Guild Wars, Part II
I stated that I would follow up on my original review of guild wars, entitled Guild Wars, In Brief. As I write this, I am now confident that I am not going to let you down. Now that I have participated in several hours of Player-versus-Player combat, taken 6 characters to level 7+, and am halfway through the game in terms of levels (10+), I feel it is time to write the second part of my Guild Wars review.
I will end this mini-review with my pros and cons rather than begin it that way, as I would much rather drone on a bit before giving you the brief, bullet-point summary. Let’s start off with a negative, as I enjoy the game so much that I should probably nitpick a little bit.
The community. No, I don’t necessarily have any problems with the actual people who play Guild Wars. In fact, they are far and away superior in personality to the community in World of Warcraft, and roughly equivalent to the community in EverQuest II. It isn’t necessarily the community itself who is at fault for this drawback to the game so much as the game systems working as intended. The community feel of Guild Wars is similar to that of Diablo. Go figure. The only areas where you really get to chat with a large number of people are the city districts, and these districts are often filled with random chatter that does nobody any good.
The sense of community that Guild Wars is missing is the sense of community that many MMOG players have come to love. It is the “we’re all in this together” sense of community. Why is it missing that? Well, because we aren’t all in this together. I feel close, to some extent, to many of my guildmates, but that is only because we have ourselves a nice chat channel to talk in. I do not feel close to anyone, save for two or three, outside of my guild, as I never really interact with them. The only people I talk outside of my guild are either real life friends who stayed with their guild from another game or people who I met in PvP and liked.
Guild Wars needs a few common hunting grounds to help foster its sense of community. The community is what drives massively multiplayer games. Instancing isolates that sense of community, for better or for worse, and distances you from the rest of the people you “play with.” ArenaNet would do well to add a few common grounds to each major area of the world that are complete with respawning mobs and lack the story-driven content that the rest of the game has. A lot of people would hang out in there just to grind and talk to each other. I will likely comment on my opinions on common PvP grounds in Part III or IV of my Guild Wars review, as I haven’t experienced PvP enough to really talk about it.
In addition to the overall community, Guild Wars has a hell of a lot of guilds. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing; I’m just stating that there are a lot of them. It’s difficult to find a guild that is your style without scouring the fansite forums all day. Personally, I look for guilds that have something to do with pirates. You have some options if you want to join one of those: Pirate Ninjas, Guild of Pirates, Pirates of B B Q Bay, and Pirate Scum come to mind (in order from best to worst website. I couldn’t find one for B B Q Bay, but the Pirate Scum site uses iframes, so it might as well not have one).
Okay, I should have called this Guild Wars, Part II, The Community. I would, save for the fact that I want to drop in a Pros and Cons list right about myah (not nearly complete, mind you):
Pros:
- The textures are vibrant. The world feels like a fantasy world, more so than any MMOG I have played.
- PvP. I don’t need to comment on this much. The fact that the game has PvP, and it isn’t horribly executed, means that the game gets a +1 in my book.
- Dyes and Dye Mixing. Heck yes. Another game with dyes, and this time with the ability to mix dyes together to produce another color. Eventually, everyone will be running around in all black, but that will end up shifting to only noobs wearing all black because everyone wants to look unique.
- The UI features some pretty cool things, such as the ability to friend someone once and see all of their alts, or guild someone once, and automatically have them join your guild (and you can see who their main is in there). You can customize it to an acceptable degree from within the game, and I expect some mods to appear for it soon.
- Capes and emblems are sweet. I like being able to display my guild emblem to the world, and seeing cool capes in another MMOG is cool, as they are slowly being forced into the standard features list in the genre. It would be nice to have the ability to toggle the capes off, however.
- There are plenty of nice emotes that you can use to impress your friends or communicate your RP skeelz. Now, if only the community were a little more of a community…
- Automatically assigned loot and shared coin is always a plus. I don’t have to worry about how we are handling loot, as the system does it for me.
- While Guild Wars does have zones, you zone extremely quickly. This is a good thing, my friends. This is a good thing.
- I really dig the Weapon Set concept. I can swap from my bow to a staff to a sword with the touch of a button. No more fumbling through my inventory during combat, or just saying “f it” because it is too cumbersome.
- Primary/Secondary Classes. These are most excellent. You can actually make your character the way you want to make it. I love how you inherit the majority of the skills that your secondary class has. Sexy.
- The map/radar are very good. I like the dotted Indiana Jones style trail that you leave on the map. It’s quite handy when you’re running around and want to figure out where the heck you were 15 minutes ago. The radar is also very cool in its ability to communicate information at a glance, not to mention the fact that you can draw all kinds of obscene images on it for your team to see.
- The game is very story-driven. This is something seen almost exclusively seen in single player RPGs, and it is very refreshing to see a game of this scale drive itself with an interesting story and script-based quests.
Cons:
- I can’t jump. It took me so long to get over this. I don’t really care if I’m still artificially limited in where I can go by annoying pathing, I want to jump.
- Speaking of annoying pathing and collision, GW’s pathing and collision are annoying. I can’t walk off cliffs, I can’t get around large trees that are relatively close to a zone edge, I can get trapped in a corner by my pet or henchmen (ugh), and I can’t swim. Some hero I am! Note that I’m pretty much over this now.
- The newbie area (pre-searing Ascalon) is big and cool. However, it is too damn big. I know many people who have quit before even leaving pre-searing Ascalon because the place was too big and the quests had too little reward for them. I personally was not hooked to the game until my first PvP battle and mission took place (the transition to post-searing Ascalon).
- The interface is missing some fundamental MMOG functionality, such as a /who command. You can’t find out what profession someone is unless you target them, even in the Friends or Guild window. There are very few commands. I didn’t know how much I loved commands (/time, /follow, /etc) until I didn’t have them to use.
- If you accidentally cast while moving, it consumes Energy. I would rather either have it force me to stop when I hit the key or just poof without consuming Energy.
I guarantee you that I missed some pros and cons, so I will add those to Part III or IV if I remember them.
Nice review. You do the minutae of the game a lot more justice than most ‘glances’ I have read. My only rebuttal would be to say that I don’t see how the WoW community is so bad, but your mileage may vary.
Capes and emblems are sweet! I like being able to display my guild emblem to the world, and seeing cool capes in another MMOG is cool, as they are slowly being forced into the standard features list in the genre. It would be nice to have the ability to toggle the capes off, however.
I also would like to be able to have the option to toggle the capes on and off, I like the detailed look for my character and oft times the cape also seems inappropriate, least of all Necromancers.
I agree that the emotes are wonderfully diverse but it seems pointless as few people actually utilize the range of them. Its most random naked dances (sigh) Oh Woe, for some small grinds with a few good players/people to get to know while grinding or questing.
I like the loot system as well. Less hassle since its all outside player control :p The weapon set concept I?m in love with! The convenience (swoon).
I spend days accidentally ?jumping my spacebar? in lapses of habit. I want to jump, even while running or something besides running or walking. I don?t care if I cant swim ? even jump can be pointless but its something for me to do while I run and run and run sometimes.
I would like a /who command as well. I concur on the need to know WHAT profession someone is sometimes and not have to ?guess? from the name or ask. Things like /follow, /time, /stats (for creatures killed and average xp gained per hour or something!)
Note: Experience and commentary is only gleamed from a week?s worth playtime.
a lot of the commands you complained about can be accomplished with hotkeys. and we have a /time its /age, /deaths can also be quite amusing 235 and climbing
You can also follow someone by selecting them and hitting the spacebar (the general “do standard action” command. If you have a monster selected, you attack; you follow friends; you talk to NPCs, etc.)
“ArenaNet would do well to add a few common grounds to each major area of the world that are complete with respawning mobs and lack the story-driven content that the rest of the game has. A lot of people would hang out in there just to grind and talk to each other. ”
This is exactly why I love GW. There’s no idiot discussion about Hulk vs. Superman, Star Wars vs. Star Trek, etc. There are no newbs spamming “where’s mob/spawn/npc/tree of stuff?” after the question has been answered 3 times already. The distinct lack of /ooc retardedness is a refreshing change. I hope ArenaNet never takes your suggestion to heart.
One bit of clarification. You said:
“[I] am halfway through the game in terms of levels (10+).”
The reason I point this out is because Guild Wars is really not about grinding and leveling. Many players say that the game doesn’t really begin until you hit the level cap (20). In fact, a large portion of the game (about 75%) is designed for level 20 characters, so unlike other RPGs where the game stops being challenging after exceeding an arbitrary level, Guild Wars is said to remain interesting and challenging.
Although the max level for this game is level 20, the monsters dont have a level cap. Most of the monsters in the higher level areas, (after you enter Kryta) are level 24, level 28 monsters. These missions you cannot do alone, and having a party cap of 8 people sometimes doesn’t seem enough!! This game definately doesn’t end when you hit level 20. Reaching level 20 only means that you’ll have a better chance of survival in the more challenging and rewarding lands of Tyria. Guildwars by far is the best value of any game out there. You get many hours of game time for a one time price… why not buy the collectors edition? On another note: Even if you venture into a mission with all level 20’s, if those players don’t play smart, you will all get slaughtered :p make sure you choose the right party members… and add the good players to your friends list. Another note: Once you get the Signet of Capture, and other special items, its fun to hunt out mob bosses to steal one of their “Elite” skills… or die trying.
As of this writing, i have a level 18 Elementalist/Monk… (Nuker/Healer)
Let me just begin this comment by saying that my friends and I are completely obsessed with this game. Ever since we began playing it last year in the E3 event, we’ve been completely hooked.
Now, to answer your complaints about the game, I will say that the invisible walls are very annoying. I hope that they will be fixed eventually.
Also, the newbie area may seem large, but the whole game is that way. To me, the newbie area defines what the rest of the game will be like. Stay away if you don’t like large games.
If I may talk of my personal experience, I like this game alot because it’s got alot more to do with skill than with levels.
I’ve been playing Guild Wars for a while now with 3 main characters, one at Level 11, one at 9 and one at 7. I love the beauty of the game and despite some of the cons, the pros outweigh them in such a large way that I dont really care
I play the game for an hour before leaving for work in the morning just to get my GW fix and I cant wait to develop my characters more and learn new skills.
Oh and I will always support GW as long as they continue their NO MONTHLY CHARGE to play policy and will NEVER play MMORPGs that charge players to play a game. Thats just wrong and stupid!
I have theory . i didnt try it out but perhap its possible to jump on space at least in height…
with the standard game comes a view of your tastatur and all effects it has…. on space there is written (translated from my german version) standard action
i think you are supposed to bind something there so why dont bind /jump there
Igenerally agree with all your pros, but none of your cons.
Can’t stand hopping players…
The pathing work out great for screening weaker party members from the badguys, but I haven’t been trapped in a corner by a pet yet…
I loved noob Ascalon. Poked around and did almost every quest…
And the casting while moving thing is much better than the “out of range” crap in WoW. If I target a mob and cast a spell, my character moves into range.
I love this review it does it’s justice, but there is one thing you forgot. The fact that Guild Wars is built on “stream” technology. This lets the producers and editors of the game add new stuff without you even knowing it, or waiting for weeks on end trying to get the next patch. Anything can be added/fixed at any time, so who knows all the stuff you hope for might be added later on in life.
Hey, nice reviews everyone… im really interested in the game…. not being able to jump really sucks… but its ok. I havent played yet, going to pick up the game on tuesday…. if you all dont mind, keep the reviews coming…. i was sad about the 20 lvl thingy, but then the “In fact, a large portion of the game (about 75%) is designed for level 20 characters” thing really helped. Thanks everyone….
Good article, looking forward to reading future installments. One correction though, you can jump… sort of. It’s an emote. Type “/jump” and you jump. Not what you mean I know.
Also, I disagree with Doogie. First, you do get the kind of ooc chatter he’s talking about. If there’s less of it, it’s because it’s spread over 20+ instances. Second, I think large-scale “battle grounds” are a neat idea, for similar reason to what you mentioned–it encourages more spontaneous play, the “us vs. them” helps form a community, large battles can be fun. Thing is, when you have a mob like this, tactics and strategy are mostly thrown out the window. Open combat areas also tend to attract gankers, kill stealers, and other deviants, something that GW’s by-invitation-only areas are free from. I think it can be done, and done well–if not necessarily easily–and would add an interesting 4th play option to the Explore PvE, Coop Missions, and PvP.
Way to slander our guild grouchy gnome. It would have been nice of you to at least to look past the iframes to the content on our website and forums. We have over 40 crewmembers and a lively forum with 2400 posts since it started in February. So maybe our website is not as pretty, but our community is the best.
Silicor
Pirate Scum
Sorry, silicor. I wasn’t really expecting to be taken seriously with that comment. Judging the worth of a guild based on their website, especially based on something as trivial as an iframe, is a little strange. That said, I joined the Pirate Ninjas.
u ppl are all dumb. y wait just go play the game, i cant, fixing computer.
I suggest you write this review after you finished the game not when you are lvl 10 ^^. You are not even on 1/4 of play time to get one chararcter done.
Your review is, IMO, a little to early
i completely agree the game really gets fun at and near the end and once you can really do some farming so publish the next one when you are lvl 20
Only thing i can say is.. wow and gw are for different audiences… however i must confess that i prefer WoW more because of many reasons and one of them is mentioned in this article - community. In GW i feel like 70% of the time i am playing an RPG instead of an MMORPG( i mean in WoW things keep happening around you without having the need for you to step into another world never to return to the previous).. there is not even a chat channel. No in game society is formed.. no virtual friendships are made and so on.. so what would really improve guild wars is to remove “unique instanced adventuring” and turn it into one whole big explorable world. (i also dig exploring in wow and spending time on gryphons - Warcraft fanatic)
Basically, if you didn’t play WoW before or for long enough… don’t say GW is better than it. Also if you are not willing to pay USD15/month for a game then don’t .. nobodys forcing you. Don’t complain just because you can’t afford something.
And for all the anti-WoW fans… please try WoW for at least a few months or even up to level 60. WoW is a really great experience if you ignore the immature losers.(Ignore last paragraph if you are one that will not commit just a few hours a week on average for a little virtual goodness).
Peace.
u can jump by typing in /jump but it does suck nice review tho 10 out of 10 for me
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