Recently I was reading some comments on
blogs when I came across a statement saying that Guild Wars was a
really bad game because it was way too hard so much so that it is
impossible to solo. My first reaction was what's this person talking
about? I made it a point to finish the entire Guild Wars storyline
including expansions solo and while I struggled a bit in a few place
I did succeed in finishing every single mission without a single
human player on my team. But then I thought a bit more. I too had
struggled a bit at first, wait what I am talking about, in places I
was still struggling after 300+ hours of game time. You see Guild
Wars isn't like your typical MMO. In most MMOs if you're struggling
it means you need to level up or get better equipment but that stuff
is just a minor detail in Guild Wars. The game tries to tell you that
with its really low Level cap of 20 and the fact most equipment has
the same stats with just different looks. In Guild Wars if you're
struggling it instead means you need a better strategy.
At its core in Guild Wars essentially
what you depend on are 8 skills that you select out of a pool of
100s. These 8 skills range from Damage dealing, buffs, heals,
conditions and Hexes. At first glance many of them seem similar but
what sets them apart is how they interact with each other and with
their target. For example a particular skill might do more damage if
its cast on an enemy that's set on fire thus it is useful if you
intend to use such a skill to have some other skill that inflicts a
burning condition. There are really countless combination such as
this that a player can make use of. Additionally with you one can
either take 3-7 other player characters, henchmen or Heroes. Henchmen
and Heroes are AI controlled companions with the deference between
them being Henchmen come with there own immutable set of skills while
you get total control on what skills, armor and weapons Heroes carry.
It is amazing how important your choice of skills is. There is a
particular dungeon called Glint's Challenge. This was just beyond me,
I spend two whole weeks trying different builds to tackle this but I
never made it past the 1st wave and there are 8 waves on
has to complete in order to finish the dungeon!. I tried focusing on
healing, group damage, interrupts nothing seemed to work. After two
weeks or so I was ready to give up and thus I turned to the internet
for advice. Someone was suggesting a Build that they said was able to
complete the dungeon without any player interaction. I just couldn’t
believe it but turns out it was true. That's the level of difference
your choice in skill makes.
But I am running out of point, why does
all this give me high hopes for Guild Wars 2. ArenaNet have promised
a lot of things for Guild Wars 2 some of which is just amazing. I
understand why some people are skeptic I would be too if I had not
experienced Guild Wars before. People who did not give
Guild Wars a chance probably walked
away with the idea that the game is cheap and devoid of content since
it has a level cap of 20 and items have essentially the same stats.
Had they experienced it properly I believe they would have realized
that these design choices were needed because of the fine tuned
balance of the game. At max level, if you do not pay attention you
can still die in low level areas! Players that didn’t play Guild
Wars might view the game as being cheap because it was instanced when
in fact the instancing added to the realism. I still remember my
first day in Guild Wars an NPC asked me to pick up some eggs for him
as giant spiders made it impossible for him a simple farmer to
accomplish the deed on his own but while in other MMOs you would
expect the guy to just stay there waiting while you risked your life
for him, in Guild Wars he came with me and asked me to guard him
while he picked up the eggs, if he got killed I wouldn’t be able to
just walk back and take the quest again as he would no longer be
there were I met him the first time, well at least until you close
and restart the whole instance. That simple act got me hooked to the
game. For me that simple event added a lot to the immersion in the
game world.
What I am trying to say here is Guild
Wars already had a hint of what is being promised to us in Guild Wars
2. It might not have been a living persistent dynamic world but while
in an instance things followed logic as one would expect. If an NPC
died it stayed dead while that instance existed. NPC behaviour made
sense. If someone asks you to join their fight, they're gonna be
right there next to you when the fighting starts, they will not
expect you to win the war for them while they remain comfortably at
home. These little things made me realize how much attention to
detail ArenaNet pay and because of my experience with Guild Wars I
have no doubt that they know what it is that needs to be done to
create a great impressive MMO.
I understand that knowing what needs to
be done and doing it are two different things and obviously we'll not
know if they will deliver on their promises until we play Guild Wars
2 ourselves. However if anyone can do what they have promised I do
believe it is them. From what we have seen so far Guild Wars 2 has an
excellent art style, amazing music and great lore. They also
certainly have the right idea of how to build an impressive
experience. Knowing all this I cannot help myself but have high
expectations for Guild War 2. If they deliver all of it as they
promise and I believe they really can, then we'll certainly get one
great MMO that should not be missed.
