Guild wars lowdown

[Torpid2]

Hello. Im new to pc gaming and was after some information about guild wars from people who play it a lot.
I have asked a few people which mmog they would recommend and the answer is usually Warcraft or guild wars (or the odd- eve online?) I had a quick look on play.com and found that there are about 5 different versions/expansions to buy, so I was hoping that one/some of you lovely people would give me a sort of biog of guild wars and let me know which one I would NEED first, and which I can buy later.
Or would you recommend that I just coff up £7 a month and get warcraft?
Thanks.

[mike_w]

You NEED only one of the Guild Wars games. Each one is playable by itself. In order, they are:

-Guild Wars, usually called Prophecies
-Guild Wars Factions
-Guild Wars Nightfall

[kasavien]

just to clarify a bit, each guild wars game is independent, and they can be played without any of the others, although they are based in the same game world and you can use all your characters in each of the games

[Torpid2]

thanks for your replies.
Which one is most popular/has the most users do you think?
Best to start with prophecies?

[Ceefer]

I would definitely recommend going for the original Guild Wars (later known as Prophesies) first. It has a very good 'tutorial' section at the beginning (known as 'pre-searing' - you'll find out why after you finish it), a very good storyline and the whole process of gaining experience and 'levelling up' has a natural progression if you play through the missions and quests in their logical order.

I think the second chapter ,'Factions' ,would probably be a poor starting choice because the 'tutorial' part, which all takes place on an island separate from the mainland and the main storyline, is very fast and furious. Then, after moving to the mainland I found Factions tedious to play because new skills can only be bought rather than gained through quests. This meant spending time, a lot of time, doing trivial quests (eg find my lost toy bear!) to gain experience and gold. Additionally, the rewards for finishing missions are based on the time spent to complete the missions - I like to take my time and smell the roses, so this didn't suit me at all.

The third chapter, 'Nightfall' (which I haven't completed yet) lies somewhere between the two. From what I've played of it so far I think the introductory part, which is something more than a tutorial, and which also takes place on a starter island, is very well paced with an interesting storyline and important new aspects to the game (heroes, insignias etc).

Go for Prophesies, you won't be disappointed. I just started a new Prophesies character last week and was very pleasantly surprised by how well-populated pre-searing Ascalon (the place where you start) is at the moment. Still lots of people playing!

[Captain Fizz]

Well... I would say Nightfall.
I've played GW since Prophecies. It is the best story-line out of them all and the missions are 'harder' than Nightfall.

Nightfall I did most of the missions first time without even knowing what was coming up. Occasionally a few tries at some.
(Last mission - No-one died the 2 times I did it with Hero's/Hench)

But in Nightfall you get Hero's.
A lot of PuG's (Pick up groups of randoms) are terrible really.
I find it much easier to just use Henchies (in Phophecies) or Hero's/Henchies (Nightfall). Hero's you can decide what skills they use and have them compliment each other.

For Storyline + Most enjoyable missions = Prophecies
For easier missions, but hero's and slightly better weapons = Nightfall

I think I just convinced myself that Prophecies is better again. >.<

Don't get Factions.

[snedger]

I started playing the first one (I still call it Guild Wars) again at the weekend and it's still very popular.
More French and German speakers in the European English speaking districts than I remember, but still loads of people to hook up with.

[Torpid2]

I decided to go for eve online instead. I've played enough fantasy games for a while, gone sci-fi instead.
Thanks for the info anyway. Will probably get around to playing GW in the future

[TheBuZZard]

Nightfall is the one to go for because of the Heros.

[Captain Fizz]

I decided to go for eve online instead.
...
Will probably get around to playing GW in the future

LOL - You have started Eve... It'll be a year before you play anything else!
(It's a 'longer' game than X2!)

Incidentally - 93.7% of Elona explored.

[Ferral]

I loved Prophecies and have explored around the 90% mark myself. As for Factions it is quite tedious at the min with a lot of it at the start just constantly running around the shanty town streets.

Pushed onto the temple where you have to rescue the gods souls but havn't managed to get into a decent team yet to complete it. Hopefully I will move onto the bit with the Kurzicks and Luskans soon and a few different environments.

Still got to pick up Nightfall, will get it once I get through the other RPG's I have installed on my PC ! Neverwinter Nights 2 and the 2 expansions for the first one, finish the main campaign on Oblivion and also Knights of the Nine, Dungeon Siege 2, Fable and finally as mentioned Factions. Quite a bit to be working on before I pick up Nightfall !

[Captain Fizz]

Pushed onto the temple where you have to rescue the gods souls but havn't managed to get into a decent team yet to complete it. Hopefully I will move onto the bit with the Kurzicks and Luskans soon and a few different environments.

No-one likes the FIBUA area. (Fighting in Built up Areas)

Once you pass the temple, factions gets a lot better IMHO.

For a team for the temple - A MM is exceedingly handy as well as a blood Necro with WoB (One or two wells per fight as not to harm the MM's production too much).

I did it with hench with my Monk - If you need a hand gimme a shout in-game - Captain Fizz is main char but been playing with 'Animate Corpses' mostly these days.
(Can use the hero's as MM's etc so makes it much easier)