New Guy.

[:1]Hello,

I had always wondered how Guild Wars is as a RPG. I'm the type that hate getting into something very late but once I seen that GW2 is coming out soon, and read about it, and just had to start Guild Wars for when GW2 gets released. I am currently playing the Trial but soon I will either be getting the Trilogy Edition or the Collectors Edition. My worry is also nobody being around while I'm starting fresh. Anybody have advice for me to either which one to buy, not start GW1 and wait for GW2, or any other advice/statements?

P.S happy to be in the GW community and hopefully I meet alot of friendly faces. |||There are still people around, and I am quite sure that there will also still be people around when GW2 is released. I am relatively sure that you have seen that during the trial - though I admit that I don't know into which chapter the newbie trial places you, all major early towns have people in them. Unless you were on one of the more exotic servers or language districts, that is.

Which parts do the two editions cover? You want one that has all 4 parts:

- Prophecies (also just known as Guild Wars)

- Factions

- Nightfall

- Eye of the North.

Any additional goodies that a collector's edition might come with are usually pretty much redundant, completely useless, or just shiny bling.|||I agree with Lytha as there will be other around when GW2 comes out as some aren't moving on to it.I have few pre char. and see lots in pre still working on LDOA.|||Welcome!

First off, I think GW will remain very much alive until GW2 comes out, then all bets are off. I'd certainly advise you play GW at least until then because it's a great game and you'd be missing out. Also, it's quite unclear when GW2 will release... so...

You'll be able to reach the population mass fairly quickly. It's not like WoW where you have tons of grind to catch up... play the campaign and then you'll find yourself where people are. The real grind comes after the game, if you want to put things into the Halls of Monument or get titles, but that's really optional.

Some players enjoy starting new characters, so you might find people to play with as you go. Joining a guild can help too... but heroes and henchmen are there to help out as always. Look up zaishen missions as that tends to focus people on a given mission on a given day, but that's more for hard mode.

Prophecies is where it starts, but it's the oldest campaign. You can also start in Factions or Nightfall. Nightfall, you risk bumping into people far more often than the previous too. Also, some professions only start in given campaigns, e.g. ritualist and assassin in Factions, Dervish and Paragon in Nightfall. Eye of the North is more meant for players who finished the three campaigns as it's somewhat harder, and includes more dungeons. It also has more PvE-only skills which are more powerful PvE skills.

Nightfall and EotN are the only two games where you can get heroes, which are really useful. My general advice is to start in Nightfall, unless you like to follow the story in the right order. I'd get the trilogy, and EotN later.

You can move between campaigns once you get far enough. Prophecies is very slow, with slow levelling. This means that if you want to learn slowly, it's a good place to start. It also means that if you start elsewhere, then most places in Prophecies will be for lower levels than you are. I still prefer to start elsewhere, but I'd recommend you start a character in Prophecies at some point to see what the world was before the searing.

Wow, lots of info. Good luck.|||The really good thing about GW1 is that you probably won't feel like you're getting into it late while playing due to the instances and Heroes/Henchmen (Usually abbreviated to H/H).

It can be a drawback that the community are not as present as they are in "true" MMOs, but it does make the game feel less underpopulated. It also means that if you can't find players to do a mission, you can still use the H/H and not get held up.

Don't worry though. The community are still around, and boy, do they come out of the woodwork during events! The lack of a sub fee seems like a boring thing to harp on about, but it does mean that you get a lot of players flocking back just for the events even if they have otherwise moved on. It gives them a lot of life, just as they should have.

You can get the complete collection fairly cheaply online if they don't have it in your local game shop, and the story is very good (though the VA work in places is a bit naff!). As an RPG, it shapes up pretty darn well, especially for its age - it's just celebrated its sixth birthday, after all.