new player.. lost

Soo. I am thinkin about goin to pick up the 3 pack at Best Buy and start playing Guild Wars, that way when part 2 comes out, I have a decent foot hold on game mechanics.

Ive been lookin for some good PvP ever since Shadowbane ended, and I decided to start playin GW.

My question is basically this..

I wanna get into serious PvP and eventually join a guild and what not. But how do I go about starting off, and quickly unlocking as many skills, armors, weapons, as possible.

EDIT: One of my favorite things about Shadowbane was creating custom builds that owned in PvP, and I just wanna make sure I have all the skills and other things to choose from.

I was thinkin of rollin a Dervish/Warrior or Dervish/Assassin and basically Im just confused on how I can unlock all the Dervish/Warrior/Assassin stuff.

Ive been looking up builds and stuff, and I see there is a hefty collection of skills, armor, weapons, enhancement, and other things.

So in a nutshell.. where should I begin. Should I just start a Dervish PvE toon and play through the campaigns? If I do play through all 3, will I eventually unlock all the dervish skills?

And which campaign should I start on. Also, should I make a new toon for each campaign.

Sorry if this all seems like a stupid question. Im just slightly confused.

A) not worth making a new char for each campaign unless you want an assassin or rit (factions only) and derv or paragon (nightfall only) -you can take certain quests which allow your characters access to all campaigns - so unless you want one of those specified professions make them in any campaign and play - best advice create in Prophecies - slowest game but has the lowest learning curve for new players so you are not overwelmed within hours from overstrong enemies (some in factions for newbs)

PvP wise - consider getting a PvP pack from the game store < unlocks a load of skills which will help you in PvP

start off in RA < lowest form of PvP and you can learn the basics there.
HA - elitist and requires a title (mostly) to get into a group - ever renewing cycle of can't play without a title but can't get the title without playing

so try RA and earn some glad points - will give you appeal to HA teams once you have ranks in the title < shows experience

guild wise - there were several that specilised in getting people into PvP and teaching them the basics etc. not sure if they are around still, others will be able to advise you on this (think its was [kisu] or someone who offered this help

If all you want to do is to unlock all the skills, mods and runes+insignia's as soon as possible, i recommend that you just make a PvP character and start in the arenas immediately. Check the zaishen combat quests daily. Make sure to collect the good ones on as many characters as possible when they come out, the balth faction that they give makes getting UAX very easy.

As far as starting a Pve char goes, there are only 2 advantages to it PvP-wise:

1) You learn the very basic mechanics of the game. Nothing really that you wouldn't learn faster playing PvP, but game mechanics is game mechanics :P

2) Armor in Guildwars is mainly aesthetic. Everyone has max armor, its automatic when making a PvP char. Buying armors+weapons (for their looks) on a PvE char is much cheaper than buying them on PvP char. If you stick with a PvP char, you probably won't ever be able to buy the best looking pieces in the game (unless you play for ages+reach the highest levels of PvP). But they'll still function as well as any PvE weapons you can buy.

For your edit- If you want to create a PvE derv, you can only actually make those in Nightfall. You are actually able to access all the campaigns (which you have bought) with the same character, so if you're looking to create a PvE char quickly, i recommend starting one in Factions (the tutorial island is the fastest). Note that you won't be able to create a derv in Factions though.

well i definitly wanna go Derv, they just really appeal to me. I guess if I had to choose any other starting profession i could go Ranger, but I would REALLY like to play a Dervish, that way I can get a quick start on learning and unlocking there abilities.

Is there a way to maybe create a Dervish and then quickly change to one of the other more n00b friendly campaigns? Or should I suck it up, play prophecies/factions fist and learn the basics, and then start a new game as a Derv when I feel comfortable.

If I did start off on an easier campaign first. Which would be better. I was under the impression that Prophecies was the first game. But you say factions?

Side question: How do I get Eye of the North?

You can also BUY the unlock pack from the in-game store.

If, for you, Time > Money. But, as mentioned, it shouldn't take long to unlock the skills by paying Bathazar Faction.

Good luck and have fun!

Playing through the game allows you to unlock normal skills by purchase from skill trainers (further into a campaign, the more skills available) and to capture elite skills using a Signet of Capture. Any skill unlocked is immediately available to any PvP character.

But to play PvP you can unlock skills on your account by earning Balthazar Faction and purchasing the unlocks (easy place is Jade Quarry or Fort Aspenwood, but as a new player, please go play for the Luxons). This faction will also allow you to unlock runes and insignia for your armor and mods for your weapons.

While playing PvE will teach you about game mechanics, you will have learned this before you leave a beginner area. The only benefit to completing campaigns for a PvP player is getting access to nicer armor skins and possible rare weapon drops.

Don't start introducing that crap to a new player. The so called "Elitism" is only complained about by the peolpe who actually can't be bothered to work for their rank and play with people of a similar skill level, people who just want to ride on the backs of those who did take the time to rank up properly.

Rank problems don't exist for those who are willing to actually play with people who are of a similar skill level and who are willing to put into the time to actually learn how to HA properly. There are plenty of unranked people to play with, join one of their groups or start your own. You won't win but you gain experience and you learn from your mistakes, then you can start winning. It's wrong to expect R10's to take a new player and take losses just because he wants some easy fame.

As for unlocking skills, at the start it's best to just play through one of the campaigns. Considering you want to make a Dervish it's ideal to just start playing the Nightfall campaign, it's not to fast like Factions and not quite as slow as Prophecies. You can unlock enough skills just playing through the campaign to start to PvP.

Once you've done that you'll need to buy the rest of the campaigns (or buy them at the start, it doesn't matter) and then start unlocking the skills using faction from getting kills and wins in PvP. Start with RA, it's the easiest way to get a basic understanding of PvP. Learning other people skills, learning to kite, basically just getting experience playing your own class.

You can then move onto HA and learn how to play in a team, you should be able to find a starter HA guild easily enough, don't expect to win much though, it's all about learning to play it properly first. GvG is where the proper action is though, so once you start to get the hang of team play you can move into this more competitive aspect of the game.

Jut to note, we don't know yet if GW2's mechanics are going to be the same as GW1 so I don't know that playing 1 will necessarily give you a footing (though that's not to say it won't)

Still that's not to say it's not worth getting the original game, since it's good on its own merits

I love my dervish. I've also played a warrior and assassin some too, but IMHO, the dervish is definitely the most fun melee character. I don't do much PvP, so I can't say how much use they get there.

If you want to play one, you'll have to start in Nightfall. You need to get to level 10 & then you can get quests in Kamadan that will get you to Lion's Arch (Prophecies) or Kaineng Center (Factions). Personally, I liked Nightfall and EotN the best, so I'd just play through NF first.

It's an expansion that requires at least one of the other campaigns to play. You can buy it separately, or you may be able to find a collection with it and all three campaigns bundled together. Once you get it, you can get another quest that will take you to the start of EotN. It's a good & varied part of the game and it seems to be where the most players hang out.

BTW, you can always go into Observer mode to watch recent PvP battles, by typing 'b' once you're in a town. It's a good way to see how people are playing. Kinda like ESPN, Guild Wars style.

actually i'm r7 (i have a lack of life in achieving that - and earnt it through playing unranked for over a year to get my 180 and equally bad groups up until r6+) but I went through all the elitist crap everyone has to go through - and in fairness I think it was worth pointing out just so he knows what can happen unless he gets lucky with a compitent guild or finds the occasional unranked guild which has skill (unranked groups do have skills ZOMG)

best thing for you to do if you want to get into HA (recommend perhaps trying at some point after you are more knowledgeable of builds and the game mechanics) < recommend looking for a good guild first though - or be prepared to play I-gay until r3 :P < one of the best ways I found to get your first 180fame to show off your e-peen title...it requires minimal skill just enough to be able to point and click and equip a longbow occasionally :P and then just mash away with 1,2,3 styly

but HA is just a grind-fest which is unfortunate for new players - it is a neverending cycle no matter what anyone says - unless you are lucky to get either:
A) good guild willing to help you
B) compitent unranked group (hard to fail with i-gay but people do)
C) a ranked group willing to help you get some fame
D) get a fame farmer and pay him 540k to get you r3 :P
I DO NOT RECOMMEND D) OPTION THOUGH

Dervish is my favorite profession. They're a lot of fun and I enjoy them much more than the other melee professions. They're not normally seen in PvP much, though, I don't think.

Nightfall is pretty newbie friendly - the learning curve present is about midway between Prophecies and Factions. You can't jump to the other campaigns until after a certain point (just about the same point where you leave the starter island) and you won't end up in a very newbie friendly area in the other campaigns (though Prophecies areas will be a lot easier than Factions at that point).

If you feel like you have any serious determination to play PvP, I suggest not going the easy curve. I started with factions and I felt the difficulty of the mobs taught teamplay and good positioning better than taking it easy in proph.

In retrospect I feel like it would have been even better to just jump right into RA when I was learning since PvE gave me some bad habits, such as not watching the field.

If you want to start out with low pressure though, I'll suggest some AB since you get PVP action except that there's usually less attention on you with so many people milling around.

As for the derv question: ask yourself if you want to jeopardize your team just because you want to play something that only looks cool.

Simple is best, just roll a Dervish and play through Nightfall first. The Nightfall starting island is as noob friendly as they come.

Alt key to look around intown, Cntrl key also shows interesting things out in the field.

Get a longbow for pulling, starting combat in some cases. Lots of little no attribute required longbows in any starting area.

Sorry but if it took you a year to get 180 fame and as you said you play frequently enough...Then you really don't learn very fast at all. It took me a year of frequent playing to get about 5,000 fame.

Elitism is assuming you're better than everyone else, maximising your chances to win by playing with people of equal skill level is not Elitism. You don't hear R9 people complaining about Elitism because they can't get into R12+ groups...

Sure, it should be pointed out that he shouldn't expect to join teams that will actually win at the start, that's fair enough but to call it Elitism is wrong.

I love my Derv they are a great class. Their god forms crush pve.

NF has a pretty good starter island. I found it a great place to start for my first character too. Go ahead and play in NF but be warned, it may make you dislike prop a little. When I started my Ranger there I knew it was going to be my only prop born character. It's a real nice place and game but its pace is like ughhhh compared the others.

Eye of the North is considered a expansion pack when you reach lvl 10 you see a pop message for a quest to get there but just forget it about it for now.

The only people that say Derv's suck are the ones that don't understand how to play them. Don't listen when people say not to use +2 and +3 runes low hp isn't that bad.

Abuse windwalker runes. Worship earth prayers. Rain down the wrath of the gods.

-There are well 2 ways to unlock weapon upgrades, Insignias, and skills. One is PvP with Balthazar Faction the other is by identifying color'd named items/buying skills from skill trainers/capturing elite skills from the respective boss with a Signet of Capture.

-Reguarding guilds well there are many many guilds out there that Guild vs Guild, Alliance Battle, etc. Just go around and test out a few.

-You unlock runes and insignia by identifying color'd armors that Mobs drop (blue,purple,gold) or you can do it via Balthazar Faction which is earned via PvP.

- Playing through the campagins would be your best bet for unlocking skills and getting an idea on how a class plays. I would play through the story line at least once and to try to avoid being rusher or power leveled since that takes out alot of the fun and the chance to explore and see some of the most beautiful sights in the game. In reality, once you get to the point on Consolate docks since you are wanting a dervish you can play any of the campagins and or play any of them in any order you wish, but for your dervish skills you will find them mainly in NightFall some in Eotn (exlcuding the Luxon and Kurzick skills in Factions).

-It really depends on what you want to play. Assassin Primary and Ritualist Primary classes must start off in the Factions Campagin, while the Dervish and Paragon Primary must start off in the NightFall Campagin. The rest is considered Core Professions and can be started in any campagin.

I hope I touched on most of your questions and gave you the info you wanted

best advice I can give you is don't bother this game is dead in the water

I fully agree with this. For more than two years i have been in boarding school and have only been able to play GW whilst on holiday (which has been in Korea so GG playing with europeans...). I've always been with WoTU and since i cannot play regularly i'm not as high (in rank LOL) as the rest, but when i'm online, i'm considered a core player. I take part in GvGs and HA and they're all close friends of mine. I can play in r12/13+ groups because they know me and what i'm capable of, despite my lower rank.

But that's it. I can take part in these things because they know me. Roguestatus will, without a doubt, face douches who will slap him for only playing for a few months or that he has no titles. It's a fact. But only because they don't know him. and do you seriously think the majority will give him a chance?

Plus i suggest you stay away from GvGs until they ballance things. stance abuse should be made illegal...

Oh and sorry to burst any bubbles, but dervishes don't have much use in GvG and they're usually only used in HA for hexway in order to spread deep wound... But you never know, the Live team could completely buff derv skills.. Oh wait, people will probably just use them as secondaries.... lol.

I suggest you don't tie yourself down to one profession. Yes we all have our favourites and our main characters with all the titles, but in PvP you will be expected to bring kowledge and skill for many professions, so think of the classes as different "lines". Frontline= Warriors, Dervs, Sins (melee characters)
Midline= Ranger, Paragon, Ele, Necro (ranged offensive characters) and Backline= Monk, Rt and Wammos (healing/support characters). Wammos are a joke btw.

Try on some frontline builds and get a feel more for calling targets and tactics, understanding the battle and the map. These only come through experience.

P.S. RA is fun. xD

Want to play a derv?..ok my advice is to roll one..then play through till you get all the necessary running skills....learn the Droks run...earn lots of cash..then buy tomes to unlock skills...then you can roll a real Class that's pvp viable...cos dervs basically are only used in a few nice builds in pvp...Meke great runners tho ;-)