Guild Wars Review

I have a love/hate relationship with NCSoft. I love them because they are breathing some much-needed fresh air into the Massively Online Game (MOG) market with fun new ideas demonstrated in games like City of Heroes. Games that break with traditional stereotypes of online games while keeping all the fun. I hate NCSoft because they keep putting out these games that I want to play but, due to real world obligations, I don't have enough time to. So something that could be bringing me pleasure, instead tortures me merely by its existence as I have to sacrifice play time in order to do stupid things like 'work', 'eat', 'sleep' or 'bathe'. (Ok I honestly do not spend too much time on the last one, but let's not split hairs or point any fingers. 10 minutes in the shower or 10 more minutes online? Not a hard choice to make in my book.)

WoW, cool graphics! (Pun intended.)

The characters in GW are a bit stiff, but they look good.

Case in point is Guild Wars, the latest nontraditional game/torture device from ArenaNet and NCSoft. Sure at first glance it looks like World of EverQuest or any other second generation fantasy MOG on the market with gorgeous characters that wield swords and shields, unleash arrows from bows and weave powerful magic spells. However, the creators of Guild Wars don't even like to call it a MOG. They prefer to call it a Cooperative Online Role Playing Game that combines the best elements of online games without all the nasty little details like stat juggling, the endless level grind or the monthly fee to play.

Ah ha! No monthly fee got your attention, didn't it? Yeah it has for a lot of other people as well. After purchasing the initial game (either online or from a brick and mortar store) you can play as much as you want for as long as you want without paying another dime to NCSoft. New content will come in the form of free downloads and stand alone expansion packs that can be purchased optionally. If the player decides not to buy the add-on, the developers claim it will not affect interaction with other players. Those who bought the add-on will have access to the new areas, player classes and skills while those who did not buy the add-on won't.

If you would rather skip the Role Playing-like elements of the game entirely and just jump into the PvP portion with a 20th level character, you can choose to do just that. But I think you are missing a real treat if you do. If you opt to dive into PvP or go for the RPG styled gameplay you start the same way. Players choose from six classes as a primary profession when they create a character:

• Warriors, good at fighting up close with all swords and hammers.
• Rangers, who use bows, can tame wild creatures as allies and can set traps.
• Necromancers, who can raise allies from fallen foes and cast life draining spells,.
• Mezmers, who use illusion and domination to combat enemies.
• Elementalists, who can channel the destructive power of nature.

• Monks who can protect and heal others while invoking holy energy to smite foes.

Once you have selected your primary profession, you customize the look of your player, create a first and last name (rather annoying) and then head off into the beautiful Guild Wars world where not too long after, you pick a secondary profession. You don't need to worry about things like race (everyone plays a human), stats (stats don't matter as you pump points into eight or so different skills based on your classes), selecting skills or spells (you increase your pool of skill and spells by completing quests or purchasing a select few from NPCs).

The world itself comes in three sections: The first are hubs where you can see and interact with other players to make trades and form teams. Second are adventure zones where you and your team (made up of real people or computer-controlled bots) can explore the countryside. These areas are instanced for you and your team alone. This eliminates the threat of tactless kill stealers or piggish players who camp the choice monster spawn point. You and your team are free to journey in your own little world, hacking down monsters, collecting loot and completing quests, which grant you new spells, skills and choice equipment or weapons. The third area are zones where you can compete with your team head-to-head against other teams in missions with specific goals or straight up death match.

While it sounds rather simple, the real fun and challenge comes when you choose your secondary profession and then mix and match between the 300 plus available skills and spells to come up with the ultimate combo. These skills and spells run the gamut from things that buff your team up (like health, armor and damage enhancement), things that harm others (like direct or damage over time spells) and of course, support (removing a nasty spell from your team, healing teammates etc). You can only equip 8 skills on your toolbar before venturing out of the hub areas and into combat.