Nice Starter Profs

Hi, I am sure this has been asked multiple times I am new to GW, (end game raider background in WoW) and intending to play the whole game through once before I start experimenting with other profession combos (determined to not fall into the endless rerolling and never seeing the end of this game!). My question would be is there a 'best' profession combo for a new player who would like to be able to solo most content without finding it too frustrating? I was thinking a Warrior/Ranger or a Monk/?something? or well open to all options I guess. Sorry to be asking what is likely the most vague question ever, but yeah any input would be greatly appreciated. I intend to play in chapter order so beginning with Prophecies.

Also I found that bag space was a bit of a problem in my little level 3 mesmer dabble I had last night (I won't be keeping this mesmer), I gained the belt pouch, but hrm any hints with storage options? Is storage this bad throughout and something I need to manage better? I'm a hoarder by nature so that will be quite difficult!

And any other tips for a new player wanting to enjoy the journey through all the storylines would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much

First of all, when they say that you won't be able to change your secondary profession, they're wrong. Over time, you'll eventually get to the point where you can have anywhere from five to nine secondary professions and you can change them when you change your skills and skill points, so rerolling won't really be an issue.

Second, as far as professions go, that's mainly your play style. If you like seeing big numbers come up, play Elementalist. If you like getting in the middle of the action and focus on one player, but be a bit more active and still do damage, then play Warrior. Monks will have no trouble finding a group, but there's a lot of pressure on them to perform since they are literally the glue holding the group together. Necromancers are fantastic for PvE, but the results aren't nearly as obvious as they are with Elementalist, unless you're playing a minion master build. Mesmers and Rangers are mainly niche roles and great for disruption, but if you're just starting the game, I wouldn't recommend using either of them.

And storage will get better eventually. You'll have a chest system that's basically the "bank" you find in most MMOs, and you'll get two ten-slot bags, plus if you want to part with the money, an equipment pack to hold extra weapons and armor.

As far as tips to get through the storyline? Well, they're mainly tips to save you money. The storyline isn't terribly difficult.

-Finishing the "Cities of Ascalon" quest early on gives you a Grim Cesta that gives -50hp. This is necessary for a certain farming build that monks, necromancers, and very rarely mesmers can use. Either save it for yourself or sell it for 6000 gold.
-Keep an eye open for collectors and what they have to offer, in particular the ones that offer armor. It's better to get armor through them and save your money.
-Take every quest you can that gives you skills as rewards. Skills go up in price the more you buy, up until they cost 1000 gold each. I think the amount of skills you can get for free from doing quests in Prophesies is around sixty... that's close to 40k you're saving yourself.
-The game has a very sharp learning curve, so be patient. It's not the easiest game to get into.
-PvP's not a great idea until you start getting very used to the game. Even the lower level PvP arenas, the ones that are supposed to be reserved for newbies, are mainly used by "hobbyists" who supercharge their lower level characters with elite skills and level 20 pets and the like.

I'm sure there are a few things I missed, but maybe others can help.

A warrior is usually a good profession to get a grip on the game. Secondary doesnt matter to much, you can make a fully effective warrior without a secondary, and by the time you may find a secondary of more use you will be able to change it anyway.

You mentioned you played a mesmer, this is quite a hard class to get a grasp of, and should probably be reserved for a later point, although if you find a profession you really like, go ahead and play it.

I suggest playing a profession you enjoy, go out and give each a trial, decide on your favourites.

GW is a team game, you should not be attempting to solo any content except for specific solo areas, and certain farming builds. There are however AI allies named henchmen and heroes, so you can use them if you do not wish to play with others.

You get 25 slots in your main bag, 5 in a belt bouch, 5 each from 2 additional bags, which can be increased to 10 each. And even more with the addition of the new equipment packs. So thats 50+ storage slots per character. Plus you may also purchase a storage account for a small fee in game, im not sure on the exact amount of space this gives, but it is substantial.

You will begin to learn over time what items may be worth holding onto, and what ones you can get rid of.

Well, if you have MMO experience, try out whatever class you find interest in. Just create what you like so you can learn about the game playing a profession you like. If you're interested in end game, check out these team builds to see which classes are currently used.

As for inventory/storage:

You automatically start off with 20 inventory slots. You can buy a belt pouch for 100 gold at any merchant, which gives you an additional 5 slots. You can only equip one belt pouch. You can also buy a bag from the merchant for 100 gold, which grants you another 5 slots. You can upgrade the bag with a rune of holding, which is 500 gold at a merchant, and it will give your bag another 5 slots (total of 10). 2 bags can be equipped. You can also buy a small equipment pack from the merchant for 2.5k, which will alow you to store 5 weapons/armor pieces. If you want bigger equipment packs, you're going to have to do the daily zaishen quests from the Great Temple of Balthazar.

As for storage, you start with 20 slots. You get an extra 20 slots for each additional campaign you own on your account. With all the campaigns + the expansion, you'll have a total of 80 slots. You can buy additional storage slots from the NCSoft store. You can hold up to 1000k in your storage.

Hope this helps.

I shouldnt worry too much about the "endlessly re-rolling" that isnt so much of a problem in guildwars, you can change aspect of your setup whenever you like, with exception of your secondry proffession. This can be done later in the game depending on which campaign you began in.

Me personally i reckon the easist class to get to a handle on the game is either a necromancer or warrior :P

Dont worry so much about storage space atm, you will eventually gain more. You have your main bag (25slots) belt pouch (5 slots) and two extra bag slots (can be upgraded to hold 10 items each). You also have your equipment bag, (which can only hold your armour and weapons), they come in varying sizes from 5 slots to 25slots. You also have your xunlai chest which can hold alot, if you buy all the upgrades for it :P

Many people have several characters known as mules to hold any extra items that wont fit into your storage and is unlikely to be used, me myself i have 3 dedicated mules chars xD

I think the most important thing to remember is, that this game is completly different to WoW, theres no real solo aspect, unless your using a specific farming build

EDIT; as quick note i'd like to say that you should avoid pvp for a while, until you have unlocked a decent number of skills for the proffession you have chosen. :P

And if your having problems coming up with builds then http://pvx.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page is your friend

Necro.
You get "unlimited" energy and the ability to raise a minion army - which will pretty much win most of the game.

Physicals are decent, but they really only blow up if you have means of buffing them. And that is something that henchmen do not provide.

(Regarding your plan to play the games as they were released - I'd SERIOUSLY look into at least doing some starting quests in Nightfall and GWEN just to get your hands on the first few heroes. Unless of course you plan on buying the games in the release order also. Heroes are insanely better than hench - at least when it comes to Prophecies and Factions hench - and running around with those guys will make the game a lot less frustrating.)

Here is a link to the character creation guide on the wiki
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guide...acter_creation
This will help you understand the available professions. If you see something interesting then I would read the stickied basics thread on that profession that you will find the in the appropriate subforum in our Campfire section. Many of them discuss which secondary professions work best with that primary.

Any profession can be played "solo" if by that you mean just you and the henchmen/heroes that are available. GW is a team game and you select henchmen to complement your character's abilities. There are a few Prophecies missions that will be much easier with a second or third live player along (Aurora Glade, Thunderhead Keep).

Guild Wars is unlike any MMO or RPG you have played in the past. There is no emphasis on leveling and there is no uber armor or weapons. Only the skills you have available and your skill in selecting and using them makes you better or worse than the next player. This is why many of us are still playing a game we purchased four years ago.

And I almost forgot, WELCOME AND ENJOY!!!

I am a firm believer in that every new player should start as a warrior. I'm not saying that warriors are great or anything, but its a very simple-to-use proffession. Other proffessions require alot of work balnacing dammage with energy costs (something that requires a bit of experience to do), but the warrior has Adrenaline skills to counter their low energy and slow energy regeneration. As for secondary, monk is the most common, for self-healing purposes.

Your storage problem should easily solve itself. If you are in prophecies, you will be able to open a storage account at the Zashien Agent in Ascalon after the Searing. In Factions the very first town has an agent, and in NF the first agent is in Kamadan (2nd city). IF you do have prophecies, I sudgets selling everything to merchants, there is no gear from pre-searing worth keeping.

Since you are starting with Prophecies, you probably aren't aware yet that they have something called Xunlai storage. You are in an area of the game now where you don't have access to this feature. Once you DO have access, you can have a shared storage chest that you can access with all your characters. It holds quite a bit of stuff, and can be expanded. It also has a section for materials/rare materials that will hold up to 250 of each kind of material.

I don't want to tell you what gets you to the point where you can use the storage, as it would spoil a significant plotline. but rest assured, you will reach that point relatively early in the game.

Storage:
Once you leave the Pre-Searing (Prophecies tutorial), you will easily get 2 more 10-slot-bags, as well as a 5-slot armor/weapon bag for a grand total of 50 slots. You will also get access to an account-based storage (Xunlai) not available in the tutorial.

Prophecies Characters:
I think an Elementalist would be the easiest start. You can start out with just Flare, a spammable flare attack skill and add/experiment with other skills as you gain them on your way through quests. Now Flare is maybe not the best skill in the game, but it's easy to start with and will get you going quickly.

Based on difficulty, I would probably rank the Prophecies classes something along

***** Elementalist
**** Ranger
*** Warrior
*** Monk
** Necromancer
** Mesmer

Most important is to think of what you think you would enjoy:
- Do you want to play offensively causing a lot of damage, or do you prefer support/heals helping to keep your party alive.
- Do you prefer up close fighting in melee range, or do you rather prefer to stay in the backlines?
- Do you want to fight with weapons, or prefer spell casting?

WoW to GW is a big jump. I've been playing the game for a while, if you need any help, Whisper me in game, Zodiac Ele. Add to friends so you will know when I'm on.

I would think this.

****** Elementalist
**** Ranger
***** Warrior
* Monk
*** Necromancer
** Mesmer

IMO:
***** Elementalist
** Ranger
***** Warrior
* Monk
**** Necromancer
** Mesmer

Warriors, Eles, and Necros are some of the easiest classes to start with. In NM PvE, Eles can just go Fire Magic and nuke everything. Warriors have high armor and energy management through Adrenaline. Necros have mindless energy management through Soul Reaping. From my experiences, these classes are just easier to use than the others.

Ranger and Mesmer are more difficult because they are often used as shutdown classes and interrupting requires a knowledge of all skills in the game. But, they can also be used as damage-dealers which is a bit more mindless.

There are plenty of good monks out there, but great monks are hard to come by. If you're a monk and your group fails, prepare for the Leeroy Wammo to throw the blame in your direction.

If soloing's your thing I would go with Ele or Monk. A 600/Smiter group (you and a monk hero) are capable of soloing damn near everything in the game in hard mode. Also, it'll never get nerfed. Eles have some nice solos with Earth Magic. The other classes are pretty good, except Mesmer. Mesmer sucks for farming.

The storage isn't part of the plotline... LOL
Anyway, I think everything is clear. If you need any help with quests / want to join a nice guild, PM me ingame as L I T E Stalker / Archress Shayleigh / Throne Ov Lord Seth / Soho Teh P W N E R / Denylt The Rabbi / Sapho Silksqueezer / Yawku Otherneeds. Or add me to your friends list.

I'd recommend playing whatever you want from the start. If you start as a warrior, you will have that mindset stuck in you forever (get close, don't use a lot of energy, need adrenaline, high armor). Whatever you start off first kinda jades you. I started as a Mesmer, it wasn't THAT bad... PvE is much easier than PvP remember. I do find Ranger really hard though, that's the one thing I don't recommend starting as.

IMO PvE / PvP
***** / **** Elementalist
** / *** Ranger
**** / **** Warrior
** / *-** Monk
**** / *** Necromancer
** / ** Mesmer

In case no one has, let me point out one of the main differences between WoW and GW. Almost everything, except raids & instances, in WoW is designed to be solo-able. Guild Wars, however, is not meant to be soloed - GW is designed to be a team game, and therefore they provide henchmen (and heroes) to fill out your party, if you don't have enough humans. In the early stages of the game, you start out with a party size of 4, then progress to 6 (in Prophecies) and finally, 8, which is the "normal" party size. (There are also a couple of elite missions with a party size of 12. There are also "solo" builds which you can experiment with later, but they are advanced/gimmicky builds, often designed to work in only specific areas.)

So, what character you choose to play depends (as has been mentioned) upon you're own personal play style. If you were a Mage in Wow, for example, you would probably want to start with one of the spellcasting professions - Elementalist, Necromancer, or Mesmer. When you're questing, you should join up with others (there's no quest sharing, btw) and/or fill your party with henchmen (especially a monk/healer).

You may find it confusing in GW when people talk about "soloing". They may actually mean going out solo (alone), but they may also mean just being the only human with a party of Heroes & Henchmen.

I'd say that good choices to start out with in GW would be Elementalist (spellcaster), Warrior (melee), or Ranger (bows & pet).

Just to say thank you very much for the advice and tips, I've made a nice little Elementalist and am plodding through the content as we speak (loving the storyline).

Thanks again, appreciated a lot