Prophecies, Factions, or Nightfall

Hello,

It's been a while since I played any sort of computer game and I wanted to pick something up to unwind with after work. I'm also going out of country in a couple weeks and the fact is that you can only be entertained for so many hours a day via family reunion.

I looked into GW and am interested in picking it up; what appeals the most perhaps is the fact that one can play without making some sort of ridiculous leveling/time commitment, and it seems my laptop will be able to run it. So, as the thread title asks....

Which version should I pick up? At the store, I was initially attracted to Factions because it was the newest version already in release. However, it seems that a lot of people actually prefer Prophecies. I missed the 2 day preview event, but I'm leaning towards getting Nightfall. The only problem is that my flight out of country leaves in the early afternoon on the 27th; if I wanted to have Nightfall available while I'm out of town, I would have to pre-order and go to the store early that morning to pick it up.

Any opinions would be appreciated; if anyone has a demo key for any of the above it would also be apprecaited, though definitely not expected.

Thanks in advance,
J

Get prophecies.

It introduces you to the game far better, the storyline is awesome, and you will still be able to buy canthan and elonan items etc.

Definately prophecies...

And after all, at the moment Nightfall is just hype. I love both Proph and Factions (Proph is the better of the two btw), and although I cant wait for Nightfall, we still dont know what it will be like yet.

Yeah get Prophecies now and later you can always add either of the other chapters as they are best enjoyed combined. If money is an issue then perhaps just Nightfall. You can always buy it online and download it to your laptop, hopefully you have more than a 56k modem?

Nightfall looks very promising, but if you want a guarunteed bet to get some fun out of GW, buy Prophecies.

Get Prophecies, you may be able to get it cheaper than Nightfall, you won't have to worry about "another thing I have to do to get ready for my trip!" and it beats factions hands down!

Thanks for the advice so far.

Prophecies is appealing - I'm the type that likes to start something from the beginning and learn how to take advantage of every part from there. Seems also to have the best PvE so far...

But shucks, I'd really wanted to play a "sin". Maybe that will have to wait- I read that they're difficult to play, so it will probably take getting acquainted to the game first anyway.

Additional advice always appreciated.

~J

i would get prophesies, but once nightfall comes out there will be a huge drop in all players from factions and prophesies, because most will be in nightfall for about at least 2-3 weeks

Prophecies has had a mostly-dead population since Factions came out.

Likely Factions will have a mostly-dead population once Nightfall comes out.

So if you get any of those two likely you will be having a relatively hard time trying to get through the game seeing as there won't be nearly as many other real people around to team with and despite what some people might say, the henchman AI is very very bad hence they are inadequate replacements for real humans (which is why Heros are such a "huge" thing in Nightfall).

Hence, get Nightfall as the most current game will probably always have the most people in it.

Factions is just plain horrible = Its a ghost town now in most areas. To many negatives about everything. Several good skills to get there, a few nice skined weapons also. Time based missions and closed doors SUCK!

Prophesies = great but several areas will be hard for you to get a group now let alone when Nightfall comes out harder. Real nice PVE missions IMO the best. The elite missions are a blast for new players at it the first time. The best chars to play also.

Nightfall should be the logical choice for you. It will be busy with all of the fans of the game. You will be able to learn the skill needed to beat the game with everyone else. I have the most fun learning how to do missions for the first time with everyone else, instead of following a group who knows exactly how to beat it. So far it looks to have a great PVE storyline.

Bottom line; buy the game that is best for a new player. Stay current right off the bat. If it is half as good as Prophesies it will still be great, and twice as good as Factions.

I agree with most of what has been said here.

For me, and most people, factions was really just an expansion. I bought it for access to new skills, armor, farming locations, and the extra character slots, but as a game by it's self, it's really lacking in many areas. As a first-time buy, definately go with prophecies.

Although, I have to say buying prophecies at the time a brand new chapter is released is pretty terrible timing... You may find many towns/missions empty because many people are going to be playing over in Elona (the continent Nightfall takes place in). You can't go wrong with prophecies, but you may want to consider Nightfall for the fact that there will be tons of people in every town at pretty much every hour for a few weeks and maybe months.

Oh and one last comment, the assassin is really the worst class you can play in PvE, ESPECIALLY as a first time player. The class it's self isn't really the problem, but it takes a degree of understanding with the game that a first time player will simply not have. You'll find rejection is a big part of being an assassin... so don't feel bad because you're better off not playing one.

Haha, great...

First half of you get me pretty much settled on getting Prophecies and starting from the ground up. Now, the other half of you have me mostly convinced on Nightfall.

My own personal judgement has been leading me towards the latter. As for playing an assassin, I found out the stigma and will most likely start myself as an E/M, or maybe a W/R. Once I've got this thing figured out I *will* be turning to the dark side though

~J

Prophecies isn't that much of "ghost town" actually, although i bought factions, Ive hardly played it as it hasn't appealed, so Ive been stuck in Tyria catching up on stuff, there's never been a real shortage of pug's along the way. I will agree that it might be a bit quite when Nightfall is released, but this will change with time again..

There is definitely a shortage of healers (monks) in both Prophecies and Factions at the present time, which is not likely to improve after the release of Nightfall. That being said, either game is doable with a full or part team of henchmen (computer controlled "helpers"), although it can be frustrating in some of the more difficult missions.

I've had both games since the release dates, and in my opinion, Prophecies is the far better of the two, and the best way for a new PVE player to get introduced to Guild Wars. I've created thirteen characters to date , and all but two have been in Prophecies. The last two started in Prophecies.

Nightfall is definitely your best bet right now. The Hero and henchman AI and new command interface with them is reason enough alone to make this choice.

Prophecies is far better than Factions, but Nightfall looks like it will go a long way toward making that up to the community of players. If you like the game as much as most of us do, you will probably end up getting all of them eventually. Go with where the action will be initially (Nightfall), and benefit from the lastest in features and enhancements.

I got the same question but where im from Prophecies costs 60 $ at the moment (seems its much cheaper where you live a new game costs like 83,33$ Calculator <3) BUT I have two discount coupon's of 33,33 $ (Math ftw.. =P ). Well to get to the point, is there an idea to buy Prophecies now for the discount and then buy Nightfall as soon as it comes out or is that just silly silly silly? =P

I think Nightfall would be the best compromise. In the middle on the leveling, and with you starting around the same time as other people, you'll be able to really sink your teeth into it and have a very active population to also play with. If you can get a trial code in the meantime until Nightfall comes out to get some general experience, that would definately be a nice way to ramp up ahead of time for no cost.

Starting in Nightfall with one of the core classes will also be a good thing to your benefit; if Factions was any indication, there'll be a flood of Paragons and Dervishes, and there will be high demand for other classes to fill things in.

i have no damn idea why your all dising factions it is not a ghost town (many big areas get into 3 districts) and not rubbish. i have only factions (prophasese is in the mail) and i love it to be honest though i would chose nightfall because im sure it WILL be a ghost town then. on a note if you like the pvp over the pve (everone else assumes youll like pve best) then get factrions for the proffecions (note to regulators get spell cheak)
and lastly FACTIONS IS NOT RUBBISH!!!!!

That's pretty much the opinion I came up with...I downloaded the client already and everything. Haven't had any luck getting a trial key though...do I have to buy a magazine or get a pre-order pack from the store or something?

~J