So after ArenaNet managed to resolve the issues caused by the initial wave of players logging in on the first day of the pre-launch head start and crashing the servers, I was able to jump in and start exploring the world of Tyria. The only reason I even considered buying it is because unlike traditional MMOs, Guild Wars does not charge you a monthly subscription fee. Instead, it is just a one time purchase like any ordinary game. You might think the total amount of money you spend directly reflects the quality and scale of the game, but after only a few hours I realized just how much more engaging and dynamic the combat and leveling systems are and how enormous the world is compared to World of Warcraft. The major cities alone are about the size of Un'Goro Crater. Obviously it's not without flaws, but most of them are fairly subjective. For instance, most of the human models are very anime-ish and look creepily young, but they are all of a far superior quality to most MMOs. You also don't get much choice in the way of physique; you're either perfectly formed (although the "perfect" human is a bit on the anorexic side) and well endowed, or horridly misshapen. For altoholics like myself, you are fairly restricted as you can only have five characters total and can only be on one world per account. This is where the micro-transactions come in. You can buy extra character slots for about USD$10 each. Many other services like world transfers and appearance changes carry similar costs, which is a disappointing step back from Rift, which offered unlimited characters across all servers (a maximum of six on each server), character transfers between servers were free and a few months ago they added a barbershop which allowed you to completely change your character's appearance using only in-game currency. That is the harsh trade-off of not having a monthly subscription, even though I was paying for Rift annually (I still actually have over 200 active days on my account). So you need to pick your five characters carefully, unless money is not an issue for you. In terms of character creation, there are no conflicts or benefits with the combinations of the five races and eight professions (their all too confusing word for class). What makes this game unique is that your main abilities are determined by your currently equipped weapon, not by spending points in a skill tree. You still spend points for utility skills and traits, but your five main abilities are weapon-based. Each weapon type starts with one main ability and the other four are unlocked in sequence as you get kills with it. Having fewer active abilities makes combat far more exciting and dynamic because you are actually focused on using the environment and evading attacks rather than just standing in one place and going through a standard rotation. You can even toggle any of the abilities to auto-attack, so you don't need to tire out your fingers spamming the keys. So anyway, this was not meant to be a review or anything, I just wanted to highlight some of the more interesting aspects of the game. Who else has been playing it?
