For the new player on a budget: Which Guild Wars Should You Buy?~by RedSo you want to play Guild WarsGreat!Guild wars Gold If you feel you already know how the game works and just need an opinion between your options, jump down to the section entitled “I only want to buy one chapter”. Otherwise, before deciding what version of Guild Wars to buy, there are some important things you need to know.-) Guild Wars is completely online. You must be connected to the internet to play Guild Wars.Guild wars Gold The game won’t even load if it can’t sense an internet connection.-) Each Guild Wars chapter purchased is free to use and play. There are no periodic subscription charges. Ever.-) Guild Wars accounts are not allowed to be sold by their original owner. All purchases should be new units from stores. Using eBay and other such methods to gain an account is forbidden, and may result in your newly acquired account being banned for illegal activity!What’s with this Chapter business?Guild wars Gold Isn’t Guild Wars just one game?There are multiple “chapters” in Guild Wars. A new chapter is released every six months, and each includes entirely separate lands to explore, missions to complete, and skills to learn. Your game account consists of a series of access keys that determine what chapters you have purchased, and thus what lands you can access.You only need one chapter to play Guild Wars, as each is a “stand-alone” game,Guild wars Gold much like movies like Star Wars and Return of the Jedi can be enjoyed on their own. At the same time, much like the movie series, owning and playing through multiple chapters is more rewarding than owning only one.NamesThe terminology can be a bit confusing. At first, the game was released in a box simply entitled “Guild Wars”. When the second chapter was released a year later entitled “Guild Wars: Factions”, the game designers decided that all chapters should have a subtitle, including the original release. Guild wars Gold They renamed the original chapter “Guild Wars: Prophecies”.When someone says “Guild Wars” now, they are referring to the entire game world that spans across the chapters. The original release is usually called simply Prophecies, the next Factions, and the most recent Nightfall. Sometimes they are also referred to as chapter one, two, and three (C1, C2, and C3) respectively.Much like the original Star Wars can be found in a variety of editions (full screen, wide screen, director’s cut, collector’s, etc.), the chapters of Guild Wars have multiple editions. The first chapter, Prophecies, can be found in boxes that read “Guild Wars”, “Guild Wars: Collector’s Edition”, “Guild Wars: Game of the Year Edition”, Guild wars Gold and so forth—but they are all the same chapter, with only minor differences between them.ChaptersWhen you purchase your first Guild Wars game, you will create a gaming account tied to an email address (or a PlayNC.com account) and a password. As you purchase additional chapters of Guild Wars, you can add the content of those chapters to your current account. Each account starts with four character slots for the first chapter, and two more slots are added each time a new chapter is attached to the account. Also, additional slots can be purchased from the in-game Guild Wars store, each costing $10 in the US, €9 in Europe, and £6 in Great Britain. Slots can be used to create characters in any chapter the player owns on his or her account, as slots are not reserved for use in specific chapters.In general, Guild wars Gold a chapter opens a new continent in the game world of Guild Wars. Each chapter is entirely separate, using its own map and having its own storyline and quests. A character is created on one of these continents and, after a certain point in that continent’s storyline, is able to travel to the other continents to play through those storylines (assuming those chapters have been added to the account).In addition, Guild Wars uses a system of skill sets, which has been likened to the card game Magic: The Gathering. Guild wars Gold There are roughly 240 “core” skills that appear in every chapter, but there are many more that can only be obtained by playing in one chapter’s continent or another. Any Elementalist can learn the spell Fireball, for example. However, only players who own Prophecies have access to the spell Chain Lightning, while Factions owners have access to the spell Lightning Hammer.ProfessionsAll Guild Wars chapters include the ability to play one of the six core professions—Warrior, Ranger, Elementalist, Necromancer, Mesmer, and Monk. The first chapter, Prophecies, allows only these six professions to be created; but each new chapter has introduced two new professions. In Factions, players could create an Assassin or a Ritualist, while Nightfall players can make a Dervish or a Paragon.A player who owns only Nightfall does not have access to the Assassin or Ritualist professions for their characters, while a player who owns only Factions can not make a Dervish or Paragon. However,Guild wars Gold players who own multiple chapters have access to all professions, and can use a character from one chapter in the missions of another. For example, someone who owns all three chapters can create an Assassin in the Factions continent, and then transport their Assassin to the Nightfall or Prophecies continents.I only want to buy one chapter. Which one should I get?There are many factors to consider here. I’ve put together a small table for reference, with each line explained in detail below.((Note: The term “PvE” stands for Player versus Environment, and refers to the adventure part of the game where players group together to complete quests and battle AI-controlled enemies. Guild wars Gold “PvP”, short for Player versus Player, refers to the side of the game in which human players can fight other human players in direct competition.))
For the new player on a budget: Which Guild Wars Should You Buy?~by RedSo you want to play Guild WarsGreat! If you feel you already know how the game works and just need an opinion between your options, jump down to the section entitled “I only want to buy one chapter”. Otherwise, before deciding what version of Guild Wars to buy, there are some important things you need to know.-) Guild Wars is completely online. You must be connected to the internet to play Guild Wars. The game won’t even load if it can’t sense an internet connection.-) Each Guild Wars chapter purchased is free to use and play.Guild wars Gold There are no periodic subscription charges. Ever.-) Guild Wars accounts are not allowed to be sold by their original owner. All purchases should be new units from stores. Using eBay and other such methods to gain an account is forbidden, and may result in your newly acquired account being banned for illegal activity!What’s with this Chapter business? Isn’t Guild Wars just one game?There are multiple “chapters” in Guild Wars. A new chapter is released every six months, and each includes entirely separate lands to explore,Guild wars Gold missions to complete, and skills to learn. Your game account consists of a series of access keys that determine what chapters you have purchased, and thus what lands you can access.You only need one chapter to play Guild Wars, as each is a “stand-alone” game, much like movies like Star Wars and Return of the Jedi can be enjoyed on their own. At the same time, much like the movie series, owning and playing through multiple chapters is more rewarding than owning only one.NamesThe terminology can be a bit confusing. At first, the game was released in a box simply entitled “Guild Wars”. When the second chapter was released a year later entitled “Guild Wars: Factions”, the game designers decided that all chapters should have a subtitle, including the original release. They renamed the original chapter “Guild Wars: Prophecies”.When someone says “Guild Wars” now, Guild wars Gold they are referring to the entire game world that spans across the chapters. The original release is usually called simply Prophecies, the next Factions, and the most recent Nightfall. Sometimes they are also referred to as chapter one, two, and three (C1, C2, and C3) respectively.Much like the original Star Wars can be found in a variety of editions (full screen, wide screen, director’s cut, collector’s, etc.), the chapters of Guild Wars have multiple editions. The first chapter, Prophecies, can be found in boxes that read “Guild Wars”, “Guild Wars: Collector’s Edition”, “Guild Wars: Game of the Year Edition”, and so forth—but they are all the same chapter, with only minor differences between them.ChaptersWhen you purchase your first Guild Wars game, you will create a gaming account tied to an email address (or a PlayNC.com account) and a password. As you purchase additional chapters of Guild Wars, you can add the content of those chapters to your current account. Each account starts with four character slots for the first chapter, Guild wars Gold and two more slots are added each time a new chapter is attached to the account. Also, additional slots can be purchased from the in-game Guild Wars store, each costing $10 in the US, €9 in Europe, and £6 in Great Britain. Slots can be used to create characters in any chapter the player owns on his or her account, as slots are not reserved for use in specific chapters.In general, a chapter opens a new continent in the game world of Guild Wars. Each chapter is entirely separate, using its own map and having its own storyline and quests. A character is created on one of these continents and, after a certain point in that continent’s storyline, is able to travel to the other continents to play through those storylines (assuming those chapters have been added to the account).In addition, Guild Wars uses a system of skill sets,Guild wars Gold which has been likened to the card game Magic: The Gathering. There are roughly 240 “core” skills that appear in every chapter, but there are many more that can only be obtained by playing in one chapter’s continent or another. Any Elementalist can learn the spell Fireball, for example. However, only players who own Prophecies have access to the spell Chain Lightning, while Factions owners have access to the spell Lightning Hammer.ProfessionsAll Guild Wars chapters include the ability to play one of the six core professions—Warrior, Ranger, Elementalist, Necromancer, Mesmer, and Monk. The first chapter, Prophecies, allows only these six professions to be created; but each new chapter has introduced two new professions. In Factions, players could create an Assassin or a Ritualist, Guild wars Gold while Nightfall players can make a Dervish or a Paragon.A player who owns only Nightfall does not have access to the Assassin or Ritualist professions for their characters, while a player who owns only Factions can not make a Dervish or Paragon. However, players who own multiple chapters have access to all professions, and can use a character from one chapter in the missions of another. For example, someone who owns all three chapters can create an Assassin in the Factions continent, and then transport their Assassin to the Nightfall or Prophecies continents.I only want to buy one chapter. Which one should I get?There are many factors to consider here. I’ve put together a small table for reference, with each line explained in detail below.Guild wars Gold ((Note: The term “PvE” stands for Player versus Environment, and refers to the adventure part of the game where players group together to complete quests and battle AI-controlled enemies. “PvP”, short for Player versus Player, refers to the side of the game in which human players can fight other human players in direct competition.))
For the new player on a budget: Which Guild Wars Should You Buy?~by RedSo you want to play Guild WarsGreat! If you feel you already know how the game works and just need an opinion between your options, jump down to the section entitled “I only want to buy one chapter”. Otherwise, before deciding what version of Guild Wars to buy,Guild wars Gold there are some important things you need to know.-) Guild Wars is completely online. You must be connected to the internet to play Guild Wars. The game won’t even load if it can’t sense an internet connection.-) Each Guild Wars chapter purchased is free to use and play. There are no periodic subscription charges. Ever.-) Guild Wars accounts are not allowed to be sold by their original owner. All purchases should be new units from stores. Using eBay and other such methods to gain an account is forbidden, and may result in your newly acquired account being banned for illegal activity!What’s with this Chapter business?Guild wars Gold Isn’t Guild Wars just one game?There are multiple “chapters” in Guild Wars. A new chapter is released every six months, and each includes entirely separate lands to explore, missions to complete, and skills to learn. Your game account consists of a series of access keys that determine what chapters you have purchased, and thus what lands you can access.You only need one chapter to play Guild Wars, as each is a “stand-alone” game, much like movies like Star Wars and Return of the Jedi can be enjoyed on their own. At the same time, much like the movie series, owning and playing through multiple chapters is more rewarding than owning only one.NamesThe terminology can be a bit confusing. Guild wars Gold At first, the game was released in a box simply entitled “Guild Wars”. When the second chapter was released a year later entitled “Guild Wars: Factions”, the game designers decided that all chapters should have a subtitle, including the original release. They renamed the original chapter “Guild Wars: Prophecies”.When someone says “Guild Wars” now, they are referring to the entire game world that spans across the chapters. The original release is usually called simply Prophecies, the next Factions, and the most recent Nightfall. Sometimes they are also referred to as chapter one, two, and three (C1, C2, and C3) respectively.Guild wars Gold Much like the original Star Wars can be found in a variety of editions (full screen, wide screen, director’s cut, collector’s, etc.), the chapters of Guild Wars have multiple editions. The first chapter, Prophecies, can be found in boxes that read “Guild Wars”, “Guild Wars: Collector’s Edition”, “Guild Wars: Game of the Year Edition”, and so forth—but they are all the same chapter, with only minor differences between them.ChaptersWhen you purchase your first Guild Wars game, you will create a gaming account tied to an email address (or a PlayNC.com account) and a password. As you purchase additional chapters of Guild Wars, you can add the content of those chapters to your current account.Guild wars Gold Each account starts with four character slots for the first chapter, and two more slots are added each time a new chapter is attached to the account. Also, additional slots can be purchased from the in-game Guild Wars store, each costing $10 in the US, €9 in Europe, and £6 in Great Britain. Slots can be used to create characters in any chapter the player owns on his or her account, as slots are not reserved for use in specific chapters.In general, a chapter opens a new continent in the game world of Guild Wars. Each chapter is entirely separate, using its own map and having its own storyline and quests. A character is created on one of these continents and, after a certain point in that continent’s storyline, is able to travel to the other continents to play through those storylines (assuming those chapters have been added to the account).Guild wars Gold In addition, Guild Wars uses a system of skill sets, which has been likened to the card game Magic: The Gathering. There are roughly 240 “core” skills that appear in every chapter, but there are many more that can only be obtained by playing in one chapter’s continent or another. Any Elementalist can learn the spell Fireball, for example. However, only players who own Prophecies have access to the spell Chain Lightning, while Factions owners have access to the spell Lightning Hammer.ProfessionsAll Guild Wars chapters include the ability to play one of the six core professions—Warrior, Ranger, Elementalist, Necromancer, Mesmer, and Monk. The first chapter, Prophecies, allows only these six professions to be created; but each new chapter has introduced two new professions. In Factions, players could create an Assassin or a Ritualist,Guild wars Gold while Nightfall players can make a Dervish or a Paragon.A player who owns only Nightfall does not have access to the Assassin or Ritualist professions for their characters, while a player who owns only Factions can not make a Dervish or Paragon. However, players who own multiple chapters have access to all professions, and can use a character from one chapter in the missions of another. For example, someone who owns all three chapters can create an Assassin in the Factions continent, and then transport their Assassin to the Nightfall or Prophecies continents.I only want to buy one chapter. Which one should I get?There are many factors to consider here. I’ve put together a small table for reference, Guild wars Gold with each line explained in detail below.((Note: The term “PvE” stands for Player versus Environment, and refers to the adventure part of the game where players group together to complete quests and battle AI-controlled enemies. “PvP”, short for Player versus Player, refers to the side of the game in which human players can fight other human players in direct competition.))
Learning CurveIf this is your first experience with Guild Wars, the learning curve can greatly affect your opinion of the overall game. The original release, Prophecies, is widely considered to have the smoothest learning curve. Due to factors discussed a bit lower on the screen, Prophecies eases players into new aspects of the game much more slowly than the later chapters.Guild wars Gold Factions is widely considered to have the sharpest learning curve, oriented more towards experienced players who played Prophecies than to new players. Nightfall falls somewhere in between the two, but is much closer to the slower pace of Prophecies than to Factions’ haste.PriceLike many video games, the oldest in the series is the cheapest. While the newest Guild Wars release is always sold at the same price level as new releases of other PC and console games, the older games can be found at lower prices. Prophecies is easiest to get cheaply, but recently many stores sold Nightfall at roughly half the usual market price. Members of the GuildWarsGuru.com forums often post a thread in the Riverside forum when a significant price drop occurs, so a would-be player who is tight on cash would do well to shop around and wait for a sale.Guild wars Gold FocusBy the admission of the Guild Wars developers, Arena Net (ANet), Factions was designed to be much more PvP-oriented than either Prophecies or Nightfall. If your ultimate goal is to play through traditional questing and saving the world from crime and the forces of evil, Factions is probably an inferior choice to the other two chapters.PvP ImportanceThe balanced, sophisticated PvP aspect is one of Guild Wars’ strongest selling points. Most PvP is universal, with arenas located at a “core” area called the Battle Isles. However, owning the skills sets from multiple chapters allows you to have more versatility, more options in designing characters for battle. Because Prophecies was around for a year as the original game before new chapters were released,Guild wars Gold its skill set might be termed the “normal” skill set, the default around which most builds are based. For that reason alone, Prophecies may be the most important chapter in terms of being able to PvP competitively.Between the other two, Nightfall skills are perhaps more important than Factions, only because Nightfall is the newest chapter and so those new skills are very prevalent in the PvP scene. As the Nightfall skills become more integrated and players become more familiar with counters to them, this may change. Keeping up on the PvP scene by reading the forums like GuildWarsGuru.com can help players keep tabs on the current trends, but these can change rapidly.Note: Guild wars Gold Though Factions is more PvP-oriented than the other two chapters, the fact is that it will be easier for new players to find help in making builds with only Prophecies skills since it was the only skill set for the first year of Guild Wars, or only Nightfall skills since players were only allowed to use that skill set in the tournament following Nightfall’s release. Hero battles are exclusive to Nightfall. These are matches in which one human player and his three customized AI-controlled henchmen, called Heroes, face off against another team of one human and three Heroes.Alliance Battles are exclusive to Factions. The two tribes in Factions, the Kurzicks and the Luxons, each have an area for players to group together into teams of four. Each Alliance Battle randomly groups three of these teams from each side into a cooperative group of twelve, Guild wars Gold who work together to defeat the opposing group by obtaining more kills and controlling more shrines in the huge arena.ProfessionsAll chapters have access to the six core professions—Warrior, Ranger, Elementalist, Necromancer, Mesmer, and Monk. A player must own Factions to create an Assassin or Ritualist, while only Nightfall owners can create a Dervish or a Paragon.HeroesAs stated above in PvP Importance, only Nightfall offers the use of customizable henchmen called Heroes. All chapters allow you to use AI-controlled “henchmen” to fill out your group; but Heroes allow you to manually use their skills and edit their builds and attributes, as well as individually assign them positions on the map. Heroes are extremely useful for PvE, Guild wars Gold and even have their own PvP arenas called Hero Battles, which allow two human players to fight each other using teams of four: one human player and his or her three Heroes.EnvironmentEach chapter’s setting has been inspired by real world geography and cultures. Prophecies was designed around the traditional medieval setting in the style of King Arthur legends. Factions has an East Asian theme, while Nightfall is a mix of North Africa, Egypt, Middle East, and Greek elements.Storyline, Length of Story, Number of Missions, and GrindWhile there is some debate on whether Prophecies or Nightfall has the better storyline, it is generally accepted that the Factions storyline is inferior to the other chapters. Guild wars Gold The games’ lengths can be roughly measured by the number of missions they contain. While quests in Guild Wars send your party out into the explorable world to perform tasks, missions send your party to a specific zone, where the group must achieve an objective under certain conditions. After a mission is completed, players will either find themselves in the next mission staging area, or else they will receive quests that will lead them to the next mission.Prophecies remains the longest game of the three, with 25 missions in a linear storyline with very little grind but a slow pace. The large number of missions means that players spend a certain amount of time completing several missions in the first area of the game before moving to the next major area. Guild wars Gold Whenever a mission does not directly drop players off at the next mission, the quests they are given are usually direct. There is very little backtracking in Prophecies, as every mission or quest leads the player to someplace new. While Prophecies contains very little grind due to the slow rise in difficulty throughout the game, some players find themselves getting bored with the long story. Still, many players enjoy replaying the Prophecies storyline on new characters again and again.Factions is much shorter, with only 13 missions, two of which are mutually exclusive in the storyline.Guild wars Gold The game may seem longer than it is due to the questing format of Factions. While Prophecies is more straightforward in that it follows a pattern of “Do mission A, follow quest B to arrive at mission C”, Factions tends to send players back and forth between towns before allowing a player to move on to the next mission. As a result, a player will see some areas of the game multiple times while attempting to proceed in the story. Factions contains only one real grind—but it’s a big grind indeed. At one point mid-game, players must accrue 10,000 unspent factions points for their chosen tribe, Guild wars Gold the Kurzicks or the Luxons, before moving on in the story. These 10,000 points take quite some time to gain through quests and Alliance Battles—but factions points are also account-based. The prepared player will take multiple characters to that point in the game, accrue the 10,000 points, and gain access for all characters to the next stage in the story before spending the faction points. Apart from this one grind, replaying Factions on new characters is a relatively quick affair—a fact appreciated by some players, tired of Prophecies’ drawn out story, while others are unsatisfied by the shortness.Nightfall has 20 missions, almost exactly between the numbers in Factions and Prophecies. Like the pair of mutually exclusive missions in Factions, Nightfall features three pairs of missions in which only one is required to proceed.Guild wars Gold There is a grind in Nightfall, in that certain levels of “Sunspear points” are required to pass beyond certain points in the game. However, most players find that, through normal questing and fighting, their characters are already quite close to the quotas asked of them at these points. Because of this, new characters tend not to experience the same need to grind more points that Factions characters might.Runnable and Explorable?Prophecies is unique in that, while the storyline takes players through 25 missions, a player can finish the game by completing only four missions, reached by having someone “run” them between mission points through zones filled with high-level monsters. The game world of Prophecies is very large, with many areas that a player focused only on following the storyline would never see.Guild wars Gold Factions and Nightfall are both not runnable. Access to high-level zones is only obtainable by passing through key points, which themselves only open after certain missions are completed. As a result, players are unable to skip missions in either of the later chapters. However, while Factions is extremely linear in that the completion of one mission opens a new zone which leads to a new mission, Nightfall opens itself to new players in sections. Several missions may be in one area, and the player is free at any time to explore the zones in that area without entering the missions, but may not move forward to the next major area of Nightfall without completing the storyline’s missions.Guild wars Gold SkillsOne major difference between Prophecies and the later chapters is in the acquisition of skills. All chapters utilize skill trainers, which will teach your character a new skill at a cost which starts out low, but rises with each purchase up to a maximum price level.However, Prophecies alone offers new skills and spells as rewards for normal quests throughout most of the game. These ‘free skills’ are a major reason why players will create their warriors or monks in the Prophecies chapter rather than the later chapters.ConclusionEasiest to pick up: Prophecies. The learning curve is much smoother than Factions, and the gameplay less complex in its entirety, while Nightfall gets rather complex towards the end of the storyline.PvE enjoyment: Prophecies and Nightfall. While these two are neck-and-neck among the GuildWarsGuru.com community, Factions is generally agreed to be an inferior game to the other two. While each chapter has its fans, there are many more fans in favor of Prophecies and Nightfall than there are Factions.Guild wars Gold Group play: Nightfall. The largest population of players tends to be in the newest chapter, as old players move on to new content, while new players who have just bought the new chapter have nowhere else to go. Prophecies has seen less of a decline than Factions in terms of people playing in those chapters’ missions, but both have less players than Nightfall does. Of course, when chapter four is released, there will no doubt be a mass migration to that setting, leaving the Nightfall lands less crowded than they are now.Solo play: Prophecies or Factions. While Nightfall’s Heroes make a strong argument in favor of Nightfall being the chapter best suited to the player who would rather avoid grouping with other human players, Nightfall becomes rather difficult near the end of the storyline and drives many players to grouping with others. Guild wars Gold Prophecies largely avoids this. Factions also lends itself to solo play—though not without a degree of frustration in later missions.PvP: Prophecies arguably provides the best base for learning to PvP in Guild Wars’ environment, simply because older players are familiar with using builds made only from the Prophecies skill set, when it was the only available chapter—but note that most serious PvP players will insist that all three chapters’ skill sets are necessary for competitive play.Which one should you get?Unless you have a specific reason for choosing another chapter, the original Guild Wars: Prophecies is probably the best choice for introducing yourself to Guild Wars. Nightfall may have more people playing in it now, but much of that crowd will move on to the next chapter when it is released.Guild wars Gold Prophecies has shown that it has staying power, as many old players keep returning to what they consider the Original Guild Wars game. This, combined with the smoother learning curve in Prophecies, make it prime for being the first Guild Wars you’ll play.*"Thanks to JR, King Symeon, Squidget, Inde, and my [MEEP] friends Baratus, Arkantos, Drizz'l, and my mate Rachel for their edits and suggestions."
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