Questions From a Noob - Guild Wars Forums

gtwhalley · Jan 27, 2008, 04:02 AM // 04:02

Hi,

I currently play WoW and just bought Guild Wars with the expansion, as well as Nightfall. I have a few questions and am unable to find my answers.

1. Since I'm starting a Prophecies character, was it worth my money to get Nightfall? Will I ever use the content included on it while playing my Prophecies character?

2. What is endgame like? Is it raiding? Purely PVP? Or a nice even mix between the two?

3. If there is raiding, or endgame bosses, what is it like?

4. I used to play Final Fantasy XI, and really enjoyed how it showed when people who put a lot of time into the game, by the great gear they have and titles, etc. Does GW have any "ranking" system like that? In PVP or PVE, without EVERYONE wearing the same great gear (like WoW)

5. Whats the social aspect of the game like? Do you end up making great friends over time? I'm not sure how it works with the game being instanced except for towns.

6. Can anyone give an experienced player's input on the classes and sub classes? A lot of the time they turn out to be different than how the gaming company describes them, as players start to discover their own unique ways of playing a class. Even though I'm a Warrior, I'm looking for info on all classes. Also, which look really cool.. etc?

Thanks a lot, I'm looking forward to getting started just don't want to make some of the same mistakes I've made in other games.

Edit - Oh one last thing, are there any really awesome looking zones? Awe-inspiring views? And whats the maximum amount of people you can group with?

Avarre · Jan 27, 2008, 04:10 AM // 04:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtwhalley

1. You can take a character from any chapter to any other chapter you have on your account. So you'll be able to complete Nightfall with your Prophecies character.

2. The PvE endgame is basically high-level dungeon areas, as well as Hard Mode (same areas with significantly better enemies and drops). There is PvP as an endgame as well, but the link between PvE/PvP has been blurred.

3. Large/long dungeons that lead to the boss, killing the boss, getting green items (max items named after the boss you killed).

4. All gear has the same stats. There is vanity armor that is vastly more expensive, however, while serving the same purpose - so you can see who has the most time on their hands, if nothing else.

5. You can meet some great people if you group a lot and involve yourself in Guilds. Some of the people I've been in Guilds with years ago I still talk to even though they might have moved on from Guild Wars.

6. The major misconception around Warriors is they are meant to take damage. While they have the greatest capacity for this, Warriors also have the best capabilities to deal single-target DPS. They should be played as aggressive damage-dealers rather than tanks. Going over everything would take ages, so I'll just cover that since you mentioned warriors.

You can group with up to 12 people in areas, and there are some places of fantastic scenery.

My answers in the quote.

Moving this to the Q&A forum, as well.

Alex the Great · Jan 27, 2008, 04:15 AM // 04:15

1. definatly, and in nf it is easyier to hit lvl 20

2. Domain of anguish, underworld, fissure of woe, the deep, whatever the one in kurzick territory was i forget, sorrows furnace, or just go into hardmode

pvp is great too

3. bosses arnt that hard really

4. tons of hard to get titles, many different skins for armour and weapons

5. i've made many friends through ym guild

6. warriors- less tanking than wow, more damage based

rangers- versitle, with conditions and inturupts, traps, and pets

mesmers are good for pvp, not as good for pve

necros- awesome at pve, with spiteful spirit, or an N/rt healer

monk- healing and proting, or a hybrid. great for farming with smiting

elementalist- fire nukers rock in pvp, air ele's are good in pvp for shutdown of melee, earth tanks in pve, water snares in pvp

assasins- good for pvp, hard to use sometimes. a few good builds for pve

ritualists- spam spirits, heal, or play hybrid channeling/resto

para- party support with damage, certain builds make pve really easy

dervs- can tank, and do good damage, enchant based. good runners too

Antheus · Jan 27, 2008, 04:26 AM // 04:26

1. You can travel anywhere with any character. It's somewhat better to start in Nightfall, since you get heroes sooner.

2. There is no end-game. Everything is fully accessible to you as soon as you unlock/reach it. Level 20 means you're done with the tutorial.

3. There's elite dungeons.

4. Titles. All gear matters just by looks, stats are the same for everyone.

5. There is no noteworthy social aspect. Your guild will be closest you can get.

6. Unlike other games, you're not locked into your class' role. But if you PUG, you'll need to be warrior tank, ele nuker or monk healer. Necromancers or rangers work most of the time as well. Other professions don't exist for PUGs. Organized and guild groups however run better parties with mostly anything.

Quote:

Edit - Oh one last thing, are there any really awesome looking zones? Awe-inspiring views? And whats the maximum amount of people you can group with?

Maximum group is 8. There are some exceptions, where the group is 12 or 16, but those are exceptions.

Kook~NBK~ · Jan 27, 2008, 04:54 AM // 04:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtwhalley

1. Since I'm starting a Prophecies character, was it worth my money to get Nightfall? Will I ever use the content included on it while playing my Prophecies character?

Once you reach Lion's Arch, you'll be able to do a quest that will take your Prophecies character to Nightfall. If you start a Nightfall character, once you reach a certian point there'll be a quest you can do to get to Prophecies.

Quote:

2. What is endgame like? Is it raiding? Purely PVP? Or a nice even mix between the two?

There's PvP - which you can do at any time. Also, Nightfall has the Domain of Anguish. Prophecies & Nightfall both give access to Fissure of Woe and the Underworld, which are also elite areas.

Quote:

3. If there is raiding, or endgame bosses, what is it like?

Challenging. The degree of difficulty in the above mentioned areas is quite a bit higher than the regular placed.

Quote:

5. Whats the social aspect of the game like? Do you end up making great friends over time? I'm not sure how it works with the game being instanced except for towns.

Some towns get more traffic than others. Places like Lion's Arch and Kamadan are gathering places for traders. I've made several friends while playing, and the in-game communication system works well for chatting with guildies/alliance members scattered all over the map. There's also the whisper chat that reaches anywhere in the game, as well.

Quote:

6. Can anyone give an experienced player's input on the classes and sub classes? A lot of the time they turn out to be different than how the gaming company describes them, as players start to discover their own unique ways of playing a class. Even though I'm a Warrior, I'm looking for info on all classes. Also, which look really cool.. etc?

The thing about GW is, every profession has the ability to be played several ways. Monks can heal, smite, or use protection, for example. Every profession is useful in both PvP and PvE, when they're set up well. One of the nice things is that you can change your skills around and attribute points any time you're in town, so there's plenty of flexibility for your character in that regard.

Quote:

Edit - Oh one last thing, are there any really awesome looking zones? Awe-inspiring views? And whats the maximum amount of people you can group with?

Yes, there are many rather spectacular sights to see while travelling around - snow covered mountians, jungles, deserts, ruins, etc. Parties range from 2 in Ascalon (before you go to the acadamy) to 8 once you get further along in the game.

Kyrein · Jan 27, 2008, 05:25 AM // 05:25

Warriors also have the best capabilities to deal single-target DPS.

/disagree

assassins and eles win out over warriors

Kerwyn Nasilan · Jan 27, 2008, 05:29 AM // 05:29

Mostly what has been said befor except that GW and WoW are vastly different. And that unlike WoW it is much easier to Play nad easily mantain several characters all and max level with max gear. Also all the Campains plus EotN are completly connected unlike the servers of WoW.

Songbringer · Jan 27, 2008, 06:54 AM // 06:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kyrein

Warriors also have the best capabilities to deal single-target DPS.

/disagree

assassins and eles win out over warriors

a good dragon slash war>sin and ele

iridescentfyre · Jan 27, 2008, 07:58 AM // 07:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kyrein

/disagree

assassins and eles win out over warriors

The Master of Damage in the Isle of the Nameless tells a different story.

Isileth · Jan 27, 2008, 09:44 AM // 09:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kyrein

Warriors also have the best capabilities to deal single-target DPS.

/disagree

assassins and eles win out over warriors

I suggest you read "Why nuking sucks" by Ensign

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...d.php?t=113319

Kendar Muert · Jan 27, 2008, 04:18 PM // 16:18

Isileth, that guide is pretty damn outdated- it doesn't take into account some VERY good new skills, or the many, many elementalist skill buffs since then.

With my ele, alone, I can spike someone for over 1k damage in 10 seconds, and do it over and over, giving me a much higher damage rate than ANY warrior.

If I didn't want to be able to repeat that, I could likely half the time, or double the damage with the same time.

@OP

You should play all the different classes, browse around their different forums, and see which suits you best. Unlike WoW, you don't get horribly attached just by maxing a character, because it takes far less time, so you can feel free to delete them.

crazybanshee · Jan 27, 2008, 04:28 PM // 16:28

1. Yes, if you like GW you'll probably eventually want to buy all the chapters. Plus having NF allows you more heroes (customizable henchmen for you to control) and access to one of my favorite elite areas, domain of anguish. Any character, regardless of where you start, can travel between the games after a certain point. I do recommend starting in prophecies, as you'll get to play through pre-searing, which is like a tutorial area (tho not a noob area per se, as many seasoned people have characters that are permanently there) It's the longest and best tutorial/intro area, and everyone should start at least 1 character there to experience it

2. GW mostly separates PVP and PVE. The PVP is available right at the beginning (you can create a lvl 20 char that is PVP only) but I highly recommend playing through the PVE first. You'll learn the game, unlock a bunch of skills and weapons, and be a better player overall for it. The endgame is in the form of either hard mode, which is the same areas you've been doing but all the enemies move and cast much faster and are higher levels, or the elite areas. Which I guess are like a raid, they're usually 8-12 people (no 40 man raids here) and can last up to several hours.

3. The endgame bosses are supposedly tougher, and in fact they would be but GW has been out long enough that people have developed 'gimmick builds' and know exactly what spot to do everything. It's still worth doing, as they remain one of the better places to farm.

4. As you progress in the game, you gain access to different armor and weapons. Your armor appears in town, and you can run around and look at other people's armor. Eventually you can pick out 'elite' or '15k' armor (called that because each piece costs 15k plus materials to make) and 'fow' or 'obsidian' armor, called because you get it in the fissure of woe, and the materials to make it are extremely expensive. That used to be the elitest of the elite armor. Now there's so many armors to look at that pretty much everyone looks different. Plus, you can dye your armor any color. Not just red, or black, you can mix dyes to make a custom color like pink, dark red, turqoise, whatever. I've seen a 2 other players with my armor set in my whole GW career, but none exactly like because they were dyed different colors.

Then there's titles. Most people 'wear' a title in town (it appears under their name) some titles are by account (basically the pvp titles) and some are by character (the pve titles) As you learn what the titles mean, you can have respect for the ones that mark real achievement. At this point, I only really have respect for high level pvp titles and the 'kind of a big deal' title track, which is a count of maxed titles.

5. Find yourself a guild. Most people will be in several before they find the right fit. You can always chat with your guild no matter where you are, and if your guild is in an alliance (most are) which is made up of 10 guilds, you can chat with them too. Plus as you play you'll add people to your friends list, and be able to see when they're online and talk to them.

6. All classes serve some purpose. As you play the game you'll encounter them. Each class has other classes they do well against, and some they're weak to. Warriors can be tanks, in a lot of the elite areas they go warrior/elementalist and become obsidian tanks. They're also really good with hammers and knocking down people (which is really annoying to spellcasters in pvp) As you play you'll be able to open up secondary classes (you'll always be a warrior, but you can switch your secondary to whatever you've opened up) Most warriors start out as warrior/monks, but later in the game the best builds seem to be warrior/elementalist and warrior/assassin. (I play an ele, not a warrior, this is just my personal experience)

As for awesome zones.. look around. The art people have done an outstanding job on the graphics and most people don't take the time to appreciate it. I love stopping in various zones and looking at the trees, the flowers, the sky over the mountains in the distance.. It's amazing. Even areas like the shiverpeaks, which is all snow, have awe-inspiring mountain vistas, and the desert which is just rolling sand, has an amazing sky and the occasional ruins to look at.

When you start in pre, I think you can only group with 1 other person. When you leave pre-searing, you can have 4 people in your group (but you gain access to henchmen, so you can take them instead of real people) As you progress, you can have 6 people, and eventually 8 people. That's the max for most areas. 2 of the elite areas, The Deep and Urgoz's Warren, you can have 12 people.

Jan 27, 2008, 04:02 AM // 04:02	#1
gtwhalley Pre-Searing Cadet Join Date: Jan 2008 Profession: W/	Questions From a Noob Hi, I currently play WoW and just bought Guild Wars with the expansion, as well as Nightfall. I have a few questions and am unable to find my answers. 1. Since I'm starting a Prophecies character, was it worth my money to get Nightfall? Will I ever use the content included on it while playing my Prophecies character? 2. What is endgame like? Is it raiding? Purely PVP? Or a nice even mix between the two? 3. If there is raiding, or endgame bosses, what is it like? 4. I used to play Final Fantasy XI, and really enjoyed how it showed when people who put a lot of time into the game, by the great gear they have and titles, etc. Does GW have any "ranking" system like that? In PVP or PVE, without EVERYONE wearing the same great gear (like WoW) 5. Whats the social aspect of the game like? Do you end up making great friends over time? I'm not sure how it works with the game being instanced except for towns. 6. Can anyone give an experienced player's input on the classes and sub classes? A lot of the time they turn out to be different than how the gaming company describes them, as players start to discover their own unique ways of playing a class. Even though I'm a Warrior, I'm looking for info on all classes. Also, which look really cool.. etc? Thanks a lot, I'm looking forward to getting started just don't want to make some of the same mistakes I've made in other games. Edit - Oh one last thing, are there any really awesome looking zones? Awe-inspiring views? And whats the maximum amount of people you can group with?

Jan 27, 2008, 04:18 PM // 16:18	#11
Kendar Muert Krytan Explorer Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Texas Profession: E/	Isileth, that guide is pretty damn outdated- it doesn't take into account some VERY good new skills, or the many, many elementalist skill buffs since then. With my ele, alone, I can spike someone for over 1k damage in 10 seconds, and do it over and over, giving me a much higher damage rate than ANY warrior. If I didn't want to be able to repeat that, I could likely half the time, or double the damage with the same time. @OP You should play all the different classes, browse around their different forums, and see which suits you best. Unlike WoW, you don't get horribly attached just by maxing a character, because it takes far less time, so you can feel free to delete them. Last edited by Kendar Muert; Jan 27, 2008 at 04:22 PM // 16:22..

Jan 27, 2008, 04:15 AM // 04:15	#3
Alex the Great Jungle Guide Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: America.....got a problem with that? Guild: [Lite] Profession: W/	1. definatly, and in nf it is easyier to hit lvl 20 2. Domain of anguish, underworld, fissure of woe, the deep, whatever the one in kurzick territory was i forget, sorrows furnace, or just go into hardmode pvp is great too 3. bosses arnt that hard really 4. tons of hard to get titles, many different skins for armour and weapons 5. i've made many friends through ym guild 6. warriors- less tanking than wow, more damage based rangers- versitle, with conditions and inturupts, traps, and pets mesmers are good for pvp, not as good for pve necros- awesome at pve, with spiteful spirit, or an N/rt healer monk- healing and proting, or a hybrid. great for farming with smiting elementalist- fire nukers rock in pvp, air ele's are good in pvp for shutdown of melee, earth tanks in pve, water snares in pvp assasins- good for pvp, hard to use sometimes. a few good builds for pve ritualists- spam spirits, heal, or play hybrid channeling/resto para- party support with damage, certain builds make pve really easy dervs- can tank, and do good damage, enchant based. good runners too

Jan 27, 2008, 05:25 AM // 05:25	#6
Kyrein Krytan Explorer Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Island of Undisclosed Location	Warriors also have the best capabilities to deal single-target DPS. /disagree assassins and eles win out over warriors

Jan 27, 2008, 05:29 AM // 05:29	#7
Kerwyn Nasilan Forge Runner Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: WHERE DO YOU THINK Profession: W/	Mostly what has been said befor except that GW and WoW are vastly different. And that unlike WoW it is much easier to Play nad easily mantain several characters all and max level with max gear. Also all the Campains plus EotN are completly connected unlike the servers of WoW.

Jan 27, 2008, 04:28 PM // 16:28	#12
crazybanshee Desert Nomad Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Look out! Profession: E/	1. Yes, if you like GW you'll probably eventually want to buy all the chapters. Plus having NF allows you more heroes (customizable henchmen for you to control) and access to one of my favorite elite areas, domain of anguish. Any character, regardless of where you start, can travel between the games after a certain point. I do recommend starting in prophecies, as you'll get to play through pre-searing, which is like a tutorial area (tho not a noob area per se, as many seasoned people have characters that are permanently there) It's the longest and best tutorial/intro area, and everyone should start at least 1 character there to experience it 2. GW mostly separates PVP and PVE. The PVP is available right at the beginning (you can create a lvl 20 char that is PVP only) but I highly recommend playing through the PVE first. You'll learn the game, unlock a bunch of skills and weapons, and be a better player overall for it. The endgame is in the form of either hard mode, which is the same areas you've been doing but all the enemies move and cast much faster and are higher levels, or the elite areas. Which I guess are like a raid, they're usually 8-12 people (no 40 man raids here) and can last up to several hours. 3. The endgame bosses are supposedly tougher, and in fact they would be but GW has been out long enough that people have developed 'gimmick builds' and know exactly what spot to do everything. It's still worth doing, as they remain one of the better places to farm. 4. As you progress in the game, you gain access to different armor and weapons. Your armor appears in town, and you can run around and look at other people's armor. Eventually you can pick out 'elite' or '15k' armor (called that because each piece costs 15k plus materials to make) and 'fow' or 'obsidian' armor, called because you get it in the fissure of woe, and the materials to make it are extremely expensive. That used to be the elitest of the elite armor. Now there's so many armors to look at that pretty much everyone looks different. Plus, you can dye your armor any color. Not just red, or black, you can mix dyes to make a custom color like pink, dark red, turqoise, whatever. I've seen a 2 other players with my armor set in my whole GW career, but none exactly like because they were dyed different colors. Then there's titles. Most people 'wear' a title in town (it appears under their name) some titles are by account (basically the pvp titles) and some are by character (the pve titles) As you learn what the titles mean, you can have respect for the ones that mark real achievement. At this point, I only really have respect for high level pvp titles and the 'kind of a big deal' title track, which is a count of maxed titles. 5. Find yourself a guild. Most people will be in several before they find the right fit. You can always chat with your guild no matter where you are, and if your guild is in an alliance (most are) which is made up of 10 guilds, you can chat with them too. Plus as you play you'll add people to your friends list, and be able to see when they're online and talk to them. 6. All classes serve some purpose. As you play the game you'll encounter them. Each class has other classes they do well against, and some they're weak to. Warriors can be tanks, in a lot of the elite areas they go warrior/elementalist and become obsidian tanks. They're also really good with hammers and knocking down people (which is really annoying to spellcasters in pvp) As you play you'll be able to open up secondary classes (you'll always be a warrior, but you can switch your secondary to whatever you've opened up) Most warriors start out as warrior/monks, but later in the game the best builds seem to be warrior/elementalist and warrior/assassin. (I play an ele, not a warrior, this is just my personal experience) As for awesome zones.. look around. The art people have done an outstanding job on the graphics and most people don't take the time to appreciate it. I love stopping in various zones and looking at the trees, the flowers, the sky over the mountains in the distance.. It's amazing. Even areas like the shiverpeaks, which is all snow, have awe-inspiring mountain vistas, and the desert which is just rolling sand, has an amazing sky and the occasional ruins to look at. When you start in pre, I think you can only group with 1 other person. When you leave pre-searing, you can have 4 people in your group (but you gain access to henchmen, so you can take them instead of real people) As you progress, you can have 6 people, and eventually 8 people. That's the max for most areas. 2 of the elite areas, The Deep and Urgoz's Warren, you can have 12 people.