Guild Wars 2

We’re expecting different things – I believe the class is easy enough to play that a new player can get the ropes soon enough, while you believe they will stumble upon a brickwall as soon as something harder comes along.
There’s only one way to find out which is closer to the truth, though. OP, go for it!

Arctinus.7824:

Remember your character’s name because my friend and I bought the Trilogy after the trial and he couldn’t access his account because he forgot his character’s name (which is kind of a security question). Luckily he remembered it after a few days. I on the other hand didn’t and had to create a new account. :P

If he had you on his friends list, he could’ve told you your name.

LumAnth.5124:

Also, you’ll get to see the real Mesmer! Not the magical Pseudo-thief duelist we have here.

And you’ll get to see great necros as well.. real minion masters! I always find it interesting how the most OP classes in GW1 are the least in GW2 and vice versa.

Anyway OP, I started GW1 last October because I wanted to see the stories first hand and also unlock Hall of Monuments stuff. I’ve not regretted it! I’ve soloed most things (even hardmode dungeons) with heroes, though sometimes done a few things with one other friend. If you can find a person to give you tips (like how to flag your henchman/heroes, some good hero team builds [like 7 Hero Player Support], how to make good pulls, or pre-proting yourself), it will make your time in game easier and more fun. There still are active guilds out there, so you could try that as well.

If you want and can’t find anyone to play with, drop me a pm here with your character name. Since I’m on vacation, I’ll gladly come and play.

Guild Wars 1 was just a much better game. More in depth story, better replay value, more versatile builds, the ONLY downside to the game was there was a lack of player interaction in comparison to its competitors.

QQ still miss GW1 Ranger…

This game needs etherfeast / clumsiness mesmers.

Apparition.1576:

Guild Wars 1 was just a much better game. More in depth story, better replay value, more versatile builds, the ONLY downside to the game was there was a lack of player interaction in comparison to its competitors.

QQ still miss GW1 Ranger…

Out of curiosity and this is a legit question, I wonder how many who played Guild Wars 2 first would think Guild Wars 1 was a better game.

Can’t really compare a sequel to an 8 yo original which has been fully automated, no longer receives any updates, and which had lost a large share of its active player base to what was supposed to be its sequel. The impression the original gives now is a far cry of what it used to be, and it is far different from the experience made by those who played the game when it was in its prime.

That said, the game still plays well, it just doesn’t have the community it once did (and the game itself changed a lot, too), and that might be a problem to newcomers who expect activity in a game that has been abandoned by its devs.

KarlaGrey.5903:

Can’t really compare a sequel to an 8 yo original which has been fully automated, no longer receives any updates, and which had lost a large share of its active player base to what was supposed to be its sequel. The impression the original gives now is a far cry of what it used to be, and it is far different from the experience made by those who played the game when it was in its prime.

That said, the game still plays well, it just doesn’t have the community it once did (and the game itself changed a lot, too), and that might be a problem to newcomers who expect activity in a game that has been abandoned by its devs.

Still if that’s a good game and this game is as bad as you say it is, it should be no contest. I suspect people who played Guild Wars 1 first would like it better on the whole and people who played Guild Wars 2 first would like it better on the whole.

i would suggest starting in prophecies because from there you learn everything in a slow but steady way, factions kinda rushes you to max level and nightfall makes everything quite confusing.
start with ether an elementalist or warrior, they are the most straight forward professions within the core professions.
when you’re a bit knowledgeable i would suggest to take the ritualist, it’s by far the easiest to master and one of the most powerful casters in the game if not the most powerful.
it has healing, CC and DPS, it also has some really powerful protection spirits you can place that (at times) outperforms the monk.

KarlaGrey.5903:

My point was the derv is far easier to play than another melee class, which used to be only primary melee class – as a mater of fact, the entire game is a lot easier to play now than it used to be, so there’s honestly nothing to fear.
Perhaps the OP should try out the derv himself first, and who knows, he might find it ez pzy.

Exactly. A hero can play a flash Derv. I VQ a lot with a Derv hero. I never use a War hero except to goof around. If an AI can play the class effectively, so can a new player.

Earth Derv with Splinter and smite buffs on is a thing of Beauty in pve.

Hmm, Vayne, I play Ranger archetype in every game. I found GW Ranger far superior to GW2 for one simple reason. I could leave the pet at home and be a Ranger, instead of a WoW hunter with poorer pet skills.

A bit late to the discussion but I still play GW 1 and love it. About a month ago there was an event and I was amazed how many people were on. Its a game that captured my heart and hopefully it will do the same for you. You can solo most, if not, all the content, if you know what to do. Generally some things are easier with others.

Vayne.8563:

Out of curiosity and this is a legit question, I wonder how many who played Guild Wars 2 first would think Guild Wars 1 was a better game.

That’s actually a tough question.

Obviously GW2’s world is better.. new engine, newer game and all that. I also enjoy active combat (dodging, jumping, casting on the move.)

But I find GW1’s stories to be better and I absolutely love how much stuff there is to complete. Achievements in it feel much more meaningful and I’m having a fun time slowly working towards filling out my HoM, complete vanquishing, exploration and all that. With the Zhaishen dailies (which I know weren’t always there), it doesn’t feel like a grind to slowly work my way through it all.

I also love how I can’t just faceroll through everything. Quite a bit of it feels harder than GW2. I really like the heroes too.. those have especially been a boon this late in the game.

It’s hard to really compare the two given their different ages, but I am tempted to say overall, GW1 is the better game. I know I so regret not playing this game in its prime. I’d be one of those working towards a character for DoA SC (takes me forever solo with my heroes :P .. and that third room of Foundry is a kitten!) and getting chaos gloves, etc. :P I feel GW2 misses some of the lofty goals GW1 has (complete everything plus bonuses on HM, vanquishing, gaining faction, etc) with specific, direct ways to attain most of what you want if you’re willing to put in the work.

Ah GW1…. how I miss you. Although, admittedly I did log in about 2 weeks ago and run through Riverside with one of my newer guild members. Had some great fun on my rit.

OP, I’m going to second someone else’s comment that you should start with Prophecies. I actually picked up Factions first personally, and a week later when out and bought Prophecies (years and years ago now). Prophecies is much better for the learning of your class, and for learning the game play in general I think.

Beyond that… necro’s are excellent for soloing, as are eles. At least in my opinion. Mesmers are fun, but much harder to play and learn because of what they’re designed for in that game.

Sinifair.1026:

Arctinus.7824:

Remember your character’s name because my friend and I bought the Trilogy after the trial and he couldn’t access his account because he forgot his character’s name (which is kind of a security question). Luckily he remembered it after a few days. I on the other hand didn’t and had to create a new account. :P

If he had you on his friends list, he could’ve told you your name.

Well, the thing is that we bought the game and he had a faster internet connection, so he already downloaded the client and everything. He tried to log in and couldn’t because he didn’t remember the character name (due to the fact that we didn’t think we should, since it was a trial version xD). He contacted the support but didn’t get the response for another day (it was Sunday). In the meantime my client downloaded and in order to avoid all this I just created a new account before my friend even got a response from the support team. :P

Nevertheless, I must say I enjoy the game so far.

just make sure you have a main character, i always make a main character with pretty much the same name so every single game has a character where i can remember the name from

Thanks again for all the replies. This has been a very helpful discussion thus far. So if I were to migrate away from the Dervish idea, would Warrior/Necro be viable? I’d like to play a melee class with life taps akin to EQ’s Shadowknight or WoW’s Blood Deathknight. What would best accomplish this, or is this just not a realistic idea in GW1?

Jarvis.9540:

Thanks again for all the replies. This has been a very helpful discussion thus far. So if I were to migrate away from the Dervish idea, would Warrior/Necro be viable? I’d like to play a melee class with life taps akin to EQ’s Shadowknight or WoW’s Blood Deathknight. What would best accomplish this, or is this just not a realistic idea in GW1?

In GW1, the only class with real life steal capability is the necromancer. Specifically it’s blood line of skills. Life syphon and life transfer can be fun to build around. However that said, there really isn’t a good class comparison between gw1 and wow, in regards to death knights. Necros are a caster class, wielding melee weapons wouldn’t do much of anything for you (you physically only hit for like 2-3 dmg).

I don’t know if W/N would be viable. But you can always have a necromancer hero take skills like Blood Bond, Dark Fury and Order of Pain/Vampire.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Blood_Magic

Or you could create an assassin. It doesn’t really feel similar to GW2’s thief (hell, nearly nothing feels similar GW2’s professions, except maybe elementalist).

Warrior would not have the energy to perform very many Necro skills. Warrior + caster is kinda iffy. Necro skills are high energy cost and you would not have the benefit of Soul Reaping.

Melee heals from AOE hits would still be Dervish. Some of the enchants do that.

Look at GW wiki and check through the skills descriptions for a good idea of what class does what.

Vayne.8563:

Out of curiosity and this is a legit question, I wonder how many who played Guild Wars 2 first would think Guild Wars 1 was a better game.

I played GW1 first and think GW2 is a better game. I still keep going back and playing GW1 only so that I can help my husband get his 30 HoM points (and I want to get up to 35 but I doubt that is going to happen).

GW1 just feels so clunky and slow to me. I like underwater combat, being able to jump and explore everywhere, being able to move while in combat, and GW2 is just gorgeous.

I do miss my dervish and the story was cool…except Kormir.

Jarvis.9540:

Thanks again for all the replies. This has been a very helpful discussion thus far. So if I were to migrate away from the Dervish idea, would Warrior/Necro be viable? I’d like to play a melee class with life taps akin to EQ’s Shadowknight or WoW’s Blood Deathknight. What would best accomplish this, or is this just not a realistic idea in GW1?

While everyone above me brings up solid points on the viability of this combo, I say just go for it. It’s your first character. Experiment with him, make your own build, don’t be limited to what other players usually play. Don’t worry, the content won’t punish you for experimenting with combinations and skills. Doing so helps you better learn about the different professions and skills in that game. In fact, for your first few characters I’d say make whatever profession combinations you want and play them how you want. That was part of the beauty of guild wars, that I could literally mix the trait lines of two professions to create something unique and for me. And if you end up not liking the combo, or wanting to try out a different mix of professions, you can change your secondary around mid-game.

kitten, I remember in prophecies, I made my monk /R because I wanted a pet pig to run around with and act as my bodyguard. I kept that one skill, revive animal on my bar up until the Maguuma so I could rez up all the poor pets of all the tards that didn’t bring comfort. My ranger was /Me because I liked the idea of using illusion skills + poison to degen my enemies out.

Those were good times. I don’t remember anyone ever complaining that I had oinkers around with me while I was healing them.

/nostalgia

khani.4786:

Vayne.8563:

Out of curiosity and this is a legit question, I wonder how many who played Guild Wars 2 first would think Guild Wars 1 was a better game.

I like underwater combat

Said no one ever.

Sorry, I had to.

Necro + Mesmer was my goto in GW1. Hard to beat Spiteful Spirit and Arcane Echo. I loved watching the mobs kill themselves. That being said, Dervish was a beast as well.

As an former gw 1 player of the past (now gw2) just made a new ranger to go through the story again (still prefer it above the gw2 story) :-) Last year when i visited gw1 it was abandoned. Now i see an increase of players having the same idea of going through the story again.

Warrior/Necro will work just fine. You will likely find yourself focusing on the Warrior skills because you may not have sufficient energy to cast many Necro spells.

And Dervish was one of the easier classes for a new player in my experience. It is one of the classes that we often recommended for a new player’s first character back when my guild/alliance were active.

Dagrin the Ethereal.8371:

Necro + Mesmer was my goto in GW1. Hard to beat Spiteful Spirit and Arcane Echo. I loved watching the mobs kill themselves. That being said, Dervish was a beast as well.

try ebon vanguard assassin support + arcane echo, it’s what i use on my necro and it makes even the hardest boss fall like a brick XD

Lothirieth.3408:

Vayne.8563:

Out of curiosity and this is a legit question, I wonder how many who played Guild Wars 2 first would think Guild Wars 1 was a better game.

That’s actually a tough question.

Obviously GW2’s world is better.. new engine, newer game and all that. I also enjoy active combat (dodging, jumping, casting on the move.)

But I find GW1’s stories to be better and I absolutely love how much stuff there is to complete. Achievements in it feel much more meaningful and I’m having a fun time slowly working towards filling out my HoM, complete vanquishing, exploration and all that. With the Zhaishen dailies (which I know weren’t always there), it doesn’t feel like a grind to slowly work my way through it all.

I also love how I can’t just faceroll through everything. Quite a bit of it feels harder than GW2. I really like the heroes too.. those have especially been a boon this late in the game.

It’s hard to really compare the two given their different ages, but I am tempted to say overall, GW1 is the better game. I know I so regret not playing this game in its prime. I’d be one of those working towards a character for DoA SC (takes me forever solo with my heroes :P .. and that third room of Foundry is a kitten!) and getting chaos gloves, etc. :P I feel GW2 misses some of the lofty goals GW1 has (complete everything plus bonuses on HM, vanquishing, gaining faction, etc) with specific, direct ways to attain most of what you want if you’re willing to put in the work.

Did you play Guild Wars 1 first though. Because most of the stories really aren’t all that good. Not from an objective point of view. There are flaws within flaws that pulled me out of Guild Wars 1 all the time. Saying that it’s good after experiencing it first gives you this nostalgic tinge that allows you to believe say that Prince Rurik was somehow some great character. Prince Rurik was a cardboard cutout. He was cliche. There weren’t very deep and meaningful characters in most of Guild Wars 1. We all heard complaints about Komir after all.

When we’re younger, we play a game and we think, wow this is great. Same with movies and books. But sometimes we revisit those stories 30 years later and cringe. I do this with my own writing. Stuff I thought was great thirty years ago makes me want to curl up and die.

You can’t experience Guild Wars 1 for the first time again and it hasn’t really been 30 years. The difference is the first time I experienced Guild Wars 1 I was in my 40s and already a professional editor. There were things in that game that made me want to burn my eyes out.

Simplest example I can think of was the Blacktide Den mission bonus. Kill all the Ringkhail Monitors. Nothing in game tells you to do this. There’s no reason to do it. It doesn’t further the story. In fact, it hinders the story.

You’re supposed to be following this guy. He’s leading you to a meeting with the general. You’re pretending to be someone you’re not after stealing their clothes. This is a clandestine operation during which you’d never ever want to do anything suspicious. But to get the bonus in that mission, you literally have to abandon the guy you’re following FOR NO IN GAME REASON, to get a bonus that I know about but my characters couldn’t possibly. There’s no in game motivation given. Just a text that appears on my screen to do it. This pulls me right out of the story. This is bad story telling.

Anyway, it’s not as great as people make it out to be and it still had the advantage of instanced content that Guild Wars 2 doesn’t have.

Vayne.8563:

Did you play Guild Wars 1 first though. Because most of the stories really aren’t all that good. Not from an objective point of view.

I am not sure that I agree that there is an objective point of view when discussing quality of story.

I personally enjoyed aspects of GW1’s story. I enjoyed aspects of GW2’s story. I am not fond of Trahearne, but really liked the whole concept of bringing multiple orders with differing views on how to fight the great evil together.

I don’t think that either game is an example of great storytelling.

Ashen.2907:

Vayne.8563:

Did you play Guild Wars 1 first though. Because most of the stories really aren’t all that good. Not from an objective point of view.

I am not sure that I agree that there is an objective point of view when discussing quality of story.

I personally enjoyed aspects of GW1’s story. I enjoyed aspects of GW2’s story. I am not fond of Trahearne, but really liked the whole concept of bringing multiple orders with differing views on how to fight the great evil together.

I don’t think that either game is an example of great storytelling.

Well bring disparate factions together to fight a common foe is a recurring theme in much great fiction. Trahearne was less a problem in story telling and more a problem in voice acting direction in my opinion. I mean, it’s hard to divorce one from the other.

But you know, Lord of the Rings was bringing disparte factions together to fight a common foe too.

Ask a subjective question. Get an honest answer from the perspective of the person answering.

Tell that person their own perspective/opinion is wrong. Pull out “editor” card as proof.

Why ask?

Vayne.8563:

Ashen.2907:

Vayne.8563:

Did you play Guild Wars 1 first though. Because most of the stories really aren’t all that good. Not from an objective point of view.

I am not sure that I agree that there is an objective point of view when discussing quality of story.

I personally enjoyed aspects of GW1’s story. I enjoyed aspects of GW2’s story. I am not fond of Trahearne, but really liked the whole concept of bringing multiple orders with differing views on how to fight the great evil together.

I don’t think that either game is an example of great storytelling.

Well bring disparate factions together to fight a common foe is a recurring theme in much great fiction. Trahearne was less a problem in story telling and more a problem in voice acting direction in my opinion. I mean, it’s hard to divorce one from the other.

But you know, Lord of the Rings was bringing disparte factions together to fight a common foe too.

Lord of the Rings is also an allegory (of several varieties) with deep character development considered a classic work of fiction.

Substance E.4852:

Vayne.8563:

Ashen.2907:

Vayne.8563:

Did you play Guild Wars 1 first though. Because most of the stories really aren’t all that good. Not from an objective point of view.

I am not sure that I agree that there is an objective point of view when discussing quality of story.

I personally enjoyed aspects of GW1’s story. I enjoyed aspects of GW2’s story. I am not fond of Trahearne, but really liked the whole concept of bringing multiple orders with differing views on how to fight the great evil together.

I don’t think that either game is an example of great storytelling.

Well bring disparate factions together to fight a common foe is a recurring theme in much great fiction. Trahearne was less a problem in story telling and more a problem in voice acting direction in my opinion. I mean, it’s hard to divorce one from the other.

But you know, Lord of the Rings was bringing disparte factions together to fight a common foe too.

Lord of the Rings is also an allegory (of several varieties) with deep character development considered a classic work of fiction.

Sure, I was responding to the specific comment that the drawing together of disparate factions is somehow indicative of a story not being good. It’s one of the standard themes in fiction. It’s all over the place.

No one is saying any MMO is as good as any work of literature. But trying to dismiss a common theme as something that indicated a bad story, that I have to say something about.

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

Ask a subjective question. Get an honest answer from the perspective of the person answering.

Tell that person their own perspective/opinion is wrong. Pull out “editor” card as proof.

Why ask?

I didn’t tell them their perspective or opinion is wrong. You can’t show me anywhere where I did. I pointed out things they might have missed, or not thought about. This is how conversations happen. Someone suggests something and I point out things they may or may not have thought of or be aware of.

The editor fact is pertinent, it’s not a card I play. It means I view stories from a critical point of view. When I played Guild Wars 1 I was editing full time so it naturally colored my judgement of the story. There’s no way it couldn’t have.

Vayne.8563:

Sure, I was responding to the specific comment that the drawing together of disparate factions is somehow indicative of a story not being good.

Might want to reread my post about disparate factions being drawn together. I said that I liked that aspect of the GW2 story.

Ashen.2907:

Vayne.8563:

Sure, I was responding to the specific comment that the drawing together of disparate factions is somehow indicative of a story not being good.

Might want to reread my post about disparate factions being drawn together. I said that I liked that aspect of the GW2 story.

This is what I get for responding to posts after midnight. Sorry about that.

This thread is getting derailed so hard, but from what I’ve seen from the forum, pretty much any thread that even slightly mentions GW1 story gets hijacked by Vayne.

Anyway, back to the topic and the OP’s original interest with GW1.

OP, one thing you definitely need to try in GW is the pvp. It is considered by many to be the best pvp they’ve ever played in an online multiplayer. Back in the day, there were small arenas you’d unlock on the map for your newbie pve char to play against people of your level, but these are inactive now. Not going to lie though, the pvp scene is pretty dead right now, but I wanted to come back here and post after being inspired by the fact that I was just able to get 16 active pvpers together after midnight to do some gvg scrims in my guild. If you ever wanna try your hand at the PvP, we wouldn’t have a problem grabbing you and taking you along with us in a GvG friendly (which we tend to do alot since ladder is so dead right now). If your character isn’t level 20 yet, no worries you can always make a pvp ready char and delete it later.

I mentioned my GW1 IGN earlier in the thread, but I’ll add it again: Tainted Radiance. Add me to your friends list and feel free to pm me when I’m on. I may be afk sometimes, but I’ll usually pm you once I get back.

with heroes the easiest class would probably be necro/ele/mesmer

you can build your heroes for some pretty effecive healing and dmg synergy builds
(discord way for example.. you can check that out on www.guildwiki.de this site can give you information about pretty much everything for gw1 that you need to know like quests, builds and strategies for every game part, where to get which sklill/item/armor/etc etc)

and i would buy all 3 versions too

start with nightfall even though it is the 3rd campaign
you will get your heroes and then the other parts arent that hard

prophecies was a bit boring to me tbh
endless missions and not as nice as nightfall or factions^^

Vayne.8563:

Did you play Guild Wars 1 first though.

You asked for the opinions of people who played GW2 first, didn’t you? Seems a bit obvious I answered from that view point.. also already said earlier in this thread that I started playing GW1 last October.

Because most of the stories really aren’t all that good. Not from an objective point of view.

I don’t agree. Many people don’t agree. I’ve enjoyed the GW1 stories a lot more than I have GW2’s. I keep hoping and hoping they’ll bring more GW1 lore into GW2.

There are flaws within flaws that pulled me out of Guild Wars 1 all the time. Saying that it’s good after experiencing it first gives you this nostalgic tinge that allows you to believe say that Prince Rurik was somehow some great character. Prince Rurik was a cardboard cutout. He was cliche. There weren’t very deep and meaningful characters in most of Guild Wars 1. We all heard complaints about Komir after all.

Prophecies was the weakest. And just because two characters were a bit annoying (still sad when Rurik died and then was used again by the Lich, though), doesn’t mean the entire story is bad.

You can’t experience Guild Wars 1 for the first time again and it hasn’t really been 30 years. The difference is the first time I experienced Guild Wars 1 I was in my 40s and already a professional editor. There were things in that game that made me want to burn my eyes out.

Welp, I experienced it for the first time less than a year ago and am in my 30s. Sure the graphics are old, but they’re still not all that horrible and I can appreciate how awesome they must have been ‘back in the day’. I’ve also experienced GW1 after playing over a year’s worth of GW2.. and a lot of hours put in during that time.

Simplest example I can think of was the Blacktide Den mission bonus. Kill all the Ringkhail Monitors. Nothing in game tells you to do this. There’s no reason to do it. It doesn’t further the story. In fact, it hinders the story.

Yes some bonuses don’t make sense. But others do. Your point is? Again, one silly thing doesn’t make the whole bad.

Anyway, it’s not as great as people make it out to be

Disagree entirely.

Nowhere did I say it is a perfect game, with a perfect story etc. Of course there will be silly or tiresome stuff here and there (as you mention, Blacktide Den or Kormir.. when she just stands there and doesn’t help you on your missions.) But on the whole, I think it’s a great game and I’ve had loads of fun with it. And right now, I’m playing it more than GW2… I’d rather that not to be the case, but there’s not much for me to do in GW2 at the moment aside from see the new story and that’s that.

You can have your opinion about how not awesome Guild Wars 1 is in comparison to Guild Wars 2, but there is a reason that you are the minority. Obviously, Guild Wars 2 has better graphics. That doesn’t change a thing (see World of Warcraft). The game was also by no means a perfect game series.. but it seemed like there was much more time put into the game.

Guild Wars 1 Story:
May not have been perfect.. but it was light years better than the story revolving around Guild Wars 2. If it was not a game but rather a book.. which would you rather read? I believe in book form the story about Scarlet could be pretty fascinating. But there are countless stories revolving Guild Wars 1 lore that, in my opinion, would be either just as or more fascinating. Of course this is not a completely fair assessment since Guild Wars 1 had a ton of more content. But if you only included prophecies vs Guild Wars 2 stories. Prophecies is much more intriguing.

Guild Wars 1 classes:
Were actually all very unique in respect to the next. This is something that Guild Wars 2 lacks very heavily. Not only were the classes unique amongst other classes, but there seemed to be an infinite ways to play every class. A few listed below without going into the multi-classes too much.

Ranger
(Trap Master Ranger, Ranger Spike/Interuptor, Condition, Spirit)

Warrior
(Weapon master warrior, wammo, shock/gust warrior, IWAY, or you could go super tanky Defy/Endure Pain style)

Necro
(Condition master, Minion Master, Curse, Spike Necro)

You get the point… But because of the million different ways you could play. You could literally play your character for years and still find new ways to play him.

As far as PvP you had Deathmatch Arena, Capture the flag, Guild vs Guild, and specialized scenario type matches in Hall of Heroes.

Question:
There is really a lot more that I could say about the game… but I ask you. How much could you really say about Guild Wars 2?

EDIT: I apologize this is not the best formatting but I am on my way out the door.