Which chapter to start, don't agree with GWG article

This article on Guru about which game to start with doesn't seem very objective.

There are some key points which I must disagree with.

Learning Curve.

Unless you have no concept on how to play an MMO/Adventure game, the learning curve is actually the steepest in prophecies. Why? Because your henchman are consistently below your average level. They are useless, and I can bet anyone who's played from prophecies will say that henchies were useless until factions came out.

The second steepest learning curve is Nightfall, because it forces you to play virtually all the classes at the same time. You have to learn what's good across all classes and micro manage skills for numerous toons.

The easiest learning curve is Factions. Your henchies are level 20 before you, and you get a full 8 person party very early in the game. In prophecies, you're already 60% into the game before you even see 8 people parties.

Multi-player experience

Prophecies is the worst multi-player experience. Because the missions are not like Factions and Nightfall where you MUST complete it in order to continue, the whole game has become a peddler/monger experience. You either try to do it yourself or you pay someone to run you to where you need to go (where all the high levels are hanging out and actually doing stuff together)

Factions and Nightfall, as stated above, force completion of missions, so there's always someone looking for a group. As stated in the article, since Nightfall is the newer game, most people are there, but Factions still has a crowd. The plus of Nightfall though, is that because heroes do exist, every mission is possible (and sometimes easier) to do solo than to find a group. Having that option available is always nice.

Skills and Professions

Prophecies, to me, has the best set of skills (e.g. proph skills are needed to use the reliable builds). But Factions and Nightfall allow 2 more classes to be chosen. Is that worth the extra money of the newer games? Choices are always nice.

Plus, once a person learns the game, they will also learn why other chapters should be bought/incorporated.

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In conclusion, I would recommend new players to start in Nightfall. They get more classes to choose from, they also get the option of not having to always rely on groups, and they gain an aspect of the game that really forces you to learn how to play all the classes (undeniably the best thing to do if you want to pvp).

I'd also like to say that I know people who started in prophecies and they have all given up on the game because it was 'so slow and boring'. The ones who started in factions and nightfall are all still playing. You have to assume that Anet fixed the problems from C1 to C2. And you know what they say, third time is a charm.

Thanks for reading =)

What you are describing is not learning curve. It's actually the opposite. Factions has the steepest learning curve because it moves you along the FASTEST. Ease of combat & stronger henchmen do not equal learning the game. In fact they can hinder it. Prophecies takes things the slowest allowing you to progress at a steady rate and take in different nuances, situations, types of enemies over time. Prophecies has the best learning curve because it teaches you, it doesn't just get you 20 then say "ok have fun".
Nightfall has the best on-screen function/control description, but the game doesn't have the paced progression of Prophecies.

I think its best to start with Prophecies and follow each chapter in order. If you start with chapter 3, then its kinda like starting to read a book starting on the last page, its more confusing. Like the post above states, Prophecies takes is slower and its a good place to start imo. You'll understand and grasp more of what chapter 2 & 3 are about by completing chapter 1.

I know its hard to jump into a game thats been evolving for the past 2 years, its a daunting task to say the least.

Have fun.

Hmm, ok, maybe "learning curve" is not what I meant. What I meant was time it takes to learn useful game skills.

To elaborate, spending 15+ game hours at level 10 isn't going to teach you want you need to be a good player at level 20.

What's the old adage, you can't learn to ride a bike without falling off a couple times?

The newer chapters facilitate this learning better than prophecies. You get to this point in prophecies where you realized everything you learned up until that point is useless for the rest of the game (in fact, a lot of 'slow learning curve' games fall into this plight).

So, even though I may have used the wrong terminology, I believe my meaning still points that prophecies isn't the game you should start people on. Unless, of course, you're introducing the game to a non-gamer.

I disagree. The point of the three games is that they are standalone. The storylines hardly intertwine except for some non-critical tidbits that are callbacks/throwbacks to veteran gamers who have played the older campaigns. If it were not for this standalone playability, I would be inclined to agree, but I think Anet's purpose for making it standalone is to make each game it's own experience, with interchangeability as a bonus to dedicated fans.

a few things:

you have the learning curve thing a little backwards. faster doesnt mean better. the missions are very easy in the beginning of prophecies (first missions can be solo'd without any henches), with their difficulty slowly progressing as you move through the game. this allows the player to move at a slower pace, taking time to learn how best to utilize the class they have selected. in factions, it jumps you to lvl 20, and drops you right into the thick of things. it be like coming out of pre already at lvl 20, and dropping you right into the southern shiverpeaks. you go from 0 to 60 rather fast, and if you dont yet know what you are doing (and most first time players dont), you may be stopped dead in your tracks. better for first time players to take it slow and steady.

as for the runners, who says you have to get run? thats an issue with the player themselves, not the chapter. if you want to truly experience the game, dont buy a runner. no one is forcing you.

as for the henchies, i never had a problem with them through prophecies. until Aurora Glade, never ran with a PUG. and didnt run with one again until the end of the southern shiverpeaks. plus the henchies are about at the level you should be able to complete the mission at. if you cant clear the mission with the henchies available, its not the henchies fault. and why does it matter that you dont get a 8 person party until you are through most of the game? as the party gets larger, the missions get harder. mission with only 4 ppl are much easier than those with 6 or 8. its all balanced.

as for skills, i think if you ever plan to pvp, you are gonna want to have prophecies. just too many strong and staple skills you would be missing out on. not say you have to go with prophecies first, just that you are gonna have to get it anyway. i agree that the place to start is nightfall, but only because its the newer version, and has the largest community of actively playing people.

*edit*
in regards to your last post, which i didnt read before i posted this. yes to an extent, this is true. for a person that is very experienced with other MMO/RPG-esque games, then yes, prophecies does has some redundant qualities. but what about those that are new to the genre? plus i dont think you have to forget everything you learned once you reach the end. most new player simply find something that works and never change it (explaining many of the mending wammos). eventually you should learn to use the better skills that are becoming available to you. unfortunately because pve is at its roots very simple, many never bother to adapt, and keep these bad tendencies. in this case, prophecies can be bad. but, again, that is more of a player based issue rather than a chapter based one (the mentality, "its worked so far, why change?).

Just one comment: Prophecies could be completed using hench-only parties before Factions was ever released, so while the Prophecies henchies may be ineffective compared to later henchies and heroes, I wouldn't call them "useless." Besides, learning to do THK with a pure-hench group and a longbow is about the best lesson in PvE mob aggro-control you can get in GW. And IMHO, aggro-control is about the most important skill you can have in PvE.

I agree with some of your points, but Factions is a lot "harder" than Proph, while Nightfall does end up a little "harder" than that, although it takes longer to get into the high-end content in Nightfall.

Honestly, I think Tyria is the best place to play as a new player simply because you have many many many skill quests that you can do in order to obtain skills instead of buying them, which as we all know, first timers dont have the money.

Don't forget, Tyria also has the most stages of armor, which forces you to buy more sets before you have access to a max level armor set.

Money is also much easier to get in nightfall. I have no basis for saying this, just that I never really dipped into stash money with my new NF char.

fnuh, thats bull... in both factions and nightfall you get gold aswell as skill points instead of skills... I fully kitted out my characters with out delving into my storage cash

Undeniably the best thing to do if want to pvp? How does playing solo with heroes even come remotely close to teaching you how to work as a team with a group of real people? Also like the other poster stated, you need the core skills from prophecies to adequately compete in PvP. Many of the important elites can only be found in Prophecies. Come to think of it, if your just wanting to pvp, then why would you have to even pick a chapter? Just do RA, TA, HOH and get faction to unlock everything you need. What chapter you start in really has nothing to do with pvp unless your planning on grooming a pve character to compete in pvp later on.

There ARE skill quests in Factions. The profession insignia and basic profession quests,if anything, give you better skills than the quests in Prophecies.

the best chapter to start out in is prophecies in my opinion. it advances you slowly through the campaign, and leaves you a lot more time to learn than the later chapters do. there is a lot more <lv20 content in prophecies than any of the other campaigns.
every quest you do in factions gives you loads of experience, if you compare them to a similar (in difficulty) quest in prophecies you don't get near the same amount of experience/money. but you still learn the same in the 2 cases.

I think prophecies is the best game of the 3 if you only get one. it was made as a standalone game, where the 2 others where made as a add-on game with being a standalone in the back of the head.

Factions and Nightfall gets a lot harder a lot faster than prophecies does. i think that might work for people who just like to move along fast or for people who just have a tendency to learn faster than others, but generally i think taking it slow is the best thing if you are trying to learn something, rushing it often leads to information either being overlooked, or simply forgotten, even if you might end up needing it later in the game.

and you really should edit your first post. it has been mentioned in every second reply. you got your idea of learning curve completely backwards. the way you have it now is just misleading

wsmcasey, i think the OP was referring to starting for the very first time, not just rolling a new character. as in, going out and buying a chapter, not having all three already. so in this case, the chapter you have will affect your ability to pvp well.

to the OP, yes, tyria has more tiers of armor, but no one makes you buy them. its a matter of player preference again, not the chapter. i only bought at ascalon, denravi, amnoon, then droks. and those are the same armor levels as the ones available to a factions char.

i do agree that money is a bit harder to come by early in prophecies, but a little farming never hurt anyone .

Then its chapter 1 hands down for me, no further questions. The core skills from Prophecies are necessary for PvP.

You don't have to buy new armor every time it is available. People who splurg will of course have no money.


I ascended my first character with presearing collectors armor.

I remember first time I played through Prophecies I had to upgrade my armor in Amnoon even though I didn't wanna waste money on it, just because my doppleganger was hitting me for way more damage than I hit him for. Apparently the so-called doppleganger does not have the same armor as you if you have early-game armor - rather he has way more instead.

Hence I agree that Prophecies forces you to waste money on useless non-max armor.

the biggest difference between prophecies and the new factions and nightfall is the way the game plays out. in factions, the story doesnt really get rolling until your reach lvl 20 and have max armor available. newbie island builds up your battle against the afflicted, which doesnt hit its stride until your reach the mainland, and have max armor available. in essence, all of newbie island is essentially pre searing ascalon, as far as story line goes. its all build up to that point.

so factions (and to an extent, nightfall, although i think they did a better job than they did with factions in this regard) gets rolling at lvl 20 with max armor available. this is seen by the fact that bulk of the missions in factions and nightfall happen after you have already reached lvl 20, have max armor available, and are ascended. and prophecies gets rolling somewhere around lvl 5-8 coming out of pre with only low lvl armor available. the way the story plays out is conducive to slowly building your character up over a long period of time, periodically upgrading your skills, weapons, and armors as you go. you dont usually hit lvl 20 until you are about 70% through the game.

its just how the story plays out in prophecies. they made the change to the faction/nightfall style to appease the returning player who wanted to go through the story with their old tyrian characters. i doubt many ppl would have wanted to take their lvl 20 chars through 70% of factions before they reach a point that would actually be of a challenge.

You are using the right terminology, but seeing the exact opposite of what is happening. My first 30 "useless" hours were VERY important. I made mistakes and wasted time: I learned. You are exactly right; you can't learn to ride a bike without falling off a couple times. But Factions shoves you forward so quickly you are in a level 20 area before acctualy know how to fight well. It gives you a false sense of security. Proph gives you room to play, room to fall down and move forward so you really understand what is going on.

Again, you are pointing out one thing and saying the opposite. More stages means a more gradual progression. You stay on a more level playing field with the monsters you fight. You get a grasp of things before it moves on.

My advice would to play Prophecies -> Nightfall -> Factions.

They are all good, but skills from Proph are highly desired across all chapters. Then, get your heroes in Nightfall. Finally, complete Factions.

Storywise, there are a few references back to Factions in Nightfall, but nothing that can't be overcome.