Guild Wars --- ummm. it's ok
 

Finally got around to buying Guild Wars. Played it for about 8-10 hours this weekend and it's.. ummmm. just ok. I was not really impressed..

The game has poor instructions as I am still not sure what to do with a bunch of artificats I've picked up from killing enemies... You can't craft your own stuff which I don;t like.. Seems like there are a couple of weapons, a few spells and that's it... The camera view was very frustrating. I couldn't find one that I like..

I just really wasn't impressed. I had played EQII for a month prior to playing this and I guess my expectations were too high

If you're still in the 'newbie zone' [you haven't gone 'over the wall' yet and gotten that extra movie scene], I don't think you can do anything with artifacts yet. You can craft, or at least scavenge things and have them crafted, after you leave that zone as well.

Camera view--Experiment with it. IIRC, if you rotate your mouse wheel that will move your view from a FPS type view, to 3rdperson, to top down, almost like Diablo. It can take a few tries to find the one that works for you. I usually use a slightly-distanced 3rd person behind the back view.

Skills/spells--You earn skills/spells by completing quests and defeating enemies. As you learn them you can pick up to 8 to make active. Odds are, yes, you'll end up using a couple at a time and using them a lot; but once you get a little farther in and have more skills, you can get really fancy and creative with your skill combos.

The game opens up a lot once you get past that newbie zone [where you can spend 5-30 hours if you want]. I haven't played EQ in years, and never played EQII, so I can't compare directly. Guild Wars is an interesting and slightly different take on the MMORPG, more of a multiplayer graphical MUD with shared public zones, but I'll admit it's not for everyone.