Common misconceptions about the game...

This thread is simple. List as many common misconceptions people have about Guild Wars. The purpose is simply to clear things up to new people or to people that are utterly confused.

I'll start it off with a few of mine that people just can't seem to understand.

You don't need to to meet the requirement on a staff for the energy bonus. This means you don't need to spend tons of money on a no req raven staff.

Attacks that hit are locational. For example if you don't have any armor on your head, you will be hit occasionally for a very large amount. This is because the attack has struck that location.

Gotta go for now... But keep this thread going to clear up the thoughts in people's heads.

Common Misconceptions People Have About Guild Wars:

1) Guild Wars is basically Diablo3. The only similarity to Diablo is that it's an online MMORPG. WoW is more Diablo3 than GW is, in that WoW, like Diablo, is about levelling and loot, which GW isn't.

2) Guild Wars is basically Counterstrike: Fantasy. The only similarity is that there is a level playing field in the PvP arenas.

3) Guild Wars PvE campaign is short and boring. Unless you take shortcuts and/or get carried by high-level players, playing through the PvE campaign will take you over 100 hours, if you do all quests and explore the explorable regions you can easily double that. The quality of the quests etc is about on par with what you'd see in a single-player rpg.

4) Guild Wars is all about PvP; the PvE is just a tutorial for the PvP. Guild wars has two facets: PvP and PvE. They're connected but separate, to the point they're almost two different games. Neither exists for the other, they're just two sides of the same game.

EDIT: This one isn't a misconception, but it's something new players should know: There are no gimped builds in GW. Whichever combination of professions you select, you can solo the PvE campaign (with henches) and participate with reasonable success in PvP. You can also, later in the game, change secondary profession if you want.

Minion Degeneration won't get worse when you heal them with healingprayers.... or anything else.

Also, magical projectiles are just like any other projectiles: They can't fly through walls or other obstacles.

Hmm...
Then here is one common misconception that needs to be cleared out of people's heads:

A statement that is simply false. They do have many uses, and are a very, if not the most versatile class in Guild Wars. To play them effectively just takes some thought and preparation before going out into battle, as well as some quick reflexes and quick thinking. Plus a major focus of Mesmers is removing the pressure off of their teammates by taking the edge off of their foes' abilities. Many new and existing players do feel that 'other classes can do it better,' but generally that only applies when some sort of "trick build" or exploit is utilized. Mesmers really shine when in a group that plays the game without shortcuts or tricks, but they can still hold their own when using 'trick builds.' So in a nutshell, those who refuse to believe the usefulness of Mesmers in PvE only reflect their own limitedness in thinking. (This marks my last of many efforts in clarifying this misconception, and is not intended to start another rant)

Things I've heard:

"Ele's suck because they can't nuke anymore." <-- is that all that Ele's are good for

"Mesmers suck and all they do is use distortion" <-- the most shallow of the shallow

"Pets don't do any damage" <-- they do, but the AI is horrid so the pets aggro like crazy...

"He is 1337 because he has 15K/FoW armor" <-- just b/c someone has more expensive armor, doesn't mean they are skilled

"He has FoW therefore he is an Ebayer" <-- people don't have to ebay their gold

"Greens > golds" <-- greens can't be modded or dyed

"IDS > Droknar Crafter sword" <-- only if you plan on using Icy mods all the time

"Black dye is the best because it is the most expensive" <-- it is best for killing detail and money...

Hehe, only Dunham [Enchanter Henchman] does that.


That's borderline opinion, black dye does look amazing on many armor types.
Just as a notice to everyone posting here: Try to keep this thread strictly factual, so newer and misinformed players can refer to it knowing it will be reliable.

all rank9+ iwayers are ebayers.

:/

i believ that should be changed to: "all rank 9+ warriors are iwayers" which is not true, its actually: "most rank 9+ warriors are iwayers" which isn't really a bad thing. it just shows how many people still can't beat iway.

"Rank means you are better than all others that have a lower Rank than you."

not true, its quite possible someone even at rank 0 can play as well as a rank 6 or 9 since every player can adapt better than others.

*10/10 sundering justifies an astronomical price*

I haven't tried all weapons, but from my experience it's not worth the money.

America wins favor with iway. O wait never mind iway doesnt do jack against people with semi functioning brains. GG europe keep on winning it maybe gradually just maybe we might put in a team that doesnt consist of mad hatchet pet sacraficing wars.

Well said, a very valid point. "Experienced" hardcore PvP'ers are by no means better at the game than experienced hardcore PvE'ers. Seeing Rank 0 should not invoke the assumption, "oh, she's a noob." In fact, accomplishments in PvE are something to be proud of, and a rank 12 PvP'er is by no means more skilled at the game than a long time PvE'er.


Rank 0 ftw.

Uh... lvl 31?

A big misconception is that elementalists are good at damage.

Common misconception: There is nothing to do after you get level 20

all rank 9 player are elitish,snob,and asshole , plus they sucks so take that leet rank 0 ...

Yep only Glint, the Dragon Lich and me.

Kidding, I did that with a little editing in Paint.

That would also be borderline opinion, and is false from a certain standpoint.
Many of Fire Magic's spells show 100+ damage in their description, yet you're lucky if it hits for half of that (excluding against Ice Golems). That is due to a resistance to elemental damage by many creatures in the game, yet Fire still can deal a lot of damage especially if you keep your foes burning.

Air Magic almost seems to ignore armor, it usually hits for 90-100% of its listed potential. Perhaps that is due to the 25% armor penetration of many Air spells, which compensates for the elemental resistance.

The general focus of Elementalists' builds is damage, and with skill they are good at it. Spiteful Spirit basically ruined the concept of AoE damage, making it easier than what it should be.

That hardly helped furthering the purpose of this thread, thanks.
It would be easier to just rename this thread "The Big Controversial Argument Thread" if everyone's going to go that route. Again, try to keep opinions out, and make the point of this thread helping newer players to root out false information regarding gameplay.

Try not to reject those of lvl 15+ in areas such as crystal desert, just because they are not lvl 20 doesn't mean they:

a). Are more likely to die than a lvl 20.
b). Are less skilled than a lvl 20.
c). have no idea what they are doing.


Furthermore it is not required for every mission in the game to have two or more monks in the party, try not to reject other classes waiting around because some people would quit if you don't wait for half an hour for that monk to maybe show up..

If you communicate, it doesn't matter.

To add to your point dont knock people who have rank and dont act like an elitist jerk about it. Ive had that silly bambi forever now and rarely use it in towns just because people tend to get the wrong view of you when you do use it. If anything I just use it to get into R3+ balanced groups that are looking for a decent shock war. Other than that slight add on I couldnt agree more. Im lost in fow without some hardcore people in my team who know what monsters are doing down there. omg I just realized im not godly at everything... must fix that

That's opinion.

I'd say the idea that there is a "best" secondary class for each profession. A lot of people in the Q&A boards ask that, and everybody tells them different things. There is a lot of flexability and there is no clear cut "best" secondary profession (although many builds do depend on secondaries, like Mo/Me using Inspired Hex in HA, trappers with mantra of resolve, etc).
There are plenty of builds people don't use often that can still work (Mo/N using draw conditions and then plague signet for condition removal + condition spreading for example).