Guild Wars - Third Edition

[DrSpike]

It's a new caster. Like Mesmer it doesn't really fit into any core MMO classes, though it has some overlaps. Check out the skills info.

[Jamski]

Bloody PUG assassins need to learn that THEY ARE NOT WARRIORS. They WILL die if they try to tank a whole army, and NO the monks CANNOT save them.

[DrSpike]

[Kassiopeia]

Oh dear, you mean the Assassins are like Warriors, bloody suicidal, but WITHOUT decent armour or protection skills?

/me deletes his Monk

[Harovan]

[Harovan]

They probably don't need monks. They have mending.

[DrSpike]

FTW!

[Barinthus]

That's what I keep telling those noob assassins. It's more of hit and run class, imho.

Ritualist has been described by Anet as a hybrid of ranger, necromancer, and elementalist *shrug*.

During one quest (Attack the Kurzicks!) my entire group got wiped out except for my ritualist which was set up to be entirely spirit caster. I had four spirits (pain, shadowsong, union, and shelter) flesh of my flesh, spirit light, boon of creation, and my only offensive skill was Doom. I managed to use spirits & Doom to whittle down enemies until I was able to use flesh of my flesh to rez my teammates.

Personally I like Ritualist but I don't know if it'd be too great in a typical noob PUG due to the patience needed and stragety involved.

[DrSpike]

Plus everyone will be playing assassins and ritualists as soon as the x-pack is released........badly. Even me, for at least a couple of hours.

[Barinthus]

Actually not me. I just learned that those who have preorder key which will enable them to start playing 24 hours before the official release will not have two extra slots (if you plan to link your Prophecies account to Factions which I plan to) until you input the official key which you will not be able to obtain until the day of official release.

Since all my current slots are full already and I do not wish to delete one to make room, I will be playing my ranger probably for the first 24 hours :-D

By the way here's a press release from Anet

Half a Million Gamers Played More Than Three Million Hours in Guild Wars Landmark Weekend Event

April 3, 2006 (BELLEVUE, WA): ArenaNet®, developer of the award-winning online roleplaying game Guild Wars®, and NCsoft® Corporation, the world’s leading developer and publisher of online computer games, opened the virtual door for a weekend-long sneak peek at its new game Guild Wars Factions™, and players around the world responded in record numbers. From 12:01 am on Friday, March 24 until 11:59 pm on March 26, more than 500,000 players participated in the invitation-only preview event and cumulatively spent more than three million hours online, making the Guild Wars Factions Preview Event (FPE) one of the largest preview events in gaming history. Guild Wars Factions is set to hit store shelves April 28, 2006 with an estimated retail price of $49.99 (US).

“We knew that by focusing on new ways to play and new things to do within the game, such as the 12x12 Alliance Battles, which were extremely popular with both PvP and roleplaying gamers, that fans would respond enthusiastically,” says Jeff Strain, co-founder of ArenaNet. “This weekend reinforced that we are on the right track with Guild Wars Factions and are making a game that rises to the challenge to be innovative and ever-compelling for its fans.”

The extraordinary weekend is just the latest success for Guild Wars, the wildly popular game that continues to redefine the online roleplaying experience. The Guild Wars Factions pre-order pack offered a key code for access into the FPE, driving gamers to their local game stores and driving sales of the pre-order pack into weekly Top 10 lists alongside full retail titles at stores and chains around the world.

“Guild Wars continues to set new standards for online roleplaying alongside some heavyweight competition,” says Bob McKenzie, Senior VP of Merchandising, GameStop, Inc. “The combination of a unique pre-order pack for retail, an exciting live preview event for players, and a high level of anticipation for Guild Wars Factions has helped to create one of the best pre-sale campaigns for GameStop and EBGames. We get the impression this is only the beginning of a very exciting year for the Guild Wars franchise, and we look forward to the April 28 release date of Guild Wars Factions.”

[Kassiopeia]

My WoW subscription runs out in late May, and it sounds like my summer is booked. Who needs a job anyway.

[DrSpike]

I'm going to have to try to combine WoW and GW for a bit.

[Barinthus]

*sniff* this planet isn't such a dark place anymore now that Anet announced that they will make it so that if players wish, they can simply purchase additional character slots at $9.99 as opposite to buying an unlinked account. As of this summer, anyway.

Orginally I wanted to make an assassin and a ritualist for Factions but after I heard that if you decide to make Factions linked to your Prophecies, you would only gain two extra slots I dropped the idea of making a ritualist. I decided I'd prefer to have a mesmer.

But now because of this I can get a ritualist and a warrior as well. Ahh where will I find the time???

[Jamski]

ANet = TEH AWESOM!

THe thing I love about GW is that ANet are committed to continually improving it. Not fixing it. Improving it.

[Kassiopeia]

Now get Factions out so I can pick up the game again.