Not an MMO?

drs031

I've never played Guild Wars before, but I've read a lot of info about it.  I know the game is mostly for pvp.  I have a question.  Besides for the story, what is the point of the role playing aspect of the game (PvE)?  Usually it's for things like better equipment in other mmo's.  Does getting above average equipment and transferring it to a pvp character really make a difference (one big enough to justify the time invested aquiring it) in that character's ability in the arena?

Leodious

PvP is indeed the crux of the game, but there is a massive ammount of PvE content in the game even compared with many strraight MMOs. There is no Roleplaying in this game, really. You could do it, and there is a rich and vibrant story, but people don't seem to do it, so you wouldn't have a community. That said, each game has it's own plot, that you play to the end, and finish, acting as the hero of that story, saving something or other, usually. There are a good many side plots in quests, some of them spanning many quests and areas, also putting you in hero position. So there surely could be roleplaying if you could find the community for it.

As for equipment, there are pretty low Maximum stats for all items. Max damages on weapons, and a max armor for each class, varying on t he type of class it is. It is decently easy to get items with these max stats. However, there are runes for armor, which give bonuses to your attributes, and upgrades to your weapons (pommels and bowstrings and the like) that you can add to bestow certain benefits (+20% poison duration or +damage with above 50% health, or something like that). You can have one rune per armor piece, and two upgrades per weapon, one prefix and one suffix, simlar in nature to Diablo items, if you have played that. All prefixes have certain upgrades, and all suffixes have certain upgrades, special to that type, such that you can never double up on a certain enhancement.

Runes and weapon upgrades are the big way to make your character more powerful, but they also have maximum values attatched to them, and the real thing that is important here is strategy. That's the thing Guild Wars is huge on; stategy, before and during a match. You have to know what sort of character your acatar is, and what weapons and runes would be best suited to what that avatar will be doing. One setup is not ipso facto more powerful than another, but depending on your playstyle, they will certainly feel that way.

PvEing after reaching level 20 is about finding things to salvage to get the upgrades you want, and money for runes or anything else you want, or for fun. Especially with Nightfall, solo PvE is great fun, and an easy way to make money and hone your skills.

But still, PvP is the core of the game. And in this light, you can make PvP only characters, and design their everything from the start, with max everything; but you unlock those things in PvE or PvP. You salvage things in PvE, or buy them with faction points in PvP.

Guild Wars is much less about getting the best items than other games are. It's about skill in the heat of battle, and strategy going in. You need a team of people that know what is supposed to happen, and know how to play their class. And with the class combinations, and the limited skill decks, there are a huge number of ways you can design a team. That's what Guild Wars is about, making you think.

I hope this has been a help to you, and I know it's a mite long, but I wanted to let you in on the core principles of the game as a player would see them.

drs031

Great reply.  Thanks!