Guild Wars PvP Preview

Warcry has published a preview of Guild Wars’ player vs. player element, after witnessing the game firsthand at EGN. A snippet:

Guild Wars branches out in a daring, new direction from other MMORPGs. It aims directly for the “casual player.” How? Well, it seems that the gameplay is designed so that each player can never gain a distinctive advantage over another–it doesn’t matter whether you play for 40 hours a week or four when it comes down to PvP. The whole play revolves around tactics. and the right tactics are what wins the game.

And how does one do this? Well, skillwise, of course, you can increase your skills and gain new ones (nothing too new here). However, when you choose to go into battle (which appears to be all mission-based–even PvP counts as a PvP mission), you only get to take eight skills with you. Here’s where we start getting into tactical planning. You will need to choose those skills you foresee as the most beneficial on a case-by-case basis. Missions, or quests if you prefer, are “instanced” so that once you start, only you and your party (or PvP enemy/ies) are in the environment–voila! no interruptions, no looting problems, no camping frustrations. In addition, when you are looking for a group, the hub centers (where players will congregate, such as a city) are set for specific missions. Therefore, when you arrive at a place, you know that everyone else there is there for the same reason as you.