What You Need to Know About Guild Wars for the PC

Guild Wars is a game that doesn't get the spotlight as much as World of Warcraft or Everquest 2. But, it is one of the better MMORPGs out there (as well as cheaper, all in all). It has wonderful gameplay, good graphics, and several good concepts that other MMORPGs haven't thought of. It is somewhat noteworthy in that there is no monthly fee. You pay retail price to get the game, and then you never pay again. The question is, is it worth the retail price?

Guild Wars has some of the best graphics in the MMORPG genre, surpassing Everquest 2 and World of Warcraft in its realistic, beautiful lands. The lands of Tyria are filled with lush forests and jungles, desolate wastelands, frigid mountains, and picturesque towns. It is populated with a wide variety of creatures, some of them familiar, some of them brand new. An epic story takes place as you try to save Tyria from the Charr, a flame worshiping, dog-like people.

In Guild Wars, you do not just pick a class, as you do in other MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft or Vanguard. Instead, you pick a class, and after a few levels, you pick another class to compliment it. Every class has a special skill that you can only have if you pick the class as your main class, or primary class. If you pick that class for your complimentary class, or "secondary class", you will have access to all of that class's abilities except the special, primary-only skill. This provides quite a bit of variety when it comes to creating your dream character. Not only that, but every class is designed so that it can solo effectively, and group effectively, so no matter what you pick, you will be able to kill monsters.

The classes are what you would expect from a fantasy RPG. There is the Warrior, which is, quite obviously, the damage dealing, armor-covered, tank. He has the ability to use most of the weapons of the game, and his armor tends to be better at taking damage than the other classes. There is the Ranger, the master of the bow, with a wide variety of different abilities using his arrows. He is also the master of the forest and its creatures, and is able to have a pet. Then there is the Elementalist, a mage class who is able to harness the elements to do his bidding, and destroy his enemies.

After that is the Monk, a capable healer with the ability to give defensive prayers to people. There is the Necromancer, who has the ability to control the undead, and raise them to fight for him. He has the ability to curse his enemies, wasting them away before they can get near him. And last, is the Mesmer, with the ability to mesmerize his opponents, trick them with visions, manipulate enemies against each other, or destroy their minds.

Guild Wars claims to have eliminated kill stealing and spawn camping, by making it so that whenever you go outside a city, a separate instance of that zone is created for you and your group. This is similar to the instances in World of Warcraft, but in Guild Wars, every non-city zone is an instance.

Although this does eliminate kill stealing and spawn camping for the most part, it does make grouping a bit harder, as you have to prepare inside a city first. Fortunately, Guild Wars solves this by giving you henchmen. Henchmen are computer controlled adventurers that you can bring into your group, to replace those empty spots you wanted to fill. They are not as smart as real players, and can be cumbersome, but they do provide that extra edge to get past the harder parts of the game.

Guild Wars is fun, good looking, different, and definitely worth the retail fee to play. With a huge variety of classes and combinations, a fun plot, and lots of interesting places to go and monsters to fight, Guild Wars is one of those games you definitely want to play. It is one of the top MMORPGs out there, and it deserves the spot.