WoW vs. Guild Wars

[Uber_Gamer]

I'm looking for some honest feedback here, not blind rantings and ravings about whichever game you play. I currently play WoW, I have a level 60 Night Elf Hunter on Gorgonnash. I've been playing since late December and have really enjoyed it. However, I am somewhat dissapointed with the end-game. Onyxia and Molten Core raids with my guild were fun for the first few times, but after awhile they became tedious farming. It was great to get nice items, but they didn't have any purpose in of themselves. The only real purpose of them was to enhance my PvP game. I love PvP, but I am not into the whole FPS scene. I don't like PvP that is reliant on twitch reflexes. I like to be able to strategize and coordinate attacks as I feel it gives a much bigger rush and feeling of reward to overwhelm an opponent in this manner. WoW has decent PvP, and battlegrounds will probably enchance it significantly, but I hate the zerg aspect. No one really works together on the battle field, and whoever has more people and is daring enough to charge wins (If you play WoW, you will be familiar with Hillsbrad Foothills zerging). The other issue is class balance. Classes are really not balanced that well, and the talent trees are not very balanced either. Players are essentially forced to choose one of a couple cookie cutter builds in order to maximize their potential.

Guild Wars sounded appealing because of the intense strategy that went with the PvP. Plus, I LOVE good graphics (no monthly fee doesn't hurt either). It sounds pretty fast paced which is nice. But, is it too fast-paced, so that you are unable to communicate, coordinate, and re-strategize during a battle with your teammates? Another concern is that everything outside of town is instanced. I like the feeling of a big seamless world, which WoW accomplishes magnificently. Are there any zone loading times in Guild Wars?

So pretty much, as someone who enjoys strategy-heavy PvP, character customization, rewards (more than just you have X amount of wins - perhaps special items or skills that must be obtained through PvPing but that are not overpowering), a good community, and a seamless world...... Would I like Guild Wars as much as I do WoW?

[04nmr85]

I'm also interested in hearing an answer to this. I currently play WoW, lvl45 Night Elven Warrior-Dalaran Server, and i like the PvP aspect of the game. With WoW tho it seems like u need a lot of time to invest to be good at all and right now i don't have much time to waste. Guild Wars seemed like it might be a lot less time consuming than WoW and a lot easier to PvP in. So is there anyone out there that has an opinion on me and Gamers questions/comments?

[tomster2300]

I don't know anything about either of the games, but my friend does own Guild Wars and he's been addicted to it since he bought it. My other friend owns WoW and he was addicted to it until Guild Wars came out. I think Guild Wars is visually superior and it's also free, which is a large deciding factor to many people. (It would be to me) I dont believe this helps you at all, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

[ScurrilousPrune]

I just got Guild Wars a couple days ago, and so far so good. I haven't really played any other MMORPGs besides Kal Online, so this is my first. There are loading times when you go to towns, etc. but they are really quick (no more than 15 seconds). You can choose a primary and secondary profession, like Necromancer/Elementalist or so on and get skills/weapons from both professions. Yo ucan customize armor and stuff with dyes and can make guilds and get their own guild hall on the map. Guild members are designated with a custom designed cloak around them. As you complete quests, the cities change and so on. The monsters seem pretty hard right now, but im only like a level 2. I heard the PvP is really great with capture the flag modes and war-like scenarios. Also, items are "reserved" for certian characters during quests. I haven't played the PvP but I heard it was one of the most awesome aspects of the game. The RPG part of the game follows a storyline of monsters attacking the city, kind of reminds me of LOTR. You can make up to 4 characters per account to see what classes you like. My copy came with a headset/mic and a free trial of Teamspeak.

See more at:
http://www.guildwars.com/

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/

http://www.rpgforums.net/forumdisplay.php?f=78

And just to let you know, I'm running a P4 3.0GHZ with a Radeon X800XL 256mb PCi-e and the thing looks GREAT! Especially the Autumn trees with brown, yellow, red, and orange leaves on them. I think there's different seasons in the game, too.

[Turbo91Bird]

So I can just buy Guild Wars and I don't have to pay monthly fees to play it online?

[Jaggannath]

Correct

[Turbo91Bird]

cool, maybe i will give it a try.

[04nmr85]

Is there any way of trying it out before u buy it?

[HellFish]

I bought Guild Wars last Saturday and I have put several hours on it so far. The game is visually stunning and you cant beat the cheap as free prices. I cant really comment on how it differs from other MMORPGs because I have never played any others. I have watched several firends play WoW and can tell they are clearly different games in style and gameplay.

The thing that I really like about Guild Wars so far is the assigning of item drops.
It seems to be pretty balanced as to who gets what on a quest. I would like to see alot more variety in the weapons and armour, but then again, im only on the cusp of the game.

If any of you PCMechers want to add me to your friends list my name is Edward Stormshadow. I'm a Ranger/Mesmer.

[Prew]

I've thought about Guild Wars too, and will probably buy it when I reach level 60- (currently lvl 50 Tauren Warrior). A big difference I see between the two games, however, one that probably makes WoW a longer lasting game and more interesting game, is that in WoW you have diverse professions and skills that you can build up- these lend a variety of different aspects to the game; for instance building up your alchemy or cooking skills to make interesting or powerful potions or dishes is entertaining. High lvl fishing skills can also be fun as you try out different fishing holes and finally land a large fish (one that you can weld in your off hand and beat people with, lol- you have to see it to appreciate it). In other words, instead of questing or pvp, you might spend several days and many hours focusing on the development of one of these profession

In WoW, as you lvl up (40 and then 60), you can also obtain a ride (depending on your race it can be a wolf, horse, or even a mechanical ostrich). Of course these rides are expensive, so another aspect of the game is the acquisition of gold so that you can buy a ride- and others things that you require). Acquiring money can also be entertaining as you learn to effectively use the auction house- which in and of itself is a challenging learning process because if the item doesn't sell you loose your deposit- thereby actually losing money.

But Uber is probably right- after I have been lvl 60 for awhile- I too will probably become bored with it- and try someting new and Guild Wars appears to be the logical next step- I just doubt it if Guild Wars will have as long lasting appeal as WoW- not criticism.

[HellFish]

I wish Guild Wars had all of the sub-skill minutia of WoW, but Im very happy with it. Im looking forward to see how they handle Expansion packs and what they will offer. Hopefully new classes, weapons, skils, etc.

[Prew]

One thing that I am really going to like about quild wars is that all quests are for your group only. In WoW, especially in the evening and on weekends, you show up at the quest site and there are several other groups doing the same quest, looting the same chests, killing the same boss(es), etc. So you have to stand around and wait for things to respawn- which seems like an odd thing to do when trying to get into the role playing aspect of the game,

and the Honor System in WoW has made the game a little screwy- for those of you play and have been to Tauran Mills, you know what I mean (Alliance constantly attacking the Horde outpost while outnumbering the Hordes from 5 - 10 to 1.

[Jaggannath]

I'm looking forwards to playing Guild Wars, whilst I'm most likely not even going to buy WoW, as it didn't really have a single player version of it.

[Propain]

I went with WoW , I know you pay to play but hey its living the WARCRAFT life!! nuff said im a level 19 gnome warlock playing on the Silver Hand realm guild name : Seraphim of the Night 40 members :P


cheers

[04nmr85]

To me, it seemed like Guild Wars allows for more diverse classes and skills. When you create ur char u get to pick a main class and a sub class, right? A warrior with some mage skills? That just sounds cool . GW looks more like a PvP game than WoW, but then again Battlegrounds have yet to be introduced to WoW so that may change. GW's didn't look like it had much depth to it tho. Like in WoW there are hundreds of quests u can do and tons of zones u can go to. In GWs it sounded like u had to stick to a storyline somewhat. I have yet to play GW tho so i could be wrong. This is just what i've learned from reading about the game on different sites. So if i've stated something completely wrong feel free to correct me