new to GW, question about manuals

Maybe a silly question to most, because anything can be downloaded, but I do love me some physical manuals and I was wondering if the Trilogy box includes the original three manuals from the games it collects. Snooping around on the internet seems to lead me to believe that it only includes a reference card. So the only way to get the full manuals is to purchase the invdiviual boxes?

Well the official website has the manuals under the FAQ here:
http://www.guildwars.com/support/faq/

As far as I know the paper manuals can only be acquired through the individual boxes.

Well that sucks. Hopefully someone who has the Trilogy box can confirm this. I'm such a nerd for manuals I may wind up paying more to buy each box. I have a separate, second question: if I bought Prophecies, at what *point* in my game would I buy Factions and Nightfall? If I was using just one char would I play through all three in a linear fashion? What levels? From what I have read they seem separate...sort of...

They are separate, though your characters are free to travel between them once they reach the port towns(a quarter way through the content in Proph, slightly earlier in the others).

If it has a real manual, it will be a combined manual instead of 3 manuals - for example, my Factions Platinum Edition (Factions, Game of the Year Edition of Prophecies and the Bonus Mission Pack) came with an actual manual that includes everything, including info on Nightfall stuff (ie, the classes, inscriptions, etc. No Hero bios, though).

.As far as the right time to purchase Factions and Nightfall...

When you get to Lions Arch in Prophesies you can take quests to travel to both campaigns main cities. The best way to do this is to travel to factions first, then Nightfall. Factions will provide a much easier path to nightfall as the quest from Factions is ALOT easier than going directly from Lions Arch.

Factiions will give you very fast leveling because you are fighting higher level mobs and getting more generous rewards for quests. You will also have access to max level (20) henchmen. Nightfall will give you access to heros which can be customized and controlled by you..very very handy.

If you choose to try for Nightfall from Prophesies/Lions Arch you will be fighting high level bad guys with level 15 henchmen in a party of 6...very difficult at that point of the game. Going the factions route you will fight the same baddies but with a full group of 8 henchmen.

Enjoy! its a great game

The Trilogy box does contain Guild Wars Trilogy Quick Start Guide in addition to the Reference Card, but no manuals for each game.

So, if you want the physical printed manuals, instead of the pdf version via download, you will have to purchase each game and the expansion separately.

----------

How to travel between campaigns is explained here http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Campaign_travel
Be sure to add each campaign's access key to your existing account via the login page.

There is a manual included, but not of each individual game, it simply combines the basics of the game and does not include the lore that each individual manual contains.

Gungo, I hope this thread answered your questions. As a matter of fact, I'm also a manual junkie and was just looking for it today.

Enjoy Guild Wars!

To add to the above, the Trilogy comes with a 48 page manual covering all the games. Compare that to the combined manual that comes with Factions Platinum which runs 94 pages and the Nightfall manual which is 148 pages; and is much nicer than either of the combined ones as it is in color and has some nice artwork. I don't know what the original Factions and Prophecies manuals are like, but I would think they would be similar to the Nightfall version.

Ok so this sucks. I went to the store and got the Game of the Year Edition and guess what? It includes a card that tells me a URL where I can read the manual. WTF?!?

oh dear. Seems to me the later box sets are doing what everyone else is doing by keeping the url either on disk or thru website. I checked the manuals there and they're not high quality enough.

If anyone has a link to where they're printed in better quality, please be of service and post a link.

The latest packages (including all the new ones in Europe too, I think) only have the ref card. Cost cutting.

My Game of the Year Edition has a 32 page manual, but I got that on Black Friday, so that was more than half a year ago.

You might try looking at picking up the manuals on eBay, I've seen people selling boxes and manuals, with or without the game disc. Just check with the seller as to condition. These are often used copies picked up by someone that thinks they are like regular offline games, with no keycode, etc.

Of course, buying/using a "used" account is a no-no and can be banned. But if you just want the box, disc and manual there is nothing wrong with that.

My NightFall collector's edition box got caved in so I want to get the DVD case as a replacement. I'll have to consider that.

What ALSO smarts is that it doesn't have the free pet, as I saw offered with the Game of the Year version online. It just has the 7 exclusive weapons.

My question is, should I return this and ask for the store to just order the Trilogy? I want me manuals! (and pets!)

oh type /bonus or /special.

and to answer your question, NO! You already opened the account so the game's CD key is no longer valid. You'll be stiffing the next player who buys this if it manages to go back on resale.

Same thing happened to me.
And to this date, I've never used the bonus weapons.

As for pets, they don't help in combat. So you aren't missing much. If a combat pet is what you're looking for, check out the Ranger section of these forums.

It's a fire imp pet, apparently, that does help in combat.

gungo,

You should get an Igneous Summoning Stone (the Fire Imp) in your inventory when you type "/bonus" in town. You just double click on that in an explorable area and it will join you, as long as no other summoned creatures are already there.

If you don't get that when you type "/bonus" AND the game box says it includes the Fire Imp, then you need to contact support. You can also check the in-game store before going in the game proper, and selecting the Fire Imp. It should say "already purchased" when you bring up that page, if it is included on your account.

Looks like he got it.

Well he's lucky to get that and pay less then what I had when the game was about a year old... Shoot, I already payed full price for mine and I can't even get one!

Imitates Darth Vader: "NNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

I want a Fire Imp.

I haven't used the code on the disc yet because I'm undecided about returning it. The box DOESN'T say I get the pet is the thing -- but recent ads for the Game of the Year Edition says that edition does include it. Does that make sense?

Right now I'm just playing the trial, I still have some time left on it. Is NCsofts customer support friendly? I might try to contact them somehow and try to get straight answers, and then go to the Gamestop and exchange the game for the right one (they'll have to order it, since this was all they had.)

Aaargh my head hurts.

The Fire Imp is available for anyone that doesn't have it on their account for $4.99 from the in-game store.

To be honest, it isn't that big of a deal, but will make it faster to level up characters. You lose it for each character when they hit level 20. I bought the add-on for my oldest account and used it on two characters I re-rolled, but mainly it is for my perma-Pre Ele to play with now and then in The Northlands of Pre-Searing. Makes killing the bosses a bit faster, although not always. Also helpful when I'm helping lower level players learn the game.

gungo,

If the box doesn't say "Includes the BONUS Fire Imp Pet!" along the top of the front cover, then it is probably an older version of the Game of the Year Edition. I'd return it and either get a credit towards the Trilogy Edition (comes with all 3 campaigns, the Fire Imp and the hero M.O.X.) or have them order the newer edition. Or get a refund and buy someplace else or online from GoGamer, Newegg or Amazon.

Sucks you'd have to wait longer to play, so there is that. The Trilogy is a better deal all around, unless you got a super low price (like $5) on the GotY Edition.

And if Gamestop gives you any grief about returning it (as you haven't activated the keycode yet) you should remind them they shouldn't be selling outdated stock. Unless it was in the closeout section. The Gamestop stores around here are still trying to sell old copies at $40 per campaign!! Which is why I never shop there.

How much is Nightfall going for these days? Its the only version I don't have and I can't find the damn thing anywhere around here.
Also, I'm sitting on a laptop watching SNL, and too lazy to log into the desktop to log into the store.