Questions I'm too afraid to ask scary retail computer store clerks

[Hureg]

Hello Rbers

My curiosity is finally getting the better of me.

First off - I play Diablo. I like Diablo. Diablo is great.

but...

I have no interest in playing Diablo alone and there are times when I find myself waiting around for a game. The idea of playing another game as well as Diablo seems like the logical solution and Guild Wars seems to be where I'm headed.

Now, I was in the store today to figure out how much this is going to cost me, and I got all confused. Turns out I don't need Guild Wars to play Factions? Is that right?

So I hate to bother you all with questions and all, but oh well . Exactly what am I going to miss out on if I buy Factions and only Factions? Would I be better off getting just the original Guild Wars? If I can help it, I would prefer to just get one or the other to start with and as Factions has only just came out, I'd probably prefer to start there and backtrack later. The only two things I'm really worried about are firstly, whether or not I would be able to play all 8 character classes with only Factions, or if I'd be stuck to just the 2 additions and secondly what sort of limitations it would place on me 'guild' wise. Unless of course I am wrong and you do need the original to run Factions, in which case, WHOOPS

Also, my computer meets the system requirements but I've a feeling my video card might fall short, any ideas on how much "ATI Radeon 8500 or GeForce 3 or 4 MX Series Video Card with 32MB of VRAM" or equivelent is going to cost?

Thanks in advance for any help

And to finish the way I started - RB did great things for Diablo. I would be happy to do great/moderately great/bordering on rubbish things for RB

~Hureg
D1 Ironman Tournament
http://p205.ezboard.com/bthedsfcommunity

[Zed-F]

Hello Rbers

My curiosity is finally getting the better of me.

First off - I play Diablo. I like Diablo. Diablo is great.

but...

I have no interest in playing Diablo alone and there are times when I find myself waiting around for a game. The idea of playing another game as well as Diablo seems like the logical solution and Guild Wars seems to be where I'm headed.

Now, I was in the store today to figure out how much this is going to cost me, and I got all confused. Turns out I don't need Guild Wars to play Factions? Is that right?

That's correct.

So I hate to bother you all with questions and all, but oh well . Exactly what am I going to miss out on if I buy Factions and only Factions?

You will miss out on the ability to go to Tyria, the original content, and access the Prophecies-specific skills and quests therein. You will also miss out on the extra character slots you would be able to get from having copies of both chapters.

Would I be better off getting just the original Guild Wars?

While you would miss out on some things just starting with Factions, overall I'd say that since most people in RB are currently playing factions content, if you want people to game with you would be better off with just Factions (or with both games) than with Prophecies alone.

If I can help it, I would prefer to just get one or the other to start with and as Factions has only just came out, I'd probably prefer to start there and backtrack later. The only two things I'm really worried about are firstly, whether or not I would be able to play all 8 character classes with only Factions, or if I'd be stuck to just the 2 additions and secondly what sort of limitations it would place on me 'guild' wise. Unless of course I am wrong and you do need the original to run Factions, in which case, WHOOPS

You will get access to all classes with just Factions but you won't get access to all skills for all classes (other than Asn and Rt, of course.) Guild-wise, just owning factions wouldn't be a problem except that you wouldn't be able to participate in any guild-sponsored events that took place in Tyria (such as our nudist team, or if we were to go to do high-end content starting from a Tyrian location.)

Also, my computer meets the system requirements but I've a feeling my video card might fall short, any ideas on how much "ATI Radeon 8500 or GeForce 3 or 4 MX Series Video Card with 32MB of VRAM" or equivelent is going to cost?

Sorry, can't help you there. I have an older system myself and it runs the game fine, however.

Thanks in advance for any help

You're welcome.

[Havral]

Hello Rbers

Hello Hureg!

My curiosity is finally getting the better of me.

Which is fine, if you're not a feline.

Now let's dissect your questions one-by-one. For science!

Turns out I don't need Guild Wars to play Factions? Is that right?

Yes.

Exactly what am I going to miss out on if I buy Factions and only Factions?

The following answer may answer several of the following questions in one fell swoop.

Guild Wars (AKA Chapter 1, AKA The Prophecies Campaign, bot now most people refer to it as Prophecies) and Guild Wars: Factions (AKA Chapter 2, AKA The Factions Campagn, or just plain Factions) are both seperate halves of the whole. One valid comparison just so happens to be City of Heroes and City of Villains - Both parts take place on their own seperate continents (Prophecies takes on a continent known as Tyria, Factions on Cantha), but they've got a common shared area known as the Battle Isles (Where the vast majority of serious PvP takes place). Here, Prophecies and Factions players aren't segregated if they only own one of the two products. Otherwise, Prophecies players have to stick with Tyria and Factions players have to stick with Cantha. If a player account has both products registered, then they've essentially got a free run of both continents.

Now we have to discuss the 'core' part of the game, and I'm not talking locations: The 'core' Guild Wars comprises of the six Prophecies classes and a selection of skills. It's these classes and skills that will be 'common' over the current and future chapters - Chapter 3-only players will get the six core professions and their core skills if they don't have either previous chapters. Anyway, as well as the core of the game, both chapters have a selection of campaign-only skills (Though there's five duplicate skills per profession) and Factions has the additional two professions.

If PvP is your bag, then only owning one chapter is not as limiting as it seems - Between the core skills and the ones specific for the two chapters there's enough selection in there to keep competative. Ideally, having the two chapters will, once you've unlocked them, grant you access to all the skills in the game.

In short, if you do go for 'just Factions', you will get all 8 character professions while Prophecies gets just the original six.

Now onto linking: Technically, you can buy both games and keep them seperate: Running both off seperate accounts. This is arguably one of the most contreversial aspects of the system: If you keep the two games seperate, you'll get 8 character slots over both accounts (Four each per game), while if you link you just get 6. If you've linked your products though, you will get shared storage across those six slots while the two sets of four segregated slots get two storage accounts. If you link, however, every PvE character you make has access to both continents and the goodies therein (Though there are certain missions that Canthan characters cannot participate in on Tyria and vice-versa. For good story reasons, actually)

Basically, linking the two products trades the amount of slots and storage in trade of flexibility and stuff to do. Most people are linking their accounts, FYI.

Also, my computer meets the system requirements but I've a feeling my video card might fall short, any ideas on how much "ATI Radeon 8500 or GeForce 3 or 4 MX Series Video Card with 32MB of VRAM" or equivelent is going to cost?

When I first ran Guild Wars back in the day (With a GeForce FX5200) I was surprised with how resource-friendly the game was. I had played games on that rig with smaller suggested specs that consumed more resources than Guild Wars. For Prophecies, if your card is a decent DirectX8-compatible card and you have sufficient RAM (A gig seems to be a nice number) to support the game it should run fine.

Factions introduced DX9 support (Though you can run the game in DX8 mode with a shortcut switch) so to get it looking best you'd want a decent modern card. A good and popular choice for value/performance is a GeForce 6600GT. You can get 'em for about... Well, I don't know US prices but my 256mb 6600GT cost me £100 (Plus £17.5 for VAT), and allows me to run the game at absolutely the highest settings and resolution supported by my monitor (A beefy 1280x1024).

It still looks good on lower settings, and your OS can help as well: Since owning GW, I've gone through two upgrades:

System specs at the start were: 1.8GHz Processor, 1GB RAM, Windows 98, GeForce FX5200 128MB. I ran it at 1024x768 at fairly low graphical detail. Anything above that and I got a significant framerate drop.

Then I started using Windows XP as an OS, and I was given an interesting choice: Either run it at 1024x768 at max settings or run at 1280x1024 with my current graphical settings. I settled on the former.

Then I ditched th old card (Which isn't a good card anyway, but costs between $20 and $40, maybe even less) and the 6600GT allows me to run in max.

A high shadow setting sucks up a lot of resources though, especially in busy outposts, I prefer running at minimum shadow detail regardless of what the rest of the graphical quality is.

Anyway, someone has probably answered your questions with less brevity than I during this time, but I hope the combined efforts will give you an idea of what to do.

[KingOfPain]

When and if you do get both Chapters, have them linked to one single account. The extra 2 slots is nice but not worth the handicap and trouble, especially since extra slots can be bought later.

You can do some catching up and join the Nudist (currently running in C1) if you play hard for awhile.

When you get on Guild Wars, make a character named Hureg and post here. We will send you an invite based on that name. That's just for easy identification of whos who, you can delete that character later if you want.

Looking forward to seeing you in GW


KoP

[Green_Gloom]

Questions I'm too afraid to ask scary retail computer store clerks

And all a store clerk would tell you would be 1) Your computer can run it just fine (even if it barely runs Win 3.11) and 2) You will need both to have fun. An alternative to 1) would be "This cheap upgrade will let you play it so much better".

If you only buy one of the campaigns then I'd suggest buying Factions. The content is fairly new for most people and you'll currently find more people playing through it than Prophecies.

[Lurker Wyrm]

Also, my computer meets the system requirements but I've a feeling my video card might fall short, any ideas on how much "ATI Radeon 8500 or GeForce 3 or 4 MX Series Video Card with 32MB of VRAM" or equivelent is going to cost?

Less than 100 USD. I've seen GeForce 7300s (the cheap version of the next-gen) for that much, and if you look around bargain bins, you can find the previous models for under 50 USD. Guild Wars really doesn't require much in the way of computer power, I run it on a 1GHz machine with a Ti4600 without any problems (at least none that are related to performance).

I didn't see anyone else mention this, so I might as well. If you're more of a PvE player, get Prophecies. The PvE in Factions is less than desirable. While it's still annoying at times in Prophecies, it's nothing compared to the hair-pulling aggrivation that Factions puts you through. On the other hand, if you prefer PvP, get Factions. It's got all of the PvP options of the original plus the new additions.

The 2 new classes aren't really anything to write home about and, aside from teleportation with assassins, can't do anything the old chars couldn't so I wouldn't base a decision about which game to buy on that.

Also, I'm not sure if this was a CE exlusive or not, but Factions came with a free trial key for Prophecies that works for 14 hours or about 1 week, whichever comes first.

When you get on Guild Wars, make a character named Hureg and post here.

Probably should mention something about the 2 word requirement for character names.

[KingOfPain]

Good catch. Just name it "Hureg" something, or "Hureg Something"

KoP

[Havral]

Also, I'm not sure if this was a CE exlusive or not, but Factions came with a free trial key for Prophecies that works for 14 hours or about 1 week, whichever comes first.

Funnily enough, I'm sure that mine didn't come with that key.

I'll look again, but I'm certain there was nothing there.

[Hawkmoon]

Funnily enough, I'm sure that mine didn't come with that key.

I'll look again, but I'm certain there was nothing there.

The key for the 14-day trial of Prophecies was in the Factions Pre-Order box. I've got one that was unused, so Hureg, if you'd like, let me know and I'll PM you with the key.

[WarBlade]

The following answer may answer several of the following questions in one fell swoop.

Guild Wars (AKA Chapter 1, AKA The Prophecies Campaign, bot now most people refer to it as Prophecies) and Guild Wars: Factions (AKA Chapter 2, AKA The Factions Campagn, or just plain Factions) are both seperate halves of the whole. One valid comparison just so happens to be City of Heroes and City of Villains - Both parts take place on their own seperate continents (Prophecies takes on a continent known as Tyria, Factions on Cantha), but they've got a common shared area known as the Battle Isles (Where the vast majority of serious PvP takes place). Here, Prophecies and Factions players aren't segregated if they only own one of the two products. Otherwise, Prophecies players have to stick with Tyria and Factions players have to stick with Cantha. If a player account has both products registered, then they've essentially got a free run of both continents.

Now we have to discuss the 'core' part of the game, and I'm not talking locations: The 'core' Guild Wars comprises of the six Prophecies classes and a selection of skills. It's these classes and skills that will be 'common' over the current and future chapters - Chapter 3-only players will get the six core professions and their core skills if they don't have either previous chapters. Anyway, as well as the core of the game, both chapters have a selection of campaign-only skills (Though there's five duplicate skills per profession) and Factions has the additional two professions.

If PvP is your bag, then only owning one chapter is not as limiting as it seems - Between the core skills and the ones specific for the two chapters there's enough selection in there to keep competative. Ideally, having the two chapters will, once you've unlocked them, grant you access to all the skills in the game.

In short, if you do go for 'just Factions', you will get all 8 character professions while Prophecies gets just the original six.

Now onto linking: Technically, you can buy both games and keep them seperate: Running both off seperate accounts. This is arguably one of the most contreversial aspects of the system: If you keep the two games seperate, you'll get 8 character slots over both accounts (Four each per game), while if you link you just get 6. If you've linked your products though, you will get shared storage across those six slots while the two sets of four segregated slots get two storage accounts. If you link, however, every PvE character you make has access to both continents and the goodies therein (Though there are certain missions that Canthan characters cannot participate in on Tyria and vice-versa. For good story reasons, actually)

Basically, linking the two products trades the amount of slots and storage in trade of flexibility and stuff to do. Most people are linking their accounts, FYI.

And in case you missed it the first time: " "



I feel the possibly irrational need to attempt to translate the above quoted text into English...


All content can be divided into three groups: Common, Prophesies and Factions.

Common
- Battle Isles PvP archipelago map. The Islands where the bulk of PvP is launched from.
- Six character professions common to both games
- Skill sets for the six core professions common to both games.
- Armaments/items available to both campaigns.

Prophesies
- Tyria map. The continent of Tyria where the Prophesies campaign has been taking place for the past year.
- Skill sets for the six core professions of skills that are unique to the Prophesies campaign only.
- Armaments/items only found in Tyria (mostly only unique in cosmetic appearance, but some items won't have a Canthan twin).
- Armour options available to any character travelling in Tyria.

Factions
- Cantha map. The Empire of Cantha where the Factions campaign takes place.
- Two new character professions unique to Factions.
- Skill sets for the six core professions of skills that are unique to the Canthan campaign only.
- Skill sets for the two unique character professions of the Factions campaign.
- Armaments/items available only in Cantha.
- Armour options available to any character travelling in Cantha.

... Or something like that.


Needless to say you get a well rounded game either way. With only one game you'll miss out on one campaign, some item options, about half the armour options and probably something like a quarter of the total skills for the six core professions.

So yeah, echoing others here, get Factions to join us in game and get Prophesies if you feel like disposing of your disposable income.