Thinking of buying GW.

Hey, I just quit WoW (again) and was thinking of picking this game up, but I don't know too much about it. I see Guild Wars and Guild Wars Factions for purchase, which one (or both) do I pick up?

You can pick up either, but there both totally different. Prophecies you can be Warrior, Ranger, Mesmer, Elementalist, Necromancer, or Monk. It's alot easier then factions, but you don't reach level 20 for awhile. In Factions you can be Warrior, Ranger, Mesmer, Elementalist, Necromancer, Monk, Assassin or Ritualist. It's more challenging then Prophecies, and you reach level 20 and get access to elite skills quite early. Of course if you buy both you can merge your accounts, so you'll have 6 character slots, be able to travel through Cantha and Tyria, and have access to all classes.

If it is your first time ever playing GW (which it appears to be), then I would recomend get prophecies first just because it gives you more time to learn how to play your character, but the only problem is, it takes a lot longer than factions to get to the harder and funner areas of the game.

Or, you could just wait untill nightfall comes out (should be sometime this fall) and buy that. That is what I would probably do if I were you just because you get to have 2 new classes that you only get if you buy nightfall, along with the classes you would have if you bought prophecies.

Of course, you could always buy prophecies now, and then if you like GW, then buy factions and/or nightfall whenever you want.

*edit*

Darn, 2 minutes late! Curse my slow typing!

Yeah, never played it. I think I'll hit up Wal-Mart right now and see if they have the first GW, thanks guys.

GJ. Your first step to freedom from the oppressors (subscriptions fee chargers) and their maintainence bandits.

GW:Just buy it.

Prophecies is good, but don't bother with factions, it makes you wonder wtf the devs were smoking.

Na, Factions is a good game =)
I suggest once you beat The first one, go on with Factions, and by the time you beat Factions, Nightfall would probably be out.

Factions is great, though Prophecies is a lot closer to what WoW was. An awful lot of people seem to dislike factions for the same reasons I love it.

1: No grinding for levels, you get to 20 in a couple hours, then your skills as a player improve, not arbitrary stats.

2: It's much more challenging, 90% of the game is designed for level 20 characters with max armor and weapons. You can't just twink your way through most of it.

3: A lot of the content is optional and nonlinear. People who just play through quickly to finish the main storyline are dissappointed. people who enjoy PvP, elite missions, challenge missions, and title-hunting seem to love factions.

As a side note, GW only has to hold you attention for 4 months, and you'll have saved at least 10 bucks on monthly fees for WoW.

Thats just what you think. I personally like Factions MUCH more. Like Dr. Strangleglove said, no grinding to lvl 20, more challenging, lots of extra stuff that you don't have to do, and a whole nother continent.

In fact, now that I think about it, Dr Strangelove is right about people liking it too. It seems like the people that don't like Factions are almost all complaining that "it was way too short" because they only did the main stuff. They didn't spend a lot of time doing the extra stuff and playing on more than just one character (I bought the preorder of factions, started playing it the day it came out, and just finished it for the first time with one of my chars yesterday, because I was occupied most of the time with doing bonus stuff). Everyone that seems to have done/is doing something similar to what I did, or went back after they beat the game to do the extra stuff, seems to like factions. I guess liking Factions really just depends on how you played/are playing it.

For pve you have 13 (compared to 25) missions, FF, fedex quests, and ummmm yeah.....

For pvp you have 3 random arena remixes...I mean alliance battles, the never populated jade quarry and fort aspenwood.

Maybe its a good game, but content-wise, its worth 30$, not 50.

Definetly agree 100% with gamecube187. I enjoy both chapters. It's not about finishing the game it's about replayability. There is this guy said that some of his guildmates finish the game in 2 days. I mean so what if you finish the game it's not about finishing the game it's more of how you get together with other players especially with your friends doing those difficult missions together again is what drives me to play it all over again and exploring new profession combinations

Prophecies first, especially coming from WoW.

The "beat the game" mentality is a lot like those who sign up for a "Europe in three days" tour and then come back saying Europe is sort of small and pretty boring -- the truth being they saw very little more than the airports.

In prophecies PvE, how many of those 25 missions do you skip? Let's see, run to droks, run to sanctum cay, do that, 3 desert missions and the dopple, 3 shiverpeaks missions and 3 ring of fire missions. 10 missions with replay value for most people. Factions, subtract out the first two and you have 11 replayabale missions, 5 challenge missions, 2 competetive missions, AvA, and 2 elite missions. Yeah, there are fedex quests in factions, but have you played Prophecies lately? my head explodes whenever I think about doing helping the dwarves, or that quest in the falls.

Factions for replay value, challenge, and all around fun.

Prophecies for "beating the game" people, grindaholics, and masochists.

Personally, I enjoyed the first game. Factions....well let's leave it at that I managed to get off the starter island when I realized, that I did not care for that game at all. In Proph., sure you can skip some of the missions, but that's some of the fun involved inthe game, as opposed to the literal locked gates of Factions. Proph. just seems to be so much more in depth when compared to Factions, imo. If Factions had been like Proph., well I wouldn't have renewed my WoW account when it came out. ^_^

I don't like Factions as much as Prophecies but not because I rushed through it and think it's too short. In fact, one of my gals is working on Canthan Cartographer. I just found it tedious compared to Prophecies. There are people complaining that Factions is too short, but if you think that's the complaint of most, you haven't been reading the threads carefully enough.

To the OP: I'd start with Prophecies. Enjoy--it's a great game.

Either is fine. I'd recommend Factions, because I came from WoW and wasn't immediately hooked on Prophecies like so many people posting here were. In Factions leveling to 20 is much faster so if you like levelling stick with Prophecies. Factions has a better tutorial area for beginners though. Unlike WoW which took me 2 hours to feel comfortable in, this game took me a week to learn the basic ins and outs and get comfortable, but since then I've been hooked on this game completely.

dont buy it! its too addicting!

i think the reason many people feel this way is because prophecies came first, and people spent a whole year with it. if factions came first, and prophecies came out after it, everyone would love factions and hate prophecies, id wager ;P

both games are great in their own right. get them both if you can, it really isnt the same having just one, especially if you want to get into the pvp side of the game.

There is "pvp isle" in factions too? So faction players get more pvp.

I bought GW:F for 30€

Those who think Factions is tedious or don't like it feel that way for a variety of reasons. In my case, I only got Prophecies in November, and when I first tried it, I didn't like it and stopped playing. Two months later, I had nothing to play and decided to try it again and got hooked. So I'd only been playing Prophecies for four months when Factions came out. The reason I find Factions tedious is that it often feels like a grind. To move three feet you have to fight several mobs, and many quests involve you fighting through the same mobs over and over again.