Thinking about buying Guild Wars. What titles do I need for all the content?

I own Guild Wars 2 and my highest level is only but 10. That doesn't mean I'm a newbie at RPGs, but frankly, the game doesn't quite float my boat at the moment.

I've been watching some Let's Play videos about Guild Wars 1 and I was reminded why I liked the game when I saw it at my friend's so many years ago. Some nice landscapes. While not compelx like Skyrim, they have a certain touch that I liked. Even deserts look pretty cool. Combat is slightly superior to WoW and GUI/UI is a lot better then WoW but I am just comparing now.

I've still got 8 hours to play on my trial account and if I get into it more and more towards the end I think I'll get it.

If I do buy it, I want to know what to buy, because I wanna have all the content of the game. I want a digital copy only. After some checking up I've discovered that I can't get it in 1 title. According to Wiki, the standalone 'Guild Wars' is actually 'Prophecies' too (?)...

Anyway, I best I can get it digitally would be to get the Trilogy edition and the Eye of The North expansion. Apparently, atleast in the trilogy edition, the prophecies part comes with too... This kinda confused me because in most places it's not totally out there so I decided to sign up and make sure. I trust 'GW GURU' will know.

I understand that usually there is a key involved? Very much like in Guild Wars 2.

How does that work on Steam? Do I get keys for all those titles? And if not, why?

Sorry for my rambling and thanks if you didn't mind. +1 if you liked reading it haha.

By the way, love the attributes system. Max LV.20. Very unique and seems like a polished executed idea. If you are still reading this, I know after LV1 you still get to get more attributes, does that ever end?

Hi there, welcome to GWG.

If you're loving the trial I'd say go for it, for me, personally, GW1 is much better than GW2, but again that's my personal opinion.

If you're wanting to be able to have access to all content in the game, you're going to have to buy all 4 campaigns. Prophecies, Factions, Nightfall, and Eye of the North. You can get this in the trilogy.

If you buy it from Steam, you will get a key for each campaign, which you will have to enter into Guild Wars via the login menu.

As for the attributes. From level 1-20 you get attribute points, once you hit level 20 you're not able to get any more attribute points, besides the quests that give you 15 extra. After level 20 you get skill points, which you use to craft certain items and buy skills.

If you need any clarification just let me know

Welcome to Guild Wars!

the trilogy comes with all 3 standalone chapters (prophecies, factions and nightfall), eye of the north is not a standalone as you must have one of the chapters to play it.

here is a quick link for more info on the different versions available (wiki):
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guild_Wars
best to scroll all the way to the bottom and check out the difference releases, my favorite is the complete collection ---however very hard to find in the usa (was a european release though they say it was released here--I had to get my copy abroad!)

and welcome to guildwars!

Hi! Thanks for the quickly reply and the warm welcome. I actually would like some part clarified.
You said " you're going to have to buy all 4 campaigns. Prophecies, Factions, Nightfall, and Eye of the North. You can get this in the trilogy. "
I think you were wrong, and the Trilogy has everything except for Eye of The North.
So to get everything digitally, I'd have to purchase 2 items: Trilogy + Eye of The North. Correct me if I'm wrong!

I like that you bring up the level cap because that's one of the best things I liked. It's refreshing honestly. I think the trial gives 9 or 9 and a half hours of gametime so I'm just gonna continue playing this until it almost runs out then I'll delete this character so I can use the name when I buy it. I can't get it immediately which might be a good thing because lately I've been getting a few games that were fun in the beginning but quickly just lost my attention all together. i.e. GW2. It's really too bad for me the way the active skills work, tsk tsk. Just my personal opinion.

Edit:
I'm currently planning on paper to get it from Steam. Where-ever you get it, you can download all the titles you own from the game's site. Am I correct? i.e. say if you couldn't find your CDs would you be able to just log-in the official site and download everything?

Also! Another thing I'd like to know: Do you ever stop getting new skill points?

Yes, my mistake :P. In the trilogy you get the three chapters like cosy stated, and then you'll have to purchase Eye of the North separately.

You can always message me in the game if you would like help with anything in general.
My IGN is Atrocious Shadow.

Thanks once again. And I actually just read on wiki Prophecies is Guild Wars without the other 3 titles, steam didn't make it clear for noobs in the series!

I'll try to message you when I get on. Since I won't be getting it very soon I'm trying to get on only when I wanna progressing questing so I don't go afk and finish my time.

By the way--are there different servers? US, europe, etc?

Nah, its just one big server, though there are different districts, most players play in the American districts.

No. You will always get a skill point when your experience bar fills up (meaning, you level up) even if you're already at level 20.

Most people have far more skill points than they need but, if you want to get them faster, then I suggest you focus on completing missions/quests or just kill enemies when you are the only one in your party. For example, if you were in a party of 4 then all of the experience, that you gained from killing enemies, would be divided by 4.

Welcome to GW

Thanks.
I have another question, I've been reading some page about the GvG which seems really cool to me.
Is it a fact you can use bots if you dont have 16 people? The site said 'you gotta have a minimum of 16 people unless you use bots and then you gotta have a minimum of 8.'
That'd be a huge turn-off. GvG shouldn't be done at all if someof the players are actually bots imo.

Edit:
Another question which is actually one of the reasons I'm not getting this at the moment, I'm actually extraordinarily picky with choosing what in-game names to choose and if I use a male or character players so I would like to know how many character slots will I have by getting the Trilogy + Eye of The North ?

I haven't played PvP in a long time but I think Random Arena is the only PvP format that is still reasonably active. And RA is 4 vs 4, in a random map. You just go to the outpost, press "Enter Battle" and then play.

In GvG, each team of 8 players may have a maximum of 4 henchmen and, in Heroes' Ascent, each team may have a maximum of 2 henchmen. There is no minimum number of henchmen that is required for any PvP format. But I really doubt either one of those formats is still active.

By getting the Trilogy, you will have a total of 8 character slots. The Eye of the North expansion does not give any additional slots.

Hope that helps, feel free to ask any other questions

gvg is active during ats, ha is active 1week a month

Thanks for all the nice and helpful answers. I've decided I'll get it next week.
Do the expansions give any more choices for customization of characters? I didn't really like any of the model options for the male version of the Necromancer. I usually read all the quests and roleplay to that extent and I feel more comfortable to do so playing a character of the same gender as myself.

If you're referring specifically to appearance here, the answer is no. While appearance options differ according to continent of origin (Prophecies = Western, Factions = Asian, Nightfall = African), the aesthetic remains the same. If your character concept doesn't involve a creepy psychopath, you're out of luck either way.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Galle...cer_appearance

I guess that implies that you can only use 1 set of aesthetic options in each campaign? That's a bit dissapointing. I'd be happy to be able to create a character that would look like the Necromancer from Diablo 2.
Might as well try to get into playing a female character then.

Yeah, the options are restricted to each campaign, not pooled together if you have multiple. Although, if it helps any, I think you can break the rule by buying (with real cash) a Makeover Pack, which does pool all the appearance options (I've never used one though, so don't take my word for it). Anyway, my main point was that male necromancers don't seem to stray from the creepy psychopath feel no matter what options you choose. The other gender/profession combos seem to have a number of different options.

you can get one that doesnt hurt your eyes too much...but the way they stand etc is the same across all the choices...here is my male necro. (factions face and hair)

Is it possible to create the character in factions and then start all the way from the beginning in prophecies right away?

Short answer: No, not right away.
You can start a character in Factions and then go to Lion's Arch and move backwards all the way to Old Ascalon, but you can't go back to Pre-Searing. If you don't want to go through all of that walking, you could probably pay someone to run you to Old Ascalon but I'm not sure if many people are still doing that anymore.

Even then, it's a poor solution. The beginning areas of each continent/campaign are considered to be happening at the same time and so even if you go back as far as you can (Old Ascalon) there won't be any quests offered to you. You'll also be way overleveled (making the content far too easy), not receive rewards from missions, and have a poorer understanding of what is occurring. Given roleplaying/story means as much to you as it does, I really wouldn't recommend it.

Yeah I wouldn't do that. Even if it would work, wouldn't feel untwinked. Well that makes me a sad panda but maybe by then I won't care. Thanks for helping.

Well thanks again for all the great help. Seeing as the character customization is the way it is, I won't be joining GW for now.

sorry to hear that...if you still want to think about it here is a link to all the different faces/hair/etc options for the male necromancer (prophecies and factions options are much better than the nightfall ones)
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Galle...cer_appearance