To late to start GW?

I have been thinking of playing GW lately, but not sure if it's to late or not. Are there still low level people around to play with or guilds that would except people of low level? I know if this question was posed to me about WOW/EQ I would say it was to late.

Nope, not too late. Plenty of people still starting out..and even more will @ the Nightfall release..definetely guilds that accept lower level people, as long as you're not too annoying. In GW its never too late to catch up, or just play at your own pace. Its a game, which means its for fun.

Yeah, what Balance said^

Definately not "too late".

I certainly don't think it's too late to start playing GW. As in all MMO there are some 1337ists out there who will snub their nose at anyone who has not been playing a game since BETA, but there are still lots of people and guilds out there who enjoy playing with and helping out friendly people, regardless of their experience. I've been playing for about 15 months and my experience has been that I would rather play with someone that is friendly and cooperative than some jerk who acts like a know-it-all just because of his rank, armor, or whatever status symbol that may be used to brag.

Its not too late in the sense of pvp. The only requirement for pvp is that you know how to play and not be stupid...and mabye have a couple runes/skills. Probably takes you about a month to get good at it. For PvE you are a bit late. You can beat the missions but getting good enough weapons for a PvE charecter...well good luck with that (read: no moneyz!)

Yes and especially with most of the GW populace being somewhat knowledgeable abut game play then finding and using information will not be as problematic as when we first started out in April 05, its always good to learn from other mistake than your own, and check out Guild Wiki for info on everything in Gw.

Btw compared to hours played this is the best buy i have made in a video game.

?????????

There are no uber weapons in guild wars. It doesnt matter what weapon you have. Same for armor too. My original necro finished prophecies with lvl 30 armor lol.

Its not too late and probably never will be in Guild Wars. Especially on the pve side.

Not to late at all!Indeed,there are strong weapons but there by far not strong enough to determine wether or not youl be succesfull in PvE..

It's never too late to start playing Guild Wars. Unlike most MMOs, GW is a game, and not a lifestyle obsession.

With Nightfalls coming out at the the end of october, i think you should wait and get that ^^;;

Guildes that accept only lvl 20 ppl are stupid ,there are no low lvls in GW coz you lvl realy fast.

Unless you're impatient I suggest you wait a month for the Nightfall release. There everyone starts at (pretty much) zero, and there will most likely be quite a few other new players around.

If you don't want to wait, picking up Prophecies (not Factions) is a great place to start, some places you can find it extremely cheap these days. Factions is ok, but you shouldn't start with it. The learning curve (not to mention the gold required...) is not for new players.

Yea, I would recommend waiting a month for Nightfall also. It looks very promising.

I've created new characters in Prophecies and taken Canthans there. I haven't had any problem getting a party. It's definitely not too late. In fact, now that I've finished Factions a few times, I rarely go back and stay in Prophecies. I do it for a couple reasons, 1) to help guildies and friends, 2) I prefer doing FoW from there instead of Factions. Plus, I still love the environment more.

Also, unlike other games, many people have multiple max level characters. I've been playing for over a year and just made a new character 1 week ago.

This post is pretty much ignorant of the whole idea of Guild Wars and should be disregarded completely. You can get max damage weapons from collectors for the price of: 5 drops from whatever monster that collector takes.

To get into the game, I suggest you get Prophecies, the original chapter, as it is much better for complete beginners learning the game. Factions, the second chapter, is much better for experienced players who want to level up much quicker and already know their way around.

Personally, I would suggest getting Prophecies now, so you can learn the game, get a character to level 20, find a good guild of helpful players, and prepare for the release of Nightfall. As there was in Factions, there will be many opportunities for gaining wealth quickly when Nightfall comes out, so you're better off getting a headstart by learning the game now, and being able to take advantage of the new chapter. I speak from personal experience. I started playing Guild Wars within 2 months before Factions came out. I was able to accumulate about 100k by that time, since I started farming with a 55 monk (see build forums for description of the build). Before that I never really had more than 20k or so. Within a couple months after Factions came out, I made it over a million because I was able to play through the game and sell items I had acquired that I would not have had if I was just starting the game then.

Buy Prophecies. It's well worth the money. There are still plenty of people playing it as well.

There are allways new people starting GW or old players starting new characters. So its never to late to start. The great thing about the lvl cap being at 20 is that it hardly hardly takes any time to catch up as opppsed to some games where it could take months or you can never catch up. I would still say get prophecies espicaly if you can find it cheap.

I don't even think you need Prophecies, you could jump right in at Nightfall.

The Level 20 cap makes it really easy to "catch up" with people who've been playing since last year. Basically, with Crafters and Collector Items so easy to get, you will never be far away from having everything a long time player has.

This is also good for Casual players, like myself. I can take 2 months off, pop back in, and be exactly the same level and power as my Guildmates.

That's what I love about Guild Wars!

Someone who has been playing for one week can create a PvP character and beat someone who has played 2 years.

The beauty of Guild Wars is that you excel by your skill, not hours played. Of course the person who has played 2 years has a lot more skill and knowledge.

Prophecies is the best place to start and come away loving Guild Wars. With the henchmen available you can solo much of it and there are usually folks around trying to complete certain quests with their alts.

Factions seems lacking in depth and pathos, whereas Prophecies approaches some of the best PC games I have played for depth and storyline. I actually find myself mourning the changes that have been wrought on the people I met earlier on and hope that at some point they continue the story in that land *Gwen* *cough*.

There was one thing I forgot to mention before, that was the population in Prophecies. I played through it with a new char there about a month ago, and came to the conclution that the current population can be divided roughly evenly in two parts; the new players and the skilled players.

New players is self-explanatory. The skilled players seem to be the ones who are tired of Factions and look back to the old land for entertainment. The PvE play is much longer, the storyline is better and, well, the game is better.

Either way, you're far more likely to end up with players who know what they're doing now then you were a year ago. The new 'generation' (to call them that...) of players seemed to listen to the more experienced ones, while the more experienced ones don't shout out insults to anyone who can't do things perfectly their way. All in all I was very pleasantly surprised with my visit to Tyria.

Oh, and one last thing. If you should decide to follow Spikes advice and get it, don't let the starting areas fool you. The people in local chat have always, and will always, be equipped with negative IQ. Those kinda people don't appear in the game except for the starting areas and pvp areas, so don't let them ruin your experience

Buy Guild Wars, it's a great game. And Swinging Fists has the best advise so far. Guild Wars Prophecies is the best one to start the game. It has an easy learning curve and if you complete the missions (a month max for most players I imagine) you will have a great grasp on how to play the game and it's different characters and what they can do.

I advise joining a guild after you leave the beginners part of the game (but don't let them "carry" you through the missions). The social aspect of playing with guildies is one of the things that makes this game great. You'll make some good friends.

But if you're a loner don't worry about joining a guild. You'll still enjoy the game.

If I were you- Id go to the store today and get Prophecies - OR if you have a debit card, simply download the client and purchase it through the online store- You could start playing TODAY and not even have to leave your house (for the next 6 months of your life )

The thing is- Nightfall is going to be the most glorious game ever, and if you want to play guild wars, you will want to play nightfall.


Personally I really enjoy factions- however as a stand alone, it wont give you the epic feel that Guildwars truly is about. I mean, some features of Factions are totally awesome... but if you are a first timer it might give you a sour taste in your mouth.

reasons to get Factions -
1 playing assassin or ritualist. my ritualist was easily worth the purchase of the game. playing assassin in pvp is good too, but pve is impossible to get respect from other players. Mostly due to explode-on-death enemies that makes the assassin die a LOT, which gives most of their bad rap.
2 Alliance battles. People can say what they want about it, but its just plain FUN imo.
3 its not THAT bad - just not up to par with the original as far as storyline and the ability to truly explore the map in any way that you want... half the game takes place in the city - and the city is full of locked gates that you must earn the right to pass through...
4 easier to aquire max-level equipment and bonus attribute points
5 its geared toward pvp fans (even in the pve) which I personally dont mind at all. Im a balanced player.

Reasons to get Prophecies-
1 The searing is a great way to start guild wars (and I dont want to give too much away- but its chp1)
2 people are nicer, more helpful, more innocent.
3 the game simply takes more time to complete. if you play 4-6 hours a day youd be lucky to finish half of it before nightfall is out...
4 you have better opportunity to really LEARN your characters, and their skills.
5 prophecies gives you Skills as rewards for quests instead of just endless amounts of experience like in factions.




I still have a low level character in each continent and I see tons of fresh newbs (not noobs!) asking questions about simple functions of the game... so honestly, I would go so far as to say its not even too late to start your OWN guild even a couple months from now when you get the game down.

If you think you are more into pvp, get factions... otherwise get chapter 1 or chapter 3, then get factions when you get around to it- its not going anywhere. Factions was tailored to players that are experienced in the game, even tho it technically IS stand-alone

I don't think it is too late to either and Prophecies would be the best place to start, nice easy learning curve and far more content than factions. Nightfall does show some promise though, I'm just sceptical after factions so :P

You will get a mixed bag of people, some will be the halfwit type that scream "n00b" at everything and everybody, the type that just spout garbage on local chat, and then you will meet the helpful more useful types that give help and advice.

Some guilds will gladly accept new players and will help out with missions, I will say this though, if you do start playing Try to avoid doing the early missions with high lvl players (e.g. lvl 20 warrior against lvl 3 monsters) it kinda defeats the purpose and will lessen the enjoyment. If everything is dead by the time you have finished casting 1 spell there isn't much point really. I loved playing through the early missions with a few mates at the same level as me and figuring them out.

Guildwars is Great fun

It's not too late.
If you wait a couple of nights, Nightfall will be released.
It will feature all Prophecies professions + 2 extra. Those extra are new for everyone exept who played in the preview events.
That's a lot of low level people to play with (though experienced with general gameplay).

In Prophecies, new characters are still created and most of the time there are enough people to form a party. In the beginning (so called 'pre sear') you don't have to team up, except for 2 quests afaik. The maximum teamsize will be 2 in that region.

In Prophecies (part 1), you will learn to play your character and it's skills the easiest.
You can get loads of skills from quests. Leveling up is somewhat slow compared to the other parts.

In Factions (part 2), you can level up to 20 in a couple of hours, though I never did it that fast (about 2 days for me).
Most of the map is designed for lvl 20. The map is smaller than Prophecies.

I've played the PvE Nightfall event and if they keep it the same as then, it will be a mix of Factions and Prophecies.
I managed to get to level 17 and finished 3 missions. This in about 1 day playing.
Learning curve was not as steep as Factions, but you have to buy most skills, instead of questing them (as in Prophecies).

My advice from what I have seen of Prophecies, Factions and Nightfall:
If you can wait, buy Nightfall. Especially if you have some previous experience with other online Coop RPG games.
I think it will be very busy when the game hits the shelves, so you can join groups/guilds without a problem. And since all are new to a large part of the missions, you will learn the most.
If you like that Nightfall, you can always buy Prophecies.

Otherwise, buy Prophecies now and start playing. You will have enough experience when Nightfall comes out to progress quite fast.

Weapons and equipment should not be any problem. You will find enough weapons/collectable items to get the weapons/armor you need to finish the game. Prices are also not that high for most equipment. I have sold plenty of weapons to the merchant that would have fit perfect on a character that just wants to finish the game. And merchant prices are seldom over 300 gold.

It may seem intimidating to new players to see gold/purple/green items selling for incredibly high prices, but just remember that you can get items that are just as good and often better from collectors. Often the only difference is only cosmetic.

ive been playing since last June and the high prices still intimidate me but dont worry, you will always find people willing to help, and once you get a good guild and/or a good group of friends they should help you with anything you need

Just make sure you come up for clever come backs to Cynn's insults, she's quite the sarcastic bitch. But they're more fun to play with, they don't make missions stressful or annoying in the least bit.

But I do believe it's too late. Find a different game that hasn't been released yet and try to learn about it. That way you can become one of the best and not some newbie like in guild wars. The learning curve for Guild Wars is getting steeper with every chapter since there are more and more skills. If you don't know what a lot of skills do or classes, or if you don't start now, I wouldn't start after nightfall for sure.

everyone is limited to using only 8 skills

2 years from now,
someone buying Chapter 7 for their 1st GW experience will do fine

every GW chapter has a "starting area", to get familiar with the game, where players start with level 1 characters

I'd say to start with Prophecies as well. Prophecies rocks and represents the basic 'core' game and concepts.

There's really nothing to catch up to... everyone I know starts new characters at some point, to try out new professions and do something different, so there's nothing to really be 'behind' of. I've been playing for over a year and have completed both campains with more than one character and I just started a brand new one. It doesn't mean my new character is 'behind' at all. It just means I have another character to play

Bleh I'd be here to help you out if you need help starting and whatnot.. just message me here or something.

Oh.. and like the other guys said.. starting with prophecies would be your best bet. Most people perfer it over Factions and once you get the hang of it, you could possibly get Nightfall which seems like a great game.. so far. That's what I would do anyhow..

It is not too late because...

a) the ability to buy extra character slots has tempted long time players into creating new characters, so they too may be in the same area.
b) the game does not rely so much on hard to get weapons. Armor levels are also restricted.
c) maximum character level cap evens out everybody once they hit this point
d) henchman in towns allow you to form a party if nobody else is around or won't join you
e) you can join a friendly guild where there are people in a similar position to you, or other guild members may help you out when required.
f) in Prophecies there are always people "running" to places, although IMO this takes the fun out of the game, this will allow you to buy high level armor early on.
g) most of the guides/concepts/common builds/hints/maps/scams to avoid/everything else are on here and other guildwars forums or sites.
h) you don't pay by the month and therefore don't have to pay for time you use/don't use
i) if you have a friend with the Nightfall pre-order pack they may give you access to the trial key which will allow you 10 hours of gametime in prophecies/factions before you even buy anything!


By reading these forums and sites like guildwiki you may learn more than actually playing the game.

I personally like both Prophecies and Factions. You may want to jump on at Nightfall and if you like it, consider getting Prophecies and Factions latter.

You will be able to take your character(s) from any campaign to any other campaign.

Once you get through any one of the pve campaign(s) you will find your 2nd time through goes twice as fast for the sheer fact of knowing the correct "path(s)" to get to the end or learning where anet put the built in short cuts (on purpose). This is espically true with Factions more so with than Prophecies.

First time through, go slow, smell the flowers, take it all in. With your fourth character go at your own pace.

If you find you don't like a job you started with, try one of the others. Each job has it's own unique play style and find the one that fits your taste.

GW us really about skill vs time/grind. It does not take long compared to any other online game to get a top of the line character and what makes you better is your ability to play. You can within a month or two be just as good as a "veteran" player.

Getting max "stat" equipment is easy and if you wish to "grind" for uber cool *looking* stuff you can (or spend tons of gold on them) but it's not better (combat wise) then the easy to get stuff (Collector's, Greens, Weapon Smiths).

A word on the "official" stragety guides. For info on quests, and missions it's great... all other section will contain error(s) or just plain be changed over time. Use www.guildwiki.org for any refrence lookup.

Too late? Nope, not at all. It seems like at least once or twice a week someone posts on here a similar "Thinking about buying GW" thread, so you won't be alone in being brand new to the game. There's even more who show up in the game.

Prophecies was the first Chapter of the game, and has a pretty good story line, good learning curve, and has tons of places to explore. factions is the second chapter and is more geared towards hi-level game play with a steep learning curve. They just finished a Nightfall preview, and it looks like it's going to be at least as good as Propecies and tons better than factions. There are lots of new players in both, but most long-timers reccommend Prophecies over factions for new players.

I didn't read the other posts.

Fact: You posted a GW related question on a forum related to GW.
Fact: You know this place exists
Therefore...
Fact: you're already ahead of 99.99% of the GW population

it's never too late to start playing guild wars! i have just made a new mesmer who is only level 5 because i want to solo the UW. while i was in pre-searing, i saw many people playing. not as many as when i started with my first character but there are still people in pre-searing starting their characters to play guild wars.
and, if you are playing factions, it's not too late to start playing in there either, it's just going to be a little hard since a lot of people have finished factions and are not doing many of the missions.
i know for a fact, though, that many guilds will accept you no matter what the level or experience and no other requirements.

I recommend getting GW Prophecies even if you are getting Nightfall. There are plenty of people playing, new players, lots of people leveling up through the game.

This is a quick pick up game. Within the first 2 days you can already have max gear and a decent build only to find out that theres SOOOO MUCH MORE TO DO... beware this damn game will steal you soul. Easy to pick up, hard as hell to put down. It's a blackhole for your life.

Also all the expansions are retroactive, meaning your dervish can come to ascalon city and raise hell on the char.... (:

As the phrase goes: "Its never too late too start"- It may however be a bit harder, and not as fun.

I got the original Guild Wars several months after it came out. I was a loner (and still today), so I played the entire game with PUGS. This was quite easy at the time, not to mention fun. I simply log on and play the game with a random group of people. Most players were interested at playing the game, and not rushing through- infact most of them were new. I even the 2 hardest missions (Thunderhead keep and Hells Percipice) on my second try- and this was with PUGS. Also, the majority of the team did not skip the cutscenes, and those that did had no complaints against the others.
About 2 months ago I made a new char, and the experience was not the same.
Everyone was just interested in rushing the missions, and completing them has become a lot harder because everyone kept trying to rush the game. So I turned to the henchmen- they work better than todays PUG, but not nearly as well as the older days. Not to mention that playing an online game alone is not as fun. And the harder mission- Thunderhead Keep took several weeks to complete, as it is not doable with henchmen (since the party needs to split up). As for the cutscenes, while I skip them now that I have already watched them, anyone who dares not skip them gets yelled at by the rest of them team.

My conclusion: Its never to late to start, its just not going to be as fun or easy.
My reccomandation: Wait until Nightfall.

too fast imo, but nightfall looks far more progressional than factions was, me hopes anyway