Guild Wars Nightfall

Games
1

Is amazing. I’ve been playing quite a lot (probably waaaay too much, as I’ve not eaten yet today).

The new classes are a major source of enjoyment. They take the game in an entirely new direction. There was a skill rebalance just prior, which probably destroyed most of the old hoh fame farming builds, and also seriously changed the pve scene (spirit bond farmers are no more).

Even crazier is the in game stuff they added. A whole new style of salvaging that has me actually using and upgrading weapons, rather than simply crafting a max one and moving on. You can now choose what you salvage from a weapon, and may even have the weapon stick around. They also changed how armor works, in that you salvage and apply what were once inherent mods that came with the armor. Very cool.

They also changed pvp character creation to reflect what a lot of users have demanded (ability to change secondary and armor/weaps without reloading). The only bad thing here is that we lost the pre-builds, which means that newbie players will lack any guide as to what a good build is. Which is MOST DEFINITELY le suck.

Also, they changed how builds are created. You can now save them and then transfer them out of the game with a single line of text.

This is my favorite monk build (bl), saved in the template format: ATRxIb4Dh706KJ1jJSYcmkBJCA

Finally, the story is actually fairly good. I haven’t had a “groaaan, what a shitty line” moment, unlike Factions, where I was in serious pain whenever Togo spoke, or Prophecies, where Rurik was an annoying goon whose destruction I begged for. I’ve even watched all the cinematics, which, as my guild can tell you, is unprecedented.

If you have not previously tried Guild Wars, this would be the expansion to go for it on. If you have the original, buy this mofo. It is most excellent.

2

I don’t know, man.

Guild Wars pretty much peaked for me when I heard this:

http://guildwarz.ytmnd.com/

After that, it was all downhill. I had to just hang it up.

3

Yeah, this is definitely the best Guild Wars yet.

I’ve got a paragon to level 14 and counting, and enjoying it a lot so far.

4

How would you rank is vs Factions content wise? Better single players experience then Prophesies or factions? New armour and 2weapons also for the old classes? Content for players with characters that have leveled up to 20 already?

Concerning gameplay, what do those new classes add beyond what the old classes can already do? Also can the old classes still compete?

5

So the way this game works is you can buy any of the packages and play it as its own game? I don’t need the original Guild Wars before getting Nightfall, etc.?

I’d like to try it once the Holiday season settles down.

6

All my major gripes with the game are still there. My earlier comments are still valid.

I still have put just very few hours into it but they removed/changed two things I liked. One is the dyes. The new ones are much darker and don’t seem to light well, so things look worse, imho. And they also removed the “dressing up” during character creation, that I loved and that they removed for no reason.

The in-game cinematics are still awful and rather unpolished. There are still random characters getting in the way, and the voice acting is terrible.

It feels a lot more of the same, with the same stuff that I found annoying till the very beginning. The biggest change I noticed is that beside the labyrinthine areas there are now “explorable” areas that are less directed and where you can roam more freely, but the content in there seems just laid around without much sense.

7

Yeah, each of the three packages is standalone and contains the six base classes + the two new ones.

8

I’m most of the way through the game now (been playing it fairly hardcore with Soldats) with my lvl20 dervish.

HRose, most of your earlier comments are “I love this game”. I agree with you that the lack of formation hurts, but the greatly improved hench controls is amazing. Not to mention the major updates.

The cinematics are not that great, and the writers are no Clemens. However, the writing in this game is definitely above and beyond what I normally get from either GW games or normal games. I’ve since had two really groan cinematics, but they weren’t game killingly awful.

I’m not sure what dressing up part was removed from the game. They added in a whole new way of dealing with armor that I am personally very happy with. I can finally make my 15k Hydromancer armor not completely shitawful by buying some good mods and putting them onto it.

*** SEMI SPOILERS BE HERE ***

You have yet to make it two several really awesome features: hero armor can be changed and you get a customizeable wurm to ride in certain areas. I’m in a zone with five other people, and I just got these features, so hold off on judgement til you have beaten a bit more.

In addition, this game has several “social” quests. There is a trial which (contrary to the beliefs of most people) you can win, and there is also a major festival event where you shoomze, get drunk, compete with a mime, and dance with little kids. Absolutely awesome. There are also some hilarious cinematics, which, again, you have not seen yet. Its a fairly long game, and it seems harsh to judge it on what is, essentially, the newbie training area.

9

Nightfall is the first guild wars installment (I bought all of them) that I’ve really found attractive. I still kinda dislike the MMO feel, lack of loot, and skill system, but the worldbuilding and quests pulled me in. And of course the engine and graphics held up great. It’ll do for another 2 days until NWN2 comes out, anyway.

10

So far, Nightfall seems to be the best single-player experience of the series by a wide margin, if only because of the new ‘hero’ system for persistant henchment.

These new henchmen level up, you can select their skills and equipment, you can spend their attributes, and you can even force usage of any skill at any time. Or, you can just treat them like the old henchmen and let them do their thing – all you really need to do is spend their attribute points for them. It’s way sexy.

So far the missions seem on par quality-wise to Factions, perhaps a bit better. Factions made it pretty easy to hit 20… so far I think Nightfall feels pretty similar, though it might take a smidge longer. It’s still very fast, and far easier than Prophecies to hit 20.

They also added a rank system for the primary faction, the sunspears. It’s pretty rewarding getting points and promotions for completing quests and selected enemies. As you progress in rank, at least one spell actually goes up in power (a variation of rez signet.)

It should be noted that the Assassin and Ritualist from Factions are not included in Nightfall, though if you own Factions you will get a few new skills for those classes.

I think they’re doing a good job with ongoing class support, and I think all classes, including old ones, remain viable and balanced. The Paragon, at least, doesn’t seem uber by any measure. Although I felt like it’d been presented as an all-buffing class, it actually has a pretty heavy emphasis on spear attacks (which are ranged), and builds adrenaline just like Warriors.

I haven’t played the Dervish much yet, so I can’t really comment about it.

Also, as mentioned earlier in this thread, there have been some pretty massive UI/feature upgrades whether you have Nightfall or not. It’s definitely worth breaking out any version you have have to check out how things have changed, and I do recommend trying some PVP-only stuff if you haven’t had a chance to play with that yet. You earn points by playing pvp (doubled as of Nightfall’s release, btw) which you can spend on unlocking any skill or eq upgrade in the game for use in pvp. So pvp is a total self-contained game that stands on its own, even if you ignore pve.

11

PVP really is a self-contained game. You can buy the installments without the PvE components for $10 less apeice. Seems like a waste to me, but I suppose some of the hardcore (aka koreans) will buy extra accounts just for the cheaper character slots.

Anyway, by far the best PvE guildwars. It’s the only installment I actually played past the first couple of hours.

12

Nightfall has certainly changed and improved the entire GW series. The Hero changes are especially welcome. Being able to set each character’s aggressiveness is absolutely a bonus.

Having played the Dervish in both the preview and now the retail version, let me say that it may or may not appeal to you depending on your playing style. The Dervish is a straight out damage machine while the Paragon is a support character. That doesn’t mean that the Paragon cannot do decent damage, it just doesn’t have the shear balls that the Dervish does.

The PVE content is fun and the atmosphere in the “Bog” on the starter island is simply creepy. The ability to acquire more XP and “Promotion Points” from hunts is a pretty cool addition.

We (my Guild) tested some PVP builds out and Nightfall has made a huge impact. I was screwing with a Dervish\Monk that was tearing through players left and right. A Dervish\Necro could also be a pretty good build too but I haven’t tried it yet.

All in all, I think the original was slower paced and harder in general than either of the newer releases but each one is stand-alone and has good content. Having all three tied to the same account is a blast.

13

I’ve been playing with Nightfall a little bit and have a level 5 Dervish and a level 5 Paragon. Now it’s time to consider a secondary profession for each of these. Any recommendations? At this point, I’m mostly thinking about PvE.

14

The Dervish is good as Monk for the secondary in the early game. Later on, when you’re heros can keep you alive, you can change it.

15

D/Mo is particularly good with contemplation of purity. The synergy with multiple enchantments and mysticism is sweet. Turns it into a massive heal, removes all conditions, and gives back energy all at once. I’m pretty sure the icon is the baby’s head from nirvana’s nevermind.

16

I’d like to second D/Mos with Contemplation of Purity, and give a shoutout to my favorite out-of-game tool (which some of the Developers use too, amusingly enough), http://www.gwfreaks.com .

Have fun with it.

17

Paragon/Warrior is working out pretty well for me. Gives you even more shouts to play around with.

18

There has been 3 expansions for GW in 2 years?

19

There’s the base game (Prophecies), and two expansions (Factions and Nightfall), although the term ‘expansion’ is misleading because, in fact, they are all stand-alone and can be play with or without any of the others.

ArenaNet has said they’re going to be releasing a new ‘expansion’ every 6 months. This makes sense – since there’s no monthly fees, ArenaNet/NCSoft can make their money from active (and new) players buying the expansions.

If you do choose to buy each new expansion as it’s released (roughly $50 every 6 months), that averages about $8.50 per month to always have the latest and greatest. Compare that to other MMO’s which have up-front client fees plus the usual $15/month subscription fee.

20

I chose elementalist as my secondary for my Paragon, because I mostly use adrenaline skills and usually have tons of mana to burn.

But when it came down to it, none of the Elementalist skills I have access to now carry their weight compared to just using another Spear Mastery or Leadership Paragon skill.

So for now, I’m happy as a clam using only Paragon skills. I just wish there was some sort of bonus for being a dedicated single class…

And while I don’t know how it compares to a Dervish, my Paragon (with focus on Spear mastery) does pretty signifant damage without having to worry about adjacency or other annoying issues.