[Bespetna]

Hey, so I have been playing GW demo and it looks really cool. I can relate it to World of Warcraft in more the one way.

Anyways I need some basic info, like after you reach lvl cap what is there to do, also are there things like 5 man dungeons that are in world of warcraft, or in game raiding, also how to armor and weapons work?

The game looks like a good cheap one to start playing

[Neraphym]

This game maxes out in terms of stats really quickly. The level cap is 20, and there are two additional attribute point quests. Attributes determine the strength of most of your skills, but some are determined by title ranking, which I'll discuss later. Weapons also have maximum stats, and they are very customizable with a prefix, inscription (NF and EotN only), and suffix system. Damage range and attribute requirements are the only non-customizable variables. Basically, it's really easy to get max level and weapons really quickly. However, most of the cooler weapon skins are hard to find (Bone Dragon Staff, Eternal Swords, Obsidian Edges, etc.). Basically, everything is quickly balanced in terms of stats, but advanced players look cooler.

The main point in playing GW is to go through the story modes doing missions and quests. There's a lot of fun to be had, and I think they story is fairly good. Dungeons used to be challenging activities for us, but now the game has been broken by a skill called shadow form. It makes you invincible and pretty much everyone uses it to blow through the uberhard dungeons. Actually, some of the areas are so advanced and challenging, they require these cheese builds (Mallyx, omg). Still, everything on normal mode and not hard mode is possible.

It's a really fun game with a lot of stuff to do. Have fun with it.

[x..]

Yeah, but the trouble is that we`re dead.

Just went on and there`s only two people that have gone on in our guild in the past 2 weeks.

[Bespetna]

Lurker, on 23 November 2009 - 02:49 AM, said:

This game maxes out in terms of stats really quickly. The level cap is 20, and there are two additional attribute point quests. Attributes determine the strength of most of your skills, but some are determined by title ranking, which I'll discuss later. Weapons also have maximum stats, and they are very customizable with a prefix, inscription (NF and EotN only), and suffix system. Damage range and attribute requirements are the only non-customizable variables. Basically, it's really easy to get max level and weapons really quickly. However, most of the cooler weapon skins are hard to find (Bone Dragon Staff, Eternal Swords, Obsidian Edges, etc.). Basically, everything is quickly balanced in terms of stats, but advanced players look cooler.

The main point in playing GW is to go through the story modes doing missions and quests. There's a lot of fun to be had, and I think they story is fairly good. Dungeons used to be challenging activities for us, but now the game has been broken by a skill called shadow form. It makes you invincible and pretty much everyone uses it to blow through the uberhard dungeons. Actually, some of the areas are so advanced and challenging, they require these cheese builds (Mallyx, omg). Still, everything on normal mode and not hard mode is possible.

It's a really fun game with a lot of stuff to do. Have fun with it.

You can be invulnerable? also are the dungeons made up of classes with healers, tanks, and damage (dps) type of characters like in WoW.

[Rylkan]

Let me try and expand on what Alpha said, as he sort of gave a hard and fast of some exceptions that might confuse you.

In short, Guild Wars is about strategy and skill combos, rather than stats. You move through the process of leveling up very quickly, and as he said, you can find good weapons with relative ease. But the difficulty in the game lies in knowing how and when to use certain skills, what weapons are appropriate for each mission, and how to use the environment. A few examples:

Weapons: Guilds wars is like a lot of RPGs in that a weapon can have certain inherent abilities or special traits. Life Stealing, Elemental Damage, etc. Some are good for casters, some are good for melee classes, you get the drift. And they can be modified with certain items to accomplish a certain task easier. (Damage modifications if you are buffed or not, how much life steal you can accomplish, you get the drift).

Terrain: For example, you do more damage with ranged weapons when firing from high ground. You also have a longer range. So you can pull enemy groups slowly from a safe distance, and only fight a handful at a time rather than thirty or some other obscene number.

Skills: The most essential portion really. There ARE some like Alpha brought up, like Shadow Form, but those are called Elite Skills. They are more powerful, and you can only bring one with you per instance, and some classes use certain Elites better. (Like Shadow Form is good, but short duration, unless you have a very specific build, which is usually used in farming or what we call cookie cutter builds. Builds designed by others to accomplish a certain task without the player having to challenge themselves to find their own way to win).

In general though, you can only bring eight skills. 1 of those being that elite I mentioned. And you have only a certain number of points you can put into skill trees that affect these skills. (Which can be changed when you get in town. So you arent stuck with a certain level in a certain skill tree forever more). Having the right combination of skills is essential to whatever your role in the party is, be it healer, runner, tank, you name it.

~~
As for your other question, we do have dungeons, yes, but not quite the same way WoW has them. Dungeons were only introduced in our expansion. We have instances already with missions you have to complete. And instances where you are outside of town, with certain quests and special enemies, etc.

The classes breakdown as follows (very rough intro):

Warriors : Your standard "I beat on you, you beat on me, let's go get a drink afterwards". No offense to tanks, but they aren't the hardest hitters, but they deal a good bit of damage, and can absorb more damage than almost any other class, overall.

Monks : The healers. Most of their skills are defense based, though they do have the ability to smite. And even then, it's usually damage reversal. A must for any high level party. These guys are your friends when on your team, worst enemies when they're against you.

Rangers : My favorite, but in reality they are sort of the games jack of all trades. They focus on survivability and damage from a distance. They can take elemental damage better than most, and fight using bows and arrows. (Well, other rangers do. I'm odd ) Their specialty is reducing the energy to attack, making them last quite awhile in a fight.

Mesmers : Spellcasters that focus on causing havoc to their enemies. They rarely deal direct damage, but rather cause degen effects, or can interrupt enemies actions, be them spells or physical attacks. They're sort of your harrying force. For example, very good at shutting down enemy monks.

Elementalists : These are the mages of GW. They deal your typical Fire, Ice, Wind/Lightning, Earth damage. Very hard hitters, large mana pool, but pay for it with limited survivability. Beware falling rocks from the sky around these guys.

Assassins : If you want to cause lots of damage quickly, this is the class to go as. They are designed to deal a chain of attacks very quickly, resulting in lots of degenerative effects and decent DPS. They can slip in and out of enemy groups with ease using teleport skills, but pay for this "Lightweight tank" like status by being pretty weak defense wise.

Ritualists : Summoners, basically. They summons spirits to do their dirty work. They can heal, deal damage, etc. Spirits don't suffer certain degenerative effects, so that is part of what they offer to the team. And they provide some unique skills. But they do have certain overlaps to other classes.

Dervish : Another tank type of character, only focuses on dealing damage to multiple enemies at once. They rely on buffs heavily, and through proper buffs and skills, can be very formidable. But they do lack the heavy armor of Warriors, and if their enchantments are removed, are vulnerable. Still, potentially very hard hitters.

Paragons : The only other class to have armor similar to Warriors. They provide support for the team with chants and shouts. They usually attack from a distance, and are supposed to represent the "Leader" there to keep his troops motivated. Not my favorite, but decent support, and given their survivability, they can provide that support for a good length of time. And their DPS isn't horrible either.


~
Whew! That got long, but hopefully that helps!

[x..]

Rylkan did a good job of summing up the classes. Most people find one they prefer, but you can have more than one character with a different class. Elementalists are relatively good at taking care of themselves, no matter what anyone says. Energy Boon ftw!

Not many people have been very clear on PvP, which is a very fun part of the game. You can start a PvP-Only character, on which you can get skills + gear with no cost as long as you have unlocked it. You can also PvP on RP characters at various arenas or travel to the PvP Isles once you get to a certain point in the game. There are various modes, such as Capture the Flag (speaks for itself), the Codex Arena (you are given a random set of skills to battle with), and PvP missions like Fort Aspenwood in Factions. There are also basic arenas like Random Arenas where it's just a standard team deathmatch. PvP is generally 'multi-combat' but you'll hardly ever end up fighting more than eight people unless you enjoy GvG (Guild vs. Guild).

[Rylkan]

PvP is pretty fun, been doing it more lately for faction. And of course each class has some way to protect themselves, but it comes at the cost of no more elite. And besides, us Rangers and Mesmers know how to hit you Eles where it hurts.

[x..]

Yeah, damn you traps.

[Rylkan]

Not just traps Lots of stuff. We rangers roxor your boxors

[Ratty]

I notice you didn't explain what a NECROMANCER IS, ONLY THE BEST CLASS EVER.

You can go Minion master, which is kinda obvious. Just make a golem, up to 10 minions, blahblah, sucky. Or you can go the awesome necro:

Causing conditions (weakness so they can't hurt you with physical attacks is the best :3) or putting hexes on enemies (So they get major-hurt when they attack or attempt to cast etc), loads of health-stealing spells... And then causing damage depending on the number of conditions and curses etc. Just a whole lot of fun all round

[Rylkan]

I wrote that while taking a break from other stuff. >.> But you're right, somehow I thought I mentioned them and moved right on. But yeah, Necros are a really good class, and another type you definitely want on your team. Death Magic, etc., you probably get the lines along which they play.

Sorry Ratty! You know you're still my favorite Necro!