Guild Wars?

[Zippyy]

Edit2: A poll is up to gauge how much interest people have in participating in a Guild Wars guild with other members of the legit community. If you think you might be even slightly interested in joining the wonderful guild we're building, please head over here and sign up! No obligation!

Just thought I'd share a few thoughts I have on this upcoming game. B)

NOTE: All of the quotes in this post come from this thread.

After three days of playing ravenously during the E3 event a while back, I have to say that this game is going to rock. As much as I love Diablo 2, Guild Wars is definately the future of the action/rpg genre. Many have said it can't be considered a true MMORPG because of the instanced areas, single player areas (basically online solo areas, also instanced), and mainly the lack of a gameworld. Meaning: there is no giant continent where all areas are accessable via conventional (on foot/swimming) means, a'la Morrowind. Instead, Guild Wars has a world map, and you just click on the area you want to go to and you are there. In fact, I just realized it is similar in some small ways to D2's waypoints. This does detract from the overall immersion, but I have a feeling that realism is not what ArenaNet is going for. Blizzard isn't trying to make an immersive high-fantasy experience, and neither is ArenaNet. I can't say whether or not it qualifies as an MMORPG, but does it really matter? What matters is that is is an experience.

When's the beta start for this again? Just wondering, since I know the Lurker crowd will have significant interest in this game.

I really hope so. I'm pestering a few of my old DSF pals about the game and trying to raise interest. A Lurkers Guild would be unfathomably awesome, and I would gladly do whatever is needed to make it a reality. I'm a little too dorky and fallable to be any kind of a leader, but I would be happy administering some sort of a website and keeping track of members and records and whatnot.

The E3 for Everyone event is long over, but as mentioned in a previous thread, there is an open beta event available to everyone from October 29-31. For any of you interested in preordering, there are a load of incentives, such as this jewel: you will be allowed to play for the first weekend of every month from Oct 29 until release. Your characters will be saved B) . For a full list of the preorder bonuses (and there are some whiz-bang ones too), check the official preorder FAQ here.

If it's going to be completely free outside upgrades, that's going to create a D2-like atmosphere, aka a ratio of people you can actually play with to people who can only be described as less-than-pleasant of 1:10,000, I'm not going to have much hope for it.

A real concern, but is there any way to avoid this problem? The good thing about the "less-than-pleasants" are that they contribute money to the game. The only way to avoid them would be to so severely restrict the game's audience that it would be impossible for their business model to succeed. Besides, check out any traditional MMORPG. They are flooded with similar creatures. Not the same species, perhaps, but definately all related to Ignorantus Interneticus.

Any online game is going to have many, many annoying people. It's just a fact of life. This is one of the primary reasons why I am so bent on forming a Lurkers guild; to have an intelligent, reliable, friendly group to kick back with and laugh at the less-than-pleasants. :D

It could possibly be a gem that no one plays because of other higher profile games...

Fortunately, ArenaNet has been very good at promoting the game. Somewhere around 200,000 people played in the E3 event, and high profile sites like GameSpy and IGN have had several promo articles. In my mind (as twisted as it may be) at least, Guild Wars IS one of the high-profile games. No monthly fees, no spawn camping, and awesome graphics will attract hordes, I suspect.


There are many other things I could talk about, but I'll cease my blathering and let someone more coherent take the stage. :)

Edit: typo

[Occhidiangela]

I am quite interested, and have been trying to generate some interest with some of the folks I game with regularly.

At present, I am in no position to play or test, but maybe soon . . .

Occhi

[Taem]

I too am VERY excited about this game, but ONLY if they have some type of permanent death (ala hardcore) feature. If not, its just another MMO I'll have to pass up.

I wanted to mention that a LOT of people in D2 have been talking about it. I do mean a LOT! Seems the word is getting around and I must admit, I have been helping spread the word. And if anyone asks me about it, I tell them it’s by the original creators of all the great Blizzard games and then I give them the web-site and they're hooked! I'm not trying to advertise, but I'm so excited about this game that it comes out like a religious fanatic trying to convert people to his beliefs.

Anyways, just a few more weeks until the Beta's begin!

[Zippyy]

I too am VERY excited about this game, but ONLY if they have some type of permanent death (ala hardcore) feature. If not, its just another MMO I'll have to pass up.

I haven't read anything mentioning any kind of permadeath. In fact, they recently removed permadeath from rangers' pets; they can now be resurrected. Anyway, hard to say that's really surprising, as most people hate the idea of losing their character at the drop of a hat. Still, it's a feature that should be in the game, but it's doubtful. You could always impose that rule on yourself, but that takes some of the fun out of it, since everyone around you would be immortal.

If they did have a hardcore option, the hardcore "world" would likely be completely separate since mixing them would cause all sorts of problems. Also, seeing as Guild Wars is a semi-MMO, the world would be vastly underpopulated compated to the softcore one.


Maybe closer to the beta there could be some kind of sign-up sheet for interested players. A Lurker Lounge channel could be created in game, like in WoW. Also, Guild Wars has no "Realms", all players exist in the same world, which will make it a lot easier to hook up.

[Guest]

How about this; if you ever die, just delete/stop playing that character.

I'm also really looking foward to this. However, I think it has more in common with Neverwinter Nights than Diablo II. D2 has a 1 click, 1 hit attack system, and that gives a 'down in battle' kind of feel that most other games can't offer. However, the GW system (1 click, repetedly attacks until dead) does seem to work well as you can just click your skill, use it, and continue attacking. Gosu.

Edit:

There have been numerous threads about this under this very forum. In future, you might want to just add to them instead of starting new threads.

[Zippyy]

There have been numerous threads about this under this very forum. In future, you might want to just add to them instead of starting new threads.

I did a search for Guild Wars and only came up with one thread about it, which I quoted several times in my first post. There were two other threads where the game was mentioned, but no more. Near the bottom of that thread, the topic had shifted from Guild Wars to European fall festivals. :huh: I also wanted this thread to be more focused on getting a group of Lurkers together to game when it is released, instead of festivals. Sorry if I broke the rules :unsure:

[Guest]

Lawl. It's not REALLY a rule, per-say, just an occasional annoyance. That was more for future reference I guess.

[Guest]

I cant say Im excited, but I am definetly interested and looking foward to trying it out at release.

[Taeme]

This goes on the list of games I'll definitely plan to try when I get my new machine.

[TriggerHappy]

After playing in the E3 for everyone event (and going through terrible withdrawal effects afterwards :(), I'm absolutely getting this game on release.

Might even pre-order it, considering the incentives.

[WarLocke]

This goes on the list of games I'll definitely plan to try when I get my new machine.

Holy crap, when did you get back, Spider?

On topic, I missed the E3 beta thingy (still kicking myself over that) but intend to check this out after release.

[Occhidiangela]

Unrealshadow13 is not worth responding to, and has shown self to be generally low value and clueless since arrival.

Please do not feed the troll.

Do you try to encourage dandelions to grow in your lawn? Poison Ivy?

Warm Regards

Occhi

[Swiss Mercenary]

Saying that I'm excited would be an understatement.

If we had a :drool: emoticon, this would be the place I'd be using it.

[Taeme]

I'm not sure, but the time period is definitely measured in months.

[twolf]

Don't forget that Guild Wars will heavily lean on PvP, not only PvM.

A "hardcore" mode hardly makes sense for a game heavily focusing on PvP play, I'd say.

Cheers, Tobias

[Zippyy]

I'm not sure, but the time period is definitely measured in months.

True, preorderers (?) will probably only get to participate in 2-3 of the "Weekend Events," but coupled with the October event, that adds up to around a week of game-time before the game is actually released. That could mean a nice head start on your character. :)

Don't forget that Guild Wars will heavily lean on PvP, not only PvM.

All the better for the Lurkers to ownz0r some b1tches.

As far as I know, the only way to level up is still by slaying monsters, so PvM should be very robust. Hopefully, PvP will be better designed than most MMOs.

[TriggerHappy]

Hopefully, PvP will be better designed than most MMOs.

I'd say it already was, during the E3 event. Even with unfinished characters and gameplay, it was immensly fun.

Indeed, I haven't had that much fun in player vs player combat since Starcraft and Mechwarrior 4 (current online endeavor, well, for the past four years :D ).

The best thing about Guild Wars is that the game modes are 100% instanced. You can solo freely and nobody will bother you. You can play co-op missions and nobody will bother you and your team. And the only place where one can PvP is in the arenas specially designated for it. Grief play is greatly minimised with this setup.

Did anyone else try PvP during the E3 event?

[LochnarITB]

You can solo freely and nobody will bother you.  You can play co-op missions and nobody will bother you and your team.

The biggest question I had after the event was regarding playing solo. It is nice that once you have begun that area, nobody can enter and bother you. The thing that bothers me is that you had to co-op through areas to gain access to further solo areas. I started out wanting to solo but found that I had to co-op to access higher areas. I actually came to enjoy the co-op but some might not. Unless they change it to provide a different path to all the solo areas, this could lead to people who join a group just to get through and don't actually co-op, not really griefers but irritating none the less.

Did anyone else try PvP during the E3 event?

I tried it briely (2-3 games) but it felt unbalanced. Of course, that could just be that I was a terrible player compared to the others in the arena. :(

[Swiss Mercenary]

About the soloing, Arena.net's plan seems to consist of several parts.

First, there will be a series of missions that you have to follow in a specific order - after completing them, my impression is that PvP will be unlocked. They are designed to be more of a tutorial.

After they are completed, there will probably be either single missions, or optional branches that you could follow. Or, of course, you could head out, and PvP.
From the reports of the alpha testers, it seems that while PvP is obviously not 100% balanced, every single class is highly effective. There also seem to be many different builds for each one - this isn't 1.09 Diablo 2, where every single "Best" barbarian would use whirlwind, every single "Best" druid had to be a wolf, etc, etc.

[Thecla]

I really enjoyed the GuildWars E3 demo. It was very stable and fun to play. The game has lots of great positive features (free online play among them), and I think it will do very well. What seems to be missing for me is the character building aspect of RPGs (or action RPGs), which is one of my favorite parts. Building up more options to choose from before going into a mission is not the same thing. I'm pretty sure GuildWars will be a unique and successful game that will attract a lot of people. Just not sure I will be among them.