The Best Professions of Guild Wars 1 for Playing Solo

Guild Wars is an MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) praised for its quality of presentation and gameplay, and played by many players around the world. The first Guild Wars game, Guild Wars (2005), was developed by ArenaNet and published by NCSoft, and has been praised by thousands of players for its atmosphere, immersion, environments, world-building, visual presentation and gameplay. Guild Wars (2005), which will be referred to in this article as Guild Wars 1, is a story-rich MMORPG in which players are able to participe in a variety of storylines through different quests, learning more about the game world through dialogues and cutscenes.

As a story-rich video game, Guild Wars 1 provides players with a unique experience of immersing themselves in this fantasy game world. In order to enjoy this story-rich content, players often wonder if they are required to bring friends along the journey, or if they are able to play the game solo, which means playing an online game, such as an MMORPG as Guild Wars 1, without necessarily forming parties or groups with other players. These players often prefer playing through the content of a video game while playing solo.

In many RPGs, game characters and heroes belong to specific classes, such as warrior, rogue or wizard, and these classes define which abilities and equipment are available to these game characters. In Guild Wars 1, classes are referred to as professions, and professions are a similar aspect to classes in this game. The profession of a game character will define which abilities and equipment will be available to this character in the game. Players who prefer playing MMORPGs solo, or playing alone, and who are thinking about starting to play Guild Wars 1 may wonder which are the best classes, or best professions, as they are called in Guild Wars 1, for playing this video game solo.

The best professions of Guild Wars 1 for playing solo are Warrior, Ranger and Elementalist, because they are easy to learn and do well in combat.

3 - Elementalist

The Elementalist profession of Guild Wars 1 is a spellcaster profession. In RPGs, spellcaster classes are not always easy to learn, but in Guild Wars 1, this profession is accessible to new players, and is a fine choice for playing the game solo especially because characters of this profession are able to deal high amounts of damage. However, as Elementalist characters are ranged combat characters, it is important to keep in mind that these characters require some distance from enemies in order to do well in combat. Unlike Warrior characters, Elementalist characters require some distance from foes because they do not have as much defense against attacks.

2 - Ranger

The Ranger profession of Guild Wars 1 is a ranged profession . In RPGs, ranged classes are not always easy to learn, but in Guild Wars 1, like the Elementalist profession, this profession is accessible to new players, and a fine choice as well for playing the game solo. Ranger characters are able to fight and defeat enemies from afar, a reason why playing with this profession will allow the player character to fight and defeat enemies faster than if playing with other professions, especially melee professions, such as Warrior. On the other hand, Ranger characters generally do not have as much defense as a Warrior character of the same level and with the same tier of equipment, a reason why playing with a Ranger character will require of the player to constantly keep some distance from enemies in order to perform well, a similar aspect to playing with an Elementalist character.

1 - Warrior

The Warrior profession of Guild Wars 1 is a melee combat profession . In RPGs, melee combat classes are often easy to learn how to play, and this is also the case in the MMORPG Guild Wars 1. Warrior characters of Guild Wars 1 are able to sustain high amounts of damage and deal high amounts of damage, and thus are able to adapt to many different combat situations in the game, a reason why this profession is quite versatile for players looking to play Guild Wars 1 solo.

How to Play Guild Wars 1 Solo

Although the Elementalist, the Ranger and the Warrior are the best choices for playing Guild Wars 1 solo, it is possible to play the game solo with other professions as well, and this is mostly because Guild Wars 1 has some unique aspects in which the player character is able to recruit henchmen and heroes, who are recruitable AI (artificial intelligence) NPCs (non-player characters) who will adventure together with the player character and fight enemies. Henchmen and heroes are very useful and versatile during quests and adventures, especially because the player character is able to strategically recruit heroes of professions that will make the most difference in the composition of the party or group. The henchmen are customizable NPC allies that can have their skills and gear customized by the player. This is quite useful to adjusting the party according to the challenge and to which skills the player character has. The ability to recruit henchmen and heroes allow player characters to have the most effective party compositions for each adventure.

How to Recruit Henchmen and Heroes in Guild Wars 1

In Guild Wars 1, in order to recruit henchmen, the player character must search for and find them mostly near the town gates of the towns of the game.

In Guild Wars 1, in order to recruit heroes, the player character must add the hero to the party in a town or in an outpost. The feature to recruit heroes is available in Guild Wars: Nightfall and Guild Wars: Eye of the North. Heroes must first be unlocked by completing specific missions of the storyline. After a hero is unlocked, they can be added to the party.

What It Means to Play Solo in This Article?

It is important to have a clear definition in this case as some players have a different definition of what playing solo means. In this article, "solo" means playing the game without other human players, although there will be the presence of AI NPCs that help the player throughout adventures. Playing Guild Wars 1 without human players and also without AI NPCs can be quite difficult, even with most professions. Henceforth, solo in this article refers to playing the game with the help of AI NPCs.

Is Playing Guild Wars 1 Solo Fun?

While it is often said that many MMORPGs of the 2000s had most of their content tailored to be played by parties of human players, it must be noted that Guild Wars 1, while being an MMORPG, has most of its content available as a story-rich RPG experience. In other words, while Guild Wars 1 is technically an MMORPG, it can be effectively enjoyed as if it were a single player RPG experience, due to the presence of henchmen and heroes, and to the story-rich nature of its quests and storyline. Besides its story rich content which can be played solo, Guild Wars 1 also has the presence of human players in towns and outposts, for players who enjoy the social aspect of MMORPGs.

An Analysis of the Henchmen and Heroes Feature of Guild Wars 1

It is quite interesting that Guild Wars 1, an MMORPG launched in 2005, featured a gameplay mechanic very ahead of its time, considering other MMORPGs of that time, allowing players to play through the game completely solo, with AI allies. Most MMORPGs of the 2000s required players to form parties in other to complete most of the content, and in many games only a few classes were able to solo through the game.

Later MMORPGs, especially during the 2010s, would present similar features to the henchmen and heroes of Guild Wars 1, featuring AI allies and companions which the player character can recruit for adventures. It is interesting to note that this feature was well-developed and available in a game of 2005.

Perhaps the presence of this feature is one of the reasons for the longevity of Guild Wars 1, which lasted as an MMORPG for more than 15 years, whereas many MMORPG of that decade ended their service in much shorter time periods. Indeed, allowing players the option to play through the game solo adds to the freedom of player choice in how players prefer to play.