Multiple PVP Questions

Hello, I will first stop off by saying I am only interested in pvp, and I only have Prophecies at the moment. I also havent played through much of the campaign. I figured I will pose my questions in numbered format as they are easy to answer that way. If anyone can answer any or all of my questions, any help is greatly appreciated!

These all apply to pvp-only characters.

1) Is unlocking pvp skills using Balthazaar points an effective way to gain skills?

2) What about gear, I know the main difference in high end gear is cosmetic, but can I be competitive with just the gear provided on a pvp-only character?

3) Off the top of your head, does anyone know a good profession that does well with just Prophecies skills?

I will probably purchase Factions and Nightfall soon, or the pvp packs, I was just wondering if I could start this way. Thanks for any help offered.

No. Despite your lack of interest in PvE, you will unlock skills and equipment 10 to a 100 times Faster via PvE.


Not until you have all runes/insignias unlocked.

Unfortunately, I do not.
I would say Ranger is your best shot. With Ranger you definitely have the required skill set for the meta, but they're not the most ideal class to learn GW on (they have a different curve ball when learning GW compared to other classes, Warrior can work too, seeing a Shock Axe in PvP is definitely a nice change of pace)
Try a variation on this bar:
http://www.gwpvx.com/Build:R/Mo_Cripshot
Replace Mending Touch with Antidote Signet and Natural Stride with any other Stance you find applicable. The Elite Skill on the above bar can be virtually ANYTHING, so feel free to test it around.
Otherwise, feel free to fire away at all the classes (even without the required skill sets).

Always best to start PvE before PvP no matter how much you'd dislike/hate it (quicker and easier to unlock skills/equipment, but glad to see you're a pvp enthusiast!).
Another possibility could be if you somehow get into a great PvP guild that'd let you farm them; you could get quick skills and such.

Shock Axe war. Be brave!

Thanks for the detailed reply

Its not that I hate PVE, I'm just all PVE'd out after many years of WoW and now Rift. I was just wondering if there was a quick way to jump into pvp effectively. But I will definately give the PVE side of it a shot and who knows, it may be a completely new and rewarding experience. And Im sure it will help my PVP in the long run, learning the mechanics and details of the combat.

Oh right. Forgot about micro-transactions!
http://www.guildwars.com/products/ex...killitempacks/
If you're willing ;D

1. It is possible but takes longer than just making money and buying skills in PvE for someone just starting off. If you don't mind spending the money, the PvP skill unlock pack is a great investment, as well as the equipment unlock pack.

2. All max-level gear has the same base stats, and PvP only characters always have max level gear. The differences come with runes, insignias, and weapon mods which you have to unlock. Playing PvP is more effective than PvE for weapon mods and armor runes.

3. Warrior is really the only profession that has a viable build from prophecies only skills. It is the shock axe bar, which is an extremely fun build to play but can be hard to master. Once you get good though, it is still very effective.

It is always nice to see new people give the PvP in this game a chance. It really is a lot of fun and I do recommend getting every campaign if you wanna play competitively. In organized PvP you don't play one profession. You play certain roles (some people are capable of playing all of them) whether it be frontline (warriors, dervishes, some sins) offensive midline, defensive midline, disruptive midline, backline (healers) and in GvG flagger. So because of that, it is pretty much a requirement that you have access to all 3 campaigns and EOTN so you are prepared to run anything you are needed for. If PvP really is all you care about I would reccomend buying a pvp only account. They are cheap, and give you a good amount of free skills and equipment unlocks to help get you started. Plus you have access to every skill across the three campaigns and the expansion.

Here is a link to the shock axe warrior bar: http://www.gwpvx.com/Shock_Axe
Just replace Body blow with executioner's strike and you have a viable prophecies only bar. it tells you all the equipment and attributes too so it should be able to answer any questions you have.

Also depends on what type of PvP you want to play. And what exactly you mean by a "good" bar.

Organized PvP, yeah a shock axe warrior was the first thing that came to my mind. But well, if you want to just play around with more casual PvP forms to get your feet wet when you first start out, you can probably play any profession effectively in Random Arena (or Jade Quary, Fort Aspenwood, or Alliance Battles, which are available if you buy Factions). It might not be the best/most efficient bar, but you could still get stuff done and learn some basics. No class is completely gimped for not owning a specific campaign. You can at least make a feasible bar for almost anything with just core skills. Just don't expect to get far in any sort of real competitive PvP if you do that.

ive unlocked all my skills and equip in pvp and i buy all my stuff with zkeys i farm in gvg and on gvg zq day

with zq now too, its pretty fast to unlock stuff by doing only pvp

i never really farmed but i dont think u would unlock runes faster by farming items than by farming zaishen combat for balth faction

skills may be faster in pve but i still unlocked em all in pvp cos its too much trouble and boredom in pve

1) Is unlocking pvp skills using Balthazaar points an effective way to gain skills?

Just playing RA or AB/CM stuff is a pretty horrible way to gain skills. If you have a few commonly used builds unlocked (skills and items) and a guild or group of friends to play HA/GvG with then you can gain enough faction for it to be effective though. You're way better off doing both PvP and PvE if you plan on becoming UaX (Unlock all skills/items) in any sort of reasonable period of time.

Alternatively, buy the PvP packs and don't worry about it. If all you want to do is PvP in GW then they're really good value for money because of the time they'll save you.

2) What about gear, I know the main difference in high end gear is cosmetic, but can I be competitive with just the gear provided on a pvp-only character?

Once you have unlocked the highest mods and runes your PvP gear will have the exact same stats as the pretty "high end" gear.

3) Off the top of your head, does anyone know a good profession that does well with just Prophecies skills?

W/E Shock Axe with Eviscerate
W/E Dev Hammer with Grasping Earth
R/Any Cripshot Ranger

You can make reasonable bars for all of the professions with only core+proph skills. These are only the couple that stick out in my mind because they're really generic bars which have been around forever.

Have a look around on the PvX wiki and just substitute skills you don't have with ones you do which do a similar thing or achieve a similar purpose. A lot of the fun of GW PvP is testing out and playing around with builds, so don't be afraid to just try stuff out.

1. Unlocking PvP-skills using Balthazar is a good but time-consuming way.
These days with the Z-quests (pvp-quests are repeatable) it is a lot
faster than it just to be.

2. If you have unlocked all PvP-items (again via Balhazar) then your gear
will be on par with "elite"- gear.
The others gears will only probably look better.

3. Good professions with only prophecies skills :
Warrior (Shock Axe & Dev Hammer)
Ranger (Crip shot)

But still, almost all professions got some unique (most of the times) better skills with Factions and Nightfall and don't forget Eye of the North.
For instance, if your a healer type of guy (Monk) u will surely need Patient Spirit (best non-elite for a monk).
If i recall right it's an Eotn-Skill.
So u will probably best be off in purchasing the skill/item-unlock packs.

Not having nat stride or flail hurts ranger and hammer bars.