Should I skip Guild Wars 1?

Hi everyone, I was thinking about buying Guild Wars 2 and playing it, but then I started wondering if I would enjoy my GW experience more if I went back and played Guild Wars 1. Do you think I will have a better experience if I play the first game, or could I skip it and sort of "not miss it", and go ahead and play GW2?

I thought this forum would be a great place to ask, and I thank you for any advice you may offer. Thanks.

I haven't played GW2, but I hear it's not as fun as GW. I've been playing GW since 2005 and I still enjoy it, even though it's not as active as it was. The activity has been picking back up lately. Players are returning after trying GW2 and there are also many new players starting, now that you can buy the game so cheaply.

I think you would have a better experience if you played through GW first. You'll have a much better feel for the lore and you'll also be able to build up your Hall of Monuments for GW2 benefits.

Yep, definitely do GW 1 first.
It's much more fun so I hear. I never bought GW2 after everybody says its not what it was supposed to be, but there are other threads on that topic in these forums. That's not my point.

My point here is that to play all the way through all 4 campaigns/expansions of GW1 will take a VERY long time. Casually, it could be done in 6 months I guess, but 8 hours a day, it might only take a month. It's huge.

But absolutely worth it.

Max

Cool, thank you so much for your replies! Ok, probably a good follow up question would be: Which GW version will give me the most content for my money - GOTY, Trilogy, etc.

Thanks again.

If you follow/enjoy lore definitely play GW1. You can play GW2 without playing 1 and you won't be missing much. Either way GW1 is still an amazing that you can pick up for rather cheap these days and get 1k+ hours of playtime out of.

Buy all three full games (Prophecies, Factions, and Nightfall) as well as Eye of the North. You won't be disappointed.

it all depends on what you like to play. Guildwars is a great game (heck, how else would it still be around after 8+ years?), gw2...meh, (will leave out my impression of gw2).

as to which version to buy: if you live in Europe, get the complete collection--it contains all 3 chapters as well as the eye of the north expansion, if not: get the trilogy as it has the next most amount of stuff in one box (all 3 chapters--no eye though). GOTY is only prophecies (if memory serves), and I would skip the collectors editions.

The cheapest way to get them all will probably be to buy Guild Wars: The Complete Collection. It has all three campaigns and the Eye of the North expansion.

Edit: SHe beat me to it :-P I want to add, though, that the complete collection has now been released in North America as well, but it can be hard to find.

Guild Wars has a lot of depth after you play for a while.

A lot of creativity went into the gameplay and game mechanics. It feels unlike any other game. The very way skills feel, activate, and work with each other is fun.

Sadly Anet no longer values fun or innovation anymore with the other game with the similar name.

Honestly GW and GW2 are such different games it's hardly worth saying whether one will enhance your enjoyment of the other.

I played GW for 5 years, and then I played GW2 for a few months and got tired of it not being GW. It's a game that has kept my interest longer than all other games I've tried combined.

Thanks for all of your replies everyone! I think I will start with GW since it seems to be so epic. I'll be back here at gwguru I'm sure.