It's among the most optimized games I know. Stock clocks, I have a laptop with a 2.0GHZ Dual Core CPU and a GPU that has a core clock of 500-ish MHZ (8600M GT). This game runs on highest settings on a resolution of 1680x1050 with my CPU downclocked to 1.20 GHZ and the GPU underclocked to 250-ish MHZ. And it will still run 30-40 FPS. So, if you can play WoW, you can play GW, believe me.
@ shadowcast: Well, it's true.
There is original version, called Prophecies.
Then the first stand alone expansion, Factions.
The second stand alone expansion, Nightfall and the true expansion Eye of the North. I myself have Prophecies, Nightfall and EotN, and will be getting Factions later on.
It really depends on what you like. Prophecies has the best and the longest story of them all, so to get your money's worth, get Prophecies. When you gain some experience at playing the game, it might be worth checking for either Factions or Nightfall. Why? Because both games add 2 new proffessions. Standard the game has 6 professions (included in all 3 games) and each of these professions has 4 or 5 atributes you can "train" in (by leveling. At any time you can enter points in any of these atributes, and change them later on (adds a lot to the replayability of course) You get enough points to max 1 of the atributes, close to maxing another one and spend your final points in a third one. You usually don't spend your points on more than 3 or 4 atributes.
The professions are:
Warrior, the damage dealers of the game, uses axes, swords and hammers and powerfull skills that rely on adrenaline instead of Energy (magic points in this game)
Ranger, Bow masters, pet masters, trap placers and the likes. One with the nature. Dealers of damage at a large range (gives you have a bow that is able to fire at the really long ranges)
Mesmer, interupters, stealers of energy, general pain in the asses because of there annoying magic.
Elementalist, powerful AoE fire magic, distrupting water magic, defensive earth magic or piercing air magic. And their primary skill, Energy Storage allows them to gain massive amounts of energy that can combine greatly with another profession.
Monk, Healer, Protector or Holy smiter.
Necromancer, powerful hexer with Curse Magic, can summon up to 10 minions with Death Magic, and damage dealer with Blood Magic.
Factions adds Assassins (Melee powerfull damage dealers) and Ritualists (Support, but also damage dealers). Nightfall adds Dervish (Holy melee AoE warriors) and Paragon (Spear users, mostly a supportive profession)
So, choose based on what kind of character you want to create. And if you like the game, you can always get all 3 of them.
I'd personally advice getting Prophecies first (get the gold pack then: Prophecies + EotN) since it the base game, and probably the best of them all. But get one of the other games soon too, since they add Heroes to the game, player adjustable AI-controlled henchman, and they make the game a lot easier and fun.
