Guild Wars first campaign, later named Prophicies, placed players in the lush kingdom of Ascalon. There they ventured from town to town, fought monsters, and engaged in typical MMORPG fare. This time serves to familiarize players with the game mechanics and allows them to meet the main players in the RPG, but upon completing the main quest this training mode abruptly ends and gamers are thrown into the true universe of Guild Wars.
The Searing sees the Kingdom of Ascalon attacked by a ruthless enemy, the Charr. guild wars gold The lush countryside and green fields are replaced with a barren wasteland, and a true sense of foreboding for the towns and outposts the character previously felt secure in. From here players follow chapter after chapter that adds political intrigue, betrayal, exploration, and the manifestation of a true enemy to the Guild Wars lore.
This story is one of the things that fans gravitated towards when Guild Wars was released. While most games in the genre relied, and still do rely, on backstory and information garnered from reading quest dialogue, Guild Wars placed players in the heart of the story. When the Searing begins, you are on a quest with Prince Rurik. You frequently rub shoulders with main characters, and the world of Tyria is changed by what you do. This is due to one of the game mechanics that sets Guild Wars apart from many other games.
Outside of towns and outposts the entire world of Tyria is instanced. This means that you and your party are the only ones facing the monsters in your way. While this can lead to an isolated experience, it also means that you are never competing against other players for a random drop or specific mob to take down. You are also able to recruit henchmen in towns to take the place of party members if you aren't feeling terribly social on a particular day. If you had to compare this style of gameplay to another game, it seems closest to a MMORPG Diablo. All this led to a very single player friendly experience, but that was only half of what Guild Wars had to offer in terms of gameplay.
From the beginning, ArenaNet sought to provide a new type of Player vs Player experience. The PvP world is entirely separate from the PvE one. When you create a character you are given the choice to enter the PvP version, or the role playing version of Guild Wars. If you choose PvP you are automatically given a level 20 character, the max for the game. While you could outfit your character with preset classes and abilities, to have access to every last spell, you need to gain them in the PvE version of the game. There were a number of match types available, including 4 on 4 and 8 vs 8 combat. The PvP side of the game had that "just one more match" feeling to it that developers live for.
Prophecies came with six core professions: the Warrior, Necromancer, Monk, Elementalist, Ranger, and Mesmer. Each filled a specific role, but in an interesting twits, players could take on a secondary profession as well, with most of the skills and abilities included. With three different specialties in each profession, guild wars gold hundreds of combinations were possible.
Critics praised its accessibility and the lack of a subscription fee, and awarded Guild Wars with a number of awards including IGN's "Best RPG on PC" and Gamespy's "Best MMORPG" for 2005.
