returning after long timeout

just started again after long time away in real life so essentially im a beginner with a lot of questions (i did search first!)
question 1; whats with these birthday present things? i had 2 characters when i started so i have six of 'em.it seems by my reading of other threads that selling them is the thing to do but would there be any reason to keep them?
thanks in advance for any help with my first stupid question! cheers

edit;another quick question, is there anywhere around here that shows all the game keys and controls? i dont think my original book shows them all!

http://www.guildwiki.org/Main_Page good source of info, including game keys and controls. Also look under Options Keyboard ingame.

Birthday presents. if you only have 6, then sell is most reasonable if you need the money.

They can also be dedicated in Hall of Monuments.

http://hom.guildwars2.com/en/#page=welcome

The Hall of Monuments is located in The Eye of the North in The Eye of the North Expansion. Points in this will give you goodies in Guild Wars 2. You could get up to 3 points quickly with your birthday presents. These are usually miniatures. Once dedicated you can sell your miniature; just make sure you say it is dedicated. Dedicated miniatures are not worth much unless it is something really cool.

Most important thing to do right now is just get in and play the game. Lots of changes which you will discover with time. Up to 7 heroes in your party now, a welcome change.

Welcome back and have fun!

you could also open them and see what you get, you might get lucky and get something more valuable than the present itself

1) Keep your old toons. Don't delete them!
2) Make a new toon, start over, get use to the game.
3) Check Argo's and PC before you decid whether to open or sell your presents. There's high % of something worthless than unopened prezzie, but there's also a low % of something that's worth VERY MUCH!

It's not good to just come to Kamadan and sell after 6 years of inactivity, you'll get cheated.

cheers for the advice fellas,not really interested in selling something i dont know much about.just want to get back into the game and do the whole thing from the start.(pre searing,is it called?) couple of mates of mine are going to join up so we can adventure as a group,not to grind or get competitive or anything just to enjoy the game.
now i have to learn all these accronyms that are flying around! cheers

dumb question 2!
how exactly does one use these emote thingumys?
seen others doing them,wouldnt mind a go meself!
thanks in advance. cheers

type them in your text box:

/dance
/wave
...etc

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Emote

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Emotes

Use the ''/'' to trigger the command [x] emote.

So for example :

/dance = [Character] starts dancing.

thanks for your patience chaps! cheers

greetings chaps,dumb question 3 coming up!
just got my copys of factions and nightfall,now do i install these from the discs or do i just need to enter the activation codes from the cards?
and if the latter is the case,does that mean i will download everything needed for the games? im hoping not because my connection is slow so id like to avoid that.
these questions are probably really dumb but if you dont know,you dont know!
thanks in advance. cheers

Hello! Welcome back to the game and no, no, they're not dumb questions at all!

For the latest question, you just need to enter the Factions and Nightfall access keys and the new campaigns will be added to your existing account. You'll notice that you will then have some extra character slots and the ability to now create new characters in those campaigns.

You can add the access key codes from the character selection screen, instructions from the wiki here

thanks for the info.appreciate you taking the time to answer me! cheers