Guild Wars E3 Preview

Computer Games Online has written up a preview of Guild Wars, based upon what they saw of ArenaNet’s MMORPG at this year’s E3. An excerpt:

During the test there were not three but six classes available, named professions: Ranger, Monk, Warrior, Necromancer, Mesmer and Elementalist (it seems Sorcerer will join also). Each player could choose a second profession, so we’re dealing with dual-class characters here. My character named Cae Indru was a Warrior/Ranger because I didn’t want to consume mana for the ranged attacks as I used it as a warrior to heal myself. Like in almost all MMORPGs, with any monster you kill and any mission you succeed, you get experience. As the leveling was blocked, the only way I could spend my experience points was by distributing them to skill points. You can invest them in the skill specific for your profession if you find a gem named after that skill (you can buy it from NPCs or receive it as a reward after a mission) or if you find a trainer which, for the right sum (5 gold) can teach you that skill.

This aspect is the main innovation Guild Wars adds to the genre. For each class/profession there are a few dozens skills available (they say hundreds in the final version), but your character we’ll be able to use maximum eight of them. Before beginning each mission, you can activate whatever skills you want based on the type of the mission, monsters or members from the party. This being said, inside a group with the same type of members (so the same classes), a small rearrangement of the skills may result in successful mission from an almost impossible to do one. Each skill is unique and there are no upgrades, so a 30th level character won’t be invincible when faced by a 20th level one (this means less time invested), but it will have a broader range of skill combinations at his disposal – this system has advantages and disadvantages, being suited for the occasional players who log in 2-4 hours a day or during the weekend.