Completely New to Guild Wars

Hi All, as the title states I am completely new to the game and just wanted ask a few questions about getting started. I need a filler game as I impatiently wait for GW2.

I really just want to PvP but I don't mind doing some of the campaign. I think I purchased the Guild Wars Trilogy 4-5 months ago, are there any other expansions I should purchase?

What do I need to do to start PvPing? I will read the class forums also for an idea of what to play but my play style is more around a cloak and dagger type character if that is an option.

How is the pvp population and competition, is it still going good? It looks like a lot of people are coming back with some much hype around GW2's release soon. Off topic but 1 million beta sign ups is pretty impressive.

Are there servers? If so which is a good population server with a good community?

Anything else I am missing about getting started for pvp? If so please fill me in if you don't mind.

PvP is dead in this game. There's a few active guilds doing mats but that's it and you wouldn't be able to get into 1 any way. Honestly, it's no point, with Guild Wars 2 probably a month away it's not really worth getting into it right now.

Hi,

Apart from the trilogy, you might want to get Eye of the North, which gives quite a few useful skills for PvP and allows you to unlock rewards for GW2 through the Hall of Monuments.

You can create PvP characters, so all you need is to unlock the skills and weapons/armor upgrades for them (once you unlock a skill, you can use it on any PvP character or hero). For that, you can either spend Balthazar faction (earned by playing PvP) or unlock them using a PvE character (some quests reward skills and you will quickly find a few useful runes).

Look at gwpvx.com for the most common/efficient builds at the moment. And then, practice make perfect.

PvP population is really lower compared to a few years ago. Low-end PvP is still active (random arenas, competitive missions), but you will probably have a hard time going into GvG or HoH at a decent level nowadays. However, I think there are still guilds welcoming newcomers for GvG, so you might want to look this way. GvG is the best thing to do in PvP imho, but RA will give you a nice flavour of the game (although quite frustrating sometimes).

You can switch servers by a simple click, so it's no big deal. American servers are usually more active (for HoH it will be International servers if you want to find a group).


Hope it helps.

Don't listen to Franco

PvP is still pretty "alive" mostly PvPvE such as Jade Quarry and Fort Aspenwood though, so not much "real" PvP.

But I find it quite easy to find matches there most of the time (random grouping)

There are districts, which can be changed whenever you wish.

Eye of the north.

It's note quite as easy to get into pvp in gw1 as it will be in gw2 because you'll need to unlock all the skills you'll need. One way of doing it though is by using balthazar faction, which is a currency rewarded from pvp. It doesn't take much of a hazzle in order to get one functional build going. You can also farm 6000 factions a day (enough for 6 normal skills or 2 elites) through zaishen elite. You'll need a ranger trapper's build for that. http://www.gwpvx.com/Build:Team_-_Ba...ishen_Trappers

Not what it used to be, but you can still find casual games quick enough. Don't know, but I guess there's still a small competitive scene.
The american servers are populated. When I played much german servers were used for european pvp, don't know if there's still anyone there though.

you'll need skills, quickest is to unlock them using balthazar faction once you've got a ranger to farm zaishen elite daily with as I mentioned. Zaishen challenge gives some handy rewards as well. Oh, you'll need to unlock armor and weapon upgrades as well using balthazar factions.
My guess is that it'll take maybe 3 days until you have a proper build with proper runes and insignias + the trapper if you do zaishen elite every day + additional pvp.

Thanks for all of the advice. Judging by how quick people responded still means there is a community alive. Though there was a lot of good advice a lot of the advice didn't make sense to me based off the fact I don't know there termanolgy or how to even get into the games you mentioned. I guess I just need to load up the game jump in and figure out the basics from there.

Is there any certain expansion I need to load into or just the first Guild Wars?

Excellent advice but I'd like to explain some of the terminology.
GvG is Guild Vs Guild combat. It is an 8v8 battle in a guild hall where the objective is to kill the enemy teams Guild Lord or attain more aggression points than the other team (this is only useful in tiebreaker situations) It is still very much alive in low-end battles (Guilds with lower Guild Rating) and with the Monthly Automated Tournaments or MAT as someone else said.
RA is Random Arenas, it is a 4v4 battle on a small map where you are randomly paired with 3 other players. This is probably the fastest way to enjoy some quick PvP in Guild Wars without the hassle of getting your team together.
Codex is a 4v4 team arena where each profession has a certain number of skills they can use and those skills change everyday. This is dead except for the few point farmers and for Zaishen Combat days.
HoH is Hall of Heroes which is accessed through HA (Hero's Ascent) It is another 8v8 gametype where you fight to enter the Mists (it's like the realm of the gods/underworld etc) and reach the Hall of Heroes after so many games. When you reach the Hall it turns from 8v8 to 8v8v8 (if i'm not mistaken, never personally held the Hall).

My information is based off the limited PvP experience that I have. I was mainly a PvE player for Guild Wars but I dabbled for a little bit in each of the different PvP types. Most commonly I play GvG or RA.

Regards to your other question, first of all you may start in any of the games with the only difference being the looks of your character (for a PvP character this is the only thing affected), the tutorial you start in, and 2 unique professions if starting in Nightfall or Factions.

Guild Wars does servers in an interesting way. The different servers can be switched upon in town whenever you'd like. There is no Server based characters or whatnot and you are not bound to a specific server. The different servers are also known as Districts- so you can be in the American English District #1, or you can move to the International District, or the Asia Korean District #2 etc etc.

Last note: Guild Wars Wiki and Guild Wars Guru are your friends but stay away from Wikia and pvxwiki.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Main_Page
http://www.gwpvx.com/PvX_wiki

Contact me In-Game if you ever have any questions.
My IGN is Master Archer Nente.

Really? a month?
beta will start in around a month, for about 2 months.. then fixes/bugs will be fixed.. then there will be a speculation date while they tweak some last minute changes.

sorry pal but you most likely wont see GW2 until late summer time.. atleast alot longer than a month.

Who told you that beta will start in around a month? And who told you that they are using this beta to fix bugs and that Anet doesn't have a dedicated team doing this already?

Who told you that beta won't start in a month? who told you that they aren't using this beta to fix bugs and that anet do have a dedicated team doing this already?

Seriously.. stop speculating.. It will be released when it is being released, I don't think even A-net is 100% of the release date..

Erm the fact that we signed for beta a few days ago and they said they will start testing in march?


and that is what beta is for.. testing, do you not know these things? have you ever been in beta for an mmo before?

They did say they wanted to release GW2 close to the beta... and open beta signups have already taken place and are soon to begin. I wouldn't be surprised if they were shooting for a release to coincide with their original anniversary date -- end of April. That said, ANet is notorious for missing their deadlines, so we can't really speculate.

But this is way off topic for this thread. I think the OP can totally enjoy a little PvP. He already owns the game, now it's just a question of playing it. You don't have to worry about complex gearing or leveling up. Your only concern will be skills and runes/insignia unlocks, but those can either be purchased with the PvP pack, or you can unlock them with the Balthazar Faction you're rewarded as you play.

Someone above mentioned Jade Quarry and Fort Aspenwood, which I would highly suggest you start with, as the formats are random and the maps are big, so you can kind of hide amongst the chaos until you have a better idea of what you're doing and can unlock the skills you need to be viable. Random Arena, they kind of want you to have a clue and your (in)abilities will be a lot more visible on that smaller team.

You can start in any campaign you like if you start a PvP-only character -- the only difference is your appearance. You'll be plunked down in Great Temple of Balthazar, from which you can either talk to a Luxon or Kurzick NPC to go to JQ or FA (it doesn't matter which side you fight for -- and you can swap back and forth by talking to the "Shady" or "Suspicious" NPCs in the outpost, depending on which side seems to be sucking at the time), or you can walk outside to Isle of the Nameless and start your PvP tutorials, which will unlock the other arenas.

just buy and start the game lol play GW before playing GW2