transfer characters

My mother-in-law is a big fan of GW and gave my wife and me a copy for Christmas to play with her.

If I create a character, play the game for a bit, and decide I like the game a lot I assume I need to buy a copy of my own to play at the same time as my wife on a 2nd PC. Can I transfer characters to a new copy of the game or am I expected to start over?

you cannot transfer characters from one account to another, so youll have to begin from scratch, but you could transfer some money/materials to help you if you buy another copy.

@OP

If you want get a buddy key from someone and you can try out Nightfall for like 10 hours I think and if you like it you can just add the key when you buy the retail package. That way you get your own account and still get all the benefits other than the loot that drops.

As long as you have your own account, it shouldn't matter. If you share accounts you will have to create a new one. That sadly means it is also impossible to get a character from one account to another.

Have fun playing Guild Wars! It's a great game!