Guild Wars: Factions

this is a stand alone game and does not require Guild Wars: Prophecies to be able to play. the story as far as i can tell is not linked to the first game. if you have Prophecies and Nightfall you can moves your charactors between the these games as Guild wars treats them as one big world. Though Factions added some new pvp combat styles it was a let down for the PVE type player. Many people feel this is a great point but for the people who brought the game because its an online RPG just felt a little left out of the loop.

Having bought Nightfall to start out with which is probably the best guild wars game yet, I still very much enjoy Factions. But I feel this one is more about the Guilds and less about the game play. As you need Factions to do various different guild related things. For example you have to have Factions in order to earn faction for your guild, the new introduced Assasin character proves well for his role, as with the right build you can withstand attacks and take out enemys pretty quickly allowing easy faction earning. Plus factions is the only place where you can pick your alliance for your guild - either luxon or kurzick. The levelling is quite quick, and you can achieve level 20 with about 2 days of play. But there is still lots to do that will keep you amused.
Factions is a MUST for guild fanatics, and is also a must for skills/elites. This is the only place where you can get animate flesh golem which is a very handy skill. Factions is a must for all Guild wars gamers alike. Although I would recommend prophecies or nightfall as your first GW game!

What i like about factions is that it progresses faster and you have new characters to choose from. It still has a great PVP mode which is fun. Would recommend this game to anyone.

I've now been playing this game for close to 2 years, since its release nearly. I've played nearly every night for a few hours, without fail. Graphically, this 2 year old game is still amazing. I still discovers things ingame that I hadn't noticed before and it blows your mind at how beautifull they look.

Playability and lifespan is 100%. There is always something new to complete, unlock or achieve. 100s of quests, lots of professions, plenty of armor types, lots of skills etc etc..

I have never had any major lag issues when playing (unlike competiting MMOs you can buy). The game uses an instance system, where locations outside of towns and cities are unique to you. This may not sound like a true MMO, but it works really well and you can let humans join you during these instances or take henches.

Missions are challenging and quests fun to complete. You also have titles to earn and max, to show how good a player you are.

The max level cap may be only 20, but it incourages people to aim more on skill then "how good you look"!

I can't fault this game, except for the typical immature players you can encounter in MMOs. But that is unavoidable, and guildwars offers the choice to do everything with AI characters.

You dont have to play with other people if you dont want to!!!!

Earning gold and buying weapons and armor is a doddle and you still feel great wearing and using them. There is also a highly active community for GuildWars which constantly asks for changes which Anet do impliment at times.

If you are looking to play an online game, then I would highly recommend this game and its other independant games and expansions.

Note:

Prophercies is a longer game and takes time and effort.
Factions is faster and easier if you want earn stuff faster.
Nightfall is almost a happy medium of the two.

I bought this game a while back. At First I enjoyed it but it felt rather rushed and hollow compared to the original guild wars. In this game you are treat to 2 new professions, the assassin and the ritualist. Both of these professions are good and well thought out, personally I felt that the ritualist was rather strange and cmplicated to get used to and that the assassin couldn't last long enough in a fight.

On this game there isn't very much to do besides quest and even then you reach max level (level 20) incredibly quick on Factions which once again makes the game feel hollow as you dont feel very proud of reaching that level.

The teamwork on Guild wars is a great factor, I have always loved the way teams can work together on this game however once again Monks are a requirement for EVERY mission and coincidentally monks are the hardest players to find because even though they have combat skills all players are pressured into makign a healing or protective build since no other party member can fulfil this role.

My biggest problem with guild wars on the whole is how resrictive each profession can be. My main point being use of melee weapons, only the warrior can use swords, axes and maces to good effect almost every other profession is forced to wield a magic staff (and lets face it we all like swords alot more) although there is the second profession system that allows you to be part warrior its no good with other professions because their armour is too weak for close combat.

in Conclusion I think this version of guild wars is a disappointment as it removes amny of the joys of playing MMO's. but if you feel like a fast paced MMO is for you then by all means buy the game.