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Guild Wars until GW2 and Star Wars Online
keithian
Member UncommonPosts: 3,191
OK, I'm strongly considering playing this game as a filler until GW2 and SWTOR and cancelling my Cataclysm preorder. I notice Walmart has for $39.99 all 4 games wrapped up in one. Since it doesn't say trilogy, I'm assuming this includes the north expansion. I guess my basic questions are:
1) Do I need all 4 in such a small window of time? What are the odds as a casual player (2 hrs a night at most, sometimes more) that I would get through all that content in 6 months or so?
2) If I have trouble finding people to play with, is the solo boring? How hard is it to find groups? or even a good guild for that matter lol. Is there a looking for group tool like in WOW?
3) What servers are recommended for west coast evenings (Los Angeles) that would have a decent population.
Thanks!
There Is Always Hope!
Comments
1) You don't need all four but it is nice to have all of them for the different classes and skills.
2) Going to be honest here, looking for groups can be a bit of a pain. However, if you know where the right outposts are you can get into a group for a specific area, mission, or dungeon. A lot of places you'll have to solo unless you are in pve oriented guild. And no, soloing with heros and henchmen is very easy, at least in normal mode.
3) There is only one server.
Thank you for the response. Already I'm off to a bad first impression. I downloaded the trial which actually went very quickly as it only downloads a portion of the game. The character creation was very very basic, the classes were up my ally since 3 of them were mage like, but the interface options were not very advanced, especially the graphic settings. I put everything on the highest and found the graphics very disappointing, worse in my eyes then WOW or Allods online. I also couldn't jump. The first city felt more like two or three large rooms, and the animations were weak. Finally, the sticky at the top of this forum talked about how the PVP is really where the good part of the game was, but the trial doesn't let you select that to experience it. Before I go any further, can you please tell me how this sold 6M copies because there must be something as I dive deeper into this that sets it apart from other games such as EQ2, Warhammer or LOTRO which sold less copies but seem much more current as far as the technology goes.
Anyway, I'm going to play through the 9 hours the game gives me so I can form a better opinion.
There Is Always Hope!
You are probably in pre-searing? if so that is just the start and a small tutorial place.
Yes not jumping is a pain, but you get used to it. Remember it is an older game @ 5.5 yrs. There are lots of titles, atmospheric places. You shouldn't really judge GW1 as expectations for the 2nd game. For example in GW1 when you are in a zone it is just you an your party it is not open like it will be in GW2. Take everything that is iffy in GW and it won't be there in GW2.
Word of advice, don't think of it as an MMORPG. Think of it more as a co-op RPG with guilds. First time I played it years ago I hated it because of all that you mention and I was playing WoW at the time and expecting GW to feel the same. It didn't.
GW2 looks to solve that issue, BUT, GW1 once you realize it's a different game type is really well done and offers some very nice casual play.
This here says it all. Honestly for 6 months time and what you said you dont like already dont spend the money on the game. But like avery said from the looks of the info out on GW2 its going to be the same in IP only.
Graphics wont change. No jumping anywhere. PvP wont start till you are max level (that I remember) though that will only take a week or so most likely. To me its just not worth the 40 bucks right now. Though I would probably be more likely to spend 40 and get diablo 2 again than but any current mmo till the new ones come out lol. That and fallout new vegas is comming soon
Hmmmm, I used to read your informative posts when I was playing AOC. Really liked them and you were always helpful. Anyway, I'm not playing this for GW2 and Im putting zero expectation between the two as Im already excited about what Ive seen from GW2. I am just desperately looking for a filler until that and SWTOR comes out and was hoping this might be it, but it may as you say be a little two dated for me since graphics are important to me. Regardless, I'm going to keep venturing out, though Im concerned about what the previous poster said about finding groups. Im OK to solo, but I prefer grouping. In AOC, I was in fellowship of souls and they were always very helpful with 50+ online at all times lol.
There Is Always Hope!
Yea again, I think my post was misunderstood. I am not at all connecting this to GW2 and my expectations regarding GW2 are separate. I may end up going back for the first time in 7 years to single player games if I am forced to lol.
There Is Always Hope!
I found the first game very tough going, was in the original beta. When the game launched I played until I got before Lions arch or Droknars forge. I got kinda bored in the Charr area to be honest. I gave it a break for a few weeks came back and pushed through that unfamilar feeling and broke into an awesome world. Got to lvl 20, done some PVP, played on and then got the expansions as they came and love the PVP mini games (when you can get in). I had some real excitement as I learned to customize my skills for the different areas and began to appreciate the story line. (I think the story was weak prior maguuma jungle)
In essence I have real fond memories of the game. Loved the Fissure of Woe and think I was one of the first with an Obsidian Set (in my HoM atm). By the time AoC came out I had amassed some 3k hours in GW by 2008. I picked it up, put it down and picked it up again, this was the relantionship I had with GW for a long time.
If you are looking for a filler and things are unfamiliar I would try and push through until it opens up. It can be very rewarding and I would suggest just 2 games are enough for a filler until part 2 releases.
I am playing a little AoC, some single player games like Ruse and Civ 5, shooter like Crysis Wars (can't wait for Crysis 2) awaiting Arcania: Gothic 4 in 2 days time too
I always thought GW looked really good for an old game. You sure all your settings are maxed?
1: The content is pretty massive. You should be able to make 1 campaign and Eye of the north in the time but all 3 might be possible even if I have my doubts. It is still enough to learn the lore and get some bonus stuff for GW2.
2: You can get bots instead of players, there are henchmen and there are heroes, the latter can you customize yourself. In some of the older content can it be hard to get a group. Soloing is somewhat harder since a good human player is better than any AI but you can do pretty much solo and if you get a buddy Duoing works great in GW, me and a buddy spent a lot of time farming Obsidian and that is really hard even with a full group.
3: There is only one server for each region (and a special instance where you can play with other regions).
40 bucks is not bad for 6 months of gameplay actually (and it can be a year, we are not 100% sure when GW2 releases). I am just back myself after 2 years and I had forgotten how fun a good AI and no tanks make combat. But for some reason is Mhenlo still retarded and gets stuck at things, all other heroes and henchies seems to be working fine.
Yea, there arn't that many options. I chose the 1920X1080, 4X Antiliasing (didnt go any higher), max shadows, etc. No lag or hitching, it just seemed worse to me right off the bat then WOW or Allods and I'm already bored of the graphics in WOW. I am so ready for the next batch of games. GW2 and SWTOR save me please lol.
There Is Always Hope!
Agreed, this game is closer to Diablo then Wow. The lead designer had that job on Diablo too so it is no coincident that the games have similarities.
If you want to compare it with another online game it should be with DDO.
GW is a low budget game made by a really small team but the game do have a real depth and the best arena PvP I ever seen.
The older areas look rather crappy while the later ones looks a lot better. It is a huge difference between the first campaign and GW:EN. It still can't compete with a modern game (but in my opinion goes the same for Wow) but it is not that bad either.
Waste of money imo, all you will end up doing is playing the game till cata comes out and then buying that anyways. GW1 is pretty ghetto for todays standards anyways.
You can pvp right away with a pvp character.
You can pvp with a lvl 4 character. I leveled several characters in PVP from the go. I think you have to do a couple of quests then go into pvp with a pve character. You can also just make a pvp character and start pvp from the start, but I always thought it more fun to woop ass with a lil nooblet.
Though there was a break between arenas after the second one I think where you had to do questing to get to max after it kicks you from the arena, but Max lvl is only 20 so it wasn't like it was a grind.