Wish I could visit Guild Wars before it became Graveyard Wars. Often I hear these praises thrown at MMOs along the lines of not having to deal with randoms stealing your mobs or loot, pk-ing or griefing you out in the world; more lonely experiences that allegedly combine the best of single and multiplayer titles. And here I sit, twiddling my thumbs, longing for that asshole side of the genre, considering resubbing to Blizzard's giant but then remembering I'm not completely lobotomized. There could be hundreds, thousands of people playing Guild Wars at any given time, but you wouldn't know since they're locked in their own worlds, these sprawling instances, possibly having the time of their lives. My experience for the most part was akin to playing a Diablo game, except for occasionally being reminded of it being online and of my grubby east European roots by my character timeshifting, afflicted by the higher ping hex. But the game's damn fine and I can certainly see the praises, for the time especially. Classes are fun as fuck and experimenting seemed fun; creators genuinely nailed some of the fantasies like the necromancer being great at raising dead servants as well as peeling others' skins, making one wonder how this practice is approved of in the world of Tyria. Considering that you are able to recruit companions on top of having these summoned skellies, I didn't so much have a party as much as a fucking army. But combat is sadly all you can do in this, no profession leveling, nada.

To say that Guild Wars was a completely asocial affair would be a lie though. I couldn't experience its namesake and I'm not sure you can anymore, but the arenas were also empty 24/7, meaning I never got to see the lauded PvP side (maybe at max level?). It was still a pleasant surprise that people would whisper me in hub zones to do missions together. Coop makes it so much more fun and the community is genuinely friendly. Back in the tutorial zone I actually forced myself to look for players to help me clear high level mobs at the gates, something that isn't associated with any quests or necessary in any way. To my shock, a person in guild chat responded straight away that they'll be bringing their alt to help in a few minutes. The pre-searing area of GW is one of the comfiest zones ever and some players even have alts that simply never leave it, never advancing the story that ravages this peaceful land akin to WoW's Cataclysm that came 5 years later. They reach max level with these characters in just the tutorial world, a dedicated grind all for the purpose of helping the newbie community and bragging rights I suppose for that sweet cheevo. Clearing these dumbass charr alone at such a low level is suicide, but proved easy with just a duo. Guild Wars is still a fun time and playing it with others makes one forget about the loneliness of the instanced world.

I did make one mistake when I asked this helpful person what they think of Guild Wars 2 and if maybe it would be worth playing over the original. Their personality did a 180° switch, as what I can only assume was some deep rooted PTSD and hatred I wasn't aware of. They proceeded to curse at me in 5 different languages, after which I got DDoS-ed and repeatedly doxed. It came as a slight surprise that I woke up one day to find my family murdered by an unknown assailant - blasted fool forgot I took monk as my secondary so I rezed them up without a hitch.