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- Video Games (http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/forumdisplay.php?f=77)

- - Guild Wars (http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=423047)

I've been playing World of Warcraft for the last 6 months or so but I'm tired of paying the monthly fee so I'm quiting. My brother has a copy of Guild Wars that he doesn't play anymore so I'm thinking of starting up a character. Anyone play?

I'm basically looking for any general advice for a newbie and some suggestions on what professions to pick (you get 2, right?). I played a shaman in WoW but I enjoyed playing almost all the classes. The only ones I did not like were rogues and hunters. I would also like to choose a class that I can solo effectively with. I would prefer to minimize my dependency on grouping with other players because I'm not always available to play to long stretches of time and I feel bad when I have to leave a group in the middle of something. So is there a profession combo that is more well suited for playing on my own? Any and all advice is welcome. Thanks.

So no one has played this?

I got a copy of this with a free 14 day trial on PC Format DVD. I might give it a spin, but to be honest, I don't expect much from it.

14 day trial? There is no monthly fee. I don't expect it to be as big or addictive as WoW, but the no monthly fee and good reviews have me willing to give it a shot.

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So no one has played this?

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I haven't played it, but as far as I know, it's a bit different in terms of starting out, compared to WoW -- something along the lines of the player being able to choose whether to start with a brand new low level character or go straight to having a high level character that's ready for dueling. Didn't really appeal to me... even though I haven't played it, and having only played a month of WoW back in March, I'd probably go back to WoW as opposed to play GW, even with the monthly fee.

Bah... I'm just waiting for a brand new bigtime MMORPG to come out that I can sink my teeth into from the start. But I don't want to play LOTRO, for some reason.

Roll lv 20 pvp characters, find which combo works best for you.

Warrior /Monk seems to be what your going for, and happens to be the most populated class combo.

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I've been playing World of Warcraft for the last 6 months or so but I'm tired of paying the monthly fee so I'm quiting. My brother has a copy of Guild Wars that he doesn't play anymore so I'm thinking of starting up a character. Anyone play?

I'm basically looking for any general advice for a newbie and some suggestions on what professions to pick (you get 2, right?). I played a shaman in WoW but I enjoyed playing almost all the classes. The only ones I did not like were rogues and hunters. I would also like to choose a class that I can solo effectively with. I would prefer to minimize my dependency on grouping with other players because I'm not always available to play to long stretches of time and I feel bad when I have to leave a group in the middle of something. So is there a profession combo that is more well suited for playing on my own? Any and a

All advice is welcome. Thanks.

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Ah Guild Wars, how much do I love thee. Ahem, uh, ok well, first thing to remember about Guild Wars is that soloing WoW style is an impossibility. It's all about grouping. Fortunately, there are pretty good AI controlled henchmen and special ones you can customise, so you don't have to play with human players who are often stupider than the stupidest AI at all.

This means that any profession combo can work, though some need a bit more game knowledge to properly exploit. One very popular choice is Warrior/Monk - pretty obviously a guy who can fight and heal himself. Take a look at this site to see a whole load of builds that people have come up with. Just experiment, really. The thing that's so great about the GW system is that characters are extremely flexible; you can change your secondary profession as many times as you like, and there are so many skills that it's certainly true that no one character is the same.

You can start the game with a full level character but you can only use it for PvP. For the main game / storyline you have to start at level 1. Also you're just getting the level attributes themselves and start off with low level equipment and just a basic skill set. It's basically a system which lets people get into PvP competitively right away but still rewards people who have put the time in.

I should also say that GW is a very different game from WoW. It's not really an MMORPG at all, even its designers admit that. It's absolutely not about grinding; the level cap is 20 and you'll get there relatively quickly, and many would say that the game only really starts once you're at 20.

GW is almost entirely about combat, both PvE and PvP, though they are practically separate worlds. There isn't the same sense of community as in WoW, in fact, most of the time you won't even see other human players outside of towns unless you choose to group with them. It's seriously fun, tactical combat though, and tougher quests and missions will require solid strategy. So while quests do basically boil down to going somewhere and killing everything, it's pretty enjoyable. Missions often pose more complex challenges, and are much shorter than a WoW dungeon.

GW's also a lot more story focused than WoW; there are primary quests that advance the plot, and each mission is plot central. There's absolutely loads to do outside of the story related quests though, so don't worry about linearity.

Leveling from 1-20 and completing the main quest in guild wars w/ my guildies was so fun. After that the game drops off (like all mmos)

The games main quest is REALLY REALLY good, and very long as well. Now there are 3-4 main quests, (expnasions) I only completed the 1st but it was SICK.

If you plan to pvp competitively and don't buy the PvP editions, then this game has a whole lot of grinding. Almost as bad as WoW.

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If you plan to pvp competitively and don't buy the PvP editions, then this game has a whole lot of grinding. Almost as bad as WoW.

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Don't really understand this considering you can create a level 20 character from scratch. If you're referring to the fact that you start off with few of the total available skills, then I guess I see what you're saying, though it's not really a big deal.

I have the original Guildwars plus the Nightfall expansion. I have never played WoW.

Things I like about GW.
No monthly fee.
Doesn't feel like a grind. Like someone else said you hit the level 20 cap fairly quick. After that, it is all about skills. Also, you don't have to be online for 4-5 hours to feel like you've accomplished something, you can get stuff done to progress thru the game with just an hour or two a day.
Each prof has about 100 or so skills. You also have a secondary prof with 100 or so skills.
Each prof has 4 attributes, 1 of these is a primary attribute and can only be used if your character has that prof as his main profession, not secondary.
The catch is you can only take 8 skills with you at once. So it is all about finding skills that really work well together. A lot of the fun is discovering new builds and new ways skills interact.
Everything starts in towns. Where you form a party, either all human controlled, all AI controlled, or a mix. There may be 100 or more human players in each town. Once you form a party, you leave town to the explorable areas. In explorable areas, it is only your party and enemies as well NPC characters. SO you dont see random people running all over. It gives the game more of a feeling that you are actually doing something to progress the storyline.
Each chapter of guild wars has a definate storyline, that you follow, but you can still explore all around the world.
The ability to use AI controlled players is nice, suppose your in some remote town and the right class isn't available to team up with you, you can have the AI take the roll. Also, for some AI characters, you can set their skill bars to really compliment yours to get some combinations you may not have with strictly human players.
Another benefit of AI players is the game can be as multiplayer as you want.
As with any MMORG, there is farming if you want, super high end areas that are very difficult, etc.

PVP
I don't PVP much, I prefer PVE. there is no PVP in the PVE area, so you dont have random people attacking you. Instead there are PVP arenas.

Again, I think the no monthly fee is pretty huge. If you don't feel like playing for a while, you don't feel obligated to play.

Like WoW, there are guilds you can join. Some focus on PVE, some PVP, some both. The guild system is pretty good as far as I'm concerned.

Check out guildwarsguru.com or guildwiki.org for more info.
Send me a PM on twoplustwo if you need some help in game to get started.

Edit to add example of attribute system:
Say your class is a monk.
monk has 4 attributes. divine favor (boosts other attributes), healing, protection, smiting. You have enough points at lvl 20 to max out 2 of these, and raise another 1 or 2 levels.
so even in the monk class, you have decisions on what kind of monk to make. A healing monk boosted with divine favor, a protection monk boosted with divine favor, a healing & protection monk, etc. Then you have to pick which skills fit best. So a lot of thought goes into it from a tactical standpoint. (This may be same as WoW, but like I said, I've never played it.)

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If you plan to pvp competitively and don't buy the PvP editions, then this game has a whole lot of grinding. Almost as bad as WoW.

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Don't really understand this considering you can create a level 20 character from scratch. If you're referring to the fact that you start off with few of the total available skills, then I guess I see what you're saying, though it's not really a big deal.

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You can create a lvl 20 character immediately, but only use it for PVP. All PVE characters start at Lvl 1.
This way, if you want to jump into PVP right away, you have a much better chance.

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If you plan to pvp competitively and don't buy the PvP editions, then this game has a whole lot of grinding. Almost as bad as WoW.

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Haven't played WoW, but I don't think the grind in guildwars is bad at all.

If you want a max damage sword with max upgrades, it isn't too hard to get.
If you want a max damage sword with max upgrades that has a design no one else has, then it takes a long grind.
But then its just because you want a special design, not because its just to get a max damage sword.

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If you plan to pvp competitively and don't buy the PvP editions, then this game has a whole lot of grinding. Almost as bad as WoW.

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Haven't played WoW, but I don't think the grind in guildwars is bad at all.

If you want a max damage sword with max upgrades, it isn't too hard to get.
If you want a max damage sword with max upgrades that has a design no one else has, then it takes a long grind.
But then its just because you want a special design, not because its just to get a max damage sword.

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Basically all the real competitive guilds want you fully unlocked on skills/weapons upgrades. That means all the classes in the game, not just the ones you prefer to play. With 3 expansions unlocking all the skills/elites/upgrades takes awhile and it is a pretty time consuming grind.

But from what I hear now about the game now, they have PvP editions, which are the way to go if you are wanting to be in a competitive guild.

Also, this is just from my experience from when I used to play and was in a consistent top 20 guild.

The game bored me within a month. I'll sell you my account over PS. I have the 1st two expansions and the promo disc/items for the third. Send a PM.