Your favorite starting area and why?

I almost always Start in factions. I like the Character design options best. Even if I'm not planning on doing much of Factions it's easy to get through the lowbie stuff and get to KC to port me where ever I plan on playing first. Usually I head over to NF to grab some hero's then who knows.

I hate the Beginning prophecies missions and try and avoid them as much as Possible.

Prophecies is long and boring. Post-searing Ascalon has a horrible environment (it was good the first time through after joyful presearing, but now its just dull), and the shiverpeaks aren't much to look forward to. Difficulty-wise Prophecies areas in general have been left in the dust and there is no challenge what so ever. Its also really long to play through. Character designs you can make in Proph also, for the most part, look worse than those in other campaigns. You are forced to play well past LA just to get your character points, which is annoying. Did I mention prophecies was long?

Nightfall sucks. Sand. Sand. Sand. Sand. I hate sand. Just the Crystal Desert in Prophecies was enough for me. It would be much shorter than prophecies, but then Anet forgot that they needed to pad out the game length and required title grinding to pass stuff, so it ends up being not all that much faster then prophecies (and much slower than simply running from Ascalon->LA). The mere fact that a non-nightfall character doesn't have to grind sunspear ranks is enough reason not to start here.

Factions is excellent. Fastest leveling, Great atmosphere on the island, and the rest of the game manages to take you to new locales quickly enough to prevent you getting bored (which Nightfall epicly fails at). Enemies are respectably deadly (unlike prophecies) without being infinity-bullet sponges with too many defensive skills (unlike a number of enemies in nightfall). Zen Daijun gets points for being the only early game mission that actually requires some sort of skill to pass, and missions in general are better about not wasting my time doing stupid crap like other campaigns. Then as soon as you go to Nightfall to get your heroes you can go right back to Cantha and complete 5 or 6 ferry quests in about 20 mins to level yourself and them to level 20 quicker than a Nightfall character could (and when you want to go further in the Nightfall campaign to get more heroes you don't have to deal with the motherRED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GOing title grind). Factions is simply the best. What more could you want? Ahh, I guess you can't start Paragons or Dervishes there, but who uses them anyway?

factions for me. has the part of pretty looks like in pre prof and has the fast lvling like in nf.

Before Nightfall, Prophecies was the ideal starting location for me. Now it's just sheer torture. The few skills you get before and around Lion's Arch are not worth the extra work you have to put in to even get started with your character. You can forget about having an even 200 attribute points before you hit the Southern Shiver-peaks(arguably endgame).

With that said, this topic is about one's favorite starting area; mine would have to be Factions. It doesn't spoil you with too many skills, the quests are fun, and missions are straight-forward in their objectives.

Ah. this is great. I just restarted the game and had one in Prophecies. Lasted till level 14 and I deleted it. I think the game is way too slow. So I deleted my ritualist and started a new rit in fractions. Stopped after she turned level 15. Got bored. Even though the game is fast, there isnt much going on. It is just you looking for teachers and more teachers for much of the beginning. Ran her all the way to the Bayway and the Pier, got her up North, got her some heroes, got her on a boat out of Cantha to other lands and then stopped. Now I have my second ranger in Nightfall and I am still playing her. So I guess NF is my favorite place to start again. It is more fun, and allows me to get not just exp but double exp with the bounties. And I do like to see my toon having some sort of rank. If they are going to be saving an entire continent, that is always a good thing to get as a memorial of their services. Plus, they do look better.

I start in NF now. Fastest bonus attributes, heroes, max armor a short cheap ferry away and instant access to GToB and menagerie. Nice gentle curve to difficulty levels.. unlike Factions where you leave Newb isle and difficulty ramps up considerably.. not to mention getting stuck in that horrid slum. NF has a better new player experience, to me, as there are quests for mats, a vigor rune, dye, Sunspear skills, ect. I also like progressing with my heroes. IF you always take bounties and do all the Sunspear questing there is no "grind" to Sunspear rank.. it just happens as you play the game.

Shing Jea Island IS pretty.. but, I get really tired of the afflicted..and the shock of going from that pretty Island to KC is very nearly as bad as the pre to post shock.

Missions to go to LA and KC from Kamedan involve no combat at all..again, very unlike the other quests. Trying to solo LA to Kamadan with LA hench is an excercise in stupidity.

Speaking of stupidity.. starting in NF all I get stuck with is bla bla Kormir.. not that Moron Togo whose sole mission is to help you fail quests.. Togo is proof that you CAN fail horribly at this game as a Rit.

The other issue I have with Factions is timed missions. Either Togo will mess that up or the low level noob you draw for Vizuna Square.

I only start in Factions for a Sin or a Rit.. and I bypass KC and go to NF after level 10. KC annoys me so much.. most of my Characters that have finished factions have not done a single side quest in that place.

NF is best, to me, if you enjoy playing the game to level. IF your sole interest is leveling up for whatever repetative endgame farming or whatever it is people are so worried about getting to in the shortest time.. then Factions.

I did it at level 15 or so, with MOX and the hench. (cuz everyone with all 3 campaigns can get MOX just outside LA, for instant lvl 20 derv that can easily tank the wrathful storms / grasps of insanity). It was really easy, only the hench died a few times.

I keep on reminding myself of the awe and beauty that struck me when I was a noob and finally reaching the Jade Sea. I actually spent so much time taking screenshots of the Jade Sea I managed to cart the whole area.

Factions is the best for speed but my least favorite of the three. Reasons have all been listed above by others, but I also don't find Shining Sea Island to be pretty.

Prophecies is the coolest in the beginning, but I won't start there because it takes forever once you leave pre-searing.

Nightfall all the way. The most beautiful regions are in nightfall. The coolest armors are all nightfall (and as many have said you get max armor early). Plus you have heroes, which makes a huge difference. My next character will definitely be nightfall (though my last three were Factions because of the speed.)

Pre-Searing.

Nuff said

Factions for me, the vistas and fast leveling not to mention the pace of the story is pretty much what I love about it.

Pol

Prophecies. From start to finish its the nostalgia campaign. ^_^ I love the various locations and epic storyline. Also, I'm explorer and so the size of the areas isn't a concern for me. Going into an area and discovering something new is always awesome. I remember beating Villainy for the first time and seeing the floating Wizard Tower. I tried for like an hour to access it.

Proph is boring as RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GO
NF has Soothing Images spam and boring deserts

so, Factions

Well, each region has two starting areas.
First, the 'basic training' area, and you usually can't go back there after you leave.
You can go back to an area that 'uses the spot' for the Factions one and explore the spot, but it has different decorations and ambient lights, so you don't really go back there.
There is absolutely no way to go back to the Prophecies and Nightfall basic tutorial areas, not even copies of them like in Factions.
For the basic training, my favorite is pre-Searing.

After than, you get to an 'advanced training' area in which you for teams, learn more skills, level up, and finally get to level 20 and the signet of capture quest.

For that, I prefer Factions, since they have the Instructor Ng quests and they actually teach you something, instead just throwing you the skills as telling you to use them, they give you quests you'll pass by actually using the skills.

Pre-searing. It has Gwen, the wizard tower, the earth elemental cave, etc. etc. etc. The other starter areas are just too small and annoyingly unwelcoming (one hill top and one swamp...).

I almost always start in Factions. Other than my hot asian chick fetish, it think it's a nice balance between "making me actually play the game" to level up but not a bunch of boring as hell missions and tasks that I have to grind through for minimal improvement. Plus the chat in SJM is so intellectually stimulating! :sarcasm:

I like Pre-searing the best, but if I was to start a new character - which is not likely since I have 11 characters + 1 mule already - I'd start in Nighfall for the Heroes.

Factions.... because it takes me 7-8 to max level...



As for game lore and just enjoying the game.....Prophecies...

Pre because it's fastest plus Gwen stuff.

I get the tapestry piece and do the minimum to get out of pre, then run myself (2 accounts) to LA, which gets me to EotN, Kamadan and Kaineng. With a ferry to Consulate Docks, you now have 3 choices for max armor and all unlocked non elites in the game without having to spend time buying tomes. (Level up in empty D'Alessio Seabed Districts to get to lvl 10 and EotN access.)

From Kaineng I can run to the marketplace and run myself to the Faction cities on Shing Jea, and I can skip the starter quests and just do missions or go right for Vizunah and then Nahpui and be ascended.

From Kamadan I can run to the other cities and also quickly SS level up using the land of heroes quest and most of the heroes you get (koss, talkora) start at a higher level than if you started in NF. You also get to skip the interminable starter quests in NF starter Isle and can get to the Dock's mission pretty quick. That's the main reason I don't like to start in NF right now. And EotN makes the hero issue not a problem.

That's for speed.

For enjoyment, I'd probably still stick with Pre. I've always wanted to spend more time exploring around there, really enjoy the scenery. Factions is fun too, but I've done that and NF a few times already.

Factions, only reason to start in Kamadan is for the skin color and afro.
Prophecies is crap, I don't think I've ever fully gone through Prophecies. My first character was like an elementalist who never left post searing Ascalon and I hated it. I essentially disliked Guild wars heavily for awhile because pre-searing was not enjoyable I felt aimless, I left pre-searing early and whenever I go back I don't feel nostalgia, I feel fatigue.
I made a ranger finally and got to what the winter missions with flare on my rangers bar I may add (now thats nostalgia), and was still like "Jesus this is some bull".

Factions came around, made my assassin never looked back, quick, efficient, difficult (bloody afflicted).

Nightfall was whatever, only toon I made in it thats off the Island is my Dervish, I have an ele and a warrior made there and again it's only for the hair.

Factions is the most pleasurable, urban Cantha is actually quite beautiful but you don't see it while just passing by. I remember doing that mission to get to Vizunah square being in the tunnels and the tunnels breaking into a plaza basically with some buildings. Took time to really look at it one day, and I realized "wow I dig this".

The starting island is also cool but then again I really don't look at scenery much.

Pre-searing far as I'm concerned only has the catacombs.