More Bore

Another balancing decision that’s good for Guild Wars competition and bad for people who just want to pick up and mess around with it is the de-emphasis on equipment and items. In Diablo and Diablo II, and to a more limited extent in MMOs, you never know what the monster you’re attacking is going to drop. Whether it’s a Rusty Iron Sword from some low-level monster in EverQuest that’s worth a lot of money to a newbie, or the last item in a matching set of gear in Diablo II, there’s always the hope for and excitement when good loot drops.

In Guild Wars, there’s no such thing. There’s a crafting system, and apparently quite a vibrant crafting community, but when I hear those poor, desperate souls (no offense) getting so excited about Guild Wars crafting it’s all I can do not to steer them on to EverQuest 2 or World of WarCraft. Again – I’m sure there’s appeal, but I just don’t see the charm. The random loot drops are not all that interesting and the odds of finding a good weapon are slim – and even should you find it, it’s just not going to be that “+150% to hit” Strange Sword of Blood you bought from Wirt at only level 32!

Guild Wars simply can’t afford to deck out characters in a variety of equipment. Balance – for competition and to keep casual fans competitive with the catasses – must be maintained. The whole point behind Guild Wars is that you can build a level 20 PvP character and compete with someone who ranked up the normal way. He’ll have a few more skills and maybe some better items, but ArenaNet is going to keep him balanced so that you’ll have a chance. Ultimately, it will be your class combination and skill selection that will decide the match, not the fact that he plays 20 hours a day. He’ll still probably win, but it’s not like setting a level 60 Rogue up against a level 10 Hunter, or a level 99 Barbarian against a level 15 Paladin.


So there’s yet another incentive to click through the repetitive combinations of monsters that’s gone. Basically, all that’s left is the need to gain experience, some gold and the necessary items to upgrade armor every now and then. Sometimes a halfway decent weapon might drop, but Almighty Balance makes sure you can’t get too excited about it. Ultimately, of course, the player hopes to get to level 20 and gather all the skills through the story mode, but that’s assuming he likes PvP that much. Again: it’s just plain boring as far as I’m concerned.