"'Factions' introduces many new gameplay elements, but some of them just don't work"

Being a very serious player of the original, I couldn't wait for the Factions expansion/stand-alone game (yes, it is stand-alone and you don't need the original to play). The preview event of the game was very nice and got me even more excited. I had a feeling, though, that the introduction of numerous new gameplay elements would be like sensory overload, and at first it kind of was, and probably still is for many players. However, most of them work, but some of them unfortunately don't as of this moment (I say "as of this moment" because Anet could easily patch things up and fix the problems).

In my review for the original Guild Wars, now called the Prophecies campaign, I gave the game a 9, and I give the same score to Factions, though it really should be around an 8.5. The reasons why will be detailed below in a slightly different format from the previous review.

Story

Forget it- even though it claims to have a storyline, you can just pass it up. The cutscenes are more often terrible, the voice acting is absolutely horrendous, and the storyline is boring, uneventful, and is very uninspired. They could have had a decent character with Shiro, the traitor to the nation of Cantha, but he comes off as very undeveloped. Do not expect a big, groundbreaking story, because you won't find it here.

Gameplay

In this section I will discuss the actual gameplay, while I save the new Factions gameplay elements in the next section.

Anyway, one of the big selling points of this game is the introduction of two new classes: the assassin and the ritualist. I personally haven't played with either of these new classes much, but from what I've heard the assassin is not very well liked. Even from experience, I notice that they die more often than others, but it's very possible that people just don't know how to use them yet. I haven't played with many ritualists yet, but I plan to make it as a secondary class soon, and from what I've seen the spirits look pretty cool.

The good news is that Anet has balanced the game very well with these 2 new classes implemented. There is still much more to come in this department (sounds like the assassin could use some tweaking) but as of right now most everything works, there is a counter to everything, etc.

The other big selling point is the location of where the new game takes place- the continent of Cantha, which is not quite as big as Tyria from the original. Cantha is about 1/3 the size of the original, but the alliance/faction system hinders that size for some such as I who are in an alliance and can only access one side of the battle line. While it is a nice element for the Factions game, I hope that future expansions open up the whole world map to you and don't deal with one side versus the other. The Asian inspiration for the look of their world also works very well, and I personally enjoyed seeing the giant temples and statues littered across the world.

The graphics in this new world are just as beautiful as the original, sometimes better. There are 4 main areas as opposed to the original's 6/7 (depends on if you count the Shiverpeaks as one or two, northern and southern): the huge city of Kaineng (which reminds me of Coruscant from Star Wars), the Shing Jea island (which is similar to pre-searing and called "noob island" by some, and it is where you start the game for new Cantha characters), the Echovald Forest (the Kurzick territory) and the Jade Sea (the Luxon territory).

While there aren't many deserts, snowy mountains, lush jungles, or a group of fiery islands like on Tyria, the new areas are set in new types of terrain and they work very well. Still though, there is much on the world map that can't be accessed, so hopefully Anet will go back and add some areas in there for more gameplay.

New Gameplay Elements

The Guild Wars team added so many new elements to the game than were in the original: alliances, alliance battles, town control, challenge missions, elite missions, battle line on the world map, two factions, etc. While most of these work, some of them just don't come together right now.

While it has taken a turn for the worst since the Factions preview event, the alliance battles are still pretty fun and I play them pretty often. They are a 12 vs. 12 match between the two warring factions, Kurzicks and Luxons. As one side wins more and more battles, the battle line (seen on the world map as a big red/blue line that shifts back and forth every now and then) moves either into Luxon or Kurzick territory, depending on who is winning the majority of battles.

The problems I have with the actual battles are these: You can't effectively communicate with your entire 12 person team, and you can't see all of their health bars in the party window. In turn, this turns the battles into more of a 4 vs. 4 vs. 4 etc. instead of 12 vs. 12. They need more team communication for the entire group of 12 to make it feel more of an actual "alliance" battle.

Now here's the biggest problem of this entire system that I discovered recently: what is the point in moving the battle line one way or the other? The answer, which many players fail to realize, is that there isn't a point aside from two very small things. Listen in...

The more your side wins the alliance battles, the more the battle line on the world map moves into the opposing sides territory. This means that your alliance (a group of 10 guilds) can control more towns (which you do by having a high number of faction). The only town that can't be taken over is each side's capital, and here is where the problem lies: since the only thing that an alliance gets in a controlled town is a merchant with 20% off their items and a fireworks NPC, what is the point in moving the battle line?

Yeah, more of the alliances on your side get control of towns since the towns on your side of the battle line belong to your faction, but don't you wish there was a more direct consequence of your faction having more control of the world map? Right now there really isn't much, and the alliances that control the capital and other towns deep into your own territory usually don't care about the battle line since it won't affect them too much anyway. The only people that should truly care about the battle line moving is the alliances who don't have quite enough faction to own towns on your side yet, but will once you have access to more towns to control.

I know what I've said above is complicated, but it's true- the battle line doesn't matter quite as much as they make it out to be. I wish there was something like a special mission that your entire side could access if the battle line is moving in your favor. I only hope Anet realizes this hidden flaw and fixes it and gives more to the winning faction than just more towns to control (another problem I have with that system- town control changes every 3 hours, which I think should be increased to 24 hours to give people who own the capitals more of a chance to try the elite missions, since they can take about 3 hours to complete anyway).

The other elements work pretty well- the challenge missions are fun, and getting to see all of the top scores from an NPC in town only heightens the competition. The rivalry between the Kurzicks and Luxons is, as of right now, pretty well defined and you can often see people go into the opposing sides' capital, screaming about how they hate them, and in turn they receive some harsh words from that faction.

Conclusion

Many people say that if you want PvP, get Factions, but if you like PvE more, go for the original Prophecies. I somewhat agree with this statement, but as a main PvE player myself, I found plenty to do in the world of Cantha. I did some PvP with the alliance battles, but the challenge missions effectively combine the PvE and PvP aspects. While there is plenty of fixing and patching to do (I forgot to mention that the Jade Quarry/Fort Aspenwood missions are normally dead and I've never been able to play them due to lack of players), there is still alot for both new and veteran players alike. While a few of the new missions are difficult, most are pretty easy and can be done with henchmen.

If you liked the original, you'll most likely like Factions as well, as there is alot going on in the world, even though some of it is flawed. However, after seeing how Anet fixed alot of things in the original, I'm sure that the problems that I've talked about in this review will be looked at and twinked.

With that said, I hope to see you all in Cantha, and then later this year in Chapter 3, which is apparently called "Nightfall", sources say, and takes place in a North African/Middle Eastern setting. See you in the game!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/17/06, Updated 04/28/08

Game Release: Guild Wars Factions (US, 04/28/06)