May 06, 2005 - Patrick Wyatt, Mike O'Brien and Jeff Strain are names that many gamers won't instantly recognize. However, the same cannot be said of the hugely popular titles they can list among their combined credits; the three were core team members on Diablo, WarCraft II and StarCraft. As a result, when they announced the opening of their own studio, Triforge, and declared their goal to advance the state of the art of multiplayer Internet gaming, it definitely seized our complete attention. In the time since then, a lot has happened. Among the highlights, the company changed its name to ArenaNet and was acquired by publisher NCsoft. Late last month, it shipped its debut product, the eagerly anticipated Guild Wars, an online-only fantasy-themed action RPG with a feature set incorporating persistent characters, an instanced gameworld and streaming technology to deliver it to you.

A couple of these elements may remind you of massively multiplayer online role-playing games. Indeed, the game has been called a subscription-free MMORPG countless times. To set the record straight, it isn't, at least not in the conventional sense. The main similarity is that player characters are persistent. However, the gameplay is designed exclusively for small groups, with no raids or large-scale encounters of any kind. As well, the entire gameworld is instanced. Quest locales are spawned on demand for you and your party. Common areas like towns are repeated as necessary, each one lasting only as long as it's occupied. It is true that there is no monthly fee. Instead, the revenue model is based on the relatively frequent release of expansion packs, perhaps a couple of times a year. Of course, how well this will work is unknown.

Since the beta client was still on my PC, I did not do a fresh install. When I logged in for the first time, I was asked for my key code, and then the game quickly updated to the retail version. All my test characters were still there, but had been reverted to newbie status. The creation process has been changed a little. The first decision is whether you want a role-playing character or one for PvP only. If you opt for the former, you select one of the six professions. The Warrior and Ranger are melee and ranged specialists respectively. The Necromancer focuses on curses, raising undead minions and other dark magics. The Elementalist is an offensive caster, while the Monk is first and foremost a healer, and the Mesmer is skilled in de-buffs. Any character can adopt a second calling as well, but this is optional and take place in the game. After picking a gender and setting a few physical parameters - hair color and style, face, skin color and body scale - you enter a name and begin your adventure.

Role-playing Warrior	PvP Warrior
Role-playing Necromancer	PvP Necromancer

Creating a PvP character is a more advanced alternative. They start at the cap, which is level 20, but are limited to participating in the competitive aspects of the game, and can only be customized using the skills and equipment unlocked by the role-playing characters on your account. You can build a character from scratch or use any of 12 pre-defined templates. To give you a few examples, the Ice Blighter is an Elementalist with Necromancer as its secondary profession, the Paladin a Warrior / Monk, and the Shock Sniper a Ranger / Elementalist. You then have the opportunity to adjust your skill levels, to color your five pieces of armor, to select specific ones plus a weapon and two other items, all with various bonuses, plus the settings listed above. Again, naming is the last requirement before you can begin play.

Assuming you create a role-playing character, which you're likely to do at some point anyway, you arrive in part of the game that seems to have been added since the final the beta weekend event a few weeks ago. It's set before the Charr have invaded and devastated Ascalon, so the world is bright and cheerful. You can see the difference clearly in the screenshots accompanying this article; the last two are from the post-attack period. This section starts off like a tutorial, giving you opportunities to do such things as learn the basics of movement and combat, acquire your first skills, start or join a party, undertake quests, and take on a secondary profession. Unlike a tutorial however, there is an extensive amount of gameplay - plenty of optional tasks you can perform, a good number of zones to explore, etc.

Opening cinematic start	Hold the wall
Entering the world	Merchant area

It's quite feasible to stay in this segment until your character reaches at least level 7 or so, and perhaps longer. To put this in perspective, you should remember that Guild Wars employs a rather horizontal character development system in which the level cap is only 20. Also of note, there isn't much grinding required at all. I reached level 7 in under five hours of play, and could easily have done so sooner had I opted for more questing and less exploring. If the information I received from a team member last year is still current, which it seems to be, you should be able to reach the cap within about 20 hours. In any event, when you're ready to leave - you can't return once you do - you simply speak with an NPC that sends you into the next portion of the game.