A Few Questions (Gameplay, PvP, etc)

First things first, I've played World of Warcraft for quite a bit, long-time rogue, but out of boredom and the constant monthly fee, I'd like to try something different. After I get back from my week long trip to Vegas, I'd like to try Guild Wars, but I'm not sure whether to get Factions, Nightfall, etc. Those are expansions of the normal game, correct? Also, I'd like to know if the PvP is any good. I'm one that enjoys competition, and though many may disagree, I loved the PvP in WoW, so I'm hoping that GW is similar or better. Lastly, is it retardedly easy to get to max level? World of Warcraft takes quite some time to get 70 if you don't play religiously, and that was a bit of a downside, but I'd like at least a little bit of challenge in achieving lvl 20.

Hopefully your answers won't be too biased

-Aemia

Get nightfall if you want to compete pvp wise, although really u need all 3 chapters.

Get prophecies if you have a zeal for exploration and a zest for a complete PvE experience.

Is pvp good? Can i say Anet's concept of PvP is good, without actually taking the reality of july 17 2007?

Lvl 20 isnt the main grind in this game, its mostly for titles, which is sort of the non-level way to show that your 1337?

An explanations for you in a nutshell.

I would suggest getting Nightfall over Factions.
There are more features and content in Nightfall.
But why not get the special pack that has all 3 campaigns?

PVP in Guild Wars comes in many modes, but they all take place in arenas where it is team versus team. It's not as chaotic as WoW PVP in my opinion. I prefer Guild Wars combat system over WoW's in that there is more emphasis on such aspects such as shutdown, interrupts, energy degen and others that offer more strategy.

Pre level 20 is training. The game doesn't really start until you reach 20.
After you reach level 20 you have 90% of the game to still explore.
Guild Wars doesn't have a system where you simply level up to get stronger, to equip certain weapons, go to certain areas and fight certain monsters. Your character has to learn new abilities and you have to learn the nuances ,strategies and combos you can create with those new abilities in order to beat areas further on in the game. You can equip any weapon and learn any ability regardless of what level your character is.
If you get all the skills for your primary and secondary profession, you should have over 250 skills to help get through the toughest parts of the game.
If you want elite skills in PVE, you have to find the bosses that have them and beat them up to learn those skills. Some of them can be very tricky and you'll need to bring certain skills along.

pvp is different from pvp in WoW since you can't get ELITE gear....that will make u destroy newer players etc. Its more about which 8 skills you choose to use for your character...and the rest of the team and how they mesh together and how they can stop the other team of 8...

LVL 20 is easy to get...if you just want to dive into PVP you can make a lvl 20 pvp only character and jump right in...although you will have to unlock normal and elite skills/runes/weapon mods etc....for a cost of 1,000-3,000 factions per item....you get roughly 40 factions per kill in pvp. You can also unlock skills etc thru pve and use them on any PVP character...once a skill is unlocked for an account it is availble to heros and pvp characters...but not other pve characters.

The end game is about titles...and vanity items. as far as PVE goes...and to a degree PVP...

check out

www.guildwiki.org

Thanks very much for the replies. When I get back, I'll have to look into some of these things.

Also, thanks to whoever moved my thread, I completely missed the "Questions" part of the forum

First off, hey there!

Now I'll strip down your post (in a good way) and answer each seperate question:

Well, always go with the original - Prophecies. It's the first campaign, and the one that'll really help you decide if you want to buy the other campaigns (it's also dirt cheap). And all the expansions are standalone. Meaning, you don't need Prophecies to play them. The next chapter will be an expansion, though, and require the previous campaigns.

It'd be better for someone else to answer this question. It's very teambased, I can tell you that.

Well, for Prophecies, it'll take a couple days, maybe a week to get to lvl 20. For the later campaigns, no less than a day.

Also, been an avid WoW'r myself (Level 70 Warrior,l hope you don't hate me :\ ), I'll also let you know that there isn't a whole lot of endgame content. There are about five endgame dungeons, two of which are only available to you if your territory has "Favor" (check the wiki for that). The only other endgame for PvE characters are titles and PvP.

Ha, I have a 70 rogue, so it's no worries. So the game is basically made out of the campaigns? If the game doesn't have much leveling and not much end game... what is the game made out of? ><

Also, when you say "dirt cheap", how much are you talking? I haven't seen any trial discs around any stores of this game, and I'm not a fan of online buying, but I'd still love to try this game. Being cheap would make that much MUCH easier.

The game is about skills. A player's skill is based on how well they set up and use the skills available. Since you can only use 8 skills at any given time, how well you choose them and use them will determine how well you do.

At Sam's Club, you can get all 3 chapters as a set for $50. Others have said they've seen Prophecies being sold for $20 or so.

I won't say pvp is 'better' or 'worse' than WoW. What I will say is it's just different, more fair. With only 8 skills max on your bar, thinking is a premium, build planning, tactics and strategy. A team of 4 to 8 in pvp areas makes a balanced whole to complement any weaknesses one player may have due to only having 8 skills. Knowledge of what other players will have on their skill bars (or likely have) is key as well in higher end play.
You can find cheaper copies of GW all over, newegg has them pretty cheap (but it's 'online'), or just check the local software stores. They had the 3 campaign packs at sams club for awhile but I'm not sure if it's still around much, just look around a little and you should be able to find them for $30 or under each.