I agree with the comment that this isn't allt hat great of a game.. I mean it looks great, graphics are fantastic for an mmo of its time, but the gameplay leaves a lot to be desired.

I would say the no monthly subscription helped, but I woudl say their marketing helped a LOT more :)

I think that it is just the marketing and hype they built up about it being an MMORPG with no monthly fee. The majority of people I know who have played it didn't like it.

A few of my brother's friends work at a game store. I think EB Games or Gamestop. They said on the first day they sold out of the 40 copies they had and the next day about half those people tried to return the game because they didn't like it and it wasn't what they expected. The store wouldn't accept returns on open PC games though so they were stuck with it. I'm sure their numbers are exaggerated some what but I also don't think that all million of those people who bought the game are still playing now.

definetly the no fee each month and yea the hype when the game was in beta i dont like the game THAT much but still i played it 350 hours already :P

Quote: Original post by mecha

IMHO, the casual market is not as solid as the hardcore market, and that's why we don't see a lot of commercial games that appeal to this market. It's nearly impossible to tell how many casual gamers will buy a product. With a game for hardcore gamers, on the other hand, developers can make a fairly accurate estimate of sales.

You're right that we don't see many of these games, but when they work, boy do they work. Just look at the success of The Sims. I think that has paved the way for others and that we will be seeing a few more on the back of it. Lionhead, a traditionally hardcode developer, have proved that with The Movies. Consoles have of course been doing it for a while with Dance Mat games and the like.

As for Guild Wars, I think it appeals to those who like the idea of a MMORPG, but can't bring themselves to commit to a monthly fee. It's a safe option in that if you don't like it you can walk away without having paid more than the price of a single game. Will it work in the long term? I'm not so sure: I don't understand how they will fund the servers in a few years when the game stops bringing them revenue. Expansion packs are the obvious answer, maybe selling in-game advertising if it's successful.

Or simply releasing the server source; let users start their own servers and reap the increased sales due to renewed interest.

And I loved the game. No monthly fees is great. Being able to buy it online, that's what actually got me to try it. After that, being able to enjoy the game without dealing with the 'I just hit puberty!' group really made it leaps and bounds beyond any MMORPG, and the gameplay was good enough to be entertaining for solo/small co-op play.

Simple. For people like me, who don't have 200 gaming hours per month but wanted to taste the world of MMORPGs, Guild Wars is a great choice. No monthly fee, and it comes from the right people. I enjoyed the game very much for the first couple of months, nowadays I'm playing it every once in a while and discover new things about the genre.

GuildWars is hardly an MMO, but that's really one of its strengths. The lack of travel times, get-in/get-out gameplay, plot evolution and organized+accessible+fair(mostly) PvP competition is what sets it APART from MMO's. What you miss out on are some of the more fun time-sinks that come with a true MMO; a real crafting system, loot exclusivity, mounts, raid encounters, and sporadic massive PvP fests.

But a lot of people don't miss any of those things, and it's hard to blame them. Most of those aspects require huge amounts of time, even if it is enjoyable. They are replaced by a gameplay experience that is fluid and fast-paced, much like Diablo.

And I still feel that GuildWars PvP beats the pants of ANYTHING out there. Jump in for a few matches, learn, jump out. WoW PvP be damned, try taking on a rogue as a Holy specc'd priest. Skill has little to do with it. Of course, if you have the time available to roll with a guild 24/7 and are decked out with ub3r l3wtz, that's a different story...

It really is about how you like to spend your time, and how much of it you have. I wish I still had enough to play either, personally =(

jujumbura