Guild Wars Prophecies, the online RPG, was released in April 2005. At that time, the focus was primarily on PvP. 15 years later, the title still impresses with its PvE content and unique hero system. But is it still worth jumping in in 2020?
Guild Wars 1 is the first title from ArenaNet and is fundamentally based on MMORPGs. You create a character, level it up, collect gear, and take down tough bosses with other players or engage in PvP.
However, instead of an open game world, there are only cities (hubs) where you can meet other players. In the areas, you rely on yourself and your group. This group can consist of 4 to 16 players or NPCs, depending on the zone, who will support you in battle.
It is precisely this NPC system and the vast amount of content that still make the game interesting in 2020, even for newcomers.
Quickly reach max level, yet still plenty to do
What does Guild Wars 1 offer? The online RPG comes with three campaigns, each functioning independently. You only need to purchase one of them to get started. However, to explore all classes, stories, and areas, you need to acquire all chapters.
Each campaign has its own theme and content:
- Prophecies was the first part of the series and takes place in the zones you know from Guild Wars 2. The start can be a bit slow, and you must rely on pre-made NPCs if you want to fill your group. Moreover, you only have access to the 6 basic classes. However, the story here is the most interesting.
- Factions takes place on its own continent, inspired by the Asian world. In this campaign, you level up the fastest and can travel to the other continents the earliest. Besides the basic classes, you get exclusive access to the Assassin and Ritualist classes.
- Nightfall is set in a world influenced by Africa and is the newest campaign. Here you get heroes, i.e., NPCs that you can skill and equip independently. Additionally, you gain access to the Dervish and Paragon classes. This campaign is best suited for newcomers.
In addition to the 3 campaigns, there is the expansion Eye of the North. However, it requires one of the game versions and did not introduce new classes. Instead, the focus was heavily on the story and dungeons that can be long and challenging.
What are the special features? In Guild Wars 1, you have access to over 250 skills per class. Additionally, there is a system where each character has access to a second class. Since this can even be changed for a fee, you have over 2,500 skills to choose from for each character.
However, you can only bring 8 skills into an area. You select these, as well as the distribution of attributes and group composition, in the cities.
Additionally, the max level in the game is 20. This is typically reached after just a few hours of gameplay. Even the best gear can be farmed relatively quickly by veterans. In return, it is worth having multiple armor sets with different attributes.
What makes GW1 appealing? The unique system of Guild Wars 1 makes it particularly exciting to create your own builds and group compositions.
However, to do this, you have to unlock some skills or “harvest” elite skills from special bosses using a seal. This will keep you busy for a while.
The created builds are then used to face tough challenges. And there are plenty of them:
- Each area and mission in the game exists in normal and hard mode. This way, even starting zones can become challenges. However, to access hard mode, you must have completed the respective campaign once.
- In each campaign, there are also elite areas like the Gate of Torment or Urgoz’s Warren, where one of the toughest bosses resides, according to MeinMMO readers.
- In Eye of the North, there are 18 dungeons with multiple levels.
What about PvP? Many aspects of Guild Wars 1 are focused on PvP. You can directly create a PvP character that has reached max level and has access to all unlocked skills.
Additionally, there are plenty of content for PvP fans with automated tournaments in GvG and various modes such as Alliance Battles, Random Arena, and the Hero’s Ascension.
However, while PvE in 2020 is still well attended and can be experienced alone thanks to NPCs, PvP is now mainly for hardcore fans and members of larger guilds. Matches are rarely formed.
Where does Guild Wars 1 stand in 2020?
What about updates? Guild Wars 1 has not been actively expanded since the release of Guild Wars 2. However, bonus weeks and various festivals such as the anniversary, Chinese New Year, or Christmas still occur regularly.
Real new content has only been introduced once since 2013, namely for the 15th anniversary in April 2020. A skill and a few new weapon skins were introduced for each class (via Guildnews).
Otherwise, there are only irregular smaller “Quality of Life” improvements in graphic sliders or adjustments to inventory sizes.
Is it still worth starting anew? Guild Wars 1 offers a lot of content for little money with all 3 campaigns and the expansion (the Complete Collection costs in the official shop rund 40 Euro):
- With the story quests and missions alone, you can engage in over 100 hours of gameplay. This is followed by numerous side quests and smaller stories.
- There are many different ways to aesthetically and gameplay-wise enhance your characters.
- Some bosses and missions are quite tough and a lot of fun.
- The game provides you with its title system, a wealth of elaborate achievements, including exploring all maps to 100% or defeating all enemies on all maps in hard mode.
Additionally, a special feature is that you can convert earned achievements in Guild Wars 1 into skins and achievement points in the successor Guild Wars 2 through the Hall of Monuments.
Strengths and Weaknesses of Guild Wars 1
Potential: Solid even without new updates
Guild Wars 1 has been on my hard drive since 2006 and will likely remain there until the servers are shut down. After over 10,000 hours of gameplay, I still enjoy the online RPG, even though it has aged somewhat and has not been expanded for a long time.
Its unique skill and build system and lore still fascinate me today. Even though there has always been a relatively fixed meta at the end in high-end PvE and PvP, I enjoyed experimenting. The hard mode in each area requires some creativity, as some zones and creatures are still challenging.
If you are currently looking for a new online RPG and have not tried Guild Wars 1 yet, I can highly recommend the game, even though it is no longer being developed.
Alexander Leitsch
Editor and MMORPG expert at Mein-MMO
