Switching games

Hello everyone! I have a problem with which game to get. My brother and I want to play guild wars together. Right now I have Prophecies, and he doens't have any of them. I was thinking about getting Nightfall this weekend, and buying it for him for his birthday (which is next week). I'm worried that by skipping factions (and for him, skipping both) would result in missing cool professions that we would otherwise have by owning all three games. Unfortunately, its pretty expensive to buy all three games each. Does anyone have any suggestions?

if he doesnt get factions he will only miss out on Assassins and Ritualists. Each chapter comes with the 6 main classes + what ever classes are special to that chapter

In my opinion ALL guild wars players should have prophecies. I would play prophecies for a while then play through nightfall. after nightfall get factions if you want. OR you if you really want make an assassin or ritualist in nightfall. I dont have many good things to say about factions, pve isnt too hot. best feature is alliance battles. thats definatley worth it

I think it's pretty safe to skip Factions, at least initially. Nightfall seems awesome, and I think Prophecies is a must-have personally. I'd get Nightfall + Prophecies.

you cant make A's or Rts in nightfall, only factions

If you buy factions you'll be missing alot of the proph skils, if you buy proph you wont have the rit and assasin (no big loss IMO) or the factions only skills for the core classes (monk necro warrior ranger ele and mesmer). If you just buy nightfall, obviously you'll be missing alot of proph/factions skills and the rit and assasin. Personally, if i were first starting out I'd get proph and then when i was done get nightfall and skip factions all together, or buy it later yet (although again, i might not even bother).

=0 my bad thought every profession was going to be in it

My recommendation would be to get Nightfall only at first, and if your brother really has trouble then think of other campaigns. ArenaNet claims that each campaign is stand-alone. Why not test their word?

by far its best to start with NF. starting with prophecies is a bad idea IMO, its pretty much outdated now (no heroes, nf and factions have some better game mechanics, items/armours are inferior to factions/nf, most events will take place in Cantha/Tyria, less people playing then NF, NF has a way more intresting setting, better design etc).
good thing about proph is that it has a large amount of good skills you can use on your Elonian/Canthan born chars.
Get NF first then proph then factions. factions is gameplay-wise just as good as prophecies but the number and quality of proph only skills makes proph a slightly better choice to buy after NF.

I have another quick question. I think I'll get my brother Prophecies, and maybe for christmas get him another one. At some point, if I get factions or Nightfall, would I be able to play with him on a character that I great in factions or nightfall? I'm confused about characters between games. Is it possible for the character i have now to be used in factions? And if I create a character, say an assasain in factions, am I able to go back to the prophecies world? I'm really confused about the whole thing, can somebody help me out please?

If you have multiple versions of GW tied to the same account, then yes, you can take characters back & forth between them. In other words, when you get Factions or Nightfall, enter the Factions or Nightfall account key code into your existing Prophecies account so your current characters can go back & forth. You should get 2 more character slots on your account when you do it this way.

If you enter the Factions or Nightfall key as a separate account, it will be a separate account - it will have the full 4 character slots, but will not be tied to your existing account (and characters) at all.

If he has Prophecies and you have Prophecies + other chapter(s) then you can team up in Tyria or the Battle Isles. Professions don't matter for that, any toon can go anywhere if all chapters are on the same account.

Skipping factions will result in no great loss.

Prophecies is generally a great place to start, as most of the best skills for the core professions can be found there. The problem is, after tomorrow, there won't be an aweful lot of people playing there for a while, since Nightfall is coming out.

Nightfall looks like it's going to be a big hit. The preview weekend showed that its leveling & learning curve are a nice compromise between Prophecies and factions. The 2 new Professions, Dervish & Paragon are going to be quite fun to play, and they don't seem like they'll have the same difficulty that the assassin has encountered.

You'll be able to link each chapter to an account, so you'll be able to add Ngihtfall to your Prophecies and, if you get Nightfall for your brother now, he can add Prophecies later. (factions, too). And, you'll be able to take characters back and forth between chapter continents that you've got on the same account.

If the two of them are teaming up it is really no big deal. They can work as a duo thru pre-sear and Old Ascalon and bring henchies for the rest of the game without too much trouble.

Besides, it is not like Tyria will be abandoned, people will still go back (I have 3 toons there now between LA, the desert and Droknars) and people will still be buying it as their intro to the GW world.

thanks everybody! So, just to clarify. If my brother has prophecies, and I get nightfall at some point, and I create a Dervish, lets say, can my dervish still go back into Ascalon and help my brother through the missions?

Yes, you can. When you add the Nightfall access key to your existing Prophecies account. This can be done right from your log-in screen.

Whilst it will be possible for you to take your Nightfall character into Tyria (if you link the accounts) don't forget the 'fun factor'. It would be much more interesting for your brother (and you) to play through the games (1 time at least) with the characters at the level they should be. Your brothers level 3 monk, for instance, would contribute very little and have a very boring time just trailing along, following the wake of destruction from your level 20 dervish.

I would suggest the best way to go would be both of you having Nightfall. You both get the 'wow factor' that way, of discovering new things together and struggling through adversity. You can then add further campaigns to your accounts as you wish. Another good way to go would be to both create new Prophecies characters and play through from the start together. Factions is the one I would definitely leave until last, whichever way you go.

To get everything out of the game you will eventually need all campaigns linked together on your accounts, but the skills you can get from one aren't necessary to 'complete' and enjoy any other chapter. In fact I think it is more fun to play a new character through each campaign, before crossing over any characters, since everything is fresh and new each time then.

So in summary.... I suggest Nightfall then Prophecies then Factions. If cost is a factor though, you could probably pick up a copy of Prophecies fairly cheaply now and have just as much fun.

Agreed If he bashes through Prophecies (with your helping hand now and then ) He will learn alot more about the game. Then let him decide whats he wants... Factions / Nightfall / both