I ordered EotN... so...

Newegg had an irresistible price on EotN, so I ordered it tonight. Should be here in a few days. I'm currently playing Prophecies, haven't bought Nightfall or Factions yet since I'm waiting for a good deal on those as well. I'm playing a lvl20 E/Ra who just finished the Sanctum Cay mission tonight. Yay me!

My question is this - what would be some of the benefits and/or drawbacks to my adding EotN to my account right away? I only ordered it tonight because the sale was so good... I obviously haven't even finished Prophecies yet and still have quite a ways to go before I do. But I'm certainly curious about the EotN content, and wanting to know if there are aspects to it which would help me along in my current Missions/Quests/general explorations.

I've gathered that EotN adds some explorable areas, additional Missions/Quests... but is there anything else to it? Things I might find desirable based on where I am now? Or should I just hold off activating it until I've completed Prophecies?

Thanks for any tips you're able to offer!

It adds some heroes. You get a level 20 monk and ele almost immediately, then Gwen, a mesmer. The rest require doing quests to obtain. But, unless you are a purist, having Ogden (monk) and Vekk (ele) will help you out along your Prophecies path.

There is no disadvantage to activating the key now. The only thing you will notice is that when you travel to the Lions Arch outpost you will get a message pop up explaining to speak to someone to get the quest to travel to Eye of the North.
If you don't follow this quest then it won't have any impact on your current game.

As Darcy says, simply completing this first quest to get to the Eye of the North outpost will give you access to some heroes which you can then use on your Prophecies campaign and although they start at Level 20 you will be able to equip them with skills you've unlocked so far and you can give them any Armor Upgrades and Weapons you find.

The additional Campaigns and Expansions do not imapct any of the other main storylines in any way so you can add them to your existing account without any effect to your current gameplay.

There will also be a skill trainer at the Eye that may have some skills of interest to you. There are no new Elite skills, other than PvE skills, but you may be able to capture something useful in EOTN before you could in Prophecies.

I'd say the heroes make it more than worth it, even if you don't have super builds for them yet.

Overpowered pve skills = easy pve

EotN will also allow you to access max level armor and weapons immediately.

Just sayin'.

So does Crystal Desert if you know where to look.

There's no reason not to add it immediately. As said, you have to actually do a quest to get to Boreal Station (the first outpost in Eye of the North expansion). My suggestion: add GW:EN as soon as you get it. Travel to Boreal Station and then to the Eye of the North outpost. Get some awesome new skills from the trainer in the Eye. Go back and finish Prophecies, then head back into EN campaign.

Also, get Factions and Nightfall .

You mean that max armor that you can't put insignias on?
Not as helpful as ones I can drop insignias on.

The EotN question has been answered well. However, I would point out that you should not just be looking for good deals on Nightfall and Factions. The best deals are often on the Trilogy.

The Trilogy has one key code, not three, which will add the two campaigns you are missing, ignoring Prophecies since you already have it. This is not really a "waste" if you got a good deal on the package compared to the cost of buying the two campaigns separately.

You should definitely add gw:en although you probably won't have a huge amount of skills to get you through it yet.

Getting the other two campaigns will net you alot of goodies, heroes, skills, weapons etc. Eye of the North is intended for experienced players though so if you haven't hit lvl 20 in prophecies, you'll find alot of the content in gwen, especially dungeons difficult, even with the buff to lvl 20.

It would be really advantageous to play through prophecies, factions and nightfall and then tackle the bulk of gwen, but you can go any way you want to. Hope you have plenty of fun with it.

[edit]
Btw getting factions and nf as well as prophecies will net you a hero, MOX. Eye of the north gets you access to the hall of monuments where you can see all your accomplishments which will net you bonus items for GuildWars 2, see hom.guildwars2.com for what you'll get.

Thank you for the heads up btw. I was milling getting it for my second acct since I acquired one. The newegg price was awesome.

Wow, thanks everyone... that was fast!

@BrettM - yup, I should have clarified that I was expecting it to be the Trilogy that goes on sale. Interesting side-note on that: Someone I met in-game was telling me that WalMart carries the "Complete Collection" setup (P,F,N & EotN) for $40. They do... though it's not available online right now and it's hit or miss if the local stores have it. It sounded like a great deal, but further research into the set shows it only gives two additional toon slots (6 total) instead of the 4 more (bringing total to 8) I'd get by getting Factions & Nightfall via the Trilogy or through separate purchase.

So I check Steam & Amazon each day for the Trilogy to be on sale, and now I'll be watching NewEgg as well since that's where I found EotN for such a nice deal.

@Everyone - the heroes definitely sound intriguing. I wouldn't say I'm a "purist" LOL though I have been sticking to the storyline as closely as I can. The only exception to this was a friend who very much wanted to run me to LA before the Halloween decorations came down so I could see them. I would have been there on my own within a couple of days, so I went. The decorations were still up when we started the run... by the time we arrived, they were gone and we were getting the persistent "There's a new build...reboot" messages. LOL The gods of Tyria were clearly making their opinions about running ahead known. *grinning*

Stepping outside Prophet's Pass last night, just to poke around a bit before I went to bed, I found those jade scarab thingys really challenging... they killed my Fire Attunement & Aura of Restoration quickly, and I was burning through Energy pretty fast trying to kill them, so I definitely need to rethink my strategy there. I'm sure a few heroes would help... but I'm hoping to figure it out on my own, first, based on what skills I have available to me right now. I like a challenge... but I really hate the scarab/spider/devourer things... they make uber-creepy noises. LOL

Better armor/weapons/skills would probably help, too - and it's not because I'm a "purist" that I likely won't end up getting those yet... it's simply that one thing I HAVE learned in playing this is that I really still have zero idea of what's truly helpful versus what just looks flashy/sounds good. I've realized after the fact that I disposed of what would have been useful weapons, or that skills I thought were really great turned out to be not-so-useful after all. So I'm trying to proceed slowly & carefully when picking and choosing what I do with those things... I think I have pretty good armor now (Flameforged Elementalist +51 from outside Stingray Strand) with helpful insignias & runes in all of it, and I'm keeping an eye out for an Insightful Staff Head +5 and a Fortitude Wrap +30 for a nice little Raven staff I found. I'm pretty sure I merch'd both BEFORE I understood what they were/how to use them/what "maxed mods" were. LOL

I find it all pretty exciting, to be honest... the whole process, the unknowns, and the learning something new - even if it's after I've made a mistake like merch'ing something I could really have used. *grins* I was positively gleeful the other day when I realized the Zaishen Mission was finally something I had access to (The Great Wall), and now I'll get to do The Wilds & Aurora again for it as well.

I'm a bit like a kid in a candy store here. LOL

My toon is a lvl20 elementalist/ranger. I think I've earned three skill points since I hit lvl20, if that helps anyone figure out how far along I am in terms of toon development? I cleared Sanctum Cay yesterday - though it took me four tries, and I finally had to decide to complete the bonus in one try and the mission in another. I also have to go back and do the bonus on Aurora Glade... I got so caught up in holding the crystal stands against the White Mantle that I forgot I wasn't supposed to tune all of them until I'd killed the Demagogue. LOL

I was a lvl12 before I ever left pre. I was having so much fun going beyond the gate and killing charr that I didn't want to leave. But it's helped me move up pretty quickly in post, and with the armor I got from Stingray Strand, my toon is pretty buff for an elementalist.

Well, until I have to deal with creepy crawlies that make shudder-worthy clicky noises... then I scream and run like a little girl. *grins* I keep trying to tell my husband that it's his responsibility to come kill THOSE bugs for me too, just like he does here at home... but for some reason, he's just not buying it.

Glyph of lesser energy may be your friend if your having energy issues and comming up against lots of enchant removal.



And turn your sounds off in the desert xD

Adding eotn as mentiont above will be a great addition.
You get some fun content and though the story isn't amazing, it's still fun and you'll find some intresting new allies and foes.

And about the bugs in the dessert, more annoying sounds means more fun dancing on their copses.

Its good to add eye while your still on Prophesies because it feels part of that campaign and it fits seamlessly into the prophesies world map.

Any more info would be a spoiler but its a great campaign with lots of good adventuring.

I think I like it best after Prophesies.

I love reading your posts, TheGizzy. You remind me so much of myself when I first started. Y'know, before I got all jaded and title-grindy.

So my post doesn't get deleted for not being an answer: I agree that once GW-EN arrives, you should add it and consider popping to Boreal Station for max armor. Getting collector armor that can't be fully upgraded or crafting less-than-max armor is a waste of time and money, IMO. Once you've got max armor, you can rune up and focus on playing. Then all your cash and salvaged mats can be saved for "pretty armor" which you can work towards when you get other campaigns/areas unlocked.

Definitely add it to your account! It will not affect any of your gameplay until you want to go to EotN. And even if you decide to go to EotN, you're still free to go back to Prophecies.

Don't think of it as installing a new game ontop of what you already have. Think of it as opening a gate to another part of the game that you didn't have access to before. You're free to come and go as you please.

I love this forum. *grins*

UPS says EotN will be here on Friday, and after reading all of your replies, I'm going to add it as soon as it arrives. I've just arrived in Augury Rock tonight, and began reading carefully through the Wiki pages on the missions necessary to ascend. It's clear to me that unless I party up with others, I really do need those heroes to be able to go much further. My choice of being an Elementalist/Ranger probably wasn't the wisest - it's not a particularly effective combination, and other than my pet or rare instances where I must "pull or die," I don't really make use of my Ranger skills.

As much as I love games/gaming in general, I'm not really "smart" about it... and honestly, I'm usually generally the weakest link in partying up with others of equal/greater strength (levels, armor, skills, etc.). I've loads of enthusiasm obviously LOL but very little else to bring to a party at this level.

So I think those heroes are definitely an important draw for me, and I'll be looking more closely at the skills and such as well.

I did get through Prophet's Path - finally figured out how to handle those bugs, in part thanks to what I've learned here. Now I think I'm going to kill some time backtracking a bit, doing a little material farming, re-doing some Missions I really enjoyed (I loved Gates of Kryta, ducking behind Oink's house and killing the undead there - and Oink just rocks!!!) and waiting impatiently for EotN to arrive so I can check that out this weekend.

I'm also going to go examine some of the builds people have shared... I have a feeling that I'm really not using my toon effectively, and that there are skill combinations I have not yet considered.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me on this... and I definitely welcome any additional ones you might have. I'm learning a lot here!

Honestly, in many cases you will only ever utilize a single skill or 2 from your secondary profession and usually just for utility. Of course the limited skill set that you have changes that. But as you add campaigns your secondary matters less and less. Also, after you are ascended (finish the augury rock mission) you will be able to change your secondary proffession.

Not a big deal since honestly finiding a group in GW is a waste of time at the moment because of the dwindling number of people and how spread thin those dwindling numbers are.


Heros are good. But only truely effective when you outfit them with a good build. And truely reaching their full potential with proper weapon and armor upgrades.



Gratz on getting through and yeah oink pwns

While getting builds from other people can be good. Try to not just think of it as Oh Ill just use this someone else came up with. Try to think about why it works so that you can start making builds yourself. Otherwise, you will always be looking for other people to help you and make builds for you.

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvxyz

which letter is missing?

Which what wasn't within & what will we win? *grins*

This is a conclusion I came to after looking over things on PVX... I don't like not knowing WHY something works or why it doesn't, and I won't really learn that if I'm just relying on what someone else has put together. I don't mean to sound as if I'm putting down PVX, or dismissing using someone else's build - but if I don't understand why "these" skills work together and "those" skills don't, I just don't see how I can actually develop effective toons... or expect to even be useful if eventually partied up with others.

My husband, my best friend and I all joined GW together, and while they're a bit behind me (hubby in Maguuma, bf in Kryta) we do a lot of (their) missions together or just generally play an area together for fun. We took me from lvl19 to lvl20 by making a few stabs at Lornar's Pass just because it was there. LOL

But other than that, we all prefer solo play. They understand a lot more about the battle mechanics of gaming (is that just a guy thing or something? LMAO), so they're much better at picking classes/weapons/armors/skills than I am... but I'm the encyclopedia. I'm the one who spends hours pouring over this forum, paging through the Wiki, learning all the hidden bits & pieces, finding out important stuff and telling them about it... and now I need to apply that "hobby" more to understanding those battle mechanics and what is going to work with AND for me.

I enjoy playing an elementalist a lot... I don't want to set her aside and start fresh with a different class, just because it would be a little "easier" to solo. I want to work with what I've got - my elementalist - and with the tools available. EotN will give me some more tools, including those Heroes... and understanding how the different classes and skills work together will help me make good support Heroes for my elementalist toon.

I'm not going to get that understanding by loading up someone else's creation, that much I do know. I'm actually glad to hear someone else saying that, too... it seems like there's a lot of "oh, just use that build so-and-so made." I won't learn anything doing that.

The Ritualist Hero, Xandra and the Dervish hero, Kamhu are highly limited in potential. You cannot force their skills if you don't have factions or nightfall respectively. Their moves are also extremely limited. Other than that, I can't think of a single downfall.

The Elementalist is very powerful and because of their prime skill track can have a huge pool of energy.
You can very successfully run builds based around your secondary class.
Ok Ranger doesn't need that sort of pool but when you start experimenting with other secondary classes it comes into its own you can emulate all the other spell caster classes extremely well.

While its true you do need to have the skills unlocked to make good use of heroes, they do have the advantage of being 20th level when you recruit them "the eye ones anyway" and you can add skills as and when you find them.

Most of the time I run with a warrior a Monk and a Necro, the necro just keeps an army of minions around so when I do meet a mob of enemies I can throw in 8 or 9 extra bodies to soak up spells and damage.

The earth skill track lets you be a defensive mage fighting the enemies within your circles of protection, I found this a really good way of controlling the battle and keeping my hero/henchmen alive.

It is not a bad choice for a beginner, and will be really, really useful when you are ready to do the Augury Rock mission to Ascend. Pulling, of course, does not require use of any ranger skills at all, and you should always carry a longbow or flatbow regardless of your secondary profession.

My very first character started as E/Ra. The pet was quite useful up until reaching the desert, when it became more of a liability and I stopped bringing him along. Until I faced the doppelganger solo, where the pet made it easy to get mission+bonus, with the use of a few pet skills. This type of build even works in HM, and some of my mule characters use it to farm Zaishen coins whenever Augury Rock comes up as the z-mission. You may end up blessing the day you chose /Ra for a starting secondary.

I was interested in doing the campaigns in order the first time, and avoiding possible spoilers. However, I did make a quick side trip to EotN when I reached the Desert. I got max armor at Boreal and picked up the first three heroes (Ogden, Vekk, and Gwen). Since Prophecies wasn't really designed for heroes, they made it easier even with their default skills, and I was able to build better skill bars for them as I went along.

The slower pace of Prophecies compared to the other campaigns made it painless to improve their bars and equipment over time, and easier to get accustomed to using heroes. The Desert has a very good elite skill for Ogden (Word of Healing) and a passable elite for Gwen that will do until you reach Ring of Fire for something better. I set Vekk up for air magic, and there are several good elites for that in the Southern Shiverpeaks.

Those three heroes were sufficient (though perhaps not always optimal) for everything in Prophecies, including the titan quests after finishing the campaign. In fact, I used the same three after that for all of Factions, and didn't get any more heroes until I finished Factions and went on to Nightfall.

This information is wrong. If it was true then there would have been thousands of threads screaming about the problem. You always receive FOUR slots on your first game, then an additional TWO slots for each new campaign. That means that the Complete Collection would give you EIGHT slots just as the Trilogy does.

Many people don't use their secondaries, actually, beyond the occasional skill that's useful with 3 or less points. Those that do tend to be Paragons (for the selection of Warrior Shouts), Assassins (who do quite well with bows and scythes because of their critcals), Mesmers (until the Fast Casting changes, the only thing keeping them from outdoing Monks and Elementalists at their own game was a lack of Divine Favor and Energy Storage), PvP and farming builds.

And don't worry - once you're done with the Crystal Desert missions you'll be able to start going around to the various Desert non-mission outposts and doing quests to unlock additional secondary professions.

Hmm. We must be playing different games. Barring the more out of the way outposts (such as Maguuma Stade and the Henge of Denravi [where people really only stop for a second to vend and then go on the very short walk to the link to Riverside Province], and some places in the Echovald Forest & Jade Sea), there are plenty of people around and it's fairly easy to find a group for missions. A little harder for questing in some places, though.

I just want to say I play R/any primarily and this makes the doppelganger fight so easy it's almost boring.

*nods* I make most of my Survivor contenders /R for the specific purpose of facing the Doppelganger. Although I now find /Me Midnight+Empathy+Spirit of Failure easier, at least the pet build doesn't require an Elite.

In a very strange twist of fate...

I ordered EotN, as mentioned, from NewEgg with 2nd Day shipping via UPS. NewEgg was awesome, shipped it within 12 hours of my placing my order. UPS, on the other hand, got the package to the facility about 20 miles from my house... and then promptly sent it two states away. It's back in the facility nearby, but won't be delivered until Monday - and I could spend the next hour regaling you with my tales of dealing with their rude/unhelpful customer service...

On the flip side, a good friend of mine bought me the Trilogy as a Christmas gift! She said she'd had no idea what to get me this year, and since I was babbling on about really enjoying GW (and groaning a few nights ago about getting massacred LOL) she figured it was perfect - which of course, it is! I went ahead and applied the keycode last night and started exploring... oh my!!!

I have MOX now... and a few henchies... though we're still getting our butts handed to us trying to do the Zinn Tasks. I got some nice new armor... Shing Jea (sp?). All of my obsessive hoarding/salvaging paid off, there - I had the supplies I needed except the glass vials and those were easy enough to get from the trader. I also got two new staffs, fire & earth (and now have both a fire & earth aura to go with each)... and another way hoarding paid off, I had perfect Insightfuls & Fortitudes to add to each. And I'm looking forward to finding a decent spear, since I saw on the elementalist thread that a spear/shield combo can be really useful for an Ele.

I'm blown away by the quantity of content... and excited... I really do have that whole "kid in a candy store" thing going on over here. LOL

I'm going to leave the Zinn quests alone for a bit and continue on with the Prophecies story line at Augury Rock. I've still got so much to do and explore within Prophecies, and I don't want to get sidetracked. I do like the fact that the option is there for me to jump over to another storyline if I'm so inclined - really good for me when I'm having a bad ADD day. LOL But I feel really "attached" to what's happening in the Prophecies storyline, and I want to see that through first.

I wanted to again say thanks to all of you who have been contributing on my threads... there's so much to learn, so many questions to ask, and as a relative newcomer it can be really daunting. Even asking the questions can be scary, since you never know how they will be received by the "old timers." But you have all been incredible, and I so very much appreciate your willingness to tutor an old lady.

Gratz, and welcome to a wider world of Tyria.

Don't worry too much about Zinn's tasks now. For one thing, MOX is not such a great hero, particularly for someone in your postion because you won't find any skills for him until you reach Nightfall and EotN. The tasks are designed for players at a fairly advanced level (those who have completed the campaigns), and require access to one area rather deep in the Nightfall campaign.

A spear/shield is useful for an ele, though I prefer spear/focus myself and have a selection of focuses available depending on the task.

I am glad I did things in order with my first character. Later characters jumped around among the campaigns as the mood took me, but it was good to have the experience of doing everything in sequence first. One thing I did do when I moved to another campaign was to make a temporary character in that campaign to experience the newbie areas and backstory there. It also gave me a chance to experiment with non-core professions (rit and para in my case), both of which I liked well enough that I eventually made permanent characters for those professions. That can certainly provide an outlet for your ADD. Since the beginning part of Factions takes place simultaneously with the beginning of Prophecies, it will do the story no harm to start on that project now, if you need a break from Prophecies.