READ ME FIRST: For the new player on a budget: Which Guild Wars Should You Buy?

I'm still umming and arring about which version to get. Note I have up to £17 to spend, saving money to upgrade to DX10 for Crysis. Guild Wars will be a sort of midway point between now and Crysis' release, I have literally nothing to do atm. I used to play WoW, but I got bored of the grinding in TBC.

I'm fairly experienced with raids, I had a full t2 character but I never enjoyed it. Raiding was like a chore, I prefer the PvP side of things but I like a good story, Oblivion <3.

So my first idea was Prophecies and then I saw that some people thought I should start out with Nightfall. Yet I saw that it is more high-level content related, and gets into raids or whatever (does GW have raids? :/). If that is so, i'm sure Prophecies is for me, so could anyone clear up the 'high-level content' in Nightfall?

Thanks very much

Factions is probably the best to start because you lvl very fast there

Well, I forgot to say this...

I've played all 3 versions of Guild Wars at my friends house. I liked Prophecies as much as Nightfall and found Factions crap. It didn't seem to have any reason for doing the things you were doing, you just did them.

I decided to get Prophecies as it is the cheapest and its always nice to start with the original stuff.

You made the best choice Enjoy !

factions > all

but proph is the best bigginers choice untill it becomes a ghost town ^^

Actually later Factions missions have a much bigger ghost town problem than Prophecies. At least in my recent experience.

If you can't decide, try all three!!! I not sure about all areas, but my local Sam's Club has a cluster pack of all three games for $49, which is less than buying any one individually at a gaming store.

Well great :P I went to a Gamestop, and was going to get Prophecies, without knowing a darn thing about the game.

Dude there said he played Guild Wars, and had all three and he loved Factions the best, so he convinced me to get it.. Now I have no idea what I am doing! :P Lord. I get into the main city after doing the little Mantid Killing thing and then have NO IDEA what I am doing 0_o Get killed alot in the first open area I get to, even with 4 henchmen.

*sigh* This is what I get for wasting my store credit on that. BAH! Guess I am gonna have to wait till next week and get Prophecies. BAH.

Well, I already have Prophecies but not Factions or Nightfall.

I was wondering which would be the better to buy in terms of features/items etc. I was leaning towards Factions because I like the asian style more than the african/eqypt one. Although, I wouldn't what to get it if say Nightfall had some must have features/items in it over factions.

Well I can say now Factions aint so bad, once I got my GW Legs so to speak. I figured out how to use my powers pretty well, and am doing quite well for myself. Now I am gonna go on boss hunts! Why? Cause I wanna :P

Hi just like to say, if anyone after a certain chapter of GW and live in the UK. Games* is selling Factions and Nighfall for £19.99 each (*In Manchester but could be anywhere else as well). And HMV* is selling Prophecies for £9.99 (again in Manchester). Worth check it out at this prices, even if you live in a different part of the UK.

Thank you.

Well, I decided to go with Nightfall, it was on sale for cheap where I got it so I figured I'd take it while I can since Factions seems to be even cheaper and I can pick it up anytime I have some spare cash.

now you don't have to chose just one lol I was in my local Sam's Club shoping for house stuff and ran across a 3 pack yes A 3 PACK it had all 3 games for just under $50 so if you looking to buy and you or someone in your family is a member of SAM's CLUB then get them to go with you to find out if its aviliable for that same low price yes all 3 games for under $50!!!!!!!!!!!

I was looking at the PlayNC site. They had the 3 "campaigns", and they also had 3 "PVP" versions that seemed to correspond 1-for-1 with the campaigns. If I bought the Prophesies, would I also have to buy the PvP version in order to eventually play PvP, or could I just buy the Prophesies campaign, and then play through it to level 20 and be able to play PvP? The same question goes for the other campaigns. Do you have to buy the campaign and also the PvP edition for that compaign?

No you don't need to buy the PvP edition if you own prophecies. The PvP edition just lets you play PvP and unlocks all the skills. If you own Prophecies you will unlock skills just by playing the game and can also do PvP. The same is true of the other campaigns.

So here I am...

Few things.

I am an EX-WoW player. I was the best PVP player for my classes in all the classes I played. I'm not trying to brag, I was seriously named the best on our forums. I'm just very good at learning all the classes and best deafeating and predicting a human enemy.

I also enjoy playing with friends.
I'd like a more PVP-oreintated game in the end, but also a game that I can sit down, play with my friend, and we can level and all together.

I probably won't want factions. Though, most PVP orientated, I like to introduce myself to the game before I dive into PVP.

So...nightfall or prophecies?

Also...at end game, what do you do? How does the PVP system work? Do you just do it with no reward? I'm ignorant on all that involved Guild wars.

I have all three but if two were taken away I'd say let me keep my Prophecies. The most fun and best times were from the first chapter.

Hi ,
When my second char( lvl 6) will be able to travel from NF into Proph and Factions?

Thank you ,

Dan

I started in Prophecies, 18 months ago, bought Factions for skills only, I don't like Factions & won't play there. Nightfall & Hero's are great, all my characters get hero's, & 9/11 of them have started in Prophecies.

I recommend to a prospective new player to start in Prophecies & get Nightfall when it gets cheaper. If you get Nightfall first that's fine, you can't loose on those two... :-)

You will have to go through that whole island before you can get to the Consulate Docks. Even then, you must own an account to get anywhere in the others other than Kaineng docks or Lion's Arch in the other campaigns.

This might be slightly off topic, but I couldn't justify starting a new thread for it.

I own all 3 packs. I noticed that my factions characters have luxon and kurzick faction standings, but not the prophecies or nightfall ones.
Can only factions-started characters access this stuff, or will my other characters be able to do it fine once I travel over there? I'm guessing maybe the luxon/kurzick faction bars don't show up on my C1/C3 characters until they start earning it.

Thank you so much for making that, it is exactly what I was looking for, being a WoW player for 6 months and finding myself only playing the game once every two weeks, I thought I would check out GW, but I wasn't sure which one to buy. After reading this guide I am more confident on what to purchase.

I started on Proph a few weeks ago and it's a really good introduction to the game. My only reservation about the first campaign though is the speed of progress and the slightly dull missions during some sections.

I really want to start playing some PvP with my PvE character now, but theres at least another few hours/missions I need to get through in order to do so. I'm too high a level for the Shiverpeak arena and starting a PvP player from scratch kind of feels like cheating to me!

Play are selling each of the GW games for £10 now, though, so I've been persuaded to pick up Nightfall. Goodbye free time :-(

I'm not really sure which one I should buy. It's between Factions and Nightfall for me. I used to play WoW but the world was very boring, the battle system was bad, the story was bad, and I didn't care about the missions. Every time I got a mission I would skip down to the bottom to see what direction I had to go in, the story of the missions never interested me. Then when I just starting to get into PvP I was bored with it. So I'm looking for something where the world is intriguing, where I can have fun with the battle system, and some PvP. Having a good story would be good too but its not my main focus. I also like that Faction has assasian but then again I don't know what those other classes mean. So can anyone help me?

I'd say Nightfall, the starter Island is pretty dull but only takes a few hours to complete. Once you get to the main land you just follow the primary quests and do the missions.

If you want total free range then the first game is the better option, you can pay a runner to take you nearly anywhere, this isn't possible with Factions or Nightfall. Both of those are more story orientated.

Send me a PM if you have any further questions.

My first recommendation to beginners would be Prophecies Campaign. Why? The skill quests mainly. All the rest of us that have been playing this game for 2 years + have all or most of the skills available from the various campaigns, but one of the great aspects between the 3 campaigns are Prophecies Skill rewards from quests (free upon completion of the quest) over having to buy skills in factions and having to gain hero skill points to trade for skills in Nightfall. I think it must be one of the most requested features that players wish accompanied all the campaigns, hopefully they bring skill quest rewards back in future releases. It makes it easier to create builds for new characters without having to dish out the gold for those skills. Right now I'm barely building my newer Factions assassin and Nightfall Dervish and Paragon skill bars with the help of skill tomes that drop during farming, but I still can't use the better skills unless I buy off a skill trainer or unlock with balthazar faction points then use the tome to unlock the skill. The ease of use of Prophecies, the farming locations, the high end locations (the other campaigns have it too, but I still find myself liking Prophecy locations best) are just some pluses of Prophecies.

It all depends on what kind of area you want to play in too. For scenery I choose Nightfall over Factions due to the wide open spaces...until you hit Torment..it's dark. But for some armor I choose Factions over Nightfall.

Either way, Prophecies is still my number one choice. Also don't forget that GW will be giving us GW: Eye of the North soon and that story line is linked with the Prophecies campaign. GW has also added new map to the Prophecies Campaign, which I assume will be unlocked when GWEN is released and you buy that campaign.

Those are just some of my thoughts, hope they helped.

If you prefer PVE over PVP, Nightfall, for heroes. I don't give a rat's about PVP and Anet has constantly shown their bias for PVP over PVE. From the Rockmoulder nerf, to the Soul reaping nerf, to what's the latest nerf???? Why, because it makes PVP unbalanced. But then again, if you aren't running the build of the month in Halls, you're a noob, gg.

if your buying guild wars right now get prophecies cos at the moment there is a few places that are giving away the eye of the north pre release bonus pack with prophecies and you get 15 purple weapons for every character you build, plus the next weekend there is a chance to preview the game and get stuff from the game if you get any armour or weapons in the game you can keep them for ever so now would be a good time to get prophecies.

Thank you for the write up, it's helped explain a lot about why there's several versions. It'll make the decision a whole lot easier!

After buying GW:EN, my suggestion would still be "do not purchase".

There is obviously a very limited amount of ideas that the developers care to explore, and if they do , it just causes problems in the game. So they revert back to the basics. There are very few "extra" skills that you can get by purchasing any new version , most of the skills are the same as other campaigns. Changing the name of the skill doesn't make it a "new" skill if it does exactly the same thing as a previous skill.

Unless you want to keep paying for "new skins" and pay for a "beta" game I wouldn't waste money on it if you are on limited budget.

A friend and I are considering buying one campaign. Our focus is pvp only (may just buy pvp edition to not bother getting skills from pve) and we're trying to decide which one to purchase. I'm debating between Factions for alliance battles vs. Nightfall for hero battles and not sure which classes would be better. Hero battles seem interesting seem interesting but are 1v1, so we wouldn't be able to play together.

On another note, I noticed all pvp is solo or groups of multiples of 4. How easy would it be for the 2 of us to log in and join in a pvp battle together (ie, how easy is it to get 2 extras into your group for battle)?

In all I never like prophecies and here why, beside the low leveling system it was the pre-searing that screw me up. I was afraid to go to the mainland or post if I didn't gain up to lvl 20 in pre. boy was I wrong. I finish the game 3/4 of the way with my warrior and have only begun to get to lvl 19. Well prophecies screw me up for most of GW content, but GW still live in me. It the only alternative that I find not wasted unlike the first 3 months of wow i had to play. As long as GW is free, i'm a GW player for life.

Don't waste your money, this game went to hell in the last few months and Eye of the North is just icing on the pile of ****.

On a side note , maybe the developers could pass the joint around a couple times , they are obviously smoking better stuff than the average person.

I've enjoyed all 3 campaigns and am now enjoying GW:EN. To each his own.

brilliant observation you got Dork

Is that your suggestion for people on a limited budget , or you just want to flame me ?

I've never played WoW, but I do like GW. Once I got into the game, I kept buying all of the new expansions because I enjoyed playing my characters and wanted to continue to have fun with them.

I think it is the character development that did it for me. Granted Dark Age of Camelot is a million times deeper, but the grind ruined the experience for me. I like how I can casually play GW and not have to spend 300 hours to max out my character. In GW I level so fast that I can build and rebuild characters until I find one I like.

I'll admit, I do wish they had dragon raids with like 4 groups of 8 players each. Who knows, maybe GW2 will offer fun like that.

I'm going to give my opinion as a new player that bought Prophecies about a month ago and played GW:EN preview liked it and picked up the full version.

If you're looking to get in and decide on getting Prophecies i might suggest picking up the Platinum Edition and get GW:EN bundled with it. While many players seem to have a very mixed opinion about GW:EN and i DO understand their arguements, as a new player GW:EN is full of interesting new content if you're looking for some challenge or variety once you hit level 20.

I'll give a couple of the main arguments against GW:EN and why you a perspective new player won't care.
1) "Reskinned endgame armor": Ok so the GW:EN armor does look as "new" to an old player, it's still new to you as a new player so it doesn't matter. It's all going to look pretty cool.

2) Hall of Monuments: Alot of older players are fussing about it because it doesn't cater to their vision of how they want their titles displayed. Meh, you're new we're still getting started and titles mean little to you as a new player. If anything the HoM serves as a motivating factor for you as you'll want to fill it's empty displays with your accomplishments and each new statue you add will be a thrill of accomplishment as it starts to fill. I got a nice feeling of contentment when i managed to finish the Prophecies Campaign and display my first statue in the HoM, now to work on Cartographer and Skill hunter and try to add a couple more.

Now for why I liked GW:EN as a new player and you probably will too.
1) Loot: The loot in GW:EN blows away much of the loot in the Prophecies campaign until you get to the very end. You can Access GW:EN once you hit level 20 which is fairly easy to do, you'll probably reach it about half way through the campaign. At that point in the game Items you can pick up in GW:EN are VASTLY superior to what you will be getting in Prophecies. Also it gives you access to inscribable weapons you normally wouldn't have access to without owning Nightfall.

2) Heroes: You have been leaning toward Prophecies for whichever reason and that means no heroes for you normally as they are in Nightfall. However Buying the Platinum Edition and having access to the GW:EN content means you get the GW:EN Heroes. If you like to play solo or with only a couple close friends Heroes are a HUGE help as they are vastly superior to henchmen.

3) Challenge and variety: Access to the GW:EN content means you get to fight much tougher enemies than you would in Prophecies until later in the game. Also the variety of monsters in GW:EN a nice addition, and since Prophecies will be your "home" campaign you'll probably get a decent hate/interest for Charr and be thrilled to be able to go stomping through their homeland and learn a bit about them.

Just a final parting warning if you do buy the Platinum Edition, your account key probably will have a 14 day/10 hour trial key for the other campaigns as part of it, so when you make your charactor make SURE you make it in Prophecies, unless you understand beforehand that the charactor in the other campaign is temporary and is going to be locked out after the trial period is over. I wouldn't want you to get upset at Guild Wars because you spent your 10 hours pouring your love and time into a Factions or Nightfall charactor and then be surprised when after 10 hours they go "poof, locked until you by this campaign."

Good hunting and i hope this helps any perspective new players that are wondering about Prophecies vs the Platinum Edition that is Prophecies + GW:EN make a more educated choice.

Good Hunting, and see you in game

Thanks to all, Im new to the MMORPG, but I have heard bad stuff 'bout WoW, and I think LOTRO is going to disapoint me. And I was confused with the expansion-chapter stuff. You guys cleard that up. The best option seems like GW Platinum, Im interested in Profecies for the Quest-Skills, and you get GW:EN. And the next thing to buy would be Nightfall, but Im low on budget. In a short time you may see a new Warrior/Necro runing around.
Thanks again.

Guild Wars Factions is still $19.99 at www.zipzoomfly.com if money is an object

I have already purchased Nightfall, which sounds like that may have been a good investment for a beginner (altho there were many posts for Prophecies) - I have been reading the entire GW website info, the manual, posts on this board as well as others, reading up on all of the guilds and their websites/forum posts - and can you believe this, I am still so unsure of how to start my character! I want to have an idea of the primary/secondary before I even begin - maybe I'm being over-analytical? Aaagh! I think I've gone into brain overload