A bit lost at this point...

Okay, so I've had Guild Wars since release but never stuck with one character. I got each Chapter as they came out, just never got anyone past level 7.

So today, I sit down at 8:00am, start playing... It's 5:30pm and I'm now a level 16 D/P (was already made, was level 7). I have had a bit of trouble here and there, but all has been accomplished... until now. I have just made it out of Istani and now am going out to seek refuge for the survivors... but I notice everything out here is level 20... and I am having a hard time killing it. So I have a few questions for those more knowledgeable than me.

1. Since I have the other Chapters, an in-game message told me before I left Istani for the mission that I can accept quest X to go to land Y. Can I still do that, and will it be easier than fighting on the "mainland"?

2. Who and what henchmen should I choose? Right now I have Dunkoro, M.O.X, and Tahlkora. Is that good for a Scythe/Wind-Prayer focused Dervish?

3. What can I do so that the enemies won't attack me, but attack M.O.X? I have been dieing a lot since right before the mission to the mainland because I can't seem to stay alive with AI healers. Any suggestions?

I know it's a lot, but I really am lost...

Interesting that you only have Dunk/Tahlk/MOX; you should also have either Sousuke or the Ranger too. But in answer to your questions:

1-Yes you can take those quests any time. If you want an "easier" time, then go to Kryta (Prophecies). If you go to Cantha (Factions) everything is lvl 20 there as well.

2-Early on, I go with Dunk, Sousuke, Olias as my heroes. Dunk-std healer; Sousuke-std nuker, Olias-MM bomber. If you have not unlocked a lot of skills, ur hero builds will be weak. Olias is a necro hero you get from a quest at Consulate Docks staging area; highly recommend getting him since Minions will mitigate #3.

3-As far as dying: a) did you get max armor at the Consulate docks? b) if using mox use attack key combo (ctrl-something) forcing him to run in and get aggro; recall that the AI goes after lowest life/armor targets first c)henchies-take menhlo whenever possible and then cater to what you will find (i.e. nuker, ranger interrupt, war/tank, etc)

If you do all the island quests, you should pretty much be lvl 20 by the time you reach mainland. After you get Olias, things will be smoother; however, you may want to go to other chapters to unlock skills for yourself and your heroes.

Hey dude, thanks! One thing though: Is crafting the armor the only way to get better armor? I get a lot of the tan hides, but I had to buy all the ingots for the chest, everything else is the level 10 stuff, but now my chest is level 20 I guess.

If you've never played your other classes past lvl 7, chances are your monk heroes have really bad builds (the skills they get as default aren't the best, unfortunately - I struggled with this a lot on my second account before I got some decent skills unlocked), so you'll do better with healer henchmen keeping you alive for the time being. Even with a good build I'd still only take one hero healer out with you and use the other two hero slots for good damage dealers or midliners such as an interrupt ranger or mesmer or an MM which you can't get from the henchmen. In Nightfall I usually go with Devona, Sogolon, Herta and Mhenlo as my four hench, regardless of the class I'm playing.

Try going back to the Sun Docks and talking to the NPCs in there - you might find you get either Sousuke or Jin as a hero when you get your quest reward. Alternatively you might still have the quest to complete - do you remember defeating Balthazar's Eternal and a couple of ghostly griffons outside the Astralarium? If not you need to go do that. (Might have a few names wrong there, too late for me to be bothered to go check it out. )

To get MOX to go attack before you do you need to pick a target and click Crtl-Shift-Space, wait for him to run in and take the initial aggro, then hit space again to join in yourself. Alternatively stick him on attack and he'll go attack anything in your aggro bubble and then some.

For armour, crafting and armour collectors are the only way. Crafting gives you a better choice of appearance and means you don't have to farm the collectable drops required (can't remember what or where the max armour collectors are in Nightfall off the top of my head, you'll need to wiki that or get someone else to post it for you), but it means you have to have the mats for it instead as you discovered. Best way to get the mats is by expert salvaging armour drops (rags, harnesses, hides, etc) with an armour over 20 (normal salvage it if under 20, you won't get many mats and only very rarely a rare mat from it) and any blue items that ID as highly salvageable. You should find you have over a stack each of cloth bone tanned hide and iron ingots in no time if you do that. Max armour for a dervish is 70, by the way.

Thanks again. Question of the salvage thing: I have a couple of purple items, but it says some message about not the right kit, blah blah. Where do I get the right kit?

Sorry, I've got no idea what that message might mean, I don't remember seeing anything like it before. (My best wild-stab-in-the-dark guess is that you're trying to add a non-dervish major rune to your armour...?) Can you check again in game and post the exact message you're getting, and what you've done to get that message to pop up, please?

I'm going to assume that you're using a regular Salvage Kit? Always have an Identification Kit and an Expert Salvage Kit with you. ID the purple items to see what runes or other mods they have, and then use the Expert Salvage Kit to salvage them. A regular salvage kit can only break it down for materials; an expert kit can salvage runes, insignias, and other mods.

I was only level 16 when I made it to the mainland on my Dervish, btw. So long as you're fairly cautious you should be fine. If you want to level quickly, though, take the quest to go to Factions and do quests there - Factions quests are generally worth 2000/3000 experience.

And definitely max out your armor ASAP. Dervishes have midline armor yet are melee fighters, so having it max will definitely help a lot. Trust me on that Also don't forget to add runes and insignias to increase your HP (and also increase your attributes), as this will also make it easier to stay alive.

(also, I remember what a pain it was to get enough steel ingots for max armor at first. My Dervish has three sets of armor now and I've still got extra steel - catch me in game and I can help you out with that a bit, if you want)

Yes, the Expert Salvage Kit was the right thing. I am going to finish leveling this Dervish, but I think I would prefer a warrior, I just played this Dervish to get a basis... I prefer to tank normally or heal, but GW healing isn't for me.

Go make a warrior in proficies. Play through. You'll have a hoot if you don't mind playing the game somewhat slowly and enjoy the story and scenery.

I was actually thinking Factions, because I heard Prophecies takes forever to level up in and my friend gave me his official Factions guide ^_^

Factions is terrible for a new player, in my opinion. You level so quickly that you aren't given the opportunity to really learn how to play your profession. I would recommend Prophecies wholeheartedly; you'll really learn how your profession works, you'll receive many free skills to experiment with, and the voice acting (while bad) won't make you cringe in embarrassment.

Or you could start a character in each campaign, play around, and see what you like best.

I wanted to point you to Wiki because it will help you how to work with your heroes but it will probably confuse you more at this point in time.

You said you only have 3 heroes at the moment. I think the reason why you say so is because you don't know how to change heroes (no offense). The very first hero that you should get is Koss (ur D/P so you should get him first).

Change heroes by clicking on their names and then "kick" them. An arrow will appear for you to choose other heroes. You can use maximum of 3 heroes at a time.

Now, probably you will say you keep dying because your dunkoro and talkora dont heal you. actually, they do and they are good. what you need to do is to fix their stats and their skills just like how you fix your stats and skills. you can do that by pressing "K" and the choose your hero and the set their stats and skills.

also, you may want to set dunkoro and talkora to avoid combat so they will focus on healing you only.

forgive me for telling this very basic info because it seems that you need these atm. but if you know how to manage your heroes properly, im sure you will enjoy working with them.

about monsters hitting your mox instead you, this is hard to do because the monsters were given some intelligence (hehehe) to hit first the character who is easy to kill. and they think its you. but when you know how to setup your self, they will hit others instead of you.

you can transfer to other "countries" but i suggest that you familiarize yourself with the game so you will enjoy more playing in other campaigns.

Well what I meant when I said the heroes I said was that is who is currently at my level because I use them. I do have the other "recruit", the male caster. And thanks for the tip to get Olias, it's becoming easier to do missions, trying to do the first Canta mission. Also, I have all my character's skill points assigned, but I kept dying because Dunkoro and Tahlkora were busy attacking

I'll try putting them to avoid combat and see if that helps. Thanks for the tips guys. One thing about Factions VS Prophecies for my warrior; which will have me level faster? I explored a good chunk of Tyria on my ranger back in the day... he may have been past level 7 but that was a long time ago

Factions will make any Profession level faster. The experience rewards for the quests are far greater. However, you will also encounter level 20+ foes much earlier in comparison to Prophecies.

Set them to guard. An ID everythign you get (even whites), it adds up.