Expansions

Im wanting to start guild wars because it looks like a good game but i dont know about the expansions i dont want to be so far behind the other players with expansions. So I was wondering if you have to have the first guild wars and then go expansion to expansion or if I can just buy one of the newer ones. What do I have to do?

Eye of the North and Bonus Mission Pack is the only expansions in GW. Prophecies, Factions and Nighfalls are stand-alone campaigns but if you have all, you will have more advantage in terms of skills~~

You can buy Prophesies (usually just sold as "Guild Wars"), Factions, and Nightfall in any order. Eye of the North and the bonus mission pack are the only expansions and you will need to own one of the main three first.

If you're worried about competitiveness, there are combo packs being sold that contain all three campaigns and EotN for a good price (under $60 I think). Also, just as a note, if you don't own one of the older campaigns (factions/prophesies), the newer campaigns will not include that old content and will only have new content. To unlock content that is included in any campaign you have to own it. Hope that made sense.

So to get my character as best as I can I should get all of them including the ones that you play alone? Also can someone tell me the order of the guild wars and the ones that you fight alone in. And one more thing if I want to go straight to the next expansion (im not sure what its called) do i need the fight alone ones?

Only the Bonus Mission Pack is solo. These are just four short missions that cover the history of four of the characters you learn about in the main game, and you play as those characters in the missions. The BMP gives some fun for people who like lore, and there are some cool weapon skins that you can get for beating the missions, but it isn't essential. I wouldn't bother buying this to start, unless you get it in a bundle with the others. If you like the game, then go out and buy the BMP later.

To follow the story in order, play Prophecies (campaign) --> Factions (campaign) --> Nightfall (campaign) --> Eye of the North (expansion). However, if you aren't big on following the story, you can start in any campaign. In fact, since you will have several character slots, you can start at least one character in each campaign if you want.

You can't start a character in the expansion. A new character must finish a certain amount of its starting campaign -- around 25% -- before you can unlock travel to the expansion or the other campaigns for that character.

The story doesnt connect as one. Each campaign has their own story.
EOTN is the most populated one, so i suggest getting that in combination with one of the other campaigns, you can go to EOTN as soon as you reach level 10 (which doesnt take long.)
Each campaign gives you access to more skills, giving you stronger combinations, so eventually you will want to get them all.

This is partially true. Although each campaign does have its own unique storyline, the stories of Prophecies and Factions kinda spill over near the end of Nightfall in terms of who two of the end bosses are and how they got there (also a few other tidbits in side-quests clarify events in previous campaigns). But you don't really need to know the stories of Proph and Factions to enjoy Nightfall's story.

If by alone, you mean without heroes, then only the Nightfall campaign or the Eye of the North expansion provide you with heroes.

Henchmen (computer controlled) are available in all areas, in all campaigns and expansions.

There is a sticky at the top of this forum that describes each campaign. It is named "For the new player...."