New Player - Learning the game and looking for some help

So I have all 3 games, but have never actually sat down and PLAYED them. I read the thread about "Which game should a new player get" and a few others, but have my own set of questions and I was hoping I could get some answers here:

1) If I am starting out in Prophecies and want to solo, would a Warrior be decent? Or should I go for something range oriented like a Ranger or Elementalist? Or even a Necromancer given the amount of dudes I can make?

2) If I own Nightfall are there any heroes that I can access in Prophecies? If so, who and when?

3) How the hell does upgrading weapons/armor freakin work?! I am so lost with that!

Thanks in advance. I tend to solo mostly so if you guys have any suggestions on what class would solo well that would be helpful as well!

Well, welcome back to the game!

1) When you mean 'solo' do you mean with just yourself in a party? Or with the NPCs, and just no other human players? Guild Wars is designed to be played as a team and as such the majority of the game requires you to be in a team.
Yes there are solo builds but these are designed around specific areas and for a specific purpose (farming).

2) No heroes are accessible in prophecies, not directly. You will have to travel to Kamadan in the Nightafll campaign in order to obtain heroes. Olias is a Prophecies hero however the quest to obtain him is picked up in Kamadan. You can access Kamadan when you reach Lions Arch, even if you just pop there to get some heroes then come back to carry on with Prophecies.

3) You don't upgrade weapons and armour, you simply aquire better weapons and armour. Armor can be bought from armor traders, or obtained from collectors, there is no other way to get it. In different outposts as you progress through the game different armour will be available, max level armour is designed to be available when you reach level 20 (max level)
As for weapons, these you have to look out for from drops while playing, visiting a collector, waiting for end-game rewards, or in Factions/Nightfall they could be crafted at different places. There is a set max damage for all weapons, after that they can be modified using various addons that differ per weapon, these addons can be found from weapons that drop while exploring, salvaged and applied to other weapons.

When you first start out there isn't much point worrying about weapons, just use what you find and by the end of the campaign you'll have a better understanding of what to use and look out for. As for armour, if you can buy the best available set to you as it will help trying to survive.

As I mention, the game isn't 'soloable'. You can pick any profession you fancy and play through with henchmen until heroes become available in Nightfall. The most important thing is to pick a profession you're going to have fun playing.

Hope that helps a bit, good luck and have fun!

Well I mean solo in the sense that I am the human player. I know I need a team in general, but I like being in control.

Thanks for the answers!

Any profession can play the game with just hero/henchman parties although there are a few missions that are extremely difficult without another real player. No profession can play the game as the sole member of a party.

That said, try out the different professions until you find the one you like best. You will be together a long time, so enjoyment is your goal. The sub forums in our Campfire section will give you information on each profession in a stickied "basics" thread. The wiki http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Main_Page can also answer questions about armor and weapon modifications (the wiki is also available in-game via F10 or help on the menu).

as for 3)

:weapons When you have a max dmg weapon (q9) weapon you can upgrade it with 3 mods: 1 inscription and 2 mods
the inscripion mostly upgrades DMG/energy
the prefix mod upgrades your damage type/adds vampiric etc.
the suffix mod upgrades you health/armor etc.

Weapons
Inscriptions
Upgrades

:Armor when you have max armor you can upgrade it with 2 things a rune and a insignia.

Runes Upgrade your health/energy/attributes, etc.
Insignias upgrade your armor/health/energy, etc. ( but less health etc. then runes)
Armor
Armor_bonus

1) I solo mostly. I play a Ranger mostly. Works fine for NM. Later on in HM it's not as effective. If I were starting over knowing what I know now, I'd go with a Rit or Mes primary. But I don't like melee. Lots of people love warriors and assassins. They're just not my thing. You can complete the game with pretty much any class so just play what you like.

2) There are no heroes in Prophecies. Play thru NF first. Then bring your heroes with you. You can't go to pre-searing Ascalon without starting there, though. And it's thus far my favorite place in-game. YMMV.

3) Get a max damage weapon with as low a requirement as you can (r9 seems to be what most people look for) just because it gives you flexibility in builds and what you spec into each attribute. Each weapon gets two mods (three if including inscribable weapons). Take bows for instance: You can get bowstrings to attach to the bow to alter the damage type or give the weapon some bonus property and bow grips as well. For instance you could get a sundering bowstring (adds armor penetration) or a fiery bowstring (fire damage) and a grip of fortitude (adds to your toon's HP). Then you can get inscriptions that add other bonuses like additional health, extended effect duration, quicker recharge of skills, etc. I've been running around with this: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Deldr...w_%28unique%29

It's a Prophecies end-game bow. I switch it out for other weapons in specific circumstances but it's a good general bow.

You can buy weapons and mods or just play the game and you'll eventually get some drops with good salvageable mods and even nice gold drop weapons.

I played thru prophecies a long time ago, then got EotN when it came out. Just recently started playing Factions and have traveled to Kamadan but that's as far as I've gone in NF. After I complete Factions storyline, I'm off to Elona.

If you ever want someone to just run around and kill things in game, PM me.

Ever heard of runes&insignias&inscriptions?
those 3 are the most used to upgrade armor,and weapons, go to Wiki.guildwars.com, and search for "Rune" "insignia" "inscription", and you'll learn alot!

Doh!

They completely slipped my mind.

Thanks for the tips thus far. Looks like I am gonna start in Prophecies. Now if I can just settle on a damn class.

>.<

Ranger: All-around, can do a lot of builds using the right amount of expertise.
Warrior: Brutal armor + weapons for close combat
Necromancer: If u love minions :P
Ritualist: For calling some spirits (<- most easy to play @ PvE imo)
Assassin: Like a mix between the ranger and warrior, close-combat but fast, agile etc. but has less defence than the warrior
Monk: Pretty useful for farming or heal other people

Those are the professions I play with

About Heroes:

You get max level heroes straight if you have Eye of the North. Three of them within the first few minutes of landing there actually and if you are playing on your own, they will help tons. So if you do not have GW:EN, consider getting it.

Olias is in Prophecies and you get Zeimei the Sin (I think that's her name) in Factions also but all the quests to get them come from Nightfall. If you are thinking of getting heroes than do the missions/quests with them, you may want to start with NF because NF Heroes need leveling.

I also do everything with Heroes and Henchies and I think they are great. Just need a bit of control. And LiquidSolenoid has a whole series of missions through the three campaignes on youtube running with Heroes and Hencies for you to take a look at if you need help as well.

http://www.youtube.com/user/LiquidSolenoid


For class? Try them all and then decide. The game starts at level 20, really and until you try them out, you really wouldn't know what suits you best. I started out with warrior and elementalist but ended up rather be playing my ranger and ritualist (I never though much of a ritualist at first). I am not as good being a monk or nerco even though every where I read seems to speak so well of them. I have all the classes and played all till level 20. All I can say is, you will never know.

How does MOX fit into the hero thing? I own all 3 games (Factions, Prophecies, and Nightfall) so he is available. Not sure how good he is.

Also do Henchmen ever get a second class? Or are they always one class? Also, do they reach level 20?

MOX is a dervish and works like a tank. By level 10 you should be able to unlock him. Just go to him and click on him and he is yours. He is great except on some days, he might aggo too much. I usually do not have problems with him 90% of the time.

Henchies only have one class and they do not level up. As you move on from place to place advancing in your game, The henchies there will be of higher level until they reach the max level of 20.

New quick question: Since I am basically VERY new to this, should I focus on just my primary class even when i get access to my secondary?

I am thinking Warrior for my primary at the moment, since I like being the big heavily armored dude in most games.

Also, you can search Guild Wars Wiki on the henchies names and get their builds so you can pick the best ones for your missions. Rune him up and Mox works okay. He's just the hero you get automatically for owning all three campaigns. You can't get hero armor for him but hero armor is purely cosmetic anyway (and for HoM but Mox will go in as is so it's moot).

And here is a great place too for builds of any kinds.

http://pvx.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

You can have a few of your secondary class skills that help you in your bars any day. Just go with what works best for you. If you are war/monk, get the rez and heals or protection to go with it, etc. war/rang - get some shots for pulling or a pet for extra damage, etc. And so on so forth.

I was thinking War/Ranger so I could have a pet for added DPS...

There you go! Have fun!

Thanks I will try.

If you see a guy named Argothial Lionheart in game that would be me.

This is a common trap new players often fall for, that the secondary class is somehow as important as your primary. It isn't. So yes.

Generally, the idea is to use skills that mostly (if not completely) belong to your primary class, while only looking to your secondary for ways to complement your build that your primary can't.

That's entirely up to you. Remember you also have multiple character slots on your account, so just create another character of a different class if you feel you're not getting along with your warrior. Having said that, my first char was a warrior and it worked out OK for me.