| Guild Wars game mechanics |
Beginning my review at the start, Guild Wars is easy enough to install. The game comes on 2 CDs, which you install, and then run the game. As in all MMORPG, you first need to hit a button to create an account. But as Guild Wars does not have a monthly fee, you only need to enter the code, which you get by scratching the silver area on the back of the first CD cover.
After logging on, you are greeted by a screen presenting the two possible methods of character creation: You can create a level 1 role-playing character, who will develop in the PvE part of the game, or you can create a level 20 PvP-only character. At the start the PvP character can only be one of a limited amount of templates, but once you unlock skills with your role-playing characters, you can create a customized PvP characters with the skills you found.
If you create a role-playing character, it is probably helpful to think of him as going through four distinct phases in his life: The character starts in a newbie area in the city of Ascalon before the "searing" cataclysm. You can leave this newbie area as early as level 3, by going through a series of primary quests. But I'd recommend to do all the quests in this area, and only leave once you are about level 7, as you won't be able to get back to here.
Leaving the newbie area you can watch the "searing" cut-scene, and find yourself two years later in the same area, which is now notably more hostile, due to the destruction that happened. In this second phase of the game your main goal is to finish a series of 14 missions, which will open access to all PvE areas of the game, and also enable your role-playing character to participate in the PvP part of the game. Each mission area has a lobby, in which players gather to find groups, and the instanced mission area itself. This part of the game is very much forcing you to group. While it is theoretically possible to solo the missions, or do them with the help of NPC henchmen, that would be extremely hard to do.
Once you reached the end of the missions campaign, you should be level 20, which is the maximum level in this game, and your life will switch back and forth between the third and the fourth phase: PvP combat in the different arenas, and searching all the PvE areas repeatedly for rare skill drops.
Apart from the very different "flow" of your characters career, Guild Wars plays much like any other MMORPG. You create a character, and get the choice of 6 different professions at the start. You don't get to choose a race, all characters are human, but you can modify the look of your character with four sliders. During the game you get to pick a secondary profession, which makes a total of 30 possible combinations.
Both your primary and your secondary profession give you access to some skills. Skills are lined up on a hotkey bar, and like in any other MMORPG combat consists of an auto-attack, plus you hitting the hotkey buttons for added effects. Most skills cost some amount of energy, which slowly regenerates. Some skills cost "adrenalin", which builds up during melee combat, but isn't as well shown as the energy.
Soon you will have more than the 8 skills which fit on the bar, and from then on you will be forced to chose between them while in a city. While you are outside of the city, in any combat zone, you are stuck with the 8 skills you chose. If you want to switch to another set of skills, you will need to return to the city, which is a simple matter of clicking on the city's icon on the map. Choosing the right combination of skills for the adventure to come is an art. The longer you play, the more skills you find, and the more varied is your choice. This makes it possible to still have some sort of character development after you hit the low maximum level of 20.
Unlike other MMORPGs every player of Guild Wars is playing in the same world, you never need to chose a server. This is achieved by heavy instancing. Every zone in which combat takes place is instanced for only you, your group, and the ene
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