Guild Wars ftw
 

I'm enjoying this game quite a bit! The whole "free" thing is great, and it's nice to be at the start, without too many people ahead of you already.

This, along FFXI, should keep me busy until August, when DDO is supposed to come out. Then I will be playing that, forever and ever amen. Amen. Amen.

:D

So is a pretty game? Lag? You know all the good stuff.

Yeah, spill it. Full review! :)

Hehe, I 'might' get it just to have a mmo around that has no monthly fee. But so far it doesn't look like too many are interested in it.

I saw over 140 districts of pre-searing ascalon last night... if that's around 30 people per district in just 1 town.... not to mention the number of people in other towns (I've seen over 100 districts of post-searing ascalon)... not to mention, the simultaneous release in Korea and Europe. Lots of people, just not the insanity that is WoW. Only intermittent lag spikes (Which, we were informed in game, were being handled by their hardware vendor in a prompt manner... imagine that, game support contacting players in game en masse), but lots of play options. you can "solo" by taking a team with all henchmen, explore new areas, follow a decent storyline by completing missions (or ignore it and forge your own path), team with groups of other players, Make a PvP character that is instantly lvl 20... the only downside to that is if you try to make your own (not a template), you only have access to the skills you've unlocked in RP. I don't see it as a huge downside, as it actually encourages co-operative teamplay among players, RP and PvPers alike. The whole unlocking thing is neato, with people actually being jealous of the awesome goodies you find. So many great things about this game, so many facets... With no monthly cost, it's great. I don't feel I need to play it every day just to keep up. With the way the levelling system works, it's easy enough to catch up, and quick enough to reroll a new character if you want to try something new. (My main, a lvl 13 Monk/Elementalist, spent only 2 days of questing to get to that point)

Graphically beautiful. Soundtrack done by Jeremy Soule, who is the god of PC vg music. very streamlined ability setup, you get to choose 8 abilities for any given foray into the outside world. No multiple pages of abilities to scroll through on the fly, just 8 buttons. period. Forces you to think ahead, hone your ability to use what skills you have to the max, and make great combinations. The attribute system, which truly defines characters from others, is a masterpiece. You get "refund points" every level, allowing you to take back points you've assigned into attributes at no loss in value, and reassign the points as normal. I have never even come close to running out of the 24 refund point cap available, and I've gone from solo to group mode a number of times. All in all, I give this game a 4.5/5. It loses .5 because PvP is still horribly unbalanced (warrior/monk owns everything else. This is the exact same problem with Shamans and Pallys in WoW, healing and heavy armor should never be allowed to mix). I'm positive that Arenanet (made up of ex-Blizz employees from Diablo and Starcraft) will address the PvP balance once more data is available.

Thanks!

Tell us some in-game stories. :)

(starts up the campfire, hands around hotdogs and marshmallows)

Well, just today I was helping the prince of Rin, Rurik, make his way back to the capital to complete the weapon Stormcaller (a really big mountain horn....bet you can't guess what it does). On the way to clear the prince's path, my party (made up of guild mates) found a man with a cursed book... he was so afraid, he gave it to me to bring it back to a nearby graveyard. Being a kind-hearted (and opportunistic) monk, I took the book and convinced my group to detour for a moment to rid the man of his curse. When we got to the graveyard, it seemed the local scorpions were also in on the action, and were attacking the ghosts en masse! We greedily joined in on the fun, seeing it as a chance to kill 2 birds with one stone, so to speak.... Until they all turned against me. Apparently, carrying a cursed book into a graveyard causes everything to want to eat you. Luckily, the mission was well within my abilities, and I was able to handily keep myself alive while my party returned the ghosts to final rest. we returned the book (nabbing some epic weapons on the way), and saved Rin from the Charr, who had invaded during the King's lax watch.... I will say nothing more for fear of ruining the experience for anyone brave enough to join us Ascalons in forging our future from the ruin that befell us on the Searing....


PS - This is the first MMO I have seen where enemy NPCs of opposing factions will kill each other in front of you... It's really really cool!

This sounds cool, I'm seriously considering it. I Would've gotten WOW if it wasnt for that damned monthly fee :P