Alrighty sounds good.  Like I said above though, I really just want to know the lore/story better by playing through it instead of just reading a wiki.  Plus I want to work on unlocking the slew of goodies for GW2, that I honestly have no idea what good most of it will be other than to say look what I have earned for launch.

Its just this sounds much more thrilling to earn and unluck the goodies, instead of just pre-ordering an overpriced box, with them thrown in.   Kinda like I did with the SWTOR CE, but then cancelled after I got to play it...

Originally posted by Khrymson

 

Alrighty sounds good.  Like I said above though, I really just want to know the lore/story better by playing through it instead of just reading a wiki.  Plus I want to work on unlocking the slew of goodies for GW2, that I honestly have no idea what good most of it will be other than to say look what I have earned for launch.

 

Its just this sounds much more thrilling to earn and unluck the goodies, instead of just pre-ordering an overpriced box, with them thrown in.   Kinda like I did with the SWTOR CE, but then cancelled after I got to play it...

As far as I know, the HoM rewards will be exclusive to accounts linked to an original GW1 account with the appropriate HoM unlocks.  They won't be available by any other means. 

The rewards are purely cosmetic.  There are weapons and armor with stats on them, but they will be comparable to what you can get in the game without a link the the HoM, they are just unique in their appearance.

I can answer your question about using the Ritualist for soloing the Underworld, yes it does work and works very well, you build a spirit wall and use Painful Bond to increase damage against the foes. The build I use is as follows:
Attributes
9 in Communing
9 in Spawning Power
16 in Channeling (Superior rune on headpiece of channeling)

Skills
Bloodsong
Vampirism
Pain
Signet of Spirits (elite)
Shadowsong
Armor of Unfeeling
Painful Bond
Summon Spirits

Brief Guide
Enter UW, set up all your spirits in a tight wall just out of aggro range of any mobs, get yourself just close enough to aggro and then run back behind your spirit wall, cast Armor of Unfeeling to strengthen your spirits, then Painful Bond to hex a mob and nearby foes, watch them all go down, rinse and repeat, just be careful, taking on more than two Aatxe is often fatal. You can take down Smite Crawlers but it takes way too long and often ends in a wipe so I just leave that section of UW alone.

Summon Spirits is just used so you don't have to keep stopping and respawning spirits, it is however a kurzick/luxon title track skill so if you haven't got enough faction with either of them replace it with a utility skill such as Boon of Creation to keep your energy up. Vampirism is a Sunspear rank skill, again if you don't have sufficient rank replace it with another Attack Spirit.

Don't be tempted to take any direct damage skills, you don't want to take aggro off the spirits.

Thanks for that build - I may try my rit out.... though I do feel like starting a new character from scratch. I found the Mesmer was awesome for PVP but really slow for PVE - maybe it was because I was too 'new' and didn't have enough skills. Poor energy management and all the cast times seemed to be 2 seconds which made doing missions pretty slow compared to something like a Necro. That said, in PVP I just love playing a Mesmer. Do you guys know if Mesmer will be included in GW2? Not as if it REALLY matters but I couldn't find any answer for that (perhaps its under NDA - I dunno)...

I think you guys said factions is the fastest to level up with.... but nightfall is better to get the heros. I assume the best course of action in this case would be to roll another Rit and then move over to nightfall as soon as possible? I'm fairly sure I can only create a ritualist on the factions campaign, even though it's unlocked, I don't believe I have options to roll that anywhere else. I also looked into the Dervish and Paragon but they didn't really catch my attention for whatever reason. 

One last question - does my titles get kept before owning EotN? IE: if I bought that expansion later, would I have to go through all my missions again for the titles or does it just "remember" what I've done...? I think that's important to note... 

Originally posted by Cammy

Thanks for that build - I may try my rit out.... though I do feel like starting a new character from scratch. I found the Mesmer was awesome for PVP but really slow for PVE - maybe it was because I was too 'new' and didn't have enough skills. Poor energy management and all the cast times seemed to be 2 seconds which made doing missions pretty slow compared to something like a Necro. That said, in PVP I just love playing a Mesmer. Do you guys know if Mesmer will be included in GW2? Not as if it REALLY matters but I couldn't find any answer for that (perhaps its under NDA - I dunno)...

Everything Anet has said makes it highly unlikely that the last profession is anything else than the mesmer. It looks like it will be the Mesmer in name and flavor but function quite differently mechanically.

I think you guys said factions is the fastest to level up with....

Correct.

but nightfall is better to get the heros.

Also correct.

I assume the best course of action in this case would be to roll another Rit and then move over to nightfall as soon as possible?

If you want to play the Ritualist, yes.

I'm fairly sure I can only create a ritualist on the factions campaign, even though it's unlocked, I don't believe I have options to roll that anywhere else.

Correct.

I also looked into the Dervish and Paragon but they didn't really catch my attention for whatever reason. 

You can of course also start one of the core professions in Nightfall, not just the Dervish and the Paragon.

One last question - does my titles get kept before owning EotN? IE: if I bought that expansion later, would I have to go through all my missions again for the titles or does it just "remember" what I've done...? I think that's important to note... 

Yes the game remembers.

The game is long since dead and there is no point to coming back with the sequel set to release within 6 months.

Originally posted by jpnole

The game is long since dead and there is no point to coming back with the sequel set to release within 6 months.

The game is dead?  Really?  That's not what it LOOKS like when I play every day.  And the PvP is goin' too.  Maybe you're in a slow district or something.  Or maybe you haven't played in a while and therefore aren't taking account of all the people that have just STARTED playing for the first time since GW2 is up and coming?

Or maybe you and I just have different definitions of "dead."

There might not be 10,000 people logged on at all hours, but that never was the point of GW.

If you aren't at 50/50 and not GWAMM you aren't done yet.

And if you don't know what I'm talking about you seriously have been away for 2+yrs. Welcome back! Now get to work!!

Originally posted by just1opinion

Originally posted by jpnole

The game is long since dead and there is no point to coming back with the sequel set to release within 6 months.

 

The game is dead?  Really?  That's not what it LOOKS like when I play every day.  And the PvP is goin' too.  Maybe you're in a slow district or something.  Or maybe you haven't played in a while and therefore aren't taking account of all the people that have just STARTED playing for the first time since GW2 is up and coming?

 

Or maybe you and I just have different definitions of "dead."

He's just making baseless assumptions.... the game is alive and well everytime I logged in. 

Granted, not half as much as when I played 3 years ago, but still lots of population. Plus, you can level yourself with the need for a ton of real life players in a group. 

The whole point of playing now is to build up for GW2. Given the current MMO game selection, GW is by far the best and no sub fee, so I can patiently wait for GW2/SWTOR :) Im not wasting money on the other A- titles that really aren't very good but yet people still pay out monthly for.

Originally posted by ButeoRegalis

There might not be 10,000 people logged on at all hours, but that never was the point of GW.

If you aren't at 50/50 and not GWAMM you aren't done yet.

And if you don't know what I'm talking about you seriously have been away for 2+yrs. Welcome back! Now get to work!!

I have no clue what your talking about. hahaha!

Well 50/50 I assume is the achievement system... whats GWAMM mean or stand for? :)

God Walking Among Mere Mortals

You get that as a title after you have maxed out 25 title tracks, some game play related (like completing all missions in HM with all secondary objectives), some purely for-fun activities (like party animal). Even the most optimal (in terms of RL time) route to GWAMM will take you a few months of play and trading.

Originally posted by ButeoRegalis

God Walking Among Mere Mortals

You get that as a title after you have maxed out 25 title tracks, some game play related (like completing all missions in HM with all secondary objectives), some purely for-fun activities (like party animal). Even the most optimal (in terms of RL time) route to GWAMM will take you a few months of play and trading.

actually its 30 max titles, but I don't wanna discourage anyone :)

Interesting ... what does this God among mortals offer? New armor, pets, etc? I assume it's mostly cosmetic things (like most things in GW) :) 

Originally posted by Cammy

Interesting ... what does this God among mortals offer? New armor, pets, etc? I assume it's mostly cosmetic things (like most things in GW) :) 

Nothing just a title.

Originally posted by Xzen

Originally posted by Cammy

Interesting ... what does this God among mortals offer? New armor, pets, etc? I assume it's mostly cosmetic things (like most things in GW) :) 

Nothing just a title.

Ah - I see... fansy title ;) 

I assume that can be moved to GW2 - I think there's an FAQ on what is ported over, gonna have to look at that and focus my efforts.

Thanks again for all the great replies guys! You all helped very much!

Actually thought of one more question (on PVP)

Are mesmer's still awesome in PVP these days? What In your guy's opinion is a nice ranged class for PVP matches? I used to really enjoy the Mesmer PVP back in the day, but I'd like to know some other suggestions from people. How are Rangers or Ritualists? I remember they used to be a pain playing against...

Originally posted by Cammy

 

Are mesmer's still awesome in PVP these days?  

It depends really. In Random Arena you can have a lot of fun as mesmer but also a lot of frustrations if you end up on all caster teams constantly.

In organized PvP (Heroes Ascent + Guild vs. Guild) mesmers still play an important role in many teambuilds but you will typically be a primary target. Not to discourage you, but getting into a decent HA team as an unranked mesmer will be hard unless you join a new/small HA-guild.

I am not really into Codex and the Faction PvP formats so others would have to answer that.

If you liked playing a mesmer you will still be able to enjoy that in RA. Best advice would be to play whatever suits you :-)

Having said that: The Dervish has had some much needed updates and you may find it easier to begin with in RA. Dervishes has a number of selfheals, skills for increased attack/movement speed, armor + energy buffs. All without using a secondary. This leaves room for some very interesting builds with both damage and high suvivability.