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Guild Wars Gone Gold, Previewed

Posted by Zonk on from the get-your-subscriptionless-mmog-action-here dept.

Guild Wars, the first offering from NCSoft subsidiary ArenaNet, has gone gold. A preview of the game based on the last weekend of the Beta is available at 1up.com. From the article: "Once the wonder started to wear off, a creeping hangover of disorientation replaced it. Still standing there slack-jawed, the bustle of people going here and there with purpose made us suddenly aware of how clueless we were. Gathering our senses we fell into the familiar pattern of talking to the residents and picking up the quests of the day." Guild Wars is a unique MMOG offering, as it will not require a subscription cost, has almost no grind, and will focus on organized PvP. The game releases next Thursday, the 28th of April.

96 comments

  1. Excellent by Bonzor · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hopefully some of the immature gankers in WoW will go to Guild Wars and stop bugging me.

    1. Re:Excellent by adam.skinner · · Score: 2, Informative

      There is no ganking in Guild Wars (one of it's many attractions). All zones are instanced, and hence only people on your own group will be playing with you when you enter a zone.

      Guild Wars has done much to limit "griefer" behaviour and the things that make playing these kinds of games unenjoyable sometimes. For one, There's no kill-stealing, no camping, and no ninja-looting. You can't attack people in your own group. PvP, however, is a very major part of the game, and there are a number of zones designed specifically for this, as well as different types of PvP gameplay. The Tombs allow pickup groups to play vs one another. There's also Guild v Guild. The "Arena" allows you to just join without even forming a group and it's your random group vs the other.

  2. Not likely by jasonmicron · · Score: 2, Funny

    Not likely. Though one can only dream. I might go back to WoW if the idiots from battle.net leave.

    I can only take the, "OMFG U n()()b GTFO if U dun kno how to pl4y", "1 4M R0X0R 733T 534R", "noob noob noob" comments for so long before I feel like I'm back in a battle.net chat window.

    1. Re:Not likely by Allaran · · Score: 1

      Am I playing in the wrong (or should I say right) place? I'm not hard core admittedly, but I don't think I've yet seen one 'NOOB' or 'R0X0R' comment. Are you really being overwhelmed by this or does it just happen occasionally? Seriously...if it's that bad, try another server and I bet it goes away.

    2. Re:Not likely by jasonmicron · · Score: 1

      Hellscream was my server, but I have heard the same story repeated from a lot of other players on different servers.

    3. Re:Not likely by Golias · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Huh. Lots of battlenet "d00dz" crowding into a server called "Hellscream." What a shocker.

      Log into a server with a name which doesn't sound cool to twelve-year olds, and you probably will have much better luck.

      (Currently playing on Silverhand, not seeing much of that crap.)

      --

      Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

    4. Re:Not likely by L7_ · · Score: 1

      With the last patch (or the one before it?) WoW got rid of the leetspeak communication in between factions. That used to bother me as well... cause I couldn't understand it.

      Also, if you've never played a PvP game with open communication (AC:Darktide or SB) then you don't really know how fun it is to verbally own someone after they spam you with thier dribble.

    5. Re:Not likely by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      With enough development, http://www.curse-gaming.com/mod.php?addid=989 should be able to turn

      "OMFG U n()()b GTFO if U dun kno how to pl4y"

      into

      "My goodness, you anger me if you don't know how to play."

      Sure they're still insulting you, but it's far easier on the eyes.

    6. Re:Not likely by Rallion · · Score: 1

      I'm the same as you, I rarely even see misspellings of words, and I'm on Arthas. Then again, I've played for maybe a total of an hour in the last month. Maybe I just miss it.

    7. Re:Not likely by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The key to this is macros.

      I had my system rigged to handle the following remarks with these responses:

      noob : Don't you have long division homework to do?
      tool : Quiet, or I'll mail your parents the link to what's in your other window
      GTFO : Good idea, the BMX in front of the building across the street needs some "maintenance"
      OMFG : Only my sweetie refers to me in those terms. Go ask your mum
      733t : When the bigger and stronger kids pick on you, do you cry in the boys room or in the broom closet?
      (on weekend) : Grounded again, huh? Don't worry, she's probably staying home too, just thinking about you. Sorry, he.

      I had a million more, they're a barrel of laughs. But most of the time I just turned chat off and communicated with my weapon.

    8. Re:Not likely by Meagermanx · · Score: 1

      OMFG Hellscream r0x0rz teh big on3! Silverhand iz t3h g4y 1! j00 sux0rz! U R 7eh n00bz!!

    9. Re:Not likely by Uriel · · Score: 1

      My girlfriend and I had some success with name speculation in City of Heroes, so for World of Warcraft we carefully looked through all the names to find the least 'wicked' one.

      We haven't had any problems at all on Feathermoon.

    10. Re:Not likely by C0rinthian · · Score: 1

      Very little problem on Suramar. Cause noone knows what Suramar is!

  3. Gone Gold? by ivan256 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    That's what they call the release that comes in the box before you apply the patch, right?

    1. Re:Gone Gold? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Actually with the streaming technology you won't even notice patches most of the time. You just get a little download icon in the corner of your screen that shows you're getting new content. Every time you load into a new area if there are any changes they are streamed to you for just that area.

      Occasionally they do a major change that requires you to shut down the client and open it again.. but it's almost always very fast. Other than that, Guild Wars has been very stable during the events, and will hopefully remain that way for release next week.

    2. Re:Gone Gold? by drekmonger · · Score: 1

      Funny thing:

      The actual beta client for Guild Wars was a shockly small download. As you enter an area (or boot up the game itself), content and other crap is downloaded to your hard drive.

      Guild Wars is constantly patching itself. It's one of GW's touted features.

    3. Re:Gone Gold? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lol, gone gold means it's ready to be shipped to the shops.
      What you're think of is open beta.

      _Zexion

    4. Re:Gone Gold? by Flendon · · Score: 1

      Funny I thought the major MMORPGs (EQ2 at least, I didn't follow WoW closely, but heard the same about it) last year were still open beta several months after being shipped to stores.

      --
      chown -R us ./base
    5. Re:Gone Gold? by C0rinthian · · Score: 1

      I don't think there has EVER been an MMO that the players don't consider a "paid-beta"

    6. Re:Gone Gold? by ReverendLoki · · Score: 1

      I'll tell you one thing - I've ben playing the betas, and from all that I've seen, this game has looked like it was ready to ship months ago. I've seen more bugs in games that have been out for years than this one. I'd say that the beta process they have been using has proven itself a success (not many ways faster at finding a bug than letting a few hundred thousand play the game).

      --
      09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
    7. Re:Gone Gold? by Flendon · · Score: 1

      Now if only my computer wasn't a PoS I could judge for myself.

      --
      chown -R us ./base
  4. Uhm, no... by Dragoon412 · · Score: 3, Informative
    Quoth the submitter:
    Guild Wars is a unique MMOG offering...

    Guild Wars is not a MMO. People label it as such, constantly, but it has far, far more in common with Diablo 2.

    Gameplay is done entirely in instanced zones. For anyone unfamiliar with that concept, it's essentially a private copy of a zone for each player (or group) - it's just like Diablo 2.

    The only part of Guild Wars that even vaguely touches on being massive are the handful city zones. However, they serve only as a staging area for missions and a place for players to trade. Once players go out into the world, it's all instanced, again. Think of them more as graphical Battlenet chatrooms, and you'll get the idea.

    ...none of this is to say Guild Wars is a bad game. I enjoyed the beta and am considering purchasing a copy. The environments are absolutely amazing, the PvP system outstanding and quite remarkably balanced, the character advancement system is very well thought-out, classes are refreshingly diverse (there are only a handful of classes, per se, but the sheer variety of abilities each has and the limitation to actively using 8 at a time means two players that are both the same class can have wildly divergant functions), and the game's animations are exceptionally fluid and well-done (especially the monk dance emotes). But for crying out loud, GUILD WARS IS NOT A MMO!
    1. Re:Uhm, no... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wait, you play it with a massive number of other players, online. How does this make it not an MMORPG?

      Oh, they aren't always people right next to you trying to killsteal from you? Yeah, that sounds absolutely terrible! I know I absolutely love it when some high level asshole runs by and starts killing everything in sight so I can't do anything.

      Face it - most "real" MMORPGs wind up being just like Guild Wars anyway. You go out and do something with a group that was formed in a major city anyway. The only difference is that much of the nuisance of having to compete with another group for limited resources is removed.

      Sounds like an MMO to me.

    2. Re:Uhm, no... by GamingEngineer · · Score: 1

      I played in the open E3 beta a year ago. I remember that the outpost "town" area served as a gathering area for quests, where you could form a group of up to 4 people (I think) and head into your own instance of a map for a mission. But I thought I also remember being able to go outside of the town for random reasons and wander around. I swear I saw other human players doing their own thing too. But this was a year ago, does it not work that way anymore? Maybe someone who has played in a more recent beta test could answer.

    3. Re:Uhm, no... by Dragoon412 · · Score: 1

      There are town areas, as you already know, then, right outside the town, there are staging areas for parties to get groups together. That's probably what you're thinking of. They're sort of gateways into the instanced areas, with nothing else really going on (accept having mercs to recruit), but these are usually in remote areas.

    4. Re:Uhm, no... by AnyNoMouse · · Score: 2, Interesting
      In the first open betas, you could party with up to 4 people in the "starter" towns and 6 people in the later towns (never got above 12th level, so I don't know if there are towns with larger parties or not).

      A couple of months ago, they added a whole "newbie" section of the game. In the first area, you can only party up to two players. Once you hit 3rd level you can move on to the 4 person per party areas.

      Through all of this, the grandparent is correct, each party gets their own instance of the world. Only the towns are shared, and then they are broken up by servers (depending on the number of people trying to be in that particular town). Any other characters running about outside of town are NPCs or monsters.

      --
      -Redundancy Man strikes again!
    5. Re:Uhm, no... by illumina+us · · Score: 1

      This is a case of someone reading PC gamer too much. First off, GW is nothing like Diablo II. Secondly, it is an MMO. When you have hundreds of people in an area sumiltaneously before a new "zone" is created. Some gameplay is done in instanced zones and other isn't. Yet saying GW is not MMO is like me saying WoW, UO, AO, etc. are not MMOs either because they have more than one server. Please, open your mind and broaden your horizons.

      --
      -illumina+us "I put on my robe and wizard hat..."
    6. Re:Uhm, no... by Vermifax · · Score: 1, Insightful

      " When you have hundreds of people in an area sumiltaneously before a new "zone" is created."

      Sorta like 100s of people in diablo chat rooms before the instance is created.

      --

      Vermifax

      Logout
    7. Re:Uhm, no... by Zonk · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Massively - The game is going to support scads of people. Heavy instancing will be used, to be sure, but City of Heroes does the same thing. GW is just going to a further extreme.
      Multiplayer - More than one person can play.
      Online - Going to be an internet based game.
      Game - Yup.

      I don't see how it is not a MMOG?

      What I think is cool about this is that Guild Wars is pushing the boundary of MMOG. The PVP aspect and low level cap will ensure that a lot of skill is going to be required of the players. 'Hit A and Walk Away' won't be enough, and hopefull there won't be as much of a market for farmers as in certain other games.

    8. Re:Uhm, no... by Anonymous+Custard · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Massively - The game is going to support scads of people. Heavy instancing will be used, to be sure, but City of Heroes does the same thing. GW is just going to a further extreme.
      Multiplayer - More than one person can play.

      It is massive. It is multiplayer. It is online. It has involves gaming.

      However: the Gaming part (fighting monsters, etc) only involves a handful of people at once, so there is no "massively multiplayer" gaming going on.

      There is a "massively multiplayer chat and trade area" but the primary part of the game is limited to just a few at once.

      --
      $8.95/mo web hosting
    9. Re:Uhm, no... by SirBruce · · Score: 1
      It's not an MMOG because they specifically say it isn't one in the FAQ

      Is Guild Wars an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game)?

      Guild Wars has some similarities to existing MMORPGs, but it also has some key differences. Like existing MMOs, Guild Wars is played entirely online in a secure hosted environment. Thousands of players inhabit the same virtual world. Players can meet new friends in gathering places like towns and outposts where they form parties and go questing with them. Unlike many MMOs, when players form a party and embark upon a quest in Guild Wars, they get their own private copy of the area where the quest takes place. This design eliminates some of the frustrating gameplay elements commonly associated with MMOs, such as spawn camping, kill stealing, and lines to complete a quest.

      Guild Wars takes place in a large virtual world made up of many different zones, and players can walk from one end of the world to the other. In Guild Wars much of the tedium of traveling through the world has been eliminated. Players can instantly return to any safe area (town or outpost) that they have previously visited just by clicking on it in the world overview map.

      Rather than labeling Guild Wars an MMORPG, we prefer to call it a CORPG (Competitive Online Role-Playing Game). Guild Wars was designed from the ground up to create the best possible competitive role-playing experience. Success in Guild Wars is always the result of player skill, not time spent playing or the size of one's guild. As characters progress, they acquire a diverse set of skills and items, enabling them to use new strategies in combat. Players can do battle in open arenas or compete in guild-vs-guild warfare or the international tournament. Engaging in combat is always the player's choice, however; there is no player-killing in cooperative areas of the world.

      Finally, unlike existing MMOs, all characters in Guild Wars inhabit the same virtual world -- they are not divided onto different servers or shards -- so players can always team up with or compete against any other player in the world.

      You do hit upon the key issue, which is instancing - how much instancing can you have before it's no longer a MMOG and just a graphical front-end where people can connect and then go off into areas which only allow smaller groups? After all, this is how games like Diablo II work. I would argue that in any true MMOG, there must be some "Game" in the "Massively Multiplayer" (non-instanced) space. In CoH, you have this, but in Guild Wars, the game seems to take place almost entirely inside instances.

      Still, it's a complicated issue. I might accept Guild Wars as a MMOG or MMORPG, but since NCSoft specifically says it is NOT one, I don't have to worry about it. :)

      Bruce

    10. Re:Uhm, no... by Anonymous+Custard · · Score: 1

      That said, I considered World of Warcraft, which I play all the time.

      I realized there are very few times when I'm playing with more than 4 other people at once. Often, I'm even soloing. I may not see a single other player until I return to town to chat and trade.

      The only time I'm doing massively multiplayer stuff (like 50 vs. 50) is large group pvp or large group dungeons. Otherwise I'm trading in a populated city, or questing alone or with a handful of friends; just like Guild Wars.

      --
      $8.95/mo web hosting
    11. Re:Uhm, no... by Meagermanx · · Score: 1

      But you're not playing it with a Massive amount of people at the same time. So... It's more like Diablo 2 with an MMO town system and MMOish combat. I agree about this being a good thing, however, because you can actually have a story and a party going through missions instead of a constant grind of monster killin'.

    12. Re:Uhm, no... by Meagermanx · · Score: 1

      How about we agree on calling it an (M)MORPG?

    13. Re:Uhm, no... by Kaali · · Score: 1

      If you went through the quest portals you would end up in the party area of that mission, but there also was a way to go into a kind of free exploring mode where you could travel on the map yourself. When you went through the quest portals and looked at the map you could see that there are gaps in where you have visited, when freely exploring you can actually travel these gaps. I only played on the public beta a while ago so i don't remember if these areas were instanced or not.

    14. Re:Uhm, no... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      WTH? Just because it doesnt have a monthly fee you are saying its diablo? Did you even play diablo/diablo2? What the hell do you think you are paying for monthly in World of Warcrap? That p.o.s. is nothing more than diablo3 set in the warcraft universe, hell even half the idiot loots in that game are ripped straight from diablo including the moronic color coding system saying which item is better.

    15. Re:Uhm, no... by MWoody · · Score: 1

      Having played about 16+ hours in the last preview weekend event, I suspect you're thinking of a completely different game. ALL gameplay takes place in instances. You _NEVER_ run across another player outside of your team (the maximum size of which was 4 players last I checked) except in the town areas - which are indeed little more than in-game chat rooms with questgivers and shops - or prearranged PvP battles. While the gameplay itself isn't very Diablo-like, the model of "hang out with everyone until it comes time to go kill things by yourself or with a couple friends" is certainly reminiscent of such, as both myself and many other players commented on without first seeing it mentioned elsewhere.

      I like Guildwars, and I'm not positive that these unique qualities preclude it from being called an MMO, but I don't see why it matters. Classify it however you want; it's still an interesting and enjoyable game.

    16. Re:Uhm, no... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Gaming may not involve a massive amount of players, but the Game does.

      Verbs are a bit different than nouns.

    17. Re:Uhm, no... by C0rinthian · · Score: 1

      OMG the same company that made diablo used the same item system in ANOTHER GAME!!1!!1

      If they were a GOOD developer, they would waste tons of time greating a whole new item ranking system that is completely unneeded! Who cares if the players are already familiar with this one.

      And of course, the color of the item names is what made Diablo what it is.

    18. Re:Uhm, no... by Anonymous+Custard · · Score: 1

      Most people care more about the verb.

      --
      $8.95/mo web hosting
    19. Re:Uhm, no... by illumina+us · · Score: 1

      Max party size is 8. It's 4 for early missions and gets progressively larger as you go. In most PvP areas the party size is 8.

      --
      -illumina+us "I put on my robe and wizard hat..."
  5. no subscription..... by Vermifax · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Of course they're also planning on releasing expansions every few months.

    This of course is your monthly fee.

    --

    Vermifax

    Logout
    1. Re:no subscription..... by wickedj · · Score: 3, Informative

      That's true but you're not required to purchase the expansion packs to get to the areas contained in them. Basically, if a friend is in that area and wants to quest with you, they can "invite" you to the area and you'll get a streamed download. Now, if the expansions contain new characters, classes and races, well, then I suppose you might want to buy it.

    2. Re:no subscription..... by Masami+Eiri · · Score: 1

      Except they're optional. MMO fees aren't.

    3. Re:no subscription..... by L7_ · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I think that the expansions are definetly going to include better skills. Meaning, if your 'Single Target Heal' spell that you use a lot restores 100-200 health, and this month's expansion's single target heal spell now restores 200-300 with the same casting time and mana cost, then you would definetly feel compelled to buy the expansion just to keep up with the joneses.

    4. Re:no subscription..... by satoshi1 · · Score: 1

      No one ever said you had to buy these expansions, did they? FFXI has had two expansions (one of them was free for North American players, but the second one cost money). Guess what? It has a monthly fee! I do believe Everquest had many expansions, and it has a monthly fee as well! Whoa!!

    5. Re:no subscription..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      FFXI had one expansion, and one "give us money!!11!" POS called "Chains of Prometheus" that most Americans foolishly bought. What a crappy "expansion" it was.

      No real point to this post, I guess, but if GW expansions are as bad as COP, then it'll basically be a fake monthly fee. I doubt they will be, though, it'd be pretty hard to make an expansion as worthless as COP unless you're trying to screw over your customers. (Which, given the recent drop of XP requires and free months for people who quit, it would appear Square-Enix is.)

      Hmm.. I guess my point is that it's possible for the expansions to essentially be a "monthly fee" if all they do is add a couple new areas and nothing else, like COP did for FFXI.

      As long as they add new abilities, new areas, and new items, they'll probably be generically "worth it" for more hardcore players while still being optional for others. Of course, at a 6 month schedule and say $50 a pop for the expansion, you're still talking only $8.33/month - not that bad. And I expect the expansions to be closer to $40, so that's more like $6.67/month - much more reasonable than most MMORPGs.

    6. Re:no subscription..... by $1uck · · Score: 1

      But you can continue to play the game all year with out purchasing one. I really like the concept. I would love to see more games follow this model. Spend 5 bucks download the first level to Doom X, you like it you spend another 5 or so on level2 add infintum.

    7. Re:no subscription..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But you can continue to play the game all year with out purchasing one. I really like the concept. I would love to see more games follow this model. Spend 5 bucks download the first level to Doom X, you like it you spend another 5 or so on level2 add infintum.

      Apparently you weren around during the heyday of shareware games (late 80's to mid-90's) from independents or companies like Apogee, or ID (version 1.0). You normally got a limited game for free or a very low price. After that, you could pay more for the full version or not. None of the "limited trial period" disclaimers that are so common now. For example both the original Doom and Wolfenstien were released this way.

    8. Re:no subscription..... by satoshi1 · · Score: 1

      Still, you don't have to buy them. You can still play without them. Really, you're making a big deal out of nothing. If the expansion doesn't offer anything you want, don't buy it.

    9. Re:no subscription..... by ReverendLoki · · Score: 1

      Actually, they have stated that they want to keep the expansions in balance with current content as far as gameplay goes. So, instead of healing for x with a recharge of n and a cost of m, it may heal 2x, recharge 1.5n, cost 2m, or even have heal/recharge/cost all halved. In other words, more options to customize and improve your gameplay, but not throw it all out of balance.

      --
      09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
    10. Re:no subscription..... by $1uck · · Score: 1

      Actually I did play a lot of those games. I grew up with Pc's to a degree (Might and Magic, Wizardry, pinbal construction set etc on 8088 & 8086 machines). I did some bbsing, never had my own was getting to the point where I was attempting to set one up but I was fairly young easily distracted. Then I went to college and experienced the brief joys of Mosaic, telnet chats, pine and news groups. The difference between now and then in the internet, or more precisely the size/relevance of the internet and its functionality. Now its pretty trivial to buy/pay for stuff online, back then paying for shareware meant mailing a check or cash. Enough nostalgia, the concept is kind of the same but I like the piece-meal (the game could ultimately cost you anywhere between 5 and 100 dollars depending on how much you enjoyed it).

    11. Re:no subscription..... by ReverendLoki · · Score: 1

      From what the developers have said so far, new areas will be released via the streaming technology periodically to all. Expansions may include any combination of the following: new races, new classes, new abilities, major new areas (as in, introduce an entirely newmajor storyline of quests, equal to the major storyline of current GW). From what it sounds like, it should be worth it. I mean, it seems like they've gone out of their way to make sure you aren't penalized by NOT having an expansion, this making the expansion's content it's (almost) only selling point.

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      09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
    12. Re:no subscription..... by Meagermanx · · Score: 1

      Kind of reminds me of Magic:The Gathering. All the cards are reasonably balanced with the recent expansions, but as more expansions come out, and the playing styles and options change, they adjust the cost and abilities of the new cards. Eventually you get new cards much better (With some exceptions, such as Counterspell, Fork, and Black Lotus;) than the old ones, because they have to balance the Type 2 gameplay.
      I expect as more expansions come out, and the skills and abilities change, eventually you are going to have to buy the new expansions to protect against the spells and skills the other players are using.
      For example, let's say Guild Wars doesn't have poison spells. We're assuming here. Okay, so Guild Wars:The Twelfth Expansion comes out and has poison. It's no big deal, since it also has antidote potions, poison curing spells and skills, and poison protection fields. Poison becomes a minor annoyance. To the people who bought the expansion pack. To the other players it's a nightmare.

    13. Re:no subscription..... by Soul-Burn666 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Unless ofcourse at least one of your guild members has a cure-poison skill and he heals you.
      The game is made so it's possible to play with players that have different expansions.

      The "M:TG" analogy is a good one, and is often used to explain how GW works. Eveyone is almost the same (all "LV20") other than the skills, skill combinations they use and their own skills as a player (i.e know when to cast what...)

      --
      ^_^
    14. Re:no subscription..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      expansions are twice a year (one every six months). probably will cost $30 each. get it on sale relase week for $20 at best buy or frys. no biggie.

    15. Re:no subscription..... by parryr · · Score: 1
      Of course they're also planning on releasing expansions every few months.

      This of course is your monthly fee.


      For my money I prefer it this way.

      I see it as a bit of a win all around:
      1. Game maker gets rewarded for making good content repeatedly
      2. Consumers don't get shafted for expansions and a monthly fee

      It should keep the game fresh, and if the expansions are of a similar content level to the original game, it'll keep people interested for quite a few years I'd expect.

      Really, there's no problem for me with pay-as-you-play, but there is a huge problem with PAYP as well as getting bent over for expansions - even itty bitty ones (hey Sony, wussup).
    16. Re:no subscription..... by immortius · · Score: 1

      While at one stage it was announced that you would be able to invite people to visit content they haven't bought, this is no longer the case.

      On the other hand, expansion packs will be entirely optional. If you buy the first and third expansions, and a friend of yours buys the second and third expansion, you'll be able to play the expansions yoy have in common together (i.e. the third one).

      Also, ArenaNet plans to add a larger variety of skills in the expansions, but not more powerful skills and items. So you will still be able to compete in PvP.

  6. So this is it by HarpyG · · Score: 1

    Thats what everyone's been talking about huh ... looking at the specs and seeing as my comp has fun running WoW I think I'll stick to that. Doesn't seem like my type anyways, I like having to watch over my shoulder all the time in case some crazy opponent is running by (FPS habits)

    1. Re:So this is it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      No worries, PvE zones are all instantces. Only you and your party. PvP is done in a gladiator/colliseum type of model. This isn't like the gankfest that PvP servers in WoW has turned into. You only PvP in the PvP areas. PvE is strictly adventuring/questing and farming gold/loot to better prepare yourself for PvP.

    2. Re:So this is it by Squiggle · · Score: 1

      If you enjoy FPS games, GW PvP is for you.

      I'm more of MMORPG player, but I can safely say that GW PvP is by far the best I've ever played.

      --
      Complexity Happens
  7. Beta by Rs_Conqueror · · Score: 5, Informative
    I beta tested it on the 15th. It was pretty good from what I've deen, although the only other MMORPG I have played has ben city of heroes, so I don't know how it holds up to other D&D based RPGs.

    There were some things about it that kind of bugged me however, first, you can't jump. I know in RPGs where the point of the game is fighting and leveling up, jumping isn't that big of a deal, but still having the ability does make the game seem a bit more "real" for me.

    Secondly, you can only play as a human, no elves, dwarfs, gnomes, or super intellegent shades of the color blue. This was a bit of a bummer for me, becuase I had really hoped to play as a shapeshifting elf (half elf half volf). But I guess they were really trying to avoid the steriotype that has been slapped on them as "WoW rip off".

    And lastly, the lack of character design choices, you get maybe 12 hair types (that tend to be the same, no matter what profession you choose), 12 or so hair colors, 6 face types, your basic skin colors, and thats about it. I had really hoped to be able to change tome of the body proportions to have a character that actually looked like me, but all you can really change is hight. Also the clothing choices are very limited, in fact there are none. You get your basic profession spisific clothing and thats it. Although yes you can get new cloths in quests and by trading, it would still be nice to have say, three different suits to pick from at the start of the game.

    The gameplay was pretty much what I expected, you have standerd WASD controls, you click objects to select ect... However one minor thing that bugged me was, the second you select an enamy object, you start attacking, regardless of its level. You CAN call off the attack and still have him selected so you can see what level it is, if you have a hand-to-hand weapon out, however if you are a range attacker you shoot one arrow, and you comitted to this fight till death (and death is useually the case).

    now these problems are not rearly as bad as I make them out to be, the gameplay is very nice. I had a blast playing it. The quests are quite fun, and not in the least bit dull or tedious, the level design is breathtaking to say the least, even on lower graphic resolutions.And if you can rope a few friends to shell out the 50 bucks and pick it up, get a party going, there will be no end to the fun you will have.

    --
    Behold, another webcomic!
    1. Re:Beta by wickedj · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's true that using the mouse automatically starts an attack, however, you can cancel it out just by pressing the spacebar. Also, you can target enemies by using tab, [, ], or whatever you define in the options. By doing it this way, you select the enemy without engaging them. To begin attacking, just press the spacebar.

      As for humans being the only race, Arena.net has stated that other races will become available in the expansions. Some ideas include the Charr and dwarves which are both already NPCs.

      The character design choices might be limited for the beta (doubt it) but will most likely also increase as an expansion.

      I've played all the betas since the E3 release last year. It's a pretty fun game. I was a big fan of Diablo and the similarities are striking. I wouldn't consider this an MMOG. Though the towns contain many people, they are more like virtual chatrooms with your character as an avatar. Each town has districts which could be considered "channels".

      I did find that you can almost explore the entire map without dying by grabbing a party full of computer players and then making a run for it. Your computer players take the brunt of the attack and you can run on to new areas.

      If you are looking for a good single player experience, I wouldn't get this game. It's primary focus is PvP. The PvE will get old quick as it's the same as any other RPG type game. Find this and deliver here. Fight this boss and come back. Still, it is a pretty good game.

    2. Re:Beta by KinkifyTheNation · · Score: 1
      you can't jump
      Yes you can. /jump

      :P
    3. Re:Beta by Jedyte · · Score: 1

      If I remember correctly you can Ctrl-click to only select an enemy. And I believe the click-attack you describe is an option you can disable too.

      Customisation options are indeed a bit short, but the hair/outfits do differ per profession. For example female necromancer have a haircut with some kind of needles sticking into it, which no other profession can get.

  8. question about GW vs WoW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    i'm thinking about getting one of these games. but there is one thing that i've been wondering...

    which one has the hottest babes? especially in regards to nice asses and hot outfits to dress them up in.

    1. Re:question about GW vs WoW by crashmstr · · Score: 1

      I have not played WoW, but the women of Guild Wars are pretty modest. They are good looking, but are fairly well clothed.

      If you just want hot babes in skimpy outfits, the Lineage II dark elves might be what you are looking for (thong underwear and bondage like leather outfits). So if you want to deal with spawn camping and open PvP, go ahead.

    2. Re:question about GW vs WoW by Soul-Burn666 · · Score: 1

      Piccy from GuildWars: click

      If that's modest, I wanna know what's not ;)

      --
      ^_^
    3. Re:question about GW vs WoW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      modest?
      so you don't know about the end of beta underwear party

      http://www.gwonline.net/screenshots/index.php?type =&id=1385
      http://www.gwonline.net/screenshots/index.php?type =&id=840
      http://www.gwonline.net/screenshots/index.php?type =&id=839
      http://www.gwonline.net/screenshots/index.php?type =&id=835

      or maybe you are more into this :)
      http://www.gwonline.net/screenshots/index.php?type =&id=822

    4. Re:question about GW vs WoW by snuf23 · · Score: 1

      Seriously, City of Heroes has much hotter babes with skimpy outfits than either of these two.

      --
      Sometimes my arms bend back.
    5. Re:question about GW vs WoW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      IMHO Guild Wars has some of the best graphics, the next best looks to be Dark & Light, D&L will kick some major ass when it's released.

    6. Re:question about GW vs WoW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Definatly Guild Wars.

      Have you seen a stripped elementalist yet? Wowza.

      And the graphics make it all the better (that and their slutty /dance emote)

    7. Re:question about GW vs WoW by patio11 · · Score: 1

      WoW female human paladins circa level 55. Its like God decided to issue his holy warriors specially enchanted plate-mail dental floss.

      --
      Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
    8. Re:question about GW vs WoW by parryr · · Score: 1

      You've got to be kidding. Have you seen the female elementalist /dance emote?

      I'll never have to get pr0n again when I get this game.

  9. Game of the Year! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Well at least until Dark & Light is released!

    The PvP could best be explained as a fantasy themed counter strike match, some people will get bored after a few months but others will get very addicted.

  10. Wait for the final and review by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I paid the $5 for the pre-order to play in the last beta weekend event. I'm suffering from WoW burnout, and the feature list of this game sounds like the solution to all my complaints about WoW.

    Unfortunately, this game is seriously lacking some polish. Without going into detailed specifics, I thought despite some very pretty graphics the GUI and combat system felt clunky and not very intuitive. Not to mention the invisible walls of doom! What? No cliff jumping? :)

    I doubt they were able to put the right amount of polish on this to bring the likely Gamespot score of 7/10 into the 9s. We'll see. I'd love to be wrong and see them turn this into something great as I am about to re-activate my WoW account.

    1. Re:Wait for the final and review by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd wager Guild Wars will score 8.5 or above at both GameSpot and GameSpy.

    2. Re:Wait for the final and review by Rs_Conqueror · · Score: 1

      They give whoever has the most market hype high scores as far as I can tell...

      --
      Behold, another webcomic!
    3. Re:Wait for the final and review by Creepy · · Score: 1

      speaking of pre-orders, according to the FAQ, the game goes online at 12:01PM Pacific time on Wednesday, April 27th. All pre-orders can play for 48 hours before requiring a full game key.

      My biggest problem with the game was the camera auto-panning to face the character (which really sucks when you die and want to turn the camera around so you can find a safe place to run when resurrected). This apparently has a preference now, but I've only had about 4 hours to play total in the last two betas due to a vacation and family obligation. The interface has undergone massive improvements in the last 2 betas, so if you only played earlier betas (which I can see the parent has not, but other readers might have), it's quite a bit different. I didn't notice as many clipping artifacts and as much LOD popping in the last beta, either, nor did I manage to walk up to my head in solid rock like I managed to do in the last few beta.

      Invisible walls of doom don't bother me that much, at least not for this game. There are lots of cliffs, and falling off them and dying sucks.

    4. Re:Wait for the final and review by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the game is incredible. gvg is a rush. the environments are breathtaking. anyone interested in the game should check out the guild wars guru fan site ( http://www.guildwarsguru.com/ )-- they have all the best info / experts on gw.

  11. I love it. by Lyphen · · Score: 1

    It's everything PSO was, except free. Sure, it might not have large open areas, and the world is instanced instead of being open to everyone, but it looks great, plays great and is tons of fun.

  12. My (Fanboy) Overview by amarc · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Guild Wars really is a superb game, the depth & quality of the PvP is the best I've ever seen. Though this is hardly suprising considering ArenaNet is headed up by brilliant ex-Blizzard staff - "Wyatt was Blizzard's Vice President of Research and Development and most recently acted as the Team Lead and Lead Programmer of Battle.net. O'Brien was the Team Lead and Lead Programmer of Warcraft III, having personally developed the game's 3D rendering engine. Jeff Strain was also a Team Lead and Lead Programmer there and is the author of the Starcraft Campaign Editor." I didn't mind WoW in the Betas, though I was a little underwhelmed... the grind+gank=win style of game doesn't really appeal to me. In GW PvP success is really dependant on skill as you only have 8 skill slots & the equipment doesn't make that much of a difference. There are no seperate servers for Guild Wars, you get to play everyone from around the world. So that means when you win the 24/7 pickup tournament by holding the Hall of Heroes you really are the top PvP team in the world at that moment, or when your Guild itself is ranked on the ladder that is your position in relation to every other guild in the game. It's actually really hard for me to describe just how cool this game is, thinking about it. This weekend my guild played an 8v8 PvP battle versus the #1 ranked guild in the world (Koreans) with no lag whatsoever. Despite the language/cultural/latency that would usually hinder such a meetup, we had a stunning game, got our arses handed to us & parted with a few "gg's". I was a little sceptical when I heard that Guild Wars was billed as a "Competitive Online RPG", but it's a pretty damn accurate depiction. Any self-respecting gamer should endevour to check this game out - top notch PvP, beautiful graphics, free online play, vibrant global community. Where has this game been all my life?!

    1. Re:My (Fanboy) Overview by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Guild Wars does not have any real substitute for monthly fees.

      You do not have to buy the expansions that will be released every SIX TO EIGHT months. Not every 2! Think about it, you could pay 10 dollars a monk for World of Warcraft and not get anything new and exciting, or you could play Guild Wars and pay 50 dollars every 6 months and DOUBLE the amount of content per expansion! And there is no obligation to buy them either! You can still play as long as you want in whatever chapters you have without being put at a disadvantage to people with the expansions. and you can still play with your friends in the expansions you have in common! Whoever is managing WoW at this point is clearly incompetant!

    2. Re:My (Fanboy) Overview by IAmSceptical · · Score: 2, Insightful

      ArenaNet is headed up by brilliant ex-Blizzard staff - "Wyatt was Blizzard's Vice President of Research and Development and most recently acted as the Team Lead and Lead Programmer of Battle.net. O'Brien was the Team Lead and Lead Programmer of Warcraft III, having personally developed the game's 3D rendering engine. Jeff Strain was also a Team Lead and Lead Programmer there and is the author of the Starcraft Campaign Editor

      I am sure they are all excellent programmers but I think things are mixed up and/or overstated. Which is the norm when you start a new company and go out looking for venture capital. Only your most recent title matters, not how long you had it.

      I believe O'Brien, not Wyatt, was the brains behind Battle.net. There was some game magazine that listed 50 or 100 influential game programmers and I am pretty sure he was "the" Battle.net guy. The various game credits seem to back this up.

      According to the Warcraft 3 credits the game engine seems to have been really lead by Jay Patel. I think NVIDIA published something referring to Patel as the 3D guy for Warcraft 3 as well. O'Brien left very early in Warcraft 3's development and from watching the game change over the course of several E3 trade shows the engine seems to have been completely redone.

      Now if you want to talk Warcraft 2, Diablo, Starcraft, and Diablo 2 they have an excellent track record. Now add Guild Wars and the credit it deserves. However keep in mind that individuals don't make great games, teams do. Blizzard's success is not attributable to a handful of guys but rather large teams. Arena.net will only be successful if these guys can build teams that are effective. Their individual talents are not enough.

  13. Not just free monthly by Ossus_10 · · Score: 3, Informative

    There are other great technologies in play in Guild Wars. A streaming update system allows on the fly patching, content additions, and quest tweaks. Zones arround you are streamed so the number of files to load when you first enter a zone is minimal. The game also changes for you based on choices you make. For example: if you do a quest that rids the world of "lizard men" then when you return to that zone, there are still no lizard men. If you return with someone who has not done the quest, there are only half as many lizard men as there would be if niether of you had done the quest. The game focuses on skills gained rather than levels. As such, your spells do no more damage on leveling, they do more damage when skill points are put into them (gotten from leveling, completeing quests, doing PvP or GvG). That being said, the level cap is at 20. For a free MMO (dissagree with the post before, the game is Massive, it is a multiplayer game, and it is online), the content is huge. There is so much to the game that after 4 Betas, I hadn't even scratched the surface

  14. Vs. WoW by Iscariot_ · · Score: 1

    Could someone kindly explain to me what the major differences are between this and WoW? I've never played the beta and I'm curious about switching. Plus you'll get +5 :)

    --

    Go here for teh [sic] funny.
    1. Re:Vs. WoW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      The biggest difference is gameplay, hard to describe really. WoW is a traditional MMORPG with all the level treadmilling and player griefing that goes with that.

      Guild Wars was designed to attempt to eliminate these "unfun" things ("fun" is subjective, but Guild Wars is based on the premise that these things are not fun).

      There are 3 major points of difference between GW and Wow

      1. instanced maps - All missions and explorable areas in GW are instanced. That is, only you and your party are in the instance. There can not be any player griefing (PKing, kill stealing, ect) because there is nobody else there to do it.

      2. Low level cap - GW is a competitive game with a high focus on PvP, as such game balance is essential. As such the level cap is 20, something that can be achieved in 2-3 days (or even sooner). The low level cap does not mean the game ends quickly though, as the main premise is the aquisition of skills (each player has access to ~150) once level 20 is reached new 'levels' give the ability to aquire another skill, so really the entire concept of levels is different in GW

      3. No monthly fee. This is the one that gets all the press (go figure), It is also the least understood. The game charges no monthly fee, rather there will be expansions (new missions, new skill and characters classes, ect.) released every 6-9 months. The GW developers are convinced this model will work and monthly fees are unnessecary, time will tell.

      I cannot do the game justice in this post, I would suggest checking the Guild Wars official site and some of the Fan Sites for more info.

    2. Re:Vs. WoW by mutewinter · · Score: 1

      I've played the WoW stress test and ever Guild Wars beta weekend up to the release.

      The biggest difference is the instanced areas in Guild Wars. In the cities everyone is there, you get 2-6 people to join your team and then you start the mission. You won't run into any other players outside of the cities when you are in your team. The game plays straight through like Dungeon Siege or Diablo 2. When you play WoW there is a lot of waiting around for monsters to respawn & you are always running into other players. None of that here.

      Guild Wars is not a true MMORPG, but I'd still call it a MMORPG. It just plays without some of the annoyances of other online RPGs.

  15. GW owns WoW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Sorry, that's the only way to put it. The game has clearly superior graphics, more content (smaller map but you will never run 10 minutes without seeing a single moving thing), PERFECTLY BALANCED for both PvE and PvP, minimal amount of grind, still challenging as hell (you can only say this game is easy once you're guild is at the top and you've cleared the Fissure of Woe with no problems at all), and one of the major things: It's free!

    And by free, i mean it's really free. Not like "it's free but you have to...". The only thing that could possibly be considered a substitute for awful monthly fees is the expansion system. There will be "Chapters" Released every 6 to 8 months. The prices have not been confirmed, probably 50 bucks (by my guess), because the content contained in the expansions will be equal to that of the first release. Which means chapter 2 will make the map twice as big and add twice as much stuff! You don't even have to buy them! And if you don't, you can keep playing. And you can still play with all your friends that have bought different expansion packs in the chapters you have in common. Have chapters 1 3 and 5 but your friend has only 2, 3, and 4? Have fun playing together in number 3 and even better yet: on an even playing field!

    This game is clearly superior to World of Warcraft and runs on a seemless world. It's worth your money to try it!

    Go to the many fansite forums full of addicted fans or to the official site (guildwars.com) to find out more!

    1. Re: GW owns WoW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

      Im sick of people comparing this to WoW. Its not a mmorpg, therefore its not close to being like WoW.

      So when the majority of the game isnt instanced, and you can actually come across real people that arent in your party in the game world, then you can compare it to WoW...

    2. Re: GW owns WoW by snuf23 · · Score: 1, Insightful

      And by free, i mean it's really free. Not like "it's free but you have to..."

      It's not free. There is no monthly fee, but there is a one time cost of the full game that you have to pay. Free would be if you could download the client, not need a serial number, just logon and play forever.

      This game is clearly superior to World of Warcraft and runs on a seemless world. It's worth your money to try it!

      That totally depends on what type of play style you like. I've played Guild Wars betas and I've played World of Warcraft. I found them to be very different experiences. Wow is much more of a typical MMO with all that entails (good and bad). Guild Wars is a bit of a different animal. It really had more of a Diablo feel to it. Definately a substantial evolution on Diablo but still feels very different from a regular MMO. So for a lot of people that is a boon, since they don't enjoy the standard MMO style of play.
      Most of the players I ran into who loved the game came out of the Diablo set. I was actually amazed to see all these people who were still playing Diablo in 2005. I would imagine Guild Wars will totally devour that player set.
      I really didn't like the way you had to load out your skills before each quest. Being limited to 8 at a time just seemed to make some of the skills kind of pointless. I realize this is a major aspect of the play and you might find maximizing your skill combos to be a lot of fun.
      I also really didn't like being "walled in" to the environments. Not being able to slide down a slope but rather being required to take the long path down drove me nuts.
      I think Guild Wars is an interesting new game and a lot of people will really like it. I just think it's hard to compare directly to something like World of Warcraft or hell, Everquest. Similar, yet different.

      --
      Sometimes my arms bend back.
    3. Re: GW owns WoW by jweric · · Score: 1
      I personally feel that this is like diablo multiplayer... just replace chat rooms with towns and you got diablo multiplayer.

      The totally different part but great beauty that is GW is that their is a free exploration mode where you can go nearly everywhere. That means you could play the game rather non linearly. But it is rather difficult to go from one side of the world to the other since level change through areas. Not to mention that the world is huge...

      I did play WoW for about 5 min and to be honest... what they have going is a great idea but too much like EQ I feel... but that was just after 5 min eval.

      As well it seemed like you were able to do much more meaningful things in the begining of GW then WoW. But this is because GW has a storyline so you can eather follow it or deviate for a little bit.

      So if I had a choice between GW and unlimited WoW I would chose GW since I liked it the most. But this is my 2c.

  16. I'm sold by CrazyJim1 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Maybe this game will be fun. I just got Matrix Online, and that game sucked.

    --
    God spoke to me.
  17. GW and WoW anyone doing both? by space_jake · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I plan on playing both. With no monthly subscription wheres the harm? I think that monthy subscription fees are the only reason that online games lose their casual feel, you kind of feel obligated to play it more because you're paying for it either way.

  18. Offtopic complaint about your accepted article... by Ayanami+Rei · · Score: 1

    Why the hell did you link to a for-pay only article on Slashdot?
    Be honest, did you write it?
    The article from the german university is appreciated, but why even bother with that Forrester research BS.

    --
    THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
  19. important comment by Crackjuggalo22 · · Score: 1

    ur all gay an u r razed by reamers and ninjas, u no nofing aboot chuna and othr cuntires. this y u eat cook off a ladize azz you fot crook whurs