The Newcomer!

Hey, I'm Re1gnOfChaos!

I've been playing Guild Wars 2 for 2 years, and now I want to purchase the first game. Can anyone give me some information about this game, and help me out when I actually get the game

Also, I'm wondering which campaign to purchase (can't buy them all), and I'm struggling to choose a class. Hopefully you can help me out with that too

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Main_Page

you can get the trilogy which has all 3 chapters -- http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guild_Wars_Trilogy
or you can get the complete collection - http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guild...ete_Collection


as for which class...that is really dependent on your taste in playing. You do get 4 character slots to start with (for one chapter, 2 extra for each extra chapter, NONE for eye) so you can try different classes.
For a quick start: warrior, assassin, dervish, paragon are melee classes (ranger is ranged melee). ele, necro, mesmer, ritualist are magic users....monk is healer. So it depends on what you like to do...hack and slash? warrior...BURN things--ele, heal? monk...etc.

best way to figure out is to try them all, as there is a level cap of only 20 its pretty easy to max it, and you can always delete and start a new character....

so try them all, and welcome to the game...(you might also want to hit the sticky: http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/f...t10102502.html
at the top of this forum).

If you DO happen to find copies of the complete collection, do share with us xD haven't seemed to find one available for quite some time now.

As for campaigns, if you want to start like most of us did then Prophecies is your best bet. It has all 6 core professions- Warrior, Elementalist, Mesmer, Monk, Necromancer, and Ranger, and has quite a nice introduction in Pre-Searing Ascalon. It will definitely be the longest in terms of time it takes to complete the whole storyline, but it's very lore heavy, so if you're in to lore, I'd highly suggest Prophecies.

Factions has the same six professions plus two more professions unique to it- Assassin and Ritualist. Assassins are pretty fun to play and are involved in just about every single end-game farm/team clear there is, so it's a very lenient profession in terms of playability. Ritualist is more backline oriented in it's damage/utility/healing roles as it relies on the use of spirit spawning, but it's also a very rewarding profession and will definitely be unlike any other game class you can play.

Nightfall is a rather interesting one, as the storyline could have been shorter IMHO. It's actually the easiest in terms of solo play as you unlock heroes as you play, which are basically henchmen with customizable gear slots and skill bars. It also has 2 unique professions along with the 6 core ones- Dervish and Paragon. Dervish wield scythes, which, if enemies are grouped correctly, will hit all enemies in a small cone in front of your character. It's an easier version of the Warrior profession IMO. Paragons wield spears and are a sort of ranged utility profession, in which they can both do damage and buff party members with shouts/chants. You don't see a lot of these anymore since their damage is rather low compared to the 9 other professions, but are still fun to play nonetheless.

Eye of the North you cannot play unless you have one of the other 3 expansions purchased on your account, so I'd recommend one of the other 3 first

tl;dr- If you like lore, play Prophecies, if you want to get through the game quick, play Factions, if you want to make it easier for yourself, play Nightfall. Like cosy said, the trilogy is actually quite cheap if you buy that instead of purchasing the 3 separately.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is the aesthetic of each campaign: Prophecies has the traditional epic fantasy setting whereas Factions and Nightfall are based around Asian and African/Middle Eastern cultures, respectively. Perhaps you have a preference.

Disagree with this. Heroes are great if you've got plenty of skills unlocked and know what you're doing. If you're new you may prefer to just focus on your build and strategy rather than trying to establish yourself with 4-8 bars/professions at once. You could always use henchmen (like heroes, but with preset skills) instead but I don't think it makes up for the inherent difficulty jump between Prophecies and NF.

Also, to clarify:

What she means to say it that those are the martial professions. The native weapons of Ranger (bow) and Paragon (spear) are both ranged.

Also, if you didn't already know, GW1 allows you to take a secondary profession. While trying to mash two completely different playstyles onto one bar is pretty much bound to fail (the traditional example being a warrior who also tries to be the party healer), this grants access to a much broader range of possibilities. Midline professions tend to benefit most, which is why they're generally my favourite to play. For example, Rangers only have the bow as a native weapon, but their primary attribute (Expertise) allows them to use any kind of weapon effectively, so if I get bored with shooting arrows I can go R/Dervish and use a scythe, or R/Assassin for daggers, R/Paragon for spear, etc. Ritualists are very flexible too (both figuratively and literally), with a bunch of skill types like Binding Rituals and Weapon spells that only they have access to, allowing them to play any role from a backliner to melee. Whatever works for you.

As for the OP, try mesmer.

I think mesmer is too difficult for a new player. You need to learn the animations for all the other professions' skills before you are really effective. I will agree that it is the best profession in the game once you reach that skill level.

Also you might want to check out this thread in Community Works. http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/w...t10536401.html as it will give you info that will be useful, such as where to find other players in a 10-yr-old game with a reduced population.

Please be sure to come back with any specific questions you have.

I agree Mesmer is too difficult for a new player. Never really liked it even when I learned it since it is too subtle for my taste. Give me a fireball or a sword or some spirits any time, haha. Elementalist is the easiest of the casters with maybe Ritualist too if you have Factions (only campaign a Rit can be created in).

Buy the trilogy and Eye both if possible. Don't buy just one campaign. You will end up frustrated. You join a guild and you can't hang out with them in other campaigns. The campaigns are more parallel anyway. There isn't a linear timeline through them. You hop from one to the other all the time.

Prophecies may have been the first game but it is the hardest (no heroes) and the next campaigns and expansion made some good changes and additions and improvements from the original template in my opinion. And except for what they call "Pre" (the Prophecies tutorial where some people like to keep a "pre" character there period) you will have a hard time meeting people in the game with just that alone. The main trading city of Kamadan is where you will find the most people hanging out and that isn't in Proph.

You can buy the trilogy just as cheap if not cheaper at this point. Or certainly cheaper than buying one campaign at a time.

Once in the game create a character in Nightfall and go to the main city there of Kamadan (happens after the tutorial right away). It is the main area where you will still find people and where you can see if you can find a guild to join. Best way to learn the game is ask around for a guild where people are willing to help teach you the ropes. If the first guild you join isn't it, just quit and try another until you find a good fit.

As for as where you start? All three campaigns can be accessed by characters created in any of the three once you reach their main port cities. Or the right docks in the port city in the case of Kamadan which is both a starter city and, when you get to the second docks, a portal to the other two campaigns. And once you reach Kamadan from the other two campaigns you can use the heroes you get there on your other campaign-created toons as well. When I bought the Trilogy I got 6 free character slots so why not use them, heh.

Same goes with expansion set Eye of the North. Reach level 10 and one of the port cities and you can take a quest to go into the north as well and gain max level heroes there. The trilogy and it are super cheap so no reason not to get the lot of them and I am a poorer person too.

I suggest you starting characters in all three and do the tutorials in each and feel around for which one you feel like starting first. If you get bored, switch to one of the others.

That also gives you a chance to start a melee toon, a caster etc and get the feel of the classes at the same time. You get to choose a secondary class real real soon and eventually will have access to all the professions as secondaries at a certain point in each of the campaigns.

Good luck and enjoy.

If I may ...
I would Suggest avoiding Warrior to Start; I know its the baseline Toon in most games, but in this game your going to be QBing a team of hero's a lot of the time; and the Wars point of view is a bit limited if your also learning the game. So I would suggest either A Caster. Ele and Necro are both good NM; but Necro's are definitely better when you Graduate to HM. Or Ranger, which is a bit less Squishy; and since day one my prime Character; but also a bit slow to play. Honestly the class in most need of an overhaul when the Devs moved on to GW2.

So overall, I would suggest a Necro as the IMHO the best Start up toon. BB.