Hi, new on this board and I have some questions.

1. So I have a beautiful level 20 character with (I researched this on wiki) maxed out everything, now I was wondering but how does she progress on? Will she be able to get any stronger?

2. Talking about maxed out,... Her weapons and armor I believe is maxed out too. She's a ranger and in possession of a longbow 15-28 and armor is at 70. Why would I continue collecting items? Is there anything else I can craft?

3. I see everywhere that you can also play in a guild, how does that work? You join a group of people and rendesvous every day for a certain amount of hours? What should I expect if I take on the responsibility and also is it similar to having Henchmen?

4. I also have a level 8 character who is currently "stuck" on Embark Beach. She doesn't have enough experience to get off the island, what can I do.

This is my first mmorpg and I want to make the most of it.
Thanks, Teisha

-Hitting level 20 doesn't really mean anything. Levels 1-19 are tutorial levels. GW is designed so that everyone should be able to be on even footing when it comes to statistical advantages, so if you're looking for a game where you just keep getting better and better items, you've got the wrong game. Your character gets better by you getting better at playing her.
-You'll be collecting skills for a reasonably long time, both for yourself and for your heroes.
-There are a pair of quests in each campaign (though you can only do the ones from your native campaign) which grant 15 attribute points each. See here.

You'll eventually want to have an array of weapons and armor to choose from, especially if you plan on having Ranger as your main character. For example, you could have a zealous bow for high energy builds, vampiric for straightforward DPS, an elemental bow for conjure based builds, etc. Furthermore, you can have different armor sets for different situations. That's not to say you can't get through the game with only one weapon/armor set, but it's good to have (and you'll be collecting armor sets for other reasons anyway, like the Hall of Monuments and looking awesome). Equipment with maximum statistical advantage is easy to obtain; after that it's about sinking cash into better looking gear and a bigger arsenal.

A guild is really just a collection of players. There is no inherent definition for what one needs to be. Some are a small collection of real life friends, some are focused on being the biggest guild in the game, some are focused on PvP, some are focused on speed clearing elite PvE areas, etc. Guild advertisements (either in game or on Guru) will generally make any requirements/expectations/activities/whatever specifically clear, though most are fine so long as you don't go inactive for months on end without explanation.

I'm not sure on what you mean by 'is it similar to having henchmen'. Henchmen (and heroes) are AI companions whereas guilds will contain real people. There is no difference with grouping though; if the limit for an area is 8 people, then both people and AI count toward that limit. So you could have yourself and 7 henchmen, or yourself, someone else, and 6 henchmen, and so on.

You need to talk to one of the NPC's who will offer to transport you back to a mission outpost you've already been to. See here.

Oh wow, thank you so much for all this info!

I'd like to specify, in case it can help, that you empower/customize your armor through runesand insignias. The armor you buy is only the "raw" version, while you need to add those for it to be fully functional. That's also how you do sets for different purposes.

For weapons, you can either get a ready-to-use one, which I could guess is what you have or an "empty" gold one on which you apply mods at your pleasure.

I like to add that guilds are a good source of help and information over time, and that it is beneficial in the long run. As a Guild leader myself I know whats it like roaming around with heros and henchmen when most of your guild mates may be offline, and you have questions you need answers for. As said above guilds recruit ingame or here on guru all the time. Good luck in all you do