Newbie - Guild Wars Forums

Lokin · Nov 16, 2005, 09:33 AM // 09:33

Hi all, having this game delivered tomorow

, used to play wow but got bored with ii, just need some advice on which characters to go thier skills/trades to do, many thx in advance

Jczech · Nov 16, 2005, 10:44 AM // 10:44

The best thing about Guild Wars is that almost anything can work if done properly. Each profession serves different roles depending on if it's your primary or secondary; for skills, there are too many to list that can work. Skills, attibutes, almost anything can be changed while you're in town. There are only two permanent choices you have to make - your primary profession and your character's name.

Your (first) secondary, while not locked to your character forever, will generally be your strongest secondary for a long time.That being said, here are the various 'roles' you can pick for primary and secondary:

Elementalist - As a primary, most people will expect you to do lots of damage as fast as possible, which most of your skills will be geared towards. Their primary attribute is energy storage, which gives them huge energy pools to cast spells from. Fire is mostly large damage AoE spells, some single target spells as well though. Air is large damage single target spells (generally more damage than fire, but not AoE). Water does a bit less damage than fire, is a mix of AoE and single target spells, and snares (slows) oppenents. Earth has a few high damage spells (both AoE and single target) and a lot of defensive spells. As a secondary profession, it is used to boost damage for attacks (warriors and rangers) or to boost spells (monks, necromancers, and mesmers).

Mesmer - As a primary, mesmers are usually ignored because their spells are mostly invisible to players. Probably the hardest profession to understand

. They don't fill any 'tradional' role, but can greatly weaken (or in PvP, piss off) their opponents by stealing their energy, causing damage if they attack or cast spells, interrupt their opponents skills, and even stop them from using their skills alltogether. Their expected roles change depending on location, but most are easily summed up. Their primary attribute is fast casting, which allows them to cast spells more quickly than others. Domination mesmers usually burn (lower) their oppenent's energy, destroying their energy reserves while dealing damage. They can usually break hex spells and enemy enchantments as well, doing massive AoE damage, and interrupt enemy casters. Illusionists generally stack hexes to degenerate their opponents health, slow enemy casting or movement, and generally make their target's life hell. Inspiration generally isn't used by itself, mostly because the spells are geared towards generating energy though various means. As a secondary, well, most people ignore it. Some elementalists will take domination skills to deal massive armour ignoring AoE damage, warriors might take it to help them if they use lots of energy or to disable their target, necromancers might use it to add to their long list of hexes.

Monk - Your healer class. Best chances to find a party easily are with this class. As a primary monk, most people will expect you to heal them. Their primary attribute is divine favour, which gives them bonus healing on all their monk spells. See where this is going? attributes include healing (Do you need an explanation?), protection (eliminate damage so less needs to be healed), and smiting, to do damage to attackers. As a secondary, most people will expect you to carry a resurrection spell for when things inevitably go wrong. Some elementalists can make strong backup healers, but without divine favour their heals lack as much power, but they can make up for it by having more energy than a primary monk.

Necromancer - Another misunderstood profession (in PvE at least). A unique thing about necromancers is some of their spells sacrifice health, and many Necromancer spells target corpses. Their primary attribute soul reaping, gives them energy whenever anything dies. Early PvE necromancers are usually minion masters (death attribute) - they raise minions from the bodies of the fallen and create small armies. Later on, people want necromancers for their blood magic lines (which can steal health or exploit bodies to create healing wells), but only for the necromancer's ability to generate large amounts of energy in small amounts of time (AKA, the battery necro). Some necromancers go with the curse line though, which weakens attackers, slows energy for foes, deals damage, and a few other things. Secondary necromancers can be anything - warriors using it to easily pass conditions to their foes, elementalists weaken foes to deal more damage with their spells, monks to deal with energy management problems.

Ranger - they cover quite a few things. They can attack at range with a bow, set traps to lure foes into, interrupt foes, dish out debilitating conditions, and change area effects with nature rituals. They also get pets to help them in combat. Their primary attribute Expertise lowers the cost for them to use skills (but not spells). Marksmanship deals with bow damage, more in it means more damage with their weapon, and more damage with bow related skills. Wilderness survival skills can enhance arrows, increase trap damage and help avoid damage. Beast mastery is like a weapon skill for your pet, more in it means more damage, both normally and through pet skills, though it has a few skills to help the ranger as well. Seconary rangers use it for marksmanship (so they can use a bow effectively), for a pet (it can tank pretty well), to help with nature rituals, or to use one of their many damage evading stances.

Warrior - The melee class. Best armour, and worst energy, but they make up for it by having adrenal skills, which slowly charge as you deal damage to your foes. They're usually expected to tank for everyone else, not an easy task when foes try to beeline to the casters and no real way to 'call' them off. Their primary attribute is strength, which causes attack skills to penetrate the armour of foes. Their attibute lines are simple - Axe/Sword/Hammer mastery, pick one and use it. You can always switch when you find a weapon you like later. Their other line, tactics, is useful for avoiding damage and increasing their armour. Secondary warriors either use it for a weapon skill, or for tactics to avoid damage.

Yeah, it's long, but it barely covers what you can do in guild wars. If something catches your interest then you can either use the search to find more about it or ask. One last thing: There is no 'godly'. Items going to be a lot weaker than you're used to, as the game is focused on your skill as a player. Anything can beat anything else, and there is no best, only favourite.

Lokin · Nov 16, 2005, 10:59 AM // 10:59

Thx for the reply

Jczech · Nov 16, 2005, 11:50 PM // 23:50

A few things I forgot:

1 - You only get one primary attribute. A elementalist/monk won't have divine favour, a Warrior/Ranger won't have expertise.

2 - While you aren't stuck with your first secondary forever, it will be a long while before you can change it. Also, getting skills with your second or third secondary will be much more difficult than your first.

Shimus DarkRaven · Nov 17, 2005, 12:00 AM // 00:00

My Advice: EXPERIMENT. Yes, Experiment. Find what you feel most comfortable with. Everyone's needs are unique; thus the different professions/ways to go are unique to everyone. Everyone has their own "methods" to swear by

So, in short: Don't seek help before playing, seek help after. Use the 3 E's:
Envision, Experiment, Explore. Then, if you're having trouble seek builds/help here.

--The Shim

Nov 16, 2005, 09:33 AM // 09:33	#1
Lokin Pre-Searing Cadet Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: WALES	Newbie Hi all, having this game delivered tomorow , used to play wow but got bored with ii, just need some advice on which characters to go thier skills/trades to do, many thx in advance

Nov 16, 2005, 10:44 AM // 10:44	#2
Jczech Frost Gate Guardian Join Date: May 2005 Profession: Mo/	The best thing about Guild Wars is that almost anything can work if done properly. Each profession serves different roles depending on if it's your primary or secondary; for skills, there are too many to list that can work. Skills, attibutes, almost anything can be changed while you're in town. There are only two permanent choices you have to make - your primary profession and your character's name. Your (first) secondary, while not locked to your character forever, will generally be your strongest secondary for a long time.That being said, here are the various 'roles' you can pick for primary and secondary: Elementalist - As a primary, most people will expect you to do lots of damage as fast as possible, which most of your skills will be geared towards. Their primary attribute is energy storage, which gives them huge energy pools to cast spells from. Fire is mostly large damage AoE spells, some single target spells as well though. Air is large damage single target spells (generally more damage than fire, but not AoE). Water does a bit less damage than fire, is a mix of AoE and single target spells, and snares (slows) oppenents. Earth has a few high damage spells (both AoE and single target) and a lot of defensive spells. As a secondary profession, it is used to boost damage for attacks (warriors and rangers) or to boost spells (monks, necromancers, and mesmers). Mesmer - As a primary, mesmers are usually ignored because their spells are mostly invisible to players. Probably the hardest profession to understand . They don't fill any 'tradional' role, but can greatly weaken (or in PvP, piss off) their opponents by stealing their energy, causing damage if they attack or cast spells, interrupt their opponents skills, and even stop them from using their skills alltogether. Their expected roles change depending on location, but most are easily summed up. Their primary attribute is fast casting, which allows them to cast spells more quickly than others. Domination mesmers usually burn (lower) their oppenent's energy, destroying their energy reserves while dealing damage. They can usually break hex spells and enemy enchantments as well, doing massive AoE damage, and interrupt enemy casters. Illusionists generally stack hexes to degenerate their opponents health, slow enemy casting or movement, and generally make their target's life hell. Inspiration generally isn't used by itself, mostly because the spells are geared towards generating energy though various means. As a secondary, well, most people ignore it. Some elementalists will take domination skills to deal massive armour ignoring AoE damage, warriors might take it to help them if they use lots of energy or to disable their target, necromancers might use it to add to their long list of hexes. Monk - Your healer class. Best chances to find a party easily are with this class. As a primary monk, most people will expect you to heal them. Their primary attribute is divine favour, which gives them bonus healing on all their monk spells. See where this is going? attributes include healing (Do you need an explanation?), protection (eliminate damage so less needs to be healed), and smiting, to do damage to attackers. As a secondary, most people will expect you to carry a resurrection spell for when things inevitably go wrong. Some elementalists can make strong backup healers, but without divine favour their heals lack as much power, but they can make up for it by having more energy than a primary monk. Necromancer - Another misunderstood profession (in PvE at least). A unique thing about necromancers is some of their spells sacrifice health, and many Necromancer spells target corpses. Their primary attribute soul reaping, gives them energy whenever anything dies. Early PvE necromancers are usually minion masters (death attribute) - they raise minions from the bodies of the fallen and create small armies. Later on, people want necromancers for their blood magic lines (which can steal health or exploit bodies to create healing wells), but only for the necromancer's ability to generate large amounts of energy in small amounts of time (AKA, the battery necro). Some necromancers go with the curse line though, which weakens attackers, slows energy for foes, deals damage, and a few other things. Secondary necromancers can be anything - warriors using it to easily pass conditions to their foes, elementalists weaken foes to deal more damage with their spells, monks to deal with energy management problems. Ranger - they cover quite a few things. They can attack at range with a bow, set traps to lure foes into, interrupt foes, dish out debilitating conditions, and change area effects with nature rituals. They also get pets to help them in combat. Their primary attribute Expertise lowers the cost for them to use skills (but not spells). Marksmanship deals with bow damage, more in it means more damage with their weapon, and more damage with bow related skills. Wilderness survival skills can enhance arrows, increase trap damage and help avoid damage. Beast mastery is like a weapon skill for your pet, more in it means more damage, both normally and through pet skills, though it has a few skills to help the ranger as well. Seconary rangers use it for marksmanship (so they can use a bow effectively), for a pet (it can tank pretty well), to help with nature rituals, or to use one of their many damage evading stances. Warrior - The melee class. Best armour, and worst energy, but they make up for it by having adrenal skills, which slowly charge as you deal damage to your foes. They're usually expected to tank for everyone else, not an easy task when foes try to beeline to the casters and no real way to 'call' them off. Their primary attribute is strength, which causes attack skills to penetrate the armour of foes. Their attibute lines are simple - Axe/Sword/Hammer mastery, pick one and use it. You can always switch when you find a weapon you like later. Their other line, tactics, is useful for avoiding damage and increasing their armour. Secondary warriors either use it for a weapon skill, or for tactics to avoid damage. Yeah, it's long, but it barely covers what you can do in guild wars. If something catches your interest then you can either use the search to find more about it or ask. One last thing: There is no 'godly'. Items going to be a lot weaker than you're used to, as the game is focused on your skill as a player. Anything can beat anything else, and there is no best, only favourite.

Nov 16, 2005, 10:59 AM // 10:59	#3
Lokin Pre-Searing Cadet Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: WALES	Thx for the reply

Nov 16, 2005, 11:50 PM // 23:50	#4
Jczech Frost Gate Guardian Join Date: May 2005 Profession: Mo/	A few things I forgot: 1 - You only get one primary attribute. A elementalist/monk won't have divine favour, a Warrior/Ranger won't have expertise. 2 - While you aren't stuck with your first secondary forever, it will be a long while before you can change it. Also, getting skills with your second or third secondary will be much more difficult than your first.

Nov 17, 2005, 12:00 AM // 00:00	#5
Shimus DarkRaven Desert Nomad Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Titusville, PA <nowhere> Guild: KOD <Knights of the Dragonrose><Guild Officer> Profession: W/Mo	My Advice: EXPERIMENT. Yes, Experiment. Find what you feel most comfortable with. Everyone's needs are unique; thus the different professions/ways to go are unique to everyone. Everyone has their own "methods" to swear by So, in short: Don't seek help before playing, seek help after. Use the 3 E's: Envision, Experiment, Explore. Then, if you're having trouble seek builds/help here. --The Shim