Guildwars or World of WarCraft?

[DangerMouse!]

A friend of mine gave me a 10 day trial of WOW which is now nearly up.

I can't decide if I should buy WOW and pay the monthly subs or go down the Guildwars route with no subs.

Anyone played both?

Is WOW worth the extra subs as I won't be playing every night?

 

[Seth Gecko]

Not being a cheapskate, but personally, I prefered Guild Wars as I found WoW quite dull.

Guild Wars has had an additional area added for free and the second "episode" will be out around March 2006 - there is plenty to do IF you stick with it although it seems some didn't go too far beyond "post-searing" which is a shame as you go all the way around the map.

WoW I played for quite a while (in the 30 days) but I didn't find it as much fun as GW (which does remind me of Diablo considerably).

Hope that helps

 

[DangerMouse!]

Yes thanks, Diablo was one of my all time favorite games

 

[Garrett]

Not played Guild Wars but I in the past discribed WOW and a 3D Diablo down to the the characters having 3 routes they can improve there talents. The big difference is there is no set story you just get quest here and there although some of the quest can be quite long.

 

[pragmatic]

Me and my mate decided on WOW, there is no character interaction outside of the towns in guildwars, escept with your party and thus no PVP and battlefields on WOW is a lot of fun.

 

[Garrett]

I was just going to make the same point.

From the reviews I have read of Guild Wars is that once you accept a quest you start an instance that you and your team alone can go in. This is good that no one else will bother you, kill the thing you want to kill etc. But on the other hand you cannot shout out and get someone passing to help you out if the going is too hard.

 

[Seth Gecko]

If you've got a good team in GW though, it's not hard (having finished all the quests, although some can be a bit of a mare if you don't have the right mix of professions and/or skills).

There is PvP and GvG but it's not in the main quest area of the game per se - you enter an arena in a town and can PvP from there. Not sure about WoW but in GW, the PvP arenas have certain restrictions (for example the first one is only characters up to Level 10).

Personally, you could consider getting GW (due to a one-off price) and if you like it and want to try something else, go to WoW where you know that you've got to pay £15 or something a month. I'm considering City Of Villains next

 

[pragmatic]

£9 a month max for WOW, but as its such a large game i doubt you could 'complete' it or most the quets anyway ion less than 2 months with either side, and by then loads of new content would have been added. Blizzard is trying to build a community with WOW so as its not just about completing quests, but going hunting with your mates.

 

[russraff]

Guild Wars has had an additional area added for free and the second "episode" will be out around March 2006 - there is plenty to do IF you stick with it although it seems some didn't go too far beyond "post-searing" which is a shame as you go all the way around the map.

That would be me, then!

I found GW to be excessivly dull. There just isn't enough story or depth to the entire game. The whole thing seems to be a bland overly simplistic world filled with samey missions and repetitive gameplay. I suppose that this is missing the point somewhat and it depends on what your expectations are. If you have a few mates with the game and the PC to run it on and the time to play at the same time as everyone else, then fine. Otherwise, personally, I would give it a miss.
Mind you, I am not the best person to ask regarding multiplayer games. I like a two way mariokart dash game, but otherwise multiplayer games leave me cold. I long for a multiplayer game with the freedom of Elite and the narrative of Planescape Torment and the multiplayer aspects of GW. When this happens, then I will be interested in all this multiplayer gubbins.

Russell

 

[Pbryanw]

I long for a multiplayer game with the freedom of Elite and the narrative of Planescape Torment and the multiplayer aspects of GW. When this happens, then I will be interested in all this multiplayer gubbins.

I think if that happens then a lot of people will become interested in multiplayer. I think the most important part is the narrative. Why kill ten Orcs for a quest when you know they'll respawn 5 minutes later? Where's the feeling that you can change the world around you?

 

[Ethics Gradient]

I think if that happens then a lot of people will become interested in multiplayer. I think the most important part is the narrative. Why kill ten Orcs for a quest when you know they'll respawn 5 minutes later? Where's the feeling that you can change the world around you?

the problem is incorporating it so that others can still come along and play.
Imagine buying a game, comming online and finding all the quests have been done already, the enemies all defeated and your faction are totally dominant.

You have to do the suspend belief bit when they respawn - though I know exactly what you guys are saying .... but it wouldn't be fair on the guys that come after you.

 

[CAS FAN]

I got WOW when it came out and was addicted to it for about 3 weeks and then it just became really dull all of a sudden. Quite a few people seem to have found this as well so I don't think it's just me! I don't begrudge buying it as it was only £25 and I got about 60 hours play out of it in that 3 weeks! That's a lot of play for £25 compared to most games and I did like it at first. I ended up getting a char to about level 28 and one to about 15 if memory serves.

Can't say it reminded me of diablo really. OK the 3 paths for your skill points is similar but apart from that it was just like playing any other MMORPG...grind...quest...grind...quest etc.

 

[Garrett]

I think if that happens then a lot of people will become interested in multiplayer. I think the most important part is the narrative. Why kill ten Orcs for a quest when you know they'll respawn 5 minutes later? Where's the feeling that you can change the world around you?

This happens in most games of this type, if you exit the game and come back things have re-spawend.
I can remember the Original Diablo and I went down a lever in the dungeon and when I gat to a point I found I had not got the level I really needed I found out I had missed half a level above, so I went back and killed them but hardly got any points for the kills as I was too high.
At least with re-spawns you can grind a character up.

By the way even on Elite stuff re-spawend.

 

[Seth Gecko]

That would be me, then!

But that's the bit - all the pre-searing stuff is basically the tutorial and initial character building

Get to post-searing and start travelling and once you've made it over the mountains, the whole story kicks in. It's just perseverance ultimately.

I do understand where people get bored with all of this kinda stuff, it being repetitive in nature, but as I'm in a good guild, we tend to go and have a bit of a stomp around certain areas and then, there's always the PvP and GvG to do (and the more you do in the quest, the more you unlock if you want to build a PvP character!)

Still for around £20, it's worth having a stab if you think it sounds like your cuppa, no fees, but remember, it doesn't kick in UNTIL after the searing!

 

[Solomon Grundy]

I'm well into Eve Online at the moment...was going to try WOW and Guild Wars but settled on Eve...not disappointed.

 

[russraff]

Still for around £20, it's worth having a stab if you think it sounds like your cuppa, no fees, but remember, it doesn't kick in UNTIL after the searing!

I may give this a go as I am looking for something to play after Fahrenheit (utterly superb game, that one - but you have to play it on Xbox, not PC). Play it for a week and see what happens. I seem to remember I was an elementalist or something and all I did was shoot fireballs at stuff. None of the other (offensive) spells were any good?? Anyway I think I may give it another shot.

 

[Seth Gecko]

Russell,

Don't forget that quests unlock more spells, you can buy others at skill traders and then there are the "Elite" spells you need to capture (from the Crystal Desert onwards) which are more powerful

If you're a fire Ele, you should be looking for the Meteor Storm (for example) which is past the mountains, for something half decent power wise