I’ve been trying GW again recently, and enjoying it more this time around. I played it a bit when it first came out but it never really grabbed me. This time I started fresh with a Necro and suddenly the game clicked for me. I was also amused to discover that my old characters received about 90k gold worth of minipets through birthday gifts, so that was nice.
I’m still trying to learn the game, but wanted to see who plays here, and if there was any major info I should be aware of. I only have Prophecies at the moment, but I’m thinking about picking up the other campaigns.
I played Prophesies back in the day. My advice is simple: don’t play a Warrior (good class, but way too many of them) and don’t play a Mesmer (fine for PvP, but no one wants them in PvE). If you always want to have a party, place a Monk. When it comes to elementalists, chances are you want to focus on fire which lets you do area damage, though a small portion of elementalists can use Air. No one I played with ever used Water or Earth. Of course, you are currently playing a Necro. Lots of fun ways to play the class, and I’m not familiar with all of them. Word of warning, though. Necos might be the only class capable of restoring magic (or was it energy?). As such, know you’re going to get invited into a lot more groups if you focus on being a “battery” necro. Finally, no matter what class you are, ALWAYS EQUIP A RESURRECTION ABILITY.
Actually, all of this advice might be null and void with the new classes and content that I haven’t tried yet (and probably ever), but it should be good for the original campaign. That, and make sure you do the numbered missions. More than just an XP boost, these things will make it much easier to access more hubs of the map.
Just play it and enjoy yourself. I’ve posted my ign before, but if you contact Aeon The Piglet I can point you to a pve guild or two. Much easier than standing around in Lion’s Arch or Ascalon and trying to find good people.
Make sure you grab henches and kill stuff. Don’t worry about maxing out a pimp leet build or whatever if you are still in the newbie parts of the game - just try stuff out. If you get stuck and need a build, I’d be happy to give you a pvp optimized one, but seriously consider trial and error before hunting up something awesome. It gives you a better understanding of what goes with what and why, which will serve you in good stead later.
Don’t expect to play in too many pugs. With hard mode, heroes, and a dearth of people buying Proph, many areas are empty (or full of people not interested in playing with you due to an excessive loathing for people they don’t know) - yet another reason to join a guild.
In the later parts of the game it becomes easier to get into a group.
One last thing. Make sure to try out pvp in Random Arena. You may or may not dislike pvp in other mmos or genres. I strongly encourage you to try it out here before you decide to hate it. Random Arena is simple, easy to get into, and very addictive. Plus, if you unlock skills through pvp you’ll find it makes it possible to buy them earlier than you would normally be able to for pve - definitely a bonus as a necro.
And when you hit 20 and start wanting to cap elite skills, I enjoy hitting the “old skool” zones of prophecies, so feel free to hit me up.
My advice would be to pick up Nightfall, so that you can get Heroes in your party. Also, I think Nightfall and Factions were much better done PvE-wise than Prophecies.
If you ever get into PvP, or want to try it, toss Embryo Pvpstyle a PM.
I prefer the skill rewards in Prophecies to the massive money/xp rewards in Factions and Nightfall. I think that Prophecies is a good way to start because you are rewarded with so many skills by the time you get to the third area (which is, what, like 7 or 8 missions in?) that you really appreciate the way the game is designed to play.
Prophecies dumps a whole bunch of skills in your lap and lets you play with them. In the other campaigns you are responsible for buying most of the skills you will use, and I think it’s a little harder to see the big picture that way. Heroes are great, and I love the art in Factions, but I prefer the way Prophecies eases you into play.
All that said, I haven’t played in a while and have never been anywhere near as serious about it as Aeon or Sofaer. If you are looking for somebody to group with, let me know and I might hop on for a while the next few nights. In game you can look for “Cry for Attention” or PM me your character or whatever.
Thanks for the tips, folks. It sounds like I probably want to seek out a PvE guild so that I can tackle the coop missions in the campaign more easily, so expect a message from Gianna Mordova in game.
Nightfall sounds like it adds some pretty cool stuff, though it’s a bit frustrating that it hasn’t dropped in price at all. Oh well.
I don’t know if this deal is still going on, but it sounded like a good one at the time. Since you already bought the original game, it’s less of a steal.
I also saw that Nightfall is $39 at Walmart and $35 at Fry’s. Not a huge discount, but it’s something.
So is anyone still playing? My wife got a gift certificate to Target for me, and while browsing their limited computer game selection I came across Guild Wars: Nightfall and decided to pick it up.
I made a dervish named Wader M Showalter if anyone is still into the game…
I only play it every once in a while now that I’ve burned through the main quest and all the expansions. I’m always around for holiday events, though. Those are fun.
I’m still playing. My necro main is now level 20 and all suited out as a minion master. I was going to try the ever-popular 55/SS farming build, but apparently the recent patch may have nerfed it. Oh well. Hordes of undead servants is fun too.
