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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.
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.
You bring up an interesting point. Your premise is that players will only play one mmorpg at a time. This is because of the subscription fees. If a player is paying $20 (US$) for the game and $15 for each month , then playing two at a time will cost $30 a month for subscription fees. This monthly model will bring $155 (11 months plus initial) a year to the company. But if Guild Wars charges $45 for the game and then 6 months later charges $45 for the optional expansion pack. Then you get a year of enjoyment for $90. But not only that, you also can keep playing for free and have no other fees. This should be very attractive to gamers. Arenasoft is banking on being able to retain more players to offset the cheaper fee. And I think they can.
As others have said, it doesn't really fit into the mold of traditional MMORPGs. If I understand it right, the towns are what you'd expect. Filled with people and shop owners. But then, to fight mosters and level, you make a party and go into an instance together. In essence, you're joining a Diablo II game. The big town is really just like the bNet chat area.
Still, I like it. Just wanted to make sure that was clear.
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.
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