Gameplay:
Gameplay in most MMORPG's has to do with similar tasks. You need to develop the power of your character by killing off inferior enemies and gain in skill, that's called "leveling up." You receive training through missions, and then you advance along in the story line by completing quests. Your time is consumed by not only wielding weapons and spells, but also by outfitting your characters with more advanced weapons and armor. At times you are asked to retrieve items, or rescue missing persons. This is all in a night's work in Nightfall.
One thing that I had always wished for in the two previous chapters of Guild Wars, was a way to customize and command the "henchies." In the towns instead of grouping with human players you can pick from a representative group of NPC's to play with like pawns in a chess game. There were often complaints about how these dummy characters were often a hinderance to gameplay rather than a help. They would "aggro" or aggravate enemies who you might wish to slip by unseen. Sometimes they would follow your character too closely into a blind spot and you'd find yourself stuck in a wall, hemmed in by your over zealous helpers.
Now when you are advancing through the game's storyline, you can recruit not only henchmen, but long-term allies commonly known as "heroes". This was a great idea. Heroes typically join your party as part of a quest or the rewards for a quest. What is different is that
a hero gains experience and levels, just as your own character does.
Your hero's actions are guided by you. You can improve a heroes' weapons, shield, and items. Each hero has a default set of skills, but you can change those skills while in a town or outpost. You can also adapt the hero's secondary profession. You can give your heroes orders and tell them where to go and who to attack or guard. The addition enriches that gameplay for soloing in the game. It gives a more satisfying and hands on feel to the formation of a "party" which is the group that you go on your adventures with. Now there are more options and choices.
The bulk of the Guild Wars games take place outside of the towns in what is called "instanced" play. That means instead of roaming the entire virtual world with millions of other players, you choose who you want to align with on a temporary or permanent basis. Then when you leave the towns and outposts, it is up to your party to survive and conquer what ever is in the environment that you are exploring together.
If you get killed your character can be revived by another member of your party with a small deduction for death damages. Or if all of your party perishes you will be returned to the nearest town or point of reincarnation.
How you do in the game depends on how well you use the skills that you have earned. There are hundreds of skills in this game. Once again you are only allowed to bring eight of these with you when you leave the safety of the town. Attack skills inflict damage with your profession's weapons. Your character needs to be proficient with weapons in order to use the skills such as an Axe Attack, Hammer Attack, Bow Attack, or Sword Attack.
Attacks can be more complicated as in the case of Assassins who use a complex skill set such as Lead Attacks, Off-Hand Attacks, and Dual Attacks. These require a dagger and form a combo chain of attacks. The new Dervish uses the Scythe Attack, so of course your character must be a Dervish equipped with the scythe to use one of these skills in Nightfall. The same goes for the Spear Attack of the Paragon who has to be equipped with a spear to use one of these skills too.
In addition to normal attacks, spells and curses there are another range of damage dealing effects in the game. Chants, Shouts, Echos, Transform, Glyphs, Traps and even Pet Attacks can be used to perform a focused, specialized attack. Rituals have been called "Summoning" in other games and a Ritual skill creates a Spirit, or a ghostly incarnation that has a magical effect on nearby allies or enemies.
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