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WoW Refugee loves this game! It won't eat your life away!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: August 14, 2005
Author: Amazon User

WoW was my first MMO. They hyped it as being everyman's online RPG. As I hit 60, however, I realized that the game is reserved for the most hardcore of video game players to do well. Every time I hopped on a gryphon to anywhere, it was enough to make me weep--knowing that it would be thirty minutes to an hour before my entire group was at the instance. And my wife missed my company because the game was so involved.

Guild Wars removes the grinding, the ridiculously long quests, and the dependence on who has the highest level or the best gear. There's a place for hardcore people here, too, but I was glad to find something that fit my lifestyle.

Many of the quests are short and sweet, requiring a minimal amount of time to finish. If you do quests, you'll hit maximum level long before you're done with the game, which is nice. Finding a group is never difficult; every area you enter is filled with people, 90% of whom are after the same quests you are (otherwise they would be somewhere else.) And if you're short a healer, you can always grab AI controlled ones. Not as smart, but very useful.

Travelling is nice, too. Click a town you've been to and BOOM...you're there. It's a nice change from 15-45 minute gryphon+horse ride.

And the game doesn't focus on who has the best stuff, either. Every player is unique in what they are capable of--how good you are depends only on your creativity and thoughtfulness, not how long you spent searching for a single piece of gear.

With being able to pick two professions, it goes a step further and lets you design skill combinations that complement each other, making you a very formidable player if you know what you're doing.

If you have a life, I recommend this game wholeheartedly. It won't consume you, but it's still nonstop fun no matter what class you pick.

Nice change from the norm.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: September 04, 2005
Author: Amazon User

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.

Gorgeous game, but very unbalanced

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: July 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

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.

WARNING: You WILL become addicted!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 16
Date: July 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

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.

Not mean't for online losers

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 14 / 18
Date: June 10, 2005
Author: Amazon User

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.

There is not much left unsaid!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: May 04, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The game is quite involved, and fun to play. If you are used to the "go anywhere" style of movement that you found in City of Heroes, it will take you time to adjust to running around in maze-like conditions. Leveling is not quick, and there is no mechanism for Power-Levelling.

If you are not very social, you can either solo, or create a team of NPCs to help you. If you are social, there are vast opportunities to meet people. If you prefer, you can even run your own black market.

Very cool. Highly recommended.

It's Like Crack....And It's Free...Can't Beat That

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 13
Date: May 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

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.

There's a reason it's #1

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: May 10, 2005
Author: Amazon User

If you like RPGs -- multiplayer, solo, player vs. player, player vs. environment (monsters) -- you'll love this game. You'll love the fantastic graphics and gameplay, you'll love playing without paying, and you'll love that whether you play or not, you're not pouring a monthly subscription down the drain. If you've never played an online RPG before, this is a great one to start with -- it's very easy to play, especially given the tutorial content in the early training missions.

This game is extremely fun to play, and it's huge -- you can easily explore it for hours, or just jump in, kill some stuff, and jump back out again. Basically, whatever your playing style, Guild Wars accomodates it.

As of this writing, Guild Wars is #1 pretty much everywhere, and rated 9 and 10 at the top gaming sites. There's a reason for that -- or more accurately, a lot of reasons. If you like a good RPG, or want to try one, check it out.

Great Online RPG

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: August 03, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Get into the action right away with this one. Nice, clean, pretty easy to get into. Pros: no online fees, no people stealing your treasure or waiting to ambush you during missions, can jump right into Player vs Player or Role play. Can go solo, in groups (just 2 in the beginning which is weird), guilds, even USA vs the other world servers. Not much lag or running either. And you can move your points around making it hard to mess up and make a weak character. Cons: A little linear, and I see expansions in the future. Also, no elves, gnomes, and such. Game might seem "light" if you're a WoW fan. I like it because it doesn't suck up the little bit of free time i have, easy to stop and start. Hopefully this babbling review helps you. ;)

Pure ONLINE RPG MAGIC.. A WINNER!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: January 14, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Guild Wars is a great game for the following reasons:

- very stable, tight and FAST online coding. Very solid effort by ArenaNet programmers.
- no monthly fee, so makes an excellent alternative to pay-per-month online games.
- patches on the fly. All patching is done quickly and usually behind the scenes as you play. Your games is always kept up to date up to the minute.
- beautiful graphics engine. Metals and fabrics in this game look wonderful.
- the playability is like Diablo on steroids. Huge landscapes, dungeons etc.. play is fast, and focuses on the fun part of RPG's.
- once you uncover an area, travel is instant. No running around senslessly for hours on end.
- PVE teaming is fast, and forces you to use your head to stay alive as a TEAM.
- PVP is downright FUN, and I haven't been much of a PVP fan up to this point.
- grouping with other folks to complete goals is facilitated VERY well in this game. Finding people to play with has never been easier.
- International GUILD competitions with purses up to $100,000 to the winning GUILD.

This game is a winner. Pure fun. Well designed. You can't go wrong here, even if you currently pay for a monthly-charge MMORPG because the play experience with this game is so different from anything else out there. GUILD WARS is a winner. Period.

cheers

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