A question about loading screens.

This is my first time to play guild wars. (although i havent even gotten past the loading screen)
After i created a character, it went to the loading screen.

I got a few questions about it
What are those 9k+ files that I am DL'ing? Are they the files for Ascalon City? If so, why werent they included on the installer? And do all maps/places have to be dl'ed?

I just wanna clear things up. As you can see on my screenshot, im only on a
56k connection. And it will take me a hell of a long time if i need to dl every single map.

This is an MMORPG, naturally tons of things have changed since that install disk of yours was made.
Yes, the first time around you will have to download a lot in many places, a lot for a 56k connection, that is.

Yeah. I know about updates. I play other mmo's. Updating games on a 56k is a drag. I just need to know if everytime i go to a map, Do I need to go dl all of them (maps) first?

Yup when you go to a city that is new you download the map and player models (if they're new.) You will Dl maps as you go to them just as a new website is downloaded when you go there for the first time.

Yes you will need to Download all of the maps as you come to them. You are also downloading the players and NPC's in the area. The disc is basically nothing lol... 20 minutes for the disc and i've spent about 2 hours dling maps and players, but it gets faster as you frequently visit that place.

Yes, if you ever get to them you'll have to download the area. No, you do not have to go through all that if you do the -image command first. It'll download and decompress everything all at once, so no more loading. However, you are on dial up AND just started so it's going to take you quite a while. I'd recommend doing it before you go to sleep if you can.

Thanks guys.

Btw. How do i do that -image thing? Any links? I cant seem to find em on these forums. Thanks again.

http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Command_line