Guild Wars 2

I’m trying to get hall of monuments point for GW2, but I CAN’T STAND PLAYING GW1!!!!! Quests take literally an hour, and every single enemy kills me, there are 1,000 invisible walls, theres no one to help me, and I have to pay $50 or don’t get exclusive GW2 stuff?!?!?!?!?!?!? HELP ME WHAT CAN I DO???

Unlike most MMOs, GW1 was not designed- except for those who really know what they’re doing- to be played alone. Luckily they included NPCs who will follow you around if you cannot find a PC team called Henchmen, and if you have Nightfall there are the far superior Heroes you can customize.

Guild Wars 1 is a party based game, you don’t necessarily need/ other players, but you should at the very least have heroes or henchmen in your party at all times.

When you’re in a city or outpost in Guild Wars 1, look for Henchmen and add them to the party. If you’ve got Nightfall/Eye of the North, you also have access to heroes, which are even better.

It’s not like Guild Wars 2 where you can go out and solo everything because in Guild Wars 2 every class is meant to be able to perform most any role.

One of the compelling things with GW1 was how much more challenging everything was. You didn’t simply faceroll everything, not as a noob anyway. You had to try, and fail, and learn to succeed. Learn what skills, weapons, classes to bring that would work best for you. And no, ..not solo. Either with other players or npc helpers called Henchmen (or the Heroes which were much better). It wasn’t all about YOUR build, but about the party’s build. Yes you could easily spend an hour or more working on a mission, just to fail reach the end and have everyone at -60% and realize it just isn’t going to happen, gotta restart. It sucked to fail, but it also felt more rich and satisfying to succeed.

By comparison, most things in GW2 are much more bland. In GW1, challenge was found in its variety of encounters and variety of ways to beat them (or fail). In GW2 you don’t really see that variety on either side, it’s practically impossible to fail, and it doesn’t matter much what you do or how you do it.

Couple of tips that I used to give to someone new at the game (I miss those moments).

1. Learn to prioritize (Monk first, then elementalist because unlike in GW2, elementalist, especially boss, deal crapload of dmg if left alone)

2. Don’t stand in AoE (If you see enemy elementalist casting firestorm or meteor shower, don’t stand still embracing it.)

3. Don’t Leeroy. Take group 1 by 1. GW1 is not like GW2 where almost every enemy is individually independent. GW1 enemies usually comes in group, and the latter and more elite the area, the more well balance (READ: Pain in the kitten to kill) they are, which makes my 1st tips more and more important.

What profession you starting can mean a huge deal. If you are starting as Mesmer/Monk in the beginning, you might ended up hating the game. Mesmer especially requires you to know game mechanic and also a lot of skills from the other professions to excel in playing one. Monk will require you to know enemy types, what kind of skills they are using and whats the danger of those skills, in order to excel.

Try Elementalist/warrior/ranger for beginner. You’ll probably enjoy it more just for the first time. Knowledge of the other profession’s skills and most enemy mechanics and behaviors aren’t that needed to succeed at first. Choose fire and/or earth if you choose Ele for dmg. Warrior, choose sword/axe first before hammer.

4. Be patient. GW1 is one of the most rewarding game that I’ve played (aside from Demon/dark souls series). You failed, don’t fret, try it one more or get a new skill or try different henchmen composition can mean victory.

Cheers!

I started playing GW1 six weeks ago, and I’m honestly enjoying myself. I’ve read up a lot of info on the wiki, reddit, and build guides for myself and my heroes, and I don’t find it half as bad as you’re making it out. Sure, I die (frequently), but there’s always a different skill/build/party setup I can try, and I usually get things done with a little bit of thinking.

Thinking/planning/strategy is what most missions in GW1 require, at least more than a good part of open world in this game. In GW2, your skill is in quickly reacting to different situations and knowing your character, skills and traits well enough change your plan on the fly to deal with unexpected situations. Quick reactions are a big step on the road to success here.

GW1, on the other hand, takes things slower and is a lot more about planning and strategy and less about quick on-the-fly reactions. If you don’t get anywhere, take a step back, lock at what you’ve got available (skills, henchmen, heroes, equipment), and try to figure out what combination could help you overcome the hurdle. Check outside resources (especially the wiki) for tips if you don’t know how to proceed. It’s a lot more of a thinking game where doing your “homework” will help a lot towards enjoying yourself and beating the game.

In the end, it all comes down to if it’s the kind of game you like or not. GW1 is a lot different playstyle-wise than GW2. I currently enjoy both for being so different, each has strong points that appeal to me, but if one or the other playstyle (more action-reaction in GW2, more up-front planning and strategy in GW1) doesn’t appeal to you, then it might be easier if you just accept that the hom rewards aren’t worth it for you.

If you play GW1 only with the HoM points in mind, it’ll feel like a chore and you will likely not enjoy yourself.

It’s a beautiful game, generally more challenging than GW2 and builds are far more important than they are here. It requires commitment, learning about build synergies, setting up your heroes and so on.

My advise based on your op is to forget about the HoM and play something else you enjoy.

I have to say I’m glad I did not pick up GW1 when it was released since, even though it has tons of things I should like, I can’t seem to find it in myself to like it at all. Storytelling is very nice, though. That’s the one saving grace for me.

However, OP, if you can find the very good guide to collecting HoM points someone posted on reddit (either google or someone might link it here) then by just chipping away at it bit by bit you’ll find the points will rack up and then you’ll be free.

Got out of bed to do it myself:
http://www.reddit.com/r/GuildWars/comments/iu3qw/a_hom_guide_to_3050_aimed_at_beginners/

Fenom.9457:

I’m trying to get hall of monuments point for GW2, but I CAN’T STAND PLAYING GW1!!!!! Quests take literally an hour, and every single enemy kills me, there are 1,000 invisible walls, theres no one to help me, and I have to pay $50 or don’t get exclusive GW2 stuff?!?!?!?!?!?!? HELP ME WHAT CAN I DO???

Yeah it’s a bit of an unique taste that GW1. Didn’t really appeal to me either.

GW1 is a great game, and in many ways it is far more challenging, and better balanced than GW2. It’s combat system has a lot more depth to it. Definitely don’t go outside any outpost without bringing a party of henchmen (or better yet, heroes).

If you are looking to fill your HOM, then you’d better make sure you like the game, because it is going to take you a long while.

Unlike in GW2, I would actually recommend playing a necromancer in GW1. They have great survivability, and can command armies of minions. Just be sure to change your skill bar quite often, depending on the mission. Save any builds you like as a template, so you can reload it onto your bar when ever you need it again.

And for the love of Grenth, don’t use pre-made builds from the internet. Just make your own builds. That is after all the fun of the game.

torakun.9638:

Try Elementalist/warrior/ranger for beginner.

I don’t know about that. Elementalist got beaten into a fire-only PvE gameplay that is sorely reliant on enchantments to maintain energy and warrior is, well, melee…ranger and mesmer are probably the easiest starting characters. Energy Surge from GToB + Cry of Frustration early on can do a lot. Pair yourself with as many mesmer heroes you can spare and it’s a facetank easymode.

Fenom.9457:

and every single enemy kills me

behold the gamer of today – cannot recall I heard anything like that back then…

The game is so much better than GW2. However it’s also a previous generation CoRPG so I understand that some people may not like it. For me Guild Wars 1 i a legendary game, a one of a kind, a legend that GW2 probably never be.

PvE in GW1 is very much described by the terms Build Wars and Pull Wars. Bringing skills to the expected situation is very important.

As above, it’s very team based, and there are traditional healers and dedicated support roles. You can “tank”, but it’s a bit more difficult as there are no aggro control mechanics. Tanking is more positioning, and using choke points and body blocking to keep the mobs from getting to your backline. GW2 did away with the traditional roles, so if that’s what you’re used to, GW1 will be a bit of an adjustment.

Pulling is VERY important. Some mobs have patrols, and you need to make sure that as you’re fighting one group, you don’t get jumped by another group. You always want to have some ranged weapon as one of your alternate sets.

If you’re brand new, I suggest starting in Prophecies. Prophecies has the easiest learning curve, and gives you a lot of useful skills in quests which saves you money. Factions gets very difficult quickly, and while it’s the fastest to level up with, it’s really for experienced players. Nightfall is in between.

Prophecies was the first game, so the maps are very maze-like compared to some of the later releases.

Are the HoM rewards really worth the effort? I have multiple accounts and don’t miss them on the accounts without them. Personally, I’d think devoting that effort to GW2 would be more worthwhile — unless you’ve already done it all and are doing this while waiting for the expansion?

I feel your pain. Not so much the dying part, the game is super easy. It’s just so bad. I want the rewards, but I can’t bring myself to play the game. I was actually going to pay a friend of mine to play my account because he used to play, but he wasn’t interested.

DeanBB.4268:

Are the HoM rewards really worth the effort? I have multiple accounts and don’t miss them on the accounts without them. Personally, I’d think devoting that effort to GW2 would be more worthwhile — unless you’ve already done it all and are doing this while waiting for the expansion?

I want the raccoon for my Ranger, I want the Moa for my other Ranger, several of the skins are really nice.

If you’re not enyoing GW1 HoM rewards are not worth it.

GW is a different type of game and its a pity that it has no sequel.
It is a more coordinated tactical teamoriented game (but can still be very fast if you’re running interrupt, prot or healbuilds) while GW2 is more actionoriented, hack’n slay/Diablo type of game. Both Games are very good, but they attract other types of gamers. This is imho the reason why so many GW1 players are not lucky with GW2 – but it goes into both directions. GW1 Players might not be lucky with GW2 and GW2 Players might not like GW1.

GW1 lives from playing with other players. Playing it solo is less fun.
When I started playing GW in nearly every outpost groups were looking for players to do simple quests together, now you won’t even find players for missions or dungeons.
I can remember several exciting situations which other players caused, you cannot experience this with heros.
If you’re not willing to spend the effort to understand the choices you have in fight you are not able to see how deep the combat system is.
—>If you’re just playing GW1 for some achievements its not worth it. If you like the game and are willing to invest effort into it its still a very nice game. Even without others players.