A few Questions about GW

Hi guys,

I have been thinking about getting GW for a while now and believe I will get it within the next couple days. Before I do though I have same basic questions.

I am from Australia and I am wondering if there are any Australian servers? If not does anyone know roughly what ping you usually get from Australia? If there are no Australian servers does anyone know of any servers that use the Australian time zone?

I am an ex wow player but am now bored of it. I'm thinking of getting either Prophecies or Nightfall, not sure yet. Main reason I want Nightfall is because I have heard that most players seem to be playing that rather than any other chapter.

- Is Nightfall the type of game to get a group together and PVE?
- Is lvl 20 the max level in GW? If so how long does it normally take to get there?
- Is leveling the most important thing about this game?

Thanks in advance guys

Frosty

-Nightfall the game with the least amount of groups because of the hero system. Heros can be customized like players with any skill sets you want. This reduced the amount of groups because most groups dont know what they are doing. Groups r mostly done with guild mates these days.

-20 is the max lvl and it is really easy to get to lvl 20 except in prophecies. The fastest chapter to lvl in is factions. It takes less then a day to lvl to 20 in factions,

-Leveling is not the most important thing in GW. Only time lvls are important is when you get off the starter island and want to group with ppl.

Ok, so from what I gather, lets just say I build up to level 20 playing nightfall, I am then up to the endgame section?

What makes a character better than another character? If it is that easy to get to level 20, I assume the rare items are what separates you from a n00b. In saying that are rare items that hard to find? If you hit max level what more is there to do? Raids etc?

I guess I am used to wow where it takes soooo long to get level 70... it seems funny that u can hit the top level within a week.

When you say you can get heroes, does that mean you are able to turn your character into a hero? Umm What exactly is a hero? (n00b question)

Thanks

Frosty

IMO, rare items make you look good, but it really depends on your skill at the game, and how you use your characters, that separate you from the noobs. Once you hit max level, beat the game, farm, or even go PVPing.

Heroes are characters you encounter throughout the campaign, and eventually you can add them to your party whenever you so please. They are customizable to whatever you want.

Heros r like henchmen u can customize with runes, skills etc. Only thing that makes a character better are builds (skill set) and the players using the builds. Noobs r the people that use builds that suck. For examples of builds use http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Main_Page

characters have different skills and every profession has a seperate category (e.g. warrior has strength, ranger has expertise, monk has divine favor etc). items/skill level/titles/armor is what seperates people for the most part. There are no raids, but there is pvp, gvg, special areas that are harder than the rest.

heroes are basically cpu players. you pick their skills and equipment

Your Getting Repsonces from People Who have Exped Etc. So let me try to Answer your Question.

For most People level 20 Can be Achived in Serval Hours. But If your Brand Spakin New Trust me it Takes Time and Lots of it. Esspisaly if theres no Groups Around. My Friend Is Quite exped and it still Took him almost 4 days to Hit 20. So Its a Grind for a While then it Starts paying off. And Yes after Level 20 if you Continue PvE there are Lots of Rares you can Farm and Grind For. and No there is no Raids Type of Things... Well Not yet.

But I suggest you Hit PvP after you get well on your Way PVE Wise. You can learn Alot PvP Wise that can be Useful PVE Essiapply Now if you Buy Eye of the North.

When you Actully Get The Game Message me Up My IGN is Lady Ariabeth or Ahhhhh my Pancreas And I can Help you Out PVE Any chapter if you wish.


And Prof Id suggest is the Best Game to Buy First then EN. Prof Has the Best Learning Curve for Beginners and Looks the Best Well Pre-Searing Wise.

what's with all the random capitalization?

to answer the OP's question about levels and game progress: the game does not begin until you reach level 20 and gotten both 15 attribute quests. what comes before is just a fancy tutorial.

I feel Like AlL the RaNdOM CaPZ
but even so thats not even WhAT wE are TaLkiNG about.

Sounds good so far.

I have just done a google search and worked out there are no Australian servers. Does any know what the average number of players are on a server? How many servers/relams are there to choose from? Can anyone suggest a good server/realm?

Thanks

In response to the OP's questions...

Nightfall is probably the most active area where you can create new characters, so there should be plenty of people around who you can group with. Nightfall also lets you create larger parties sooner (an 8-man team before you leave n00b island, compared to a max size of 6 on the Factions n00b island and a max sixe of 2 in the Prophecies n00b temporal zone). So yes, it is the kind of game for getting a group together, though some players may be more interested in playing with their heroes and the henchmen than grouping with strangers. It's much easier to find groups if you join a guild, as then you'll be among friends who'll more often than not be happy to join you for things.


Yes, level 20 is the max level. There are also 2 other quests that both award you with extra attribute points, giving you a maximum of 200 attribute points that you can spend however you like (and change their distribution freely to suit your current wants/needs).

The length of time it takes to hit level 20 varies depending on the chapter you create your character in. Prophecies characters can take several days (or longer) to raise to level 20 (the Ranger I started in Prophecies last week is only level 17 so far, even with the double experience he was getting from last weekend's mission bonuses). Nightfall characters take a few days at most, and Factions characters can hit the level cap in less than 24 hours (my personal speed record for levelling to the cap in Factions is 4 and a half hours).


Levelling is not the most important thing in Guild Wars. The most important thing is the level of skill you have with the game - which skills you pack onto your bar, how you use them in combat, how you distribute your attribute points and how well you work as part of a team. Even after you hit the level cap, you will keep on learning new skills for your character to use, and it will be up to you to decide which ones to put into your builds and how you use them; it is this that makes one character better or worse than another.

As far as equipment goes, the rare items you find are generally no better than the max level equipment that you can craft (and craft quite cheaply). Green weapons are really for the people who may not be able to afford to craft a max weapon or have the time to hunt for perfect mods for their weapons. Prestige armor (minimum of 5000 gold per piece not including materials), though it looks very flashy, has exactly the same stats as regular max armor (1000 gold per piece not inclusing materials). Rare items are about vanity, not about functionality.

At level 20 in Nightfall, you should be coming up to the fifth mission - or about a quarter of the way through the game. Still a lot of ground to cover before you reach the endgame. Though there are still a lot of things to do after you've completed the storyline itself - collect more skills to play with, earn more titles to display to others, save up for a set of prestige armor to display your wealth, go farming and set yourself up as a trader for high-end goods, venture into PvP to fight against more intelligent opponents... Or buy one of the other campaigns and migrate your current character across for more content to enjoy. The possibilities are limitless.

Playing 2-3 hours a day, expect about 4 days to get max level in Factions, a week in Nightfall, and maybe 2 weeks in Prophesies. Prophesies has the largest explorable world, while Faction has the smallest.

While level 20 is considered max level, life begins at level 20, so it is de facto the only level worth mentioning. And it does not require several months to bring your characters to that level, unlike other games.

Although Prophesies have the least level 20 content, you can replay the game in Hard Mode with level 20+ monsters. It also has the easiest learning curve, if you are not familiar with the game, although Nightfall is not a bad second choice.

There are no Australian servers, I am in Singapore, and have played with Australians in the American server.

I usually get about 30fps and 300ms. Its pretty smooth, because the game does not require you to actively face your enemies, or position yourself for a backstab. When I experience lag spikes, it is seldom from my end, as N.American users experience it too.

Excellent replies guys, thanks for that. I'm sure these replies will help other n00bs coming to these forums.

Frosty

The realm/server system doesn't work the way it does in WoW. You can easily take your character from one server to international and play with just about everyone. These days it's also possible to switch between European and American, which covers a substantial amount of the player base. I'm not sure about the Taiwan/Japan servers, but you'll meet some of the players in certain PvP situations, especially if you're using the international districts.

just thought id mention this as i dont think no one has brought this up. if you buy guildwars nightfall you wont be able to play it UNLESS ! you already have either guildwars Prophecies OR guildwars factions installed on your computer.

This is NOT true. Prophecies, Factions and Nightfall are all self-contained, stand-alone chapters that are all played through the same game client. You do not need one of the other chapters to be able to play the chapter of your choice.

This, however, does not hold true for the most recent part of the saga, Eye of the North. Eye of the North is an expansion, not a chapter, and is not intended to be stand-alone. To be able to play Eye of the North, you will have to have EITHER Prophecies OR Factions OR Nightfall OR a combination of any of these three games.

It's not Nightfall, it's Eye of the North.

I don't mean to throw a wrench in the works, but I would not recommend that you start with Nightfall. Prophecies is still a good game and can be found in games stores for less money than Nightfall in many cases.

True, there are less players on Prophecies than there used to be, but I still find groups pretty quickly. Prophecies is easily the best game of the bunch and will be a much easier learning curve for you. You will still have access to many of the high end areas people love to hunt, and it will give you a better idea of how to play the game.

When you get comfortable, you can always port your character to the other games if you decide to buy them later. I beat all 4 games with my main, and bits and pieces of the games with the other characters I play.

My best advice is that you twist your friend's arm and get them to buy the game at the same time you do. Playing with real life friends is a ton of fun, especially since this game is not like WoW. In Wow, gear is everything, in Guild Wars, it's all about your skill level. How well you play will determine how well you do in the game.

In response to the above unanswered question, no, there are no Australian servers. It does not matter much though, since you can switch between European and American or even International districts as you please. While this does limit the player base by virtue of time, I've found there to be more people playing in the evenings (Sydneysider here) than during the day, which makes no sense as it'd be day over there. Can't really complain though, except on an unrelated matter.