newbie questions

well, im not entirely new to the game, i've played it a bit when it first launched but i didn't like how you always have to follow a fixed path and that at any given time your only playing with a few people in your party and the rest are playing in another instance.. it just didn't feel like an mmo to me.

in any case i've reinstalled my GW, made a new character (warrior), and i was hoping somebody here could shed some light on a few questions that have been tugging on me.

1. Is there any fundamental difference between swords, axes and hammers? say for example, swords do slashing damage and are thus better against lightly armoured enemies and hammers do bashing damage and are better against heavily armoured enemies, etc. anything like that?

2. How do shields work? I've been using a shield and i haven't yet seen a "block" occur. do they simply reduce the overall damage i take?
Also, what about critical hits? do they exist in this game and what influences them?

3. Is there some kind of combat log where it will tell me things like "you hit for XX damage", yada yada?

4. I also need some advice on what secondary profession to choose. I know it's dependant on one's personal play style, but obviously there are some combinations that simply won't work (say a warrior taking an elementalist prof).
I've seen a lot of warriors choose monk as their secondary profession but from what i've tried i didn't like it that much. I have enjoyed necromancer skills though. The skill that leeches life from an enemy is very handy imo, and the deathly swarm helped me out a lot when i was fighting many enemies at once.
What kind of skills do monks and necromancers get later on? which one is more suited for a warrior?

5. Equipment. I understand that being a warrior equipment is very important (on the other hand an elementalist can rely mostly on their spells). I've seen a weapon seller in town, and i also picked up a few good ones from enemies, but what is the primary way to obtain good equipment? is it from quests or is it from random chance drops like in most other MMOs? is there a drop table on some website where i can look it up and then go and farm for some good equipment or how else do i get good gear? (armour too).

6. Before i made this warrior i played on my old toon a bit, and he's lvl 14 and i went on a mission and got many unidentified drops, and when i used the kit on them i got some message saying "you have discovered sword hilt" and "bow string" and things like that... what do those mean? are they like recipes i can use later to craft them or what?

7. on my lvl 14 toon i've seen a few of the new classes in town while in the prophecies chapter. i was wondering can a player without the expansion pack play with them? and is it the same for pvp? are the older classes at some kind of disadvantage to the newer ones?

sorry the list is kinda big, but i'm really confused by these questions

1. aside from different skills and different damage ranges, swords, axes and daggers have an attack speed of 1.33 seconds and hammers and scythes are 1.75 seconds, which is why they tend to have a higher maximum, less attacks per minute but greater damage per attack on average. Each of the weapon types has the ability to inflict one or more conditions depending on the skill(s) used and the set of conditions available varies depending upon the weapon.

2. Shields simply give you additional armor, outside of any bonuses on the shield, and as such lower the amount of damage you take.

3. No log, only what you see on screen during a fight

4. Any combination of professions will work just fine, so long as you don't go thinking of your War/Ele as the equivalent of an Ele/War. Your secondary is intended to improve upon your primary, not replace it. As an example, War/Nec will usually take plague touch so that should they get blinded, etc, in battle, they can transfer the condition right back to their opponent.

5. Once you get into the upper level areas (desert in Tyria, mainland in Cantha and Elona, most items that drop will be of maximum damage, as will the items you can purchase at outposts, cities, etc or get from collectors in the area. How you get your weapon, really doesn't matter so long as it works for you. I've been playing since the original release of Prophecies, and my ranger still has a longbow that I found as I went through the desert. I could go to a weaponsmith and get a different bow if I wanted, but the one I have works. As far as armor goes, you won't find that as a drop, you have to acquire the materials needed by salvaging items that do drop for you, or purchasing it from materials traders and then get an armor crafter to create it for you. Each set is unique and made specifically for the character purchasing it.

6. What those mean is that if you were to use an expert salvage kit on the item, you could salvage the sword hilt, or the bow string off and then put it onto another sword or bow that you have. Furthermore, it also means that the item you've found is now available for your use, should you make a PvP character. A PvP character is limited in where it can go in the game, but it has access to every skill and item that you have unlocked through gameplay.

7. You can play with them, no problem, both in PvP and PvE. The only disadvantage you may or may not be at is that each expansion has also given new skills for the previously existing classes. For example, a Warrior from Tyria has access to an elite axe attack called Eviscerate, which is very popular among axe warriors. If you were to purchase Factions, you'd gain access to a whole new set of elite skills, one of which is called Triple Chop (think cyclone axe on steroids). A person that only owns Factions, doesn't get access to Eviscerate and a person who only owns Prophecies doesn't get access to Triple Chop. But if you own both games, you can choose between them. Owning additional chapters just gives you a larger selection of skills that you can select from when creating your build.

4. I play W/E alot and it's very versitle not a bad idea as you made it sound
Theres lots of +armor spells for tanking and theres Star Burst and Conjure Flame for high damage at low energy costs

7. This is actully a good question and i can only answer as far as melee goes as i don't realy play much else
ALOT of people think spike assassins or condition stack can take anything down but i have only every been beaten ONCE by an assassin in 1v1 with my warrior during the corse of all my Alliance Battles
Dervishes are without doubt the noob melee class . . .not much more i can say as i hate them and have spent very little time playing them