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Answer for: What things do you like most about Guild Wars?
#2 The storyline
I really love the storyline of Prophecies and Eye of the North. Factions is good as well, but I feel that Nightfall was a bit of a step backwards in the story.
Also, I like the tactic skills needed to play, compared to other MMO's I've tried out. can't complain about the Graphics either, really...
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Although I disagree that Nightfall was a step backward (I thought it was the best of all the plots yet), I have to agree that the storyline is one of my favorite parts of this game. When you play Guild Wars and experience the missions, cut-scenes, etc, you get a feeling that you're part of something grand, something meaningful in the world. With other MMO's I've played, the world feels empty...
I don't think the stories of any of the games were especially gripping, though I think they did improve with each successive installment. What was more important was that there was a story which could be progressed through and which led one to explore the world. It also helped mask NPC quests, always making them at least seem like more than fedex quests (even if that's what they often were). Also, I can barely remember ever skipping through a cut scene where my character was talking. This method of storytelling was particularly inclusive and grabbed one's attention even when the actual content was, well underwhelming (sometimes laughably so...* cough* Shiro Tagachi *cough*).
I share Shai's sentiments here. Halfway through prophecies, my fellow guildmates and I were confused by the plot, and kept forgetting what the "big picture" was. It kept my interest enough to pull me along, though. Nightfall was my favorite.
I think the story in GW was great, I could agree with the others and say it wasn't so great, but in comparison with MMOs (and I don't have alot of personal experience), it had great story immersion and personal impact.
I'm sure alot of MMOs are focusing on quest and plot driven progression and experience rewards, so it may not be so exclusive, but coming from the previous generation of games, it was a major advancement, Diablo 2 and FFXI didn't have a fraction of the story involvement.
I think prophecies was really the best game. Factions was ok but I did not like the huge split with the faction, I like to be able to beat everything in order. I personally cant stand the nightfall campaign and I hate whenever I need to do something in it for titles or items. Heroes are great, much better than most human players. Eye of the north added some challenging areas. Overall I still like prophecies the best, I feel the other campaigns were rushed and could have been a lot better.
I agree that prophecies was the most developed and stable of the chapters, though there were still failures to address classes like Mesmer and Elementist even then. Wile I would probably rate Factions last in all aspects, I think Nightfall and EotN had great story content, the major failure with the Factions and Nightfall wasn't the environment IMO, it was the new classes and the horrendous failure to merge their gameplay aspects with the existing gameplay.
As I understand lot of players started with Prophecies and they have made it favourable. I had the opportunity to start GW with Factions (I liked assassins) although i finished Factions I gone Elona and after Tyria. I found all campaigns lovely but really one place conquered my heart Elona. The best place for me.
The good thing is that in Guild Wars I found a game that i could sense my self in the MMo world feeling all the places my Home. Compared with other MMo's in which I felt outsider.
I honestly don't understand what people liked so much about Prophesies. It had the most mistakes of any of the games (exempt maybe Factions). It was the least developed and very "raw" in some areas. The destruction of Ascalon so early in the game has even been admitted by Anet staff as a major flaw in the layout (which they advised other game developers to avoid). Of course, all of this is because it was the first, so the formula was naturally unrefined and Anet was less experienced back then. I'll give it credit for forming with the basis for the whole series, but of all the games, this was the only one I never got addicted to. Even now I have to force myself to play it and I cant help but laugh as I do. Some of my friends refused to continue playing Prophesies or any of the later games, mostly because Ascalon after the searing and then the Shiverpeaks were just so barren, ugly, and boring. Of course the plot of Factions was just ridiculously bad (Shiro: "I gonna start a plague, raise an army, and kill the emperor so I can res myself and get killed again by a party of Eight random guys or just one Assassin!"). But the only reason I started playing again was in anticipation of Faction and that game did get me hook (the faster pace really helped).
I think all the story lines taken as a whole are quite poor and Factions stands out as the worst. However, despite that, I do enjoy the progression and particularly the cut scenes that move the game forward - The technology whereby they integrate your character into the cut scene graphics is brilliant (despite a few glitches) and the dialogue in each individual scene (taking out the Shiro stuff) can be quite convincing.
Mostly the plots, even in Factions, start well and create a great sense of atmosphere, the plague in Kanieng is quite sinister, for instance - its only later that all the games converge into jaded kill the big foozle in his firey abode plots.
Also, why does the endgame scenery always have to be so gloomy?