Customer Reviews

Guild Wars Collector's Edition

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have found that many of the computer games available are mostly running around killing things. The adolescent male fantasy is heightened by blood and body parts flying all over the screen. The mechanics of these games typically depend on super quick hand-eye coordination and hours of free time, which only adolescent males tend to have (of course there is that group of males who remain in this category despite their age in years). Guild Wars is not one of these games.

The interface is easy to figure out, even without years of gaming experience. The characters are fun to develop and easily controlled through use of the keyboard. There are no "hot buttons" that are a must to learn in order to be successful in combat. The combat is not turn-based but it also does not hinge on who has the fastest fingers (I am a two-finger typist). The game mechanics are quite simple to figure out even if you are not a role-playing game expert. The character professions are self-explanatory.

The thing I love most about this game, is that it is something that girls can play and enjoy. I love the quests and missions and the storyline. There is more to do than kill everything in sight. Strategy is just as important as muscle. You are able to play "smart" and still succeed, where in other games it is all about how good of a killing machine you are. Another aspect that I enjoy is that there is no gore splashing all over my screen. Enemies die and disappear without being disemboweled and beheaded right before your eyes.

You have the option of colleting materials and weapons that can be sold or traded in towns. There is a psuedo-economy that makes this very interesting. Item prices fluctuate with the market. Which means you can sometimes get a great bargain if your timing is right! What girl doesn't love a sale?! Plus, you can make gold by selling things you have collected to other characters. You get to haggle which adds to the experience. This aspect of the game is much like "Settler's of Catan". There is also the ability to chat with fellow players. This social option makes playing interesting and enjoyable.

Guild Wars was originally given to my fiancé as a gift but I got hooked on it and had to buy my own copy. Being able to play with other people is great. Now we can play a game together that we both enjoy. I have to admit that I used to be a "gaming widow" at times. He would get wrapped up in a game wouldn't surface for hours. Now we can game together!

Of course, as with anything there are down sides. This game has its problems. For one, there are a lot of immature players online who will get on your nerves. Luckily, you don't have to deal with them if you don't want to. Just leave the town and you are in your own playing world. You can play with henchmen when you need to have extra members in your party.

Another problem is that you max out at level 20. This is frustrating since there are monsters that are level 20+ that you will encounter regularly in the later part of the game. They do massive amounts of damage and have ridiculous armor classes. Being killed so easily and not being able to do much damage is seriously frustrating.

Also, there are players who will "run" low level players to areas so that they can get the best armor. This is highly unfair, since better armor is one of the keys to success, especially when playing in the PvP arena. Overall, however, the cons are outweighed by the pros.

Of course, as with all games that are marketed mainly for adolescent males, the female characters are scantily dressed. However, they are not as bad as some games. The monks actually are fully clothed. The one female player pet peeve that I have is that there is only one female henchman and she is the healer (and later a protector). Talk about stereotyping!! I am hoping that the company will notice this and update the henchmen with more female players.

Guild Wars is a game that girls can play and enjoy. It isn't just for muscle minded shooting players (typically male). I love this game for its non-gamer mechanics and friendly interface. The quests and missions give it a story line and purpose beyond running around killing monsters. I would recommend this game to players who like RPG games and those players who have never thought that RPG games were for them. It has a nice balance of skill and strategy play, plus a story line. Guild Wars is a lot of fun to play and I hope that you will get as much enjoyment from it as I have.

I use to play Ever Quest, Dark Age of Camelot and others for hours as often as I could then one day, I got married and had kids. Now, I have almost no time to do anything. Heck, I am lucky to go mow my yard and I hate yard work. I still love MMORPG games so, when I heard about "no subscription fees" I bought it.

Since I do not have the time to socialize like you have to in other MMORPG games, I think it's nice to have the option to hire henchmen that actually play better than most players. The storyline missions are a must and actually is the best way to see what Guild Wars has to offer for the solo player.

Guild Wars also has player vs. player opportunities, you can join a guild which is extremely helpful in the growth of your character assuming you join the right one.

Guild Wars will sell you additional "chapters" as with any other MMORPG; however, the patches, general updates, and some music downloads and additional game content are FREE.

The game is quite involved, and fun to play. If you are used to the "go anywhere" style of movement that you found in City of Heroes, it will take you time to adjust to running around in maze-like conditions. Leveling is not quick, and there is no mechanism for Power-Levelling.

If you are not very social, you can either solo, or create a team of NPCs to help you. If you are social, there are vast opportunities to meet people. If you prefer, you can even run your own black market.

Very cool. Highly recommended.

Having read a few of the reviews on this game I honestly wanted to play the game for a few levels before wanting do a review.

Specifically speaking on the Collector's Edition, and having only bought one of these "special edition" products, I must say that the primary value comes in the art book and the headphone/microphone set. The headset is a quality model allowing quick communication with one's guildmates. If it isn't a Logitech model, somebody should be calling a lawyer, as it is that good. The art book is interesting and makes for a nice thing to drop on ones coffee table, but really doesn't hold much interest beyond that.

As for the game play? What appeals is the mission based format. XP isn't from grinding (which I hate), but from missions that develop the story and give your character skills that are useful in both PvE and PvP. Crafting does take some thought and doesn't involve activities that you could teach a water fountain to do or wear out your keyboard. It's more like putting together puzzle pieces that you gather from around the world. Your salvage items can be recovered for their materials, which in turn help you put together more and more powerful armor and sometimes weapons. At my level (13) Soloing is possible with good strategy as henchmen you can hire fill in the holes in your abilities. I'm told later that only a few soloing character combinations are possible, but then again I'm not there yet. Though the game hype says that you can't build a bad character, you can, but it is *very* easy to re-prioritize within a particular primary/secondary class configuration. The usual priorities while soloing apply here: enough defense/healing to live, enough firepower/offense to survive.

As for the background and story? It's well-developed. The missions bring out a little more story each time, and the plot-based stories have their own cut-scenes built into the engine. Voice acting is passable and the story is... good. George R R Martin fans can keep looking for their next book, 'cause the story here isn't going keep you. Mind you they'd have to do a few more "thrilling" emotes with the story line for that kind of thing to occur. But I digress.

Basically, it comes down to this. Do you like Fantasy MMORPGs? Do you hate "grinding" out XP? Do you like to group, but hate feeling like you "have to" in order to progress? Then this is the game for you.

Go order a pizza for that $15/month you're saving and enjoy!

I have been playing MMORPGs since the days of the old text based MUDDs and to date this has been the best I've come across. I'll break it down into the good and the bad.

The good:

Instanced based adventuring, now when you enter the adventure areas outside of the cites you don't have to worry about any other players causing trouble. No more kill stealing or getting killed by a PVPer that can't seem to wrap their head around the fact that some people don't play PvP (Player vs. Player.) If you are in a team your team comes into the mission or adventure area with you.

No monthly fees,fantastic graphics, smooth gameplay, and an easy learning curve, need I say more.

The Bad:

Some minor bugs that are barely noticeable. This is the smoothest MMORPG launches I have ever seen.

In conclusion this game is a blast to play. The art book and headset that come with the collector's edition make it worth purchasing it over the standard retail version.

Guild Wars is my favorite game. I have logged over1400hours in 3 months. HOWEVER, I was scammed into buying a used copy for my third account. After two weeks without my knowledge, Arena.net transfer back the ownership to the original owner because the seller and original owner requested them to do so. I had done nothing to deserve this except leave my guild -it was supposed to be amicable. The Arena.net people say they do not honor used account transfers. Therefore, BUYER BEWARE. You could lose the use of the account and all your stuff with absolutely NO WARNING! Arena.net, the makers of Guild Wars, do not care IF YOU CAN PROVE LEGITIMATE PURCHASE OR NOT. PLEASE DO NOT SUFFER MY FATE. Do noT buy used. I am also aware now that what happened to me was not an isolated incident. Please spread the word. Thank you.

I'd like to begin my review saying that Guild Wars is absolutely gorgeous. I've never played an MMORPG that looks as good as it. And initially, the game is incredibly addictive. For the first couple weeks I owned it, I played Guild Wars with a fevered intensity, thanks to the skill system and engaging storyline.

The problem Guild Wars has is one of staying power. Once you have beaten the game, having played through the entire story with one character, you will likely be reluctant to do so again with another character. Unfortunately, currently there is no other way to unlock skills quickly. This means that, despite claims that the game is a "Competitive Online RPG", you will be playing a lot more cooperative PVE (Player vs. Enemies) before you can even begin to sink your teeth into serious competitive PVP (Player vs. Player).

The developer's claims that you can jump right into serious PVP action, playing in random team battles or even guild matches, is made false to some degree by the fact that there's no way for someone to be competitive without having access to skills that are only acquired playing through the game. Certainly you can enjoy the early competitive arenas the game has to offer, but they will only serve as appetizers to the main course: team arenas and guild matches, for which you will need access to all the skills if you wish to be competitive.

While the game is fantastic, the fact that there's no fast way to get into PVP play on a competitive level means that unless you are willing to "grind" through the story mode several times to unlock skills and items for multiple characters, don't expect to be able to play a diverse range of characters in PVP.

If ArenaNet would address this issue by making skills more easily unlocked, many more people would stick around beyond that time their initial interest keeps them stuck to the game.

Note: I give this game 5 stars for fun because initially it is that much fun. The overall rating of 3 stars is more of an average rating, considering that past your initial fascination with the game, the fun factor falls below 5 stars.

Guild Wars had blown me away. I got the preorder as a Christmans gift and began playing in the beta weekend events and loved it, loved it so much I stopped playing EQ and CoH when the game went live. The graphics are incredible, the game is suited for some soloing but eventually requires teaming up - whihc the game also provides henchmen to fill that function after the "tutorial" world if you don;t want to team up with real people for whatever reason. The zones, other than the towns, are instanced which gets rid of any kill-stealing issues which seem to be abundant in other MMORPGs where someone waits until you've got a mob worn down, swooping in and claiming the kill for them. No poaching. And no monthly fees, just the fees for expansions, but you have that with the other MMORPGs as well, so no big there. If you haven't tried this game out, do so. You won't regret it.

I don't know if can call this a true RPG or a MMORPG. First of all, your character level is capped to promote PvP (player verus player) games and no monthly fee.

I played it the game during the November and October beta testing and had a blast. Though it did help that I had anywhere from 3 - 6 close friends playing and communicating through a voice chat service. The chat controls are very suspect. Which is the reason why I am going to order the deluxe version. I wound't mind upgrading my mic with a logitech headset and get a cool cloth map for $10 more.

For the traditional RPG players, they should probably goto Blizzards World of Warcraft which is also a great game! But for me, I have an issue with paying a monthly fee for any game.

I'll see you on Area Net.

I been playing Guild Wars for the past five years, and it's a fun game to play. Truelly.

BUYERS BEWARE!!!

If your going to buy a "Used" Guild Wars Collectors Edition, you must become aware that the "Divine Aura" code in the game has already, and most likely, been used already. The code can only be used once. Once used, it can not be re-used by any other player or account. This pretty much renders the "Collectors Edition" absolutely useless for puchase. There's no other reason to buy the Collectors Edition, but for the code. And if it's already been used, there is no reason to spend $38 bucks, let alone $900+. I highly suggest you buy a "New" Game of the Year copy, from the online Guildwars.com store, or from your local gaming retailer.

"Divine Aura" codes can only be used ONCE. Anyone else that states otherwise is a liar and is scamming you. And each game requires you to create an account, which the Access Code is then linked to, making the "Used" editions completely useless. So you have a used game, whose access code has already been used, with a "Divine Aura" code which has ABSOLUTELY been used.

That Amazon.com has not reviewed how the login and access codes work for the game is their loss, and yours, when it comes to buying used Guild Wars sets.

=^o.o^= All hail kittah!