Mastering Guild Wars: Getting Started

You may be wandering around the internets wondering how to get started with Guild Wars. You might be a new player who recently purchased the original game to gear up for the much anticipated sequel. Or you may be a veteran returning after 5 years and in desperate need of a refresher. Either way, you may be a bit confused with how to get started with the game or understand some of the newer mechanics. Ideally, this guide will be for any and all players of Guild Wars, but every foundation needs reinforcement now and then, so we’ll be covering the baby steps for a few posts. Fortunately there truly is a lot to talk about when it comes to the original game while we wait for the much anticipated sequel, so we’ll have lots of posts coming down the tubes.

Depending on which of the campaigns you own, you’ll start off with some different scenarios. I won’t give too much away, but I’ll start off with some basics. Prophecies (first game release) starts you off in a separate time from the main section of the game. It’s sort of like the beginning islands from the other two campaigns, but you don’t really know that until you’ve come to the transition point. Whichever campaign you start off in, the best way to get through the starter areas is to explore towns and pick up every quest available to you. Team up with a friend or grab some henchmen, either way you’ll be sure to have a good time with the cheesy dialogues and rich storyline to work through. If you ever find yourself searching for the next primary quest, or if you’re just completely lost, a good place to start looking is the official wiki. If you don’t find what you’re looking for straight off the bat, I’ve included some links per campaign for the Main quest walkthrough. The best advice I can give to those who don’t want spoilers is to ask a friendly player in game rather than using these links as a primary resource.

The timeline for Guild Wars is highly convoluted (spoilers in the link). Time is always a difficult subject without running into a sentence that gives the whole story away. As such, I’ll be trying to keep most of this spoiler free, which might make this sound a bit too obscure. The release order is a good reference for where to begin in your journey.Prophecies, being the first game in the series, is a good place to start, followed by Factions, and then Nightfall. From time to time you’ll get a notice on your screen displaying that you’ve either moved ahead or behind your character’s timeline. This is mildly helpful but really you can do the campaigns in any order you choose. Throughout the whole timeline, one aspect is consistent; Eye of the North is further in the future compared to the rest of the campaigns. So if you want to save yourself from some spoilers, you may want to leave it for last.

Choosing your class should be a fairly easy conclusion to come to. The core professions are as follows: Monk is a healing class that can also be realigned into smiting with holy damage. Elementalist is a DPS-centric class that, as the name implies, works their way through the four elements to bring down great foes. Mesmers are a tricky class. If you’re coming in from another game, think of a burglar or rogue-type character with casting abilities. That may confuse you even more, but the basis of a Mesmer is hard to pin down as they dish out psychological warfare to disable enemies. Necromancers are a versatile casting profession that deals in death and destruction. From summoning minions out of the bodies of the fallen, to blood rituals and sacrifices, you’ll definitely find a build that tickles your fancy. Rangers are as simple as can be when it comes to explanations. They shoot bows, they set traps, and they commune with nature spirits to aid in their hunt. Warriors are the closest Guild Wars comes to a heavy tanking class. They’re not meant to deal as much damage as much as attract and hold monsters from your squishier allies. With each new campaign came two new professions added into the fray. Ritualist and Assassin are only available if you own Factions, while Nightfall brings the opportunity to play as a Paragon or Dervish. Ritualists deal in death. They use summoning rituals to bring powerful shades to the playing field, which may either enhance allies or destroy enemies. Assassins are rogues that wield daggers to distract, disable, and shadow step away from enemies before they have a chance to respond in kind. Paragons are highly motivational speakers and most of their skills are a variation on the Warriors’ shouts. They are commanders on the field, standing back and shouting while defending with spear and shield. Dervishes are holy scythe-wielding warriors who often take on the visage of the gods themselves. They are a serious tank class with self-heals and a great capacity for disabling and damaging. The choice is yours. Please, choose wisely.

Now lets shy away from theatrics and delve into some mechanics. Each character is required to take on a secondary profession early on in the game and you’ve got some interesting choices to make. Sometimes what you end up picking won’t fit securely into the DPS – Tank – Healer holy trinity of RPGs. With the secondary profession you’ll see the lines blur. You may find yourself playing more as a Warrior instead of that Elementalist you started off as, or you may find yourself beating down foes with a large hammer that isn’t normally a popular trait of Rangers, but that’s the beauty of a second profession. And don’t worry, if you’re not happy with what you chose as your secondary, it’s not as fixed as your primary profession. Eventually you will be able to switch secondary professions on the fly like they were hats! To do this your character must complete certain prerequisites based on their origin campaign further along in the game. Prophecies and Factions characters may become Ascended in Tyria or Weh no Su in Cantha. Nightfall characters must complete Hunted! in order to change their professions. If you feel like you’re stuck with your choice, just try to focus on learning your primary class and you’ll get along better with the game. Keep in mind that each profession has a primary attribute that is not shared when it is applied as a secondary profession.

Now that you’ve selected your class and customized your character sufficiently, it’s time to play through the tutorial/starter area. You’ll run through the basic go-out-and-kill-this-creature quests, but generally those type of quests end at the tutorials. The storyline is something you’ll have to experience for yourself, and I highly encourage you to read every quest to unravel it. Even if you aren’t as interested in the storyline, they still have funny dialogue in some cases.

Next time we’ll dig in to some of the other basics like identification kits, weapon types, and skills. A special thanks goes to my husband for giving me a newer player’s point of view, it’s helped me immensely during this series. See you again soon. Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!