WoW vs GW, is one better than the other?

When I went out to purchase my beloved copy of Rainbow Six: Vegas several weeks back, I saw the $1.99 two week trial for World of Warcraft. I've been a long time player of Guild Wars, starting just a few months after it first came out back in 2005, and have always heard about WoW and how many thought it was better than GW. I didn't know one way or another since GW was the first game like that I had ever played, but I did know that GW was a fantastic game that addicted me and tied me up exclusively in gaming for over a year. It wasn't until I got an Xbox and Halo/Halo2 that my focus on GW began to slip a little. Halo 2 lead me to purchase an Xbox live subscription.. That has changed my focus almost completely, putting GW on the back burner somewhat. I still play it every week, but it's not my main focus these days. I'm still a noob I guess when it comes to Xbox live, but online play is a different story.

Prior to GW, I still gamed but only single player stuff. I played a lot of Mario games, Donkey Kong games etc, mostly having Nintendo stuff. They had me ever since Super Mario came out. So you see, I'm not new to gaming, I've been playing since I first got an Atari when I was in middle school (I won't mention the year, lol). But I still don't have the knowledge about gaming you might expect from someone who has been playing as long as I have. Which brings me back to WoW. The GW vs. WoW controversy is a long standing one that I have only recently cared to look at. This information may be new to me, but to a lot of you it's old news. As I was in line at the checkout counter at Game Stop, I saw the trial offer and decided, what the heck. Maybe it really is that good. They say it will steal your soul, eat up your life and make you enjoy every moment of it. What could I loose?

I took the disk home but shelved it for a while because I had to figure out what R6:V was all about first. That game is great and I'm so glad I bought it. Finally I decided to load the Wow disk and give it a whirl. That would have been great except the disk was crap, couldn't be read and wasn't good for anything but a nicely painted coaster. It did come with a verification code though, so I was saved. I pulled up the WoW website, entered the code and was able to down load the game. This took hours on end to accomplish, and I'm on high speed cable. Okay then, WoW day two, take two. I'm finally able to make a character and begin to play. Initially I'm impressed and disappointed at the same time. I loved the different chars I could make. I love the look of the game, albeit GW does look better, I loved the free roaming ability and the Npc's. Dying and resurrection was kinda neat as well. The leveling though was a real pain in the butt. I could see what some critics meant by how much a pain it is. In GW, it's much easier to level up, and get the best armor. Also what I missed was storyline missions. On top of the quests that both games have, GW has storyline missions that give the game a focus. I also loved the idea that in WoW you could ride animals/machines including flying. That is awesome. The end game ability to make mass raids on opposing towns is very impressive as well.

In the end, I wasn't impressed enough to purchase a subscription to the game. Don't be upset with me all you WoW fans. I'm not knocking the game at all. I thought it was a lot of fun. However for me, it is a lonely game. Unless you are with your friends or clanmates, this game becomes boring and tedious. With them however, it's could be great fun. GW, though is just the same way. Playing WoW, I began to miss my guild from GW and my clans and friends at 2old2play. Then I realized that the WoW vs GW debate is just bunk. You want a good MORPG/MMORPG? Just pick either one, it does't matter. Just get in with one of the clans here and you will have a great time with either game. Or just skip it altogether and go for some of the other clans and games here. You see, the game you play isn't as important as the people you play with. Most all the games are at least decent enough, but the people you play with can make even a mediocre game into a great playing experience. I loved my Nintendo days but it was lacking people. It was lacking the online or live experience and because of that, those days could never be better than it is for me right now.

In conclusion, I just wasn't to thank everyone that put up with me and play with me every week. It's you people that make it all worth the while.

-Jim