Original Prophecies player wanting to return, a few questions.

Hello all!

I played through the original content in Prophecies when it was first released, and then eventually quit (the only thing to do, because i lived closer to the korean time zone than the US/europe time zones, was farm...PvP was near non existent for me) due to lack of things to do other than farm cash/runes, etc.

I briefly started to play again when i met another player who had quite, and we decided that we would pick the game up again together. We both bought Factions, and then Nightfall, fully intending to go through both chapters. However, as with everything else this individual did, he quite before we ever got started. I eventually quite shortly after due to lack of interest (not so much interest, but it's hard as hell to get a question through the spam in most city channels, not to mention nobody wants to guild a 'noob').

Anyway, with lack of anything else to play but Spore (woot!), i want to come back to GW. However, should i go through Factions and then Nightfall, or just go ahead and pick up Eye of the North and play from there? I remember most of the basics, and i don't have a problem with jumping on a pre-searing character to go romp around and re-learn the basics. I have a level 20 Ranger/Necro that i can play with (not sure if this is still a fun combo?).

I was looking at Paragon/Monk or Paragon/Warrior, but i can determine builds later.

Mainly, i'm just curious as to the state of the game (population, general interest in it, if PvE is prevalent or if it's still PvP at end game only, and if so, how hard is it to get into a decent guild for some pvp action)?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Regards,

the old new old guy.

Factions and Nightfall are still worth going through if you haven't done so already. There might not be people in every mission outpost looking to do the mission, but it's not as bad as some people make it seem.

A new thing that Anet has implemented is the zaishen quests, which give tokens to acquire bigger equipment bags and other goodies you feel like getting. There is one mission chosen from a campaign or eye of the north, one boss bounty picked from the game, and one mode of PvP every day. This usually attracts people to one location and actually get together and accomplish the quest.

As for guilds, you can scroll down the main forum page to the PvE/P guild recruitment section. Guilds make a thread explaining what they do and who to contact if you are interested.

And welcome back

There has probably been quite a few changes made to the game since you last quit. Like Neo mentioned Zishen Quests, there is also the Bonus Mission Pack and Hard Mode which turns the original "noob" areas into more difficult but rewarding areas, and just makes higher end content similar to hell.

If I were in your position, and this is true, I would start over. You don't have to delete your Ranger/Necro if he has been around for a while and you have any sentimental value in him, he prob also has up to 4 years of age so you might wanna keep him around to get each of the next year's birthday presents.

But as I stated before, I think it would be best to try and start over and enjoy the game like you did at release, take one character you can build up and enjoy and beat all the games with him and just plain have fun. The game might be 4 years old and you will hear people say it is dying off. I hardly believe this game's life span is nearly even 1/4 over in my honest opinion.

Umm... no I wouldn't do that. You don't need to go through the campaigns chronologically. Start with whichever campain you want. Do the areas that interest you, and the storylines that interest you.

As far as the state of the game is concerned, over the time you've been gone, interest and population in pve has grown, while the opposite is true of pvp. Though both have enough interest to be worthwhile.

Welcome back and have fun!

I only suggested it. Seeing as he probably hasn't played in so long, he could get to know the game again.

If I were you, I would play around in pre if for nothing more than the gifts of the huntsman and to familurize yourself with the game again. Then jump over to Nightfall to get your self some heros. Heros are the worse thing to ever happen to the game but they have become a necessary evil (yeah that is my opinion). It is a different game now, fewer PUGs, a lot of H&H (Heros and Henchies) and alas a lot of people complain if you make a single mistake. Once you have a few heros do what you want where you want. If you choose to do factions, twords the end a guild hall comes in handy when trying to put up with Luxon/Kurzick Merchants that won't talk to you.
If you need or want any help, feel free to pm me The name should be to the left.

Neo:
Wow, great information! Thanks!

Chrisworld:
That is a good idea. I think i'm going to make a character, run through the original Prophesies missions and such, and then go through and do Factions with a factions only profession, and then do the same with Nightfall (and then progress to EotN, i assume).

Theodenking:
Yea, one of the big drawbacks to living in another time zone away from fellow english speaking players, was that the only thing to really do was PvP. And with all the koreans around at the time, they just stomped everyone into the ground (seriously, it was no contest, lol, and i considered myself a very well played Ranger/mesmer(or necro)).

KZaske:
What is gifts of the huntsman?

I just checked with /age...
I have played Kira Chan (my ranger) for 173 hours over the past 49 months.
Across all characters, 302 hours and 12 minutes over the past 49 months.

Lol...that's a lot of hours (of course i'm sure a lot of other people will have more, but still ;p )


Wow and this is wierd. I hit "K" to view the skill points and abilities...and there is a drop down menu with Ranger/warrior-monk-mesmer-necro-elementalist. Are these different profiles that i can switch through?

Once you have Ascended (which you have on your R/N if you beat Prophecies) you can freely swap your secondary profession. Your Ranger is not limited to a Necromancer secondary. Whenever you are in a Town or Outpost, you can change you secondary at will (just like your skills).

Wow sweet
Yup, i'm ascended. THAT was an awesome set of missions, if i remember correctly. Right now i'm hunting for a mailbox type deal in Ascalon, but i did have four pets in my Ranger's inventory, which was cool. But i had no money (0 gold). I have a bunch of 250's in my reagent storage though.

Funny thing, it has "4th anniversary storage", but it's greyed out and i cannot access it? I've had this character for four years and a month or so....so even if it's the game's anniversary (or even my characters), shouldn't it be available? Or do i have to do something first?

Regretfully, the Anniversary storage was only available for May & June of this year. You went through the motions of buying a storage pane and entered a code that gave you the pane for free.

Some of the birthday mini-pets are worth money if sold (check Ventari section Price CHeck forum - Minipets sticky) or can be dedicated (exhibited but still kept to play with) in your EotN Hall of Monuments.

You failed to mention what time zone you live in now. Are you still in Asia?

Ahh darn, was hping for more storage

I now live in Florida, in the USA. Just trying to re-learn the game.
So many TONS of skills to choose from, from multiple Ranger/<insert job here> combinations...no idea what to start playing around with. Might just go ahead and start anew anyway. I have a level 5 elementalist/mesmer (i think that's the level she is) with 33 platinum in the pre-searing area....i think i was farming monsters for people who needed it, or something...i don't remember. lol. but i asked if 33P 205G was still a lot of money and poeple said yes. So at least i have that to help along. and tons of hides

I think what i might do, is buy the CORE and PROPHECIES skill unlock packs, while i play this new character i made. I'm not sure what i have and what i don't have, but i only really played 3 of the original professions in the game (Monk, Warrior, Ranger -and a pre-searing farming Ele). Then i'll go do the Factions/Nightfall storylines and farm skills there manually since i never got much time in those expansions.


Of course, i have no idea how many of the skills i have unlocked previously compared to the number of unlocked ones (as in, do i have 50% of them unlocked, or 80%? /sigh). Damn, too bad there isn't a "compare" list in the store!

Go to a skill trainer (if you have access to Ember Light Camp on the Ring of Fire island chain, Dakk would be the best one to talk to) and see how many of the skills say "(unlocked)" or are greyed out because they are "known". Do that for all the secondary professions you've got unlocked on that character. Should give you some idea of the proportion you'd be unlocking when you pay for them.

Regarding "unlocked" vs "known" - any unlocked skills can be used by any character's heroes and by any PvP characters you make. PvE characters can only use skills that are known to them. If you want to use an unlocked skill on a character that doesn't know it, you either need to buy it or use a tome for them to learn it and be able to use it. So, buying the unlock pack may or may not do for you what you're hoping it will.

Gifts of the Huntsman - ArenaNet introduced a new NPC character this year named Nicholas. He is in pre-searing as Nicholas Sandford and in post-searing and the other campaigns as Nicholas the Traveler. He exchanges gifts (up to five) for specific items that change each week along with his location. What he wants and where to find him is posted on the front page of the wiki.

His gifts range from sweets & alcohol to rare minipets and staffs.