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Just Didn't Connect with Me

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 61 / 92
Date: May 24, 2005
Author: Amazon User

(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.

Thank God for World of Warcraft!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 17 / 50
Date: May 01, 2005
Author: Amazon User

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!!

Was a fantastic game, now ruined by bad updates

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 17
Date: November 12, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This used to be a great, fun game that could be played with a cooperative team or with NPC henchman if you weren't inclined to wait around to get a group together. With the new update (released in the beginning of November) some classes have been rendered rather useless, and it is nearly impossible to accomplish anything with henchmen. NPCs are now blindly chasing after enemies who run at the first hint of an area attack and are consequently getting pulled into large mobs. Even all-player groups are spending more time chasing than attacking. What used to be a fun diversion is now a frustrating mess. I was eagerly anticipating the expansion pack, now I think I will pass.

THIS GAME ISNT WHAT THEY PROMISE!!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 28
Date: July 30, 2005
Author: Amazon User

GUILD WARS is a Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game, not the promised MASSIVLY Multiplayer Online Game. The only thing Massive about this game are the Towns, which act like giant 3D lobbies. In these towns is where you meet up with about 100 characters if your lucky. After you leave town there is no one. All areas outside of town is a giant Instance. This means that when you leave you and only you are in that area, not anyone else (unless you grouped together with up to 8 people in the town). This makes the game extreamly dull and lifeless.

Now the gameplay. I found that the skill system was horrible, because of the fact that you have 100's of skills but you can ony use 8 of them at any given time, and you cant change which 8 you want to use unless you go back into town and change them. What is the point! They say it is an innovation and adds a level of skill to the gameplay. I say that the game developers were just being lazy.

Now a game that is coming from some ex-Blizzard employees that worked on Diablo II i was suprised at how extreamly lame the Weopons and Armor system was in this game. Instead of finding super rare items and pimpin out your gear like most wanna do (especially when you reach that ridiculous level cap, which is only 20) you have to find materials so AI crafters can make armor out of the materials you bring in. Now this is also featured in World of Warcraft(WoW), but unlike Guild Wars(GW) the super elite enemies actually drop armor!!! Instread of some totally rad bear fur(sense the sarcasim).

The level 20 level cap is just plain wrong! For people who spend 100's of hours of their life involved in a MMORPG theyd sure like to stand out a little more than the guy that has played for about 3 hours total and has the same level (level 20).

Now this game is supposed to be focused around PVP (player vs. player). Well this isnt much fun either considering that there is absoltly no team cooperation between players. Maybe they should provide a headset and voice support or something instead of trying to make them type out strategy while they fight. "NER NER NER hey im attacking this guy and i need some help. NER NER NER, hey guy over there hel......", To late he's already dead, he couldnt type fast enough while he was getting he butt whooped. This PVP fails horribly.

Thier is also a feature that allows you to draw on the minimap to cordinate attacks and such. This feature is useless since most people draw obsene things such as penises instead of cordinating attacks.

WoW is a more in depth game allowing you to create groups on the run, take up a race, a class, and 2 professions and secondery professions. Since Guild Wars doesnt have this that means that I have a Character that is a HUMAN WARRIOR that has 2 professions of MINING(mine for raw materials needed to make stuff) and BLACKSMITHING (able to create armor and weopons from raw materials)and has a secondary profession which is fishing (catch fish to eat them). Guild Wars offers a RACE and a CLASS.

GW has no monthly pay because it really isnt a MMORPG so to say. It offers nothing more than Diablo II did but the difference is that Diablo II is way more fun and easier to pick up and play, and still has no monthly fee. Now WoW has that monthly fee of about 15 dollars a month. If I save up 50 cents every day for the month ill have my monthly payment. A candy bar is more than 50 cents. If you really wanted you could BUM 50 cents from someone thats how cheap it is.

GW offers little for your money and after you get to that level 20 cap and keep doing repetitive quests over and over again you'll be left at the end of the day feeling cheated and wondering "why is this worth 50 dollars"?

Are these reviews from Guild wars employees???

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 34
Date: June 30, 2005
Author: Amazon User

THIS GAME IS GARBAGE. I don't know who these people are giving these good reviews because I have been in 2 guilds in the game... it shows when fellow guild-mates logged on last... most not for days and weeks! It's been the same for me now. The graphics are superb but as stated in earlier reviews the interface is lacking. It's like they just didn't sit back for a sec and look and think, is this going to be FUN? The thing that really bugs me is that you get almost 0 xp for fighting... it is all quest based. While this may sound refreshing, the quests are few and far between, requiring one to unlock another, yada-yada. You can fight a battle where the likelihood of death is high, get almost no xp for it, and it is easy to die, which is horrible because you may be 10 minutes or more towards the only thing that moves the game:quests... And as far as guild wars, I haven't heard, seen, or anything about any sort of guild wars. I haven't played PvP... though it seems to be based on small teams taking each other on, not large conflicts... not the reason the game sounded so cool(and I thought it mentioned on the box) that guilds would be at war!

at least there's no subscription

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 20
Date: November 20, 2006
Author: Amazon User

this chapter of guild wars is poorly done. they have focused on trying to push you into pvp play by making the pve very, very difficult, you no longer earn skills by doing quests, and the hunts are almost impossible, especially if you like to hunt solo, ie farming.

another thing I didn't care for was how you had to search to even find where to do your quests. yes, the npc's have the exclamation mark above their head, but finding them has turned into a chore. I guess they've decided if they make your work hard to earn your fun, you'll appreciate it more.

I would've guessed they could have made so much more out of this game. I mean, they sold over 2 million copies of the game retail when it first came out, I'd bet they sold half that of the following 2 expansions combined

What's wrong with you people?

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 20
Date: July 02, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I have played this game and I have also played World of Warcraft. This game is a horrible attempt at creating an MMORPG. My reasons are the environment and adventure part. This game fails in doing the one thing I play MMORPGs for... to be able to interact with people. In real life, when I walk out of a city all of the people will not have dissappeared from the face of the earth and then reappear when I go in the city again. This concept is flawed and creates a boring game. If you can't find a group, then you are screwed. There is a limited amount of player interaction outside of cities, unless they are in your group. The overall concept of this game is just plain flawed.

Keep your kids and spouse away!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 18
Date: February 19, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I played Guild Wars at beta and i thouroughly enjoyed it the game is great but th e people...are not. In ascalon pre searing many people can be found simulating orgies hetero and homosexual activities are visually represented at times people solicityou asking you to take your chars clothes off and Join in. It is decripid. Dark Age of Camelot is a much more developed game and is family friendly. If DAOC isnt your type of game then EVE online or even World of Warcraft is better. I know the monthly fee is bad but its worth it DONT GET GUILDWARS.

fun for a while... then CRASH!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 14
Date: September 15, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I bought the game with great expecations, and it lived up to them.... however, once I got about 1/3 the way into it... My computer crashed and restarted at the exact same point in a level. Drivers are up to date, neither my cpu nor vid card are getting hot. Apparently this is only a problem with some people, and the makers arent doing anything about it. Kinda like the awful netcode for command and conquer generals... an awesome game.. but crappy customer service.

I feel bad for spending $50..

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 25
Date: July 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is so BORING! The interface just plain sucks. I've only played one other MMORPG, and that's World of Warcraft. It's $15/month to play, and a friend told me to try Guild Wars since it's free. Well, I can honestly say, you get what you pay for. There are very few pluses: Well, obviously, it's free, the graphics are nice, and you don't spend a lot of time travelling. It lacks content and personality though. The characters are completely flat, and it's just not entertaining at all. I guess I've been spoiled by WoW and must be biased towards traditional MMORPG's.

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