guild wars for my son

Hey All...Recently my son, bought the Guild Wars demo from gamestop and has requested a copy of the game for his birthday. That is fine, since I have no problem getting him something he will enjoy. However, with 3 games plus the expansion I'm not sure which one to get him. He seems to like all three and I would prefer to surprise him and since he said he doesn't care which one he gets, well let's just say I figured I would ask you all, for some advice. So fire away.

For a new player I would suggest the Prophecies + GW:EN Pack
I started out in Factions and thought it went quite nicely.

Prophecies, because its just the game, we all have begun with and its also story related the beginning of everything ...

well, don't get the expansion for him yet (GW: EoTN) because you need one of the other campaigns first unless you'll buy a campaign and the expansion.

The 3 other games have their own specialties. Since your son is just starting out, Prophecies may be good for him. It's slow and allows you to get familiar with the game and build your characters up. Factions is fast-paced and may not be so great for him starting off. Nightfall is a good balance though, it's both slow and fast.

Nightfall and Factions each have 2 classes special to their campaign. Factions has the Ritualist and assassin along with the core classes, Nightfall has the dervish and paragon with the core classes, and prophecies is only the core classes.

I suggest either Nightfall or Prophecies first. Believe me, I started out with Factions, and even though it was loads of fun, I found Prophecies and Nightfall better for its "newbie-friendly" gameplay.

agreed with the 3 people above me.

prophecies is always good for people who are new to the game.

Most people are going to recommend either the original Guild Wars for its more comfortable new player feel, or Nightfall for its ability to use customizable heroes.

Hmm well that would be a difficult choice, all 3 are good choices, but you should try and sneak some hints and get some info on the one he likes most.

The storyline and rich environment of the Original is what got many players hooked. But with each game they added new systems and new additions which he may find more enjoyable as a first game. So we should try and get into detail on that first.

The Original: has easy gameplay, replayability, the largest explorable world of the 3.

Factions: Adds the 2 new classes, a new setting and a new environment and some new features such as the first elite missions and end-game items.

Nightfall: Has a bit mroe difficult gameplay, but is the first actual Campaign to introduce "Heroes" into the mix. If he doesn't want to really deal with other people that much and just have fun playing the game, then that is always a good choice.

It is hard for me to try and work through each individual one, since I own all 3 and the expansion and they all mingle together to seem like 1 giant game.

But like i said, try and get some hints, if he has played all 3, try and sneak in some questions and find out which one he had the best time playing, or if his friends have the game try and find out which ones they have so they can play together, which is always a nice experience.

Well you cannot get the expansion pack unless you own a campaign since well...you need a character for the expansion to work.

So your choices off the bat really are Factions,Nightfall and Prophecies.


Although you shouldn't base decisions off my views, I'd go for factions simply because I like the classes in it and the environment.

However your son would probably be better off getting Nightfall or Prophecies.
Prophecies does not always have the name on the box though keep that in mind

Prophecies is a bigger game and will keep him busy for longer however well....it can drag on along and he may get bored of it do to that and well quit half way.
I hate prophecies but some love it.

In which case Factions and Nightfall are superior.

Choose Nightfall or Prophecies, go with factions after.

It's better to play the game in the correct order.

The best is gatting them all, but there is time for that... for now...

But soon will come the Canthan New year. So it could be better to get Factions to get that event... and getting him Prophecies if his grades are good.

Proph, simply because it gets you familiar with the game.
And its much bigger, as Ensoriki said - it will keep people busy!

Factions is for the most experienced players, its fast paced, and usually your second buy. It is mostly prized for the content of the game and ability to get max level characters very quickly. It also has the Assassin and Ritualist professions.

Prophecies is the beginner's campaign, its the slowest and easiest but players will find themselves reaping less material rewards through out the storyline as compared to other campaigns. It does how ever have the benefit of rewarding skills as quest rewards, which is unique to this campaign only. (Outside of GW:EN)

Nightfall is a great balance of the prior two. It has what Prophecies and Factions lacked and created an almost perfect equillibrium, personally I don't think ANYTHING is wrong with the campaign. Many people disagree, I simply believe by the time Nightfall was released the GW community was already dying down, thus the reception of it wasn't taken so nicely. Nightfall has a great beginner's area, gives heroes and some of the most popular skills in the game, has a lot of quests thus good material rewards, has the most variety of PvE gameplay, and has the Dervish and Paragon professions.

GW:EN story wise will only make sense to your son if he's played Prophecies. Factions and Nightfall are only sidebars when compared to Prophecies, for it contains the majority of the lore and story to the GW universe. GW:EN is a great buy for end game content.

My final verdict: If your sons an avid gamer get him Nightfall, he'll have no trouble picking up the learning curve and the difficulty is just right. If your son hasn't really played games like this before and is more casual about it, get him Prophecies, it'll be a slow and easy experience. GW:EN would be a good follow up for his birthday or something of the like.

Might I suggest never buying your son a strategy guide or anything like that either, those are rip offs. Instead direct him to this website if he is having trouble in the game. http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Main_Page

Prophecies (the original)

It's slower paced at the beginning and allows new players more time to learn the game before you get into more difficult areas.

Nightfall. Don't wanna call him a noob or anything but the heroes will help him thru the game faster.

How old is the boy in question? and how much is he into RPGs? If he isn't one to have patience then I can't see him sticking to any of the games very long. I think it takes certain level of interest and patience to play through the campaigns.

If you think he's ready for such a game then I would consider Prophencies, and hold off on others until he's shown more interest.

don't listen to this hero non-sense(as a reason for campaign purchase). unless he has multiple skills unlocked, for multiple classes, and has an understanding how to set skill bars up, they aren't going to help too much.

prophecies will keep him busy for quite awhile. it's more bang for your buck. it's cheap these days. once, and if, he chews thru the vast campaign that prophecies is, he'll be ready to tear thru the others.

-have fun.

GW is not that hard to learn. Nighfall, IMO, gets you the most bang for your buck, and heroes really do make a difference. I find Prophecies to be frustratingly slow, and the addition of 2 more professions in Nightfall gives you that many more options for play. Nightfall also has a branching storyline, so there's more replayability there.

Factions is the only campaign I wouldn't suggest as the 1st, since the ease-in period is much shorter...

Id say Nightfall.

Prophecies is too slow
Factions is too painful
And GW:EN is the anti climax.

majority of the good skills are in prophecies, so i would vote for that and for the heros i would get GWEN, cause that is where you can find the majority of the active players

A comment on Nightfall and heroes:

Heroes are great, if you know how to use them (setting up skill bars. etc) but for someone just starting, who knows nothing about the game, I think it's not such a good idea. They add complexity at a time when simplicity is better for someone just jumping into the game.

Keep it simple.

I'd say see if they had that cheap bundle at Wal-mart or Sam's Club.

And agreed with Quickmonty about heroes: They're only good as good as you are. Go with Proph.

Great suggestions. Anyway he is 9 and recently had taken to Runescape, which he seems to really enjoy. I've had my eye on GW for the past year and never pulled the trigger on buying, mostly due to the fact that I had never played a MMORPG and didn't know if I really have the time. I was once again looking at it in target when he said it looked cool. Went to gamestop to get a different game and he saw the GW demo and decided to pick it up and try it.

I would suggest getting guild wars platinium edition(assuming its still out) it will give him both prophecies and eye of the north. Prophecies gives skills as quest rewards through the campaign witch help you learn what your class can do and in my opinion it has the best missions. Eye of the north will give him heroes and a nice amount of extras to take his character through. I'm not a huge fan of the nightfall campaign when compared to the others but a lot of people seem to love it. Personally I think it has the best character designs of the series and its still worth the money even if its not as good as prophecies and factions. Whatever you decide I would suggest you get factions second, I love that campaign but its not for new players. You may want to see what campaign he choose to start his character in when he did the trial. If he really gets into it he'll end up wanting all of the games anyways since they really combine into one big game and that way he could continue with the same character he used in the trial(I think.)

I think that Factions is great for the new player. It has great tutorials and is easy for a new player to grasp.

On the other hand, Prophecies is a little harder for someone new. Although Prophecies is a much better and bigger game. Which is why I would recommend Prophecies. (It has a great storyline too )

He seems to be enjoying Prophecies more. Than the others.

Yeah, Prophecies is by far the easiest game to start with. The structure of it will work you into comfortability with your play style and make everything else a bit easier.

Also, if your son is 9, to be honest, I wouldn't recommend GW at all. The GW community can be a bit "mature", and may put out things he need not hear or read.

That's just in my experience, maturity is not always the case.

I was concerned with some online content, but he is only allowed online when I am home and since it is a laptop he has to keep the cpu where I am close enough monitor what he is doing.

Lack of maturity where it should be evident can be an issue, there are also quite a few "impatient" people who tend to fly off the handle at minuscule things, although it is not like WoW where the entire community is like that, you only run into them once in a blue moon in GW, twice if you have bad luck.

I personally have never had a problem with them, there are odd moments when people spew ridiculous things from their mouths in local chat in major towns, but none the less the game itself has a curse filter just in case you want those nasty things blotted out .

People always think kids are more fragile than they really are.

Sounds like dad is doing the right thing, supervision-wise, and I'm glad everyone is enjoying GW.

(And my vote would've been for Prophesies, too. It's got its flaws, but it's the right place to start.)

imo get nf first because the use of heroes

Did I say 9 damn I meant he is turning 11. His sister is 9 tomorrow. With 3 kids having birthdays all in February it is hard to keep them straight. Appreciate the comments.

gw owns runescape. dont get me wrong, runscape is a good game but GW is a great game with almost no cost, except initial buying of game. you should play with your son too, so you can also learn to play. Nothing is better than playing with your friend except playing with family. you could discuss storylines, builds and share golds and weapons. buy 1 game to share or 2 to play with each other.

proph is your best bet if you wanna feel what i felt first time i played with prince rurik, fighting the charrs, white mantle... etc.

P.S. if you do get the game, Pm in game i got some weapons you can use and will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Send me a pm here to get my IGN.

hello there i think you should get prophecies first if anything. let him get familar with all the training and skills before you get the other campaign. i've been playing this game since it first came out. bought and pass all 3 campaigns and expansions with 4 different characters but yet still feel like a noob(newbie)cause theres alot of things you could do there. hope this help goodluck

I am sure, alot of the people who have commented in this thread would be happy to help out when he gets playing too. There is a thread as well with a list of people who are purely there to help new players.

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10249926

I pretty much know this game like the back of my hand, know all quests, know all missions, know all areas, so there are a ton of people who can answer questions

Although still a bit concerned, the box "suggests" that only users above the age of 13 should play, but that has not stopped people before. I am playing with a 12 year old person right now helping them around Shing Jea, and they don't seem to worried about anything going on around them :P

I would love nothing more than to actually take the time to play GW, but with kids, work and taking classes, I don't have time to play anything but the occasional song on Guitar Hero. Though with summers off, I may undertake the task of playing.

Pinoy if you don't mind he has been playing his demo has about 8 hours left on it, could he try to catch you on the game for some help.

I want to re-suggest NF for 1 simple reason; by use of heroes, he can play w/ just himself and some AI-controlled party members, 3 of which he can customize. Not only does it make for a more enjoyable experience, but he can also issue those heroes commands, so it feels like he's more in control.

Lastly, even if new to GW, it's really not a hard game. You can easily pick up the basic concepts in 1 long sitting, or a handful of shorter play sessions. To me, Prophecies is almost painfully slow in its progression, and I have seen several people get bored of it because of the slow pace.

Question which game generally has the most players on it at a given time? Does that vary or what?

same amount of people in proph and nf. almost no one in faction.

That is untrue, there are plenty of people in Factions.

But unfortunately, since the release of so many Campaigns and the expansion, the playerbase is now split amongst them all, whereas when the Original came out and was only out, you could see a noticeably large number of people everywhere.

First of you guys and gals(?) have been a great help tonight. However, what the heck are Heroes? Am I to assume that is the ability to go through and play the game in a more linear solo manner? Is that not possible in Prophecies? Can you quest by yourself in Prophecies?

a good way to measure of how many people are in a campaign is to see how much district its main city have. eg. LA, kaineng, kamadan. kanieng barely has 4 while the other two has a minimum of 6, kamadan even goes to 8+ sometimes.

why? because traders like to go to "trading" outpost, LA Kamadan etc, the less district it has, the smaller market it has, the less people selling, the less people playing.