Still worth buying?

I'm waiting for GW2 to come out, but in the meantime I'd like to try GW, if it's still worth it (I mean, populated and so on...)!

What do you say?

First of all keep in mind your buying a 7 year's old game. though it looks very awesome (imo), don't expect it to be like GW2.

The game is actually getting more attention due to the upcomming release date for GW2. Keep in mind that only when you have a lot of free time you can play through the entire story (all 3 campaigns + expansion) before GW2. As for population, like I said it is getting busier, but beside the end game content, things have turned to solo play a long time ago and afaik the recent rise of interest didn't change that.

What you get is a change of getting a few points in your Hall of Monuments (depending on your playtime/skilllevel you should be able to get 11 points wich rewards a full unique armor set in GW2 as well as a unique Staff, Bow, sword, shield and a nonfighting cat companion (all useable in GW2, if you have the right profession off course).

Keep in mind that those rewards in GW2 are atleast 90% for looks (and possibly more)

Besides that you get a change to sink into certain aspects of the culture and history of Tyria. Allthough the story is stand alone, there are a lot of simular things in culture and and lore.

Personally being at a tight budget in real life, I wouldn't buy the game anymore. But it depends a bit on what you seek and your wallet.

Last of all keep in mind that after the release of GW2 the plug won't be pulled on GW. They promised to keep the servers alive as long as there was a reasonable amount of people playing and the live-team (the people responsible for updating the game) took time to automate as much as possible before they where transfered to help the GW2 team. So I expect that the servers will keep open for another 3 years (but don't hunt me down if it's only one year)

I wish they could find a way to let us keep playing GW1 even after the servers go down :/

Who knows, I know of one game (uru-live, an mmo sequal to myst) that wasn't making enough products so the plug was pulled. but it is nowadays kinda active cause some enthousiasts got the server coding from the makers and had setup private servers. If this is possible depends on the licenses involved with the server and on the amounht of "secrets" that would pose a company risk. Even if technicly possible Anet could still say no cause there isn't profit for them in it.

- edit for an IMPORTANT NOTE - : there are party's claiming to be running a private server. As far as I know there are no private servers and more important I wouldn't ever trust them with my username and password for gw. KEEP YOUR ACCOUNT SAFE. if something like I described is going to happen in the future it will be very likely announced officially by anet. as long as the official servers are running you should never go to private servers cause im 99.9% sure they are only fter your login details.
- end of edit -

This is just my opinion of course, but I would say GW is worth owning regardless of the existence of GW2. Its a great game in a huge world no matter what happens with its sequel. Add to that the fact that there's no subscription fee and the entire game (3 campaigns + 1 expansion) can be picked up for around 30 bucks (or less) and you've got a pretty solid deal.

That being said, if you want to try GW1 ONLY because you're interested in GW2, maybe don't bother. The games are VERY different, and if you're going to start playing GW2 at the end of august, that doesn't really leave you very much time to actually play through and enjoy GW1, unless of course you'll go back to it later.

I'm sure it's technically possible; And Anet are the type of company that would probably do it for the legacy fans that have made them so successful up to now regardless of the profit involved so long as it wasn't too much work.

However, I do think they still might not due to those security risks. Guild Wars 2 is built on the same programming infrastructure as Guild Wars 1; Therefore opening the Guild Wars 1 Server code upto the public could and would very probably reveal security vulnerabilities to the malicious masses in Guild Wars 2 too; Something that Anet no doubt want to protect as there future as a company is invested entirely within it.

This can't be stressed enough. If you're expecting GW1 to be anything like GW2, you're going to have a bad time. It's also one of its strengths. I don't think I'm overexaggerating when I claim that there will never be a game like GW1 again. It's just such an oddball in many respects.

Do I think it's still worth buying? Yes.
You might see a 7 year old game, I see a compilation of 3 campaigns with an expansion that's brimming with content.
You have no idea how much optional cool content there is that people who just play for 30/50 HOM and never come back, miss out on.

It's well worth playing on its own right and not just as a gateway drug to GW2.

I mainly play one character that has clocked in at about 640 hours and I still haven't done everything. That's also with next to no farming or grinding mind you.

Getting parties with real players for missions can be tough though. I didn't really have a problem with it since I soloed most of the time. Your best bet is to join a guild and ask for help there. They'll be more than happy to help you.

Which probably won't happen for a few year atleast, so not really a problem yet ^^

That's a good point. We do know, however, that Anet has categorically (and repeatedly) said that as long as there are players signing on the play the original Guild Wars, they'll keep the servers up and running. They may do something like reduce the amount of servers actually running the game due to lack of interest, but with a reduced population that shouldn't affect performance much. No, the bigger issue is that Guild Wars is barely supported now (they no longer even have an assigned art developer for small things like festival hats) so you shouldn't expect to see much of anything in the way of new content other than the occasional new quest.

I would say YES.
GW has reached very low prices for the trilogy and the GWEN combo and it's worth it.
Players are coming back to fill theyr HoM so it's possible to experience the multiplayer side of the game instead soloing it with heroes.
Anyway I'm very partial because I still love the game after 7 years.

There are 2 completely different games. If your only reason for buying GW 1 would be to get ready for GW 2 than you definitely shouldn't get it. The games are so much different that it will do the opposite. You'll get used to brilliant mechanics and gameplay of GW 1 and you'll just be disappointed when you see how much different GW 2 is.

I bought it and I'm enjoying it very much! I'm making HoM progresses while I enjoy the game, slowly progressing through the prophecies quests! I have a question tho: can I do the factions and nightfall story with a prophecies character? I want to tame a rare pet for the HoM, and if you say I can't play factions with my prophecy character I might as well create a new one to try that story!

The short answer: Yes. A single character can complete all three storylines.

The long answer: Once your character reaches Lion's Arch, you can pick up a quest called "Mhenlo's Request" which will send you to Kaineng Center. From there, you are directed to the third Factions mission.

Also from Kaingeng, you can reach Elona by taking the quest "Sunspears in Cantha". It will be considerably easier than "Sunspears in Kryta".

Thank you! Yesterday, at level 9, I found someone advertising for a free run to LA (which I know know is Lion's Arch) and I took it, and today I'm level 12 with M.O.X. and an HoM, so I'll try and see those npc's too! Is it possible to tame and evolve a pet for a non ranger character?

Yes. First you will need to be able to change your secondary profession. To do so, you need to complete either Nahpui Quarter in Factions or Augury Rock in Prophecies. Before then, you'll probably want to grind some experience as either can be brutal on a lower level character.

If you're focused on getting the Phoenix, I recommend getting to 20 and following the Factions storyline. After Nahpui Quarter you'll be able to change your secondary profession immediately. Then once you reach the final mission, just equip Charm Animal as a skill and you can tame the phoenix in the final zone.

another couple of questions, since you seem good at answers: any way to gain a good amount of gold? After 2 days of questing I only have 2.5k... If I'm going to buy something for the HoM I'll need more! Also, is there an economically efficient way to get some good armor at level 12? I'm stuck with tutorial Krytan armor...

Best way would be playing PvP and doing zaishen combat quests (read more on wiki about that). That way you get plenty zaishen keys which you sell and you get rich and you buy any armor you want.

At level 12, his options to run Zaishen quests are limited.

Generally speaking, until you reach level 20 the best way of making money is to play through the storyline. As you level up, drops will sell for more and gold will come in larger amounts. Until you really get your feet under you, don't worry about farming gold for the HoM.

You can get maximum armor in Kaineng Center; until then, armor from either Yak's Bend of Ascalon City will be enough. There is no way to reduce the cost of making armor aside from farming the crafting materials rather than buying.

I checked the wiki, but from what I understand, PvP requires a pre formed group of players! I managed to find a player who's helping me with EotN main quest and with HoM (he let me dedicate his prince rurik mini for a small fee), but I don't know where to recruit a PvP party! Do you know of any good pvp guild? Also, Zaishen keys are a good way to make money and get HoM points, but from what I gathered on the wiki they are very hard to obtain.

Any hints on PvP grouping?

BTW, I reached level 16 today while hunting for a manumental tapestry piece!

GvG zaishen combat quest: Too bad Anet changed it just a couple weeks ago. Now they made it way more difficult for people to farm it. But you can still try. All you need is another player in the guild and a guild hall. 2 of you can play alone with 4 henchmen. You will lose a lot but you will also get many wins. You get 2 zkeys, some platinum and some copper zaishen coins for each win, so it's definitely worth it. You won't beat any serious teams, but you'll beat resign and bot guilds (gvg is full of those). Not that when your guild rating goes under 950 you'll only be able to do that quest once a day, but it's still worth it. You should create pvp characters to play pvp. They are all lvl 20 and have all skills you unlocked in pve available. So, on zquest day you should take quest on every character and just finish one of those every day. By the time you're done the new wild gvg zaishen quest will appear.

HA zaishen combat quest: There are teams called randomways, they invite and accept all players. They are not strong and just as in gvg, you will lose most of the games. But still you'll be able to get some wins and the reward is definitely worth it. It's also quite fun. My advice here would be just to invite everyone, take 2 henchmen monks (human player monks at your skill level will be BAD, henchmen are actually quite good for that, and will give you advantage over enemy human monks). Try to get bunch of elementalists in team if possible, they just have to do damage. Always avoid assassins and rangers since they're completely useless.

RA zaishen combat quest: Definitely the easiest one. Also has quite good rewards. You should check guild wars wiki for builds and then adjust them and change things depending on what you see works for other players (do not try to come up with your own build, all good builds are already invented and used). You will get a lot of wins here, and is also quite fun for beginners.

CA zaishen combat quest: Also very easy due to number of bots, resigners, afkers and all kind of cheaters. You basically gain wins and big rewards without doing anything. You won't be able to beat any real team but there are so many cheater teams so you can keep completing quest and getting rewards without ever facing the real ones.

Note: All those above quests are repeatable and you should never finish the bonus quest, just get the basic rewards, take it and repeat the quest again. Keep doing that and in no time you'll see a stack of zkeys in your inventory

I visited the PvP area and temple, to familiarize with it, and I saw Luxon and Kurzick representatives! I know there is a title track for each, but I was wondering: are they mutually exclusive (so that I have to max one, do the HoM and faction things, then max the other) or can I pursue both at a time?

Yes, you can pursue both at a time.

To be a bit more specific:

You only need level 3 in both Kurzick and Luxon title tracks to be able to add them to your HoM. *Maxing* both titles would require you to acquire/spend *10 million* faction on each side.

Also, while you can work on both title tracks and even carry faction from both sides at the same time, as soon as you spend one side's faction, you will loose an equal amount of the opposing side's faction (if you have any). So in a way, yes, they are mutually exclusive.

You can track how much faction you have in the Hero window (Hit "H", it's the first tab).

If you're doing the PvE portion of the Factions storyline, you will at some point end up with some faction from both sides since there are a few missions rewarding opposing faction that are either right after each other and have to be done to advance, or that reward both faction upon completion. It's usually advisable to choose one side and stick with that through the end of the campaign and then go back and pick up the other side if you want.

EDIT: whups almost forgot....

If you are playing through Factions, don't forget to pick up a Shiro's Return Storybook from either the Kurzick or Luxon bard in Kaineng Center. Keep it in the bags of whichever toon is working through the campaign. You can turn it in to the bards after completing a minimum of 8 missions for additional faction rewards. The book-reward faction goes directly to the title tracks, so it doesn't show up as spendable faction. This is handy since you don't have to worry about spending the opposing side's faction before turning the book in.

EDIT # 2: Egads...that's what I get for sneaking onto guru during the work day...Yes, Marty you're right. It's Kurz rank *4* that is required for HoM... oopsie!

The Luxons and Kurzicks each award faction which you spend for items; this also increases your title progress. There is no barrier between earning faction for both sides, aside from the occasional bribe. However, spending faction with one side will also decrease your faction with the other side.

If switching between the two groups, first spend all available faction to get the maximum benefit for your title.

That's quite possibly a typo, but the HoM requires rank 4.

I'm almost level 20! I'll start doing factions asap to take advantage of the bonus weekend!

What Winner posted sounds interesting. Shoot me a pm if you want to group up with another newbie and try some of that stuff out for pvp.