Originally Posted by antialias02

First off, anybody who doesn't own Nightfall is missing a fantastic Guild Wars experience (a few minor things aside). But Free Runner is correct from what I've read as well: if you can play GW:EN, you will get access to the heroes it contains. And to play GW:EN, you need at least either Prophecies, Factions, or Nightfall.

It still really wouldn't be pointless to get Nightfall now - your friend would be able to get through the story and level a character up to 20 by that time.