the night before launch and anxiously awaited the floodgates opening at midnight.
  
  Unfortunately, I was disappointed, though clearly not all will be. I am primarily a PvE (Player versus Environment) and sometimes enjoying soloing, not having to group with other players. Just like in real life, in my virtual life, I need some alone time. However, soloing in Guild Wars is oddly depressing.
  
  Since the outdoors areas are instanced, meaning only you and your group (or only you if there is no group), no one is out there but you in the abyss. As much as I hate shouted arguments in Everquest or World of Warcraft, and dealing with immature players who would run up to me, take their computer clothes off and dance around in an attempt to either be suggestive (weird) or annoying (more likely), I actually started missing it. Not the pseudo-cyber underpants, mind you, but the feel of real life.
  
  In real life, things are always happening. In battle, out of battle, creating crafted items, trading, or whatever you're doing, people are around. Getting on your nerves, providing help, or just /flexing because they learned how to do it an hour before, other players add to the rich landscape of the game environment.
  
  In Guild Wars, soloing, single player action felt artificial to me. After 5 or 6 levels, I felt I was just doing the same thing over and over again:
  
  1. Click the quest in the log, and watch the arrow light up on minimap.
  2. Teleport to town nearest quest target.
  3. Run around eerily silent landscape (Evidently, only bad guys live outside.) And kill until I finished quest.
  4. Turn in, lather, rinse, repeat.
  
  I love getting lost in video games, but this one truly feel like I was wasting my time.
  
  This is not a slam review by any means. I don't love PvP (Player versus Player) action. I also don't hate it. I don't love group play, but I don't hate that either. Some people love this game and will actually be *angry* to hear that someone doesn't. I guess I can understand that - you get passionate about what you like. I just don't like Guild Wars at all. It was just no fun for me.
  
  Gameplay was disappointing. You learn a ton of skills right away, but you can only ever use 8 or so, and you can only use the ones you picked in town before you left for the quest. What's the point in learning hundreds of skills if you can only use 8? Why have 26 letters in the alphabet if you can only make up to 8-letter words. They say it's an innovation, but I think it's lame. I've heard developers say "It's like an electronic take on Magic: The Gathering." I think that was supposed to entice me.
  
  How about future add-ons to the product? When they become available, players who buy them could have 8 skills completely foreign and unavailable to you. Sure developers guarantee that you'll still be competitive, but eh, who knows?
  
  All of my fighting felt like a flurry of button presses. My character was casting this, hitting for that, and ugh it was just a mess. Don't get me wrong, the graphics are fantastic, but I felt like I was slipping and swirling all over coated by fancy graphics, but I never really felt like I could make sense of it all. Lots of sparkles, very esoteric. Pretty, but weirdly unnecessary.
  
  Basically, I love being able to play solo or with friends, waving to people as I run by them on the road, receiving a surprise buff spell (a temporary statistical skill increase) from a stranger, or chatting in an impromptu session about what we miss from the old days of computers as we all stood at the docks leveling our fishing skills.
  
  People make the game fun, because people are what it's all about. In Guild Wars, you see people in town or in battle. Otherwise it's a constant reminder that you're playing on your computer all by yourself, and I don't need a game to remind me of that.
  
  

• Fun and Interesting Genre-defying Game

  
  By A3V4YTGXI79977 on 2005-12-16
  Guild Wars is a game that will very likely defy your expectations, for better or worse.
  
  This is *not* a replacement for World of Warcraft or other MMORPGs, but is better described as a hybrid between games like Diablo and games like WoW.
  
  As you've probably heard, the only place in this game where you'll randomly run into other people is in the towns, cities, and outposts; never in areas where you fight monsters will you run into another person, unless you entered the area with them in your party. This aspect has its pros and cons: there's no ganking, no camping, and the maps can afford to be alterable and scripted, yet it makes the world feel noticably lonely, especially if you've come from WoW, EQ2, or something like that.
  
  Here are some of the pros and cons of this game, as I see it:
  
  Pros
  + Really fun and involving skill system, with a ton of skills to choose from, even very early in the game, yet you can only bring 8 skills with you at a time. This makes the game feel a lot like Magic: The Gathering, and you'll probably spend a lot of time tinkering around with different builds.
  
  + Character appearance customization is quite rich, and it's hard to create a bad looking character. You'll rarely run into another player who looks just like you.
  
  + The ability to jump immediately from town to town saves a whole lot of time.
  
  + The graphics and the world look totally beautiful, and the game runs very well on almost any computer.
  
  + There's no server separation, so you can always play with whomever you want to.
  
  + Very good support for guilds, including guild halls that you can purchase.
  
  + Fun PvP gameplay that you can begin participating in very early in the game. PvP games start up very fast (between 30 seconds and a minute!), and are also over very fast, so they're great for a quick fix.
  
  + No monthly fees. This is nice, but you quickly begin to see why they don't have to charge you monthly: little to no content updating, all non-city zones are instanced, no real sense of community (no official forums), no in-game support. This game isn't really an MMO, so why *should* they charge you?
  
  + The game isn't focused on level grinding or item farming. The endgame is *heavily* focused on PvP. At least half of the game's content is reserved for players who've reached the max level of 20. Leveling happens slower in WoW, however, but not by much.
  
  + Beautiful music, but it repeats very quickly.
  
  Cons
  - The look of the interface doesn't match the feel of the game or the genre.
  
  - Many of the game's quirks just don't feel intuitive. You have to figure a lot out on your own. Hard to get an overall feel for your character's stats (there's no stat summary page). A lot of details of your character are hidden from you.
  
  - Weapons and armor look very cool, but generally are only very marginally better than other weapons and armor. No real motivation to get better gear. Graphics for items are frequently recycled.
  
  - Repetitive PvE landscapes, repetitive PvE battles, anticlimactic boss fights.
  
  - The game lacks "character:" your hero never speaks or makes any sounds. Significant portions of the storyline don't make sense. Silly voice acting during cut scenes. Quests lack a sense of purpose or cohesion.
  
  - Hard to find what you're looking for in towns at first, other than by running around everywhere hovering your mouse over everything you see.
  
  - No way of seeing what level other players are except by clicking on them. No way to tell what level your guildmates are except by asking them. No way to tell what quests members of your party are on. Overall, it's hard to get a lot of information that you probably want.
  
  - Poor trading system. No real crafting system.
  
  - Only 4 characters per account.
  
  - Many of the game's players seem to have no idea how to play a game like this, at least until you get past the first few beginning areas.
  
  - The game doesn't have a "world" feel to it like real MMOs do.
  
  
  BOTTOM LINE: play this game if you're looking for an engaging, fast-paced, extremely customizable multiplayer RPG experience. You'll have a lot of fun trying out different PvP tactics, especially once you've unlocked all of the abilities for your 2 classes. You'll never feel like you "have" to play, since they aren't any monthly fees, but you'll probably still end up playing a lot, because the game is genuinely fun.
  
  Don't get this game if what you really want is an excellent MMO. This isn't it. Get WoW instead.
  
  

• Beware: MMO-Lite..All that glitter is not Gold

  
  By A1PIOMDLSZH3Z9 on 2005-06-03
  I frankly just burned my $50 bucks with this game. This game is Bad with a Capital 'B'. There is something seriously missing from this game(if you are a Star Wars fan..'the force is unusally weak with this one'). I find it hard to fanthom how so many people are claiming this game to be the next best thing since sliced bread. Trust me its not.
  This game doesn't feel like an mmo its mostly a persistent single player online game. One of the main attraction of an mmo is to be able to see other people running around in a persistent world. You can wave them, help them out, have a chit-chat or maybe even duke it out if they are hostile to you. There is no such aspect to this game. Every mission is 'instanced'; its just you or your guild or AI henchman(AI lacks and they feel like 'npc's too). You dont get to see anyone else.
  They are invisible walls in this game everywhere. Unlike many other mmo's you just can't walk over to where you please like in a real persistent world. Instead you are forced to follow and play along a path chosen for you. For e.g...you are going on the road and there is a nice water-fall you see some distance away. So you decide to walk down the hill and check it out. Surprise...there is a invisible wall blocking your way. You have to stay on the road..it was all just a illusion or some cosmetic matte painting. This cuts down the real virtual world factor right there and than. Your only chance of seeing a group of people is in the cities and the way the game is setup you wont be spending much time in cities anyway. The city further lack the community feeling with no inns, housing or gathering places everyone just stands in the middle of the town.
  As far as rpg element is concerned, the classes and their powers are poorly setup. Only 8 of your skills can be used at any time. I want to be able to use more than 8 skills sometimes. Combining two clases is a good idea but the 8 skills limitation further cuts down the charm of this aspect.
  There is no player run economy as to speak...you sell stuff to npc's ho hum. Player run economy is an absolute must in my view for an mmo to get some sense of realism.
  PVP is where this game really falls apart. This mmo strong point was its 'pvp aspect'; however this is where it fails the most. Instead of providing a real war like feeling that is so well done in 'World of warcraft' this game throws you in team based instanced arenas. Just imagine playing a online fps like 'Unreal tournament' or 'Counter-strike' with fantasty characters as well as weapons and you will get the complete picture. Dont expect to be the ubber champ if you haven't first played the pve aspect of the game lvl 20 + and unlocked specials skills. Because you get the standard Lvl 20 template for those classes if you decide to just go pvp but not the special skills that you can unlock if you had tried the pve aspect first. Some of those pve learned special skills are clearly superior to the standard pvp template and players already know this aspect and have learned to exploit it. So it means that whether you want to do pve or not you will have to if you want to be really good in pvp and reaching to lvl 20 is still a time-intensive pve grind. Now i come to my biggest complaint when it comes to pvp. So many people are touting strategy and true skill-based pvp in this game. Well the truth is far from it. Unless you have established guild with people you know you will be thrown into random 4 man teams with each player specilizing in certain skills like 1 is ranger, 1 is tank etc.. You are forced to group to pvp whether you like it or not, forget about any sniper or solo support role. Not to my surprise this random team of unknown people falls apart rather quickly. Most of the teams i have played in like to just rush in or charge without any ryhme or reason and resulting mayhem causes utter confusion with the victor being a warior or someone who can mash buttons the fastest. Or everyone just go into different directions once they get into arena and you are pretty much on your own and good luck here if you a pure ranger. There is no strategy atall that i have seen any team discuss or even apply so far. Another huge pitfall is those invisible walls blocking you from striking at the opposing player. If say you are on a hill and you see the opposing players down below. Well you think that you have a strategic advantage here dont you escpecially if you are a full fledge Ranger/elementalist. Surprise...you just cant attack them in most cases because of those invisible cost-cutting walls and have to run down the long winding preset path to get them and in the meantime giving your position away. So forget about launching a surprise attack on anyone in most cases which is one of the major forte of true pvp. You will see many more pitfalls especially the feeling that there is no real war going on in this game. There is really no gain or charm from pvp except just for the thrill of doing pvp. You character dont gain anything. PVP should be a integral part of the game rpg aspect not some side wrestling match.
  Last but not least, the character creation is worst of any recent mmo's I have played so far. Some of characters look like misfits out of a bad Gothic heavy metal group...just have a look at the game 'Necromancer'. Others look like drag queens(sorry not to offend anyone its just a quip). Ontop of it you just have few templates and cosmetic choices to apply. As a result most people end up looking much the same with a real bad wadrobe case. And dont get me started at the Warior template. Supposedly the warrior is the start all and end all class. What we get is an over-weight and bald extra reject from the Gladiator movie.
  This is the end of my rant. If you look at my other reviews I give credit where its due and discredit where it is also due. This game is far from what some people are making it to be. There is a reason this game is not charging you a monthly fee and it shows. Read all the reviews and make a educated guess its just that there are far better 'real mmo's' out there too. Dont let fanboy's or overly exicited people mislead you. This game tries to do a lot of things all at the same time while cutting costs but in the end ends up doing nothing well. No-monthly fee here is a double-edged sword here. I for one will throw this game into my garbage can and they can forget me ever getting buying their other expansions. I got suckered once because of all hoop laa that surrounds this game...but no more.
  
  
• 100 hrs of play review
  By A2VGG7KRU66SFP on 2005-07-09
  ok, so you can guess from the title of my review that i have enough experience playing this game to say what i think of it and be acurate about it.
  
  I'll just get right into it and tell you strengths, weaknesses, and comparisons (i have a wealth of knowledge from other MMORPGs)
  
  1. This is not like any other MMO on the market. plain and simple. I've played Ultima Online, Anarchy Online, EQ, EQ2, Asheron's Call 2, Shadowbane, Star Wars Galaxies, Final Fantasy XI, and Matrix Online. Believe me when i say this, none of the those games is anything like Guild Wars. The only thing that makes them the same is the fact that you level up a character to a predefined top level.
  
  2. If you want to compare it to another game or two, try EQ or EQ2. Medieval in nature with warriors, mages, necromancers, rangers.... but that's as far as it goes. EQ is the standard in this game genre and Guild Wars does not compare. Guild Wars does not have 6+ years of the developers adding story line changes/additions. This is not to say that the GW's story sucks. It's awesome. There are a few shallow points and sometimes you'll say to yourself, "what was the point of doing that quest? what did it acomplish other than to earn me some xp (and maybe a useless sellable item or two or three)?" sometimes the changes in the world are subtle in nature and when i say that, i mean it. There are few statues of the gods scattered around the entire world. Something i hadn't noticed at first but then later realized what had happened was that a statue of the god of war, Balthazar, was glowing a blue flame after i had completed many of the quests contained within the region. i have a habit of taking screenshots while i play cause i find things that i really like to look at. i took a picture of that statue initually when i first saw it and it was not glowing at all. i had to go back through my screenshots to make sure i wasn't just thinking it was different. so yeah.... it might not seem like much, but it may be something that may prove to be worth while later on down the road(ie. a major game wide quest to make all the statues glow by doing various tasks within a zone/region).
  
  3. Strengths- first and foremost is the fact that you can move from place to place all over the world just by opening the world map, clicking on the place you'd like to go and then wam bam thank you ma'am, you are there. that is of course, you've been to the place already. that's the only requirement for being able to do all the jumping around. you just have to step into the place and it's put on your world map so that you can jump to it later. it's invaluable come quest time when you don't feel like going back the way you came.
  
  another strong point is the quest system. some people would complain that they made it way too easy. it's too easy if you're the kind of person that likes to spend countless hours trying to find a paticular person or place or thing somewhere in the world. not me. the quest system will give you an arrow on your compass/map in the upper corner of your screen. it's not specific as far as what pathes to take. that you have to figure out on your own. but if you look at the world map, you can see a green star where you are to head for the quest. also, when you get close, you'll get that same green star on the compass/map in the corner so you know you're getting close.
  
  the rune/weapon upgrade system. i love this in the fact that you specifically have to find the different runes and weapon upgrades to unlock them. for those of you that are thinking, "oh crap, now i will have to spend tons of hours trying to find one paticular rune for my character." not to worry. they can be bought from other players and also, a new addition added after the release of the game (meaning it won't be talked about in the instruction manual) is rune traders. you can buy any rune available in the game as long as you have the money. here's the catch. when you create a PvP character those runes aren't unlocked for you in the char. creation section. this is the point of unlocking runes/weapon upgrades. so you can eventually create a PvP character that is customized to your liking with the runes/weapon upgrades of your choosing. it may take a while, and believe me, i'm not even close to having them all unlocked.
  
  the skill system is another strength but can also be a weakness at some points. this is another area of unlocking you'll do. this is more class specific though. you play through an adventure character (as apposed to a PvP char.) and unlock skills along the way by doing quests and/or buying skills from the Skill NPCs in different cities. there is a new way that's just recently been implemented and that's fighting in the arenas and earning faction points. you use the faction points to unlock skills/runes/weapon upgrades but it's not cheap. it'll take alot of fighting to get the amount of points you need to unlock certain skills/runes/weapon upgrades.
  
  4. Weaknesses- for starters, as i said earlier, the story. there isn't alot to it. this is a new game though. the story that's there will surely be added to along the way with new expansions and patch updates. there is already a plan to have two new major zones added to the game some time this summer.
  
  the quests are a little lacking at this point also. there isn't a ton of them, like many other games, but they are there. new ones are added almost every two weeks in the weekly game patches. when i say there isn't a ton that doesn't mean there isn't any. it's just that, some places only two or three quests while other places have about ten to fifteen. some are a little weak in content also. they pose almost no challenge even to someone that has just reached that region/zone. for whatever reason, the devs decided not to add a crap load of quests like most MMOs that are released right off the shelf.
  
  last but not least is the varience in weapons. many of the ones you pick up look the same as one you may have picked up earlier in the game, but it's got higher stats to it. some people don't mind this, but i do. i like to find new items that have a different look than any others out there. when i find a gold unique item, i want it to look different than anyone elses. right now, the weapon models are rather lacking in some departments. staves are kind of bland whereas swords and hammers later in the game are awesome looking. armor is somewhat in the same department as this. they all look nice but when you get to a new city where you can upgrade to a better set, they are exactly the same. that is of course if you choose the same type as the one you are wearing. each armor is class and sex specific, so a male ranger's armor is going to look different than a female ranger's armor even if it's the exact same type.
  
  
  i know at times in my review it almost sounds like i hate this game. i don't. i love it. it can be improved on and i'm sure it will. i've seen games that rise and fall very quickly (shadowbane and asherons call 2) but this will not be one of them. not having to pay a monthly fee is the biggest reason for this opinion. when you don't have to pay for something constantly, you're more willing to play.
  
  
• Some aspects are very good, others need some work.
  By AEDNTWUEM8AEU on 2005-06-01
  The first thing that should be stated forthright about this game is that it shouldn't be classified as a massive multiplayer online (MMO) game. Much of the game takes place in private zones that approximately 8 people can access at a single time. There are towns and outposts that can harbor many more players, but these are merely gathering areas to form groups for your private instanced area; the vast majority of this game takes place in very small groups that do not interact with anybody else. In nearly all other MMO games, you're interacting with a large number of people all the time. I suppose there are perks to having your own private area to share with a few other people, but I found much of the playable areas depressingly lonely since there is little, if any player-player interaction.
  
  The game is divided up into two spheres: Player-Versus-Environment, and Player-Versus-Player, with specialized characters devoted to each. Player-versus-environment characters can explore the world AND engage in player-versus-player combat, but player-versus-player characters are restricted to just that: player-versus-player combat. As you progress through the main storyline and other side-quests with your player-versus-environment characters, the skills and items that you discover will be unlocked for any future player-versus-player character you create. If you haven't unlocked any items and skills and would still like to enjoy player-versus-player combat right off the bat, the game comes with several pre-made characters you can use solely for player-versus-player combat. There are six classes of players: warriors, rangers, monks, mesmers, necromancers, and elementalists. Each character has a primary profession and a secondary profession, allowing for interesting combinations of characters such as a player that is primarily a necromancer, but can swing a sword almost as good as a warrior. Some skill combinations don't really work too well, but the fact that there are a potential of 30 different classes combinations is pretty refreshing. In addition, even if you're the same primary and secondary profession as another character, you most likely have a different set of skills, of which you're only allowed to have 8 equipped at one time). This also aids in helping your character feel truly unique.
  
  The main storyline is very good, and I enjoyed progressing through each quest as more of the main story was revealed. When you play through the main storyline, your character and whoever you're partnering up with, be it other human players or computer controlled "bots", are the focus of the quest, and your actions in the storyline make it seem like you're actually doing super-human deeds instead of some trivial task like delivering a package. It is your character that saves entire cities from certain doom, it is your character that holds off armies of undead as they march towards your location; nothing you do is trivial.
  
  But once the main storyline is over, all you're left with is player-versus-player combat, which I personally did not enjoy. There are many strong strategies that people have already figured out for player-versus-player combat, so some battles are more luck than skill. Whenever I played in the player-versus-player arenas, I got the feeling that I was just playing some glorified first person shooter like Unreal Tournament, but with swords and spells. You can go back and try to unlock more items and spells, but this gets very boring and tedious quickly. I tried to play through the main storyline with a different type of character, but didn't find it as enjoyable or engaging as the first run through.
  
  However the main thing makes this game unbearable isn't so much the game mechanics as it is the people who play Guild Wars. There is no community, and you will never see the same person more than one time. Also, in a game that requires a lot of team play and coordination, there is an overabundance of people who simply don't care for tactics and are bound to get your character killed with their carelessness.
  
  The best part of Guild Wars is the fact that there is no monthly fee, and the steaming content that updates as you play. I'm sure ArenaNet will be able to do some interesting things with their streaming content system, but there really wasn't enough substance in the game to keep me hooked for long after I finished the main quest. The player-versus-player combat did not appeal to me, however if you believe that you'll like it, you'll most likely enjoy Guild Wars. If you're going to try this game, I strongly recommend you do so with a group of people that you already know, as there is no player community to speak of.
  
  
• Just love this game
  By A13U4RTIVFX7ZC on 2004-11-19
  I got dragged into playing this game for the word preview event and absolutey love it. I ran right out an bought the presale package so I could play the beta events too. This game is a lot of fun. It has storylines, missions, pvp in two different arena type games, and even some armor weapon crafting. The basis, of course, is competing with a rated guild and engaging in a capture the flag type combat with other guilds, where teamwork is emphasized. However, if you feel like guild stuff isn't your thing you can go out adverturing solo. And for those who KNOW that going out alone might get you killed but you still don't like working with others, you can HIRE OUT, healers, rangers, warriors, elementalists, etc, to give you a hand in the field!! And finally, if you think you'll miss out on the pvp by not having a guild, you can go solo in a random entry arena where you are pitted against another random, and possibly uncoordinated, team.
  
  I love this game and can't wait till the next beta event. The graphics are pretty decent and surprisingly enough, I can actually run it on my 5 year old computer with no problems and a cable modem connection. I can almost never do this with the latest rpg games. I wouldn't suggest this game to anyone running on much less than that, though. People with dialup connections tend to spawn so late in the pvp arenas that they're dead as soon as they appear. Overall though, I highly suggest this game. It allows to you to enjoy the game and allows character progression even if you don't have 7 hours a day to play, which you sometimes need with other mmorpgs.
  
  
• Not Just For Boys!
  By AMC10AZVJXMWT on 2005-12-11
  I have found that many of the computer games available are mostly running around killing things. The adolescent male fantasy is heightened by blood and body parts flying all over the screen. The mechanics of these games typically depend on super quick hand-eye coordination and hours of free time, which only adolescent males tend to have (of course there is that group of males who remain in this category despite their age in years). Guild Wars is not one of these games.
  
  The interface is easy to figure out, even without years of gaming experience. The characters are fun to develop and easily controlled through use of the keyboard. There are no "hot buttons" that are a must to learn in order to be successful in combat. The combat is not turn-based but it also does not hinge on who has the fastest fingers (I am a two-finger typist). The game mechanics are quite simple to figure out even if you are not a role-playing game expert. The character professions are self-explanatory.
  
  The thing I love most about this game, is that it is something that girls can play and enjoy. I love the quests and missions and the storyline. There is more to do than kill everything in sight. Strategy is just as important as muscle. You are able to play "smart" and still succeed, where in other games it is all about how good of a killing machine you are. Another aspect that I enjoy is that there is no gore splashing all over my screen. Enemies die and disappear without being disemboweled and beheaded right before your eyes.
  
  You have the option of colleting materials and weapons that can be sold or traded in towns. There is a psuedo-economy that makes this very interesting. Item prices fluctuate with the market. Which means you can sometimes get a great bargain if your timing is right! What girl doesn't love a sale?! Plus, you can make gold by selling things you have collected to other characters. You get to haggle which adds to the experience. This aspect of the game is much like "Settler's of Catan". There is also the ability to chat with fellow players. This social option makes playing interesting and enjoyable.
  
  Guild Wars was originally given to my fiancé as a gift but I got hooked on it and had to buy my own copy. Being able to play with other people is great. Now we can play a game together that we both enjoy. I have to admit that I used to be a "gaming widow" at times. He would get wrapped up in a game wouldn't surface for hours. Now we can game together!
  
  Of course, as with anything there are down sides. This game has its problems. For one, there are a lot of immature players online who will get on your nerves. Luckily, you don't have to deal with them if you don't want to. Just leave the town and you are in your own playing world. You can play with henchmen when you need to have extra members in your party.
  
  Another problem is that you max out at level 20. This is frustrating since there are monsters that are level 20+ that you will encounter regularly in the later part of the game. They do massive amounts of damage and have ridiculous armor classes. Being killed so easily and not being able to do much damage is seriously frustrating.
  
  Also, there are players who will "run" low level players to areas so that they can get the best armor. This is highly unfair, since better armor is one of the keys to success, especially when playing in the PvP arena. Overall, however, the cons are outweighed by the pros.
  
  Of course, as with all games that are marketed mainly for adolescent males, the female characters are scantily dressed. However, they are not as bad as some games. The monks actually are fully clothed. The one female player pet peeve that I have is that there is only one female henchman and she is the healer (and later a protector). Talk about stereotyping!! I am hoping that the company will notice this and update the henchmen with more female players.
  
  Guild Wars is a game that girls can play and enjoy. It isn't just for muscle minded shooting players (typically male). I love this game for its non-gamer mechanics and friendly interface. The quests and missions give it a story line and purpose beyond running around killing monsters. I would recommend this game to players who like RPG games and those players who have never thought that RPG games were for them. It has a nice balance of skill and strategy play, plus a story line. Guild Wars is a lot of fun to play and I hope that you will get as much enjoyment from it as I have.
  
  
  
• Awesome game.
  By A2DM3BJNVFCOLP on 2006-08-29
  First things first - this game is not for everybody. It's not your traditional MMORPG, in fact, it's officially a CORPG (Cooperative Online Role Playing Game). If you're looking for a game for farming and grinding, look elsewhere. You can reach the maximum level(20) in 2-3 days of hard playing, and the most powerful weapons and armor can be earned in a few hours of farming.
  
  PvE:
  
  The main reason GW is not a true MMO is because it's instanced - that is, outside of the cities, your party will have the world to yourselves. This is both annoying and rewarding. You cannot meet random people out in the world, which, I'll admit, I miss at times. At the same time, however, there are no annoying people disturbing you, and there are no people telling you to "back off, this is my farming spot," ect.
  
  The instance feature also allows GW to have an overarching storyline, which is suprisingly good. Though it is a traditional sort of fantasy story (good vs. evil, light vs. dark ect), GW adds freshness to it with fairly unusual/original races and characters such as Charr, or Tengu, and interesting plot twists.
  
  Though the world is instanced, that doesn't mean you must play it alone. You can form a party of players, opt to bring a party of AI henchmen, or make a combination of both. Throughout the missions and quests, you'll be reliant on your party to defeat your foes and keep your team alive. As the name of the game implies, guilds are an important factor in the game. Guild members often help each other out in missions or quests, trade or donate items, or simply give advice.
  
  As I said earlier, grinding and leveling are not big features of this game. After a while, you will find that you've finished the storyline, and have all the highest level equipment. So, are you finished?
  
  No way. For starters there are also "bonus" objectives to each mission, many people spend time going back to finish up the ones they haven't done or weren't able to complete at the time. There are tons of "Elite" skills to unlock, which require you to defeat a certain boss to obtain. There are also a goodly number of Titles for you to earn. For example, there's the Tyrian Grandmaster Cartographer title, for exploring 100% of the Tyrian continent, a feat that can take weeks or even months to accomplish. There are also difficult dungeons such as the Underworld or the Fissure of Woe that will require a coordinated team to complete. And of course, you could make a new character (you start with 4 character slots, extra slots cost $10 each), and play the game over again, with a completely different character type.
  
  PvP:
  
  Guild Wars gives you the option of creating a PvP-only character. These characters are the maximum level, have the best equipment availible to them, and all the skills that you've unlocked at their disposal. This means that a "good player" is not one that's spent countless hours farming for his godly armor and weapons, but rather one that knows the game well, knows his character, and works well with his or her team.
  
  In other games, you may have 20 or more skills for your use. In Guild Wars, while you may choose from a myriad of skills to put in your 8-slot bar, once you leave town or enter the arena, you can't change your bar around. So, people devise skillsets, or "builds" whose skills compliment eachother, some of which are so brilliant that they become common knowledge and thousands of other people begin to use them. Guild Wars' system also gives you flexibility - you can be a Smiting monk one game and a Healing monk the next.
  
  This concept carries over to the 8 player teams as well. The availability of the PvP character and the ease of changing your PvE/RP character's role means that you don't have 8 independant characters that randomly attack enemies, you have a team where each player has a specific role, and you coordinate your every move. Voice communication is a must for almost every team.
  
  The result of this system is the most coopertive, coordinated, complex, and rewarding PvP I've ever experienced. Teams look for weaknesses in the other team's build, and exploit them. They split their team into two groups, attack, counterattack, and feint, and use maneuvers to give themselves the advantage. Often, the coordination and teamwork of a team is the most important factor in a game, teams that looked certain to lose have been known to pull off ingenious tactics that earn them the win. High ranked guilds and players are well known, and there's an Observer mode (affectionately dubbed "Guild Wars TV") where players can view top-ranked guilds' matches. Tactics and builds are hotly debated in forums and ingame, for the initiated and the newbie alike.
  
  Overall, this is the best game I've bought in my life.
  
  
• Don't be Ripped Off
  By AN0OPVLH4AF9I on 2006-05-30
  ***YOU CANNOT BUY THIS ITEM USED!!!****
  ***DOING SO IS A DIRECT VIOLATION OF THE END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT (EULA)***
  
  For those of you out there that are unaware, most if not all pieces of software nowadays comes with a EULA. Any online games are usually further restricted by a Terms of Service (TOS). These are terms and conditions that you submit to that allow you, (the End User), to use the software that you just paid for. If you do not agree to them, you cannot use the software. If you do agree to them and end up violating them, you could face fines up to $5,000.00.
  
  Just wanted to let you all know that, as I had to just face a hectic ordeal being as I mistakenly and unknowingly bought this item used. Having seen it here on Amazon.com I was under the impression that this game can be legally resold as used, however when I received my copy and looked the EULA and TOS I was shocked to see it cannot. I then contacted NCSoft, (The game manufacturer), and they confirmed that this program cannot be resold legally. This led to a month long process of contacting both the seller and Amazon.com and reshipping the item to get my money back.
  
  So what does all this mean?
  
  *By violating the EULA, best case scenario you only lose the money that you paid for the game. NCSoft sees the same code registered and does not allow you to register.
  
  or
  
  *The person who originally revealed the code now signs on and takes all of the time and effort you put into the game. They contact NCSoft and have your access blocked. "But they said they wouldn't do that when I bought it" You now not only lost the money for the game, but the time and effort you just contributed to leveling a character and working for items. You have no recourse as you have already passed the time to have Amazon act on your behalf, the seller was obviously dishonest and will not refund you, and to make matters worse...you left a positive feedback for the seller making them look great so some other person can get fooled!
  
  or
  
  *NCSoft decides to crack down on illegal users of their software. They allow you to register and play for a while. They always take your personal information to open the account, so they do not have to act right away. They then file a class action suit against all illegal users. Think this is far fetched? Look into the news as per what happens to people who illegally download music files, (and they don't give their personal information, the companies use computers to find that out). YOU could face heavy fines because you are violating the EULA, TOS, and various copyrights.
  
  ***Amazon, nor the person/company who sold you this used item will not help you, and in fact may face many of these consequences themselves!***
  
  BOTTOM LINE = Buy it new! One Game= One Account and cannot be resold! Save yourself the worry/trouble! The $10-$15 you might save buying used may end up costing you $5,000.
  
  The game itself is fun! I am an avid user of MMORPG Games and have just recently retired with many High-Level Characters from FFXI. I was looking for something with similar challenge, but less dedication required and THIS IS IT! No More Death= Loss of XP/Items/Gold/Etc. No More LFG For HOURS! Great game for the pro or novice! Good Luck To You All and I Hope To Meet you in Guild Wars!
  
  Character - Aresfury Deux
  Serever - NA
  
  
• A Highly Promising Game (With No Monthly Fee)
  By A1CSS278VLZJA on 2004-11-01
  Having played the original Everquest long ago and dabbled in free trial versions of other massively multiplayer online games such as Lineage II, I have become somewhat disenchanted with MMOs. I dislike the general concept of paying a monthly fee to play a game that often involves long hours of tedium, and lately I have little time/money to spare for games in general. But from October 29th to 31st there was an open world preview event for Guild Wars, and I decided to give it a try.
  
  Guild Wars was developed by a team of former Blizzard employees, and they have managed to inject some strategy into the typical role-playing fantasy setting. However, some role-playing elements have been sacrificed in exchange for reducing online tedium. You may not enjoy Guild Wars if you absolutely love the role-playing element. That being said, the game in its current stage of build is amazingly fun.
  
  Players start with the option to create characters with a primary and secondary profession. These profession choices determine the skills/spells you can acquire, and you can only take eight skills into a mission/battle. This by itself creates a new level of strategy for the player, as certain skills combo well together. You can also decide to emphasize skills that make you able to solo, or you can choose more support skills for your party. And having good support people in a group is essential in Guild Wars.
  
  The preview event allowed players to start out at level 15 and max out at level 20. I was pleased to find that leveling and gaining decent equipment was no longer a pain. I easily made level 20 in the three days that the event ran and actually had fun doing so. This was thanks to a mission-oriented leveling system that encourages groups of six players to team up (alternately, you can hire NPC henchmen). The missions are instanced for your group (meaning no swarms of other players to compete with for objectives, kills, experience, loot), and have mini-narratives that follow a sort of linear plotline. As you complete each mission, a new area is open to you on your overall map.
  
  Ah yes, the map. No more insanely long travel times. You just go to your map, zoom in on the area you want to go to, and click "travel." Areas open up as you complete each mission, and you can travel freely among all the places you have been to.
  
  Large-scale player interaction takes place in the mission-waiting areas and main city (Lion's Arch). Here you find players forming groups or trading/buying/selling, and this reminds you that the game is a massively online multiplayer game. This brings me to player versus player action, which is the highlight.
  
  You could say Guild Wars is all about player versus player, but it's done in a way that emphasizes the fun aspects. PvP takes place in areas like the Gladiator Arena and the Tomb of Primeval Kings, with groups of up to eight players battling several other groups. The objective might be to simply kill the other groups, or it might involve protecting a resurrection shrine (where an NPC monk can resurrect fallen team members periodically). There is no loss of experience or equipment when you die (though within missions there is a temporary health/mana penalty), you can only gain experience and fame.
  
  PvP also brings out the strategic elements of Guild Wars. A well-balanced group that has excellent support combinations, skills, and strategies will do much better than a group where the players do not cooperate. There are no large-scale sieges or battles involving hundreds of players, but in other MMOs those tend to dissolve into freewheeling melees with little cooperation or strategy.
  
  Finally, players can found guilds once they have enough gold (which is not that hard to get). They can then freely invite other players to join up. Being in a guild gives you your own nifty guild symbol/colors to wear, as well as a group of players always ready to form a team for missions or PvP arenas. The game also has a special arena for guilds to compete head-on.
  
  I can already envision Guild Wars being popular outside the traditional MMORPG community, especially given that there is no monthly fee. The Guild Wars developers seem well on their way to creating an immensely entertaining, accessible, and affordable game. Good job guys.
  
  For a more detailed review from an experienced Alpha tester:
  http://www.epinions.com/content_142722436740
  
  Related Links:
  http://www.guildwars.com/default.html
  http://archive.gamespy.com/landing/guildwars/
  http://www.photics.com/index.php
  
  
  
• MMORPG without all the fat
  By ALC6LWQXBHIPG on 2005-05-02
  First off...I am amazed at this game....
  
  I was close to swearing off MMORPGs because when you figure that you pay upwards to 50 bucks per game (and stuck with it if you don't like it) and then pay a monthly fee (that is like another bill if u already are paying them) You almost have to play them a lot and I don't have that kind of time. I also didn't like the camping, loot stealing etc found on a lot of those games...worse yet ...level grinding....grrrr.
  
  That is where Guild wars is different.
  
  For the one person that complained earlier about this game...info about what this game was about has been around since October...those who knew that, knew what this game was about....
  
  That is what I like about Guild wars...when you go on a mish, you have the whole map to explore w/o worrying about others ruining the fun and taking key items, not to mention you have plenty to do because SOMEONE will always have a mish in store for you. Also you mish actions really do shape yorur playing world.
  
  Also, if you like soloing and dislike waiting forever for parties to form, you can do it with very competent NPCs
  
  Best of all, most quests are relatively short taking anywhere from 5 mins to 30 mins to complete and are done at your level meaning you won't go on a mish and be expected to take on a horde of monsters 3x your level.
  
  Check this out, I have a level 8 Warrior/necro char. that I had since day one. I decided to make a new character because I know I missed a whole bunch of early mishes on the game so I created a Ranger/monk....I would say in about 5 hrs yesterday, I managed to give him a decent amount of skills and built up to level 6. Most other MMORPGs I probably would have spent that same amount of time getting to level 3.
  
  And as said many times before, It's all about your skills that you get and not about leveling. Keep that in mind. And attaining new skills is something you can do as soon as you get on the game. No having to slave away just get to level 10 or 15 before u get a secondary profession.
  
  Another great thing is that you will be fighting a variety of enemies from the start...no fighting wild rats and rabbits for 5 or 6 levels.
  
  This game is fun, intense whether you fight alone with NPCs at ur side or with friends.The graphics are great even on low settings. And the storyline is tight to keep you drawn in...
  
  My only complaint however is with the party system.
  The plus is, no matter where your friends are you all can meet up on any server and play (no having to all have to join and stay on one server just to play) but if the party decides to break up and head for the main city, everyone gets dispersed between servers before they can form up.
  
  But that is my only complaint in an otherwise great game.
  
  
  
• Thank God for World of Warcraft!!
  By A3KSDB2KGIE1FP on 2005-05-01
  Ok, I have read the other reviews and though they have some good points I still can't believe the good reviews coming in on this game! MMORPG - Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game! Massive is not getting your own instance of every outside world other than the towns you happen into.
  
  Part of the fun in any MMORPG is that you are in this virtual world where there are other characters just like you trying to do exactly what you are doing. You get to see funny things, sad things, exciting things etc. This game forces you to group in each city before you go out on an adventure. Thats not fun at all. In World of Warcraft you go where ever you want and you see other players and you can group at any time, that is exciting, that is what you want in a game, right? In this game it even constrains you as to where you can step and go. I can't jump off a cliff if I want to!! I can't swim if I want to!! The animals walk through water at the bottom!! What is this? In World of Warcraft you can go wherever you want, and that is one of the most exciting things about it. The game play is much more intuitive, the sound and visuals are much more engaging even if they are more cartoony, they are still more interesting and exciting. Grouping on the fly is exciting and is much more ejoyable than what Guild Wars has to offer.
  
  Here is a typical run through Guild Wars:
  
  Ok, I am in the City, All of these weird Characters that have to have 2 names are swarming around doing weird dances! The Characters look like a bunch of NY City Nightclub Rejects that fell off the high fashion runway!! The warriors look like extras from the set of Gladiator with their little Roman skirts on. The Necromancers look like they all run S&M Parlors. The atmosphere and sound just don't grab you at all.
  
  So you go out on your own, into the wilderness unless you pick up some people to go with you. You actually have to do this if you want to complete most of the quests. Controls and Gameplay are not for beginners and that is why this game is not rated that high. The controls are very akward and the fact that the game dictates where and where you can't go just blows. You never no if you are walking into a dead end or not and have to turn around and go back! No voice overs from the NPC's at all, poor sound effects, music, and atmosphere put you to sleep.
  
  After a few boring quests and combat situations with mobs that have no personality you go back to town feeling cheated out of your $49.99. Do your self a favor, save the money and get World of Warcraft or just stick with it if you already have it. There is a reason they charge a monthly fee, it's better! And sure there is no lag in this game you are the only freeken player in the environment most of the time! If WoW was like that you wouldn't have any lag either.
  
  A big thumbs down! Sorry!!
  
  
• Simple, yet complex and engaging game
  By A36N9022D6RV28 on 2005-10-01
  OK, let's get right down to it. I'm not a professional gamer. I don't get paid to play game 24 hours a day, nor do I have the time to do so. I am a working professional in my 30s and I thoroughly enjoy this game. Here are the main reasons why I like it:
  
  1. Easy to get into: You don't need to know much about games to enjoy this game. After about the first 15-20 minutes, you'll learn how to navigate and do basic stuff (most of it is mouse-driven). If you don't, there are always people online who will help you. I don't know about other online games, but the fact that there is ANY online help from other players is a plus for me.
  
  2. Strategic skill system: Players max out at level 20. However, to get there, you will need to complete several quests and several more missions. What you are trying to do here is to max out the stats for your character, get the most number of skills possible (think of it as a technology tree), and obtain the best weapons/armor. This part is similar to most other MMORPG like World of Warcraft. However, unlike other games, you are restricted to using only 8 skills even if you have several more. Skills are obtained by doing quests/missions and by "capturing" from dead boss monsters. Strategically, think of this as the thinking-man MMORPG. Each time you go out on a quest or mission, you can elect to choose a different set of skills to bring along (up to the 8 max). Depending on what the makeup of the rest of your team, you can reconfigure to be all offensive, all support, or both. Just because some other characters are higher level than you doesn't mean that they are better. If you choose your skills wisely, you can actually be more effective than they are. This strategic aspect is what I like about the game. Other games just let you run in with as many skills as you have learned, which means the character with the most skills is going to be better than you because that character has more choices to choose from while in battle.
  
  3. Guilds: While other MMORPGs have the concept of guild, I think the guilds in Guild Wars are better. Anyone with enough money can start a guild. Starting your own guild means you get to choose your own cape with your own clothing design, and you are the leader who can then recruit other members. The fact that you can have a guild with just your friends and family members means you can have a "presence" in the Guild Wars world without too much effort. It's nice to have your own place online where you can easily connect to friends, sort of like an instant-messaging system in game.
  
  4. Weapons: As you complete quests/missions, you will kill various monsters and they will drop various things, including weapons. The nice thing about weapons in Guild Wars is that you can customize each weapon with additional modifications that you can buy from others or "salvage" from another similar weapon. For example, you can start out with a Fiery Dragon Sword with maximum fire damage, then add a modification that would give you +10 armor to physical attacks, then add yet another modification that would give you +30 health points. If you find a weapon that has a modification that you want, you can usually "salvage" that modification by using an Expert Salvage Toolkit. Then you can apply that modification onto your own weapon to make your own "uber" weapon.
  
  5. Money and loot: You get gold by doing quests and killing monsters. However, the fastest way to get gold is to actually buy and sell items such as weapons you've obtained. There are a few cities and districts where trading is the main reason people go there. Trading weapons and items help you gain valuable gold and help other players complete their character setup so it is a win-win situation. I find that the trading aspect of the game is pretty fun in and of itself. In fact, you can get a lot more game money if you are good at trading compared to just killing monsters when you are at lower levels. The loot that you get from monsters at lower levels tend to be not that great, although you do sometimes get valuable things to sell such as black dye, which goes for about $6.5K when the average amount of money you get from killing an NPC is like $10. However, when you are at the max level of 20, you are generally in areas where there are many high level monsters that will drop high-level weapons. It is always exciting to go out with a team of players to kill monsters so you can obtain cool new weapons. When you get that rare gold or green weapon (green is the best, then gold, purple, magenta, and white, in that order), it feels GREAT. You know that you are either going to be able to use it on one of your characters (you can have up to 4 different characters) or you can sell it for a lot of money to someone else who wants it. I think one of the main reasons I play any MMORPG is to get increasingly better loot. It fits very well with the normal human behavior called greed. Although it is just game money, it is always better to have more than less, imho.
  
  6. Monster-killing: Despite what others claim, killing monsters is actually fun no matter how many times you do it. At higher levels, killing monsters is especially satisfying because you see the effects of all your preparation in team make-up, skills, weapons, armor, etc. Put together an unbalanced team and you might all end up dead. Bring the wrong skills with you and you will suffer. Attack the wrong targets will also get you killed. All these things make the game more interesting the more you play it. Just experimenting with different sets of skills and then doing quests with them until you find a good combination is fun for me. There are hundreds of skills to learn for each profession so the combination is endless.
  
  7. Extras: superb graphics, great sounds, and phenomenal cut-scenes are all icing-on-the-cake for me. The fact that I have to invest only $40 for the game and no monthly fees is another big plus that others have pointed out. Another nice plus is that you don't need uber graphics card just to play the game. Sure, having an expensive graphics card will make the graphics look better in this game, but one of my computer only has an old GeForce 2 card with 64MB and the game still looks good. Contrast this to other MMORPGs (e.g. World of Warcraft) that require you to buy an expensive video card just to play it at standard settings.
  
  All in all, I must say I really like this game. I've been playing it for 4 months now and I still lose sleep over it. I am frequently playing until the wee hours in the morning (read: 3-4 am) and struggle with coffee in the morning so I can get to work :) I have only 3 characters so far, 1 of which is at the max level 20. However, even with my max character, I am nowhere near finishing the game. There are many more quests and missions and many more new locales to visit. I would say that my $40 is well spent indeed.
  
  
  
  
  
• Well Worth The Pennies
  By A9W8XRJWP8ERJ on 2004-11-03
  I've been reading everyone else's reviews, and they have hit the nail on the head. So I wont waste your time typing up the same thing. I agree with what everyone else has said but would like to add on a couple more things.
  
  The game will remain entirely balanced, regardless of how long you play for. If you have played games like EQ where you can get incredible "epic" items by slaving for days on end, you would understand that there is a line between the casual players and hardcore players. Guild Wars has no such items that would imbalance the game for people who can't afford sacrificing 6+ hours a day on it. Don't get me wrong, if you play for hours a day, you will find alot of things and gain wealth, but even the rare items you find, have pro's and cons. They may have + to a few attributes or whatever that you can use but they may also cut back on other skills.
  
  The game revolves around building a character stratagy that focuses on using skills that complement eachother for given missions or PvP.
  
  I just wanted to say that and I love that aspect to the game.
  
  
• Not mean't for online losers
  By A2R0DIOF6YX5ZM on 2005-06-10
  I have lots of trouble with MMO games and Guild Wars is my first after Diablo.
  
  It's not meant to cater for no life online game players who care more about the next level than just playing for fun. I've gotten to level 20 with one of my characters and there is so much you can do. Groups are always being made and i've even soloed half the missions myself for those who say you're forced to group.
  
  The reason why some people love this game and others complain is because it's just a fun game you play for a month or two until they breath some new life into it with expansions. I don't care about the community aspects. I play with mostly another 10-15 people and that's more than enough for me. It's easy to ignore people and with some of the stories i've heard about WOW that's a great idea.
  
  I have also had plenty of oppertunities to group with random people and have had a good time 9 times out of ten.
  
  So if you like doing pointless leveling for countless hours on end then by all means play something else and cry about it to everyone. This will keep all the losers out of Guild Wars and keep it an interesting and fun experience for those of us looking for a casual game instead of a new life.
  
  
• Good for a minute...
  By A2T8MS69XTZTNH on 2005-06-19
  This game is a lot like pancakes. It's really awesome at first, but before you get to the end of the stack, you're completely sick of it. My buddies and I all bought this game at the same time, all signed on together, and within minutes, were so in to the game that we were all thinking of quiting Star Wars Galaxies (which we all still play together). The big dissapointment comes when you realize the lack of staying power and replay value. For the first problem, there seems to be no cure. In this game your character maxes out at Level 20, which you can get to in under a week (if you happen to be on vacation or if you are just a jobless/no life looser... which I wish I was). Then all that is left are a finite number of missions and an otherwise directional storyline. Other games of this genre are very open-ended, and allow you to choose your direction through the game as you go, even to the point where you can back up at will. This game doesn't even allow you to change professions.
  
  This game has many problems, but there are a few good things as well. There is no monthly fee, which is awesome. The graphics and cut-scenes rock. The story is good, dispite the fact that it limits the total game play. You can also get rid of skills that you chose and pick up other skills. Also, the PvP structure is pretty damned good, and the fact that everyone is limited to Level 20 keeps away the problem of the Level 200 wizard insta-killing some brand new bard. Lastly, the system that puts you and your group on their very own private map keeps those nasty PvP gank-squads at bay, though it does make it impossible for your pals to come bail you out if you end up in over your head.
  
  In conclusion, if you are looking for a D&D style game that runs like a story-line based offline game with the touch of online fun, than this is what you want.
  
  
• Comparing Guild Wars with other online role playing games.
  By A1EBTWLZNTIYDY on 2006-12-20
  About a year or so ago, I heard about Guild Wars, the now famous MMORPG without a fee, from a friend, and having played (and largely enjoyed, for the most part) a number of on-line role playing games for many many hours, over the years, I thought I'd check it out. I've leveled up several characters, now, and been through all the missions in the initial release of the game a time or three.
  
  Asside from the novel and very happy lack of a monthly fee, the first thing I noticed about Guild Wars was the incredible technology. The graphics are no less than stunning compared with other RPG's, and the load times are very low by comparison. (Some people with dial up modems experience frequent multi-minute load times, but those people would literally have to wait 10's of hours to download the same types of updates in some other MMORPG's.) The technology is by far and away the best I've seen. I wish other MMORPG's would catch up with Guild Wars in this regard.
  
  The next thing I noticed was the clever system of "skill" points and "attribute" points. When you create your character, you choose a primary "profession", and with that profession comes several "attributes" or named-categories of spells and tricks (called "skills"). Each category has a number (maybe 13 to 25) skills that you either start out with in that category, or can acquire over the course of playing the game for a while. After a short while of playing, you can choose a secondary profession, and add most of it's categories of spells and tricks to your character. Your character starts out with a number of "attribute points" that you can allocate across your character's skill categories.. so, for example, you might put 80 points into "fire," 40 into "inspiration," and so on. How many points you put into an skill category changes how powerful the skills are in that category. Of the 50 or 100 skills that you may have access to, you can choose 8 to use the next time you go out to fight. (In Guild Wars, you go into a city to meet and team up with other players and configure your character, then you go out into the wild to go on missions with your team. While you're in a city, you can select which skills you want be using, and how many of your attribute points you want to allocate into which of your skill categories.) The way that the designers have put all this together and set it up so that it.. actually seems relatively well balanced.. is sheer genius. One of the more interesting aspects of the game, to me, even to this day, is trying out different "builds," or configurations of skills and attribute points.
  
  The next thing I noticed was an extremely gratifying absence of finding myself waiting around for things. You never ever have to wait around for health or mana to regenerate, in this game, for more than a few seconds. Nor do you ever find yourself waiting around for a "rare spawn" or a "rare drop." (That is probably the most annoying aspect, to me, of many MMORPGs. I've always felt there has to be a better way to allow players to differentiate themselves from each other than by seeing who's willing to wait around the longest for the rarest monsters to spawn, and then drop the rarest equipment. Guild Wars attempts to set things up so that players can actually differentiate themselves by showing superior skill in configuring and handling their character.) You can take a character from level 1 to the highest level possible in the shortest time of any RPG I've played, and that, too, is a very gratifying lack of waiting around.
  
  But, while the game gains much in technology, cleverness, and near-instant-gratification, I feel it unfortunately loses more in other areas. Inspite of the superior graphics, the sense of being immersed in an alternate reality is just not there. As far as that goes, it's really more like a multiplayer arcade game than it is like an on-line role playing game. Why is that? How is it that Guild Wars fails to create this sense nearly as well as other games do? Well, one reason is the complete absence of players (outside of your current selected team) anywhere in the game except in the cities. In a game like World of Warcraft, or EverQuest, you can encounter other players in just about any part of the game universe, not just in the cities and towns. Another reason is the complete absence of player item crafting. The entire purpose of going anywhere and doing anything in Guild Wars is always to fight monsters (and get experience points and drops). Other games have player crafting systems that allow players to create or improve weapons and armor or any of a wide variety of things, and affect the game world in some way.. actually participate, in a sometimes relatively substantive way, in the economy of the alternate world. Examples of such crafting efforts might include jewel crafting, black smithing, cooking.. even simply fishing. In other games, you might be out on a dock or a beech somewhere, working on your character's fishing skill, and encounter another player out there doing the same thing, and strike up a friendly conversation. Never does anything like this ever happen in Guild Wars.
  
  Sadly, the efforts of MMORPG's to engage players in developing item crafting skills, and in other non-"hack and slash" activities have been frought with a variety of problems, and have tended to sort of run their course over time, so that the activities are less and less rewarding, and fewer and fewer players bother with them. Still, it seems to me that completely giving up on the whole idea (the way Guild Wars essentially does) is the wrong approach, because a large part of the fun of logging into an on-line game is the feeling of being immersed in an alternate reality, and inspite of their extremely eggregious problems, player crafting systems and random out-in-there-in-the world player encounters definiely adds a lot to the game. Other games are definitely much better at creating the sense of being in an alternately reality than Guild Wars is. I think it's for that reason that lots of people say things like "Guild Wars is fun for a while, WoW (or whatever) is fun for life."
  
  Welp, that's my two bits. I hope it was helpful. :)
  
  
• WARNING: You WILL become addicted!!
  By AUHB8EI4DSY85 on 2005-07-05
  First off, before I start, I am not a huge online gamer, in fact this is the only one I have ever played. This game is incredible!! I just have to warn you however, if you have a life: kids, job, school, etc. DO NOT start playing this game, it is easily the most addicting game I have ever played.
  
  What is great about this game is that if you are not big into fighting with other gamers, you don't have to. You can get very far on your own, you just need to use the henchmen. There are a few times in which you are required to use other gamers and some things you just won't be able to do on your own but they are few and far between.
  
  I highly recommend this game.....it is the most fun I have had with a PC game in a VERY long time.
  
  
• An online rpg for everyone
  By A1TYWR6GOOU62J on 2004-11-02
  The most interesting aspect of this game would have to be the fact that as soon as you start playing its instant action. You dont have to spend an hour forming a group to do a quest. You can even bring computer controlled characters with you to do a quest without even bothering to form a group which is also a plus. The graphics are quite nice and the interface is as well. The fact you dont have to pay a monthly fee for it is a huge plus because paying 15dollars a month to play a game can be costly for someone like myself who is a student. Overall I believe this is a solid game that everyone should check out.
  
  
• Fun Game
  By A2ACJ55JHHJ3FU on 2005-05-02
  I played City Of Heroes for about 8 months before I became satisfied with it and was looking for another online game to play. Preferrably a new one.
  
  I heard that NCSOFT (the same maker of COH) was releasing GW... so I made the jump to this game.
  
  First of all, this game is a bit more complicated than COH. COH is more sugar, while this particular game has more meat..
  
  You can have teams, and you have missions to complete. And this is pretty much the same formula as most games online... but the different skills that you get are pretty neat in this game.
  
  Example, you can choose to have two different skills... I play a ranger, and as such, I have ranged (bow and arrow) skills... I also chose to have melee skills... and you get to put different skill enhancements into the 8 slots.. but you can, if you choose ... just stack one type in the 8 slots.. for me, I have put all my ranged/ranger skill slots in all of the 8 slots... since I enjoy shooting at range instead of doing melee... but I can keep the other skills in my power base.. and use them if I so choose to load them up and strap on a sword.
  
  This is what is good about NCSOFT, they give you choice.. I could easily get bored shooting a bow and arrow, and I can swap things around and use a sword... and NOT have to start all over with a new character.
  
  Enjoyable gameplay and I really think the different plot twist in the game are fun... I do enjoy the different movies the game shows from time to time using your character in the actual movie shorts... that is a nice touch.
  
  You also have a lot of choice on how you look, can purchase dye's to color whatever uniform you so choose to use. Lots of choice..
  
  4 out of 5 for sure.
  
  
• My Comparison to Guild Wars vs. World of Warcraft
  By AOKM449R7UEI6 on 2007-08-20
  I have played World of Warcraft (WoW) for quite some time. Guild Wars and WoW are probably two of the most popular online RPGs right now, I felt there should be a review that compares the two side by side. These are my own personal opinions on the advantages and disadvantages of playing Guild Wars and is mostly geared toward those who understand WoW mechanics.
  
  Disadvantages of Guild Wars:
  
  - Cumbersome UI, very difficult to send /tells or /whispers in-game. Vent Servers are a must if you're PvPing with guildmates. WoW is streamlined in this case.
  
  - No Jump button. You can't jump down to other areas, despite being two feet away from it. This was so annoying when I didn't know where to go.
  
  - Click attacking. I hate it. You can tab-target mobs and enemies, but in order to take a swing at them you need to use your mouse button and aim/click their icon. WoW lets you have an attack button if you wish, or you can click.
  
  - Below Average Community. Good luck finding help with quests in the game, or help with finding an NPC. You can't tell who is where in your guild, and sending random tells for help rarely get answered.
  
  Advantages:
  
  - Caters to casual. This is a game for people who enjoy RPGs, but aren't into actually "becoming" their characters. The game actually tells you in your chat bar when to take a break (Usually two hours logged in).
  
  - No Increased time commitment. WoW sucks you in initially with the easy interface, but requires more and more time if you want to progress in content after the level cap. You can essentially play the same amount in Guild Wars from the beginning to end, and still be able to see everything in the game.
  
  - Enjoyable PvP. I was very suprised how incredibly hard it was to take someone down. You don't get "one-shotted" by a warlock like in WoW or lose half your health to a critical strike form a rogue. 90% of the pvp has nothing to do with your gear, but what skills you bring into the fight. Yes there are classes better suited to kill others, but it isn't as easy as you might believe. Fights last minutes, not seconds. You need real strategy to take someone down, not superior gear.
  
  - Balanced. WoW has progressively gotten worse with balancing classes (ask any Paladin or end-game Rogue). Guild Wars has the best balance of each class, and the ability to redo your character for free at any time. No time commitment necessary.
  
  - Progressive PvE. Despite the stigma that end-game Guild Wars is all PvP, there is actually a 40+ hour PvE based storyline for each campaign (120 hours total, not including other modes). There is even a hard mode after you finish the normal one. Similar to the "heroic" dungeons of WoW.
  
  - Easy quest / crafting system. You don't need a guide to follow the quests or to craft in the game. Read the instructions in-game and you can figure it out on your own. Quests are marked on your map, no need for sites to tell you the location.
  
  - Free Max Level PvP character. You don't need to be level 70 or 80 to enjoy PvP content anymore. Just make one in 5 minutes.
  
  - No loot wars! I've seen plenty of guilds disband over loot systems and DKP crap. Loot is essentially eliminated in Guild Wars, so all that is looked at is progression.
  
  Synopsis:
  Guild Wars essentially "woke me up" to the fact that I don't have to spend more time playing a game to enjoy the benefits. I simply don't enjoy WoW end-game as much as I do Guild Wars and made the switch based on that.
  
  I recommend Guild Wars to any WoW veteran that doesn't have a lot of time to invest in online RPGs anymore, but still enjoys playing one. WoW is a great game, but the developers tend to push you a certain way and require a greater time commitment for "the good stuff". I believe Guild Wars was developed for people who want to enjoy the good stuff but still want to enjoy real life. With the game being 30 dollars since I wrote this review and free to play, picking up a copy wouldn't hurt if you're interested in trying something different. Guild Wars may not be considered the best or most played MMO out there, but it certainly changed my perspective.
  
  
• It's Like Crack....And It's Free...Can't Beat That
  By AU6J38T14L8RF on 2005-05-05
  Yeah it's addictive. Yeah you'll spend hours sitting in front of your computer ignoring laundry, dishes and loved ones. You may even get the inevitable mouse hand cramp but it's worth it.
  I won't get into all the little details that so many reviewers before me have (and do a better job I might add)but I will say that this is far and away the best online game I've played in quite sometime. The game draws you into teaming with others and rewards those ventures accordingly. Yeah sometimes you get a dunderhead in your group that charges head first without thinking. It's ok you just don't ressurect him, that oughta learn em. But for the most part you'll find people to be truly helpful and even nice. Hmm...who knew? Can't handle a quest on your own? Just shout out and within minutes someone is offering you a group to join with or giving a helpful hint. The spirit of comraderie is always present, I have personally performed quests multiple times just to help out someone who hadn't completed it yet. And you know what...even that is fun.
  
  Oh and the controls couldn't be simpler, if you can use a mouse you can play this game. That's it. No complicated menus or keyboard smashing. See a baddie you want to smush? Click on it and watch your character beat it up. It's that easy.
  I hope this was helpful.
  
  
• Well Balanced between PvP & PvE
  By A2WSVBL6NH1ZWO on 2005-06-14
  The essence of Guild Wars is Player vs. Player mode, but the game is designed in such a way that players are also forced to go through the story at least once. This is achieved through the skills system, where players are forced to undergo missions within the game in order to unlock special skills. These skills range from offensive abililites and spells, defensive spells, and misc. abilities. Each character has 8 slots for skills, and so unlocking skills, which in turn allow customization for PvP mode, becomes paramount.
  
  The game offers players flexibility by allowing 2 classes per character, no class restriction on weapons, and the special skills for each class. As mentioned in another customer review, the classes are balanced in a rock-paper-scissors-like manner, where one class would have an advantage over another of the six available classes.
  
  Each copy of Guild Wars comes with one user account, where 4 characters can be created under the same account. You're given the option of creating a character in either the PvE mode (where you under missions to unlock skills), or PvP mode (where you start at maximum level of 20, with access to unlocked skills from your other characters). In addition, at a certain point within the PvE mode, the player can buy storage space, which would allow items to be switched among the 4 characters under the same account. This setup creates a strong incentive for PvP fans to run through the PvE mode in order to unlock the skills needed for PvP mode. At the same time, the story within PvE mode is fairly intricate, and PvE fans will enjoy it a lot.
  
  Notwithstanding these wonderful aspects of GW, there are a few glaring flaws within the game. First, the terrain in GW has levels that the player characters can't reach. The unreachable parts are poorly defined, and sometimes it gets frustrating trying to figure out why you can't reach a certain point shown on the minimap.
  
  Second, when you go inside a dungeon, the normal map (full screen) doesn't show the dungeon. And sometimes it's preferable to look at the full sized map, rather than the tiny minimap.
  
  Third, there are parts of the PvE campaign where you are FORCED to be involved in a PvP fight. And I disagree with that. There are areas in the PvE campaign where you could choose to join PvP fights, and that's fine. But why force PvE fans to join PvP fighting? It just doesn't make sense to me.
  
  Fourth, storage space is an issue. Your character's storage for items is limited to his equipment, a backpack, a belt pouch, 2 bags, and a shared storage among your 4 characters. Quick frankly, that's still not enough, b/c you need slots to carry mission items, and also ingredients. Also, my characters use multiple weapon sets (arrow, sword and shield, etc.) depending on the monster I'm fighting, and that equipment takes up a lot of slots.
  
  Nonetheless, Guild Wars is an enjoyable game regardless of your personal style of play. And it is highly recommended for everyone.
  
  
• For Casual Not Hardcore Gamers
  By A25Z0ZEAHMYXQC on 2005-06-26
  This game had awesome potential but i think they rushed the development. Unlike most MMORPG's, all people are human in this. They make up for this by having 2 classes u can be at a time. (You can change your second class about 3/4 through the game.) I do not have a credit card so I bought this over World of Warcraft because this game doesn't ask fo any personal information except your email address. At this point of the games surreal economy everything costs lots of gold pieces (the currency) so it encourages farming (going out by yourself and killing for no point except getting rare items and gold). The developers are working on this but it is still a problem.
  
  I think this is the best PvP MMO in a really long time. However, it will take lots of time to get any good items for your PvP character because they are rare and expensive when you unlock them in a rpg character.
  
  If you plan on wasting a lot of time on an MMORPG over the summer or something, just buy a different World of Warcraft. I beat this game in under a month, my first character, in 90 hours where i had no idea what i was doing.
  
  For the casual gam person this is definitley for you because of the no monthly charge.
  
  BTW to stingy adults buying this: the gaming community is very immature as many pre-adolescents bought this because they couldn't afford any other MMORPG!!!
  
  
  
  
  
• WTF?
  By A2J2TZBXG0PED4 on 2005-06-30
  Some of you people are f***ing morons. The one that really got me, said that he didn't like the game because The name was inaccurate. One review said it wasn't as good a other mmorpg's because you could only play as a human.(no, he wasn't a 12yo social retard) I mean really, one of my big problems with other online rpg's was the fact that they were to fantasy based, and just plain kid game based. No true gamer will play mmorpg's because they're filled with moron kids without jobs, or lives for that matter. One big reason I love Guildwars is because it has normal people with normal lives, so what if they can only play an hour a day or once a week, these are my people. These people are the people who go from playing guild wars to Counter Strike. Not to mention the game being well built fun and interactive for people with said lives.
  
  
• Gorgeous game, but very unbalanced
  By A2WPQUDZSARBG3 on 2005-07-27
  Guild Wars is an absolutely gorgeous game, but don't be fooled by what you read elsewhere, it is under no circumstance an MMORPG. It is a co-operative, online RPG. What's the difference? In an MMORPG the multitude of players can all affect the game world around you, in Guild Wars, they only affect your world when you are in a town. When you are off exploring or are off on a mission, you are literally in your own little world of Guild Wars essentially playing your own RPG, and only people in your group (a maximum of 6 including your own character and other players and/or Henchmen NPCs) can affect it. All those thousands of other people you left back in town have no bearing on your version of Guild Wars until you return to a town.
  
  Guild Wars is very easy to learn and simple to play if you have even the slightest knowledge of other computer RPGs. The trouble with Guild Wars is that the developers want to force you to play with other players, and try to discourage you from going it alone as it were with only Henchmen to help you. In fact, they have made it impossible to "Ascend" in the game (your ultimate goal) unless you complete three specific missions with real players in your group. If you only use Henchmen, you will not be allowed to "Ascend". The trouble is that not everyone playing Guild Wars is there to finish the game. They just want to screw around, chat, etc. and have no interest in the real goals of the game. Many forum posts complain about people who begin a mission with a group only to have one or more members of the group take off leaving the rest of the party to fend for themselves. Consequently, many people can't be bothered playing with groups, and go with the NPC Henchmen instead. Of course, if you have a group of friends who all play together you can avoid that problem.
  
  The biggest problem with the game is that it is extremely unbalanced. Early in the game you run into small, easily handled groups of three or maybe four creatures which are usually the same level as your own group. You isolate one group of three at a time, defeat them and move on to the next group. At later stages of the game, the groups are often larger, clumped so close together that you can't isolate just one, and they are often higher level than anyone in your group. Be prepared to die over and over and over and over again (since it's an online game, there are no saved games, if you don't complete the mission before you die, you have to start all over again). Frankly it becomes tedious, since every time you die, you basically have to start from scratch again and re-do all that you had accomplished before.
  
  The other major flaw in the game is the economic system. The developers say that they want players to be able to concentrate on the joy of gameplay and not have to worry about scrambling to get the best weapopn or armour. Consequently, there are no mega weapons or mega armour sets in the game. What weapons and armour there are, you have to buy from "crafters". Thesse are artisans who make your weapon or armour from raw materials you provide, but finding all the necessary materials, can be incredibly time consuming (literally taking days in some cases). You can of course buy the material from merchants, but the costs are nothing short of astronomical given how little gold is to be found in the game. The best set of armour in the game sells for 15,000 gold pieces per item (plus the cost of the materials if you can't find everything you need in the wild), and there are six pieces of armour per set. 15,000 gold doesn't sound too bad until you discover that you only find gold in small amounts of 20 to 50 on average, one tenth of that in the early stages of the game. Selling items doesn't get you anywhere any faster either. An item that a merchant sells for say 400 gold pieces will probably only bring you 25 or 30 gold pieces if you want to sell it to a mercahnt. The prices in general are simply ridiculous. So, you want to buy a vial of black dye to colour your hauberk that you spent 150 gold pieces (plus materials) on? That vial of dye will cost you up to 4,000 gold pieces. Want to buy a rune to put on your gaunlets that will improve your swordsmanship by three whole points? That rune will cost you 45,000 gold pieces, again the sword probably only cost you 150 gold (plus the cost of materials). Monsters killed in the game do drop small quantities of gold (less than 100 gold pieces), but not every monster drops gold, and the gold that is dropped is divided amoung the six members of your party, so don't count on getting rich from it.
  
  So, the game is beautiful, easy to learn, and fun to play. It is also tedious, frustrating, unbalanced, with an economic system that would drive Mr. Alan Greenspan (chairman of the Federal Reserve) to drink. I played the game for hours on end every day for weeks, but finally got sick and tired of the lack of balance and the economics; moved on to Act of War, one of the best RTS games I've ever played, but I suppose that requires a separate review.
  
  
• Nice change from the norm.
  By A1EYZPYSYGX4PU on 2005-09-04
  I was thinking of getting into MMORPGs and couldn't decide between WoW or Guild Wars. I decided on Guild Wars for two reasons: 1) It dosen't have a monthly fee, which is good cause I'm broke and 2) the website said it worked well on dial-up (i live in the middle of nowhere so i can't get DSL). I am very happy I bought this game. My graphics card is VERY bad ( I have an Intel 82845 preloaded card) but I can still run Guild Wars on maximum specs without lag (i only lag in towns).
  
  I was very surprised and relieved by the fact that my dial-up modem works great with Guild Wars (I get about 49k). I would definatly buy this game if your new to MMOs or may not have great computer specs. This game is very nOOb freindly and is a good stepping stone to the big MMO's (like WoW or Everquest) that will steal your soul and dispell any thoughts of love or companionship. This game is very easy to get into (and out of) and is highly recommended for the casual gamer who wants to keep control of their life but still be in the MMO scene.
  
  
• Very Dissapointed player coming from World of Warcraft....
  By API7UGE1NBDZF on 2005-09-26
  This game is OK, kind of like how supermarket-brand soda drinks are OK compared to Coke or Dr Pepper. Odd analogy, but that's kind of what this game is.
  
  This game is World of Warcraft, minus all the fun stuff that makes that game great. There are battles, monsters and walking around. That's it. The envoroment is like a 3D super mario, you can't walk down hillsides, you can't jump over a fence. If someone is in your way they block you until you can move again.
  
  The battle sequences are pretty, and the effects are neat, but all it makes me want to do is go play World of Warcraft. I like doing the stupid things in WOW like fishing and working on my skills and such. It's fun, and the interaction between people in WOW is on a whole other level.
  
  Read these reviews carefully. Note how many people, even on the positive reviews, make statements like "you can only talk to people in villages" or "it's not fully MMORPG" or "All you do is fight in battles". That is ALL this game is about - fighting in battles. There's no story (it's WEAK), there's no real-time party joining, there's not much at all to this game except battle after battle after battle.
  
  I'm not trying to be biased, but after playing WOW for a few weeks Guild Wars doesn't even compare. If you're looking for a MMORPG but don't want to pay a monthly fee I guess you're stuck with Guild Wars. You might as well go buy Half Life 2 or Call of Duty.
  
  So dissapointed......
  
  

• PC Gamer (1-year)

• Guild Wars Factions
• Guild Wars Nightfall
• Guild Wars: Eye Of The North - Expansion Pack
• World of Warcraft Battlechest
• World of Warcraft