So Guild Wars is on sale on steam but I'm a bit sceptical about buying it. I got the game when it first came out and loved it but I never got any of the expansions and have no iudea what direction the game went after. Is the game still worth playing in 2011 or is it an outdated MMO with no one playing? Should I just hold out for ToR and Guild Wars 2 or is this a nice game to play whilst I wait for them?

I'm also curious. Guild Wars 2 looks awesome so I might buy GW 1 just to know more about the world.

A lot of people shit on GW1, because they claim it "isn't an MMO." Sure all the combat areas are instanced, and you can only play with other players in the form of a party - but that doesn't make it not an MMO! 
 
Every major area where there are story quests are giant hubs to meet with other players, trade, and team up for the quests. Quite frankly its the best MMO I have ever played - because it had no monthly fees and gave me the MMO-like experience I needed. If you're coming into it expecting it to be as impressive as GW2 sounds (GW2 is moving away from instances into a truely open world) then you might want to temper your expectations, or just wait for GW2. 
 
I'm really hyped for the second one, and if its cheap I'd certainly recommend the first - however if you don't like it that much I don't think you should be put off the upcoming game, as it sounds like GW2 will be a massive, massive advancement. And still no monthly fees :P

There's some fun to be had if you can get past the horrible movement.
 
Edit - personally it wouldn't hold my interest unless I had some friends to co-op with, especially now.

Guild Wars isn't an MMO.

The game is however based around party mechanics. Fortunately, if you are unable to find other players to engage in missions with you, there are always "hero" NPCs. These operate as customizable henchmen. The player is able to equip these NPCs with any of the player's profession unlocked skills.

Overall the current steam sale is a great buy. And if you intend to play GW2, you can work on some unlocks by playing the first.

It's not a typical MMO, they purposefully went in the completely opposite direction of WoW. In my opinion, it's one of the best MMO's out there.. but it's not for everyone and it's a bit dated at this point. Movement is very limited and most players have long since moved on and are waiting for GW2. It still has a pretty sizeable population though, especially during the festivals.

But I'd say it's only really worth it if you're really excited about GW2 and want to learn more of the backstory and lore for the universe. You definitely need some friends to play through it with though, or find a good guild that can help you with the missions. The difficulty can be rather unforgiven and it's a complete pain to find a party these days.

So did anyone end up buying the game? It would be a good idea to get some groups together

Thank you everyone, you've confiormed what I remember about the game.

@No0b0rAmA: Is endgame content still 4 man zones and heavy PvP focus? What classes did they add after the main batch...I remember Assasain...are they any good?

@SamStrife said:

Thank you everyone, you've confiormed what I remember about the game.

@No0b0rAmA: Is endgame content still 4 man zones and heavy PvP focus? What classes did they add after the main batch...I remember Assasain...are they any good?

It changes into 8-man zones after the tutorial portion of the game (only in factions, and nightfall though, cause in proph. it doesn't go into 8-man zones till 3/4s of the game) with 2 elite dungeons in Factions, Urgoz and The Deep, being 12-man zones.

There is still a large pvp scene if thats what you want, but with dungeons, vanquishing, hardmode, and getting titles to unlock stuff in GW2, the late-game PvE has a very long tail, as Ive spent more than 2500 hours and still have not finished everything

The classes they added were the Assassin, Ritualist, Dervish, and Paragon. They are all cool enough in their own right, though only the Ritualist and Paragon are highly used in the meta game.

Guild Wars is very much playable today. Especially in PvE. And thanks to the addition of heroes, you don't need a full party of players - which makes GW very small-player-friendly. Something most big online games can't deliver on. Based on that, Guild Wars will be playable even if you are the only one there. As long as the servers are up. Unless you're only in it for the PvP, which also is a great aspect of the game for sure. I enjoy the world, the story, the setting, and the gameplay enough that I can actually play it solo from time to time, without feeling like I'm missing out on the game.

I remember having to pay 2k something to get run to this dwarven village when I played it like in 2004, because some of my classmates told me Guild Wars was superior to WoW.

@Prodstep: Haha I rememebr running people to them towns for gold. Was fun.

I'm in it more for PvE, how is that in this game?

@OroJackson: Thank you. One last question, the triology doesn't come with Eye Of The North, is this needed to play factions and Nightfall or can I just skip past it?

@SamStrife said:

@OroJackson: Thank you. One last question, the triology doesn't come with Eye Of The North, is this needed to play factions and Nightfall or can I just skip past it?

nope, its a seperate campaign, you don't need it at all and could skip it if you like though its my personal favorite expansion of the three

@Aus_azn:It's great. GW might be famous for it's PvP content, but that's not where I spend my time. Ever. I'm totally a PvE player, and I still play GW. As I stated above, it's extremely friendly for small player-parties, thanks to heroes, and even mercenaries. But it's not dead, mind you. You will find players to play with, especially nowadays with GW2 on the horizon. Some old peeps are returning, since GW doesn't have a monthly cost. And you can switch servers on the fly if it seems empty. That's the beauty of it.

Thanks everyone, I've rebought the game. Got the trilogy pack for £12 which is awesome.I'm looking forward to Guild Wars 2 and the fact I can unlock stuff for that game whilst playing 1 again will be cool, plus I need an MMO-esk fix whilst waiting for ToR and GW2.

gw is still pretty fun. some friends and i are probably going to blast through the prophecies campaign this summer. it's become somewhat of an annual thing. 

@SamStrife: you need EOTN for that!