5.5 million WoW players

[MrFun]

How does WoW compare to Guild Wars in terms of game play enjoyment, customization, and storyline depth?

[vee4473]

I Can't compare it to guild wars since I haven't played that, although I have read that GW is more about character skills than levelling.

Storyline is there for some quests. Some quest make you want to accomplish your goal if it takes the life out of you.

For me, wow is like crack...it rivals Civ, any Civ, in terms of addiction. Maybe it's the "just one more quest" or "one more monster" equivalent of civ.

Customization is there somewhat in terms of different professions.

I sometimes go to work a zombified wreck because I was up until wee hours playing it.

It's my first mmo blah blah, but i'm having grand fun (when geek f**** don't ruin it by acting as if the game IS LIFE to them and try to tell you how to play)....avoid the geek bastards and enjoy the game.

Not since civ or smac have I felt that.

[Kassiopeia]

Originally posted by MrFun
How does WoW compare to Guild Wars in terms of game play enjoyment,

(I am not clear on whether you have Guild Wars or not, I'll assume you don't)

The PvE in WoW is very, very much better compared to Guild Wars. The PvP in Guild Wars is very, very much better compared to WoW.

To elaborate, in WoW PvE takes places in a far larger world which is rich in all sorts of landscapes and atmospheres and critters, whereas Guild Wars feels like it's restricted on a railroad track. The peak of WoW PvE is a dungeon where 40 people work together to bring down a huge dragon, GW's PvE... I haven't even bothered to finish the storyline.

On the other hand, and this brings us to PvP, even though I haven't done GW's PvE to the end, it still doesn't mean I can't be pretty good in PvP. In WoW you pretty much have to raid the end-game dungeons to get the same epic gear other guys have - and gear does make a distinct difference - to have a fighting chance in PvP.

In GW, however, the items giving the best stats can be acquired pretty early on, and it takes a relatively small time to level up your character to the maximum level. After that, you can use rewards from PvP itself to unlock different skills for your characters instead of having to get them through PvE like usually, and in my experience, Guild Wars' PvP has way more strategy than WoW's.

For instance, in WoW you always carry your whole skill set around with you (which is based on the choices you have made in the talent tree an which cost gold to alter), while in GW you have to pick eight of them. It's a restriction, but it means you have to put some effort into planning your eight skills and putting them to use in combat, and you can have a lot of variety on the same character by switching attributes and builds.

It just makes me feel like I'm using my head to win the battles, not the hours I've spent raiding BWL for epics.

customization,

WoW has way more addons and mods, AFAIK.

and storyline depth?

I wouldn't say either had a very deep storyline, in an MMORPG a storyline is a very tricky thing to put together well anyway, since the nature of the game doesn't really allow for one like in single-player RPGs. WoW feels more open-ended when compared to Guild Wars in that sense, while the story isn't deeper, it's more all over the place. I tend to just skim or skip altogether all the flavour text, though...

[Agathon]

Originally posted by vee4473
I Can't compare it to guild wars since I haven't played that, although I have read that GW is more about character skills than levelling.

Storyline is there for some quests. Some quest make you want to accomplish your goal if it takes the life out of you.

For me, wow is like crack...it rivals Civ, any Civ, in terms of addiction. Maybe it's the "just one more quest" or "one more monster" equivalent of civ.

Customization is there somewhat in terms of different professions.

I sometimes go to work a zombified wreck because I was up until wee hours playing it.

It's my first mmo blah blah, but i'm having grand fun (when geek f**** don't ruin it by acting as if the game IS LIFE to them and try to tell you how to play)....avoid the geek bastards and enjoy the game.

Not since civ or smac have I felt that.

Are you at level 60 yet?

I found that getting butt-****ed by epiced out power guilds ruined my enjoyment of the PvP side of the game.

[Lemmy]

Originally posted by Sn00py
BAD analogy Lemmy

It's the TRUTH! And the whole lot of you are like screaming psyched out teen girls standing outside the hotel of their favorite idol. Especially that Kassi person. Screaming girlies, i tell you!

[vee4473]

Originally posted by Agathon


Are you at level 60 yet?

I found that getting butt-****ed by epiced out power guilds ruined my enjoyment of the PvP side of the game.

no, after about a month and a half i'm at 33. Dont know if that's slow or not.

I have heard that once at 60 if you dont raid to get the epic crap than you are at a serious disadvantage in pvp.

I have no desire to raid either. I find it hard enough to find a group of 5 where everyone just wants to have fun while accomplishing a quest...and not having a d***head who thinks the game is life itself and yells at people if they don't do exactly what HE wants. Forget about 40 people unless they are all your friends.

I recently found that out in many battlegrounds. Being a Paladin, if I miss a heal, some ass starts mouthing off. As if it's possible to keep track of these same dodo's as they run all over the battlefield with no organization.

My plan at 60 is to get the best gear that I can and just pvp here and there, and help lower levels through quests if they want. Until I get bored of the game.

And there is some good gear to get non-raid through reputation with other groups (by helping them)or so I read.

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by Kassiopeia


(I am not clear on whether you have Guild Wars or not, I'll assume you don't)

The PvE in WoW is very, very much better compared to Guild Wars. The PvP in Guild Wars is very, very much better compared to WoW.

To elaborate, in WoW PvE takes places in a far larger world which is rich in all sorts of landscapes and atmospheres and critters, whereas Guild Wars feels like it's restricted on a railroad track. The peak of WoW PvE is a dungeon where 40 people work together to bring down a huge dragon, GW's PvE... I haven't even bothered to finish the storyline.

On the other hand, and this brings us to PvP, even though I haven't done GW's PvE to the end, it still doesn't mean I can't be pretty good in PvP. In WoW you pretty much have to raid the end-game dungeons to get the same epic gear other guys have - and gear does make a distinct difference - to have a fighting chance in PvP.

In GW, however, the items giving the best stats can be acquired pretty early on, and it takes a relatively small time to level up your character to the maximum level. After that, you can use rewards from PvP itself to unlock different skills for your characters instead of having to get them through PvE like usually, and in my experience, Guild Wars' PvP has way more strategy than WoW's.

For instance, in WoW you always carry your whole skill set around with you (which is based on the choices you have made in the talent tree an which cost gold to alter), while in GW you have to pick eight of them. It's a restriction, but it means you have to put some effort into planning your eight skills and putting them to use in combat, and you can have a lot of variety on the same character by switching attributes and builds.

It just makes me feel like I'm using my head to win the battles, not the hours I've spent raiding BWL for epics.



WoW has way more addons and mods, AFAIK.



I wouldn't say either had a very deep storyline, in an MMORPG a storyline is a very tricky thing to put together well anyway, since the nature of the game doesn't really allow for one like in single-player RPGs. WoW feels more open-ended when compared to Guild Wars in that sense, while the story isn't deeper, it's more all over the place. I tend to just skim or skip altogether all the flavour text, though...

There's something I'd like to add. One strength of GW PvE is that you can play a lot of very different builds, without having to spend months levelling to the cap. This is one of the reasons I'm still playing it.

[Kassiopeia]

True. GW I can't wait for the expansion.

[DrSpike]

Me too.

[Barinthus]

Originally posted by Kassiopeia

The PvE in WoW is very, very much better compared to Guild Wars. The PvP in Guild Wars is very, very much better compared to WoW.

I say this respectfully...

A friend persuaded me to try WoW and once I downloaded it and started to play I could literally feel my brains rot.

And I'm primarily PVE player in GW.

So I have to differ here.

[vee4473]

Sometimes brainless games are fun though. Especially when you have to use your brain at work all day long.

Disclaimer: This, by no means, is any endoresement of the theory that wow is brainless.

(spoken very fast, like a car ad announcer at the end)

[vee4473]

By the way, How does wow compare to GW in terms of the character specializations?

In wow you can have the same class play very differently depending on the talents you choose. How does GW improve this?

Or is it merely that GW took the talent aspect and incorporated it into a game that doesn't also focus on levelling?

[Kassiopeia]

Originally posted by Barinthus


I say this respectfully...

A friend persuaded me to try WoW and once I downloaded it and started to play I could literally feel my brains rot.

And I'm primarily PVE player in GW.

So I have to differ here.

What I'm talking about here is production value and scope. You don't have forty people working like a clockwork mechanism to bring down a dragon the size of a small hill in GW, do you? The level grind can be very tedious, though, but you have "kill X critters and collect stuff" quests aplenty in Guild Wars too.

However, if I really want to jog my noggin, I read a book or play poker.

In wow you can have the same class play very differently depending on the talents you choose. How does GW improve this?

GW is sort of the same, but on a whole different level. You have dozens upon dozens of different skills of your primary and secondary professions to use, but you can only have eight on you at a time when you are out in the world or playing PvP. What influences the way you play your class are:

- what sort of secondary profession you have (a Monk/Necromancer plays quite differently to a Monk/Mesmer)
- what sort of attributes you have picked (these can be changed at any time), your skills correspond to certain attributes, meaning your Smiting skills aren't that useful unless you have points in the Smiting attribute.
- what sort of role you want to take in your group. A Monk/Mesmer can be a damage dealer with a smite build, but the Mesmer part will probably shine better by using it as energy management so you'll be able to dish out better heals. Of course, you could both heal and shutdown enemy casters, or you could harass warriors with your mesmer skills, or not take any mesmer skills at all and invest all your points in Protection and Divine Favour...

Having played WoW and GW quite a bit, I just feel that there's more depth when it comes to planning your build and how you play your class. The best in GW is that you can dramatically alter your build any time you are in a town or an outpost.

And more importantly, if you want to engage in top level PvP with another primary class, you can just create a PvP only character and use your skills differently, whereas in WoW you need to level up an entirely new character for that. In GW had a Monk/Warrior until quite late in the game, after that I switched my secondary to Mesmer, and now my PvP main character is a Mesmer/Elementalist, even though I have only leveled my Monk/Mesmer to 20, the highest level.

But when it comes to WoW, with some classes you are just stuck in a role and pretty much have to pick a certain build to fill that certain role. As a Priest, I have to spec to healing when I hit level 60, because I seriously doubt any raid group will take a Priest as a damage dealer when there aren't enough healers to go around as it is. So basically I end up healing with that certain build that cranks out the best healing, and that's it, and strategy only kicks in with the wide variety of bosses and situations you encounter in the dungeons and the sheer size of your group.

[MrFun]

Originally posted by Kassiopeia


(I am not clear on whether you have Guild Wars or not, I'll assume you don't)

The PvE in WoW is very, very much better compared to Guild Wars. The PvP in Guild Wars is very, very much better compared to WoW.

To elaborate, in WoW PvE takes places in a far larger world which is rich in all sorts of landscapes and atmospheres and critters, whereas Guild Wars feels like it's restricted on a railroad track. The peak of WoW PvE is a dungeon where 40 people work together to bring down a huge dragon, GW's PvE... I haven't even bothered to finish the storyline.

On the other hand, and this brings us to PvP, even though I haven't done GW's PvE to the end, it still doesn't mean I can't be pretty good in PvP. In WoW you pretty much have to raid the end-game dungeons to get the same epic gear other guys have - and gear does make a distinct difference - to have a fighting chance in PvP.

In GW, however, the items giving the best stats can be acquired pretty early on, and it takes a relatively small time to level up your character to the maximum level. After that, you can use rewards from PvP itself to unlock different skills for your characters instead of having to get them through PvE like usually, and in my experience, Guild Wars' PvP has way more strategy than WoW's.

For instance, in WoW you always carry your whole skill set around with you (which is based on the choices you have made in the talent tree an which cost gold to alter), while in GW you have to pick eight of them. It's a restriction, but it means you have to put some effort into planning your eight skills and putting them to use in combat, and you can have a lot of variety on the same character by switching attributes and builds.

It just makes me feel like I'm using my head to win the battles, not the hours I've spent raiding BWL for epics.



WoW has way more addons and mods, AFAIK.



I wouldn't say either had a very deep storyline, in an MMORPG a storyline is a very tricky thing to put together well anyway, since the nature of the game doesn't really allow for one like in single-player RPGs. WoW feels more open-ended when compared to Guild Wars in that sense, while the story isn't deeper, it's more all over the place. I tend to just skim or skip altogether all the flavour text, though...

Thanks for the info.


Now what do the acroynms, PvP and PvE stand for?
(I'm a n00b in this thread -- never played such online games as these yet, so I don't own either one discussed here)

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by vee4473
By the way, How does wow compare to GW in terms of the character specializations?

In wow you can have the same class play very differently depending on the talents you choose. How does GW improve this?

Or is it merely that GW took the talent aspect and incorporated it into a game that doesn't also focus on levelling?

Well you have 6 primary professions and the same 6 can also be secondary, giving 30 possibilities. Each professions has loads of skill. There's something like 450 in all, with sets of skills tied to attributes that you set. The classes have 4 or 5 attributes, some of which are only available to those playing the profession as a primary profession. Even with the same primary profession your character can vary depending on which attribute you specialise in.

Not sure if that will make sense, but it means you can play a lot of builds by simply switching the skills over and switching your secondary profession (you can't switch the primary once you've started) to something else, or switching your main primary attributes. At last count I have played around 12 distinct PvE builds, all of which have lots of small variations depending on the situation. And that's just the powerful combinations.

I'm sure there are 12 distinct builds you can play in WoW too (and more), but you'd need years to play em all to 60 and get decent equipment.