#37-Guild Wars

#37 - GUILD WARS

This Podcast is about what has been occupying my time since the end of December 2005. I am sort of addicted to war games. I'm always playing one of them, Dungeon Siege, Diablo and so forth. You name it I've probably played it. I used to be a Dungeon Master in D&D, Dungeons and Dragons. That was a long time ago. Right now I am playing a game called Guild Wars which is a massive, on line, multi-player world. I've made friends in this game. I've joined a Guild. Although you can play solo, and I do, if you want to get ahead in the tougher parts of the game you need to join a Guild. The game is based in large part on co-operative game play with other real live human players.

I found the Guild I'm talking about through my sister on the west coast of Canada. Her niece had tired of the game and gave me her account. Thus, I have two accounts and around 19 different characters. All of them go through, well basically it's the same scenarios, the same sets of adventures. You and your party are alone in it except for game-generated characters and monsters. It is a challenge to the intellect, to reflexes, to character building (called Builds), to imagination and a degree of creativity due to the skills you put in your skill bar and how many points you've given to the last of characteristics like Strength, Tactics and Weapon strength. Who you're playing with, what your armor is and how many Runes you've applied to your armor to help protect you and give you advantages. It takes thought and experience to do this well. Players often share Builds with each other, so a body of common knowledge is built up.

One of the more interesting characters is the Necromancer who is always saying, “ Kill more! I need the bodies.” He resurrects them as zombie-like minions which fight away on your side until they sort of fade away like old soldiers.

You bring your character along through various rather hairy adventures of gradually increasing difficulty. You fight your way through all kinds of terrain, The scenery and graphics in the game are gorgeous. You go through the fire-blasted landscape of post-searing Ascalon, through the wintry Shiverpeaks fighting Ice Imps or through Kryta, a semi-forested area. Then, there's the jungle where there are poisonous spiders and Trolls and other hideousities. You might a very nasty group on NPCs (non player characters) called the White Mantle who are conspiring to do dreadful things to the Chosen, whom you have to protect.

Then, there's Prince Rurik who is royal but stupid. You're always protecting him because if he dies then you don't succeed at that Mission and each Mission gets you to a different part of the map and you work your way through until you reach the Crystal Desert where, oh my goodness, Hydras and sand lizards and all kinds of thing running about and nipping at your heels.

If your character is a Ranger you can have a pet and train it up. My current favourite pets are a dune lizard and a wolf. I generally keep the sound turned down fairly low because the wolf has a tendency to howl.

I have a Mesmer character and she mesmerizes. She casts her spell and mesmerizes you.

I have an Elementalist who plays with the Elements – earth, air, fire and water.

My Ranger shoots poisonous arrows and lays traps. My Warrior is just sort of hammer happy and hits everything. There you go. That's his job.

One of the most popular characters in the game is the Monk, the healing Monk. Oh my gosh, the party can't go out without having a Monk. Talk about a temperamental bunch of ne're-do-wells, the Monks are, occasionally, of that kind. I tend to play my Monk fairly straight. Her name is White Tara, named after the female incarnation of the Buddha. and I have another one called Blue Tara. She's a pretty decent Monk. She does the right thing by her fellow players, to the best of her ability.

This can be but often isn't a solitary game. It's played with other on line players. You can play with members of your Guild. The Guild I was in when this Podcast was created was run by a crazy Welshman called Jenkins with a slight fondness for the bottle. He has a wild Irish sidekick who liked Irish Cream and has no sense of humour. There are some lovely ladies from the southern United States and another one from California. There are players from Alaska, New Zealand, and then there's myself, from Canada.

We text chat within the game but a lot of it is done with a side program, called Teamspeak, where you can talk over the Internet and listen to what the other players are saying and the leader can give directions such as, “Hold back! Let those Mursaats pass!” and “We're all attacking and targeting the Mesmer Boss.” A 'Boss' is a high level monster from which you can sometimes attain by capture valuable Elite skills.

This military-style command structure from the leader, spoken and heard by the players, is actually quite useful, especially during difficult Missions. One of the better young lady players is an ex-Marine and her husband is a Marine too. We wondered why she was so good in a fire fight <smile>.

At the time I wrote this there was great excitement because a new installment of the game was coming out, called Factions. Once you've bought this game or one of it's different Chapters (Basic, Factions, Nightfall, and Eye of the North) then it is free to play on line.

In the game there is a thriving economy. Guild Wars and other on line war games is part of the support for young men in China who play to acquire gold and weapons and then sell the gold on eBay and weapons, gold and stuff elsewhere. In the past I've bought gold and I've bought a few weapons when my character needed that extra edge. I don't recommend doing this to sites that ask you for too much information. You could lose your account.

There's other ways to get fancy 'green' weapons. There's dreadful places where you can go and fight horrific monsters and, very likely, die but they do drop some very nice stuff, if you can live that long.
Occasionally, my Podcasting has suffered from the time spent in the game. It can become obsessive. Somehow the little triumphs in the game can make up for lack of same off line. The game becomes a habit that is hard to break.

Still, I owe a lot to the game. More for friends made on line than for the adventures which are nearly forgotten once completed. Now, excuse me, I've got to go and kill some Corsairs.