Guild Wars Nightfall (PC) (Gamespy)
- Gamespy -
Pros Cons
Hero system adds an interesting dimension; intriguing and entertaining new classes. Controlling your Heroes effectively in combat can be pretty difficult.
Though Guild Wars as a whole bears the remarkable honor of being a successful and compelling MMO that manages to fly in the face of some of the genre's most basic tenets, its third "expansion" takes things even further. While many MMO newbies are rightfully loathe to jump into an established game around the time a major expansion is launching, Guild Wars Nightfall is an ideal point of entry for new players. With Guild Wars, the term "expansion" is used loosely; like the previous two installments of the game, Nightfall essentially stands alone, providing a self-contained play experience for newcomers, and compelling new content for veterans. Specifically to the advantage of new players, Nightfall introduces a system that allows you to control powerful NPC companions, which makes almost every aspect of the game's PvE experience much more accessible.
If Alliance battles and territory control were Guild Wars Factions' game-changing features, then Nightfall's would have to be the Hero units. Soon after you're done with the training mission, you're given access to an NPC who, for all intents and purposes, is as powerful and configurable as your own character. As you progress through the game's lengthy mission structure, you start to meet and recruit more and more of these characters, leading to a pretty wide-ranging roster by the time you've decently progressed. Heroes come with fixed primary professions, but you can change their secondary ones at will, and they have access to any skills you've unlocked throughout your whole account. You can set their attributes and skills to suit whatever roles you desire them to play, and you equip them as you see fit.
You also have a good deal of control over their actions in combat, at least theoretically. Via a small interface on your minimap, you can order their movements, and through an expandable element under your party bar, you can issue them commands and access their skill bars. The problem with this, however, is that in most situations, you're probably going to be too busy issuing commands to your own character to really effectively control your heroes. This sort of interaction is probably more viable if you're playing a support class like a Paragon or a Ritualist, but unless you're an extremely effective micromanager, it's going to be pretty challenging to play field marshal if you're running a more input-intensive profession.
Ultimately, though, Heroes are a welcome addition to players who want to quest without hooking up with other players. They're a definite step up from regular henchmen in terms of power, which really helps when it comes to the more challenging quests. They'll even serve you well if you try to "solo" some of the first few missions, provided you're both lucky, and know what you're doing. Make no mistake, though -- you're going to have to deal with real live people if you want to progress through the game's 20 campaign missions. When it comes to situations where coordination and reaction are vital (which these challenging missions typically call for), nothing beats a real human. (In most cases, at least.)
By all accounts, Nightfall's new professions have been received a bit more favorably by the community than Factions'. The Dervish and the Paragon are both unique in the context of what's already there, and pretty powerful and desirable in their own right. The Dervish is a melee/spell-casting hybrid that specializes in area-of-effect attacks, and a well-played one is quite devastating. Many of the profession's most effective skills synergize with Enchantment buffs; in some cases, their effects increase in power the higher the number of Enchantments currently on the Dervish, while in others, an Enchantment is consumed to make the ability more effective. It's a profession that is quite satisfying to play, and very involving. Just don't try to do too much with your Heroes while behind the wheel of a Dervish, or you'll invariably come up short.
The Paragon is perhaps a bit less glamorous of a profession, but no less effective at its role. It's a support class through and through, though by means of its respectable ranged attacks, it can bring a decent level of pain directly to enemies. Its core role, similar to Blizzard's current Paladin archetype, is to maintain buffs on its allies, and the method by which these skills interact and complement each other is pretty intricate. Their "Chants" and "Echoes" have widely varying effects -- they can heal allies, increase their movement rate, and up their chance to score critical hits, among other things. They also have a modest number of skills based around the javelins they hurl at enemies.
The most legitimate criticism you can make against Nightfall is that it requires just a bit too much grinding from veteran players before they're allowed to experience the stuff they really want to see -- the campaign missions. In order to become eligible for some of the missions, you'll have to have advanced through a ranking system implemented into the game (think rep grind). The most effective way to do this is by acquiring bounties from guard NPCs in the game's explorable areas, and killing the sorts of creatures you've been assigned to hunt. This is fine for new players, who have to level anyway, but it's something of an annoying barrier for level-capped players who simply want to jump into the new content.
It's a relatively small criticism, but something annoying nonetheless. Nightfall hasn't changed much about the fundamental Guild Wars experience, but in all honesty, it probably doesn't need changing. This is one of the most streamlined, attractive, and accessible MMOs available, and there are many games out there charging a monthly fee for a decidedly inferior experience. The implementation of the Heroes may not be perfect, and their applications in PvP something of an afterthought, but their presence still adds a considerable amount of breadth to this already rich, rewarding game. If you're a new player, there is no better place to start than Nightfall. Veterans, meanwhile, probably don't need any encouragement.
Pros Cons
Hero system adds an interesting dimension; intriguing and entertaining new classes. Controlling your Heroes effectively in combat can be pretty difficult.
Though Guild Wars as a whole bears the remarkable honor of being a successful and compelling MMO that manages to fly in the face of some of the genre's most basic tenets, its third "expansion" takes things even further. While many MMO newbies are rightfully loathe to jump into an established game around the time a major expansion is launching, Guild Wars Nightfall is an ideal point of entry for new players. With Guild Wars, the term "expansion" is used loosely; like the previous two installments of the game, Nightfall essentially stands alone, providing a self-contained play experience for newcomers, and compelling new content for veterans. Specifically to the advantage of new players, Nightfall introduces a system that allows you to control powerful NPC companions, which makes almost every aspect of the game's PvE experience much more accessible.
If Alliance battles and territory control were Guild Wars Factions' game-changing features, then Nightfall's would have to be the Hero units. Soon after you're done with the training mission, you're given access to an NPC who, for all intents and purposes, is as powerful and configurable as your own character. As you progress through the game's lengthy mission structure, you start to meet and recruit more and more of these characters, leading to a pretty wide-ranging roster by the time you've decently progressed. Heroes come with fixed primary professions, but you can change their secondary ones at will, and they have access to any skills you've unlocked throughout your whole account. You can set their attributes and skills to suit whatever roles you desire them to play, and you equip them as you see fit.
You also have a good deal of control over their actions in combat, at least theoretically. Via a small interface on your minimap, you can order their movements, and through an expandable element under your party bar, you can issue them commands and access their skill bars. The problem with this, however, is that in most situations, you're probably going to be too busy issuing commands to your own character to really effectively control your heroes. This sort of interaction is probably more viable if you're playing a support class like a Paragon or a Ritualist, but unless you're an extremely effective micromanager, it's going to be pretty challenging to play field marshal if you're running a more input-intensive profession.
Ultimately, though, Heroes are a welcome addition to players who want to quest without hooking up with other players. They're a definite step up from regular henchmen in terms of power, which really helps when it comes to the more challenging quests. They'll even serve you well if you try to "solo" some of the first few missions, provided you're both lucky, and know what you're doing. Make no mistake, though -- you're going to have to deal with real live people if you want to progress through the game's 20 campaign missions. When it comes to situations where coordination and reaction are vital (which these challenging missions typically call for), nothing beats a real human. (In most cases, at least.)
By all accounts, Nightfall's new professions have been received a bit more favorably by the community than Factions'. The Dervish and the Paragon are both unique in the context of what's already there, and pretty powerful and desirable in their own right. The Dervish is a melee/spell-casting hybrid that specializes in area-of-effect attacks, and a well-played one is quite devastating. Many of the profession's most effective skills synergize with Enchantment buffs; in some cases, their effects increase in power the higher the number of Enchantments currently on the Dervish, while in others, an Enchantment is consumed to make the ability more effective. It's a profession that is quite satisfying to play, and very involving. Just don't try to do too much with your Heroes while behind the wheel of a Dervish, or you'll invariably come up short.
The Paragon is perhaps a bit less glamorous of a profession, but no less effective at its role. It's a support class through and through, though by means of its respectable ranged attacks, it can bring a decent level of pain directly to enemies. Its core role, similar to Blizzard's current Paladin archetype, is to maintain buffs on its allies, and the method by which these skills interact and complement each other is pretty intricate. Their "Chants" and "Echoes" have widely varying effects -- they can heal allies, increase their movement rate, and up their chance to score critical hits, among other things. They also have a modest number of skills based around the javelins they hurl at enemies.
The most legitimate criticism you can make against Nightfall is that it requires just a bit too much grinding from veteran players before they're allowed to experience the stuff they really want to see -- the campaign missions. In order to become eligible for some of the missions, you'll have to have advanced through a ranking system implemented into the game (think rep grind). The most effective way to do this is by acquiring bounties from guard NPCs in the game's explorable areas, and killing the sorts of creatures you've been assigned to hunt. This is fine for new players, who have to level anyway, but it's something of an annoying barrier for level-capped players who simply want to jump into the new content.
It's a relatively small criticism, but something annoying nonetheless. Nightfall hasn't changed much about the fundamental Guild Wars experience, but in all honesty, it probably doesn't need changing. This is one of the most streamlined, attractive, and accessible MMOs available, and there are many games out there charging a monthly fee for a decidedly inferior experience. The implementation of the Heroes may not be perfect, and their applications in PvP something of an afterthought, but their presence still adds a considerable amount of breadth to this already rich, rewarding game. If you're a new player, there is no better place to start than Nightfall. Veterans, meanwhile, probably don't need any encouragement.
No comments:
Post a Comment