Some areas are very solo unfriendly. I have no clue about other areas, I didn''t have enough time to get past the mountains. Once my necro/warrior got to level 10 soloing got a little easier. You do know that you can recruit bots to help you in outposts and towns right?

The agro on the monsters definetly needs to be fixed, running for minutes seems to have no affect at all. You must either accept death or hit the travel key and spawn to a town. I think the way you were camped by the monsters just seems unlucky, never happend to me.

I agree about the loot problem and no weapon crafters. I just found it odd that the weaponsmith doesn''t really smith any weapons. Just seems like a part of the game is missing right there.

In the town there are some NPCs you can hire, but they were only lvl 3.

I went to the academy at lvl 7 as a warrior/monk and was able to solo out in ascalon quite well. Remember, if you are a monk type and get jumped solo by 2 or 3 mobs, you aren''t really supposed to live through that, unless you are a higher lvl.

I did probaly about 75% of the missions available in the starting areas. When I decided to go to the academy, I was lvl 7. I had no trouble at all finding. Once again, I was a warrior/monk, so I could also do minor heals on myself.

I was able to get a Rinsword from the crafter, which was 5-8 I think. If you customize it, it adds +20% damage.

Also, It was mentioned on the guildwars boards that only 30% of the content was madeavailable for the beta weekend. So on release, I''m sure the crafters will have much mor ethings that you can have.

That''s true, and only one type of armor was available in the old city as well.

I think much more will be avaliable upon release.

Yeah, I think alot of people thought like you, because in the brief pvp part I totally crushed the other team. I think I killed them 6 times in the 2 min battle.

Actually the further you go into the story the higher level the henchmen are. I did about 3 main quest stories and the towns it got me into the henchmen were up to level 6.

I wish they would allow me to keep atleast one item from the beta weekend, I found a rare war hammer, it wasn''t even blue named, purple I think it was. Caused 11-14 base damage before customizing, and on my necro/warrior I''d get 20-30 damage from it. I''m gona miss that hammer.

Hah, nice hammer.

Yeah, depending on the area, the bots get higher in level. The real fun mid-late game is getting your buddies together, the later missions can be compared to raids- lots of team work required.

To be honest, it isn''t as much of a solo game, though I got to level 11 only using Henchmen for allies. After that, I needed the extra human power to get through. Post-release they plan to update the henchman selection and give some variety.

Pre-Ordered last year some time, I look forward to playing it. Lots of strategy involved.

I''ll probably get it, especially if more GWJ''ers get into it. I didn''t get much of a chance to play this last beta weekend, but I liked the changes (cosmetic) I saw.

I don''t think theyed make you buy a 2nd copy, you can use an alt.

Are those here thinking about buying the game looking a guilds to join, or is there some feeling that GWJ''s will have one? I learned last night that group formation for adventuring does not depend on the guild you join, which eliminates the concern about joining a different one than others in my Friday night group.

It''d be nice if we get enough GWJ''ers playing to form a guild, but I''m kinda doubtful that many are going to be playing GW. I guess we''ll see. I''m still not 100%, myself.

Keep in mind, in terms of playing with your friday night group, while still playing during the week. You''ll end up replaying the same missions that you''ve already passed so that you can actually play with your friends - that is, unless they actually play during the week and get as far as you. The game is pretty linear. You pass a quest that allows you access to the next quest and after you''ve done so many quests in one area, your allowed access to another area. The problem is, your friends cannot now join you because you''re several quests and areas ahead of them. So, you end up redoing missions with them. Missions you''ve probably already done more than once, just to complete. Some of the missions are fun to replay and some aren''t, imho.

Just keep that in mind. GW falls into the same trapping as other MMORPGs, unfortunately, in that you cannot play with friends who get too far ahead of you.

I''m gonna play it as soon as I get the cash to play the game.

<-----out of work at the moment

Just got a call with a job offer, so I''ll be playing soon after launch time after all!

Thanks Prop, I think your post got me that job!

Sephirah, you play every MMORPG.

I''ll be playing at launch. You can do normal quests and zones with anyone and/or with NPC henchmen (the healer is especially welcome), and even pickup PVP. Guild vs. Guild battles can only be fought with members of your own guild. I''d like to see GWJ have their own, but i''d be interested in joining oldergamers, too. (like I need another forum to keep track of )
in answering:
Skill Points are obtained by completing quests and every level. A skill point and some cash are used to buy new skills from trainers. specific skills can also be earned from npcs for completing certain quests. It will tell you in the quest descriptiong like Reward: 200 xp, Lava Font.
Level 20. The idea is that players will ramp up to the maximum level pretty quickly and then participate mostly in PVP with occasional missions to hunt eq and gain cash.
I really don''t know what gain playing a single profession has over a dual. I do not think choosing a secondary class provides any restrictions on the first. Each class has one ''attribute'' that is unique to it and you only get that attribute if you choose it as primary. For example, elementalists get Energy Storage as an attribute. if you are elem/monk, you get it. if you''re monk/elem you get the monk unique instead. otherwise, for all intents and purposes you are BOTH classes equally. there are certain builds that only choose a primary profession for their unique attribute and then use very few of their actual skills. Especially the elementalists energy storage. Say you want to be a necro with a huge amount of mana to burn. choose elem/necro and never use the elem skills. it makes for interesting builds.

I''ll be playing the game since the begining.

I don''t think the guild thing will be too much of a problem, we can all still get on TeamSpeak and party up together and do quests, guild isn''t that much of a bonus.

At least once. It''s part of my job description

That being said, i am only currently subscribed to one: WoW.

Thank The forces of the Great Cthullhu that there is no monthly fee for GuildWars...

-t

edited for clarity.