Guild Wars.
September 3, 2006 – 6:44 pmFor the record, I meant to talk about “inateness” in the last post.
I purchased Guild Wars this weekend, I had completed the trial (if you consider the trial expiring completion), and was impressed enough to buy it outright. It took a solid two weeks to find it for a decent price. It should be a good, casual game; as I don’t have to pay a monthly fee and can let it sit idle on my hard drive for a while.
The Game of the Year edition of Guild Wars includes a 14-day trial of Auto Assault — an MMO that revolves around ‘vehicular combat.’ Strange, yes, and apparently not very good. I mean, it may indeed be a very good, enjoyable game; it’s basically Twisted Metal online (how cool can that be?). However, nobody plays it, and NC-soft is desperate to market it. I heard somewhere that a retailer is now giving full copies away. Giving full copies of the game doesn’t mean you’ll get any subscribers, so the company may as well can the game. MMOs rely on two elements to success: content and player base. WoW has done a very good job with dynamics. New content is always being published, and the aggregate server population is near 1.5 million players. From what I hear, Auto Assault hits the mark on content, but has failed in developing a workable server population. Anyone who plays tennis on the weekend can tell you that tennis sucks if you don’t have friends to play with: the wall always wins.
With all of this being said, Mike, Dan and I intend to play the Auto Assault demos and report on them. See how good (or bad) it really is, and if it’s worthy to remain in print.
5 Responses to “Guild Wars.”
I just wanted to say that Blizzard has always been fantastic about releasing new content for their games. I don’t think there’s any other company that values the customer base of their games from years gone by quite as much as Blizzard. Take, for example, Diablo II. D2 received a patch with new content last year. Last year. Considering how long that game’s been out, I think it’s amazing the servers are still up and running.
I expect WoW to last for many years to come. The only way I can see it really being supplanted would be if they were to release a sequal.
By Michael on Sep 3, 2006
I agree, Mike. I remember hearing about the patch and I got really, really excited. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the time to start playing again, in fact, I had since deleted all savegames and characters.
Though there will certainly be a game that will beat out WoW in terms of players and revenue, it will keep a special place in the hearts of all gamers who played it. As a result, the realms will remain active.
People still get on Battle.net to play Warcraft 2, so I am sure people will continue to play World of Warcraft.
By Rob on Sep 5, 2006
Are you thus done with WoW? You’ll have to let me know how guild wars treats you — I’m curious.
By Sam on Sep 7, 2006
For the record:
I don’t want to send the message that I am done with WoW. WoW is still the MMO I will spend the most time with, but the trial of Guild Wars was enjoyable, and since Guild Warss free, I feel okay playing both.
For the Alliance!
By Rob on Sep 7, 2006
Good to hear that you’re not down with WoW — I’ve noticed you’ve been leveling pretty quick.
You should apply to join Red Circle(the guild I’m a member of — we’re a collection of casual raiders who have a good time while participating in end game content). Plus, we’re actively in search of Mages!
The website is http://redcircle.stormreaverclan.com/. Fill out an App as you get closer to 60 (I’m not sure how close you are) and list that you know me (Brorcamde).
Hope all is well!
By Sam on Sep 7, 2006