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A good time, but a little slow
This game was the first of the Guild Wars campaigns to be released, and it shows. There are some great things here -- a lot more content than I'd expected in a no-monthly-fee MMO -- but it's also plagued by annoyances that the later games in the series smoothed out.

First, the good: There's a lot of content here. The main story of the game is interesting and compelling (although it meanders at times), but there's a large portion of content that you won't see simply by following it -- towns and outposts off the beaten track, non-storyline quests, interesting things to see, and a couple of especially-difficult dungeons to explore once you've finished the storyline.

There are six playable character classes -- warrior, ranger, elementalist, necromancer, mesmer, and monk. Each character has a primary and a secondary class, and the secondary class can be changed at will once a certain point in the story is reached. All skills can be swapped freely in any town, and each class has a few dozen to choose from. Characters can be played in the other campaigns, if you have them.

Now, the bad: First, this game starts off slow. There's an extended tutorial, and while there are only 20 levels, you won't reach the top level for many hours. Early on, it's easy to advance beyond the point where the opposing monsters reward any experience. Of course, the difficulty is generally pretty low as well, although there are points where it increases sharply. (The Frost Gate mission can be pretty tough, if you're playing alone.)

Second, the NPC henchmen. While these NPCs allow you to effectively play the game solo, their level is set to a constant, depending on the area they're in. This means they might be a couple of levels behind you. In the Frost Gate mission, for instance, they're level 8, while the enemies you face will be levels 9-12. Coupled with their poor AI, this can mean they die often, making missions difficult to complete.

Finally, the start of the game features an extended tutorial. There are ways of hurrying it along a bit, but not of skipping it entirely. This makes it good for newer players, but experienced gamers might come to dread creating new characters.

The difficulty level does ramp up noticeably as the game continues, and the last couple of story missions (and the endgame dungeons) can be very challenging. But the early stages are slow enough that I now create all of my characters in one of the other two campaigns (Factions or Nightfall).

Still, the game's story is good enough to warrant playing through.

GW rocks!
This game sets the bar for all RPGs. It looks great, plays great, and has tons of good content werth perchasing.

Next best thing to WoW.
Like so many others out there, I'm not made of money and paying for an online game every month is just out of the question. I'd read about this game and its unheard of free online pay, so I'd been eyeing it for a few years. I finally bought it a couple weeks ago and wow. It's pretty darn good RPG.

There's a huge world to explore, quests to take on, big (and small) decisions to make, and you can always add more on to it with the sequels and expansions. Whether your thing is tossing spells left and right or bashing bad guys over the head, it's all catered to pretty well here. You're required to have two professions, so you can do both if you want to (personally, I prefer a ranger/spell caster combo, but that's just my own taste).

This is really supposed to be a group thing, joining up with other players to make your way through the world. Teambuilding, cooperative gameplay, etc., but -- and the reason it didn't get five stars from me -- you can get around that fairly easily. Run across a quest that takes more than one player? No problem, just hit the public area and ask and/or hire someone to help you complete it, then go your separate ways. It gets a little bit lonely that way. Then again, if you feel the need to connect, you can just hang out in an active zone and chat. Still, it might be better if having a group was required, and not something you could get around.

That aside, this is definitely worth the money and I really recommend it. Is WoW better? Probably. But if you don't have that kind of money, this is a more than decent substitute.

Older gamer loves this game!!
"GW" is my first foray into the world of online gaming.I was a little intimidated at first,what with the zillions of people running around all over the place,but I quickly found that other,more experienced players were more than happy to help a newbie such as I.
I soon became immersed in the huge GW lands and have been having such a good time with the characters I created.I am a Ranger/Elementalist in this game,and it is really fun to add skills,and win battles,complete quests,and a myriad of other stuff.I was invited to join a guild,which I did,and the people in the guild are helpful,funny,and obviously in love with this game as much as I am.
I am currently playing GW and Factions at the same time.Tonight I load Nightfall and have more fun!!!
This kind of game is perfect for someone who has been a fan of RPG's since Diablo.The advances these kinds of games have made are incredible.
Prepare to have your slippers knocked off!!

Guild Wars Rocks
This is a great game! Not only are there great graphics and amazing gameplay, the storyline is amazing and well thought out. This game should be played by everyone around the globe. Even if you don't like MMORPG's, you will after this game!