level 20 highest level?

hello fellow GW'ers!

I'm a bit confused about the max. level in guild wars, its because i see poeple that are never higher then level 20, and i'm asking if level 20 is the maximum level you can reach in guild wars. Is this true?

Note: I started playing GW a few days ago, so i'm new to GW.

Off-Topic:

I also want to ask if there are any ways to make (fast) money in GW,
if so, what is the best way for a level 19?

~Mello's Scythe~

Yep, level 20 is the maximum level - and most areas are tailored to level 20s (such as the entire Eye of the North expansion.)

About making fast money - you might want to check out the farming section, but by and large you'll probably want to spend some time familiarizing yourself with the system - getting new skills, getting max armour, etc. before trying farming. You won't get new skills as you level - you get new skills via skill quests, buying them, using tomes, or capping them from bosses with a Signet of Capture. If you're new to GW, you'll probably have to spend a bit of time getting the number of skills you have up to scratch first.

About the fast money part. a good way of making money is running dungeons.
You'll need a Monk and the expansion eye of the North with HM. if you're new you wont know where i am talking about, maybe you can look it up.

You can also just play the game, you'll get money by just playing, and selling stuff to ppl and/or merchant.

Well, its kinda a shame to hear that level 20 is the max level you can reach.
about the skills - i know you have to buy them, and i'm now collecting money for max armour i can find now.
oogball, i have the guild wars trilogy with the eye of the north expansion.

thanks for the help.

Another question:

since i'm new i also don't know what second profession is the best for a mesmer,
and i mean what second profession is the most helpfull for a mesmer.
i'm a mesmer/ranger now, but i'm stuck with the question if i made the good choice, i can talk to a guy that can change my second profession into another second profession, i like to hear some good combinations for a mesmer.

~mello's scythe~

check the Campfire section Mesmer subforum for profession choices. Mesmer/Ele is good as fast casting helps with the casting time on ele skills.

GW is not about levels, it is about skills. Learning to bring the skills needed to combat your foes in an area and team synergy is point of game. GW is not D&D based (leveling) but more like Magic the Gathering card game.

Yep, plus PvP is a bigger challange since everybody is lvl 20. Its not like: 'I am lvl 95, you're lvl 86, i own you because you're 9 lvls lower.' no its more strategy, and skill to kill somebody of the same lvl.

It's not a shame that the max level is only 20. It's the best thing about Guild Wars and i'm sure you'll see this as you play more and especially so if you start to PvP.

The whole game is geared around a low level cap, it's not a game based around leveling such as WoW so you really have to forget about that aspect of it.

ok, thanks for informing me about this, i'm not that good at strategy game's but i enjoy guild wars anyway.

but i'm stuck with my aother question, what is the best/most helpfull second profession for a mesmer? (sorry that i ask it here, but the mesmer sub-forum kinda looks empty)

~Mello's Scythe~

There are several options for your secondary:

for PvE - elementalist for normal mode since you can fast cast big AOE spells. also you could go assassin secondary so you can use Assassin's Promise + PvE skills

for PvP - necromancer for curses (although i think this is no longer the META), or just straight up mesmer skills since they provide very good pressure on their own.

I think you may surprise yourself. Two people can run exactly the same skill bar, but one person wins. Why? That question is what makes GW fun. Out think instead of out rank is so much more damn fun. So, don't sell yourself short so early in the game, you may find that you like this. I know I do.

For second question, again, check out the campfire Mesmer thread, there should be a sticky guide and really that's all you need. Oh, and see if you can find some Youtube videos, I find those extremely helpful, especially when I decided to PvP.

That's the best part about the game. Once you get to level 20 and get max gear, your character is just as good as any other one. Then, your personal skill decides how good you are, not your time spent grinding.

http://www.wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/PvE_skills

Fortunatly, for the most part that remains true.
Certainly from the PvP perspective, the only problem there is the initial unlocking of upgrades and skills that needs to be done on an account.

Its Skill< Levels in this game, its also all about balance not who has a higher number in front of their name. this game was set out to be more PvP focused so a lvl cap is nessisaery to gain balance and make it fair for anyone.

Surely you mean "Skills > Levels" ?
I'm going to assume so, just so the rest of your post makes sense.

Here is a link to the stickied mesmer basics thread that Falynn mentioned.
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10274166

It covers what you need to know about playing a mesmer and goes over the secondaries.
Mesmers are great fun to play.

Yeah, it's a matter of tactics. I play WoW to have fun leveling; I play GW to have fun making homebrew builds.

As for mez: it's already been said, but yeah, Ele or Necro. Necro gives you Curses you can use with your own hexes (I used to have tons of fun in Random Arenas back when my Mez was PvP-only, running a build with Empathy + Spiteful Spirit + Insidious Parasite - wars and sins would die in about 3 seconds flat if they didn't pay attention), and Ele is a good all-purpose secondary for any caster class, if only for Aura of Restoration and Glyph of Lesser Energy, since those are useful at 0 points in EStorage and mean you don't have to spec into Inspiration for energy management.

And good luck with the mez thing. I've heard that mezzes are really hard to start out with, since they rely so much on knowing what other classes do (I didn't get mine until I'd been playing for 6 months and had beaten the game a couple times), but I know of lots of people that started with mezzes and had tons of fun with them. My mez is my baby.

Also, a tip: There are lots of great Mesmer elites, but Power Block is, IMO, a skill of champions. If you find yourself leaning towards Domination Magic and shutdown/interrupt builds, be sure to capture it (if you're playing Prophecies).

I think the best thing right now, especially with you just starting, is to not worry to much on what your secondary is, and concentrate more on Mesmer. Learning one class is easy, but takes some time to perfect it. Trying to learn two classes at one time is a bit tougher, so I figured once you have the hang of Mesmer, then think about changing your profession to something else that might help out.

Because as a Mesmer/Ele like some have suggested, you'll end up using Ele spells more than Mesmer and just using Fast Casting. Kinda defeats the purpose of you picking a Mesmer in the first place if you are just going to play off your secondary class the whole time. Concentrate more on your Primary class and learn the ins and outs of your skills, then worry later about a good combination that will help you out for a secondary.

Hope that helps a bit.

Thank you all for the information.

darcy, that guide was helpfull, now it became more clearly that mesmer/ranger isn't a good chose.

now i can choose between 3 secondary professions, but its not easy to choose.
although, i was thinking in the beginning to make a mesmer/elementalist, but wanted to see how well a ranger works with a mesmer, but now it looks like the ranger hasn't much to offer for a mesmer because those work at a different way, therefore not that helpfull.

I all thank you for helping me, and hopefully i can count on further help later.

~mello's scythe~

The ranger doesnt really offer a huge amount to assist a mesmer. Some secondaries to look at would be:
Monk - Add some healing support or condition and hex removal to your team. Also gives a reusable res spell.
Ele - Use your primary fast casting attribute to speed up the casting of ele spells.
Necro - Throw some curses into your bar for added shutdown.
Assassin - Make use of assassins promise for heaps of energy.
Ritualist - See monk.

Ther is alot of range on what can work, but there are some choices that usually dont end well. Heres a handy hint that I use often.
Think about what you will use your secondary for, and what are the advantages of taking each primary.

Lets say I want to make a Mo/W using an axe
Why is a warrior good with an axe?
1- They have strength to boost damage.
2- They have access to warrior runes to boost damage.
3- They have extra armour to survive the extra damage they take on the frontline.
4- They have access to strength skills to add damage.

Does a monk have something that can make it do these similarly?
1- Smiting Prayers buffs can boost damage.
2- No
3- No
4- No

From that I would decide that making a Mo/W using an axe is ineffective.

Really, when you know what you are doing in the game, you can really do anything. I personally run an assassin with a Katana and no offhand item because I like the idea of it, it is ineffective, but I dislike playing the builds like perma or mobius for a sin. So dont worry to much about having the perfect combination of skills and professions, find out what you find fun, and play that.

thanks subarucar, i already made my chose,
i'm a mesmer/elementalist now, and i pretty much like it, the only thing i need to work on is on my build, but i have time enough to find out what builds are good.

~mello's scythe~

If you want to stick with mainly Mesmer skills, look at picking up Glyph Of Lesser Energy, this skill is great for energy with no attribute investement required.
If you want to use more ele skills, look at putting some points into inspiration and grabbing some energy management spells such as Drain Enchantment or Power Drain aswell as Glyph Of Lesser Energy.

There are many ways to make a mesmer work, if your stuck for ideas, head over to pvxwiki.com, some of the builds may not be the best, but the concepts behind them are good.

Also, once you unlock a second profession for your character, you can keep changing between the ones you unlocked earlier. So if you want to try out Assassin as second, you can always go back to secondary Elementalist.

Ow, and welcome to Guild Wars ^^ I hope you keep enjoying the game, there is so much to do and to explore!

i really like this community, you all are helpfull and friendly, i like that.

and sure i will, plastic blue, i don't get bored playing it.

~mello's scythe~

As posts above give you the way to go.

Just take your time with a Mesmer dont rush it as it takes a bit of time to learn

Plan ahead with missions..look up missions before you jump into them and you will see what the enimies are throwing at you and adjust your skills accordingly.


With your Ele as secondary I would just have the GoLe on your bar until you can understand the Mesmer properly.

A lot of guys give up on a mesmer..dont... nomatter what others say...put a bit of effort into it and you will have some fun playing it.


BTW welcome to Guild Wars and have fun

As Highlander said, the mesmer is a tricky class to master. And checking what the enemies are before you go questing and doing missions is really helpfull. If the area is mainly attacking classes (derv, war, ran, sin, para) look at loading up a bar with some anti melee skills like clumsiness, or if an area is mainly casters focus on some shutdown skills and interupts. If the area is a mix, you can focus on taking out one kind of foe, or you could put together some kind of hybrid build.

Just be carefull when running hybrid style build that you dont try and do much at once, e.g if running a domination based mesmer, you could put empathy in your bar, use that on an attacking class, then switch toa caster and focus on shutting them down.