Buying the game: Which box?

Sorry I know this sounds stupid but with FFXI you buy the expansion packs as seperate boxes so I didn't want to just buy an expansion. Is THIS: http://www.game.co.uk/ViewProduct.as...144&mid=326605 (Guild Wars: Factions) all I need to create an account and play?
What is the difference between this and the original? I can't find the original Guild Wars in any shops, just the Factions one. Does Factions come with the original too? I'm confused :/.

GW:Prophecies (the first one) and GW: Factions are stand-alone games, meaning you only need one to start an account and play. If you want to access both Tyria and Cantha with your characters, you'll need to buy both.

All Guild Wars games are stand-alone campaigns, but they can be linked together to allow characters from one campain to play in the others, and visit the new continents.

Factions is Chapter 2, but can be bought and played by itself. Chapter 1 just says 'Guild Wars' on the box (it may also say 'Guild Wars: Game of the Year'). Chapter 3 will say Nightfall on the box, when it is released in a few week's time.

Just make sure that if you buy a second/third/etc campaign that you link it to your current account, and don't accidentally create a new account with it - or else your previously made characters won't be able to visit/play the new campaign.

Can people with Factions play with people on the original Guild Wars?

Also, can I buy Factions THEN the original to add on? Or does it not work like that?

If I was you Id buy Prophecies or Nightfall...

Factions is not so good in my opinion but I think most can agree on that.

but Factions is the only one I can find in the shops and I really don't want to wait for delivery ordering online. Can I start with factions and buy the original after?

You can start with Factions, yes. You can play them in any order you'd like, just make sure like others have said to keep adding the keys to the same master account so that your characters can go between them.

If you have an EB Games or a Gamestop near you, they're doing a deal where if you buy one of them you get the other a bit cheaper (at least, last time I was in about a week ago they did).

I loved Factions, myself. Still maintain: you'll have to pry it from my cold dead hands. It's worth a look anyway, and worst case, you get two new classes, upgraded storage, and some other skills. Best case, you end up like me, OCD Factions-lover.

Ok, I'm gonna buy factions and see how things go then I might buy the others. Thanks for everything guys ^^;!

just buy it online and play it now...try playNC or guildwars.com