Can anyone with an EQ background explain what is guildwars?<
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I picked up this game, enticed by good reviews and no monthly fee and played this past weekend. It reminds me a lot of NeverWinter Nights. With the Diablo'esque style of play, the henchmen, and the questing with really nice graphics.<
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I hung out in Ascala pre-searing until lvl 7, getting all my lowbie armor, and building up some gold. I wish I had built up some more gold in the tutorial safe part before entering Searing.<
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I thought the arena fighting to cross over was pretty cool. <
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I also picked roleplay (assumed it meant PvP in designated areas), and the original continent (not the new expansion).<
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So what is to come for my character? I assume I keep doing quests, get levels, get better armor/weaps. Can try grouping or continue using henchmen. <
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I made a Warrior/Necro (basically an SK). Read later the Warrior/Monk (Pally) is the FOTM. Rather interesting how the classes meld together, and there are hundreds of skills, but you're limited to 8 slots.<
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Just trying to get my bearings in this game. <
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Any info appreciated. <i></i>

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There's a lot of people here that hate this game, so don't expect a lot of positive posts.<
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I play it when WoW is down for short periods, and enjoy it.<
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Once you hit level max, the game is all about pvp. You collect skills and argue over the best combination of skills for your class / race. There's gazillions of viable choices. Some PvP guilds are rather incredibly organized, and will kick other guilds' asses.<
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That's about it! It's not the best MMO out there, IMO, but I enjoy it-- again, for short periods at a time .<
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It's does seem like a short guilty pleasure game, instead of the "dedicate my life and every fiber of my moral being" MMO.<
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Like a more persistent Diablo.<
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So is there any PvE, slay the boss mobs, get the rare items, virtual materialism? <i></i>

I've not seen anything like that. But I don't group with other people. Most of the people I met in game were like bnet kiddies on meth. SO I used henchmen up to like 18 before I fiddled with alternate characters. I'm not particularly fond of PVP so I don't play much. But it's free, so I keep it installed. <i></i>

If you are into PvP it might be good, I didn't like the PvE in they put in Guildwar.<
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If you don't like PvP it's a crappy game, get DDO instead. (There is a monthly fee but at least the PvE is fun and you don't have to dedicate your life to it.)<
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If you want just PvE but no fee then errr... --If it ain't
oke, flash its firmware!<i></i>

Quote:Most of the people I met in game were like bnet kiddies on meth.<
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Retarded bnet kiddies on meth.<
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Keep my head from exploding?...<b>You can help!</b><i></i>

How are the servers arranged?<
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It seems to be one server cluster, running multiple instances.<
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Also I read there is a feature to transfer items between your own characters?<
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I made my guy PvE. If I had chosen PvP is that a different server? Or is there a way to reflag a toon PvP after choosing PvE?<
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Trying to understand some of the logistics. <i></i>

Hrm, just found info that RPG you are lvl 1, and need to level up, and PVP you start with a lvl 20 toon with gear.<
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Basically, yeah. <
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In RPG you have beginning characters and you level and find new abilities through the PVE scenarios. There are a LOT of abiliites to unlock for every class. For PVP characters, you start max level and some gear but you cannot access PVE areas. You DO, however, get the chance to use abilities you unlocked via your RPG characters.<
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At least that's how it was working last I checked. It has actually been a while since I looked at these things. <i></i>

There are no servers like a normal mmorpg, just one shared world with each outpost instanced enough times over to hold however many people are occupying it. Each instance can hold up to about 25 people before a new one is created. Lower numbered instances will have higher numbers due to people choosing to go to them directly via the dropdrown menu in one of the top corners of the screen.<
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PvP Characters start at level 20 but they can only play in the pvp areas and their skills are determined by what you've unlocked in PvE and purchased with faction points. You can take a PvE character to the PvP areas once you've made it to ascalon city but it's really not advisable since you can make a PvP character that will have all the skills, runes, and weapon upgrades you've unlocked along with the best armor and the ability to respec or change your class completely with no costs.<
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To transfer items between your characters you need to talk to one of the xunlai storage agents that are in most outposts and you pay them however much money to get access to the bank. The bank is shared between all characters on your account but I think you'll need to pay the fee to access it each time for your PvE characters.<
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The only real point of the game is the pvp. You'll want to play the pve campaign until you get your first good elite skill, but after that it's faster and more enjoyable to get your skills grinding faction in pvp. If you can get the hang of using the henchman you can make it through the entire PvE campaign on your own without having to interact too much with the hordes of morons.<
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I found the game to be fun if I played it more like a fps and just put together a decent build before jumping into the random arenas. Even when I ended up with morons on my team it wasn't so bad because I could almost always get a kill or two on my own and the faster the match was over the faster I could get in a new one with a chance to get better teammates. I enjoyed it for five months or so but it got stale with the same boring and popular builds being used by everyone and a sore lack of variety between the arenas and their objectives. <i></i>

The new expansion, stand alone game, appears to be an entirely new continent. <
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I'm having fun with the game, but as usual, can't pick a combination that will be fun 40 hrs of play later. Reminds me of CoH with the FotM where everyone gravitated to a specific build. I know folks say there is no bad build, but there is definately a difference in play.<
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My first was a Warrior/Necro and I figured it to be an SK, so good PvP, the life taps heal and do dmg. <
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Then I tried an Elementalist/Ranger which is like a mage since you get a pet and can do AE/targeted spell dmg. The difference in killing speed was HUGE. I could drop 4 mobs without effort. The pet was like a DoT, and helped keep mobs off me. I also like the fire spell that heals a % of the mana you spend casting dmg.<
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The FotM seems to be Warrior/Monk (Paladin), and I've seen quite a few Elementalist/Mesmer.<
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It also seems strange that you can hang out in pre-Searing (the tutorial) for as long as you want, with some folks there till lvl 10, when the game only has 20 lvls. I guess that's not too much of a stretch from just picking a PvP pre-made lvl 20 to play in arena's. The armor/look selection seems a bit limited.<
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It's basically Diablo III. Which isn't shocking since it was made by the developers from Diablo. The size of the continent is just so big, there would be a lot to explore.<
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