New Character (Picking a Profession)

Hello everybody. I will be buying Guild Wars in about 10 - 15 days when I have more time to play. For now, I was just considering which profession to pick; however, I'm not sure how most of Guild Wars is setup (as I don't have it). I'm sure someone will reply "Buy the game, ask questions then.", but I want to learn about it before I enter into it.

Most MMORPGs have a significantly lower healer professions than melee/damage dealer professions. Is Guild Wars the same?

I think I'll find just about any profession pleasing; however, I always hate games where I sit around for multiple hours because I'm a Warrior, when Healers are getting groups the second they ask. So if Monks get groups the easiest, I'd prefer to play Monk.

Thanks ahead of time for any replies not flaming me.

If you can play a dedicated, and active Healing Monk you will be able to just fly through the game, the ease at which monks get grouped up is astronomical, I have sat, in mission lobbies, for 20mins, and had 1 monk show up...and he was alrdy taken...If you could play a monk successfully(it isn't that hard) you'd be on the supply side of a very strong demand

Well, you just answered my question perfectly. I'll probably play a Monk now, and I'll start learning a bit about them before I get the game.

Thank you Hunter Freeman.

I play an El/Mo and 9/10 my group asks me to focus on healing instead of AoE. That's usually because there were no Monk primaries available, so they took what they could get: me and Alesia [Healer Henchman]. I started a Mo/Wa myself jsut because of that.

Before you make your mind up that quickly... you might read up on the professions. It's all about the style of play you enjoy. If you like to smash things, go Warrior. If you like to assist from the rear, become a Ranger. If it's magic you're into, you might prefer the Elementalist, Necromancer, or Mesmer. The Monk is a class that while you do some damage, and if you know how, you do very well at it... the Monk is expected to heal the team (especially the Tanks).

So, if you want to end up healing more than fighting (which is how it turns out later in the game), go for the Monk profession. Keep in mind however, if you're just looking to dabble in something (have the ability to heal really well, or steal life), then pick up that profession as a secondary.

Whatever you do, don't join the academy until you've fully explored the country. Many people make the mistake of joining too fast and find themselves in post-searing. Learn what you can before going forward.

One pro to being a Monk is you can actually charge people to run missions with them as a dedicated healer. I've seen some make even 10K a mission because the team is desperate.

Whatever you decide on for your primary profession make SURE you want to keep it. You can't change it in the future. Oh and by the way... "Buy the game, ask questions then."

Ok, I see characters can have combo professions, which I didn't know; however, do I have to choose two professions, or can I just be pure Monk? If I was pure Monk, would I be considered the healing profession?

Off-topic question - If I'm a healer, is it possible to PL people? Can I heal others w/o being in a group? I played EQ2 (which I was dissatisfied with), and it sucked not being able to heal other players unless grouped.

Thanks

To get past the first area, Pre-Searing Ascalon you HAVE to choose two professions.

The only way to heal other people is during combat. The only way you can enter combat is with a team. It's unlike other games you've probably played where you go out and run into other people. If they're not on your team, you wont see them (they're invisible).

It's like the game is set up for each individual team or player. Each one gets to experience the same events without interruption from others.

Hello Gauwyn Vorec. Do you mean the combat zones are instanced? Also, it sounds like I can't even wander outside the city to kill a measly critter, is that right? Soloing doesn't even exist?

Edit: Oh, and which profession combo would probably be best for max healing capabilities? I really don't enjoy what the profession does, it's more or so fighting with people that's fun to me.

Let me answer this as best I can.

First, the world is comprised of one outside. Meaning that once you step out into wild, you're going to see what everyone else would if they walked out. HOWEVER, you do not get to see those other characters unless you're grouped.

While in cities, there's something called "Districts". These take hundreds of characters and split them into the exact same, identicle city, so that it cuts down on over-population and lag. If you're in the same district as someone you can see them. If not, you wont be able to.

Now, on the contrary, you start off alone or with the option of having one teammate. I played most of pre-searing by myself... and I did fine. Once you reach Old Acsalon... be prepared to group up with Henchman (NPCs) or human players to run quests. The enemies are a lot tougher at that point.

*Added Note* Again, it's what you personally like in a fighting style. Me, I'm a Warrior because I like using a sword, and my secondary is going to be Monk. Right now it's Mesmer. Later in the game you can switch secondary professions, I've changed mine twice now.

There is no BEST combo. It's personal preference. You don't however, want to do something like Mesmer/Elementalist because of the use of the same energy (which would get used up too fast). Necromancers allow for some energy stealing, but not much, and from what I'm told the Monk can use a skill that gains him energy whenever he's hit.

For maximum healing effects, I have seen Monk/Necro work very well. Necros have the blood wells which regen life. We have run several missions by going from blood well to blood well and fighting inside it.

That's also a good combo if you want to be able to heal and dish out damage (magically). It's all up to what you want to accomplish.

Hmm, what kind of pools are there? HP, Mana, Power?, Endurance?
I'd like to do as you both said, but I'm not sure if they contradict each other. Does a Monk use Mana, and a Necro use Mana, or are they on separate pools? If they are, I think i'd be happy to play a Monk/Necro.

You have Health, and Energy... that's it. If a skill for your primary profession uses 5 Energy, and then you use a secondary profession skill that requires 10 energy... you're likely to start wearing your bar down pretty thing (it slowly recharges by itself).

*Added Note* The Necro has a few skills that wounds himself (health bar) to affect the enemy... then regains that loss at the end. A few professions do this actually.

There's a reason why monks are so much in demand. To many ppl including me it's just no fun playing a monk. All you do is staring at the life bars of your teamates and miss out half of the actions. After all, everyone wants a healing monk and not a smiting monk. It's just unfortunate for a game touting balance as its sell point and yet you see discrimination against HALF of its professions. If you play a necro, mesmer or a ranger, you often have to be a leader in recruiting because you just don't get picked.

Ok, I didn't really get an earlier post. If I want to solo lower mobs outside the city, I have to get a henchman NPC to group with me? (Does the NPC get anything? Loot? Pay him? XP? Are they any good?)

Last question: How many characters can be played per account?

You can solo if you want to, you don't have to team up with anyone. Later on in the game though, that would be hard. And yes, the henchmen get their share of loot, and I think experience as well.

*EDIT*

I forgot to add, you can have four players per account.

To answer your questions... you can solo... but sometimes it's too difficult. Henchmen are NPCs that fight with you (attacking your targeted enemy). The dropped money is dispersed between all members of the party (henchmen or human)... and the loot is also randomly dropped for each person. If you have henchmen, you wont see what they were dropped.

You can slo have up to 4 characters per account key.

The henchmen are valid... but not great. You'll find lots of threads complaining about some stupid things that the henchmen do, and occasionally a bug with the henchmen (the go catatonic, or start running through walls) will make problems, but generally, they're okay. In the very beginning you can choose 3 henchmen out of 4 to team with (or take 3 live players) and later on you'll get to choose 5 (for 6 person team) and I think ultimately you get a team of 8 players total.

I'd advise you check out the **SCAMS** thread stickied at the top of either here or...um... whatever the community forum is called... Riverside Inn?

Hello everyone. Thank you to everyone for all of the replies; they really helped me.