New to Guild Wars: Some Questions and Observations..

Well, I finally caved in and bought Guild Wars. I am a World of Warcraft vet who got sick and tired of cartoony graphics, level grind, and classes that are so limiting. So far, Guild Wars has been great.

I just started Post.
Here are my thoughts/questions:

1. Armor seems to be scarce early on. In Old Ascalon I was able to get some better armor. However, it was distressing to make it to Yak's End only to see traders for some armor that was worse.

2. I really dislike the early burnt, sundered and snow Prophecies zones that are filled with narrow canyon after narrow canyon after narrow canyon. I enjoy wondrous open areas of beauty. Does Guild Wars eventually return to more open areas? I saw some of these in the beginning of my Nightfall and Factions trials and those areas are open and breathtaking. I hope Prophecies returns to that soon.

3. There seems to be a bit of a learning curve much steeper than normal but mostly typical for MMO's. However, is there a place a noob can go to see what some of these "free run to XXX" abbreviations for cities/outposts stand for?

4. I am a little worried that I have seen 4.8% of Prophecies and I am level 10. Do I need to change HOW I think about leveling? Once I hit 20, is seeing a new area/gaining skill points/items going to be enough of a motivation to continue?

5. I just bought Nightfall and it arrived in my mailbox today (I'm at work now darnit). Can my current level 10 character go there? If so, how does he get there? And if he gets there wont the starting quests be too easy? Would it better to start a new character in each expansion that I purchase?


Thanks guys!

1.The armors in proph. are slow to max up in stats as well as the character. However this is good as it lets you learn how to play your character class. All max armors have the same stats some are more expensive but offer no benefit other than looks.

2.most instanced areas are maze like but there are some "open areas", in each campaign.

3. type /help in game and search for maps.

4.I have been playing for 2 years and have tried other games only to come racing back. BTW I have never been bored in game.

5.you will need to add the key to the existing account or you will have 2 unlinked games. Yes you can take characters from 1 campaign to another as long as the games are linked. Yes the early missions will be easy but it will quickly get more difficult outside of proph campaign. my choice for character creation was as follows 1 of each core character in proph and 1 of each special ( non-core) for the expansions, I did need to purchase 2 extra character slots. another popular way of creation is try out in the create character screen in each campaign until you find a look you like the best.

hope this helps.

Hello,

New/ly returned player here, and have had similar concerns to a degree.

Playing GW is a bit different than other mmo/rpg games in several ways. You've come across several thus far

Torso and legs I believe are the most important to get coverage for (takes the most hits/dmg)

Here is a great resource for you (and me heh)

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Armor

As far as Explorable Area...I believe there are areas closer to what you are looking for farther along in Prophecies. I know that NightFall has larger areas as I was there yesterday checking things out heh. But I haven't reached them yet in the first game/chapter either. (lvl 11W/Mo)

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Explorable_area

Sure there's a list of common used abbreviations here in a thread or on the wiki/web, I'd check there for that...or search here

As far as the lvl cap at 20...at first the idea of that rubbed me the wrong way too. But I guess I've become used to the concept. For me new areas, quests and items are the most important thing, I believe you can still acquire points for Skills and different Titles and such, so there is a continued ranking of sorts long past the hitting 20 stage of the game.

I had a reply to some of my own questions that I read today that I think would suggest and help you form an idea of what a possible game play path might be, I gladly share that with you (hope the OP doesn't mind ):

*********************************
Nechronius's recommendations were to:

1. Buy all the expansions.
2. Get your main warrior to Lion's Arch so you can go to Nightfall.
3. From Nightfall the very first quest offered is to get several heroes.
4. You will also get to choose between a ranger and an elementalist. I recommend getting the elementalist.
5. From Kamadan, request a "ferry" to Consulate docks but don't pay more than 500gold for this.
6. Get the quest to pick up Olias as a hero (all for one and one for justice).
7. Use your new-found heroes to complete Prophecies.
8. Use your heroes to beat Factions.
9. Use your heroes to beat Nightfall.
10. Use your heroes to beat Eye of the North.

You will pick up a lot of heroes along the way (well over a dozen across nightfall and EotN) but general consensus in my guild is that the necromancer is your #1 draft pick, so to speak, which is why you will really want to get Olias as soon as possible. A properly set up minion master necro will make mincemeat out of the vast majority of the gaming areas in all campaigns and is a huge tactical advantage, not only with extra damage dealers but also the body blocking and extra damage soakers. And if an MM necro is not appropriate, a cursing necro with the Spiteful Spirit elite is also an awesome way to sweep aside your enemies.

I don't intend this to be a strategy guide, but having heroes will add a much greater depth to your gameplay experience if you are primarily doing the game with henches. Once you get Olias you can easily finish the campaigns in order with a single character, which is what I did with my warrior. It makes you feel like you're a visitor to a foreign land experiencing a little bit of culture shock. Plus the storyline flows together fairly well.

EotN is somewhat independent of factions/nightfall so you could probably do it first before the other two campaigns, however EotN doesn't feel like it has a really definite "end" like the other two campaigns do so I prefer to save it for last.

Definitely finish factions before you finish nightfall though, as the end of nightfall has a little bit of a spoiler about factions. however get Olias first.
****************************************

As I'm basically only concerned with PvE, this will work as a basic outline or plan for my journey through Tyria (the world of GW)

Perhaps it will help you as well

I want to say that the community here is great, very willing to help with advice and answers to questions a player might have.

I think with your own exploring and learning...and the resources found here and the GW wiki pages you'll have plenty to read/learn and study, not to mention "try" and experiment with

It's a fun game!

So Good Hunting & Regards

1. Armor seems to be scarce early on. In Old Ascalon I was able to get some better armor. However, it was distressing to make it to Yak's End only to see traders for some armor that was worse.

Many different ones and they are all over the place Max level armor will not be available till later on in (Drokners Forge)

2. I really dislike the early burnt, sundered and snow Prophecies zones that are filled with narrow canyon after narrow canyon after narrow canyon. I enjoy wondrous open areas of beauty. Does Guild Wars eventually return to more open areas? I saw some of these in the beginning of my Nightfall and Factions trials and those areas are open and breathtaking. I hope Prophecies returns to that soon.

Yes later on there is a desert area which is open There is also some plains after the mountains and also some jungle breath taking areas everywhere

3. There seems to be a bit of a learning curve much steeper than normal but mostly typical for MMO's. However, is there a place a noob can go to see what some of these "free run to XXX" abbreviations for cities/outposts stand for?

People will run your character so you do not have to fight your way. (it just speeds up the process a little IMO It is not worth it when you are new) Experience the game and don’t do the shortcuts.

Level 20 is max level so the luring curve ends and the game begins at level 20

4. I am a little worried that I have seen 4.8% of Prophecies and I am level 10. Do I need to change HOW I think about leveling? Once I hit 20, is seeing a new area/gaining skill points/items going to be enough of a motivation to continue?

The game progressively gets harder as you go so the challenge level increases as well. So many things to do it should motivate.

5. I just bought Nightfall and it arrived in my mailbox today (I'm at work now darnit). Can my current level 10 character go there? If so, how does he get there? And if he gets there wont the starting quests be too easy? Would it better to start a new character in each expansion that I purchase?

Your level 10 toon needs to make it to LA or Lions Arch then you can do a mini mission to gain access to Nightfall. Noob quests in nightfall are not active for you since your toon was not born there.


HUGE source of info about the game is on http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Main_Page

I know there will be 800 replies by the time I'm done. Heh. First off, this is the mandatory link everyone needs to know. http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Main_Page. It is your friend. I know there's a list of abbreviations on there, but I don't remember how detailed it is.

1. ^ what they said.

2. Oh, man. Wait until you hit the desert. Um... kidding. (Sort of.) There are a variety of environments that you'll run into. If you make it as far as Lion's Arch, it will soon be Halloweeninized. Oh, yes.

3. It's always good to check the Wiki.

4. If you're doing fine, don't worry. You can't really mess things up too easily. I haven't been bored, but I play pretty casually.

5. I've always started a new character. It's good to play the new chapter from the very beginning to get a feel for things, and it's a good opportunity to try another profession. If you want to bring your Prophecies character over later on, you can do it when you get to Lion's Arch.

I think it's important to note that once you have linked your games together with the account keys, I'm pretty sure you have to reach Lion's Arch in Prophecies before you can travel to another campaign. I believe there's a brief quest that you get in LA that lets you do this. I think it announces this on your screen when you get there, but if you have trouble finding who to talk to to get the quest, then search wiki.guildwars.com for details. I'm going off my experience with Proph and NF. I haven't tried Factions yet, so it may be different.

EDIT: D'oh. Beat by, well, a bunch of people.

Once you reach Kryta, you'll find plenty of open fields and handsome beaches. Dispose of the nasty mobs and enjoy the scenery.

Good luck.

Man you guys are awesome. I got all my questions answered and then some.

Yes I am aware of the Wiki and have been reading it daily.

I received a free run to Beacon's Perch which really opened me up to a broader choice of quests as some of the Piken Square quests seemed limiting and difficult.

Is a run from Beacon's Perch to Lion's Arch feasible solo at lvl 10 or should I have a guildie do it for me? I took one look south of Beacons Perch and saw lvl 24 mobs lol...I think there is another way north of BP and to the west..

Just add a little detail:

GW is VERY story-oriented. You'll note that when you went to the Academy, you traveled 3 years into the future, during which the Searing happened. Ascalon is a devastated wasteland. Hence why you're seeing a lot of uninteresting landscape, etc. As others have stated, once you get out of Ascalon (and into Kryta, the capitol of which is Lion's Arch,) you'll have a much different view of the world. The storyline in Prophesies is highly regionalized; you'll do a lot of quests in each region, so you are spending a lot of time in the devastated area right now.

As for the level question, the drive to level is not at all like any other MMORPG. You'll hit level 20 about 1/2 way through the storyline (and sometimes earlier. The first time I played, I was level 8 before I went through the Searing.) From there, you continue to earn skill points and new skills, which will dramatically change your character's abilities. When you hit the desert, you'll be treated to Elite Skills, where the real fun begins. The "standard" GW character is level 20; it's the skills and items that you gain that will become the draw through the rest of the game. Don't worry, it's not going to be a cakewalk simply because you're max level. (Most of us took our level 20 characters from Prophesies to Factions, Nightfall and Eye of the North.)

The "running to xxxx" statements become a little more apparent as you progress through the game; you'll notice that you only get access to a certain outpost/city/mission/etc by running there, or completing a mission that takes you to the next location. So, there is a lot of commerce centered around "running" people's low-level characters to the higher-level locations so they can short-circuit the gradual progression of skill/item/armor build-up present in the storyline. I would suggest that you avoid these runners your first time through the game, in order to truly appreciate the game and the story. Plus, Prophesies has a lot of quests that grant you skills, that you'd otherwise have to buy at increasing prices. Save the running for your next characters.

I'll echo the sentiment regarding crossing from Lion's Arch to Kamadan to pick up your heroes, then going back to Lion's arch to continue your Prophesies storyline. It will make life much easier, as the Prophesies henchmen tend to have pretty poor builds.

HOWEVER, depending on where you are right now, it might be worthwhile getting a run to Lion's Arch before the 31st, if you can't get through the storyline missions before that time. The Halloween Event will take place that day in Lion's Arch (and Kamadan, the city you link to in Nightfall from Lion's Arch,) and it's not to be missed. You can then go back and "catch up" your storyline progression after the event.

The southern route from Beacon's Perch is part of the famed "Droknar's Forge run." Drok's is the first point in Prophesies (assuming you don't have access to the other chapters,) where you can obtain your maximum-level armor. The actual "storyline" route from Beacon's Perch is to the west. A Level-10 character isn't going to make it on your own. I'd suggest you do the Beacon's Perch quests, which will take you to the next mission (you did do the missions in Ascalon, starting with 'The Great Northern Wall,' yes?) Missions are how the storyline progresses; quests are really side-jobs.

Cheers,
-M

Anyone want to run me from Beacon's Perch to Lion's Arch tonight? lol

It looks like a short run.

I wouldn't be in such a rush to get through the game, especially this first time through; enjoy the ride. Take the quests from Beacon's Perch, which will take you to the missions. There are 3 missions that chain together to get you to Lion's Arch. If you get run through the game, you won't understand the storyline, which is where all of the fun is. This particular mission chain won't take you more than two low-impact nights, if you have skilled guildies with you.

Cheers,
-M

I echo the advice above. Let missions and quests advance you through the map. Then you won't find yourself "stranded".

And yes... do avoid going into Lornar's Pass at level 10.

You have been given some very good advice from people here that have played not only Prophecies but also Factions and Nightfall. Do yourself a favor and play the game. I have a hard time understanding why people buy a game and then not play it by getting run past the missions and storyline. From where you are at the moment you can easily do the missions that will take you to Lion's Arch before the halloween events start. Your character will level up and gain not only experience but skills and your map will open up for you by doing the missions and quests. You can easily go back and do the quests once you complete the missions that take you to Lion's Arch. Your character will not be strong enough if you bypass these missions and continue on from there.

Also, playing the game again with another character class will be different and open up a variety of skills. You will want to unlock the other skills for heroes that you pick up along the way. I agree with the post that suggested you unlock some heroes and then go back to pick up the quests you might have missed. Your heroes will start out at level 15 so they will be a big help to you, however, you need skills unlocked to make them effective.

There are lots of great people in the game that will be helpful and answer questions. Play it and have fun...

The learning curve is there for a reason. Get a run too early, and you have much more to do. Also, you will miss out on learning basic things, and people will be less likely to take you along in a party.

Take your time. I'm tired of complaints from people when they don't know what to do, and say that the game sucks because they got a run instead of playing through missions and quests like they were supposed to.

In addition to the knowledge above... let me add:

Each campaign offers unique classes -

Prophecies - Core classes - Main campaign
Factions - Adds Assassin and Ritualist classes - Asian Like Campaign
NightFall - Adds Dervish and Paragon classes - Egyptian Like Campaign

Eye of the North - Elite Expansion for Advanced play

------------


Now the main thing is that every campaign has all new skills, mainly for the new classes if there are ones, and also some for the prior classes.

The key factor over level 20 is skills. Skills? Yes, Skills. There is a fine science to learning how they can mix and match them. You can only have 8 active at a time on one character, so it is a fun challenge. The best thing is the diverse synergy across multiple campaigns and skill usage. When you take your favorite class and mix in skills from Prophecies, Factions, Nightfall or GWEN... you get a nice idea how the game really was designed to play over the long haul.

Every day it is awesome to see a skill you have never used before and add that to your current day of thinking for your character. Is today going to be magic or might?

It is very hard to go from WoW to GW (from unlimited # of skills down to 8 at a time) but it then begins to become a strategic game including a RPG.

Glad you are liking it.... I personally started on GW, finished it, left ... played some Wow...came back... got Factions and Nightfall.... and now Gwen... and haven't stopped since. 1500 logged hours and counting (whew!)

One thing I have to say is that GW is growing and isn't stopping... the fans are numerous... and thank goodness for no cartoony graphics!

If you want to msg me in game, we will help you out and send you some goodies ...

Until then... have fun... the world of GW never stops growing!

~ Cinderr Ashburn

There seems to be quite a bit of misunderstanding in some of your replies.

I am not trying to get run through missions or storyline. I did not want to miss the Halloween event and had no idea if I am a weeks away from Lion's Arch or a few hard hours away..

Now i know with some work the next couple nights I should be fine.

Thanks

work your way Southwest of of the north exit of Beacons and you will pass eventually hit a mission area called Gates of Kryta. I suggest you hit that mission and do it .....upon completion of it it will take you to Lion's Arch the way you are meant to get to see Lion's Arch for the first time....in a movie(cut scene) You can be there in one evening. Find a group at Beacons that is fighting to Gates of Kryta...i also suggest not getting a run...unless you know what you will be missing. Some of the quests in Yaks Bend and Pikens square are really cool and teach you pretty good things about the game of GW...

Feel free to hit me up in game if you want or need anything.

IGN Coridan A

Good luck

Didnt you say you bought nightfall ?

The Haloween event will be there also and at the starting city "Kamadan".
So to experience Halloween, just start a nightfall character and have fun.

btw halloween event starts on the weekend not the 31st "decorations went up thursday" The mad King and the games he plays are on the 31st as are the hats he gives out.


Beacons perch to Lions arch can be done fairly quickly but there are a few tough fights.
If your object is to get to lions arch I suggest not having any sub quests active, just the main ones.
My reasoning is that many quests create mobs that otherwise are not there, so making the journey harder.

Well I got my run to Lion's Arch. The guy was gonna run me to more cities for free but I declined.

I was not aware that there would be an awesome cutscene for LA. Because of this, I have some regrets. I was also unaware Halloween would be in the starting area of Nightfall too..

Lion's Arch is gorgeous...

If you need some help playing out those couple missions post your ingame name here...

I enjoy going back and doing some of those missions again and the bonuses are really easy if you know what to do