What Path Should I Venture On?

Hey guys, I am starting to get interested into Guild Wars and am about to buy the game. But I was wondering if there is a good class (or profession, what ever the Guild Wars community calls it) for a beginner, or does it completely depend on my gameplay style. If that is the case I would love to be able to heal my party members but also do some good Single Target damage or Area of Effect damage. Any suggestions? Or any sites that might help a noob in need? Thanks guys!


<3

Stolenkiss

Welcome to GW! Personally, I think choosing a profession depends on your personal preferences. Since you like to heal and/or damage, a Ritualist may be right up your alley. Rits have skills that are very effective in both areas. Any good Rit will be able to run both Resto (heals)and SoS* (damage) builds equally effectively. (Not-so-good Rits stick with the standard SoS builds found on the PvX Wiki.)

*SoS = Signet of Spirits (an elite skill)

Try different professions, as they all can be a lot of fun. You'll get 8 character slots if you buy the trilogy, so make the most of them! The toughest profession to master for a newbie would be Mesmer, since it takes knowledge of the enemies and game mechanics to play one well.

Thanks for the information! I know that Rits are in the second chapter of the trilogy, but I was looking at the sticky on what game I should buy, and I think I am first going to try out Prophecies frist. But I might reconsider my choice. Also do I have to buy the game at store or is there a way to buy it and download it virtually?

Hi there,
before you decide you should consult the web for the Trilogy or complete collection.

As this an be obtained for about the same price as one standalone like proph you mensioned.

As you are considering digital download also try Steam as they have offers also for the tril/complete collections.

As it does not show where you come from if Euro try play.com Game ect

Walmart ect from NA ect I would check those out first.

Do not go to ebay ect as some may try to sell you a key thats been used hence ..it will not work .

Welcome to guild wars and Play any profession that suits your gamestyle if you get complete collection you will have a total of 8 slots so your choice is wide.and you can take any char you make to all continents if you have all campaigns at a port city.

Thank you Highlander! I appriciate your advice and will look into it! I think I will explore the Monk and Ritualist first (that is if I can find a decent deal on the whole set for the triliogy). I watched numerous videos on the gameplay of Guild Wars and I noticed that Guild Wars offers a cool game mechanic, Dual Classing. Should I take anything into consideration when deciding my second class?

Welcome to guildwars, as mentioned above I would really consider the trilogy.

Guildwars is an old game lets face it. A lot of people prefer heroes (they are from nightfall and the eye of the north expansion) over human players since they can run any build, yet they don't bitch and moan or fail without it being your own fault... This might make it difficult to get into groups, though there are some nice guildies. So I would definitly consider the trilogy to gain access to heroes as well as almost every skill. On the NCsoft site it's about 20 pounds I think, it atleast wasn't too expensive.

As for class. Give everything (or a few) a go until lvl 20 if you can be bothered since low levels on certain profs are difficult to play (usually energywise.)
Ritualist is indeed a loved choice since it's very vestile not only the things mentioned above, they are also good solo and there is the ability to make some fun melee'ish builds or AoE nuke builds if you get bored.
How-ever you might want to look into Elementalist. They make excelent healers too as well as damage (but mainly normal mode) if you go for prophecies only after-all.
Even Dervishes (currently extremely overpowered nightfall class) have abilities to adept to heal if you consider to get nightfall only.

Secondaries depend on build as well as class. Halfway a campain you get something called ascendent and you can change your secondary.

Dual class are used in specific builds I would not worry to much when you begin as ...you can change your secondary at certain areas also so no problems there .

Have a look and click the links below to give you an insight to all professions

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/campfire-f17.html

http://www.gwpvx.com/PvX_wiki

The one above will serve as a guide as its all about synergy with the team you are playing with as team play goes from 4 up to 12 in a party so you can see that its not all about you its what you contribute to the area you are playing in.

Just enjoy the game for fun and you will not be dissappointed .As with any game you will have whats the so called best ect.dont worry about that one its what you enjoy that counts not what others say if you follow.

enjoy guildwars and have fun

You find a few lines of description in the character creation screen for every class. Use this to decide which class you find interesting. Don't be afraid: if you buy Trilogy, you will have 8 character slots, so you can always roll a character with a new class without deleting your previous characters.

If you ask where to start, my advice: don't start in Factions. The tutorial is too short and the learning curve in Factions is too steep for the common beginner. You might find yourselves being overwhelmed as soon as you leave tutorial into the mainland. This might be a very frustrating experience.

Start either in Nightfall or in Prophecies. Nightfall is good, because it immediately introduces you into heroes (customizable henchmen). You need henchmen or heroes these days, since you will play quite some parts alone. And Nightfall has a moderately paced tutorial and storyline. Not as steep as Factions, and not as long (and boring in my opinion) as Prophecies.

Prophecies is the other acceptable starting campaign, since it takes much time to introduce you into the game. But it doesn't give you heroes, so you might have difficulties in the later missions. The progression is too slow in my opinion, but this is something everyone has to decide for himself.

Regarding the secondary class: You can ignore your secondary class most of the time. If you reach the endgame areas, you sometimes improve your build with one or two skills from your secondary class, but many/most good and top builds only use skills from the primary class. As beginner, choose monk as secondary class, and bring a resurrection skill from it. You gain the ability to change your secondary class freely soon enough, so this is never a permanent decision.

In fact, there is no permanent decision you cannot revert. Everything can be changed sooner or later. (Everything besides your primary class). Regarding the development of your character, it is also not important in which campaign you start. In the end, you are always able to travel to every campaign with your character, play every mission, every story line, learn every skill and unlock every secondary class from the whole game. Some aspects are acquired differently across the campaigns, but in the end you are always able to acquire everything available.

When you first start out your secondary doesn't really matter. By the time you have enough gold, skills, and experience to know what secondary you'd like, you will be able to change it at will.
For a monk you could start with a Mesmer or Elementalist secondary for some extra damage dealing. For a Ritualist (or Paragon), Monk is a good starting secondary for a better resurrect skill.
EDIT - minor brain fart, Rits already have a good rez. My Rit's secondary is Monk, but I don't think I use any monk skills for either SoS or Resto healer.

You say you want to be a bit of a healer and damage dealer (in which case, add Paragon to your list), which is ok if you are playing solo with just henchmen (and/or Heroes), or with a bunch of friends/guildmates. But, if you intend to try to join pick-up groups (PUGs), they will expect you to be one or the other - healer or damage dealer - but not both.

I would suggest that you try to be mostly a damage dealer if you play solo - it's much easier to 'direct' the group that way. If you join PUGs be sure to make it clear whether you are a healer or a damage dealer. PUGs will want 2 healers (in 8-player areas) and they'll be a bit testy if they go out and discover they only have one (or 1.5). (On the other hand a half-healer is handy in areas where the group size is 4 or 6)

I would not get just 1 game, get the trilogy at least. Then the expansion.

It's not too expensive... and anyone interested in GW should have taken up the black friday offer it was like 50% off everything

The game is ~6.5 years old already. I suggest you patiently wait for GW2.

But if you still want to play the game, get the 3 campaign bundle for about ~29 usd at ncsoft store + eotn and grind your HoM titles. And it is advisable to play PvE hardcore since the HoM investment is PvE centric (only ~5 titles I think count for PvP) You can get 50/50 without even playing PvP.

If you are just going to start with one chapter of guild wars and you don't have a preference on a assassin or ritualist.. i would start with nightfall... not only will it make your gaming life easier because its the only stand alone chapter with heroes (non player characters you can fight with and pick their skills)... it will expose you to all the features you will see in guild wars as in the others will be missing some.... in this game no particular chapter happens in order.... prophecies, nightfall, and factions all happen at the same time on the time line... where as eye of the north occurs years after.

Welcome to guild wars and good luck out there.

Mireles Lore

Thank you all for the advice! The reason for me picking GW is because I am use to all the MMOs I play to have a raiding aspect as well, and supposedly GW doesn't have it. So what do you do once you reach max level. And is the level cap only 20 for the entire trilogy or does each chapter raise it?


<3

Stolen Kiss

Welcome to GW, just me I would go Mesmer and see how you like it. You will learn what works in certain areas and what does not. Start with Nightfall. By the time you finish that you will have a lot of good heroes to set up like you want. Only when you have reached that point will you be ready for Eye of the North and if you have finished Nightfall you will wind up with a few points in Hall of Monuments.

The two most commonly recommended starter professions are Ranger and Warrior. I am a Ranger primary, but I play most of the others. The Ranger has the highest survivability. The Ranger can also farm with the SoS Rit build since the Ranger has high spirit spawning efficiency though expertise. Ranger with pet is a good way to level though the game standing off on a hill firing away with your bow while your pet and melee hero get up in their faces. And farm feathers and such to make some extra platinum which comes in real handy.

Warrior is not a tank in this game. It is a damage dealer and it deals a lot of damage. Easy to understand and effective. I like axes myself.

GW is a gigantic game. Be patient, learn one thing at a time and in a few months you will be an expert.

THANK GOD! I don't want a game that will end up boring me within a couple of months!

I just have to point out that the statement in bold is not correct. Prophesis and factions occur at the same time, NF is 3 years later and eotn is 3 years after NF, WiC and WoC occur 1 year after eotn.

As for which game to buy I would strongly recomend the trilogy + eotn or the complete collection if you think you'll really like the game as it's much cheaper and will give you access to all content and skills etc.
GW2 is still some way until it's ready for beta (this is due to the "when it's ready" statement which is the current releasedate...), so you'll be able to enjoy gw1 for the very least for a couple of months until gw2 releases.

Don't stress over the hom, it will most likely not make much of an impact in gw2 anyways, and personally I think you should enjoy the campaigns before you set out another goal.
If hom is very important for you then I'd suggest you make sure you know a way to earn a lot of cash pretty fast: you'll need ~1mil for 30/50.

I've enjoyed the game for 3 years now, and there's people out there who have been playing since release. So there's content out there alright!

Levels 1-20 are essentially the "tutorial" of the game. Everything good comes after reaching it. (Finishing Campaigns, title grinding for Gw2, Speed Clears, possibly PvP if that's your thing)

Yes, the level cap is only 20. There is no such "grind" to this game as there are others. "Grinding" is only required if you choose to take that path in making money/having fun/find it more efficient. Otherwise, chillax.

Lol, first of all I don't even know what the hell HoM even is haha. But I am guessing I will probably find out sooner or later and I already print out the guide to make cash fast along with a guide to farming as well. I just hope that there will be a lot of end game content as well.


Also, I know that Guilds are a big game mechanic in Guild Wars, I was wondering if I should worry about joining a guild in the beggining or near the end of my leveling. Any suggestions?

HoM = Hall of monuments... its a feature in guild wars eye of the north that lets you store your accomplishments, heroes, armor, miniatures, and high end weapons for exclusive rewards in guild wars 2. Its one of the big reasons people still play this game.

it can be viewed here

http://hom.guildwars2.com/en/

and by typing in your... or anyone's character name

Hi there and welcome to the community.

Its worth mentioning that you have several character slots so you can easily begin several classes play each for a short time to see what might work for you.