New player, buying game soon, need help:)

Hi
I am thinking of getting Guild Wars: Nightfall very soon, and really need some help and questions answering, but before that, here's some info about me. I have just quit World of Warcraft, having got Grand Marshal at lvl 60 (highest pvp ranking) and got the armor/weps. Then when BC came out, i got to 70 and quit just as i had near full Gladiator gear, as you see i only ever pvp'd, pve dosnt intrest me much, but if i can get good gear with it then i can do it. I played a Rogue (i believe similar to the assassin?), and began hating it towards my end of wow, becuase i could never toe-to-to a warrior or many other classes.

So in Gw: NF if i make a pvp character already at maximum lvl, can i still PvE?
Atm i am thinking about making a warrior, though this secondary professon thing intrigues and confuses me:P

I'm guessing their are different servers yes? How hard is it to get into a good guild? I am new ot the game, but i belive i can learn quickly with my PVP experience. Are hex's that Necromancer's cast(?) like curses which DoT (damage over time)? If so i'm guessing that tehy are overpowered as Warlocks their equivalent in wow are. Mesemer's i don't actually know what to compare with from wow, and want to know more about them.

Thanks for hearing me out


~Ossiriss~

Hi there and welcome to Guild Wars. It's always nice to see WOW defectors.

When you buy the game you'll be able to create PVE characters and PvP only characters. If you create a PvP only char then that char cannot play PvE at all. (Duh!) The PvE characters can do it all however. They just have a longer learning curve obtaining the levels and skills needed for pvp.

Don't worry about the grind. You can get a max level, max armor, max weapon character fairly quickly in this game. You'll take longer to learn the game and be competitive though. I'd suggest playing PvE for a bit just to get the feel of the game and then move over to PvP.

and if you want an assasin type charachter, you will need to get Factions. check out http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Main_Page it has plenty of information about the various campaigns and classes as well as the game itself

How long does it take to get too lvl 20, and then get the max armor/weps etc? And how fast is it to make gold, and how can you make gold?

I'll give you as many anwers as I can

If you make a PvP character, that character is restricted to the PvP areas only. However, you get several character slots so you can make a separate PvE character. PvE characters can also get access to all the PvP areas, and most of the coolest weapon and armor designs are only available in PvE (the gear you get for PvP characters is more about functionality than vanity).

It's not that confusing, when you start to see how it works. One popular combination is Warrior primary with a Monk secondary, so that the character gets access to top grade armor and powerful weapons from the warrior side, as well as the monk's healing and protection spells for extra survivability. The secondary profession you choose gives your character most of the abilities of the secondary, which makes your characters more versatile.

There are different game territories. When you create your account you create it within a territory (America, Europe, Japan etc). You have access to town districts based on your home territory, as well as international districts where you can meet with players from other territories. Your home territory only has any real bearing when it comes to the favour system, which allows access to certain end-game areas in PvE if your territory has managed to gain favour in PvP. That's something to worry about later though.

Some necro hexes work like that. Necromancers are mages who specialise in manipulating health - stealing it, spending it, draining it over time, and taking advantage of corpses created when things reach zero health. The game has balanced this by making many necro spells cause the caster to sacrifice health or inflict negative conditions on themselves so that they can't be overused.

Mesmers are rather unusual, and the closest parallel I know of are the Psionics from the Wizardry series because of the mental and psychic magics they both use. They're a spellcasting class that specialises in manipulation and harassment, and can prevent opponents from using their skills by either interrupting them or totally disabling them (an example of this is the skill Blackout, which totally disables the target's skillbar for a short time). They also have some DoT hexes at their disposal, based around conjuring illusions and imaginary illnesses. Great fun to play with, and guaranteed to make the enemy panic


As for getting your first character to level 20, that can be done quite quickly. In Factions, you can hit level 20 and buy yourself a set of max armor in the space of a single afternoon, for example (Prophecies and Nightfall take a little longer, but can still be done relatively quickly). Gold comes quite quickly as well, and you'll find yourself gaining most of it from completing quests and selling off loot.

as far as how long it takes to get to lvl 20, i think the record is like 1 hr 30 min but thats not really realistic. Id say about 1 week or 2 to get to lvl 20 sounds about right, as far as money goes, you can get it from farming creatures for loot, just playing the game or power trading.

i got lvl 8-10 in 1 hr........ making gold....you can play through the game killing monsters and doing quests to make gold...... or you can farm bosses.... or if you get factions you can do something called fff (fast faction farming)

Through normally playing the game you'll be lvl 20 pretty fast in Nightfall. I think 15-20 hours, but I'm not sure.
You can't play PvE with a PvP character (=a character that starts at lvl 20), but ofcourse you can make a few PvE characters (which start at lvl 1), and leave one slot free for a PvP character.
Getting in a top guild will be close to impossible with only nightfall. Almost any self-respecting PvP guild reqiuires their members to have all three campaigns AFAIK.

Thanks so much for your answer's its greay appreciated.

What you said about the getting all chapter's to get into a good pvp guild, look's like i'll have to buy them all then:P

What secondary profession would you recommend for a Warrior?

There are lots of options, and it depends on your playing style. Warrior/Ranger lets you tame a pet, lets you get more out of bows, and gives you more ways of letting you block incoming attacks and boost your attack speed. Warrior/Monk gives you access to some great healing and protection abilities. Warrior/Elementalist gives you access to some highly damaging elemental skills as well as some earth-based defences. Warrior/Necromancer lets you rip health out of opponents to keep yourself alive longer. Warrior/Mesmer gives you access to several defensive stances and ways of regenerating your energy pool faster. Warrior/Assassin lets you get more out of daggers and lets you use some pretty cool short-range teleportation skills. Warrior/Ritualist gives you spells that let you magically enhance your weapon's base properties. Warrior/Dervish lets you get more out of scythes as well as some sandstorm based enchantments to buff yourself up. Warrior/Paragon lets you get more oout of spears and gives access to a huge range of vocal skills that enhance the entire party at once. So you have a huge range of options, and the number of possible strategies that you could use are virtually limitless.

One thing to note is that PvE characters do get the chance to change their secondary profession once you reach a certain point in the game. So if you don't like your secondary, or if you want to try something different, it is possible. PvP characters can change their secondary profession much more easily, and can change in any PvP staging area I think.

Ossiriss, this game is much more about skill usage and tactics than other MMOs. You will be able to freely switch profs/secondary profs/builds/skills/etc, so you won't be locked into any one thing for long.

That said, I'd go with something other than /monk. It doesn't really matter what you choose. W provides you with all the skills you need for PvE.

If you absolutely want a hard rez, then you'll need to go with monk or ritualist. Can't remember if paragon has one or not.

Paragon does have a hard rez - Signet of Return. Linked to the Paragon's primary attribute though, so it's harder for a paragon secondary to get the most out of.

Can i make a couple of pvp char's to test out different professions, then once i've decided make a PvE one and lvl it etc? + How hard is it once your 20 to get max lvl armor/weps, in deatil please.

Thanks all who have replied so far appreciate it alot

You're always going to have a minimum of 4 character slots, so feel free to create as many test characters as you like before you settle on anything. Just play around and see what works for you.

As for maxed out equipment... In Prophecies and Factions, max armor will generally set you back 1.5k per piece (price includes the extra bonuses that are pre-built into the armor). In Nightfall, max armor costs about 1k per piece but comes "as is" - for any additional bonuses on the armor you will have to buy and apply insignias (purchasable from rune traders, and insignia prices will vary according to supply and demand). This is quite cheap for top grade armor, even considering that you have to supply all the raw materials yourself, either by buying them from material traders or by salvaging them from loot.

A max weapon in Prophecies/Factions will normally cost about 5k, although it will come with perfect stats (perfect built-in inscription included, but no other upgrades like special sword hilts or staff heads included - these you will have to salvage from loot). I'm not so sure about the prices in Nightfall, but they should be cheaper as NF weapons don't come with inscriptions built into them (any inscription you want on the weapon you will have to get yourself by salvaging it from loot).

In Prophecies and Nightfall it can take quite a while before you can get to the crafters who make max equipment. It's much easier in Factions, as the crafters who deal in max equipment can be found before you reach the third mission (and which may or may not be before you hit level 20, depending on how many quests you clear out of your log on the way to the mainland). It's not unheard of for lower level characters from Prophecies to cross over to Factions at the earliest opportunity just so they can get max equipment sooner and then head back to Prophecies with their shiny new gear.

don't worry too much about equipment on your pve character, because it is unrealistic for you to equip them properly for pvp anyways. my pve ranger, which i have recently fully equipped for pvp set me back well over 100k gold.

if you wish to become a competitive pvper, it's probably better to just play the pve portion a little bit to get a feel for the game mechanics, and move on to pvp characters and play pvp exclusively. the gameplay between pve and pvp are quite different, different enough that player skills necessary in pve probably won't be the same for pvp.

At the moment, my belief is that W/E with Conjure Frost (or Lightning or Flame) is the strongest warrior build around for a PvP stand character (i.e. one that stays with your main team)
It depends though. Warriors are probably the most versatile class in the game, so there are a lot of viable secondaries as well. Necromancer or Monk goes well too for the self condition removal (Plague Touch or Mending Touch), which is generally better on a split character. (i.e. one that doesn't stay with your team, but goes to their base to kill their NPC's)
I won't go too deep into the various options, their benefits and drawbacks, but it's not a question with one answer.