Some questions from a new player

I'm new to Guild Wars, and had some questions I couldn't find answers for on the Wikis. So I'll fire off here and see what happens, as from what I've seen this game has a pretty decent and knowledgeable community.

1. I'm leveling with a partner, and have passed over some skills quests for my primary and secondary professions for the moment. Are any of these quests required for skills or can I buy them later at trainers? I don't want to miss any important skills (I'm starting in Prophecies)

2. I bought the Trilogy Pack with Prophecies, Factions, and Nightfall. Is PvP included, or do I still need to buy the PvP pack separately? On that note, do I need to be in a guild to PvP or can I join a random group?

3. Is there a specific order to the quests at all (besides the missions)? I have a ton of them, and am having a bit of difficulty sorting it all out in terms of region and quest level (if there indeed is a recommended quest level).


Thanks in advance. The game is fun, but definitely a bit daunting. I played the trial a long time ago, but now getting into the full game, it seems huge and there's quite a bit to do, I find I'm wandering a lot and just generally enjoying it, but really enjoy progressing the storyline. I've played other MMOs and the story tends to be an afterthought, very cool move on NCSoft's part with the plotline and making you feel like part of the story's progression.

Free skills are Free
You will be able to purchase the skills later but it does get pricey after so many skills.You might as well get them now while you're there.

PvP was the original point of the game and you were wise enought to start at the "original" starting point so you're all set, you will find some {Ascalon & Yaks Bend} low level PvP arenas along your travels but most PvP was designed for lvl 20 so you will run across it later.

The quests themselves are "kinda" set along your path to send you to new areas and keep you progressing through the game but they aren't really that orderly so it can be a bit much to keep track of when trying to do too many at once. {thanks for the great flashbacks of going wtf should I do next!!! }

There is a wiki that can answer all of your quest questions that people will refer you to{ I won't link it because I don't want you to go there!!!}.
I would recommend to ignore them and keep on tripping over yourself finding what you find and figuring it out as you go since it sounds like you are enjoying that aspect of GWs and if you are ever REALLY stuck come here and ask.
Having the answers to everything at your fingertips is overrated and will sap the fun out of finding out what else is in store for you here.

Keep on having fun, don't read the trolls on the forums too much, don't get "runs" to anywhere that you can't get to yourself and stay away from the wiki {it's like crack and you won't stop looking there even if you only tried it once}

Welcome to GWs and I hope you have a blast!!!

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I've been to the wiki already (the official one, not so much the unofficial one). I bought my key online and didn't get the box / instruction manual, so just read through the basics on my class(es), W/Ra, and also on the basic game mechanics. I've mostly avoided spoilers.

As for runs, I'll be avoiding them like the plague. My wife and I play together and just fill the group with NPC Mercs, gets the job done well enough with a W/Ra and Mo/Me combo we've got going.

Plus I cheated a bit last night, selling 3 Birthday cupcakes for 600g to get my Charr Hide Armor (I'm level 7 or 8 right now, doubt I should have the means currently). I dunno, was tired of taking such big hits from mobs and was drooling over the set since I left Pre-Searing and saw it. I don't need cupcakes, and people seem obsessed (I think it's a title?). I figured 600g would get me a bit further than some title or a cupcake bonus

1. You can buy skills at the skill trainer for a price. but if you can do the quests and get them for free the better for you.
2. You don't need to buy a pvp thing. In order to do JQ or FA or AB you do need to be affiliated with kurzick or luxon or be guested by someone into a guild.
3. No there's no order to the quests. Major thing is the primary quests. that should keep you inline.

You can get any skill you want by purchasing it @ skill trainers, so you're not really missing any skill. Maybe you could have just saved some money, still, no big deal, don't worry!

Every skill trainer you'll meet in the game offers:

- All the skills normally available for the specific skill trainer (the initial selection of skills he/she was programmed to sell)
- All the skills currently unlocked for the campaign (eg. you can unlock a Prophecies skill with Balthazar Faction and then buy it anywhere in Prophecies)
- All the core skills currently available & unlocked

To get the skills of other secondary professions you'll also need to unlock the secondary profession of interest. That is possible only after one of the processes of "ascension", either through questing or by simply purchasing another secondary at the Great Temple of Balthazar or from similar NPCs in Factions or Nightfall.

GToB is an outpost in a separated area called The Battle Isles. You'll be able to unlock it as soon as you reach the first port city (Lion's Arch for the Prophecies campaign) and is the main hub for most of the PvP activities in Guild Wars.

PvP is included. See above: you'll need to reach Lion's Arch and then travel to the Great Temple of Balthazar, altough fully developing your character before entering PvP is strongly recommended.

PvP pack is only meant for players not interested in PvE. They're offered only the PvP part of the game, they'll be limited to PvP character creation (and so won't be able to leave the Battle Isles).

You're technically allowed to join random groups. Joining a guild could be useful anyway, for both PvE and PvP.

There's no specific order. You can do them whenever you like, in whichever order you like. You can even skip them all if you want.

Some quests might have follow-ups, and some quests might become available to you only after you meet certain requirements of either level or progression through the campaign.

sell those damn cupcakes and anything else people want {capitalism is KING} and your gonna need cash, hence the "get free skills"

Since it sounds like you and your wife are still in low lvl areas it's not a bad idea to travel shorthanded {no henchies} and see what tactics and skill combos you can come up with to get past diff areas, it will make you better trust me... My first warrior was in the desert before I ever broke down and had to team up with someone {damn scarabs}

anyhow I hope you guys have a blast G/L !!!

For the PVP thing you can buy a skill pack that unlocks skills and items to use for pvp only. But during normal play you can unlock the same things for use in pvp. When you create a new char you can either make a pvp only, that will have access to use a basic skill set + all the stuff you have unlocked with other chars on your account. You can also take your pve char and jump straight into pvp with it. But a new player will rarely have all the skills needed for various strategies and builds in pvp.

Regarding income, its a real good idea and not in any way like "cheat" to farm for cupcakes and sell them. They only drop for a few more days and are a nice easy way of income. You should use any way of gather some income while playing so you can afford max armor when you reach the outposts where it is crafted. You can look in the farming section here on guru to find more info on how to earn money.

For the quests, its most natural to do them in order, that is, do all quests in ascalon area, then move on to do the shiverpeaks quests and kryta quests etc. And once you have bought a certain number of skills it will cost 1000g per skill to buy more, so you should do all the skill quests you can find.
And yes, keep track of your primary quests, if you get lost you can most often do a primary and it will lead you to next mission etc.
Good luck

That's not cheating at all, you just sold some items you found and invested the earned cash

Wise move, actually.

Oh, and congrats for picking a Warrior!

Yeah, I haven't been farming cupcakes, but i've been lucky on drops, got 5, used 1 on the 1st mission (the one on the wall) and one to combat a death penalty a bit while I was questing. Sold the others. I've also been using my salvage to get as many mats as possible in hopes to trade (the iron ingots are expensive, so hoping to maybe trade folks 2x leather hide / cloth / etc per ingot as needed, plus whatever else I can find), and have been keeping some stuff in my storage as well to make my 2nd character easier to gear and level later.


Thanks for the tips everyone, very helpful and I appreciate all the advice!

As you do not wish spoilers and your in Prophicies

The thing is pick up everything you find..sell it off to merchants ect
reason is there is a lot less gold in proph than the other 2 ie.Nightfall/Factions

Once you reach the desert look for the collectors as you will get maximum armour there from them ..saves you cash till you can afford one you want.

Advice do the quests for skills as mensioned they are free,and you will help level it up some more.

you both can quest to-gether for these thus both obtaining xp as well as staying to-gether.

Once you both reach Lions Arch playing the game you can cross over to another campaign or the expansion Eye of north. (level 10 rqd)

hense you can jump back and forth or just continue as you are

Please read the campfire forum as...not spoilers but will give you an insight to the professions you are both playing.

Enjoy playing to-gether and have fun

Good idea to gather materials, but it may save you alot of hasstle if you just sell the ingots, then buy the materials with the earned money. Not much people usually are up for trading materials for others, so it will save you much time


A tip from me: Once you reach the areas where elite skills can be captured (Crystal desert and beyond in prophecies, i believe) then its a good idea to get a signet of capture and have one with you all the time. When you kill a boss of your proffesion (primary or secondary) use the signet and select the elite skill, and you will learn it, and lose the signet. Not only are elite skills generally better than normal skills, you will net a nice sum of xp for capturing an elite (Think its character level x 250 = XP gained)

Note you can have only one elite skill on your bar at a time (Technically posible to have more by capturing more than 1 elite in the same zone, but you usually wont do that, and its rarely beneficial, and will only last until you reach an outpost)

If you need any help in-game, feel free to add 'Robin Hood UK' to your friends list

I would recommend that you always try to get the highest level armor you can whenever it's available, up until you get max armor. The expense is outweighed by the better survivability, which leads to more exploring/questing, more drops, and thus, more gold and a better gaming experience.

As far as materials go, I would recommend you only salvage the things that have the materials you need for the armor you want, or to save for future armor. Salvaging things to sell the materials is not cost effective - the value of the items you salvage is usually more than the (selling) value of the materials.