I’ve spent a lot of hours playing Guild Wars. It’s the first, and probably only, online game I’ve played I will ever play. This is because it’s free. No monthly fees. I don’t want to pay for a game every time I play it.
I love this game. There’s a lot of challenge and lots of skills and builds to fool around with. There’s 25 missions, each with a regular and a bonus goal. Over the weekend, I finally beat each and every mission and bonus. I now have a label next to my name that says “Protector of Tyria.”
And that’s it.
I’ve easily spent over 50, probably 70 hours playing this thing, and now that I’ve “beaten” it, I really feel a lack of satisfaction. The story really lacked much sense and didn’t make the world a better place in the end. I didn’t get an experience bonus or a new item for my accomplishment, either. There really isn’t much advantage to completing the task other than to say you’ve done it. I’ve tried talking to other people about the title who have one, too, but they don’t seem as frustrated by it as I do.
I thought about it for a while, and I see that it’s just a step along the pathway. There are many other tasks to accomplish, titles to gain and so forth. In a funny way, it reflects life. You still have to keep living after that one defing moment. I’d been trained for years on console rpg’s and other games that have a definitive end. However, since this game world continues to expand with new worlds and adventures, I see this as a chance to push myself further.
On other note, I noticed that Arena.net, the makers of Guild Wars, held a tournament at PAX this year. Somewhat disappointing was the fact that the tournament was 4×4, but taking time into consideration, it’s the only viable way. A sealed deck format was used, forcing players to choose from a select list of skills, most infrequently paired in a normal setting. Congrats to the winning team, UAX.
Also, the same weekend saw the Guild Wars Factions World Championship in Leipzeig, Germany. Congrats to the winning guild, War Machine. These guys win everything.
-mlbradley
durden26@comcast.net