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Guild Wars World Preview Event Details
Beginning this weekend is another chance for prospective players to check out Guild Wars, the upcoming free MMOG by ArenaNet and NCSoft. If you're interested you can download the client in preparation for this Friday's event kickoff. Gamerfeed has some details on what to expect in the preview, while Gamespy has details from the first preview and an update since then. Finally, reader Detritus wrote in to tell us about two Stratics guides to prepare you for the event, one on Player vs. Player strategy and the other on Player vs. Environment elements of the game.
I'm so incredibly dispirited by the lack of creativity in games nowadays. Tolkien has done the world of fantasy irreperable harm. Orcs, Goblins, Elves, Men, Dwarves, even Gnomes...all of them in every game. They have become a shorthand for lazy game developers, the computer game equivalent of "Once upon a time". Wooo, dwarves are short and have strong constitutions. Elves are very dextrous. Orcs are powerful but slow.
It's just lazy. It reminds of Stargate, where they indulge in cultural strip-mining to have the heroes chased by any mythical creature they can shoehorn into the episode for a week. Minotaurs for chrissake! It just shows how tired and unimaginative most game developers and tv show writers have become.
Why shouldn't they? You're probably wondering. Well, if you ask me, the developers then become limited into the same one size fits alltactical system. The choice is essentially the same in different games using these characters. Your experience doesn't change, an Orc in one game has a similar experience to an Orc in the other game. Small details may differ depending on training and earned abilities but the underlying simplistic choice is all that is available to the player. And it's so stupid.
Why use them? Invent your own races. Be creative. Don't be stuck with ground bound humanoid essentially similar experiences, think out of the box for once. Flying digging climbing creatures. Huge blobs and tiny insects. Wake up, you lazy Tolkien obsessed bitchdevelopers.
I am glad to see that this game will not be basesd on paying monthly fees. That is what has held me back from trying mmorpgs. Optional expansion packs are a much better idea. I will definitely try this one.
As an alpha tester, let me tell you that this is not your standard MMORPG. This game uses instanced worlds for all leveling. You go to an NPC and get a mission for your group, then you get teleported to that instanced place. This is not a normal MMORPG in the sense that you will be in the same world as others. When you are not in a mission, you will be in some instanced town area where other people not in missions will be as well but theres a small cap on each zone...its essentially a 3D chat room while you wait to get missions.
Its a lot more like a 3D battle.net than an MMORPG, so that is why there is no monthly fee.
I played this during the E3 event they had a while back... graphically, it was very nice, but the game bored me to tears.
Note, I am an avid game player (everything by Blizzard, and a few MMORPGs, including WoW), and I was very excited about Guild Wars.
Its just not... fun.
This is my sig. Its pathetic.
It's more like Diablo II than Everquest.
If it counts as an MMORPG, so does Neverwinter Nights and Enemy Territory.
Sorry, I've tried reading this and I just don't understand it...
Games that try to create their own races generally don't do well...Games that create their own races and do well...Games that create their own races, do well,
which one is it?
"Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
Having familiar props doesn't make the game or story any better or worse; it's what the designers/writers do with those props that counts.
Oh, and please keep your incredibly imaginative evil insect blobs in outer space where they belong.
-Jeff
Please learn the difference between a dissenting opinion and a troll before you moderate.
I've been following it ever since E3 when it blew me away at such an early state. I've been following it closely for months since and it's evolved to even better game play. The PvP battles are fierce and the PvE is fun for once. No more sitting in front of my spell book meditating for 20 minutes while I fight for 5. I suggest everyone download the free 65k client and give it a try this weekend. Don't just buy into the, it's another diablo comments. Download it and give it a run, you'll find it's much more than you expect.
Basically, I agree with you. But keep in mind that games are not the only type of entertainment that is totally ruined by the boring cliches everywhere. For example, few days ago I saw The Phantom Menace with friends. This was actually the first time I watched Star Wars since I was a kid. And let me tell you, this was a one giant cliche! I mean, WTF? Underwater cities? A city that covers a whole planet? Where've we seen those before? Well, they may be cliches, but Lucas stole them fair and square, and served them back with loads of panache, so he's forgiven. On the other hand, there are other cliches that make you moan aloud. For example: "Hey, you guys, don't you mess with me because my mom is the Virgin Mary! (At least that's what she told her folks when she came home pregnant one day.) I guess you know what that makes ME, so everybody drop down and give me 20!" Oh lord... "I think maybe he is the CHOSEN ONE ..." Oh, really? As in "Dune"? Or in "The Matrix"? Or in "Lord of the Rings"? Or "A New Hope"
(the original 1977 "Star Wars" movie)? Or ... make your own list. It will stretch for light years. "He is too old to
train to be a Jedi". - Uh, Yoda? You say 6 is too old, but Luke Skywalker will be a doable fixer-upper at 20? When
do you recruit novices - ripping them from the breast, like the Psi Corps in "Babylon 5"? Does the Jedi Way require
complete denial of normal childhood? An odd message for a kid flick! "Oh no! There's an unstoppable robot army! Of
course all we have to do is pull a master switch and they'll all shut off!" This recalls blowing up the shield
projector in "Return of the Jedi" (which is achieved entirely thanks to the wookie - neither Luke nor Leia makes
any real difference in achieving the Rebel victory. Think about it!). Or a computer virus shutting down all alien
shields in "Independence Day". Or Obi-Wan dialing down the tractor beam. Or the hero in "Logan's Run" shooting one
computer console and blowing up a city. And so on. Yeesh! Are villain equipment-designers really that bad in every
off-Earth empire? In fairness, this cliche is endemic. Ever notice how, in "Star Trek", Kirk talked five different
super-computers into self-destructing? If the universe really is like this, we Earthlings are gonna kick butt when
we get out there! A good machine is one that has to be hammered into turning on for you (e.g. Anakin's speed-pod,
his space fighter, the Millennium Falcon, C-3PO and so on). If it starts right up, it must be evil. Some might view
the pod race as a rip-off copy of the speeder bike scene in "Return of the Jedi". Actually, I found the charioteer
imagery charming. Hey, a swooping chase scene past scary obstacles is always a good thing to throw into a whiz-bang
sci-fi flick! Nevertheless, having a 6-year-old slave toss together a better pod than all the galaxy's technicians
can create? (Those Tatooine slave schools must have a great curriculum!) Couldn't he have had help from an old but
great engineer who retired to Tatooine for his health? That cliche would have lent plausibility. Big animals try to
eat whole spaceships, yum. Where've we seen that before? An apprentice Jedi - watching helplessly as his beloved
master is slain in a sword fight by a Sith Lord - screams, "No!" Where've we seen that before? (Incidentally,
the angry apprentice succeeds where his calm master failed - just as Luke Skywalker does better angry than
when he was composed, in "Return of the Jedi". So much for Yoda's sage advice!) But enough wallowing in small
stuff. Let's get down to the Grand Champion cliche of all: "Gee whillikers, R2, the folks out there sure are in
a pickle. What's that, girl? Solve the whole plot by diving my tiny ship into the center of a big bad-ass one,
and set off a chain reaction to blow it up from the inside while we run away real fast? What an idea! Gee, I'll
bet THAT'S never been done before!" Note that the only "Star Wars" movie without this dreadfully cliched trick is
"The Empire Strikes Back", again showing how that movie towers over the others. Actua
The set up client downloads a few mb of stuff then it launches to the login screen and keeps downloading the game. The folder ends up being 146 mb.
A much better guide than the Stratics crap can be found here: Guild Wars WPE Guide 1.2
I dont see the use of "Tolkien's" races as being lazy on the part of developers. In fact, Tolkien hardly invented dwarves, or elves or even middle earth. In fact he borrowed heavily from older mythologies, especially Norse. I would argue that having ties to ancient mythologies can be a good thing, as it lends quick familiarity and can lead to more gentle learning and initiation curves, especially in terms of a game's otherwise alien plotline. If anything it sounds like you have a gripe against the AD&D style approach to personalizing the characters in a game (hit points, AC, constitution, wisdom etc.) and perhaps you have a point. But many games have tried to alter or replace this type of system, and in my opinion the alternative is usually worse. Just a thought.
Ok the obvious differences, which have been mentioned in many posts already:
:P
- Normal: Monlthly fee.
GuildWars: No Monthly Fee.
- Normal: Fully Persistant world.
GuildWars: Instanced missions.
There are a number of other huge differences between GW and normal MMORPGs:
- Normal: Fragmented servers, and no way for groups to compete with each other between them.
GuildWars: Everyone, in the entire world, is playing in the same enviroment allowing a truely world-wide competition ladder, if that is your fancy. Yet everying you do is instanced allowing you to play as if you and your friends are the only ones in the world, if you choose so.
- Normal: Lasting Death Penalties (lost items, lost experience, etc.. Discourages 'for fun' PVP).
GuildWars: Temporary Death Penalties (a percent loss of health and life in your current mission, but regained as soon as you leave the mission.. Allows you to join a PVP zone and have some fun with some duels without worrying about having to work back to the point you used to be)
- Normal: Consecutive low-risk fights followed by a long period of down time (not very exciting, IMHO).
GuildWars: Every fight is a near-death fight, but there is no downtime due to highly increased regeneration when not in combat (Makes everything much more exciting, IMHO)
- Normal: A higher level person will be stronger, have better skills, and in every way dominate a lower level person (thus eliminating playing skill as a factor in PVP).
GuildWars: A higher level person will have a wider variety of skills to choose from, but they will be from the same pool that the lower level person chooses from (thus allowing a skilled player to win when they are the underdog.
- Normal: Waiting in line for quests, since there are many people all fighting over the same thing.
GuildWars: Instanced quests mean no waiting in line, and you and your friends are free to enjoy the entire quest without any inturruptions.
The list goes on, but the post is getting long so I guess I will end it here. I guess the main point I am trying to convey is that GuildWars is, in many ways, a unique MMORPG that (IMHO) eliminated many of the problems that MMORPGs commonly face.
You may find it objectionable that I have just clumped all the many MMORPG's into one 'normal' catagory, butlets be honest. Almost every single MMORPG since EQ has played just like an EQ clone with only micro-differences in gameplay. Isn't it time for a truely revolutionary game?
I'm definently going to be playing this Halloween Weekend. Join me.
--- "End Of Line" - MCP
Today the campus newspaper had a Guild Wars cd stuffed in the middle of it. Judging by the piles of cds on the ground I think it's safe to say that students at the University of Arizona are lazy litterbugs who aren't interested in this game.
Download the client and click on the castle-like button in the upper right to access options. You'll see the language options are English, Korean and...SWEDISH CHEF :)
Fun touch.
C'mon, I understand the importance of marketing, but a preview for a preview?!?
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Bleah! Heh heh heh... BLEAH BLEAH!!! Ha ha ha ha...
The main story has the link to Detritus' content incorrect, this is the correct link
All I can say is this is truly an amazing game, I am currently in the Alpha and have been for almost a year. For those of you that have avoided the MMoRPG scene because, this is the one you want to try. The graphics are simply amazing, but more importantly it actually has fun PvP. Arena.net has done their best to elminate the "unfun" parts of most games, the most obvious being the infamous level grind. So far it looks like the process to level from 1 to max (currently 20) only takes a few weeks. While the PvE is fun, the focus is PvP and the game is balanced for team PvP. Also of note the Word Preview Event has started a day early, so those who want to play can jump in now.
I already created my character and now it's downloading some more stuff!