Posted By: GuybrushThreepwood
Guild Wars (long post) - 04/24/09 02:48 PM
Happy 4th Anniversary, Guild Wars.
Anet is celebrating by adding more storage, Zaishen Quests, Zaishen Menagerie and coming April 28th, for those who have actually been playing 4 years (only 7 months for me), a new series of mini pets for Birthday presents.
For those who haven't played it, Guild Wars is a multiple player online game. It has two modes, Role Playing (RPG) and Player versus Player (PVP). For RPG mode there are 3 campaigns and 1 expansion pack. RPG characters start at level 1, with starter armor and weapon. PVP characters are level 20 with max armor and max damage weapon. RPG characters can go PVP but PVP characters cannot go RPG. Level 20 is the maximum level. After level 20, RPG characters gain extra skill points.
Guild Wars: Prophecies takes place in an European style setting and has the longest story (some people think its too long, I don't, I've beaten it 4 times). There are 6 core professions to chose from, these 6 are also available in the two other campaigns.
Guild Wars: Factions is Asian. You will have to chose which of two factions to help (actually you can help both). The Guilds are based on these two factions, Luxon and Kurzick. These two cultures are constantly at war. When you join guild it will be aligned with one side or the other, this does not mean you can't do both sides quests or missions but in Aliance Battles you will always be on the side of your guild. I think Factions is the hardest of the three campaigns (others think its Nightfall). Factions introduces two character professions (classes) only available in Factions (though characters can leave to other campaigns and expansion pack), Assassin and Ritualist.
Guild Wars: Nightfall takes place in an African setting. Introduces two new character professions, Dervish and Paragon, which can only be created in Nightfall but which can journey to other campaigns and expansion pack. Nightfall also introduces computer controled Heroes, which once unlocked for a character, can be chosen to accompany that character during quests and missions (in all 3 campaigns and expansion pack). Heroes differ from henchmen, in that player chooses hero's skills and can change hero's equipment. Each player character can only have up to 3 heroes in his/her party at a time.
Guild Wars: Eye of the North expands existing campaigns with new areas, new quests and missions. Must create a Prophecies, Factions, or Nightfall character which can journey to the Eye of the North upon reaching level 10 (though better to wait until level 20). A major portion of the Eye of the North storyline only makes sense if you've played Prophecies, you won't understand Gwen if you have not met her as a child in Prophecies. Eye of the North introduces new NPC races which will be playable characters in the upcoming Guild Wars 2.
Character professions:
Warrior, specializes in sword, axe, or hammer, can use shield if not using hammer
Ranger, different types of bows, can have a pet which fights
Monk, healer, protector or smiter
Elementalist, specializing in air, fire, earth or water magic
Mesmer, illusion, domination, inspiration magics, first two damaging magic, third supporting other characters
Necromancer, death (mostly undead minions), blood or curses magic
Assassin (Factions), uses twin daggers, less armor than warrior
Ritualst (Factions), can attack with weapons spells, lightning spells, summon spirits or do healing (though not as good as monk)
Dervish (Nightfall), armed with scythe, which can hit 3 targets at once
Paragon (Nightfall), spear and shield, number of shouts which aid other characters in party
The primary profession is chosen when you create your character. Each campaign has a point at which you will choose a secondary profession. Your armor will always be that of your primary profession (warriors have best armor, elementalists worst). There is on attribute of each profession that is only available for your primary profession. Example: strength is only available for primary warrior, so warrior/ranger would have strength but ranger/warrior would not.
Warrior: strength
Ranger: expertise
Monk: divine favor
Elementalist: energy storage
Mesmer: fast casting
Necromnancer: soul reaping
Assassin: critical strike
Ritualist: spawning power
Dervish: mysticism
Paragon: leadership
(edit) I forgot the mention that in each campaign there comes a point at which your character gains the ability to change their secondary profession. The primary profession cannot be changed. When you change your secondary you gain the core skills for that new profession and temporarily lose the skills from your original second. Don't worry if you change back all the skills you had become available again. A Prophecies or Nightfall character can get Assassin or Ritualist as a secondary by going to Factions and doing the required mission. A Prophecies or Factions character can go to Nightfall and do the quest that allows changing second to Dervish or Paragon. In Prophecies to change secondary you have to do a quest given by an NPC expert in the profession you want, 4 quests if you want to open all four professions you haven't tried. In Nightfall and Factions you pay 500 gold pieces for each profession you want to try, that's 3 platinum pieces to access all 6 professions. My Prophecies characters get all core professions, but so far my Factions characters have only bought 1 new secondary and my Nightfall none.
Warriors, assassins and dervish are melee types, go charging into battle. Warriors have best armor (against physical damage) and can take most damage before dying. Assassins can chain attacks doing large amounts of damage to a single target (spiking). A dervish can hit multiple targets with a single scythe sweep. Although some warrior skills do use energy, most warrior attack skills use adrenaline instead, unlike energy which a character starts with, adrenaline has to be generated during combat. Each time a warrior strikes some adrenaline is gained, also each time a warrior is hit adrenaline is gained.
Ranger and Paragon are ranged attackers, ranger with bow, paragon with spear. A ranger can also have a pet which will attack its enemies. The other professions are spell casters, who should stay in the background casting spells at targets being distracted by the melee types. Rangers have best armor protection against elemental damage, warriors worst, so ranger will survive fire spells longer than warrior, but warrior can take more sword hits than ranger. Like warriors, paragons have adrenaline skills which don't function until the paragon has been in combat for awhile.
Elementalists have most energy (they need it), warriors least. Fire spells tend to hit multiple targets. Air spells (lightening) often have armor penetration increasing their damage to a single target. Water and earth skill are more defensive. A fire experimentalist is often referred to as a nuker, for ability to hit multiple targets with single spell. Air elemantlists are better spikers (taking down a single target fast). Fire spells cost more energy and are slower to cast then air.
Mesmers are difficult to play and very annoying when fighting them. Enemy mesmers tend to drain energy and do damage at same time, making them hard to combat if you're skills are energy based.
Necromancers are best known as Minion Masters, using death magic to summon undead minions to attack their enemies. Unlike heroes and pets, which can be directed at specific targets and can be made to retreat, minions will attack nearest target and cannot be called off, they fight to the death. Not all necros are MM's though. Cursing necros have skills that ignore armor when doing damage. Blood necros can provide extra energy to other spell casters.
Most other players expect monks to be healers but monks can also be protectors, using skills to prevent damage in the first place, or smiters, specializing in skills that do armor ignoring holy damage.
Ritualists can do damage with lighting skills, enhance their own or other players weapons, summon spirits to fight for them or do some healing (though not usually as good as monk). Unlike minions which follow the necromancer, spirits are rooted in place and don't follow the ritualist unless he/she has a special skill to teleport them.
Its possible to combine any two professions but of course some combinations are more useful than others. For the most part combining melee and spell caster doesn't work well since melee characters don't have much energy. There are a lot of warrior/monks the theory being monk provides self healing, but I find that the warrior strength skill "Lion's Comfort" (which uses adrenaline not energy) works better for warrior than using warrior's limited energy on monk spell, without divine favor.
I have played all professions. I have most experience with elementalist. Least with ritualist. I have characters in all three campaigns, have beat Prophecies four times and Factions once. Have not beat Nightfall or Eye of the North yet.
Anet is celebrating by adding more storage, Zaishen Quests, Zaishen Menagerie and coming April 28th, for those who have actually been playing 4 years (only 7 months for me), a new series of mini pets for Birthday presents.
For those who haven't played it, Guild Wars is a multiple player online game. It has two modes, Role Playing (RPG) and Player versus Player (PVP). For RPG mode there are 3 campaigns and 1 expansion pack. RPG characters start at level 1, with starter armor and weapon. PVP characters are level 20 with max armor and max damage weapon. RPG characters can go PVP but PVP characters cannot go RPG. Level 20 is the maximum level. After level 20, RPG characters gain extra skill points.
Guild Wars: Prophecies takes place in an European style setting and has the longest story (some people think its too long, I don't, I've beaten it 4 times). There are 6 core professions to chose from, these 6 are also available in the two other campaigns.
Guild Wars: Factions is Asian. You will have to chose which of two factions to help (actually you can help both). The Guilds are based on these two factions, Luxon and Kurzick. These two cultures are constantly at war. When you join guild it will be aligned with one side or the other, this does not mean you can't do both sides quests or missions but in Aliance Battles you will always be on the side of your guild. I think Factions is the hardest of the three campaigns (others think its Nightfall). Factions introduces two character professions (classes) only available in Factions (though characters can leave to other campaigns and expansion pack), Assassin and Ritualist.
Guild Wars: Nightfall takes place in an African setting. Introduces two new character professions, Dervish and Paragon, which can only be created in Nightfall but which can journey to other campaigns and expansion pack. Nightfall also introduces computer controled Heroes, which once unlocked for a character, can be chosen to accompany that character during quests and missions (in all 3 campaigns and expansion pack). Heroes differ from henchmen, in that player chooses hero's skills and can change hero's equipment. Each player character can only have up to 3 heroes in his/her party at a time.
Guild Wars: Eye of the North expands existing campaigns with new areas, new quests and missions. Must create a Prophecies, Factions, or Nightfall character which can journey to the Eye of the North upon reaching level 10 (though better to wait until level 20). A major portion of the Eye of the North storyline only makes sense if you've played Prophecies, you won't understand Gwen if you have not met her as a child in Prophecies. Eye of the North introduces new NPC races which will be playable characters in the upcoming Guild Wars 2.
Character professions:
Warrior, specializes in sword, axe, or hammer, can use shield if not using hammer
Ranger, different types of bows, can have a pet which fights
Monk, healer, protector or smiter
Elementalist, specializing in air, fire, earth or water magic
Mesmer, illusion, domination, inspiration magics, first two damaging magic, third supporting other characters
Necromancer, death (mostly undead minions), blood or curses magic
Assassin (Factions), uses twin daggers, less armor than warrior
Ritualst (Factions), can attack with weapons spells, lightning spells, summon spirits or do healing (though not as good as monk)
Dervish (Nightfall), armed with scythe, which can hit 3 targets at once
Paragon (Nightfall), spear and shield, number of shouts which aid other characters in party
The primary profession is chosen when you create your character. Each campaign has a point at which you will choose a secondary profession. Your armor will always be that of your primary profession (warriors have best armor, elementalists worst). There is on attribute of each profession that is only available for your primary profession. Example: strength is only available for primary warrior, so warrior/ranger would have strength but ranger/warrior would not.
Warrior: strength
Ranger: expertise
Monk: divine favor
Elementalist: energy storage
Mesmer: fast casting
Necromnancer: soul reaping
Assassin: critical strike
Ritualist: spawning power
Dervish: mysticism
Paragon: leadership
(edit) I forgot the mention that in each campaign there comes a point at which your character gains the ability to change their secondary profession. The primary profession cannot be changed. When you change your secondary you gain the core skills for that new profession and temporarily lose the skills from your original second. Don't worry if you change back all the skills you had become available again. A Prophecies or Nightfall character can get Assassin or Ritualist as a secondary by going to Factions and doing the required mission. A Prophecies or Factions character can go to Nightfall and do the quest that allows changing second to Dervish or Paragon. In Prophecies to change secondary you have to do a quest given by an NPC expert in the profession you want, 4 quests if you want to open all four professions you haven't tried. In Nightfall and Factions you pay 500 gold pieces for each profession you want to try, that's 3 platinum pieces to access all 6 professions. My Prophecies characters get all core professions, but so far my Factions characters have only bought 1 new secondary and my Nightfall none.
Warriors, assassins and dervish are melee types, go charging into battle. Warriors have best armor (against physical damage) and can take most damage before dying. Assassins can chain attacks doing large amounts of damage to a single target (spiking). A dervish can hit multiple targets with a single scythe sweep. Although some warrior skills do use energy, most warrior attack skills use adrenaline instead, unlike energy which a character starts with, adrenaline has to be generated during combat. Each time a warrior strikes some adrenaline is gained, also each time a warrior is hit adrenaline is gained.
Ranger and Paragon are ranged attackers, ranger with bow, paragon with spear. A ranger can also have a pet which will attack its enemies. The other professions are spell casters, who should stay in the background casting spells at targets being distracted by the melee types. Rangers have best armor protection against elemental damage, warriors worst, so ranger will survive fire spells longer than warrior, but warrior can take more sword hits than ranger. Like warriors, paragons have adrenaline skills which don't function until the paragon has been in combat for awhile.
Elementalists have most energy (they need it), warriors least. Fire spells tend to hit multiple targets. Air spells (lightening) often have armor penetration increasing their damage to a single target. Water and earth skill are more defensive. A fire experimentalist is often referred to as a nuker, for ability to hit multiple targets with single spell. Air elemantlists are better spikers (taking down a single target fast). Fire spells cost more energy and are slower to cast then air.
Mesmers are difficult to play and very annoying when fighting them. Enemy mesmers tend to drain energy and do damage at same time, making them hard to combat if you're skills are energy based.
Necromancers are best known as Minion Masters, using death magic to summon undead minions to attack their enemies. Unlike heroes and pets, which can be directed at specific targets and can be made to retreat, minions will attack nearest target and cannot be called off, they fight to the death. Not all necros are MM's though. Cursing necros have skills that ignore armor when doing damage. Blood necros can provide extra energy to other spell casters.
Most other players expect monks to be healers but monks can also be protectors, using skills to prevent damage in the first place, or smiters, specializing in skills that do armor ignoring holy damage.
Ritualists can do damage with lighting skills, enhance their own or other players weapons, summon spirits to fight for them or do some healing (though not usually as good as monk). Unlike minions which follow the necromancer, spirits are rooted in place and don't follow the ritualist unless he/she has a special skill to teleport them.
Its possible to combine any two professions but of course some combinations are more useful than others. For the most part combining melee and spell caster doesn't work well since melee characters don't have much energy. There are a lot of warrior/monks the theory being monk provides self healing, but I find that the warrior strength skill "Lion's Comfort" (which uses adrenaline not energy) works better for warrior than using warrior's limited energy on monk spell, without divine favor.
I have played all professions. I have most experience with elementalist. Least with ritualist. I have characters in all three campaigns, have beat Prophecies four times and Factions once. Have not beat Nightfall or Eye of the North yet.
