Guild Wars, anyone?

Cafe Society
1

I just couldn’t resist picking up the three-pack of Guild Wars (original and the two expansions) at Sam’s Club for cheap, as I figured I’d get at least as much play out of it as I do with my other games.

I’m still getting my bearings, but so far I love having everything but cities being private instances. It’s great not feeling like I have to fight off everyone and their mother waiting for a certain monster/item to respawn. I’m still kinda iffy on the combat: it’s not the best but it could be worse.

Are there any other Dopers playing this game, who could give me a few tips? (Like, is it really worth hunting up stuff to trade to a collector?)

<< Set phaser on wedgie! >>

2

I’ve been playing for a little over a year (just got my mini-pet birthday presents, yay!!!).

Just starting out tips…

The collector items are very useful when starting to get you some better-quality weapons and armor from collectors, without having to pay for them at a crafter. Resources can be thin as a newbie, so it is often worth it IMO. Later on you will also acquire heroes that join your party, and collector weapons are a good way to kit them out cheaply, high level “perfect” weapons get expensive!

Characters develop quickly with very little “grind” or farming involved, so it is no big deal to start new characters or delete old ones to try out all of the character classes. My wife chronically restarts new characters just to try out new faces and hairstyles :slight_smile:

My favorite chapters in order are Prophecies, Nightfall, and Factions. All of them are great fun, but Factions is the more grindy and clausterphobic of the three, but still definitely worth taking a character through.

My faves are the Mesmer and Ranger.

Look me up online some time:
Five Talent Badger (Ranger)
Monitor Merrimac (Mesmer)

3

I play periodically.

I haven’t gotten the most recent expansion, but probably will at some point.

I find the game very “atmospheric,” and I enjoy wandering the world enjoying the graphics and ambient music/environment.

Fun game, not a ton of ‘grind,’ and no monthly fee! I’ve owned it since shortly after it came out, and go through spurts of playing and non-playing. My characters stay in tact, and I never have to give them my credit card.

4

Oh good: I would hate to think I’m collecting stuff and lugging it about for little reason beyond I tend to be a pack-rat. :slight_smile:

I’ll have to look you up next time I pop on-line: currently I’ve decided to do my newbie char as a Ranger/Necro combo, which so far seems to suit my playing style well.

I think this was one of the major reasons why I was attracted to Guild Wars to begin with: I’d hate to feel like I was just tossing money down the drain just because I wasn’t able to play for awhile.

5

Some tips:

If you like to go at your own pace, with no hurry, then start with Prophecies. Amazing events will unfold for you.

If you would rather power level to the endings, start with Nightfall. You can usually find someone to run you to the docks, where you can get the best armor in the game. Top armor combined with a character class with decent run skills (i.e. Ranger), allows you to run yourself through and past a lot of missions for easy XP. As soon as you can, unlock the boat to Cantha (Factions), where again, the run skills allow you to accumulate fast XP for little to no fighting around Kaineng Center. As long as you don’t complete Seek out Brother Tosai, the Am Fah gangs won’t fight you. So, with just your heroes and henchment, you can completely all the missions in Bukdek Byway and Wajjun Bazaar and collect a lot of XP, gold, and Commendations. Don’t ever sell Commendations to other players, no matter how much they beg. You can always trade them to the Imperial Quartermaster collector for something valuable, like a Superior Salvage Kit, when you can either use or sell.

After doing those run missions, you should be at max level, with max weapons and armor and lots of max henchmen. Then, you can leisurely go back through any mission or quest you like. At this point, it’s fun to gain skills (or capture Elite skills) to supercharge your build. Once you’re supercharged, it’s fun to PvP in places like Fort Aspenwood or solo the Underworld.

Finally, guildwiki.org gives you all the info you need, although it can take more time to read through it all than to simply play the game.

Some good character classes to start with: Necro / Ranger (raise minions), Elementalist / Ranger (nuker skills, I like the burn spells like Immolate best), Ritualist / Ranger (spam spirits) or Ranger / Any for a Beastmaster with pet skills.

I believe being a ranger secondary gets you Storm Chaser, one of the best early run skills. Combined with Run As One, and you can run almost non-stop. Warriors can also run (Sprint + Charge), but I find that class insufficiently flexible. At some point, you should definitely get the Elementalist’s Flame Djinn or Air Djinn haste skills… those are the best run skills in the game.

A monk build can also work good, because if you’re good enough at healing, you can pass most quests and missions due to simple attrition, and other players will want you to join although you may find healing to be a slower route.

6

Lots of good stuff, thank you! Looks like I stumbled across a good path for me then, as I started with Prophecies first. I figure I could always power my way through after I’ve done it the slow and meandering way first.

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I’ve been playing for a little over a year and I like the game.

I would also suggest starting with Nightfall if only for the fact that you can get some heroes to help you quest on your own. I have generally found that 99% of quests can be done alone with the heroes and henchies. Missions are something that you generally need to do with other people.

The combat system is pretty good. By only allowing eight skills you need to plan your build and also try to complement anyone else you may be playing with. Specific builds work in specific situations. Of course the main reason to get as many skills as possible in PvE is to be able to use those skills in PvP. Capping elite skills is a must even if you are not going to play PvP.

I’ll second what GargoyleWB said about using collectors drops as a way to get decent armour and weapons early on. I’ll also second what The Controvert said about Monks. There is always a need for healing monks on most quests and pretty much every mission. Also the GuildWiki is a great resource.

Look me up and I’d be willing to help you out if you need it.

Oliver Jonas Queen is my Ranger and my best all around character. He can go anywhere in the Guild Wars world. I also have pretty much all other character classes, but they haven’t all finished all 3 parts yet. My ele and my necro can go most places.

I’ll add Five Talent Badger to my friends list.

8

Thanks all!

At the moment, my only char is Valeria Leila, currently puttering around the first area in Prophecies (gathering goodies for the collectors). Already I’ve completed almost all of the quests in that area, with the exception of any that are lurking in the Northlands.

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Just curious: with all the interest in WOW, why did you folks choose GW?

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Easy, wonderlust: no monthly fees, no credit card information required. No feeling like you must play every day/week in order to get your money’s worth.

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I’ve been playing since March, and love the fact that I can play for as short or as long as I want, as often as I get the chance, and don’t feel like I’m wasting my money (because I’m not). One of the things that drew me to the game was the lack of a monthly fee. I started with Prophecies, and I’m a bit over halfway through the storyline. I enjoy taking my time going through the game, without feeling like I *need *to level up, or get the best armor or weapons, etc. Sometimes I just log on and run around for awhile admiring the fabulous scenery.

Right now I’m just playing one character, a Ranger/Elementalist. I usually just run with henchmen, because it’s often tough to find a good group of players. If any Dopers want to look me up, my IGN is Subur Ankton.

12

Nightsong, you did merge your account, right? It’s a very fair trade-off. If you put all the “chapters” on one account, then your characters will have the ability (in time, it varies per chapter) to travel to the other lands to adventure, get skills, and armor. Guildwiki is a VERY useful site, bookmark it. Don’t read ahead on the plot though, (Peek at a mission or quest if you are stuck.) it’s much, much nicer to get that as you go along. People don’t spoil the plot for others either. (Or not that I have seen.) I’ve been playing for over a year now. Guildwiki is a good resource to look up the stats on various armor, what materials it takes to make the armor, and even how it looks dyed. :slight_smile:

ETA: The fact that you don’t have as many character slots if you merge does not nullify the benefits of being able to go to other lands.

13

Yup, since I got all three at once I simply kept adding the keys to the account I created instead of creating separate accounts.

Heh, at this rate we probably have enough Dopers on GW to start up a guild. Don’t know what kinds of benefits a guild gives you in this game yet though, beyond getting a nify cape to wear.

14

It sounds like you are still pre-sear. Pretty early in the game still. Most people won’t be able to do anything there because that early part is something you can’t go back to. I still have a pre-searing character because I want to try and get the Legendary Defender of Ascalon title.

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Just out of of there earlier this evening: figured that while there was probably stuff I missed, that’s what new characters are for.

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This Pre-Searing Guide has checklists for skills and quests. It’s not a bad idea to do all the secondary profession quests before taking the one you prefer. That “unlocks” those skills, which is handy later on because it saves you having to purchase them.

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Also…Accomplishments and quests in GW are more “bite-sized” as well, most cooperative missions and quests can be done in an hour or less. There are a few higher-level areas that are multi-hour committments, but they are purely optional for players that want that kind of thing. So I can sit down for a half-hour or hour and actually accomplish something in the game.

18

I’ve got a guild. The rest of my Guildies have moved on to other games. I went to a bunch (DAoC, EQ, CoH, AO) but always come back to GW. Since I am the only active one in my guild we could use mine as the SDMB Guild if you guys are interested. Got a fully decked out Guild Hall, capes, the whole bit. I only PvE but if you guys want to PvP or GvG more power to ya (I’ll even step up and give it a shot, but I warn you now I suck at PvP).

I am usually on either with my new mesmer Zatanna the Stunner (who I’ll be moving out of presearing in the next day or so), my warrior Miss Terry Lady, or my elementalist Waterwind Earthfire.

19

Besides the no monthly fee thing, I think the storyline is engaging and the scenery is beautiful.

The quests are generally quite short or they are broken up into decently short parts so you don’t need to invest a huge amount of time to get a feeling of accomplishment and moving along in the story.

And, for me anyway, there is great replayability in the game - I have been through this early part of the game well over a dozen times trying out different class combinations and even though I know what’s around every corner I am not bored and it doesn’t feel like a real grind. I think that is a huge mark of a well thought out game.