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| Copyright © Mark R Kelly 2025 |
So here I am, swearing, spitting and wanting to punch my monitor in utter frustration, just like a Gen Z's little brat child throwing a tantrum down a supermarket aisle filled with biscuits and sweets. Why?
People constantly typing and referring to the Guild Wars MMORPG as, “GW1”!? There is no such thing, you lunatics. Allow me to clarify.
Guild Wars was and IS the ORIGINAL game. Never touted as the first in a series or a sequel, and it certainly wasn’t meant to be suffixed with a ‘1’ — just as humans were never meant to declare redundant/useless pronouns in emails or on name tags.
GWs versus GWs2 — simple as that. Yet here we are, with people slapping a “1” on it like it clarifies something. It doesn’t. The second game, even though it lacked GvG (Guild vs Guild — the very reason the original was called Guild Wars), was suffixed with ‘2’ purely as lazy marketing: ride the success of the original without confusing the MMO crowd by giving it a unique name.
And it’s not just games — films, books, music, originals never needed a tacked-on “1.” Try it yourself: say your favourite classic movies, albums, or novels out loud with a “1” added, and you’ll hear how ridiculous it sounds. If you played the original, you know. If you didn’t… the original is still the original. It never needed a number.
It’s only taken ANet twenty years to decide to show some love to their original MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game), Guild Wars, after unceremoniously dumping it like a puppy after Christmas. Honestly, I do wish it was a solid update, with an engine overhaul, character models improved, terrain model re-worked, along with a few other things.
But it is what it is, and to be getting this much is a big win for Guild Wars. Add to that the fact ANet are bundling the first three games together under a 'lower pricing' tag, which will hopefully attract more players back. It was not unusual for original players to have lost their original game CDs, but were put off re-purchasing by the high price tag for an aging game. And who knows, with luck, it will pull in a swathe of fresh players. As a result, the various game regions might once again see the thriving player base of old — maybe not to the same numbers, but hopefully close enough.
So, rant over — it would seem this "Reforge" is a graphical tweak here and there, a slap-on of friendly porting code, some audio tweaking, and a brush-up of the UI (User Interface) — in essence, think of a second-hand car getting the once-over by a car dealer before it gets rolled out onto the forecourt with a new price tag and a shiny wash 'n' wax.
Back in the day of early MMORPGs there was the King: World of Warcraft. Then came Guild Wars, the challenger. And challenge it did. Very successfully. Implementing streaming technology for the first time within an online game, so players could play without hindrance as updates ran in the background unobtrusively. Giving players NPCs (Non-Player Characters) to make up your raid party should a player rather do things solo, and introducing GvG (Guild vs Guild), to name but a few of the great things.
I must give an honourable mention to the brilliant Compass Map of Guild Wars, within which a player could hold down a mouse button, and with their pointer, draw a direction arrow, path, smiley face, etc, for the rest of the party to see. Many a mammoth phallus was scribed within that compass window to the childish amusement of your fellow players — which usually resulted in an outbreak of copycat 'drawings', until the compass window resembled a Police line-up of criminal penises, of all shapes, sizes and mutations.
So here is me quietly clapping in appreciation of a game so beloved, not only by myself, but thousands, and very pleased it is getting a fresh lick o' paint along with some shiny bits and pieces.
Old MMORPGs never die — they just wait at the outpost for your return. I hope to see you in Lion's Arch.
Until then, have some music from the Guild Wars game release year of 2005: Gorillaz - "Feel Good Inc".
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