Confusion with which game to get, factions/prophesies :S

Im looking to get started in guild wars, looks pretty damn good, however im finding it really confusing over which game to get, factions of prophecies. Nightfall is out in 10days, but by then my holidays will be almost over, so iv decided to get one of those now, and as i understand it you can link the worlds together if you have both games.

However i still don't know which one to get, Factions or Prophecies. Faction is the obvious choice, being newer and all, but Id rather get some advice before i put £30 into it
Anywho should i really be getin both? or Factions now and night fall later? or what?!?!

Any info is much appreciated

Prophecies is really the more beginner friendly one of the two games, it's a bigger and more evenly paced game. It's also more PvE (Player versus Environment) focused, whereas Factions has a shorter campaign, faster levelling due to the whole mainland being lvl 20 (which is the max level) content and a bit more PvP (Player vs. Player) focused do to the Kurzick/Luxon Faction war.

So it depends a lot on whether you like PvE adventures or PvP action... still, Prophecies has both of those too so my pick would be Prophecies. Nightfall seems to be a throwback to the golden age of PvE that was the Prophecies campaign, so if you're going to get Nightfall too at some point, I would suggest getting Prophecies first.

Nightfall is only 10 days away, I suggest waiting for that unless you can find a cheap Prophecies (some stores sell it extremely cheap). Whatever you do, don't start with Factions. It's not beginner friendly, although the tutorial at first is more helpful then the one in Prophecies.

Im not to worried about beginner freindly issues, I can learn a game from any aspect given enough time and i dont have much patience for the "press W to move forward" stuff, id rather just learn at my own pace.
Im definately more pvp based, and more casual (at least for another 8months) player given im at college. So based on what you've said i spose I'll go for factions first and give it a shot. I've had enough of that 3months to reach end game lvl stuff, factions looks right up my ally.
Thanks both of you, been very helpful

Drakon.

Erm you ll reach end game in factions in 3 days tops . And the pvp they mean is AB which isnt really pvp... but good luck hope to see you in game

hmmm, it took me about a month to beat factions and thats after about 6 months of prophesies experience. it also took me about 7.5 months to beat prophesies when it could of taken me a week. i play a lot tho. it all depends on if you want to rush as fast as you can to beat the game, or if you want to take it in peices and try out new things on the way.
nightfall has the same fate, some ppl are going to get some guildies and rush thru the game as fast as they can and end up beating it in about 4 days, and then they are going to complain about the game size.

Prophecies - no question. It's not only the longer, more forgiving learning curve, it's got a much better story line, and Prophecies only skills are (in general) better than what you can get in factions. Game play is also much smoother in Prophecies, especially when compared to the city area of factions (which is 35 - 40% of the area - or does it just feel that way? :P)

Another convenience in Prophecies is that no matter what town you're in, you don't have to worry about how much faction you have for the side of the map you're on when it comes time to deal with merchants.

There are only three redeeming values to factions: expanded storage for materials, Alliance Battles, and you can take your Prophecies character over and get max armor well before you'd be able to get it with Prophecies only.

Factions would be my vote. You'll have a chance of finishing it, or at least having your characters a high enough level that they'll be able to go to Nightfall when it comes out (if you're interested in getting it, too).

Prophecies:
-Longer/more in-depth PvE experience (this can be good or bad depending on your free time)
-Skills in PvE are gained through quests (skills you get in PvE are also available to you in PvP); these skills are free because of this
-More forgiving learning curve

Factions:
-Shorter (can get more skills in a shorter period of time, overall; for me, it also meant having a life and still managing to finish the game)
-Skills have to be purchased (good or bad depending - it gets you skills fast, but it also kills your money reserves fast)
-Making money is easier (again, mainly a PvE concern)

I wouldn't say it takes 3 days to finish Factions; everyone's milage varies. In my case, I have a full time job, put time in on my house and in the gym, and have a lot of other hobbies, and it took me about 2 months (I'm a bit more of a casual type of player myself, although still obsessed, heh).

The nice thing is, if you like PvP, you can create max leveled characters very easily for PvP only play, and with a base number of skills (you can also get skills from PvP play in addition to the ones you can get in PvE).

If you ask this a month ago, I would say Prophacies. But now...doesn't matter. They're both fun to play with.

I agree with the others about the Prophecies/Factions breakdown. In additiona to the comments above, I think the storyline in Prophecies is better than Factions, though I will say in Faction's defense, then ending for Factions was much better.

Also, if you can, wait for some reviews on Nightfall, since that looks really good. If you want to make a purchase, I would favour Prophecies, but either one you are sure to have fun in. Good luck.

I say prophecies because you are new, but if you don't really want to spend time learing how to play the game, then I would definitly recomend factions. For me, factions was funner, longer, and stays fun for longer.

I say you start off with prophecies to learn how to play. Then get either Nightfall or Factions, because Factions was so good, and Nightfall seems really good too. Then, get the one you don't have yet. The first two are worth the money, and Nightfall seems like it will be too.

I have to go with Prophecies on a count that it is more in depth for making money then they are both about the same.The bad thing is you cant get skills as quest reward,and that makes it so after not to long skills cost 1k which can kill alot of money.Prophecies has a pre-searing which in my case is better then just having a island that takes about 2 days to get to level 15 since there are so many quests

I believe you mis-spoke. It's factions that has the problem with not having skills available as quest rewards. Prophecies has many skills quests up to the desert area, and that's about 2/3 - 3/4 of the way through the game.

For the sake of anyone else thinking of geting the game ill comment a bit. I bought Factions, as it says above...

Ok im very happy with my choice, factions is shorter to get to end lvl, (seems) more pvp based and well lots of pvp opertunities, 2 extra profesions(no one commented on this so maybe you now get them in prophecies or somin), and the factions-side of it, where you choose sides between to warring factions, which i presonaly was attracted to.

Geting started was a bit confusing i must say, but your a newb only at the begining right didn't take long to learn, a nice chap answered all my questions and eventualy asked me to join his guild, yay <lowest lvl member>
And its full of helpful people, and so for a newb, factions isnt to bad, youll eventualy get the hang of things. "Get prophecies, its easier for new people", welll it might well be, but Factions was fine for me, so don't make your decision based on that argument

Also my 2 fav chars are the Assasin and Ritualist, the 2 new ones in Factions, so im very happy about my choice But thats personal preference. Also i dont have heaps of time, so 4 days to get to 20 with my first char suits me just fine, and i love pvp.
But this is all my opinion, just note that as a newb, youll get the hang of either game eventualy

Hope this helps, cheers all for replying.

Drakon.

Prophecies = better game yet almost no one is playing it.

Factions = worse game yet everyone is there instead of in Prophecies.

In a few days Factions will have almost no one playing it as everyone will be in Nightfall.

Hence, get Nightfall. It is by far the smartest choice to make at this point in time since the other two will have mostly-dead populations right after you buy one of them.

Either get Prophecies or wait a few days and pick up Nightfall. Everyone knows Prophecies was amazing and right now it's looking like Nightfall will be even better.

www.play.com sell both games for £17.99 XD and free postage and packaging ^_^