Beginner confirm request: Start Nightfall with Prophecies char but not at beginning?

Howdy folks,

Just a beginner trying to decide if I should purchase the entire trilogy.

So i read somewhere while searching on some forums that you could start nightfall with a prophecies character from lion's arch

BUT that doing so prevents you from playing nightfall from the beginning of the campaign. is this true?

Also, do the skills unlock packs you buy at the store mean you get the skills even if you are level 1?

Appreciate any help with this purchase decision.

Yes you can start the Nightfall campaign with a Prophecies born character, you just need to get to Lion's Arch. Same for Factions born characters, but they need to get to Kaineng Center. More details on gaining initial access to the different campaigns here: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Campaign_travel

If you start Nightfall with anything but a Nightfall born character, you won't have access to the tutorial area of Nightfall, but other than unneeded Cartography title mapping, that doesn't really matter. You will still be able to go and do all the Nightfall missions, you will just get different rewards for the first few. The other campaingns work similarly, though Prophecies has a starter area that can only be accessed by Prophecy born characters and even they can't go back to it once they leave.

Skill unlock packs just "unlock" skills. This means that any PVP only characters and your heroes will have unrestricted access to the skills they unlock. Your PVE characters will still have to acquire the skills from skill trainers. But unlike someone who has not purchased the skill unlock pack, you would be able to buy tomes to learn the skills, and campaign specific skill trainers will sell you all campaign and core skills (with a few bugged exceptions) regardless of where the skill trainer is located in the campaign (ie. the skill trainer in Lion's Arch doesn't sell Meteor Shower until you have the skill unlocked, but if you have the skill unlock pack, it is unlocked, so he will.)

Hope you enjoy the game!

Being closer to the release of GW 2 I highly recommend starting in Nightfall. The starter island is excellent and you will begin leveling heroes at once. Having finished Nightfall you will have a good set of heroes and can finish Prophecies and Factions. Or on to the Eye of the North where you will get even more heroes. Starting in Prophecies, if you really must then start a second character over there. The action track is Nightfall to Eye of the North. Welcome to GW, have fun!

Every campaign has a starting part that is only playable by characters that are actually created in that campaign, that is true. However, do note that this part that is missed is only a very small part of the campaign. Foreign characters hardly miss much.

Try this: look at the big map of Factions or Nightfall. See the big continent? This is the part of the game where all players play. See a large island in the sea? That's the starting part you miss. And even then, you can still replay missions there.

When you enter Nightfall as a foreigner, that is, a character not from Nightfall you are thrown directly into missions and quests with higher level monsters. You skip the beginners part of Nightfall. So I wouldn't recommend to do that unless you are lvl20 or close to it unless you are already experienced in the game.

Thanks Blade! for the info.

So if you can do all Nightfall missions with a Prophecies char from Lion's Arch, does that mean you won't miss out on any recruitable heroes in the early Nightfall stages?

when you come from la/facs to nf their is a quest you do and you get all the heroes you would normally get if you started in nf. the rest you get from following the nf quest/mission mainline. and the rest from quest/missions in eotn.

Howdy Wilebill! sounds interesting.

unfortunately, I'm not much into "desert" type settings like Nightfall; versus a more traditional fantasy setting like in Prophecies (is my observation about the landscapes correct as a beginner)?

Cool, I was wondering if anyone can share some advice if any of the options listed below would be enough to Solo Prophecies (HH PvE).

As a casual gamer, there are concerns about starting a game and not being able to finish because of build mistakes beginner's make.

So thanks for sharing your knowledge.

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Option 1 (Leave Nightfall and EOTN early):
Start Nightfall, recruit characters up to Lion's Arch or whatever the transfer point is, then level-up some more in EOTN and recruit more heroes in the early parts; then go back to Propheiceis and solo.

Option 2 (detour to EOTN and Nightfall but only temporarily).
Continue playing my prophecies character up to Lion's Arch, go to EOTN to level-up some more, recruit 2 to 3 heroes, go to nightfall and recruit, and go back to Prop and solo.

Option 3: discordway as shown in this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLcqJK9LQ8s

However is it possible to have the heroes he shows in the video by only playing Nightfall up to the transfer point and EOTN in the early stages. Those heroes are: Master of Whispers, Olias, and Livia). and then go back to prophecies and solo?

More than desert savannah but yeah, Nightfall continent (Elona) tends to have kind of an uniform landscape, while Prophecies has a full array of different ones, a traditional fantasy continent where you can find all landscapes and climates. Factions stands between the two.

This is one thing you really should not fear at all in GW, as you can change your build at anytime while in outposts, so you have all the freedom for experiments and the mistakes.

I'd personally suggest number 2. Despite what most say, I always think prophecies still gives the best overall experience as a starting campaign, and by starting from somewhere else then transerring there you will lose more than doing vice-versa (early missions you can do anyway as a foreigner, but not quests, and quests in proph even give out a lot of skills for free), not to count that if you want to do the early missions you have to reach them on your own.
I also don't think lvling up in eotn is needed, unless you really feel like it, but consider that, at Lion's Arch, already by unlocking all travels and immediate heroes you'll be getting a few levels thus being much higher than the content requires (I'm usually lvl 17 by then, and in proph in theory you should be hitting that level towards the end of the campaign) not to count that having even only the basic heroes makes things much easier than the henchs the campaign was built for.
All this said, just do as you think it's more fitting for you, everyone will tell you different things, and there's no "must".

However is it possible to have the heroes he shows in the video by only playing Nightfall up to the transfer point and EOTN in the early stages. Those heroes are: Master of Whispers, Olias, and Livia). and then go back to prophecies and solo?[/QUOTE]

Not really. Olias yes, you get it in Istan itself so it's very early, I usually get him when unlocking travels+basic heroes.For the other two it's a more complicated matter, short answer would be no.
Master of Whispers is aquired further into Nightfall, not too late but not something you wanna do if you're just planning for a touch and go, while Livia is from EotN, Asuran storyarc, you can do the mission that awards her as an hero at any point in the expansion but it requires a good amount of walking (possibly the most of all the missions there).

I appreciate the clarification on the transfer points and hero recruit events.

My original budget was only for prophecies but I'm leaning towards purchasing nightfall and the whole set; plus unlock packs and extras.

Good to know Mintha. Is this the same as a full "retcon". I read somewhere you're limited to changing only the 2nd profession for char and heroes?

Also, extra character slots would only start you at level 1 right? (the Wikia doesn't say but I'm assuming).

Are there a lot of spoilers for Prophecy players if you do the Asuran arc?
Also, in Prophecies, once you reach Lion's Arch, can one retrain their 2nd profession to Ritualist or Assassin (if you own all campaigns)?

Thanks Angel, understanding transfer points helps me plan.

So here's my early plan so far:
Start proph as a Nec/Monk or any/Monk or R/Monk ?? (not sure what an easy solo Hench build would be for proph).

Play proph up to Lions Arch then switch 2nd prof to Ritualist or Assasin (if possible) to use SOS and Summon Spirits (again not sure if it's possible); or Assasin's promise (I'll use Skill unlock packs or whatever the NCsoft store has if necessary).

Then I take advantage of the transfer points.
At Lion's Arch, go to EOTN to recruit Livia (plus 3 earlier heroes) and then go to Nightfall and recruit Olias (plus any other early heroes in KF?).

I would end up with 2 necros on my team; which I will take back to Lion's Arch and FINISH Prophecies.

After finishing prophecies, I then take my HH team and go for "Master of whispers" in NF (to complete the discordway team + 4 other H; unless there's another necro elsewhere I can get earlier). Then I would be in a position to complete Nightfall, Factions, and EOTN.

I've never planned this much to play a game; but my free Trial account has gotten me interested in a full purchase.

Appreciate some more input.

This is correct. PvE characters start at level 0. If you choose to create a PvP-only character, they start at the max level of 20.

Quick couple points:

For "easy solo Hench build", it all depends on your preferences. If you get the trilogy, you'll have 8 character slots (if I recall correctly). Roll one of each profession and try them out for awhile.

Attribute Points. Read up about them if you aren't already aware of them. Everything up to level 20 is basically a tutorial. Whatever your secondary, until you get the hang of your chosen primary profession, don't invest too many attribute points into your secondary skills. Especially at lower levels, you just don't have enough to spread around. General rule of thumb for me is to spread att points between no more than 3 attributes if possible (again, at least until you get the hang of your chosen profession). One of the three should be your profession's primary attribute.

You won't be able to change your second profession until your character has Ascended. In Prophecies, that happens in the Crystal Desert, which is quite about 7 missions and several in-between quests away from LA.

Once your character has Ascended, you can visit a Profession Changer to switch. However, for Rit or Assassin secondary, you will need to got to the Great Temple of Balthazar or visit one of the Profession Changers in Factions to get. Also, the unlock packs make elite and reg skills immediately available for your heroes...but for SoS you would still need to acquire an elite Ritualist skill tome to "learn" it for your toon. SoS rits are one of the favored farming builds, so those will run you 12-14k from other players. You *could* use a Signet of Capture to acquire it...but the only boss you can get it from is about halfway through the Factions campaign.

Other random thoughts:

The heroes you pick up in EotN will be level 20. This will help in the lower level areas around LA onward. NF heroes will be level 12 when you pick them up in Kamadan, Olias (whom you can pick up in NF once you get the quest from the Consulate Docks outpost) will be level 15. There is also an elementalist hero in NF, Sousuke, who you can pick up after a short side quest. He'll be level 11. The under-level-20 toons will level up with you as you run quests/missions. Check their attribute points regularly to redistribute points so they are using their skills to their maximum effectiveness.

Heroes come with a default set of skills, don't be afraid to change them. They also come with a default weapon scaled for their level. Again, don't be afraid to change them to max damage weapons with better stats. If you get the trilogy, typing "/bonus" in one of the chat tabs will create add'l weapons you can use or give to your heroes. The Hourglass Staff is a nice stand-in weapon for casters until you can get a better one.

Remember to get your toon upgraded armor as you progress. Similarly, ID any blue/purple/gold drops for possible armor and weapon mods you can salvage for your use. Use them on your toon and your heroes. If you want to take a rune/insignia/mod off your toon's armor or weapons, be careful because anything but a Perfect Salvage Kit runs the risk of destroying the item you're salvaging a rune/mod off of. Hero armor is the exception...it's unbreakable so you can mod/re-mod their armor however many times you want.

Wiki is your friend

Finally, don't be afraid to ask questions...either on these forum boards or in-game. There are a certain number of trolls who will invariable pipe up when you ask a question in a town or outpost, but in general the population is usually friendly and helpful. Some ppl may disagree on this point, but I would also advise joining a guild. Fellow guildies can be quite helpful when you have questions and much like dating...you can try out a guild for a time and see if you "click". If not, you're free to leave.

....good gravy, didn't realize what a wall of text I just typed >.<. Going back to lurking now....

Well only a few days ago this depends where you live ie us/euro

In Game the Trilogy was selling at £11.99 so would check the web for info re cost as you can almost get trilogy as cheap as some standalone campaigns

Alright Meow, that cleared things up for me quite a bit. Particularly SOS and the unlock packs.

Thanks to everyone's help; my reservations are almost gone;..
...so I went ahead and purchased the the entire trilogy plus EOTN.

BTW, anytime you want to type a "wall of text" to help clear things up; you're welcome to do so.

Happy New Year

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ended up buying the "Complete Collection" edition which has trilogy + EOTN for 29.99$ US on the web.

Not that I recall...not on the main arc anyway, while there's some on the secondary missions.

As some have said already, just do what you like most; you have eno0ugh slot s to try out everything anyway.
And your secondary will not matter much or at all at the start (I never use secondaries even after but I'm a desperate case). Monk as secondary could help for an hard res, which is always handy in the early missions since poor Alesia only has a touch res and almost no mana to cast and the other henchies only have a res signet which needs a moral boost to recharge. But I think that's about the only use of a secondary at that point of the game.

Just a thought: you no way need to have SoS or AP as elites. And no way need to play with discordway. A balanced skill bar and a balanced team will do just great. Some builds are just made to roll all the content without needing to think but that doesn't mean they're the best, or even worse, the only viable options around. So don't go too much forcing your way to take particular heroes, skills, etc just to follow something specific, it's not needed at all.
Just by unlocking travels you will get a decent enough amount and variety of heroes to play without problems. After all, with no effort, you'll find yourself with: 3 monks, either 2 elementalists or an ele and a ranger, a mesmer, a warrior, 2 dervishes, a necro and if you want even an assassin (though pretty useless ihmo). The only very useful ones but harder to get are ritualists, but about having all the necros I wouldn't really worry so much.
Ofc if you really wanna do things like that, you're the master of yourself, but I just wanted to point that it's not necessary at all.

For the rest, Meow Ren already answered..even if I ended up writing a wall myself anyway

Oh, last thing, about bonus weapons: if you bought the complete collection sadly you won't have the pack with the good ones (hourglass staff etc.) but only the millennium ones. Sadly, they don't cover all the types, and just the martial ones are kind of good. The staves/wands/foci use all three attributes of a class so they're pretty messy, I think they're only good if you really really have nothing else and cause they give max damage and energy at least.

happy new year!:P

Actually, I'll probably have the necros/discord, sos just to have it early; but not use them regularly. But just for times when I want to let of some steam and blast through things

Thanks for that tip. That's the kind of thing I needed to know.
I'll use monk as a secondary but concentrate more on upgrading my primary; and not so much my secondary .

Is there a way to get those good bonus weapons?

anyway, I'll be searching the forums next about problems with equipping and upgrading hero skills - if I use heroes in prophecies.

Don't worry. There is no mistake you make as beginner that cannot be corrected later.

After you played through each of the 3 campaigns and the expansion (EOTN), your character has exactly the same power as every other character of the same primary class in the whole game. You have access to exactly the same skills. You can change your build and attribute distribution freely in every outpost. You have the same level (20). You have the same attribute points (200). You have the same base health points (480). You are ascended. You are able to unlock every existing secondary class. You have access to all of the heroes (Nightfall/EOTN). You have access to armour with the maximum armour value (depending on your primary class: 60, 70 or 80). Your starting campaign doesn't matter.

Howdy Silmar,
yeah, been reading on professions and outposts on the wiki; and just wanted to clarify some things.

If your starting campaign was Factions - that would be the only way to get a Ritualist primary character or an Assassin primary character right?

But once you've beaten all 3 campaigns; and you decide you don't want you're character to be a Rit/any no longer and instead want an A/Any (just for variety) - will the game allow you to:
a.)change the primary prof of character
b.)create a new character without having to play the missions over again from level 1 just to level that character up; and recruit the heroes again for this new character.

Or maybe a trick or exploit to get your new character to a high level once again FAST - but also NOT have to replay missions to recruit heroes for that character?

I guess that was part of my concern; in addition to hero team builds and and transfer points...

But I have already purchased the game!
...and it's on its way - so regardless of that - I'll be playing 85%-95% of it.

Here for the long run!

One of the few things you cannot change is your primary profession and nonrepeatable content. I think you can pay to get a profession change via the ig shop though, not sure. You just have to try all the professions out and play whatever you like. I play several characters and it as been annoying sometimes to go through content all over again just to get to point B, but it isn't all that taxing.

Just to make sure no one gets confused here, I think Kendil means name change in the second sentence. You can buy name changes, appearance/gender changes, and extra character slots in the Game Shop. But you cannot purchase a primary profession change (which was indicated in the first sentence).

A number of players have asked for this capability, and requests ramped up after they recently allowed the hero Razah's primary profession to be changed. But at this stage in game, it's not likely to happen for player characters.

It's really not that big of a deal, though. Once you've played through the game once, you learn the shortcuts for getting additional characters through in a short amount of time. Recruiting heroes isn't that bad, either, since the skills you unlock are usable by all heroes on the account and they level up quickly.