Coming Back after a long pause question

Hello All,

I have been away for several years, just recently coming back to the game. I played Prophecy for quite a while but have not experienced the later games (which I have purchased). I originally leveled a monk and an elementalist (and rolled another just to get back into the swing of things), and am now trying to figure out what I want to play to attempt to get my HoM points/farm Hard Mode.

I have never tried a melee class before so I was considering a Warrior or dervish. If I wanted to try another caster I'd probably go Ritualist. Any suggestions, recommendations, or insights from the veterans?

Thanks!

I've been a war since the start and still loveing it. However I also love my caster classes, rit and necro are top two with mes a close third.

You don't need too much in the way of advice for HoM building. You can take your time and grind up some titles, earing cash for armor/minis/weapons. If you wish to speed things up a little bit then make full use of all the "books" offered along the way. Filling these books out and turning them in is a very easy way to swiftly max out some titles and earn some cash.

It doesn't matter what chapter you start in. Though it is quicker to level up in other chapters a skilled player with a bit of dedication can level up just as quick in Proph as in the other chapters.

For titles I would suggest starting with Protector/Gaurdian/Vanquish as these are fairly quick and very straight forward. Then pick up reputation titles, Vanguard/Asura/Norn/Deldrimor/Sunspear/Lightbringer. Do the Zaishen quests daily for coins so you can get Zaishen Keys, these were the fastest way to a PvP statue for HoM but a recent update might have changed that.

Warriors are awesome, but I may be biased

If you're looking for a new caster to try, a ritualist can be a lot of fun and is REALLY powerful. On the other hand, if you want to make a character in Nightfall (you can't make a ritualist or an assassin here), then you'll get to try out heroes, which are a really fun feature of the game. They're basically customizable henchmen.

Warriors are more flexible, but dervishes are good fun and either will get through the game easily.

After you figure what you want to try go read up on hero team builds here and on wiki. There will be times when you will have to do stuff without other people around. A good hero team makes hard mode a piece of cake for 95% of the game. Sabway, discordway, rojway are all good starts. 3 necro and 3 monk heros (NF). Keys after that will both mesmer heros (NF) and both rit heros (NF/EoTN). The 2nd rit is in Eye of the North. So start in NF and get heros. Then Go Eotn and grab that rit depending on team build. You should have some bday gifts. Research prices and sell them or open them and hope for good minis etc. Gl!

My recommendation for quick ascent is start in Nightfall with Warrior. Finish Nightfall, get all heroes and begin to get them set up. Then do EoTN and get all those heroes too! With heroes Factions will go by pretty fast. I love Prophecies myself, but starting there for me would be just nostalgia. The quicker you get heroes up and running the better.

I know I don't want to do another prophecies ATM, I have just started another two such characters to introduce friends to the game. I am debating between factions and nf ATM, factions because it has the shortest number of dedicated missions, and nf for all the heroes. If I decide to do factions, i will do eotn start at 10 so I can grab the dwarf and the asura. I'll also grab mox as well. My only issue now is with my limited skills my heroes.

I'm learning towards a warrior, seems easies to pick up than the dervish for someone wwho has been away for so long. I might do a ritualist as well, just to see how those play out

I was also lucky enough to have 2 six year and 1 5 year character, for a total of 20 mini pets. I had one duplicate, but I traded it to a friend, so I have 20 for the hom. I do need one gold and one green though. Are there any quests that I can do to get myself one of each to get the extra points on the hom?

I don't believe there's any quest for a gold pet (correct me if I'm wrong), but there's one for a green one:
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Black_Moa_Chick

I'd like to add some love for all the assassins out there. PvE always felt like a breeze with mine with lots of damage and still being able to tank. All in all I'd say go for a melee class if you wish to play only with heroes as the melee AI isn't great. I came back to the game in November and when I learned about HoM (around Feb. I believe -- I'm late as always ), I was aiming for 10 or 15 points. First thing I knew I had more than 20 already! So, yeah, just enjoy the game and watch your HoM grow!

You can easily buy a gold minipet for 40-50k. Celestial Rabbit and Celestial Tiger sell in that price range.


Oh and, go warrior. Because original classes rule.

I think it's important to read the "fill your HoM" guides and set yourself a goal. Some people go for the full 50/50 points, some settle for just 20/50 or less, many are pleased with 30/50.

20/50 is fairly easy to get with moderate effort and gold spent, mostly just playing the game casually. 30/50 requires some effort but less on the money side and is doable in a couple of months (depends how hard you work at it). 50/50, however, will require intensive effort and lots of gold -- the consumable titles and elite armors are particularly expensive.

Take a look at the rewards (I assume you already know the HoM Calculator) and decide how far you want to go. For example, I've set my aim on the Fellblade (23/50) and anything I get past that point is just a bonus, I won't go out of my way to get it.

* There is the yearly Canthan Festival where you stand a fair chance of getting the gold Celestial pet of the year.

* As The Guildless pointed out, there's a cross-campaign scavenger hunt which will get you a green mini Moa. It's fun to do and you may consider doing Sorrow's Furnace while you're at it as well, it's an extra HoM point.

* Get 5 Traveler gifts each week and sell them for 4k each. Do NOT open them, chances to get a green mini are very very slim. Sell them, save up 20k a week and buy yourself an undedicated gold and green mini. You can find a gold (Celestial Rabbit, Shiro) for as low as 30-35k, and a green (Varesh, Bone Dragon, Gwen non-doll) should be easy to find for 75-80k. That's 2 weeks and 4 weeks respectivelly of minimal effort of your part.

I second this. It's a good, solid class, pretty flexible, and you'll be able to control the finer points of melee yourself instead of leaving it to the henchies and heroes -- who have no finesse to speak of.