Flameseeker Chronicles: Five years of Guild Wars

As we get closer and closer to the fifth birthday of Guild Wars, ArenaNet continues to bring attention to the White Mantle/Shining Blade conflict. Guild Wars Beyond is the combined birthday celebration and foundation for Guild Wars 2, and if events so far are any indication it's only going to get bigger.

This week we're going to take a look back from the community side. I thought it would be nice to step away from the Obey/Dismantle campaign for a bit and talk about the past five years with this game we love. I rounded up some Guild Wars players that have been around since the beginning and are still active players to this day. Follow along after the jump to see what they had to say!Mike G, Mike O, TwistTye, Teina, Jair, and Amy have all been playing since the first few months of Guild Wars and are still very active players today. They took a break from their busy vanquishing and Zaishen mission schedules to chat a bit about five years of Guild Wars:

How did you first hear about Guild Wars?
Mike G.: Friends of mine were playing Guild Wars, and they asked me if I wanted to join them.

Twist Tye: My husband introduced me to Guild Wars, having been trying to convince me to play MechWarrior with him for years (unsuccessfully), but he had gotten me to try other, prettier games. GW was the first MMO I had played, the closest I had come being Neverwinter Nights servers, where I immediately was killed the first time I got brave enough to try one that sounded interesting. I gave that up quickly.

Amy: Some friends of my husband and I were playing with in Knight Online came to Guild Wars when they got bored with KO.

Teina: I first heard about GW from a City of Heroes friend, who was in GW beta.

Mike O.: A co-worker told me about the game. Until then, I only played simulator games but decided to try Guild Wars. I hated it as I was totally unprepared to go post at level three, but one of those guys near the academy gate told me I was ready to defend it. All I did was die as I couldn't figure out where to go once post. I deleted the character and bought the GW player handbook. That helped me.

Jair: I got it from a friend as a present.

What drew you to Guild Wars in the first place?

Mike G.: I liked the game, it was a totally different game then what I was used to play. The graphics were very good, and I always wanted to try MMOs but I did not want to pay to play. So Guild Wars had everything I wanted.

TwistTye: My husband and I enjoyed playing video games together, and we used to play Mortal Kombat every time we'd go to the bank. There was an arcade in the same mall and we loved to battle as Scorpion and Rayden – I could kick his butt but once in a while he'd get the special attack off with Scorpion. We bought it on console as soon as it was available. Then PCs came around and soon MechWarrior. I just wasn't interested but he played MW for eight years and as the new had worn off that, his gaming clan was intrigued by GW and so they all joined the beta. When most of them left to go back to their mechas, he convinced me to play as a birthday gift to him. Then and there we had a game we enjoyed playing together once more.

Amy: My husband left me to play KO alone, and I got tired (yet again) of playing a game by myself. So, I told him to go get me an account, and I'll try it out.

Teina: The fact that missions felt more interactive than City of Heroes. Also, I love the graphics of GW.

What was your favorite thing about the game way back when?
Mike: Difficult to take just one. It was free to play, you could team up with friends very easy, only one server!

TwistTye: I loved the thrill of chopping away at the enemies – "Cyclone Axe" is still one of my favorite skills on my first and main character, my warrior girl. My 2nd character, my necro, born just a month after my warrior, could easily raise more than two dozen minions – I really miss that. I didn't try the arenas till my 3rd character, my monk that I made in late 2005, I was already hooked on the game but then discovered a new thrill in Ascalon Arena and leveled up from 6 all the way to 10 just playing in the Arena and from then on out I had the blood lust for PvP.

Amy: Being new and learning a whole new game. I also started the day that the first Halloween went live. I thought it was pretty cool that a game would go to that length to celebrate real world events.

Teina: Pre-Searing graphics.

Mike O.: My favorite thing back then was that everything was new, everything was a surprise. Not knowing what a "Droks run" was so I got all my armors as I progressed.

Jair: I loved that I was a complete noob. There was so much to discover and to find out as I didn't know anything about the game. I had played more conventional MMOs before Guild Wars, but Guild Wars was nothing like those. I liked learning, so to speak. In fact, it wasn't until the Dragon's Lair mission that someone told me that you could cap elite skills from bosses (and that they were not boss-only skills). That's how nooby I was. And I loved it.

What has kept you playing all this time?
Mike G.: The people I have met playing this game.

TwistTye: The variety of things to do in PvE and PvP, the pure simplicity of the 8-skill bar that lets you focus more on the fight in front of you rather than umpteen skills at a time (I've tried a few other MMOs since having started playing GW and find the multiple skill bars annoying-too much micromanagement takes away the excitement of the fight right in front of your face), the tongue-in-cheek pop-culture references that the ArenaNet folks work in to the game in such wonderfully humorous ways (More Cowbell! blue oysters), the people we've met and become friends with, the holiday events-I am addicted to rollerbeetle races-and the first snowball fight in Dec 2005 was where my monk lvl'd to 11 and could no longer play in Ascalon Arena, and the Halloween events are absolutely my favorite for sheer gorgeousness of the decorations.

Amy: Mostly the friendships I have formed over the years. The various new content we get every so often doesn't hurt.

Teina: Free-to-play model. I don't feel like I'm wasting my money if I don't play for a few days, or if I only log in to chat with people. Joining my current guild and meeting new people also helped.

Mike O.: There is just something about the game that makes it so I have never grown tired of it. Only the pop-ups in Tyria irritate me, but otherwise, I can go through any area without thinking how boring it is since I've already been there. Each time is always as fun as the previous time.

Jair: My guild in the first place. If it wasn't for my guild I would've stopped playing 2 years ago. Things that also had me coming back to the game after periods of inactivity were the small but semi-consistent content and skill updates.

What are some of the biggest changes you've seen in the game over time?

TwistTye: The biggest changes I've seen myself were the implementation of heroes, that really changed the game dynamic and although it did make hard mode playable for me, I am not convinced that heroes were a good thing community-wise.
My husband remembers when you had to capture a skill while the boss was using it – you couldn't capture it after he was dead. That was a change for better – although it certainly would have been good training for interrupts I suppose, capturing a skill with a one second activation time or less would be a nightmare.

Amy: I was most interested in the titles coming to be. It gave me a sense of needing to complete more than just the last mission in every campaign.

Teina: I think the introduction of heroes has definitely changed the way I play. The ability to craft and experiment with a team build has added a new dimension of fun for me.

Mike O.: For me, the biggest change was the introduction of Heroes. Yes, it might have done away with the need to always PUG, but with three campaigns and EOTN, the player population is spread thin enough that I am sometimes the only player in a town. So to me, Heroes were good.

Thanks to all of you for your time!