Guild Wars wrap up

I think I was more disappointed about not being able to play Guild Wars anymore than not being able to attend E3 2004 at all. The E3 Alpha test officially ended today at approximately 3 am EST, and with it the deletion of my Ranger/Warrior and Warrior/Monk characters. A lot of players I talked to agreed that this game shared more than one similarity to Diablo II - including the minimalist interface and addictive, straightforward gameplay.

I was only able to complete two quests during the Alpha test, as the game got difficult really fast despite the ability to enter combat with NPCs and fellow PCs alike. Being limited to a Level 15 character did not lend itself well to these situations, even though enough experience could earn you skill points which I'll come to later. A feature that was an absolute dream come true was the automatic treasure balancing. Once you uncover a hidden stash or a monster drops an item, the game will reserve items for players in your group randomly, clearly labelled if you press ALT. Gold will be divided evenly among the group members. If a player drops out or is killed, the items become up for grabs, but I'm not sure if this is what is intended. In any case, this treasure reserving system allows players to focus on clearing an area instead of worrying that they'll get stuck with nothing. Being a relative newcomer to MMORPGs, I'm not sure if this method of managing loot is used elsewhere - but it's brilliant.

I stated before that the engine is truly revolutionary in the way that it handles game objects and low-bandwidth situations by streaming as required. The game's monsters are incredibly detailed and smoothly animated, and the environments are incredible to behold. Viewing the North Wall for the first time (a setpiece in one of the quests) was completely jaw dropping. The camera is smooth and intuitive to use, allowing you to change angles or zoom in and out of the action as necessary. There's no camera tracking, though. The controls may be easy to pick up, but it's still annoying to occasonally be stuck in objects or terrain, or have to scroll wildly just to get a good view (which was often fatal during combat).

The Guilds feature had not been implimented in the game yet, but I imagine it will be something similar to the Blood Pledges of Lineage. The Class skill system is more or less complete, and provided a good look at what to expect from the game's character management system. Each Class's unique skills are obtained through using Skill Gems, something that can be used like a magic item (with limited charges), or you can use the Skill points that are earned with experience to permanently learn the abilities. But in order to do this, you must pay a trainer for your particular class in town. What I found amusing was the market that erupted for Skill Gem trade - as if it didn't occur to players that the Alpha would be ending after three days. Both Health and Mana regenerate fairly quickly, but your Skills take a few seconds to recharge after each use. The system could use some refinement, but I wouldn't be entirely disappointed if it remained untouched. There is really little roleplaying involved; instead, the focus is on combat and improving your character's equipment, reinforcing the Diablo II-like comparisons.

There will be no montly fee as with traditional MMORPGs. I'm not sure that the MMORPG monthly fee applies itself well enough to the game's content anyway. The persistent world may exist in Guild Wars, but it's fairly interchangable at this point, as the game is just about group-based quests and combat. Having everything online also eliminates cheaters and you're constantly getting new content and items to keep play interesting. I applaud ArenaNet for this basic, yet refreshing approach to RPG game communities. Where Guild Wars may run into problems is an exponential increase in user base as the game realizes its potential. Because of the one time fee, it may be difficult to maintain the game servers in response to user demand (much like Battle.net suffered during Diablo II's initial few months). ArenaNet seems to have a plan though, as they intend to sell downloadable "chapters" after the game's launch to provide large amounts of new content at once (presumably, entirely new areas to adventure in.)

Some interesting bugs I came across were mostly graphical: the lack of clipping allowed me to walk through solid obstacles like pillars and trees. The water and liquid effects look great, but there are no ripple effects when you walk through. Naturally, an Alpha will have these types of shortcomings - but this Alpha was suprisingly playable, even more than most games currently at retail. If ArenaNet needs eight months to fine tune things this will be an outstanding product upon release. After spending three evenings with this game and a bunch of suprisingly normal players, Guild Wars has my gaming dollar this November.

clouds move too fast