Need a lot of questions answered..Total noob here

Hello well I have been playing MMORPG's for almost 5 years now and Guildwars has come to my attention once again through a friend of mine. Although most people that I know that used to play quit within 2 weeks-1month. So I wanna know the pro and cons of this game basically your opinion.
OK! Now to the questions I want to buy this game and play it so would I be able to keep up and enjoy the game if I only bought the Core and not the expansions and if I do buy the core and buy the expansions later on will I have to start all over or what?
I have loved to play archer classes in every MMORPG and I want to do that here also so firstly I want to know if PVE is important in getting good items etc or not? Also I have come to known you can create 2 types of chars PVE and PVP. Im mostly a PVP person (screw PVE ) but yeah would like to know if I should start with PVE and then move on to PVP. Also if I do start with PVE would it be possible to transfer good items over to my PVP toon?
Lastly, like I mentioned above Im a PVP fan and not sure if this belongs here but I would like a Ranger build that can deal a lot of damage and at the same time also hold my own like not being killed in 1-2 hits you know the basic cookie-cuter until I can know the game better. So if anyone can answer my questions I would really appreciate it thanks!
Also one last question since I have been playing Lineage2 if any of you know the game is that there if you have a character and you wish to pvp/pk someone you can go and pvp/pk anyone and anywhere so is that also the same for this game?

First off i love this game, ive had it for 2+years

You can buy whichever chapter you want, if you don't feel like getting the others you don't have to, but it's nice to have all the content.But no, you don't have to start all over, you keep everything.

For starters, start out with the First guild wars prophecies. It has the biggest learning curve.

If your a big pvp fan you can JUST buy the pvp edition from the online store, all skills unlocked and whatnot(i haven't bought it). But PvE is also a great part of the game. I do both, but mostly pve.

Wow thanks for the really quick reply but about the chapters thing I am still confused because is it like I can buy the first main thing and then any expansion/latest expansion or do I have to follow them in order? Also I have read somewhere that if you do not have all the expansions you are at a disadvantage competitive wise as other players can get better gear/money and other benefits?

You can buy the games in any order... In pvp you skill selection will be less than other players if you don't own all of the chapters....while there are some "duplicate" skills in every chapter...there are unique skills as well. IMO if you want to be truely serious about PVP you should look at buying all of the chapters PVP packs...especially if you don't like pve....as far as gear etc...max gear is max gear...there is no uber elite sword of noobslaying...so a max dmg sword is the same as any other max dmg swords...and you have all the options to create which ever sword or armor set you want....once you unlock them...in pvp that is...

OK thanks so much for the info so it seems to me that GW has a lot on the PVE part than the PVP part because PVE is about well both survival and creativity and PVP being just about creativity and not so much survival and farming cause everyone can get the highest lvl gear possible. Ok I would also like to know that if I make a toon that is lvl 1 not start with a lvl 20 toon will I be able to pvp with my pve toon that I have lvled up and farmed up gear/items?

Yep, your pve character has to be lvl 20 though. But that doesn't take terribly long. If you need any help or anything you can drop me a pm when im ingame too

Sure thing thanks so much for the info guys hope to see you guys ingame soon might take 2 weeks or so. Thanks so much!

Been playing 2 years, busy with other things but im still playing proph only. Just farming, getting FOW for all my guys. One chapter can keep you busy for awhile.

The PVE and PVP are not as seperated as they seem at first glance in GW. Just because of the way the game is played, getting to know your skills and builds it can really help your PVP quite a bit to do the PVE first. Not just for the skill and item unlocks. Either way though, Prophecies (or the core guild wars) is by far the best place to start especially if you want to PVP, as there are many 'free' skills as quest rewards which will unlock the skills for any of your pvp characters. Observer mode ('B' in game) is good if you plan on pvp as you can watch them time delayed to get a feel for the game.