Charinida
2nd June 2005, 08:35 AM
Orig: Newbie Guide to Guild Wars (http://guildwars.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=33&meid=51)
***
2004/11 - Newbie Guide to Guild Wars (By: Shinomori72)
Last Updated : 2004-11-05 22:17:19 (1891 read)
Newbie Guide to Guild Wars (that is, at least the WPE.) -
Written by and Copyright 2004 Ryan "Shinomori72" Iinuma
Currently under exclusive use by Guild Wars @ TenTonHammer
guildwars.tentonhammer.com (http://guildwars.tentonhammer.com/) 1.0 Introduction (http://guildwars.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=print&ceid=33#1.0)
1.1 Professions (http://guildwars.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=print&ceid=33#1.1)
1.2 Skills (http://guildwars.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=print&ceid=33#1.2)
1.3 Attributes (http://guildwars.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=print&ceid=33#1.3)
2.0 Interface (http://guildwars.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=print&ceid=33#2.0)
3.0 Moving Around (http://guildwars.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=print&ceid=33#3.0)
4.0 Economy (http://guildwars.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=print&ceid=33#4.0)
5.0 Missions, Parties, and Guilds (http://guildwars.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=print&ceid=33#5.0)
Chapter 1
Getting Started and an Introduction
Guild Wars is a MMORPG, that is, a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. Ignore the acronym, essentially it's a label that says, "If you play this, you will be in control of a character who needs to grow, progress, or change during the course of your play, and you will be playing with a large number of other people on the internet, at the same time, usually being able to interact with each other".
Talk about long-winded.
Essentially, you will be making a character, changing his/her appearance, and choosing a profession. You will then play this character, leveling him/her up, gaining skills and attributes, getting new equipment, and becoming much stronger. This will be accomplished by defeating enemies, completing missions, defeating other players, and defeating other player groups, with or without the help of NPCs or friends.
Not much better. Let's start at the top, shall we?
As we don't exactly have a full copy of the game yet, I will assume you are reading this as a beta player. Check these fancy instructions copied and pasted from www.guildwars.com (http://www.guildwars.com/) and probably copyright (c) 2004 ArenaNet!
1. Download the client
2. Unzip installation file from Zip Archive
3. Run the GWSetup.exe file to and set drive and path for Guild Wars installation (Default location: "C:\Program Files\Guild Wars")
4. Upon a completed installation Guild Wars will automatically update itself and launch the login screen
Righto! I will assume you know how to unzip--if you don't, head to www.rarlab.com (http://www.rarlab.com/) and get a free 30 day trial version of WinRAR, and double click to open up the file. Then just double click again to run the program, simple as pie.
Alrighty, let's skip to the nonexistent stage 5. Click "Create an account" and fill out all the required information, including your beta key if it asks for it. Now you will get to name your character! You will need a first name and a last name, preferably with no, that is NO, numbers or strange symbols. It just takes away from the whole atmosphere of the game. Use proper capitalization also, please.
Good examples:
Tony BolognaMitsuhiro IinumaVlad the ConquererBotox MachineXark VII the DudeJohn Jacobson Jack Johnson Jr.Bad examples:
>*SePhIrOtH*< }])691337666([{lolz namehoiafoihads ashioahdois#$!@%^!@!# :D:D:DHi2U
Now you get to choose an appearance, primary profession, secondary profession, and maybe a race.
Chapter 1
Subchapter 1
Professions
What are professions? In short, professions are Guild Wars' version of Classes, or Jobs, or character types. In reality, it's a whole lot different. Professions encompass many different things. Appearance, being what your character physically looks like, skills, moves and magic you can use against enemies or to help yourself and others, and attributes, which when increased will increase your character's proficiency in different things. Add on some subtleties such as base statistics, armor, and boom, professions will be the biggest choice you will make.
Let's look at the choices.
Warrior (W) - Like to whack, stab, or cut people up? This is the class for you. With the most physical damage and HP of any class, the warrior is specifically out there to absorb damage and hit people. A warrior's skills will cause damage dealt with different weapons, increase damage, and strengthen allies around him. A warrior's armor is very strong, but beware--along with all that metal being hauled along, there's an increase in susceptability to lightning strikes.
Primary Attribute: Strength
Secondary Attributes: Tactics, Sword Mastery, Axe Mastery, Hammer Mastery
Ranger (R) - Play the sniper in First-person-shooters a lot? Like to kill the enemy before they can even reach you? Have a lot of pets? Feel like shooting an arrow straight through the throat of a cocky magician? That's the ranger, alright. With most skills focusing on the use of a bow, the Ranger is your long-distance physical attacker. Along with numerous shooting skills, rangers also have the unique ability to train animals--that is, having a vicious pet follow you around and slaughter enemies.
Primary Attribute: Expertise
Secondary Attributes: Beast Mastery, Marksmanship, Wilderness Survival
Necromancer (Ne) - Ever feel like raising your dead aunt? Feel like giving blood to demons in exchange for incredible damage to your enemies? You're a necromancer. As a necromancer, you'll have the ability to raise minions from dead bodies, curse enemies, and generally cause horror in your enemy. Beware though, you'll be hurting yourself a whole lot. If you dig that whole "I'll give you my eye if you give me both of my foe's!" mentality, then go for it.
Primary Attribute: Soul Reaping
Secondary Attributes: Curses, Blood Magic, Soul Reaping
Mesmer (Me) - Want people to stab themselves in the foot? Need them to run around in circles screaming for a bit? The mesmer can do all that and more. With most skills focusing on enemy actions, your foes will soon find themselves unable to do anything except stand still if they don't want to cause massive damage to themselves or their allies. A fairly advanced profession, mesmers really need to know how they want to fight their battles.
Primary Attribute: Fast Casting
Secondary Attributes: Domination Magic, Illusion Magic, Inspiration Magic
Elementalist (El) - Like to freeze enemies, burn their flesh off, shock them with bolts of lightning, and then crush them under huge rocks? Go elementalist. With focus on
damage-dealing elemental spells, Elementalists are there to call down the forces of nature upon their unsuspecting foes, exploiting everyone's different elemental weakness.
Primary Attribute: Energy Storage
Secondary Attributes: Air Magic, Earth Magic, Fire Magic, Ice Magic
Monk (Mo) - Yes, you dislike violence, and you're only there to backup your allies. Play a monk, PLEASE! The most valuable class in Guildwars, you'll find yourself constantly busy healing your friends and casting helpful enchantments. Unfortunately, you won't find too many skills to help you harm enemies, but you can cast enchantments to increase the damage of your allies or smite your foes with holy power!
Primary Attribute: Divine Favor
Secondary Attributes: Healing Prayers, Protection Prayers, Smiting Prayers
Alrighty then, you've got the rundowns on your different professions, and you know their different strengths and weaknesses. But wait! You still don't understand some things?
Chapter 1
Subchapter 2
Skills
Skills are generally the magic and special moves of Guild Wars. These are powerful attacks, enchantments, hexes, and spells that can be casted on your allies or your enemies, helping yourself and hindering your foes. There are literally hundreds of skills. Each has a few things in common, with exceptions:
A description
Simply a detail of what the skill does.
An energy cost
How many energy points it will "cost" you to use the skill
Activation time
A measure of how long the skill will take to cast
Recharge time
How much time you must wait before you use the skill again
Linked Attribute
The attribute that effects different things the skill performs. For example, a strength-based skill may do more damage the higher your strength is, or a Blood
Magic-based skill may increase the health drained from the enemy depending on blood magic's height.
Skill Type
Enchantments, hexes, stances, attacks, spells, skills, and signets. Enchantments and hexes are spells that last for a prolonged period of time on target allies and opponents, respectively. Stances are special skills that change your strength, defense, or other statistics for a brief period of time in sacrifice of something else. Attacks are skills used to cause increased physical damage to an enemy. Spells are damage- dealing skills that are usually magical in nature. Skills generally increase your stats greatly for a period of time. Signets are items that are used as if they were skills. You will find other examples during your play.
Most skills do more damage or heal more in direct proportion to their energy cost; that is, the more expensive it is to cast, the better it is. However, some skills don't use energy at all. Warriors sometimes use adrenaline, which fills gradually as you take and deal damage and disappears soon after battle, and Necromancers will sacrifice health to power some skills. There are other examples as well, but most spells require energy.
An important thing to remember is that you will only be able to use 8 different skills at a time. These 8 can be changed in non-battle areas such as towns, but as soon as you hit missions or go exploring, your 8 skills are "locked in". Choose carefully.
Skills are learned by buying them with Skill Points, which are given to you upon level-up, or by using skill charms, which give you a skill for a certain amount of time, or even by capturing a skill with a Capture Signet. You can also learn skills permanently with skill rings, which when used on Skill Charms give the charm skill to you permanently. Note that this can only be used on skill charms that match one of your profressions. Certain skills are more powerful and are described as "Elite" Skills; you may only have one of these equipped at a time.
Phew, that's a lot to absorb. I could give you that and let you make your character right now, but oops. There's still one thing missing.
Chapter 1
Subchapter 3
Attributes
Attributes is where it's at, folks. These little statistics are mainly where your growth will be--without attributes, you'd be a level 1 character with a bunch of weak spells.
Attributes help your character in several ways, either by directly increasing the power of your skills, or by adding small helpful effects. Some attributes are needed to cast skills successfully--many warrior skills require at least a level 4 in certain weapons mastery to hit 100% of the time.
Without attributes you'd be doing nothing. Take monk skills as a fine example; without any points delegated to healing prayers, certain skills would be healing for around 14 points. With 15 points delegated, you'd be healing for a much larger amount, perhaps even 50! Attributes also have many secondary and more hidden functions; a monk's divine favor, for example, heals +1 for every point delegated to it when you cast a monk skill upon yourself. You could use this to tack on a +15 healing bonus when you directly choose to heal damage you take, or you could cast an enchantment and heal yourself a small amount without paying any more. Worth it, trust me.
However, attributes are costly; you must use attribute points to gain them, and attribute points are only rewarded upon level-up. Moreover, to gain levels in attributes themselves is expensive--a level one attribute may only cost one attribute point, but level 2 requires two, level 3 requires three, and so on. Note that it seems like a level progression, but near the end of skill building it becomes far far more expensive, costing more points than the level you are purchasing. For example, level 11 to 12 costs 20 points.
Never fear, however--attributes can always be lowered. Lowering an attribute returns all the attribute points used to raise it, but uses up one refund point. Refund points are given to you upon completing missions, so you'll never run out. Note that you can only have ten refund points at a time.
Alrighty. Hopefully by now you've decided on the profession you are going to take, and have already figured out some of the character basics. But here's just one more surprise... You can choose two professions! Yes, Guild Wars has dual classing.
Chapter 1
Subchapter 4
Dual Classing
While creating a character, you will be able to choose two professions. One will be your primary profession, which will decide your appearance and primary attribute, while the other will be your secondary profession, which will generally give you more skills and attributes from that character type.
For example, a Warrior/Monk, or W/Mo, would look like a warrior, have all the warrior attributes and skills, but he or her would also have monk skills and attributes. He or she would have Strength, the warrior's primary attribute, but not Divine Favor, the Monk's primary attribute.
Your primary attribute will also decide some things like your armor, elemental weaknesses, and health/energy base stats. Experiment to find any combination you choose -- they're all useful if used correctly.
There, you've got all your info. Choose your two professions, change your appearance, and then get ready to play!!
Chapter 2
Interface
The interface on Guild Wars is quite simple. See that little button on the top right that looks like an ancient coliseum, or even ArenaNet's symbol? Click on that. This brings up the options screen, where you can change graphics, sound, chat history, and even ignore or add players to your friends list. Your friends list will tell you when players are online, or even send them a message when they log on.
There should be one in about the lower middle of your screen on the left side. That's the chat screen, which you can bring up by simply hitting enter. You can choose to send messages to everyone, just your party, your guild, or even to one individual. Simply choose the appropriate chat tab.
Now you'll look at the icon just above that. This is your character panel, which shows inventory, stats, skills, and a log.
Your inventory is self explanatory--it simply shows all the items in your possession, along with gold. You can choose to sort or trash items here, also. To use an item just double click it, and then click the target. Double-click to equip items.
Your statistics or hero screen shows your name, level, experience to next level, attributes, and all your skill points, attribute points, and refund points. This is also where you will be increasing your attributes.
Skills is just that. It shows your skills, sorted into their appropriate profession, along with details. This is where you will choose skills to take into battle, by dragging the icon to the quick select skill menu on the bottom of the screen.
The log screen will show your current active quest or mission, along with any details for it. These will be marked off as you complete them.
Now check out the quick select skill menu. It has 8 squares, each with a skill icon in it. By clicking an occupied spot, you will use that skill. Note that the red bar is your health, and the blue bar is your energy. The arrows to the left or right of the numbers show regeneration or loss--you will lose or gain more depending on how many arrows there are. Don't forget that you can hit the appropriate number button on your keyboard to quickly use a skill.
Now look at the bottom right of your screen. This is your minimap. Green dots are allies in your party, blue dots are other players, bright red dots are enemies, and dull red dots are enemy corpses. Yellow dots are NPCs that you can talk to or you might have to save. You can click on the minimap to send a beacon to your allies, or even draw on it to show a path you'd like to take.
In the far far bottom right is the main map key. You'll never use this, as hitting M is much easier. This shows you the Guild Wars map, marking different areas. You will be able to access different towns and battlegrounds as time goes on, and it will also show more details for areas you have already explored.
In the lower left of your screen you will see four boxes. These are your weapons select keys. You can drag weapons onto these boxes, and then use the f1-f4 keys to quickly switch between them. This is useful in many situations.
The upper middle of your screen will show your current target, and if he/she is using a skill, it will show that skill beneath the name. Use this to also trade with fellow players, as a trade button will appear.
The right side of your screen will show a party list; This will show all the people in your party. To invite someone to party with you, simply target them and hit Join. This will send an invitation. Likewise, you can click on their names and hit leave; this will kick them out. You may also accept and reject invitations, and leave the party at any time.
The upper left of your screen will show different things depending on where you are. If you are in a town, it will show a "District" list. A "district" is almost like a server. Characters in District 1 Lion's Arch will only see each other--Characters in District 2 Lion's Arch will be unable to see Characters in District 1. All Districts are identical. These were created to minimize lag; Walking through town while there were 2000 people there all talking and running around would be a harrowing experience.
If you are in a battle area, it will be blank until you are under enchantment, a bad condition, hex, or the like. At this point an icon will appear which will describe the effect you are under.
Chapter 3
Moving Around
Now that you know what all the info on your screen is, let's try moving around. This is done by either clicking on the ground where you'd like to move to, or by using the WASD keys. Move the camera by holding down the right mouse button and moving your mouse, and zoom in and out using the mouse wheel.
To attack an enemy or follow an ally, click on them. If you hold the control key while clicking, your character will announce who he or she is targeting, and holding the shift key will simply target without taking action. You can also try some other commands:
Q: strafe left
E: strafe right
Space: "Default" command; while targeting allies, you wil follow, while targeting enemies, you will attack.
C: target closest character
Z: Reverse camera. This will automatically spin the camera around to look at your face.
S twice: this will spin your character around to face the opposite direction.
W twice: this will auto-run. Your character will run straight ahead without any input, while you may steer with the mouse.
Hold Ctrl: This will show the names of nearby enemies and allies.
Hold Alt: This will show Items, objects, and NPCs.
Combat is just as simple. Target an enemy, then use a skill, or attack. Here are some simple things to remember.
Recast time: Once a skill has been used, it will require a certain length of time before it can be used again. When the skill is ready it will brighten to its normal color.
Knockdown: Certain attacks knockdown opponents. When knocked down, the target will be unable to attack or cast skills.
Conditions: Certain status effects are added and negatively effect a player for a short length of time. These will show in the top left of your screen, along with any positive effects you are under.
Chapter 4
Economy
In the course of your play, you will need to gain new items or equipment. This is done by either talking to an NPC who will sell you the item, talking to an NPC who will craft you the item, finding the item, or trading.
Crafting items and armor is incredibly simple; simply have all the items needed for the purchase in your inventory, and purchase it as normal. Getting the items is a different matter, however.
One way is to buy the ingredients. This is done by using Gold from missions, which is usually scarce, or by selling items in your inventory for some quick cash. This can be greatly beneficial.
Another is to find them on the bodies of enemies; when the enemy is defeated, it may drop an item. The item will then be "reserved" for a member of your party; no other member will be able to pick it up.
The last, and most common, is to salvage. This is done by purchasing a salvage kit, and then 'using' the salvage kit on a piece of equipment or the like you have found or purchased. You will usually gain a small number of ingredients.
Upgrading weapons is similar, but not the same. Instead of large numbers of small ingredients to make a weapon, you need weapons parts. These are obtained by using an "Expert salvage kit" on a pre-existing weapon of the same type.
Trading is simple. Simply click the player who you would like to trade with, and click the "trade" button at the top of the screen. This will enable you to start a trade by making offers and confirming, accepting offers, and then finalizing. It is perfectly private and there is little to no chance of fraud.
Dying is a great way to customize your appearance. By mixing different dyes or using them plain on your equipment, you are able to change the appearance of your armor in subtle ways, marking your individuality. Dyes come in different rarities; Silver and Black are the most rare, and thus the most popular.
Chapter 5
Missions, Parties, and Guilds
To participate in a mission, simply travel to the mission area. You will see one thing different; everyone now has weird numbers above their heads. These are their professions and levels, in the following format:
Primary Profession Abbreviation / Secondary Profession Abbreviation Level
Thus, a Warrior/Monk who was level 19 would be a W/Mo19. This will help you choose people to join your party. If a character is missing the level indication, he or she is already in a party; if there is a person symbol followed by a number over someone's head, that person has created a party with that many players in it.
After your party is organized, the party leader, which may well be you, will click Enter Mission. This will... enter the mission.
Upon successul completion of a mission, one or two shields may appear on your screen. The first one represents the primary objective, and the second represents a hidden, harder, and more rewarding objective. Along with standard missions, you will also receive quests will exploring or wandering around in the wilderness; these will disappear as soon as you leave, but can always be taken up again by talking to the NPC who gave it to you.
Guilds are big parties with lots of happy people in them. Yeah right. To create a guild, you will need to create a guild image and register your guild for a fee with the registrar in Lion's Arch. You may then invite people to your guild or kick them out using the Guild menu. If you are accepted or have started a guild, your character name will now show something within brackets after it. This is your guild abbreviation. You will also be wearing a bib. This is because Guild is a euphemism for lobster. Actually, this is just your guild symbol. Note that all your characters will join the guild if one of them is; guilds are account based. You can only be in one guild at a time.
That should be enough to get you started in Guild Wars; I hope you learned something, I guess. Try look at some of the other upcoming Guides on guildwars.tentonhammer.com (http://guildwars.tentonhammer.com/), then get out there and play.
***
2004/11 - Newbie Guide to Guild Wars (By: Shinomori72)
Last Updated : 2004-11-05 22:17:19 (1891 read)
Newbie Guide to Guild Wars (that is, at least the WPE.) -
Written by and Copyright 2004 Ryan "Shinomori72" Iinuma
Currently under exclusive use by Guild Wars @ TenTonHammer
guildwars.tentonhammer.com (http://guildwars.tentonhammer.com/) 1.0 Introduction (http://guildwars.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=print&ceid=33#1.0)
1.1 Professions (http://guildwars.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=print&ceid=33#1.1)
1.2 Skills (http://guildwars.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=print&ceid=33#1.2)
1.3 Attributes (http://guildwars.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=print&ceid=33#1.3)
2.0 Interface (http://guildwars.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=print&ceid=33#2.0)
3.0 Moving Around (http://guildwars.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=print&ceid=33#3.0)
4.0 Economy (http://guildwars.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=print&ceid=33#4.0)
5.0 Missions, Parties, and Guilds (http://guildwars.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=print&ceid=33#5.0)
Chapter 1
Getting Started and an Introduction
Guild Wars is a MMORPG, that is, a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. Ignore the acronym, essentially it's a label that says, "If you play this, you will be in control of a character who needs to grow, progress, or change during the course of your play, and you will be playing with a large number of other people on the internet, at the same time, usually being able to interact with each other".
Talk about long-winded.
Essentially, you will be making a character, changing his/her appearance, and choosing a profession. You will then play this character, leveling him/her up, gaining skills and attributes, getting new equipment, and becoming much stronger. This will be accomplished by defeating enemies, completing missions, defeating other players, and defeating other player groups, with or without the help of NPCs or friends.
Not much better. Let's start at the top, shall we?
As we don't exactly have a full copy of the game yet, I will assume you are reading this as a beta player. Check these fancy instructions copied and pasted from www.guildwars.com (http://www.guildwars.com/) and probably copyright (c) 2004 ArenaNet!
1. Download the client
2. Unzip installation file from Zip Archive
3. Run the GWSetup.exe file to and set drive and path for Guild Wars installation (Default location: "C:\Program Files\Guild Wars")
4. Upon a completed installation Guild Wars will automatically update itself and launch the login screen
Righto! I will assume you know how to unzip--if you don't, head to www.rarlab.com (http://www.rarlab.com/) and get a free 30 day trial version of WinRAR, and double click to open up the file. Then just double click again to run the program, simple as pie.
Alrighty, let's skip to the nonexistent stage 5. Click "Create an account" and fill out all the required information, including your beta key if it asks for it. Now you will get to name your character! You will need a first name and a last name, preferably with no, that is NO, numbers or strange symbols. It just takes away from the whole atmosphere of the game. Use proper capitalization also, please.
Good examples:
Tony BolognaMitsuhiro IinumaVlad the ConquererBotox MachineXark VII the DudeJohn Jacobson Jack Johnson Jr.Bad examples:
>*SePhIrOtH*< }])691337666([{lolz namehoiafoihads ashioahdois#$!@%^!@!# :D:D:DHi2U
Now you get to choose an appearance, primary profession, secondary profession, and maybe a race.
Chapter 1
Subchapter 1
Professions
What are professions? In short, professions are Guild Wars' version of Classes, or Jobs, or character types. In reality, it's a whole lot different. Professions encompass many different things. Appearance, being what your character physically looks like, skills, moves and magic you can use against enemies or to help yourself and others, and attributes, which when increased will increase your character's proficiency in different things. Add on some subtleties such as base statistics, armor, and boom, professions will be the biggest choice you will make.
Let's look at the choices.
Warrior (W) - Like to whack, stab, or cut people up? This is the class for you. With the most physical damage and HP of any class, the warrior is specifically out there to absorb damage and hit people. A warrior's skills will cause damage dealt with different weapons, increase damage, and strengthen allies around him. A warrior's armor is very strong, but beware--along with all that metal being hauled along, there's an increase in susceptability to lightning strikes.
Primary Attribute: Strength
Secondary Attributes: Tactics, Sword Mastery, Axe Mastery, Hammer Mastery
Ranger (R) - Play the sniper in First-person-shooters a lot? Like to kill the enemy before they can even reach you? Have a lot of pets? Feel like shooting an arrow straight through the throat of a cocky magician? That's the ranger, alright. With most skills focusing on the use of a bow, the Ranger is your long-distance physical attacker. Along with numerous shooting skills, rangers also have the unique ability to train animals--that is, having a vicious pet follow you around and slaughter enemies.
Primary Attribute: Expertise
Secondary Attributes: Beast Mastery, Marksmanship, Wilderness Survival
Necromancer (Ne) - Ever feel like raising your dead aunt? Feel like giving blood to demons in exchange for incredible damage to your enemies? You're a necromancer. As a necromancer, you'll have the ability to raise minions from dead bodies, curse enemies, and generally cause horror in your enemy. Beware though, you'll be hurting yourself a whole lot. If you dig that whole "I'll give you my eye if you give me both of my foe's!" mentality, then go for it.
Primary Attribute: Soul Reaping
Secondary Attributes: Curses, Blood Magic, Soul Reaping
Mesmer (Me) - Want people to stab themselves in the foot? Need them to run around in circles screaming for a bit? The mesmer can do all that and more. With most skills focusing on enemy actions, your foes will soon find themselves unable to do anything except stand still if they don't want to cause massive damage to themselves or their allies. A fairly advanced profession, mesmers really need to know how they want to fight their battles.
Primary Attribute: Fast Casting
Secondary Attributes: Domination Magic, Illusion Magic, Inspiration Magic
Elementalist (El) - Like to freeze enemies, burn their flesh off, shock them with bolts of lightning, and then crush them under huge rocks? Go elementalist. With focus on
damage-dealing elemental spells, Elementalists are there to call down the forces of nature upon their unsuspecting foes, exploiting everyone's different elemental weakness.
Primary Attribute: Energy Storage
Secondary Attributes: Air Magic, Earth Magic, Fire Magic, Ice Magic
Monk (Mo) - Yes, you dislike violence, and you're only there to backup your allies. Play a monk, PLEASE! The most valuable class in Guildwars, you'll find yourself constantly busy healing your friends and casting helpful enchantments. Unfortunately, you won't find too many skills to help you harm enemies, but you can cast enchantments to increase the damage of your allies or smite your foes with holy power!
Primary Attribute: Divine Favor
Secondary Attributes: Healing Prayers, Protection Prayers, Smiting Prayers
Alrighty then, you've got the rundowns on your different professions, and you know their different strengths and weaknesses. But wait! You still don't understand some things?
Chapter 1
Subchapter 2
Skills
Skills are generally the magic and special moves of Guild Wars. These are powerful attacks, enchantments, hexes, and spells that can be casted on your allies or your enemies, helping yourself and hindering your foes. There are literally hundreds of skills. Each has a few things in common, with exceptions:
A description
Simply a detail of what the skill does.
An energy cost
How many energy points it will "cost" you to use the skill
Activation time
A measure of how long the skill will take to cast
Recharge time
How much time you must wait before you use the skill again
Linked Attribute
The attribute that effects different things the skill performs. For example, a strength-based skill may do more damage the higher your strength is, or a Blood
Magic-based skill may increase the health drained from the enemy depending on blood magic's height.
Skill Type
Enchantments, hexes, stances, attacks, spells, skills, and signets. Enchantments and hexes are spells that last for a prolonged period of time on target allies and opponents, respectively. Stances are special skills that change your strength, defense, or other statistics for a brief period of time in sacrifice of something else. Attacks are skills used to cause increased physical damage to an enemy. Spells are damage- dealing skills that are usually magical in nature. Skills generally increase your stats greatly for a period of time. Signets are items that are used as if they were skills. You will find other examples during your play.
Most skills do more damage or heal more in direct proportion to their energy cost; that is, the more expensive it is to cast, the better it is. However, some skills don't use energy at all. Warriors sometimes use adrenaline, which fills gradually as you take and deal damage and disappears soon after battle, and Necromancers will sacrifice health to power some skills. There are other examples as well, but most spells require energy.
An important thing to remember is that you will only be able to use 8 different skills at a time. These 8 can be changed in non-battle areas such as towns, but as soon as you hit missions or go exploring, your 8 skills are "locked in". Choose carefully.
Skills are learned by buying them with Skill Points, which are given to you upon level-up, or by using skill charms, which give you a skill for a certain amount of time, or even by capturing a skill with a Capture Signet. You can also learn skills permanently with skill rings, which when used on Skill Charms give the charm skill to you permanently. Note that this can only be used on skill charms that match one of your profressions. Certain skills are more powerful and are described as "Elite" Skills; you may only have one of these equipped at a time.
Phew, that's a lot to absorb. I could give you that and let you make your character right now, but oops. There's still one thing missing.
Chapter 1
Subchapter 3
Attributes
Attributes is where it's at, folks. These little statistics are mainly where your growth will be--without attributes, you'd be a level 1 character with a bunch of weak spells.
Attributes help your character in several ways, either by directly increasing the power of your skills, or by adding small helpful effects. Some attributes are needed to cast skills successfully--many warrior skills require at least a level 4 in certain weapons mastery to hit 100% of the time.
Without attributes you'd be doing nothing. Take monk skills as a fine example; without any points delegated to healing prayers, certain skills would be healing for around 14 points. With 15 points delegated, you'd be healing for a much larger amount, perhaps even 50! Attributes also have many secondary and more hidden functions; a monk's divine favor, for example, heals +1 for every point delegated to it when you cast a monk skill upon yourself. You could use this to tack on a +15 healing bonus when you directly choose to heal damage you take, or you could cast an enchantment and heal yourself a small amount without paying any more. Worth it, trust me.
However, attributes are costly; you must use attribute points to gain them, and attribute points are only rewarded upon level-up. Moreover, to gain levels in attributes themselves is expensive--a level one attribute may only cost one attribute point, but level 2 requires two, level 3 requires three, and so on. Note that it seems like a level progression, but near the end of skill building it becomes far far more expensive, costing more points than the level you are purchasing. For example, level 11 to 12 costs 20 points.
Never fear, however--attributes can always be lowered. Lowering an attribute returns all the attribute points used to raise it, but uses up one refund point. Refund points are given to you upon completing missions, so you'll never run out. Note that you can only have ten refund points at a time.
Alrighty. Hopefully by now you've decided on the profession you are going to take, and have already figured out some of the character basics. But here's just one more surprise... You can choose two professions! Yes, Guild Wars has dual classing.
Chapter 1
Subchapter 4
Dual Classing
While creating a character, you will be able to choose two professions. One will be your primary profession, which will decide your appearance and primary attribute, while the other will be your secondary profession, which will generally give you more skills and attributes from that character type.
For example, a Warrior/Monk, or W/Mo, would look like a warrior, have all the warrior attributes and skills, but he or her would also have monk skills and attributes. He or she would have Strength, the warrior's primary attribute, but not Divine Favor, the Monk's primary attribute.
Your primary attribute will also decide some things like your armor, elemental weaknesses, and health/energy base stats. Experiment to find any combination you choose -- they're all useful if used correctly.
There, you've got all your info. Choose your two professions, change your appearance, and then get ready to play!!
Chapter 2
Interface
The interface on Guild Wars is quite simple. See that little button on the top right that looks like an ancient coliseum, or even ArenaNet's symbol? Click on that. This brings up the options screen, where you can change graphics, sound, chat history, and even ignore or add players to your friends list. Your friends list will tell you when players are online, or even send them a message when they log on.
There should be one in about the lower middle of your screen on the left side. That's the chat screen, which you can bring up by simply hitting enter. You can choose to send messages to everyone, just your party, your guild, or even to one individual. Simply choose the appropriate chat tab.
Now you'll look at the icon just above that. This is your character panel, which shows inventory, stats, skills, and a log.
Your inventory is self explanatory--it simply shows all the items in your possession, along with gold. You can choose to sort or trash items here, also. To use an item just double click it, and then click the target. Double-click to equip items.
Your statistics or hero screen shows your name, level, experience to next level, attributes, and all your skill points, attribute points, and refund points. This is also where you will be increasing your attributes.
Skills is just that. It shows your skills, sorted into their appropriate profession, along with details. This is where you will choose skills to take into battle, by dragging the icon to the quick select skill menu on the bottom of the screen.
The log screen will show your current active quest or mission, along with any details for it. These will be marked off as you complete them.
Now check out the quick select skill menu. It has 8 squares, each with a skill icon in it. By clicking an occupied spot, you will use that skill. Note that the red bar is your health, and the blue bar is your energy. The arrows to the left or right of the numbers show regeneration or loss--you will lose or gain more depending on how many arrows there are. Don't forget that you can hit the appropriate number button on your keyboard to quickly use a skill.
Now look at the bottom right of your screen. This is your minimap. Green dots are allies in your party, blue dots are other players, bright red dots are enemies, and dull red dots are enemy corpses. Yellow dots are NPCs that you can talk to or you might have to save. You can click on the minimap to send a beacon to your allies, or even draw on it to show a path you'd like to take.
In the far far bottom right is the main map key. You'll never use this, as hitting M is much easier. This shows you the Guild Wars map, marking different areas. You will be able to access different towns and battlegrounds as time goes on, and it will also show more details for areas you have already explored.
In the lower left of your screen you will see four boxes. These are your weapons select keys. You can drag weapons onto these boxes, and then use the f1-f4 keys to quickly switch between them. This is useful in many situations.
The upper middle of your screen will show your current target, and if he/she is using a skill, it will show that skill beneath the name. Use this to also trade with fellow players, as a trade button will appear.
The right side of your screen will show a party list; This will show all the people in your party. To invite someone to party with you, simply target them and hit Join. This will send an invitation. Likewise, you can click on their names and hit leave; this will kick them out. You may also accept and reject invitations, and leave the party at any time.
The upper left of your screen will show different things depending on where you are. If you are in a town, it will show a "District" list. A "district" is almost like a server. Characters in District 1 Lion's Arch will only see each other--Characters in District 2 Lion's Arch will be unable to see Characters in District 1. All Districts are identical. These were created to minimize lag; Walking through town while there were 2000 people there all talking and running around would be a harrowing experience.
If you are in a battle area, it will be blank until you are under enchantment, a bad condition, hex, or the like. At this point an icon will appear which will describe the effect you are under.
Chapter 3
Moving Around
Now that you know what all the info on your screen is, let's try moving around. This is done by either clicking on the ground where you'd like to move to, or by using the WASD keys. Move the camera by holding down the right mouse button and moving your mouse, and zoom in and out using the mouse wheel.
To attack an enemy or follow an ally, click on them. If you hold the control key while clicking, your character will announce who he or she is targeting, and holding the shift key will simply target without taking action. You can also try some other commands:
Q: strafe left
E: strafe right
Space: "Default" command; while targeting allies, you wil follow, while targeting enemies, you will attack.
C: target closest character
Z: Reverse camera. This will automatically spin the camera around to look at your face.
S twice: this will spin your character around to face the opposite direction.
W twice: this will auto-run. Your character will run straight ahead without any input, while you may steer with the mouse.
Hold Ctrl: This will show the names of nearby enemies and allies.
Hold Alt: This will show Items, objects, and NPCs.
Combat is just as simple. Target an enemy, then use a skill, or attack. Here are some simple things to remember.
Recast time: Once a skill has been used, it will require a certain length of time before it can be used again. When the skill is ready it will brighten to its normal color.
Knockdown: Certain attacks knockdown opponents. When knocked down, the target will be unable to attack or cast skills.
Conditions: Certain status effects are added and negatively effect a player for a short length of time. These will show in the top left of your screen, along with any positive effects you are under.
Chapter 4
Economy
In the course of your play, you will need to gain new items or equipment. This is done by either talking to an NPC who will sell you the item, talking to an NPC who will craft you the item, finding the item, or trading.
Crafting items and armor is incredibly simple; simply have all the items needed for the purchase in your inventory, and purchase it as normal. Getting the items is a different matter, however.
One way is to buy the ingredients. This is done by using Gold from missions, which is usually scarce, or by selling items in your inventory for some quick cash. This can be greatly beneficial.
Another is to find them on the bodies of enemies; when the enemy is defeated, it may drop an item. The item will then be "reserved" for a member of your party; no other member will be able to pick it up.
The last, and most common, is to salvage. This is done by purchasing a salvage kit, and then 'using' the salvage kit on a piece of equipment or the like you have found or purchased. You will usually gain a small number of ingredients.
Upgrading weapons is similar, but not the same. Instead of large numbers of small ingredients to make a weapon, you need weapons parts. These are obtained by using an "Expert salvage kit" on a pre-existing weapon of the same type.
Trading is simple. Simply click the player who you would like to trade with, and click the "trade" button at the top of the screen. This will enable you to start a trade by making offers and confirming, accepting offers, and then finalizing. It is perfectly private and there is little to no chance of fraud.
Dying is a great way to customize your appearance. By mixing different dyes or using them plain on your equipment, you are able to change the appearance of your armor in subtle ways, marking your individuality. Dyes come in different rarities; Silver and Black are the most rare, and thus the most popular.
Chapter 5
Missions, Parties, and Guilds
To participate in a mission, simply travel to the mission area. You will see one thing different; everyone now has weird numbers above their heads. These are their professions and levels, in the following format:
Primary Profession Abbreviation / Secondary Profession Abbreviation Level
Thus, a Warrior/Monk who was level 19 would be a W/Mo19. This will help you choose people to join your party. If a character is missing the level indication, he or she is already in a party; if there is a person symbol followed by a number over someone's head, that person has created a party with that many players in it.
After your party is organized, the party leader, which may well be you, will click Enter Mission. This will... enter the mission.
Upon successul completion of a mission, one or two shields may appear on your screen. The first one represents the primary objective, and the second represents a hidden, harder, and more rewarding objective. Along with standard missions, you will also receive quests will exploring or wandering around in the wilderness; these will disappear as soon as you leave, but can always be taken up again by talking to the NPC who gave it to you.
Guilds are big parties with lots of happy people in them. Yeah right. To create a guild, you will need to create a guild image and register your guild for a fee with the registrar in Lion's Arch. You may then invite people to your guild or kick them out using the Guild menu. If you are accepted or have started a guild, your character name will now show something within brackets after it. This is your guild abbreviation. You will also be wearing a bib. This is because Guild is a euphemism for lobster. Actually, this is just your guild symbol. Note that all your characters will join the guild if one of them is; guilds are account based. You can only be in one guild at a time.
That should be enough to get you started in Guild Wars; I hope you learned something, I guess. Try look at some of the other upcoming Guides on guildwars.tentonhammer.com (http://guildwars.tentonhammer.com/), then get out there and play.