Old School returning to GuildWars 1

Hey guys,

Well in anticipation for Guildwars 2 and work, I have nothing to do so was thinking of returning to Guildwars 1 for the time being. I know that there had been A LOT of changes since when I played but I was wondering how much had actually changed throughout the course....

Problem here is that, I only have Guildwars 1, no other expansions like factions etc... will I still be able to play the game ? What would I be restricted to if I do not have the other expansions ? Will I have access to most of the maps currently or are they only for the expansion players ?

Thank you

You will only have access to GW Prophecies' missions/areas + skills and no heroes. This means many of your builds will be terrible.

The whole idea of getting all the other campaigns and the expansion is so that you have full availability towards new farmzones, runs, titles, and especially the hall of monuements. I mean you'll definately be missing out on a lot of GW1, especially since the title and HoM are going to help you considerably in GW2. So what I recommend is quickly buy the campaigns and the expansion and farm your titles like crazy. BTW, the campaigns are super worth it, definately engaging and fun. You'll be missing out on the real meaning of Guild Wars, if you just dive into GW2 without experiencing the full blow

hmm I thought HoM is already avaliable in the original Guildwars1... maybe I was just dreaming... lol

I've heard that GW1 HoM title's will give certain advantages when you move to GW2 but not sure what it does esactly, can someone please explain ?

not really advantages. mostly titles or aesthetic things such as armor. you can check it out on guildwars2.com i believe and check out what the rewards are for having so many points in your HoM. you were just dreaming since you have to have at least eye of the north to access the HoM which also requires at least one of the other games. you could just buy eotn and link it to your prophecies game and get at least some heroes but you will still be very limited with skills and what not

You can only access the HoM with Eye of the North. It doesn't give advantages so much as cosmetic rewards such as armor designs, certain weapon styles and titles that will only be available through the hall.

If you want to ever get 50/50 points....get all the campaigns and the expansion. HoM is in EoTN. So, i recommend making use of your time now to get the rest of Guild Wars. Thing is, Guild Wars will most likely still be running when Guild Wars 2 is released. And getting those points, etc, will help you enormously. So, just a recommendation for you to stick to the game and mastering it so your entry into GW2 will be smooth.

they aren't as big of advantages as you make them sound. just something minor, usually visual like minipets or low tier weapons and armors to use in gw2. of course it doesn't hurt to get them and do it anyways, but you shouldn't feel like you must do it to be successful in gw2.

Start playing the Prophecies campaign you already own. If you enjoy it, then look into buying the Trilogy (which will add Factions & Nightfall without disturbing your existing characters) and Eye of the North. That will be the cheapest way to complete the campaign set.

We enjoy the game for itself, and the thought of having minipets and titles in GW2 is nice. But filling your Hall of Monuments and/or completing all the GW campaigns will only bring you enjoyment and keep you busy. It will not give you any benefits in GW2, where the gameplay will be drastically different.

Thanks for the responses guys, really appreciate it.

The extra perks such as titles and cosmetic rewards does sound pretty cool to have, I would probably get Eotn, but to get Eotn would I need to get the previous expansions as well like Factions & Nightfall ? I've already played through all the campaign in the original one, got the really good end game armor and weapons etc...

I don't know if I want to invest money into the other expansions when I am not going to play it after GW2 is released...

If you only have Prophecies I suggest playing through with multiple characters. Look, if you can't do it, or don't feel like it, you'll never get through the other campaigns (they are not expansions, only EotN is).

Also, there have been numerous, uncountable threads made by returning players just like you, and everyone wants GW2 rewards. Why? You haven't been playing this game, why play the next one? Just curious...

I would definately want all those things tbh, that doesn't seem minor. It's kind of the same point to where people used to farm for titles before there was great importance towards them, just because it looks good and it was something to achieve. And its not only for the purpose of benefits in GW2, its also a great experience to play all of GW1.

I'm a returning player myself. I assume it's OK to link straight to a GW site from here:
http://hom.guildwars2.com/en/faq/
As shown in the FAQ, if you purchase EoTN you can access the EoTN areas through a quest from Lion's Arch (nothing difficult, just running for your life). The primary quests in EoTN will lead you straight to the Hall of Monuments.
This is doable with just Prophecies + EoTN active on your account. Note you won't be able to unlock everything without the other campaigns, but if you're like me and don't feel like unlocking every single point, you should be OK.

Lacking Factions and Nightfall however will limit the skills you (and especially your heroes) have access to.

Well I stopped playing GW1 when pretty much all the other mmorpg came out with non instanced zones (free-zones) where you can actually see and play with everyone on the fields. Having reached near the end-game with all the good gears, I moved onto other games.

Why play the next one? Well they changed all that was bad in GW1 and improved it into GW2, I haven't been playing GW1, but as the developers mentioned, GW2 is a standalone game it is not meant to be a continuous game from GW1, the story line in itself is different.

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Thank you for the reply JEVillen, did you find it hard or restricted much by not having access to the other campaigns and hence the other skills ? Or can you play just fine for the time being while waiting for GW2 with out it ?

If you just want to play Prophecies you are good to go. If you want to score some points for Hall of Monuments and get vet ID gear for GW 2 then you need Eye of the North because the Hall of Monuments is located in that expansion. Nightfall will give you access to heroes and you really need those for the Eye of the North, rough country. Factions is easy to play through with heroes as well.

So depends on what you want. if just a game to pass the time, Prophecies is good enough.

If you want to feel the full GW experience you have to get all expansions. They're quite cheap now and they're quite fun the first time you play through them. Trust me, getting them would be a good choice.

That's like saying "Oh you don't eat Bell Peppers, so why would you eat Peanut Butter?". They are two different things just like GW1 and GW2 are two different games. Lore wise and some familiar sights are still going to be around GW2, but the game has been completely revamped and is basically a completely new game. You act as if it is going to be the exact same game with no differences....


OP, you can play the game just fine with only Prophecies. Though you may struggle a bit here and there with areas, everything is still doable.

But if you wish to learn more and expand your arsenal, get the other campaigns and Eye of the North. Especially EotN as it contains the Hall of Monuments, the means for you to collect vanity and purely cosmetic rewards in GW2 (the items offer no advantage whatsoever, so having them or not won't cause an unfair advantage). With EotN, you'll get more skills, more areas to uncover, more lore to hear about (as EotN helps branch into GW2 and the books), and you'll unlock heroes which are basically henchmen that you control, gear up, and can use anytime.

Then if you choose to, go for Nightfall and Factions. New lands, more lore, new armors and weapons, new heroes (for Nightfall), and many other things.

But having all campaigns and Eye of the North is better as if you decide to work on your Hall of Monuments, all those other campaigns (including EotN) will be needed to help you fill the HoM. And the more points you get in your HoM, the more cosmetic rewards you will receive come GW2. And don't fret on the time it will take to get 50/50 or 30/50 in your HoM. GW2 is still a ways off so you have plenty of time before then (They haven't even started closed beta yet and there is still so much info that hasn't been released). And even after GW2 is released, GW1 will still be running.

I can't comment to completely not owning a campaign because I have all of them - I was just pointing out that you can do EoTN stuff without all of the campaigns. However, I quit GW shortly after Nightfall was released (so I didn't have any Nightfall skills for a while), and I don't have anything good for a Ritualist. I can say the lack of skills really is a hindrance if you want to run solo (you + heroes) - the henchmen are much weaker than heroes due to your lack of control over their skill sets, and there are some pretty powerful "mechanics" used in core profession professions introduced by Factions and Nightfall. Nightfall is key if you want to run solo because of all the heroes it gives you.

If you're running in a group however, you can still be potent because you would still have access to some of the more powerful hex spells (assuming PvE) such as Panic (proph), Spiteful Spirit (proph), and Spoil Victor (core) that should allow enemy mobs to melt as they try to damage you. That plus the extremely powerful PvE skills introduced with EoTN should keep you afloat.

I'm still not completely acquainted with the hard mode / high-end metagame so I'll leave it at that.

Thanks for the replies everyone, never knew GW had such a great and helpful community out there... =)

Id probably play prophicies right now until I upgrade my internet next week to unlimited (its on a 60GB data per month plan and the loading is taking 30 minutes)... I will go to the stores to check out the prices for the expansion, if it is cheap then I will probably buy them, if not I might just buy EOTY depending on the prices.

Just a final question, how is the player-base for GW1 right now? It use to be really really packed when I played, I'm sure it's died down quite a bit now but would I still see other players around at the newbie zones or are they mainly all standing around afking at HoM's and other higher end zones?

There are a lot of players definately setting up their accounts for HoM. But there are players out there that do still go to the newbie zones. What I recommend is going on the forum and asking around if anyone wants to carry through prophecies with you, that way you can rely on ea other, but remember timezones also affect the population. You always have your friendly neighborhood henchmen

The player base is still very strong, but yeah, most of it is in the end-game areas and EotN.
To answer your original question - Prophecies used to be all there was before the other campaigns and EotN were released. You could, of course, play Prophecies perfectly fine at that time. Since then, Normal Mode in prophecies has become even easier than it was then (they eased it up when Hard Mode was added), so it is perfectly possible to do Prophecies with just the skills and henchmen already available there. Of course, if you add Heroes and skills from other campaigns - particularly the PvE skills from EotN - Prophecies becomes even easier.