Point:

Quote Originally Posted by econ21
I bought Guild Wars with my son for the PvE part, but it did not really grab us (me especially). There's not much variation in the monsters you fight (at least initially), no strong plot or even interesting sidequests, no memorable NPC characters or speech worth anything, there's precious little loot n stuff, and the character development system was restrictive and strangely non-addictive (normally with RPGs you really want to go up levels, not here). The whole thing struck me as basically pointless.

I've never played any mmorpgs, so maybe this is the norm. But coming from the single player CRPG genre, Guild Wars reminded me of the worst kind of hack n slash - e.g. Dungeon Siege.

I can imagine the PvP is fun, but that's just not my cup of tea.
Counter-point:

Quote Originally Posted by Crandaeolon

Dungeon Siege
Ouch! Hey, stop cursing - GW is not quite _that_ bad.

Think of Guild Wars as a kind of hybrid between an RPG and an FPS. The gameplay focus in GW is to pick the right skills out of hundreds and use them to best effect in a tactical engagement - not to exploit an advantage in character levels or equipment. Granted, the PvE side is easy at first, but I've actually seen people that think the areas around Ascalon are too hard. Lowest denominator and all that...

The game has received deserved criticism for its pace. To keep things interesting, it's good advice to proceed briskly in GW and not do every possible sidequest. Only the main plot missions (shield thingies on world map) and sidequests that reward skills are of importance in the long run.

That said, PvP is where the main meat is. GW is one of the most demanding team games in the history of gaming - a bit like real-time Magic the Gathering where each player on the team controls a "hand" of 8 skills. High-level PvP requires constant communication (teams use voice comms), eye on positioning, adapting to opponent's tactics, skill to execute tactics correctly and wits to take advantage of opponent's mistakes. It's not hack'n'slash! Waaah!
Since that exchange, I once tried to go back to GW, but after 30 minutes I wanted to tear my brain out I was so incredibly bored. My son took pity on me and released me from the torment of having to keep playing it. It's the worst CRPG and indeed game I've bought for a quite a while.

If you want a good CRPG, my current recommendation is Jade Empire[1]. Great story, great characters, decent combat - it's the anti-Guild Wars in some ways, although I expect Crandeoleon will soon step in and say there are some marked similarities in combat etc.




[1]That's unless you somehow missed Vampire Bloodlines, the best CRPG since BG2.