Guild Wars - Teamspeak connection info on page 12

[Shino]

Guild Wars pulls in 9+ ratings from everyone so far...

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/guildwars/index.html

Look at the bottom of the screen to see ratings from other "critics."

[Cobalt Katze]

Congratulations Tom McNamara, you've written a review that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. At all.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/612/612079p1.html

In this post I shall quote some of the more obscure statements and set out to right the wrong.

Jumping right in is the conclusion of the first paragraph.

"...everything outside of those relatively small zones is an instanced experience, where you either fly solo, with your four-person party, or with game-controlled henchmen."

In here the reviewer admits that he didn't play past the very first area in the post-searing game. The majority of the game takes place in 6-person parties, where the late portion and all content to come afterwards takes place in 8-person parties.

"For the most part, the frustration level is very low because of these design decisions, even lower than it was many a time when I played World of Warcraft."

In the second paragraph, the writer reveals his biased flaw that will continue through the rest of the article. He cannot get over WoW. It will be in nearly every single statement he makes about the game, despite the fact that GW is very far removed from an MMOG let alone trying to compete with WoW.

"While Guild Wars is a beautiful game with an extensive single-player story, easy transportation, and more exciting combat than we're used to in RPGs, there are certain elements that suffer in comparison to WoW, its closest competitor."

Oh is it now?

"Inviting someone into your party who isn't close enough to be seen means manually typing their name in the chat window. Since all characters have a first and last name, this can be a little tedious, especially if you're racing to invite that person before someone else does."

Poor baby. Why exactly are you racing to get people in a group anyways?

"All players in Guild Wars can add an additional character class to their profile, but there will be points during the game where you have a lot more spells available for one class than you do for another, and it can also be difficult to properly divvy up your skill points among the types of magic available to you. Each class will have four unique magic types, but you'll only have enough points to be truly effective in two, maybe three areas."

This is what we call specialization. If everyone could do the same thing, what would be the point in having so many spells? The point is not to be able to do everything. You pick and choose from the available spells and skills and create a character that fits your needs. There is no specific "vision" for what one class will always do.

"Then there's the matter of having only 8 slots in which to put your chosen spells. Compared to, oh, World of Warcraft, this is a joke."

There's that referrence to WoW again.

"Considering that your character will have up to one hundred and fifty spells by the time he or she reaches Level 20 (the current cap), giving us only eight slots is either torture or genius--I haven't decided which."

Two innacuracies in this sentence. First off, level 20 will always be the cap. With everyone on an even playing field, it allows the developers to come up with PvE and PvP challenges that take that into account. Leveling is not the same as in an MMORPG, which is all about "the grind." Your trip to the level cap is about learning and shaping your character. Once at cap, the challenges begin. Strategy begins whether it's one group versus an enemy group, or versus a player group.

The second innacuracy is about the 8 slots in general. This is your hand of cards to play. Limiting the selection to 8 creates a managable set of things to work with.

"But I really would like a few more slots, regardless of the fact that the skill point system leads toward only two or three schools of magic being truly powerful. Even when I was only halfway to the cap, there was at least one spell I had to regretfully leave behind (as you can't swap out spells once you've left town)."

I'm sorry you couldn't get that one spell you wanted in there. Perhaps you should re-evaluate your build and eleminate something you're really not using much? Focus on one thing, you're not gonna be a jack of all trades all the time.

"Energy is always regenerating (barring specific spells that can be cast on you), but health doesn't regen until you've quit fighting. It comes back very fast, though, pretty much eliminating downtime, even more than WoW does."

Obligatory reference to WoW in this paragraph, in a way that didn't even need to be mentioned.

"It always seemed odd to me that Stormwind, the stronghold of Azeroth's human empire, would be surrounded by a forest full of vicious animals, homicidal outlaws, and spear-throwing fish men--all just kind of hanging out, wandering idly, and respawning conveniently so that everybody could get their share of loot and experience."

What is this horribly constructed sentence about WoW doing in a GW review?

"The monsters also stay dead when you kill them. You also don't have people spamming annoyances like "wut iz the name of the guy im supposed to talk 2. any1 kno?" in the chat window while you're trying to get into an immersive "Huzzah! I'm in Azeroth!" groove."

But... GW doesn't take place in Azeroth.

"The problem is that itemization is a little underwhelming. Monsters will never drop pieces of armor, only weapons or ingredients to make items."

Wrong. Enemies that wear armor will drop their armor. The thing is, it's their armor.. not yours. You sure as hell are not going to fit into it. However, you can deconstruct their armor into raw materials so you can craft a set of armor that will fit you back in town.

"You can differentiate yourself from other players by dyeing separate pieces of clothing, but there are only a few colors to choose from..."

Wrong. There are 9 base colors, and all of them can be combined up to 4 times, providing nearly the entire rainbow of color choice.

" World of Warcraft has awesome itemization, by comparison, with a huge amount and variety of stuff to wear and wield, and I wish I'd been able to see and experience some of this in GW."

Please stop talking about WoW. Anyways, I slightly agree with the armor statement from a sheer cosmetic value. However, one thing to keep in mind is that GW is not an MMORPG. Items do not make the character. They will help you be better, but not overwhelmingly so.

"But I should also talk about PvP, which is an entirely separate game."

Not really...

"You can have four characters per account, and you choose either the single-player game I've been describing, or PvP play, which puts you in a completely different environment with a character at the level cap."

If you played the game further, you'll find that the environment is exactly the same as the world you're playing it now... You just havn't explored to those regions in the "single-player" game. It's not even single-player, why are you referring to it that way?

-----

But then in the end he gives it a 9.0 and everyone's happy.

Keep on truckin', Tom.

[Shino]

Then there was my favorite quote...

"There really isn't a lot of room for strategy and tactics, for better or worse."

Dood! What are you talking about. The entire game is about strategy and tactics!

Moron!

[RiseOfZalman]

In true style of how GameFAQers would respond to such a post...

*Notices the review is from IGN, laughs and walks off*

[Shino]

[RiseOfZalman]

Someone pointed this out on the GameFAQs board and I just noticed.

Go look in the IGN site and the link to that review is gone, the page is still up that you can directly type in and go to, but any link to it on the main site or under the game itself on the site is gone.

[Ultrawolf]

didn't something like this happen to a different reviewer? They didn't play the game and it was so obvious that the review got pulled/reviewer got fired. Or something, It was for an MMO and the company pulled login records of the reviewer and showed that they really hadn't played very much at all.

[Shino]

Good stuff...

[quote="Gamespot]Guild Wars E3 2005 Update - New Content on the Way
We take a look at some of the additions planned for ArenaNet's highly innovative online role-playing game.

We had a chance to visit with Seattle-based ArenaNet at E3 2005 to take an advance look at some of the new features planned for the game. While the team is glad to have finally launched the game to resounding critical and commercial success, it is also hard at work on new additions, such as a universal spectator mode that will let you tune into just about any ongoing competitive match as it happens (rather than only having access to view matches in which you were participating in and died in). The team is also hard at work creating an all-new area for the game: a wintry mountain range home to an all-new set of polar monsters, as well as to a set of vast, cavernous mines. These new areas will be home to many more all-new monsters, quests, and loot that will also help advance Guild Wars' ongoing story. However, ArenaNet continues to operate on its original plan to enhance the game with ongoing retail "chapters"--new additions to the game that will add in just as much content as the original game. The second chapter has already been in production for months and is scheduled for release in the first half of 2006. Stay tuned to GameSpot for more updates.

By Andrew Park -- GameSpot
POSTED: 05/18/05 10:59 PM PST [/quote]

[Shino]

Thank Doot for pointing this one out to me. hehe

http://penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2005-05-20&res=l

[Ultrawolf]

lmao! That's awesome.