Faction questions from an Ancient Noob

Hi everyone.

Most of you probably have no idea who I am, but I was a regular here for a long time but haven't played GW or come here for something like 8 months, maybe longer.

I'm going to buy Factions for myself, and I'm also going to buy GW core and Factions both as a gift for a friend. But I have a question...

I understand that Factions can be a standalone game, that I can choose to either bring my main to Cantha or to start a new character in Cantha. But which should I do? Especially, which should my friend do? (since he's played neither the core game nor Factions).

Does Cantha have a lvl 1-20 storyline like Tyria does? I would think that if a level 20 from Cantha went to Tyria there wouldn't be a lot to do. Half the game (probably at least to the desert) would be a breeze, and anything East of the mountains could be soloed. Is it this way for Cantha? If I bring my main from Tyria to Cantha will I lose 75-90% of the (expansion) game to boredom?

So... people who have played both... please, 2 similar questions:

1) is it better to bring my main to Cantha or start a new char in Cantha?
2) should my friend start his game in Tyria or Cantha?

1)Faction is Fast leveling. You have a small Island which its below lvl 20, you know. When you arrive in the Mainland of Cantha, all is Lvl 20 and you can receive your max armor before the 3rd mission. I suggest to bring your character because you haven't lose many things except the low level Island which you can go anytime with your Tyrian Character (can't do the quests but you can do the missions) and you start in the city where the 1st max Faction armor are (Keineng Center).

I'm almost forgot, Tyrian Characters ,when they arrive, have a different quest to start in Cantha which its linked to the next mission.

2)You learn more skills in Shin Jea Monastary than Ascalon. But, you learn by your rythm in Ascalon and you have many quests as long as you progress in the Land, not in Faction. You get the skills in Faction, bye and go buy the rest. I suggest Tyria to see how to use his skills and take his time. Faction is really to rush in game.

cool, thanks. I believe we'll be starting in Tyria then

Hey ! I remember you ! Well, I remember your avatar.


Yes well... You could say, that, a new char is Cantha can basically become lvl 20 much MUCH faster than in Tyria. The beginning quests in Cantha gives between 750 and 4000xp, compared to the 100-150xp ones of Tyria...

I'm not 100% sure, but I'd say you can become lvl 20 in less than 12 hours in Cantha.

On the contrary friend, there is alot of skills, of elites, not available to Faction only players which is a big handicap for them. So to travel to Tyria is recommended to acquire those skills.

Far from it. When you'll arrive to Cantha with your Tyrian character, monsters in the first explorable hostile zone are already lvl 18-24. If you come with your Tyrian character to Cantha, you'll only pass up the Shing Jea island, the beginning island for Cantha characters, where they level up from lvl 1 to habitually lvl 17-18 ( you can still travel there but it's mostly low level creatures roaming there ).

And anyway, Factions truly starts on the continent ( exactly where you'll start with a Tyrian character )

He should start in Tyria. Because of all the free skills he'll get from the quests. You receive none free from Factions, only massive experience, and alot of skill points. And when you start up, broke, the idea to pay 1k per skill is not very interesting, while you can get a big bunch free in Tyria.

The mainland of factions (which is where your tyria-born characters would start off in if they go to factions) is basically for higher lvls. Once you beat the island, most people are usually lvl 15+ so you shouldn't lose any enjoyment if you bring tyria characters to cantha. In fact, I would recomend that you are lvl 20 by the time you do the first mainland mission just because you will probably need the health.

As for your friend, I think he should start in tyria, because it is slower leveling. In factions, you are sorta rushed through the early levels, and you can only get a few skills from quests. In tyria, your friend would have more time to expiriment with builds and learn how to be whatever class he chooses better than he would if he started in cantha. Plus, you can get a lot more skills from quests in tyria, so it might also be better budget-wise for a new player(those skills can start to cost a lot after a while).

I recommend starting in Tyria as well, for the reasons already posted. Especially the skill quests.

But if you want an Assassin or Ritualist - they have to start in Cantha.

Additionally, you may want to play around in the character creation screen of both because of the different facial features and hairstyles that are available in each campaign.

adding a factions key your original account will mean that u can travel to triya from cantha and vice versa but only have 6 chars in total,
not combining will mean that u will have 8 chars, unable to travel between continents and ur factions account with only have access to all the core skills rather than all the skills from the orginal.

I totally plan on combining keys. Must have full freedom of movement for my chars.

Did they increase storage space at all? It was hard enough keeping items for 3 people + a mule (I'm a packrat, like to save pointless stuff as trophies).

So, if I start in Tyria I can't choose Assassin or Ritualist? That's bad... also bad that I can't choose the new faces or hairs in Tyria...

They haven't increased the storage... not yet. But Anet talked about that thought. just being a little patience and the new storage will be here.

hmm... No sir... I don't like it...

Well... I guess since I'm popping so much cash at once (3 copies, Factions for me and Core/Factions for my friend) I may as well go the extra mile and get a new Core game for me so that I have a mule account...

I've finished Factions 3 times with Tyrian characters. Ive started several Canthan ones, but I get bored with them by the time I make it to the mainland.

Sort of unrelated and It's probably just me, but I liked "Pre" in Prophecies much more than the "Island" in Factions. You don't level anywhere near as fast, but I thought it was more fun. On the plus side for Factions, you get your +15 attrib quests much sooner...while you're still on the Island.