Guild Wars Major Milestone
In just five months this NCSoft and ArenaNet production has swept through the world of MMOs to assert itself as an up-and-coming force to be reckoned with. Requiring absolutely no monthly registration fee, which is a large gold star in its favour and no doubt responsible for some of its popularity, Guild Wars has announced the sale of its 1,000,000th game.
Other pros? The plot is mission-based rather than continuous and gamers can meet up with their friends to complete a mission without fear of interference from opposing squads since each has a completely unique copy of the mission map. Also included is the possibility of PvP action and guild warring, where you can slash your way to world dominion atop the worldwide guild rank ladder. The official site touts the amount of choice in the game, which allows you to instantly travel to the beginning of any quest that you’ve previously unlocked, and the ability to create up to four different characters with one Guild Wars account.
Guild Wars heroes come in all types: male and female, large and small, and in any of 36 combinations of the six professions: Warrior, Ranger, Monk, Elementalist, Mesmer, and Necromancer. With more than 150 unique skills per character, which can be combined for any number of effects, the possibilities are mind boggling.
Cons? I don’t have a copy.
The game is surprisingly fun if you’ve got a good group of friends. The dual class system leads to an interesting array of characters and abilities, though you will see some fairly common pairings, but you definately get a bit more customization into your character that way. Another cool feature is that there are no “Servers” per se. As with most MMORPGS you choose your server and tell all your friends to play on that one. With Guild Wars everyone’s on the same server, but there just happen to be different “Districts” within the game. These only appear in cities or “safe” areas. So basically you join the game and tell your friends to meet you in district 11 or something. Quite handy. I absolutely loved the instancing of the mission world. It really felt like you yourself were doing the quests and you weren’t stuck in a queue waiting to take down one NPC who spawns every 20 minutes. And of course, everyone’s favorite. No monthly fee. You just pay for the additional content that they release.
It was actually a friend who suggested I get it, because he needed someone to team up with to slash the baddies. I still don’t have a copy, much to my annoyance.
All of the differences from typical MMORPGs makes it very appealing to someone like myself, who is extraordinarily impatient, and poor.
I keep wanting to check out Guild Wars. The no monthly fee factor is incredibly appealing now that I’m an unemployed French student.
We could get a little guild together and kick some butt? I know someone else that plays, and I’m sure we could convert others.
This game is brilliant. It is one of the few MMORPG games out there that is based on pure skill. In other games, the purpose is to level up and squash all of the other little players under you. In Guild Wars, it doesn’t matter what level you are, you can beat anyone if you have the skill set necessary.
One of the commonly quoted drawbacks to this game is the level 20 cap. Yes folks, the maximum level you can reach is 20. You will soon forget and get over it as it just means that there is a more balanced playing field between the players.
The best feature ?? You do not have to worry about high level players jumping a low level party and taking all of their items. In this game, items that are dropped by monsters are assigned randomly to players. Also, this game is composed of districts, or safe areas. In these safe areas you may conduct trade, buy items, and get quests. Once you leave the safe area, you are outside only with your party. You won’t encounter anyone else.
This game is extremely challenging but very simple to get into. What you see on your screen is what you use. You won’t have to drill down twelve menus to cast a spell.
Thank you ArenaNet and NCSoft.
Hey, Erin, you’re on! I’ll go get it on my next outing. :)
Oooh… tempting for me to get it too ;-)
You’re all on! We can make a b5 + Kamyar guild. Now I need to go get the game!