These shortcomings undercut the ability of Guild Wars to keep a broad cross section of players hooked for the long term. Fortunately, since there is no subscription fee, this isn't such a horrible thing. For many, it's a fun time sink for a few weeks or a couple of months. In fact, it's an exceptional way to fill your evenings and weekends while running through the missions, enjoying the richly detailed world and devising brilliant new strategies for the skills you acquire. The players who find themselves a home amongst friends in an active guild and become involved in heated competition will likely find Guild Wars a vicious addiction for quite some time. This really is a case of a very good game whose long-term appeal depends more on the player than on any faults in the game The fact that this game can't offer that longer term addiction to a broader base of players is the primary reason why the review score isn't even higher. It's an exceptional game on so many levels, and it's on those merits that Guild Wars deserves all of the accolades it has received. Buyers should balance their long-term gaming interests with what Guild Wars has to offer, while also keeping in mind that Guild Wars does not charge a subscription and will continue to offer free updates. While you're trying to decide whether or not to throw down the $50, I'm going to keep thanking ArenaNet for making such an exceptional game and raising the bar on other developers, particularly in terms of the graphics engine, patching and content streaming.