Guild Wars is a massively multiplayer online game based in the fantasy world of Ascelon. The player gets to choose from six different professions (Warrior, Ranger, Necromancer, Monk, Mesmer and Elementalist) to explore the huge world of Ascelon. Players will quickly be able to pick up a secondary profession to mix and match skills, creating a fantastic variety of gameplay, since the secondary profession can be just as powerful as the primary. One could spend hours wandering the landscape pre-sear (before a catastrophic attack) and take in the fantastic graphics this game has to offer. Move on to post-sear portion of the storyline, and the rest of the world opens up - and areas that were once familiar suddenly become very threatening. It takes a small bit of time to get used to some of the movement, especially since there is a notable lack of a "jump" function (so players will often have to take the long way around certain areas), but most difficulties are easily overcome.

Every time the player steps out into the world, the game makes a dedicated copy for the player or the party. This effectively circumvents most problems that plague many other MMO titles, such as kill stealing, camping, or waiting for a mission goal to spawn. The world of Ascelon becomes the player's private playing ground, which is very impressive given the world's massive size. All creatures killed stay dead, and no one can randomly come around and steal loot. The missions are generally tailored so that they can be completed alone or with a group, although there are one of two missions that will require more than one player to complete, and players will most likely need some help in higher level missions. The downside to this is that being in your own private world means that there is no chance of bumping into strangers who might want to join up with you or give a last-minute rescue or healing when you are in danger. Luckily, the death penalty isn't bad. Players receive a temporary reduction in stats, which goes away the minute they go into a town or outpost. Towns and outposts are the only places where players openly congregate, and beings so, they tend to be very crowded. It can often be difficult to find specific players or people to join your party among the sea of avatars, but more on that in a bit.

The gameplay of Guild Wars is very easy. Specific professions give access to specific spells and skills which can be used in conjunction with one another. Since players can put two professions on their character, they are allowed an incredible amount of freedom to customize their character for different situations. Contacts are needed for missions, and they can sometimes reward players with new skills. Skills can also be purchased, but skill points need to be used, and every skill purchase costs one point more than the last. Usually, it's much easier to pick up skills while on missions. Each profession has a number of different specializations which, when leveling, players can put points into. The Necromancer, for example, can specialize in Blood Magic (magic that requires some sacrifice of health), Death Magic, or Hexing - or they can increase the mana bonus they get when things around them die. Combine these possibilities with what a secondary profession might offer, and the player is faced with a long list of choices. Here's the catch: When entering the world or mission, players can only carry eight skills with them. This puts extra emphasis on considering what the player needs when confronting specific missions or what roles he/she wants to play in a group.