Howdy, a few questions.

[Fernot]

I havent acually bought this game yet but its gotten me very interested, I only have 3 questions about it that the sites I have gone to havent really given me information on.

Is there a world to explore as I have found out the world outside the cities is "Instanced" you will only encounter your partymates and the hostile forces of the world, but is there landmarks or hidden away places in this world that I could perhaps explore on my own? Or even with a few friends? I've enjoyed seeing the world around me in my two previous MMOs (FFXI, WOW <(Current game)

Is the combat fairly interactive? I'm an avid pvper and am greatly interested in this aspect of the game.

Is there any "Role Playing" in the sense of being your character? While I am not great at this it does provide me with some extra fun and immersion.

Sorry if this isn't the place to post this :( I wasant sure.

Thanks in advance for all the help!

[Grim Daddy]

Hello, & welcome to the forums.

Is there a world to explore as I have found out the world outside the cities is "Instanced" you will only encounter your partymates and the hostile forces of the world, but is there landmarks or hidden away places in this world that I could perhaps explore on my own? Or even with a few friends?

Everything except the towns and outposts are instanced, which can be considered good &/or bad. The bad being that you don't get the chance of having random people meet up with you mid-battle. The good part about this is that no one can really spawn camp quest or resource areas on the map, or go off and PK someone while they are on the quest.

Is the combat fairly interactive?

There aren't very many modes of PvP combat options in Chapter 1. But from the FWE, it's pretty obvious that there will be different styles of PvP in Chapter 2 that (by the looks of it) will allow players to jump right into the action.

Here are some general guidelines for learning PvP quickly (I never actually followed these guidelines myself):

Step 1: Begin training in the Zaishen Isles.
Step 2: Find yourself an active PvP Guild.
Step 3: Start honing your skills & gaining victories.
Step 4: Rinse & Repeat Step 3.

Is there any "Role Playing" in the sense of being your character? While I am not great at this it does provide me with some extra fun and immersion.

This mostly depends on the contacts that you keep in touch with, as well as the atmosphere of the guild/alliance you'd end up in.

[Mattinator]

First off, welcome to the forums! :)

To answer your first question, like Grim Daddy has said, there are positive and negative sides to having all of the missions and explorable areas instanced.

The pvp in Guild Wars in highly competitive, very fast paced, and a lot of fun. It requires a lot of planning tactics ahead of time and thinking on your feet while in Guild Battles. There are not too many pvp modes in Guild Wars at the moment, but what's in the game is a lot of fun and a lot of time can be spent on it. It really helps that Arena.net has made it extra competitive putting in the Guild Wars Championships, so that many of the pvp guilds can compete for the top prize money.

For the third question, there are role-playing guilds out there, you just need to get in with the right guild/alliance.