mateusthiago

Hey people, I've been thinking about playing GW for a while and have been reading about it to know it better, but I need some word from someone who play it.

As I'm going to buy only one campaign to get the feel of it, I would like you to tell me how is the world in each one, since the thing that most attracts me in a RPG is a beautiful world. From the maps and screenshots I've seen at the official site, I could get an idea:

Nightfall looks like it has lots of deserts, which I hate, although there are some pictures of beautiful landscapes;

Factions looks like it has a dark feel with some dark forests and marshes, which is cool, but looks like it has too much of it;

Prophecies looks like it has the most all around environment, with jungles, deserts, cold regions, etc.

If someone could tell if I got it right or if I got the wrong impression, and also make a good description of each worl, it would be great. Just one more thing I would like to know is in which world will I find a good amount of players, because I don't like to feel like I'm playing with 10 people, but I also don't like over-crowded worlds. Any other advice from you guys about anything at all that you think I should know would also be nice.

Thanks a lot!

beldeti

world

You're right on most of your perceptions of the games' landscape / architecture.

Prophecies - mostly medieval / european architecture. Much like standard RPGs, there's the mandatory snow areas (Shiverpeaks), deserts (Crystal Desert), fiery/volcanic areas (Ring of Fire) and jungles (Maguuma / Kryta). The areas are huge, and offer much varied scenery.

Factions - architecture and landscape is asian (Cantha = chinese / japanese), German/Gothic (Kurzick) and Luxon (aquatic? lol can't really tell). A big chunk of the game is set in a claustrophobic, overcrowded, multi-tiered slum. Later on though the countryside opens up and you see great forests and a sea turned to jade Smallest of the 3 chapters in terms of area.

Nightfall - North African theme - drylands, savannahs, caves, oases, gorges, deserts. Then later on, twisted representations of the "normal" places. 2nd largest in terms of land area.

Population -- it's gonna be either Prophecies or Nightfall, plenty of people to play with up until the latter parts. Factions seems deserted halfway through. Most of the missions and quests can be done with the NPC henchmen, though.

If a "population" of a town is "full", say 200 people, there will automatically be created a second District to catch the spillover (e.g. Ascalon City Dist 1, Dist 2, etc....) If you feel a district seems overcrowded, you can just move to the higher-numbered districts for some peace and quiet

However, GW is an instanced game. You only meet other people when you're in towns and outposts. Put a group together, and when you go out of the town, GW will make a "personal," exclusive copy of the area. You won't see anyone else except those you grouped with. This will seem lonely, but is designed to eliminate spawn-camping, loot-stealing and other negative stuff that seems common in standard MMORPGs.

Your concern about population is valid, as it'd be fun playing with others online. However, the random pick-up group (PUG) is a mixed bag, ranging from idiotic/horrendous to a brilliant showcase of teamwork and skill. You can also use the available Henchmen NPCs in town, to fill in some of the group. Best join a guild so you can ask guildies for help (after all, this is guild wars).

With the arrival of Nightfall, it featured Heroes -- customizable companions. This took away the problem of waiting forever at towns to get a good group together or if you don't have anyone who is going your way too. You can pretty much play by all yourself with 3 Heroes and 4 Henchmen, or you and 7 Henchmen (max people in a party is 8 persons) throughout all 3 chapters.

My advice: see if you can get a 10-hour trial code, hopefully 1 for each chapter and try the game yourself. Granted, 10 hours won't get you deep enough into the game to really see the scenery, but hopefully you can get a good feel of the game.

As to choosing which to buy, here are some points:

Prophecies - Tons of free skills given as quest rewards. Gentle learning curve.
And as it's the oldest, hopefully it's the cheapest now too. My pick if you want to start.

Factions - Most skills have to be bought. Faster character development and learning curve, feels rushed though.

Nightfall - newest, so the one nearest the original price. The Heroes feature is its biggest attraction, which can really help a lot when you eventually decide to buy the other chapters and play in the areas where there are no other players. For this reason alone, this is my second pick.

An upcoming Hard Mode (set for release this week, I think) to be implemented throughout all chapters will make it more difficult to rely on Heroes and Hencmen alone, and may see a resurgence in pick-up groups.

Hope I haven't overwhelmed you with this long post. Feel free to ask away, always good to see people interested in Guild Wars

mateusthiago

Your long post has provided me excellent answers, just what I wanted to know. After reading it, I've decide for Prophecies, because of it's world and it's price.
But a trial code would be really good, as I'm not american and the game won't be cheap for me. Playing it to really see how it is would be nice before deciding to buy. The problem is I haven't found anything about trial in the official site. Only thing it says is that you need an access key for the 14 day / 10 h trial, it also says about the trilogy dvd trial, but it doesn't actualy provides access keys... How may I get one of those?

Thanks for being so helpful!

krnbatman

there are also chars,

Propenchies - Warrior,Monk,Nerco,Ranger,Elementist(mage),mesmer,
Fractions- Everything In propenchies + assassin and ritaliust
Nightfall - Everything in propenchies + derivsh(Guy/girl with scythe) and Paragon(kinda like a dude with tons of booasting skills with a javalin-like spear)

__________________

beldeti

Glad to be of help. Not promising anything, but I'll see if I can scrounge up a trial key when I get home. They give a couple along with a box (game) purchase for you to give out to friends

Meantime, you can download the client and the whole game. Be warned though, the full .dat file is a little more than 3 gigs.... But it'll be advisable to download the whole thing so that you won't have any more loading time when you're in the game and use up your 10 hours on just loading time.

Also check the minimum PC system requirements, but they're generous anyway -- my P4 1.7 ghz PC runs ok on it, and for a year I was running it on dial-up!

You're in luck -- I YM'd our official GW Helpdesk just now and I was given one card. I'll PM you the code.

mateusthiago

Yeah, I've read that, I'm always checking Gamespot. That's really nice, but I've still gotta buy GW first heheh...
So, what about the trial key? Any other way I can get one besides someone who bought the game giving it to me?...