Starting a Character and need the opinion of the populus

I want to start a Ranger, and I'm pretty much set on what I want as far as build, armor, pet etc....

Only have one debatable question (or is it? O_o), What do I do after I start?
By this I mean that I already know I want my new ranger to be born in Tyria, but I have all 3 games, and I want to take her through all 3 of them. So I plan to start in Tyria and enjoy the game, up until I get to LA, where it could get complicated. I don't know whether or not I want to go to Elona and grab some Heroes then return to Tyria? If so, then how far into the game would I got then return to Tryia?

Also..

Here is the order in which I plan on completing the game:

1. Prophecies

2. Nightfall

3. Factions

I'm still quite confused about how I'm gonna do this... but that's where you peoples can help (*Cricket Sound in the background*) Help me debate this, give me the pros and cons. All criticism is accepted I guess..

-IMAU

Do at least some of Elona first, heroes make the other campaigns a lot less painful to do...

This is a smart choice. If you are playing through the PVE game the first time, I would always suggest that you play as an Elementalist or a Ranger, but Ranger at the top.

Midline characters get full advantage of playing with Henchman. When you are in a crimp, you can always see what is going on in the fight unlike a Monk, and you can always react to the enemy fast, unlike a frontlike [warrior/assassin/dervish].

Rangers are adaptable and can focus on many builds. As a ranger, you can always counter anything that you will face in PVE.

Cliffs: You are on the right track.

[edit] And the poster above me is correct, Heroes do make the game much easier. Also, in Elona, you will be able to unlock skills very fast via Hero Skill Points and also for the fact that every mission can grant you 3 skill points.

If you hench the game then yes, by far this is the best thing. It is up to you if you purchase max armor or go to Cantha to quickly level to 20. For a first time through, I probably would not but it isn't a big deal - second or later time through I do as quickly as possible. It's not like you would be the first to do so and most of the three games content is level 20+ so it's not like you would be missing out, just that a decent part of Prophecies will be easier than normal.

You can get to Zhed Shadowhoof quite quickly, Margrid isn't that bad. At the least pop over and get to which ever Zaishen you want (even as a ranger I suggest getting Jin, you can make a mini-b/p team fairly easily) and the quest for Olias. You may have to gain more levels and will need to purchase max armor to get Zhed - that's up to you.

If you are going to go in a specific order then only consider swapping Prophecies and Factions as Nightfall's story is MUCH better if you know both of the others. However, Prophecies and Faction's stories are separate (well, at least until you get to Nightfall).

As far as heroes go - you'll get Tahlkora, Dunkoro, Melonni and Koss (the two monks, the dervish, and the warrior) immediately. Then, at the same time, you get to choose between Jin the ranger and Sousuke the elementalist - if you're a ranger, that's an easy decision, get Sousuke.

If you play a tiny bit more, you'll get to the Consulate Docks mission. At that point you can pick up Olias the necromancer in Tyria and Zenmai the assassin in Cantha - these are both very short, easy quests.

At that point you can stop and move on, or not, but it's the first obvious stopping point IMO. You get seven heroes very quickly, for very little work.

After that the heroes are fewer and farther between - you have to play through bigger and bigger chunks of the campaign for each new addition. Things will probably evolve naturally for you by then.

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10151254

read this about the paragon.

Actually this isn't my first character, I have 3 lvl 20s, A dervish, Assassin, and actually a ranger. BUT I've been away from the game for about 6 months. So I wanted to remake a ranger.

So I should go Though Prophecies to LA, head over to Elona, grab at least 5 heroes, and then continue on with my normal plan?

I have no idea how that helps me ClawofCrimson....

That's what I would do (and am currently doing with a new Tyrian born char).

Alright, cool. It's nice to have a plan, now if I could just decide on a pet...lol

Thanks for all the help!

Anyone else have anything more to add?

One tip for you: Just ENJOY the game! This game is open, this mean you can take whatever path is available for you at the time, forget about plans and enjoy, you always will have something to do, believe me.

I had a similiar quandry a little while back.....after the april fools weekend I decided I liked my male monk as female so I started a new presear monk (ranger 2ndary)....after leaving searing and getting to LA I had to decide where to go next....well good armor was my first choice...so Kaineng was the first stop on my list (I also had some jade brotherhood capes and a remedy still left in storage from my last 2 canthans so was able to get some easy xp too)....then off to elona for some heros....however; they are only level 15 to begin with so I have taken them back thru tyria to level up (I also want to complete all the missions in order in chapter 1 so I will acsend in the desert as a tyrian should, and the free skills quests are a bonus!).....after getting to dorks then I must decide if I want to complete cantha or elona......my first inclination is cantha since I have 3 characters currently doing the kurzick factions quests (had decided not to with them previously) and want to get some kurzick armor too. SO I might just get to house zu heltzer, get the xp and then run back to elona (need to cap barrage when I save koss!---easier than killing markis)....
So it really matters about what you think is important (or which armor you like better...) .
good luck on which ever way you decide to go!

Odd, I also had a sudden urge to make a ranger. What I did for my warrior was get her to LA, get max armor from Cantha, grab those heroes in Elona, and then move on in Tyria. Going to Cantha saved me whatever the price and time for a Droknar's run since max armor is something I consider to be used temporarily.

Haha, that's exactly what I plan on doing. Heck I would stay in Pre-Sear and get Legendary defender of Ascalon, if it wasn't so time consuming (and I'm pretty sure I would never want to go back to Pre-Sear after that endeavor ). I'm not actually able to play until Summer (June 13) so I figured that I would use the 20 sum days I had left to figure out:

1) Where I'm gonna go

2) What Build I plan to eventually use (I know it really depends on where your at, but it is really a preference to know exactly which and what skills I want)

2) What Pet/Pet Attribute I want

1) What Armor I eventually want.

So it's good to know what I want to EVENTUALLY achieve. 15k Female Druids FTW!!

Alright, about pets:

Which pet you choose is entirely cosmetic, they are all the same as far as mechanics are concerned. There are many different types of pets you can get throughout all 3 games, some examples are the warthog, the crocodile, the lion/lioness, the phoenix (only availible when you beat Factions), melandru's stalker (basically a panther with a fancy name), crab, sand lizard, moa bird (giant chicken, also comes in black with spike things on his ankles), spider, wolf, tiger, the list goes on a little from there. However, you do have a little customization in terms of your pet. As you play with your pet, at levels 10 and I believe 15 (though maybe 20) your pet will "evolve". Depending on how much damage it deals and receives in relation to what you put out and take, it will either gain more health and deal less damage or lose health but deal more damage. If you want a more offensive pet (also known as "dire"), make sure he is doing more damage than you. One way to get him to evolve to dire without that much work is to just death level him to level 20 and charm him then. Quick note though, there is a stage between normal and dire called aggressive. It's basically a weakened version of dire that occurs at level 10, but 90% of the time, they will evolve to dire at 15 or 20. If you want a more defensive pet (or "hearty"), basically have him tank for you. Degen and lifestealing isn't figured into the damage factor though. There is also an intermediate stage between normal and hearty called playful, which again is a weakend version of hearty and will usually go away at 15 or 20. There are some cases where your pet will stay balanced and will either not evolve or will become "elder". Most people will go for a dire pet because of their superior damage output, so I would recommend doing that. If you don't like your pet for whatever reason (evolved the wrong way, don't like the skin), there is a pet tamer in every campaign who will take your pet permanently so you can go tame another one. Just know that if you use a pet in combat, you must have charm animal equipped or your pet won't show up, and you will probably want to bring [skill]Comfort Animal[/skill] or [skill]Heal as One[/skill] plus any pet attacks. Pet attacks will restrict you from using bow attacks and you have to put attribute points into Beast Mastery as well (meaning you gotta take points out of the other attributes).

*catches breath* Alright, so that should be about everything you need to know about pets, I hope this helps and enjoy playing your ranger when June rolls around!

After you pick up your heroes you might want to go back to Cantha and do some fed-ex quests. You should be able to have everyone up to lvl 20 in a few hours.
There's not a whole lot of fighting, just mostly running around, so even a bunch of lvl 15s shouldn't have any problems other than boredom.

The ranger's a great choice for a character. It's "The Jack of All Trades" in my opinion. About the campaigns...
Since you're starting in Tyria, progress to Lion's Arch. Do the missions here if you wish. When you reach LA, travel to Elona, get up the the point at which you get Zhed Shadowhoof, and maybe nab Margrid or the Master as well. Here you can either finish up Elona, or head off to one of the other two campaigns. It's very nice to have heroes when finishing Prophecies or Factions, as they're much more reliable than a PuG.

Adding on to what Dawgboy said, you actually can do any of the Canthan quests without them as long as the hero is in your party when you collect the reward. That way you can lvl them up without them hindering you.

So Pets really haven't changed at all. I really want a dire black widow if I can get my hands on one. I just need good luck lol.

So yea I guess I'll just grab a few heroes then run on back to Tyrian to kick so uber mantle A$4...

do a few elonian quests for skills and heros, then do canthan quests til you are satisfied with your level, then back to LA for you.

Hi

im new and was wondering what i should play as

can ppl give me the best combinations of proffesions

thx

Well my friend you're in luck, because Anet has set aside the perfect character, just for you! It's called a monkey! now go outside, and play!

I'm just messin' with yah!( I DO really wish there was a monkey pet )

This is the Ultimate Question, In Guildwars there is no pre-set uber GAWDLY professions, like Diablo or RuneScape. It's more Skill-Related, Common Sense, and Experience.

Any Character is good. There is no best profession, there's just your profession and how well you can play it. For Example, if you play a monk, You are not a Tank (for the love of god, you are not a tank!). Some professions are dependent on your playing style and immagination.

For Example, if you like to get in front of the action and be the make damage absorption unit in your party, you might be interested in either a Warrior or Dervish. If you like Ranged Damage and Versatility, you might enjoy playing Ranger or Paragon. If you like casting spells and might like Necromancer, Elementalist, or Mesmer. If you like to go in the back of the party, and heal others, you might enjoy playing a monk. And if you like screwing up the entire mission and killing yourself fast, you might enjoy Assassin. Each Profession has different abilities, and Specialties.

Three more things:

1) Listen to Guildcast:

http://www.guildcast.com/show/

You would be Most interested in Ep. 63

*WARNING: IT CONTAINS BAD WORDS, SO IF YOU ARE YOUNG AND YOUR MOMMY IS LISTENING WITH YOU THEN SAVE IT FOR LATER OR DON'T LISTEN TO IT AT ALL!!!*

2) GuildWiki is your friend:

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

3) You really should make your own post for this. The Q&A section is probably the best place for this kind of post, and you will probably get a more in-depth answer.

*Surry foer eny spieling errarz*

If you feel the need to smash and smash and smash without thinking about it: Warrior.

If you like to snipe people and do other creative stuff: Ranger

If you are a pyro and like seeing stuff burn: Elementalist

If you like to see people on your side alive: Monk

If you like to piss off anybody at any time: Mesmer

If you like to control a horde of undead minions and piss off warriors in particular: Necromancer

If you like to show up, spike the living crap out of someone, then instantly teleport away: Assassin

If you like to either heal or get an ocean of spirits to help you out: Ritualist

If you feel the need to be a God for a while: Dervish

If you like a spear-throwing guardian angel with indecently bare armor (even the guys): Paragon

Yea, very stereotypical and not in depth, but that is the basic idea behind the professions.

lol, Very straight forward....