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Role Playing (Games)

Guild Wars Final Beta This Friday 39

Posted by Zonk from the more-wars-for-your-guilds dept.
This Friday you can get in on the Final Beta test for the hack and slash MMOG, Guild Wars. Commentary is available on Grimwell Online. From the article: " The main claim to fame of GuildWars is being the only MMORPG without a monthly fee. It will be interesting to see how that business model works out. Is it really the monthly fee that stops a MMORPG from greatness, or is it the nerdy gameplay?" Update: 01/05 22:26 GMT by H : I spoke with a representative of GuildWars; the above information is false. The beta program will be continuing as currently implemented. As well, GuildWars has not yet stated a final release date other than early 2005; that is still true, and in the meantime, development continues on the game -- and support will be continuing for the beta program.
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Guild Wars Final Beta This Friday More

Guild Wars Final Beta This Friday

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  • not the only non-monthly fee MMORG (Score:3, Interesting)

    by oiarbovnb ( 728906 ) on Wednesday January 05, 2005 @01:45PM (#11264951)
    What about Project Entropia [project-entropia.com] and also Anarchy Online [anarchyonline.com] (without the expansion packs).

  • Redundant gameplay is why (Score:3, Interesting)

    by roche ( 135922 ) on Wednesday January 05, 2005 @02:04PM (#11265172) Homepage
    I wouldn't say it is the "nerdy" gameplay that turns me off of these type of games. The redundancy of the gameplay is where I get bored. You can only kill so many whomp rats or orcs before you are bored to tears trying to get that last bit of experience to level up. What happens when you level up? The whole process repeats itself.
    • I agree, I got in on one of the earlier beta tests and found that its not much different from other MMORPGs. Im not gonna get it because i prefer games where skill is more important than time.
      • Actually this is one of the main selling points... the ability to pick it up and play while not having to power level to stay competative.

        One of the tag lines used in the adverts is that they award skill of play, not time spent playing (kinda like an online FPS in that respect)

      • That's sorta like saying you're going to get a motorcycle instead of a car because you prefer vehicles with 4 wheels. One of the main points of GW is that you don't have to spend 20+ hours a week playing it just so you can remain competitive. To me, that's more like a job than a game.

        I imagine that this game is really going to appeal to people like me who only have a couple hours a week they can/want to devote to a game. People who would otherwise love to get into an online rpg, but couldn't afford to

      • Keep in mind that there are 150 skills you can obtain (75*2 professions), and being able to effectively juggle (up to) 150 skills in 8 skill slots to maximum advantage certainly sounds like skill being more important than time to me.
        • While I haven't played it yet (I will this weekend), I remember hearing people say somewhere that it's skill in a strategy/tactical sense, and not twitch skill. Maybe twitch is what the guy above meant.

          As for me, I prefer strategy & tactics over twitch skills, so this game has me interested.

  • MMORPG? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by WhatAmIDoingHere ( 742870 ) * <sexwithanimals@gmail.com> on Wednesday January 05, 2005 @02:11PM (#11265271) Homepage
    I don't really think Guild Wars is a MMOG, and here's why:

    In a game like WoW or CoH, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people in the same zone as you. In Guild Wars, you're either running around solo or you're joining one of the raids that has a cap of 6 (I think) members per group. Is 6 Massive? If so, StarCraft has that beat with 8.

    RPG? Maybe, I played in the open beta and all the new characters started with the best weapons and armor and some high level. You weren't really given a chance to role play, so I can't judge it there.

    All in all, it felt like Diablo. But Diablo with less fun.
    • Those are only the 'mission zones' (hell if I know what they're really called). The actual game, outside of the cities/gathering areas isn't instanced, so you really could have the whol server population cheering on a duel or something silly.
    • In a couple of the betas, yes, you started at level 15. In the last ones, you could also create a new level 1 character, or create a level 20 pre-fabbed template, pvp-only character, for purposes of trying out the pvp sections (designed for people only able to play the one weekend, I suppose).

      Some missions cap the party at 6 characters, some at 8. I don't recall, but I think the Arena pvp areas where for parties of 4, while the Halls of the Dead, Guild battle, and another pvp area where for parties of 8

      • Re:MMORPG? (Score:3, Insightful)

        by WhatAmIDoingHere ( 742870 ) *
        4-8 Isn't MASSIVE. Balance is all fine and dandy, but the game isn't Massive. Maybe they should call it

        "A small group of people playing at the same time online slightly role playing game"
        • They don't actaully bill it as a MMORPG... they are very specific in not calling it that. What they do call it is a Mission Based Online Role Playing Game... the focus is away from the whole "thousands of people all online and communicating with each other" (the last massive online communication I has was mostly done in 13375[]D3ak and was unnecessarily vulger/slanderous)
          • From the article: "The main claim to fame of GuildWars is being the only MMORPG without a monthly fee. It will be interesting to see how that business model works out. Is it really the monthly fee that stops a MMORPG from greatness, or is it the nerdy gameplay?"

            What's that you say?
            • From the official game FAQ:

              Is Guild Wars an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game)?

              Guild Wars has some similarities to existing MMORPGs, but it also has some key differences.

              Like existing MMOs, Guild Wars is played entirely online in a secure hosted environment. Thousands of players inhabit the same virtual world. Players can meet new friends in gathering places like towns and outposts where they form parties and go questing with them. Unlike many MMOs, when players form a par

            • Thats right, it is in the ARTICLE... not from the official site...

              now-a-days anything that is online only is talked about in conjunction with the term MMORPG reguardless of the reality of what it is. Read the above post for the exact wording driectly from the Guildwars.com FAQ

        • Now you're just arguing sematnics. Though the mission is instanced, you have cities, outposts, and other shared areas where you have thousands of others to chat and trade with, and form those "small groups of people" which somehow offend you. For that reason, I think it falls into the same category.

          I've heard people say that these public areas are just a graphical version of Battle.net. I disagree, for the simple fact that these areas are also used for, in addition to the trade and chat mentioned above

    • In Guild Wars, you're either running around solo or you're joining one of the raids that has a cap of 6 (I think) members per group.

      Or you're in a PvP arena, which can at least go up to 12-- I think they mentioned larger? I'm not sure.

      Sure, still not massive; the only "massive" areas are the starting areas, which you could argue are only glorified matchmaking lobbies. You never get the situation where you're killing zombies in a field, and some guy runs along and says, "hey, wanna kill zombies together
    • RPG? Maybe, I played in the open beta and all the new characters started with the best weapons and armor and some high level. You weren't really given a chance to role play, so I can't judge it there.

      Notice you were playing during a beta. They forced people to start at level 15 so they could test higher level areas. True, they're trying to introduce people to the game, but their main purpose was to stress test their servers and see if the game scaled to tens of thousands of users.

      In the (semi-)closed bet
      • Notice how I said "So I can't judge it there."

        I didn't get a chance to actually roleplay, so I didn't judge it there, other than saying it reminded me a lot of Diablo.
  • http://www.knightonlineworld.com/ Decent game, better than EQ on initial release.
  • I can't find any announcement saying that this will be the final beta weekend. There's nothing on the official site about it, and the FAQ kind of makes it sound like it won't be.

    When will Guild Wars be released? UPDATED!

    Guild Wars is currently in alpha testing on a daily basis, and holds beta testing during Beta Weekend Events, the next of which begins on January 7th. We will take as much time as necessary to balance and polish the game based on feedback received during beta testing. We anticipate

  • Assuming that by "nerdy gameplay" you're referring to the pointless treadmill basis of most MMORPGs today. I would never pay a monthly fee to play a video game that I already paid retail price for, but I quickly gave up on Anarchy Online even though I could've played it free for a year due to the boring and aimless gameplay.

    Rob
  • I'm an alpha tester on the GW team since March and let me tell you why GW is IMHO going to be the next big thing in online gaming.

    1. ArenaNet (a very talented team, some ex-Blizzard guys that worked on WoW for a while, Starcraft, Warcraft, Diablo .. you name it). They are constantly in contact with the alphas and the community, giving us access to their commands/servers, joking with us and are overall really cool people. I can't name a company that is cooler then them. ;)

    2. No grind, skill matters (if you
    • I hope you're right.

      I thought WoW was going to be the big one for me ... but it turns out that I just can't deal with endless hours of repetative simplistic gameplay to get to the end-game any more.

      GW sounds like a much needed change in design of these games to take the focus off of the time-sink aspect.
    • I have just been accepted into alpha (although still not in the game yet as we're waiting on the next start date for alpha testers) but I have been following this game for over a year and played all the betas.

      This game is unique.

      1. There is some leveling, but it comes cheap and easily. I actually wish they'd just drop the levelling out but I guess they want you to have some attachment to your character.

      2. There are battles as previously mentioned that have large numbers. Several teams of 8 fight agai
    • 5. One of the best looking online RPGs to date.

      HAHAHAHAHAHAH!

      This game looks like ass. I've played free korean MMOs in Beta that look a lot better.

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