Separate Account or Additional Slots?

I already own GW Prophecies, Factions Nightfall and Eye of the North. I just bought GW, Game of the Year Edition. I'm trying to decide whether to start a separate account, or add this to my existing account for the extra character slots.

Question is: What are the benefits of having a separate account? Can I run GW in two separate windows to trade between 2 accounts? I know I wont buy the other GW editions/expansions to add to a separate account, can I add Factions or NF skills using Tomes to a Prophesies only account if I buy them using Balthazar points? Thx for any helpful answers.

The Game of the Year Edition doesn't come with extra character slots, just the /bonus weapons and offhands.

just add it to your account and work on one account and max it out... instead of wasting time working on two at once

You won't get any extra slots by adding that to your account. Game of the Year edition is Prophecies with a few bells and whistles. By adding it, it overwrites your original Prophecies code with the GotY code.

If you really want the GotY bonuses(which I think are only the bonus/pre-order weapons) then add it, if not create a second account or give it away. Yes GW can be run in two separate windows(there are a few recent topics on it, just search). No you can't get skills from campaigns you do not own by unlocking with faction and using tomes.

I have two separate accounts (bought long before the extra character slots came out) and wouldn't recommend it. It's just easier to have everything under one account, that way all skills/gold/items etc you obtain by playing your main character can be of benefit to the other characters on that account.

No you can't, not on the same pc anyway (or if there is, I haven't figured it out), so unless you have two gaming pc's the only way to swap items between accounts is through a trusted friend/guild mate.

So as the others have said, just add it to your existing account, buy extra character slots if you need them.

Cheers

This person is absolutely incorrect. Do not listen to him. You can run GW twice on your PC by using a piece of software called GWx2.

I don't believe it will elt you add another Prophecies game code to your account even if it is GotY eddition.

It's even better if you have two monitors hooked up to your desktop and two versions of the game running at once. Makes trading and all that between accounts a breeze.

Then again anything with dual monitors is cooler.

I have 2 accounts with all campaigns/expansions on them.

It really depends on what you want to do, but if it is just for more storage, I would go with more slots.

As already noted, you can run two instances of GWs on the same PC if you have 2 games, but it is pretty humbug and as I understand it, it is so resource intensive, it really is only good for trading items between characters.

To make dual accounts really useful though, it is better to have two computers running side by side (I do this by using my home PC and a laptop I also use for work).

For me, I wanted to make one of each class, and decided to split them up over 2 accounts. This allowed me to run my characters myself instead of paying a runner or asking a friend. I even do missions/quests this way to speed things up.

Where this really falls apart though is when you take heroes and account-wide titles into account. Heroes can use all unlocked skills. Because I want maximum flexibility I had to cap all elites on EACH account. A pain, and expensive. (To answer your question, yes, if you use Balth. pts to unlock a skill, then you can use a tome to teach your character the skill...I don't PVP much though, so not much help for me.) And while each of my characters has learned all skills for their profession, that doesn't help out my other account.

For example, I have my warrior and monk on one account, and my necro and ele on my other. My Monk's warrior heroes have access to ALL warrior skills, but my necro and ele char. warrior heroes do not. In other words, just like elites, you have to unlock skills on two accounts. at 1k each, that starts to add up after awhile.

Similarly, lucky and faction/pvp titles are account-wide. But since I have 2 accounts, (and want higher titles) I've had to afk rings on 2 accounts to get them both to level 2 and 3 lucky. Meaning it cost twice as much than if I had all my characters on one account.

There are benefits (If you can solo areas, then you can drag your second account along to share in chests and drops; also allows you to have heroes fill all slots save 2, which is nice, though a bit of a pain to manage), but like I said, it depends on what you want to do.

If it's just storage, I would really just go with more character slots.

lol, this is so true!

GWx2, a large (22''-plus) monitor and a high-spec system. Run two instances windowed. It works, it's easy, it's flawless.

The only reason I have 2 accounts is that extra character slots were introduced the day. after. I. bought. my. second. account.

Anyone checked this for keyloggers?

Yes, it's frequently checked. A lot of us on Guru use it.

It's a .zip, so download it anyway and scan it yourself

Having a single account with all three campaigns (Prophecies, Factions and Nightfall) and the two expansions (EotN & BMP) gives you 8 character slots. For a cost (at full retail price) of $210 US. So each slot costs about $26 US (ignoring the value of the games themselves).

Adding Collector Editions, etc keys to your existing games is possible. However they add a couple of bonus items (customized for your character) or one expanded emote (/dance). Their is no other benefit in the game. Some additional stuff comes in the box - you'll have to judge that for yourself.

Once you've established a single account with all five items linked together, it is more cost effective to purchase additional character slots from the PlayNC store at $10 US each. The wording was a bit vague when I last checked, but the max number of characters on a single account is either 26 or 32. Establishing a second account is more expensive because you have to spend that $210 again for 8 slots (and all products) ; adding those slots to an established account would just cost you $80. So two accounts, all products is $420 vs one account with 8 additional slots costing $290. I say keep the $110.

One benefit that the separate account provides is an additional storage vault. However manipulating the two accounts at the same time can be awkward. As someone else mentioned, their is GWx2. Please note that it is not something supported by Anet.

I'm not completely sure about the next info, so someone else may have a better answer. But I read the Unlock Packs and tomes will not provide you access to material from a game you don't have linked to that account. So, for instance, buying a Factions Unlock Pack and/or Assassin tomes will have no effect at all to PvE characters on the GOTY account. PvP characters might benefit - I don't know.