Guild Wars Factions

Having ventured into the world of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) for the first time with Guild Wars: Factions, I feared that I was entering the genre at the wrong point and that the experience would be disastrously dull and unrewarding. In fact, the introductory tutorials and in-game explanations work well to ease new players into the RPG realm of Arena Net's second game in the Guild Wars series, and capture the imagination in an involving and expansive adventure.Guild Wars: Factions introduces two new professions to the original set of six - the Assassin who is physically vulnerable but can strike quickly and powerfully to take down enemies at close range, and the Ritualist, another magic-wielding character capable of protecting team mates or doling out damage from afar. Add to that the feature of taking on the skill set of another profession as a secondary aspect of your character and the possibilities become vast. This is dealt with effectively in the early stages of the game and new skills are acquired gradually as the game moves on, rather than bombarding the new initiate with options straight away. The character professions are varied and well-balanced, although there are definitely more and less accessible options, and luck will dictate some of your success early on. The in-game player representations are set down at the start of the game and demonstrate the splendid artwork and graphics that are essential in games of this type.A great deal of the middle part of the game (for those starting their characters in the new Factions land of Cantha) is spent traversing back and forth around the murky Kaineng City, which can lead to frustration and a feeling of mission areas being re-used to lengthen what is already a substantial campaign. Fortunately, these shorter missions can be eschewed in favour of tasks which further the central storyline, although even this involves no small amount of revisiting areas and returning to previous battles. This recycling of venues and missions can be distinctly banal, and is a process that is repeated in the later phases of the game when the 'factions' aspect of the title actually comes into play. None of which is to say that tweaking the build (the pruned down skill set that characters take with them into explorable areas) and re-running quests is not a fun and rewarding experience; indeed for someone new to role-playing games like me it is one of the strongest motivators to play. However there is more than a hint that the speed with which this sequel appeared is indicative of a slight lack of effort on the part of the producers.The game-makers have got several things right and several things wrong with Guild Wars: Factions. The requirement of being connected to the internet at all times to play is irritating and limiting, but the cost-free provision of servers to roam around is an obvious boon. The enormous scope of the game is wonderfully captivating and involving, but too many times the players find themselves treading over old ground to gain experience and seeing the same (admittedly beautiful) sights for the tenth time. The storyline is not spectacularly imaginative and the voice-acting in cut scenes is truly dreadful, but the attachment that players feel to their in-game characters and the ability to turn an average build into a devastating combatant with just a few changes is compelling and implemented beautifully. The game doesn't always challenge the player in quite the way it should, using cheap tactics to stack the odds against characters in more difficult areas, though this is countered somewhat by the ability to team up with human veterans of the campaign who can show you shortcuts and superior tactics to conquer even the most resistant of bosses. This is probably the best aspect of the game and here again the variety in combinations of professions and skills is a shining reflection of a core that is robust and fun.Overall I am of the view that the niggling drawbacks of Guild Wars: Factions are slightly outweighed by the enormous scope and excellent implementation of the player professions and skills. While not always fair, the game is just taxing enough to prevent uninhibited progress without being so tricky as to be obnoxiously hard. There are a few things that have been improved since Prophecies, and many facets of the gameplay are wonderfully entertaining, but there is still some way to go before Guild Wars is crowned as the ultimate MMORPG out there.

If you have never played Guild Wars original, then there is no point reading any more of this review (but I thoroughly advise you to buy Guild Wars Original as its far better than Factions)I was a big Guild Wars original fan, I can honestly say it was one of the most addcitive PC games I have ever played. I loved everything about it, the maps, the gameplay, the enemies, the story, the characters etc....So when I heard Guild Wars II - Factions was coming out I was over the moon, as I thought there would be all sorts of new things to do and explore in the game and there really isnt, its extremely dissapointing.The maps are not half as good looking as the original game and as a fantasy lover Guild Wars Factions no longer looks like a fantasy game, it looks more like something out of the film "Enter the Dragon" or a martial arts game.The game play is exactly the same as the first Guild Wars with no changes what so ever but in this game its ten times harder to complete missions and ten times quicker to move up the levels (which was why the original Guild Wars was so addictive, it took time to get to level 20). Due to the quests being so hard a little later in the game you just end up getting frustrated and give up on them.There are slight differences from the original Guild Wars....(1) There are two new characters you can choose: Assassin and Ritualist. Characters in my eyes that have taken minutes to create without any real thought. They are both terrible (one is meant to be like a fighter (assassin) but you cannot purchase any good armour so its simply suicide when you go into battle, and the other (Ritualist) is a glorified Monk that can produce spirits to aid you in battle, only the spirits dont move from the same spot you cast them so its usless if the battle moves anywhere else). Why not have new characters such as Dwarf, Char (from original game), Sorcerer, Halfling. Something people can get their teeth into.(2) The new spells for existing characters from the old Guild Wars are very lame and are pretty much existsing spells but with a slight deviation. Nothing really new and exciting here.I thought if you had both games it would be easy to transfer players from the old game to the new factions and likewise but this takes time and does get a little tedious.The only good thing about FACTIONS is to use it as a tool, so you can level your characters up very quickly to level 20 and then bring them across to the original Guild Wars (Where the gameplay is better and it takes a long while to build character levels up). Its ideal if you have want build several characters up to level 20 quickly.Overall if you want to buy and play a fantasy role playing PC game with free monthly subscriptions which kicks butt then by the Original Guild Wars. Guild Wars FACTIONS is far too hard and looks like a bad martial arts film. I really would not advise you to buy this game, and I just hope the creators come up with something new and exciting for the next installment. I wont hold my breath.A poor poor sequel.

I didn't mind Guild Wars: Prophecies at all, but was a little (lot) disappointed with Factions. Way too much PvP content for my liking.One is never likely to get the content updates that monthly subscription based MMORPGs get, but for those on more irregular budgets, this sort of thing is not bad at all. Good classes and skills/powers, reasonable graphics if rather mediocre sound.I did not like many of the Factions areas (horribly repetitive city graphics), or much of it's content. The weakest of all the GW expansions.

One customer quoted "If you have played Guild Wars Original (dont bother buying it)...," well hes wrong!! this is like saying if you have played BF2 then dont bother playing BF2 euro forces etc.I have got factions and still have not completed it and nightfall is apon us soon but thats the great thing about GW it just keeps growing...Not buying factions means you miss out on alot of what the game is about like the storyline etc etc anyway its a well known fact in the gaming community that if theres an add-on to be purchased then 99% of dedicated players will buy it just for the sake of it good or bad :)

Well the other reviewers must like the easy life. Factions is too easy, full of very irritating balloon type conversations, and they havent even got the cinematics with moving mouthes, the still deliver far too long tiades of drivel through closed lips! Make fantactic ventrilos! The thought of having to sit through them time after time because some nooby aint seen it befor is worse than an evening of vogon poetry. Totally daft monsters and full of silly Ying tong tillde I pho names!Stick with the first Guild Wars ans save your money.