Guild Wars

Url: http://guildwars.com

After playing this game for three days, I have to say don’t bother trying it.  I am an avid MMORPG player and will try most games of this ilk.  Guild Wars has attempted to break the genre by having no monthly fee, opting instead to have expansion packs that they will sell.  The only problem with that model is the game isn’t that much fun.  I am apt to re-try it again someday, but until they deal with the following issues, I am not going back:

• Mysterious disconnects where you lose the last 20-30 minutes of play (including items and experience).  This is unacceptable in an online game and will kill player loyalty faster than almost anything else.
• Combat is too simplistic and generalized.  Three of any monsters level 3-5 can be beated by a level 6, but four of them completely kill you way too fast.  No clear understanding of how hard monsters are at particular levels.
• Level 20 Cap is way too low.
• Crafting system way too primitive.  (You deal with crafters and give them some items you found plus money and he gives you the same armor/weapons that everyone is using).
• The beginner area is a lot of fun, but after level five or six when you transition to the ‘adult’ area, it is too hard and not clear what you should be doing.  No good story that I could feel part of.
• Quests are primitive (FedEx, Kill X of something are most of the quests).  Rarely do you find quests that are not of this ilk.
• It feels like the focus is to build super characters that *must* fight in groups then do PvP.  Too PvP focused IMHO.
• Pack and bank space is way too limited. (40 max for a character, and 25 storage that is shared by all characters on an acct.)  Storage isn’t available until you leave the beginner area.
• No way to ‘mule’ cash across characters.
• Everything aggros, so it is too hard to create a huge train (30-40 monsters) if you are trying to run from area to area.
• No way to log out outside a town.  If you log out anywhere, you log back in at a local town.  This is especially bad if I ran 20 minutes to get to a quest then get disconnected.  Frustration shouldn’t be part of gameplay.

That’s about it.  Avoid it for now.  Play WoW if you want a good game in the genre.