A few questions about Guild Wars

(Wasn't sure if here or the Riverside Inn was more appropriate.)
I'm new to Guild Wars, it's the first MMO since I quit WoW that's made me feel like staying, so far anyway. I tried Rift and SW:ToR, but neither seemed to be able to hold me.

Looking at GW2 really roused my interest, and I decided to try out GW1--seeing the HoN has roused my quasi-completionist nature.


Anyways, some questions I've developed while perusing the wiki and playing the game:

• When it comes to map exploration for the Cartographer titles, does only the upper-most level of the world count towards it? Like, take the Catacombs in pre-Searing Ascalaon, does my exploration of them count towards Cartographer, or only portions revealed on the region map of Ascalon?
• Are hard-mode Missions (for the Guardian title) something that only the upper-elite can hope to complete? Or are they something almost anyone can reasonably expect to do? Basically I just want to know how exclusive they are; if they're anything like the WoW raids, where only the top guilds on a server could hope to stand a chance (before the raid got nerfed or new equipment/a new expansion made the average player capable of doing them).
• Aggro, how does it work? At times it seems like a fairly normal aggro system, other times practically every enemy I see is ignoring me, and yet other times mobs within an inordinately large radius will begin coming after me. IDK, I can't find a causal link so far besides area, so I'm thinking it's something about specific mobs?
• A little while ago, I was wandering the area near Fort Ranik (pre-Searing), and suddenly a timer appeared on my screen. I hadn't received any messages before then, so I decided to enter a town and ask what it meant, but as soon as I entered Fort Ranik the timer disappeared. Any ideas?
• I learned about the Defender of Ascalon title (thankfully before I left pre-Searing), and I was wondering if there were any other titles that are so sensitive in the conditions to complete them? Like the DoA can only be done pre-Searing, otherwise you simply can't get it. I've already had to start a new character because I accidentally did the group quest before Gwen and I couldn't get the Tapestry piece on that char anymore.

1) Pre-searing Ascalon does not count towards the exploration title. Apart from that, everything that doesn't appear on the big map of a continent doesn't count either (dungeons, elite zones, realm of torment, hidden levels, etc.)

2) Some HM missions are harder than others, especially if you want the bonus/Master Reward. However, any decent team can beat every HM mission and you can finish everything in the game with just you+7 heroes. If you want "challenge", HM elite missions can be quite tough with only heroes or without speedclear gimmicks.

3) Some mobs patrol over an area, that could explain it. In Pre-Searing and other starting zones, there are also some mobs which won't attack you first (if they are level <=1, iirc).

4) No idea, sorry. Probably a quest, but I can't see which one...

5) Nope. Survivor requires you not to die, but now dying only resets the counter, so it doesn't prevent you from getting the title eventually.


Hope it helps.

The timer outside of Ranik should be for the huntsman and to kill a bear. Your reward is hunter's ale.

The timer outside Ft. Ranik was probably the repeatable quest/mini game The Bear Hunters. You can do it again any time you wander far enough east out there.

GuildWiki has a PreSearing Checklist, but it sounds like you're on track with the important stuff (tapestry shred).
Otherwise, later on the only thing you'll want to be careful with is your hero choices in Nightfall. You totally get the ones you didn't choose after you complete the campaign, but that can be a long slog if you accidentally choose one you don't like.

Welcome!
It should be the quest from the hunters. There's a circle of hunters talking about some bear hunting, if you kill a bear in that time they give you a beer keg if I remember right. It's totally repeatable also.
Or it's not even a quest maybe, simply you do the task and get the bottle. Sorry wanted to be more specific but can't seem to find it on the wiki.

EDIT: nevermind, found it The Bear Hunters
EDIT2: it took me so much to write that I was double ninja'd, talk about redudancy...:P

Lyv pretty much answered. I'll add a couple of things.

Only the post searing map counts towards cartographer, if you go to the map and zoom out, the upper and some lower parts (in Prophecies) are Eye of the North areas and have a standalone cartography part which you'll need for the Legendary master of the North title.

The hard mode missions will pretty much require you to hone your and your heroes builds and having fully runed/insignia'd armour/good weapons will help. Some though can be very difficult and infuriating to get masters/bonus on without a couple of other people on your team. Cue joining a Guild

As for the timer I'm curious to know what that is myself, I don't remember ever having one in any quest that wasn't a challenge mission?

Doh, by the time I typed this the timer Q. was answered

The Bear Hunter thing sounds right, thx.

Thanks, I got everything on there complete except for the full armor (I still need the mask) and the Charr bag.


Hmmm, I'm hoping to join a guild devoted to helping members complete things like Titles and HoM achievements, I imagine they'd do something in that regard.

Theres a guild recruitment section here on Guru, and you'll have no shortage of recruiters in game. I don't wanna belittle the Guru but honestly if you join a guild asap you'll have a lot of the questions you'll have on tap, so to speak.

You can add me to friends if you want but I don't play as religiously as I used to but will be happy to help when I'm on. My ign = Avira Hekate

Yes.

Doing the basic missions in HM is not ridiculously exclusive. While the average player may struggle with them, it's nothing they can't overcome by using cons and/or leeching off a PUG that's somewhat more competent on average.

However, you do realize that the basic missions in HM is certainly not the most challenging content in the game by a longshot, right?

You're probably used to WoW conflating aggro and target selection. GW doesn't do that.

(You may also be confused by the tutorial zone monsters. Lvl 0 monsters are made non-aggressive so that the tutorial zone is more noob-friendly.)

Anywho, aggro is a simple binary: either the monsters have noticed you, or they haven't. A group of monsters will notice you when:

• Any member of your group steps inside the aggro bubble of any monster in the group. (Aside from a handful of "long sight" monsters, the aggro bubble is the circle on your radar map.)
• Any member of your group attacks or damages any monster in the group.

Once aggro is established, the monsters pick their targets based on a host of factors including (in rough order of importance): proximity; current hp; armor; whether fleeing and, if fleeing, relative speed; class (maybe); weapon type; etc.

No.

No, not since Survivor was fixed. Note also that LDoA is remarkably boring and tedious and is definitely NOT something you want to do with your first character... and perhaps not with any character.

Of course, I imagine that the Elite Missions are inherently more difficult, but I wasn't looking for difficult content, I just wanted to verify its difficulty.

What would it matter what character I do it with?

Wow, you wanna do the DoA? Just wanted to let you know that this is incredibly hard and time-consuming, as you only get xp for opponents 5 level below you (max). Plus it gets really boring... I'm trying to become DoA myself at the moment and really, it's basically always the same quests you'll have to do in order to get ANY xp at all. So you might want to reconsider this But if you're in for it, I wish you luck! Just wanted to make sure you're not surprised why it takes you so long to level up/get that title.

So I'd also recommend you: Take your first character to post-searing, enjoy the game, get through it and SOMETIME try again DoA with another character... there's no rule that says that you have to do DoA with your first character and I'd also just go on, so I can someday fully commit to project DoA. As I said, I'm trying myself at the moment, and I've been playing for two years and I'm through all campaigns and just don't have anything to do with my lvl20 character, so THAT'S the time when you're desperate enough to try DoA :P

Not really. Just make sure it's a character who's playstyle you can withstand/enjoy for hours upon hours of grinding (also note the limited scope of skills you can use). That being said, with a rather recent update, this title can be easily obtained within the scope of a week, provided you know what to do/are very adamant in your grinding (it can be very much a turn-off to new gamers).

Ugh, DoA is the abbreviation used for Domain of Anguish, LdoA is the one for Legendary defender of Ascalon. Not so trivial, but just for clear writing, it took a while understanding what you were talking about.

There's nothing wrong with doing Defender of Ascalon early these days. I can see how someone would want the title on their main (which is often our first character), especially if they have any aspirations for GWAMM.

If the OP gets itchy, though, there's a lot to be said for starting an alt in another campaign to experience its tutorial area and backstory (especially if it's a campaign-specific profession). Even if they don't like the idea of having a collection of alts to drag through the campaigns multiple times, it's good to experience the different professions just to understand one's enemies a little better.

I think spending a considerable amount of time in Pre, especially over the Wall, can be beneficial to a newbie. You learn proper tactics without having any AI backup hiding your faults. I have a couple of friends who were absolutely awful at mob control, scared to death of solo quests, who did LDoA together. They're much better, more confident players because of it.

I'm not too worried about the LDoA, it seems a matter of time more than anything else (although without a guild ATM it seems like getting through the gate may be a bit of a pain at times if I want to farm the Northlands before lvl 10).
Difficulty is what generally turns me off to achievements like this, although I will admit I never tried to do the Insane in the Membrane achievement in WoW, though partly because I was busy grabbing Sulfuron, Hero of the Zandalar, and Veteran of the Shifting Sands. :P


I also wonder if there's any benefit to doing either Luxon or Kurzick before the other? Does doing either one first help make the other easier?

What do you mean by "doing either Luxon or Kurzick"? The game will give you a taste of the Kurzick path first and then give you a taste of the Luxon path, and then you choose. But doing both sides is ultimately required to complete all the missions in the Factions campaign (for your Protector and Guardian titles).

However, if you're asking about your Kurzick or Luxon title tracks, it's often easier to work on one at a time (or just one altogether -- you get no benefit from having both tracks high or maxed, other than it being another account-wide maxed title). Working on the two together can actually be a little tricky since spending the faction in one track wipes out the same amount of accumulated faction in the other track. [That could be potentially confusing: You have a Kurzick Faction track & a Luxon Faction track, and a Kurzick Title track & a Luxon Title track. You accumulate faction in your faction tracks, and then upon spending that faction, it gets added to the corresponding title track.]

As for which to choose, that depends on the guild you're in, and I suppose somewhat on the armor you like. If you're in a Luxon-affiliated guild, it makes sense to work on Luxon since guild faction donations contribute double to your track. However, for armor purposes, it's almost always a good idea to go Kurzick. Amber (the Kurzick rare material reward) is historically always worth more than Jade (the Luxon rare material reward) at the material trader. So if you like Kurzick armor, you can earn the amber directly and add it to your track. If you like Luxon armor, earning amber and then selling it to the trader (or other players if you have the patience) and buying Jade for cheaper can sometimes even net you a profit.

To answer your questions, No, and No.

Star Jewel covered everything else.