can u play guild wars 1 free?

It was buy to play...probably still is. Once you bought it you could play all you want. However they have come out with several expansions which have skills and equipment you can't access until you buy those expansions.

So in short it's yes, and no. You don't have to pay a montly sub, but to keep up with the "joneses" you would have to buy all the expansions.

Tucan

if you go to guildwars.com, the trilogy is only $15, with the last expansion being $10.  after that it's free.

i can see of very few if any games that will offer that much quality, content, and fun for $25.xx.  to think, 25 bucks is only 4 months worth of runescape 'members' and it isn't even a comparable game, or 2 months of World of War Craft subscription.

when i bought the retail boxes upon release they were 39-79 respectively (collector ed) with the exception of Eye of the North.  even at those prices, factoring the cost spread over 12 months is nothing short of a bargin!  at current prices it's just over 2 bucks a month to play the game for a year. you should definately do it.