Is it too late for me to start playing?

Ok...so I am highly contemplating installing Guild Wars and start playing, though it's been quite a few years since it release...is it still worth playing even though I have never played Guild Wars yet? I have plenty of MMO and MMORPG experience, I am just looking for a bit of a change from my other games.

I haven't got the expansions for Guild Wars yet, just want to see how I go on the Guild Wars Fractions that I bought.

So what do you guys say?

It's very different from most MMOs. It's a nice change of pace and a lot of other people recently bought the game and started playing, so you'll be in good company.

Expect to find a lot of the mission outposts a bit vacant, though. Get into a guild early. That will help you out a lot.

Dont waste your time. As the previous poster pointed out, outposts all over the world are totally vacant. The game is dead, or at the very least, on life support.

^^ agreed. Getting into a guild that has a lot of veteran players is very beneficial. Most veteran players love seeing new people play ad are usually eager to help them. Well that's how the guild I joined was after taking a 3 year break. But even random ppl in towns were usually more than willing to answer a lot of questions. Guild Wars Nightfall is a good expansion to have because of Heroes. They often times are better than hench.

Indeed.

Just hope you don't join an Elitist guild; they are the biggest bunch of pompous tards in the whole MMO community.

You haven't played many MMOs, have you?

absolutely it's quite fun and u have plenty of time before gw2 gets released ;-)

Yes, the game is still very much alive in its high-end areas. But if you want to do a lot of normal areas then you might want to get in a good, relaxed guild with a few veterans and buy the Nightfall or Eye of the North campaigns since they offer heroes.

The latest to be added to the game is the War in Kryta but you'll need the Prophecies campaign in order to join that.

Don't listen to those that say the game is dead. The game is far from dead.

New players join Guild Wars constantly every day. Outposts are not always empty like everyone claims. I've been able to find groups constantly for any mission I do, including starter areas. There is tons of players willing to help out when you need it. Just have to widdle through the horrid players to find the good ones.

A guild is a good place to start. Check the forums here and watch the ads ingame for guild that are willing to help you out. There is plenty of good ones out there.

Good luck and welcome!

Play the game, you will love it. There is plenty of time to complete all the campaigns and the expansions before Guild Wars 2 is released and even then, many people will still play GW because they like it. Visit our Guild Connections area and shop for a guild to join. The Campfire section has stickied basics threads in each of the sub forums to help you understand each profession.

There are many advantages to playing old established games.

They tend to play very well on older lower spec machines than the latest ones and there will be loads of information about the game online so if you get stuck its no big deal the answers are readily available.

Only disadvantages would be that pvp would be hard because of the player opposition which could prove very tough and experienced, so if you like a real challenge you in for a treat.

The pve part of the game can be a problem in places because many of the people you meet and want to form parties with are not following the missions but rather mapping areas farming or gaining titles.

That said if you can live with using computer controlled henchmen and heroes "available if you own nightfall" then you will do just fine.

GW2 is on the horizon but its still far away at the moment.

The game is alive, there are plenty good guilds around. You could even max 20-30 titles for GW2 in a short period of time if you stick to it.

It's never too late
I see the previous posters already gave you good hints, so I can only say have fun if you buy the game.

if you haven't played, i would say definitely worth it. you can easily get a few years out of this game. just make sure to start in nightfall so you have some strong computer heroes to help you out. as most people said, the campaign areas are dead, but they are still fun with heroes/henchmen. and there are 10000s of players online, just spread out over many areas.

It's definitely worth it, though I'd strongly recommend grabbing Nightfall so you can use some heroes. Henchmen, while improved over what they used to be, are very lacking in many areas.

It's definitely worth getting. Especially if you like games with actual strategy diversity to them as opposed to the illusion of diversity that most MMO's have.

yes it is still worth it, even if you are just a casual player--with no fees you can play as little as you wish, stop for a while and then pick up right where you left off! There are still lots of people playing the game, so welcome!

The bottom line is that Guild Wars is a great game. So if you've never tried it before, then yes it is definitely worth checking out. If I could enter as a new player I would jump at the chance.Granted, the population base is somewhat diminished and dispersed over the gaming world. However, as others have mentioned, you can make up for this by getting into an active guild or being content to play with heroes/henchmen (the game is soloable this way). Either way, you can get many many hours of enjoyment out of the game for very little cost. I would suggest getting Nightfall given that it opens up the use of heroes (customizable NPCs you can add to your party).

As prior advice stated, get in a good guild and have fun. You can beat the trilogy and Eotn in a couple of weeks to months if you get addicted like most of us did in the past.

This game is entirely worth the money even if some debbie downers are disappointed in its current state.

Just a word of caution over everyone's comments about Heros. They are only really useful once you have unlocked a shed load of skills otherwise there worse than Hench. You can only give hero's skills that you have unlocked on your account, so if you're just starting out you wont have any and therefore they will be pretty useless to you