Guild Wars vs. World of Warcraft- What to get?

Free servers / Public servers

Dont sweat the $15 a month, buy WoW its truly an awsome game, then head over to http://nocashwow.no.funpic.org/ and get onto a free server. Youll find it just as rewarding, without having to pay every month. They are a little buggy but getting better all the time.

I've put scores of hours into both games and have come to think that Guild Wars is a superior game. The two are fairily different though, so there is a lot of area for subjectivity. Try both if you can.

Although Guild Wars is a beautiful game with a good amount of content, World of Warcraft is, IMO, a better game visually (I'd go so far as to say the best ever)--and, for better and worse, has a lot more content (e.g. you wont find trade professions in Guild Wars.)

That aside, I believe Guild Wars truly beats the socks off any other MMO simply because of the gameplay speed is much, much faster. Indeed, it's essentially an action-RPG except that in towns and guild halls many people can associate with one another. When you want to go to another town there's no screwing around, just open the map and click on a town and there you are. When you are trying to complete a mission there's very little screwing around, just follow the star on your map and the path before you (the game ultimately leads you in certain directions via mountains, gates, deep water, etc.. although you have a good amount of room to move laterally.) When you want to create a party of random people there is much, much less time wasted (that's what most people, in GWs, are in the towns for... and probably most people in your town are looking to complete the same quests.) There is no such thing as food, drink, and sitting for regeneration, you start regenerating fairily quickly if you've been out of combat for a few seconds. In only about 100 hours you can fully level your character; less with experience, help, and dedication. My point is this: the game is much, much faster than any other MMO I've played. This can't be understated. IMO, a game is fun--whether pong or a sports title or an MMO--primary because you're constantly having to make challenging decisions.

On top of that, the game is practically bugless (I haven't come across a bug yet, and the game is only a few months old!,) there is no monthly fee, and the PvP system is tactical, extremely well organized (from arenas to siege on other guild halls from your guild hall,) well balanced, and rewarding.

Well i have a friend that plays WoW and i have seen that there is multiple servers....But in guild was there is only 1 and sofar i have had no lag (and yes i own the game GW) I also liked how they have the 2 dif. styles of play, not sure if WoW has those and personally, i think its this simple, if you have the $15 a month buy WoW but if you are like me and are on a budget go for guild was, i like it, much fun for many hours!

I think guild wars really offers two games in one. When your tired of missons and paryting with random people, you head right over to your guild hall party up with some friends and beat down an opposing guild. Also, the people ( i think) are much more mature in GW. Yea there are exceptions but i think they are drasticly better.

Sean

in WoW what is the life regen method? i have GW and the instant regen is sweet. i didnt realy like the sitting in crowd for 20 mins style of regeneration like in Camalot and ragnarok online. I am thinking of getting WoW because GW is trying my patiants. 1)i have almost got too the end of the game. 2) im in my 4th guild, after the prier ones ether dried up or had too many religous overtones. 3) the anyoing elitism of trying too get a group too do the staues mission that cost 1k gold a go. does anyone play on the european servers of WoW? and do they divide the servers into diffrent language regions? the abillity too switch between euro and usa versions of GW was realy nice.

WoW is quite a bit faster than the older MMOs as far as regeneration. You'll still probably have to sit down and eat/drink now and again. I'd say it's about right between Guild Wars and a traditional MMO.

Trying to rekindle this thread now that both WoW and GW have been out for a while and have had time to show their true colors.

I have been playing WoW since 12/2004. I have 2 characters, a level 60 Paladin and a (currently) level 59 Warlock, both Alliance on IceCrown.

I have been playing long enough that I am looking for something else now to satisfy my online RPG playing. I have been through several Guilds because it is so hard to find a "mature" Guild. I am 37 years old and perfer to not play in a Guild with a bunch of "young" kids or potentially immature players. The monthly cost is of no concern to me, just content and the enjoyment of playing with others online.

I have a few questions about WoW vs. GW that I could use help with myself:

1. Are there mounts in GW?
2. Can you join a Guild in GW?
3. Is GW strictly PvP?
4. What is your opinion of GW vs WoW now that they have been out a while?

If there are Guilds you can join in GW, I would be really interested in websites
from your Guilds so I could browse them and see the type of interaction on those Guild sites (you could PM me your website if you don't want to make it public).

Anyway, thanks in advance for your input.

No.

Yes, they are a very large part of the game

I would call Guild Wars the light MMO. You can get very into it, but you can also be somewhat of an on agian off agian player. Where WoW is like a drug.

Thanks for the info

Same page.

I'm thinking of getting World Of Warcraft but I was wondering, how long does it take to level up, because I don't want to pay to go on a PvP server just to get wiped out repeatedly for a few months. So...
Can you level up offline?
Is level 60 the highest?
Is there a decent single player?
I personally would want to get good before I go online.

It's strictly online.

What?!?!

There's NO single player!!!! puke: :dead:
That's the worst game I've ever heard of!
Thanks Didou for warning me!
I was seriously going into town tomorrow to get it, phew, that was close. No single player = count me out.

ew if it was single player that would ruin the whole thing

MMORPG=major MULTIPLAYER online blaw blaw blaw

lol, Sin Harvest, MMORPG actually stands for Massive Multiplayer online role-playing game

momalyd you're hilarious. We should all try to be like momalyd! ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY Momalyd! bow to his genius at solving the problems of the online gaming world! ';P

*cracks up again at Momalyd's post*----funny, funny guy

Well I have never played in the European Districts but of course some of that goes on in the American Districts as well. BUt I stay in the high level places (ToA etc) and I find alot of cool people.

I have yet to try GW but have been a WoW addict since european release.
All the comments about the bad community don't matter because as soon as you get into a nice guild. You add people that you get on with an enjoy questing/doing dungeons with to your friends list, and later on 99% of the time will be spent with these people or people they know (friend of a friend sort of thing, usually means their friends are people you get on well with as well). Anyone you don't get on with you can add to your ignore list and never have any other dealings with in the game ever again. I've recently started playing on an RP-PVP server (due to some friends that wanted to play on RP) and I even though I'm not big on RP I make a minimum effort as it seems a much more polite and adult population to the server than previous PVE and PVP servers I've played on.

The only thing I dislike about WoW is 40 man raid environments. Getting 40 people that don't want to throttle each other and coordinate them and beat the content isn't something everyone can do. Luckily in the upcoming expansion there are meant to be more 5/10 man content.

Someone previously in this thread commented on the speed of GW. Just click where you want to go and you are there. Sure WoW "wastes" some time with travelling but when you are below level 40 and on foot the environments are so large scale that the journeys are epic and encounters with other players, friend or foe bring more life to the world. WoW consists of lots of quests within the world and then dungeon instances for parties where you are the only players in it. Whereas GW I believe all questing is instanced. So outside of towns and guild battles you will never encounter any other players. I personally love the fact I have to fly for 3-4 minutes on a gryphon to get to an area, it actually gives the world a real feeling of being alive.

By the time you hit 40 and get a mount you have become somewhat tired of running everywhere though

The graphics of WoW are very cartoon styled, and if you prefer the "realistic" graphics of Morrowwind/Oblivion and the likes then you might prefer GW.

The way I deal with the cost of WoW per month is that if I bought a game every month (single player/console etc) then I'd be spending more than I am playing WoW which I still find enjoyable after all this time.

I can't speak for GW but if you enjoyed Diablo/Dungeon Siege/NWN/Baldur's Gate and such this is an slightly more action based advancement upon those games. I've gotten several friends who have preferred several different genre's of games and all really enjoy WoW.

Get WoW

WoW is hands down the better game.

I wouldn't even consider GW to be a MMORPG and neither does the game developer. A party of 8 people is not massively multiplayer by any stretch of the definition.

GW cons:
- does not have player crafting or professions.
- plays like Dungeon Siege. Extremly linear. You cannot leave the beaten path.
- You learn many skills in GW but can use only 8 at a time. It's a dumbed down RPG.
- GW has no player run vendors or auction houses for selling
- no player rideable mounts.
- lots and lots of load screens
- all areas are instanced.
- bank box is extremly limited
- no group find interface. Want to join a group? Start spamming in one of the towns or mission points.
- you can adjust attributes whenever you want without penalty. You can be proficient in swords, then switch your attributes to axes, hammers, etc.
- gameplay is not immersive
-simply click the monster and wait
-quests are extremly boring and feel more like grind than anything
-level cap of 20? this was by design because the designers beleived that leveling is not fun. Most people who play these style of games would disagree. Leveling is half the fun!

WoW:
- only MMORPG to come close to UO so far (except it's missing housing system)
- Rideable mounts
- Auction house to sell items so no time is wasted spamming wares in town
- Massive, seamless World. Only time you get a load screen is when you enter an instance or travel between continents.
- Professions. Aside from fighting you can do many other things.
- Player crafted items, enchantments.
- 40 people instances and raids.
- when you leave town you actually see other people(GW you do not)


Bottom line, if you're looking for a MMORPG then the best one available at the time of this post is WoW. GW is not a MMORPG. But if you liked Dungeon Siege then you'll love GW.

WoW definitely lives up to it's expectations. GW lacks the polish, innovation and immersive gameplay that WoW has.

Ok, you are clearly determined to hate GW, and I am determined to love it. But I do have to point out the many errors in your post.

-Cannot leave the beaten path??? What beaten path? There really isn't one.

-The 8 skill GW limit is because the game is more skill oriented (hence the low-*** level cap) instead of being a game where you can pwn the enemy with 947934568 spells all equipped at the same time.

-Why the HELL do you need ridable mounts?!?!?!?! You can travel instantly to any place you have visited before.

-Actually, if you had PLAYED GW since December 21st, you would know they have added a party search feature that is also used for trade.

-Can you explain to me where the CON is in being able to multiclass, and rearrange your skills whenever you want? Maybe that doesn't work in WoW, but since GW is skill based and only allows 8 skills, it is more focused on BUILDS which involve certain combinations of 8 skills and certain attribute distributions.

-Click the monster and wait? Umm, thats what you do in WoW too. Incase you haven't noticed.

-Some of the WoW quests are just kill x of y for me, or bring me x of y. i.e. Grinding Quests. GW has very few of those.

-Research before you post random ****. The developers did not make the level cap at 20 because they think players hate grinding. It's because the game is centered around player skill level instead of just winning by being 9759283595462395463798 levels higher than the other guy.

-Grinding is MIND NUMBING. It ROTS THE LIFE out of people's minds. When I play a game, I expect to have useful things to do, not just uselessly do the SAME thing over and over again for several months.

Have you even PLAYED GW or Dungeon Siege? GW is NOTHING like DS...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
And now, In defense of WoW... (i know, its a crappy defense)

-WoW only comes CLOSE to UO? WoW has the largest subscriber base out of ALL MMORPGs. That means UO came close to WoW, not the other way around.