Is it worth just getting the first Guild Wars, Do people still play it?

Hey guys

I just quit WoW a while back and i was thinking of starting Guild Wars.

But i have a few questions i hope you guys can answer for me.

1) does this game have a monthly fee, could have sworn someone told me it didnt.

2) If i just buy the first game, Guild Wars, and not one of the expansions do people still play the first one or is it like WoW were you still talk to everyone that has the expansions you just cannot use the stuff they have or certain things? Because i was just wondering if its worth it if i only get the first one?

Thankyou guys

PS: Sorry if this is a incredibly stupid question i just was not sure.

Sorry for the double post.

I was just reading a another topic and from what i gathered the original and say factions are like different games. Asin both have there own servers and so on?

and does factions need the original to play?

no you dont need the original to play factions.But if you want to go to factions from prophecies or factions to prophecies,you need the two of them.

There are still a lot of people playing the first game, and you don't need expensions to get all the better stuff.=P Expensions just give you a new storyline, new land and new professions to play and more skills to work out different strategies with.

In answer to your questions:

There are no online fees whatsoever to play Guild Wars. The only "fee" you pay is the purchase of the game. Each game is called a chapter.

Each chapter is a standalone package and you do not buy anything else in order to play the chapter you purchase.

The storylines of the chapters are linked, and each chapter adds to the lore of the previous one. If you have more than one chapter then you can take your characters between them. (There are some minor restrictions on this, such as your character must have reached a certain point in the game and must complete a quest in order to move to the other chapter, but once you have got to that point and completed the quest, then you have total freedom of movement between the chapters).

Some skills (core skills) are available in every chapter, others are specific to the individual chapter you have purchased. The same applies to professions.

There are still many people playing in Prophecies (Chapter 1) but you may find it harder to get into a group for missions later in the game. The missions are almost all (some would say all) completable using Henchmen (NPCs) though.

If you join a Guild, you can chat with your Guild mates no matter what chapter they are in. You will also be able to meet up with Guild mates at your Guild Hall which is common accross all chapters in order to play Guild V Guild PVP matches.

Hope you enjoy the game :-)

People certainly still play the original, however the lion's share of players are in Nightfall right now. However, this is somewhat offset by the heros feature... there may be more players in Nightfall, but there is much less actual PvE partying with others than in the original, as most everyone is using heros instead. So though there may be more players in the current campaign, it might actually be easier to form and join parties with other players in the original campaign.

There are special features only available to players from the other two campaigns, and so you will encounter players who have those along the way, though you can still interact with them and join guilds with players from other campaigns. You can also purchase (from players) and use items from the other campaigns if they are designed for the core professions.

The best feature of getting the original, other than starting at the beginning and going through the storyline, is that the majority of skills for the core six professions are in that campaign, and most of them are available through PvE quest rewards. The other two campaigns give a few starter skills, then the majority must be purchased with gold from skill traders, which can become costly for a pure PvE character, as the cost increases with each one you purchase, with a cap at 1k per skill. In PvP one can purchase skills with earned faction, but they are only available to PvP characters and will show up as unlocked in PvE, but must still be purchased for a PvE character to use.

In my opinion, if one plans on eventually getting the other campaigns, then the original (Prophecies) is the best choice to get first. If one plans to only purchase one campaign and prefers PvE play, then Nightfall is the best choice, simply because of the heros option and that most people are playing there now. If one prefers serious PvP play, then Factions is the better option.

There's also character selection and feel differences...

Prophecies (original) = Classic European RPG look and feel, focused on all six core professions, with a good balance of PvE and PvP.
Factions = Oriental look and feel, with focus on the Assassin and Ritualist professions, with a heavy tilt toward PvP.
Nightfall = North African look and feel, with focus on the Dervish and Paragon professions, and PvE soloing with heros.

Thankyou for all the replies guys.

In WoW the part i loved was the PvP, so if i would want to do PvP the most would Factions be the best choice?

There's not really an easy answer... all three campaigns offer a solid PvP experience. What Factions brings to the table is 12 vs 12 Alliance Battles, and PvP-style content inserted into the PvE game itself. However, Nightfall adds the option of bringing Heros into PvP, and offers some really great elite skills. Meanwhile Prophecies has the largest skill selection for the core professions, which can have an effect on the PvP options available.

Another bonus of Factions is that it's the fastest game of the three for levelling up and decking out a PvE character for PvP play, and doing so costs much less because of the excellent armor crafting system, which is very different from the other two. However I don't know what it would be like to only have Factions. Most of the complaints I've read about Factions are from PvE-centric players, who didn't like the fast paced leveling, quick storyline and forced PvP features in PvE. But if you're looking to join a guild that PvPs a lot, it's probably the better of the three campaigns for specifically doing that.

You may want to ask this specific question about PvP and Factions in the Gladiator's Arena PvP forum to get insights from some more advanced PvPers... but be prepared. I'd recommend wearing a flame retardant battle suit upon entering.

Guild Wars has an on-line store which you can access through the character selection screen. They sell (for real money) PvP only versions and PvP skill packs (which give you all the skills without doing PvE).

IMPORTANT: if you buy more than one chapter be sure to NOT INSTALL the 2nd. Just add the new key on your login screen. Otherwise your chapters are not linked.

Just to help make things clear in terms of what each chapter offers for PvP:

All three campaigns offer 4v4 Random Arenas (random group formation) games, 4v4 Team Arenas (Pre-built team) games, 6v6 Hero's Ascent (Competative pre-built team w/ varying play conditions) games, and 8v8 Guild Battles (pre-built teams formed entirely of members from your Guild and Alliance).

Factions offers 12v12 Alliance Battles, in which you can play for supremacy of your chosen faction in one of two formats - two random teams of 12 play each other, or 3 pre-built teams of four play 3 opposing teams. Factions also introduced a new kind of faction. In all PvP formats, killing opponents and winning gives you Faction of Balthazar, which you can use to unlock new skills, items, and heros for your PvP characters. In Factions, playing Alliance Battles also gives you either Luxon or Kurzick Faction, depending on which side you're playing for. This faction (as well as Balth faction) is account-wide, not character specific, and can be traded for valuable crafting materials for PvE or donated to your alliance. Alliances that have enough faction can gain control of a town, which allows access to special features.

Nightfall brings to the table Heros - NPC's that you can bring along in both PvE and PvP. The major benefit of heros is that you can customize their gear and skill sets, unlike henchmen, who have one predetermined build. Nightfall's new PvP aea is the Hero Battles arena - 4v4 competitions with two teams of one PC and 3 Heros.

My personal recommnedation for which campaign to get if you're interested in PvP would be Factions. You gain access to high-level PvE areas and elite skills quickly, as well as access to 8 character classes. Although the need to buy skills is irritating, if you can acquire a handful of good skills and an elite or two, you can unlock just about any skill for PvP in fairly short order.

If you have any specific questions, feel free to PM me.

Hello all! This is my first time posting on a GW-related subject so please forgive my ignorance. I have always kept an eye on GW and have been looking closely at making a purchase very soon. With the recent price reduction to 29.99 per unit, I have been considering buying Factions and Nightfall, as I want to try out the Assassin and Ritualist professions most (of course this could change). I was going to take my Ritualist to Nightfall and focus my time there and then do the PvP in Factions at a later time, but the following statement caught my eye:

What does this mean for the Ritualist/Assassin professions? Are they treated like the core six professions if created outside of Prophecies and must purchase the majority of their PvE skills, or are some of them obtained through the Factions storyline? Essentially, will creating a Ritualist and taking them directly to Nightfall for leveling thwart my abilities or wallet size? Thanks!

In Prophecies, there are quests that give you xp, items, and/or skills as reward for completing the quest. In Factions and Nightfall, the quests give you xp and gold. If you want to unlock a skill in pve, you'd have to visit the skill trainers in town. There are no Rit/Asn skills in prophecies. If you took a rit to do the prophecies quest that gives skills rewards, you will only get the skills of the core professions if your secondary is one of the core professions. If you accept the reward as a rit/asn or asn/rit, you don't get any skills.

Also, you can only create Rits and Asn in Factions and are not considered a core profession. The core professions can be created in every chapter. Rits and Asn are only available in Factions. Dervish and Paragons are only available in Nightfall.

As for what chapter allows for what possibilities in and of itself (since it confuses lots of people,) I'll give it a shot here.

If you're buying only one of the three chapters ...

All three chapters give you access to some skills for the core professions: Warrior, Monk, Ranger, Elementalist, Mesmer, and Necromancer. You can create a character (PvE/PvP or PvP-only) with any of the "core professions" as primary or secondary in any chapter. Any one chapter will give you the ability to get all the skills considered "core skills" (regular and elite skills available to core characters in any chapter) and some more skills for "core professions" considered chapter-specific.

Ritualist and Assassin characters may only be created with Factions (chapter 2.) Factions has the most skills available for the Rt and A professions (I think.) Factions has the core skills, of course, and some new chapter-specific skills for core professions.

Dervish and Paragon characters may only be created with Nightfall (chapter 3.) NF has the only skills currently available for D and P professions. There are some chapter-specific skills available for the Rt and A in NF. Like Factions, there are the core skills and some new chapter-specific skills for the core professions. Don't buy *only* NF if you want to play with Rt and A, though (see above.)

Prophecies (chapter 1) was first. So there are no Rt, A, D, or P skills available there.

Factions was second, so there are no D or P skills available there.

Nightfall is third. You'd almost think there wouldn't be Rt or A skills available there, but there are some. Think of it as ANet doesn't update old chapters for new professions, but they'd have been hurting people playing Rt and A with both Factions and NF, so the professions from a specific older chapter get some new tricks in newer chapters, at least so far.

I suspect the inclusion of skills for the non-core and non-NF Rt and A professions in Nightfall is the source of much confusion to people unfamiliar with the game.

Here's the best way I can think to give guidelines for choosing only one chapter.

• If you want to play with the core professions and only get one chapter, you might consider reading the profession skill description lists on wiki, starting here. They are links to nicely laid-out tables of each professions skills with indications of what's core and what's chapter-specific. Bear in mind that wiki, like guru, is a fansite built and maintained by fans, not ANet or NCSoft. Folks are pretty good at keeping it current, but it might not always match the exact current state of the game.
• If you want to play with the newer, chapter-specific professions, get that chapter (Factions for Rt and A, Nightfall for D and P.)
• If you want to get the most "free" skills from quests in PvE for core characters, start with Prophecies. Factions and Nightfall each give you a few free skills for new characters in the beginning areas, but Prophecies has the most skill quests available by far.
• If you want to get only one chapter and have the most likelihood of making/finding builds to compete with in PvP, reading the PvP forums is a good place to start. The current general opinion *seems to be* that NF has the most powerful skills available, at least for some professions. Such things are very subject to change, however, as ANet makes "skill balance updates" (nerfs and buffs) at least once a season. Disclaimer - I'm far from a PvP expert, so this may not be right. This is my best educated guess from playing all three chapters, chatting with friends, and browsing forums.

Sorry for the long post. I hope it helps. And you think that's bad? It'd be even more confusing if I tried an answer to "which 2 of the 3 chapters should I buy?" questions!

Oh, and I think this is all correct, but if I've made mistakes, please do PM me and I'll try to update this.

GL in your decisions. I hope y'all find the game as enjoyable as I do!
Luny

Another thing, which several people might have touched upon already, is that for some reason people still want to go to the fissure and underworld via the temple of ages, a chapter 1 area.

For the Ritualist, there are 14 questable skills unlocked through early PvE play out of a total 76 available skills. Around 40 of those are available for purchase in the port town where you travel from Factions to Nightfall. In Nightfall there are an additional 16 skills available for purchase and 10 elites for capture.

Well depending on how you play on the starter island, you'll probably already be between lvl 13 and lvl 20 before you even get to Nightfall, with access to purchase over 50 of the Factions skills, along with three max armor choices, right in the port town where you'll travel to Nightfall from.

The main things you'll be missing out on are that some of the best Ritualist skills are only available in later areas, like the Soul Twisting and Ritual Lord elites; and then you won't be able to change your secondary profession in Nightfall until you become "Wei No Su" in Factions and reach Senji's Corner, which is two missions and three primary quests after reaching the mainland.

It will take 6450g and 20 skill points to unlock your first 20 skills, then 1k and 1 skill point for each thereafter, in either campaign. So across both campaigns it will take around 40k to unlock all purchasable skills, and then 25k for the elite capture signets - that's for the primary alone. It doesn't really matter which way you go, it will cost the same. Where you'll see the biggest financial difference is with armor crafting in the two campaigns, and then if you choose to augment heros.

The first Guild Wars is the best of the 3, in my opinion.

Basic storyline, easy to get started and used to, very nice atmosphere (jungles, deserts, snowy mountains, etc), biggest continent, FoW and UW, and a few others.

I would definitely get it before any of the others because it is the original game and so you can beat them in order.

Thankyou guys for all that.

Judging on what most of you are saying i will pick up factions soon for the PvP.

Wow! That is a ton of very helpful information. Thanks all!

let me tell u if u ever like WoW, u will never come to love GW the way ppl that have not played WoW have. the same goes for any GW player going to WoW