So I've been considering playing Guild Wars for some time.  Never really got into it, save for a short stint in a free trial quite awhile ago.  What I'm most interested in, is the story and the lore, before getting into GW2.  Does anyone know if it'll help to play GW too better understand the world and stories and lore and learn more about the other races and such prior to playing GW2?  {yes I know you can only play Human}

I've been considering playing ever since the Hall of Monuments was revealed, and while all the unlockable goodies for GW2 are enticing to earn, I've been holding off because if felt like GW2 was just about to release ~ several times.   However, after today's announcement on the GW2 beta, it would appear as though GW2 probably won't launch until summer or later.  I'm banking on Sept/Oct, giving me ample time to enjoy GW and possibly get through all the missions and whatnot.

Anyway, any info regarding my concerns are welcome as well as how the population is.  Also I've read that if you can't find other players to help, you can hire NPC mercanaries, but can they hold their own well enough to complete content while solo, should it come to that?  And what expansion would be the best to get started in?

Thanks~!

Read The Movement of the World on guild Wars 2 wiki. 

It will give you some background on the races, the locations, and some of the lore, and allow you to see some things before they change. This mostly applies to Prophecies (the first guild wars game) and Eye of the North which take place in Tyria which Guid Wars 2 will take place in as well.

I do not doubt that Cantha (Factions) and Elona (Nightfall) will eventually be part of the Guild Wars 2 world, so it might be cool to see some of the past stuff and basic backgrund.

I doubt it will be super important thought as the games are seperated by oh 200 years I think? Sure, a few characters have objects, a charr has Prince Rurik's sword and Gwen's ancestors are alive but you can get that pretty easily everywhere else.

GW is pretty cheap these days so it's all up to you.

GW1 will tell you a bit about the background of GW2 and it is pretty fun to play as well.

But I don´t think it is worth just to get the background story, it will give you as much to read the books.

Prophecies and Eye of the north is what you need to learn the background story of Tyria, you don´t need the other 2 campigns except possibly to get more HoM points and if they ever releases them for GW2 as well.

If you feel like you need a new game GW: Prophecies should keep you busy for a time and you can find it really cheap (around 10 bucks) if you look around, it is an excellent value. GW:EN is needed if you want to unlock the HoM but you can really wait with that until you completed GW:P, it is useless until you reached Lions arch so don´t buy it until you get there (should take you a few days of normal playing the first time).

But it is not a must. If you don´t feel for it and don´t think it is fun you might as well skip it.

Originally posted by Khrymson

 Anyway, any info regarding my concerns are welcome as well as how the population is.  Also I've read that if you can't find other players to help, you can hire NPC mercanaries, but can they hold their own well enough to complete content while solo, should it come to that?  And what expansion would be the best to get started in?

There is usually plenty of people around during prime time, especially on the weekends, but finding people wanting or needing to do the same stuff as you might be a challenge. 

Depending on which campaign you start with, Henchmen are you primary option for NPC companions.  In many ways they are fixed entities (with regards to skills and AI behaviors) and will get you killed from time to time.  Heroes (introduced in the Nightfall campaign and continued in the Eye of the North) are more custonizable (you can allocate their skills and upgrade some of their equipment) and you have a limited amount of control over them by being able to flag some of them and have them move to (or hold) locations.

I was able to solo the majority of all three campaigns (except for one Nightfall mission) and EotN with just the use of Heroes/Henchmen.

Originally posted by samuraislyr4

GW is pretty cheap these days so it's all up to you.

Yeah, I've searched around for it, and while I missed all the sales over the holidays, I did find the GW Complete Collection at Gamestop of all places for $29.99 which is a pretty darn good deal. {also one of my local stores has a copy in stock}  It seems to be a discontinued item at most e-tailers with the rumor being they pulled it to better sell an abundance of trilogy packs first, and buying that plus Eye of of the North seperate would cost closer to $40+.

I also noticed there are 2 novels for Guild Wars that may also fill me in.  Have anyone here read them yet?  Are they good?

• Guild Wars : Ghosts of Ascalon
• Guild Wars: Edge of Destiny

And a third later this year:

• Guild Wars: Sea of Sorrows

Originally posted by Khrymson

 

 I also noticed there are 2 novels for Guild Wars that may also fill me in.  Have anyone here read them yet?  Are they good?

• Guild Wars : Ghosts of Ascalon
• Guild Wars: Edge of Destiny

And a third later this year:

• Guild Wars: Sea of Sorrows

 

 

I've been going through ANet's website for GW2 recently, reading all their entries, watching videos and such, but havn't read or rather been skipping the story or lore parts with the mindset that playing GW would be the better place to start.

I've read them. They aren't bad, neither are amazing but they are not bad. 

Ghosts of Ascalon is backstory about the events leading to a tennative peace between the charr and humans and Edge of Destiny focuses on the heroes that form the group Edge of Destiny many of whom have been featured in the videos or are seen in the dungeon intro videos.

Originally posted by Shoju

but finding people wanting or needing to do the same stuff as you might be a challenge. 

Depending on which campaign you start with, Henchmen are you primary option for NPC companions.  In many ways they are fixed entities (with regards to skills and AI behaviors) and will get you killed from time to time.  Heroes (introduced in the Nightfall campaign and continued in the Eye of the North) are more custonizable (you can allocate their skills and upgrade some of their equipment) and you have a limited amount of control over them by being able to flag some of them and have them move to (or hold) locations.

I was able to solo the majority of all three campaigns (except for one Nightfall mission) and EotN with just the use of Heroes/Henchmen.

That I was expecting, as with all older MMOs, it can be really tough and next to impossible to find players willing to help do older content that they've probably already completed dozens of times themselves or when helping guildies and friends.  When I read about the Henchmen & Heroes you could hire to help you complete the story while solo, that brightened my day.

If one can solo most of the game with the Henchmen and Heroes, then finding help on a few that give one trouble shouldn't be too hard with enough coin offered I'm sure.  What class did you do that with?  I'm still undecided on what class{es} to play, and aren't there more choices with the later expansions?

Your choice will depend on your play style and preferences.

If you can't decide I would recommend Ranger. Good survivability and utility, versatile, safest class to pull with (since you might end up with hench/heroes often), pet as an extra DPS etc.

Yes there are 2 extra classes for each other campaign. Basically 1 melee DPS and 1 ranged support (although mixing and matching professions make clear-cut definitions hard, but that the general idea).

Originally posted by Khrymson

That I was expecting, as with all older MMOs, it can be really tough and next to impossible to find players willing to help do older content that they've probably already completed dozens of times themselves or when helping guildies and friends.  When I read about the Henchmen & Heroes you could hire to help you complete the story while solo, that brightened my day.

If one can solo most of the game with the Henchmen and Heroes, then finding help on a few that give one trouble shouldn't be too hard with enough coin offered I'm sure.  What class did you do that with?  I'm still undecided on what class{es} to play, and aren't there more choices with the later expansions?

In general people suggest starting a character in Nightfall, even if you want to do the content of older campaigns first. You can travel to those older campaigns using that character relatively soon. The reason to start with Nightfall is that the way mission and quests are set up is a lot better than in the other two campagins, you get heroes (which are a lot better than henchmen and which are exclusive to the Nightfall campaign and the Eye of the North expansion) and the progression is fast but not too fast (as it is in Factions).

I terms of classes I think most classes work. If you start with Nightfall you have access to 8 professions, the six core professions + the dervish and the paragon (if you want an Assassin or Ritualist you have to start a character in Factions). The Monk, Mesmer and Necromancer have a somewhat higher learning curve than the other professions but if they fit your preferences better than other professions you should just go for it.