Thoughts on Playing GW1?

[Val the Moofia Boss]

So I've been going through the world of GW1 and am finding a lot of loose holes that are never explained ingame, or lore from the original that is referenced several times over and over again as if it were common knowledge.

I even wouldn't be considering playing a precursor MMORPG except that in this case GW1's campaigns have definite "start" and "ends" like typical video games. Oh sure; there's stuff to do after the campaign is finished, but the campaign is pretty much why I'd play in the first place.

So, thoughts on playing through the first game? Which campaign to play? Which one is the most relevant to current lore? Class advise? What prizes can I get from playing GW1 that I can for GW2? Et etc

[Soul Hermit]

Well GW1 is a great game, it had some fun lore (although you can really tell they've improved throughout the campaigns). The classes are also great, but the combat is different from GW2, and after playing GW2 it was kinda hard for me to like it. It's still good and well developed nonetheless.
You can buy all the campaigns for like 20 dollars I think, through steam or something.
The most relevant to the current lore would be Eye of the North, because it was pretty much a set-up for GW2, but all campaigns are fun (my favorite is Nightfall, love me some god slaying).
As for class, you can pick what you like, although relevant to the campaign, which some classes are locked to a specific campaign, but every character can play any campaign, although in a varying order. Also, Nightfall might be the best start because of the Heroes who you can customize their skills, making other campaigns easier (plus the level on the heroes stay, so you can blaze through other campaigns with a full level 20 groups).

The Hall of Monuments in GW2 is a direct link to your account in GW1 (who also has HoM, but for showing off). There is a calculator in their site that you can see how many HoM points you get for your achievements in GW1, and for every 5 HoM points, you get a unique title in GW2 (aside from a very unique title; 'God walking among mere Mortals', which comes from an achievement from the same name in GW1).

Overall GW1 is still a sound game, rather cheap, and there are still some people playing it. I personally played it after GW2's second anniversary and I found a guild to help me complete most of the campaigns.

[Fencers]

So, thoughts on playing through the first game?

It's a very particular kind of game. More of a tactical/strategy RPG than full fledged MMORPG. Very deep, very complex.

Which campaign to play?

All of them. Basically need all campaigns + expansion at this point in GW1's life.

Which one is the most relevant to current lore?

Everything except Factions. But not really, all of them.

Class advise?

Warrior/Monk.

What prizes can I get from playing GW1 that I can for GW2? Et etc

There is a wiki for this. But mostly skins, pets and titles.

[Arlee]

I've played GW1 some (never played it before playing GW2) and it was a bunch of fun. It's really different though in a lot of ways so it takes some getting used to, but the storylines I saw were definitely interesting.

The only thing which really bugged me about it is not having the ability to jump, which sounds like nbd but it also means when you walking on a path down a hill you can't shortcut it by hopping down... You have to always walk all the way around things. It also felt like there were a ton of invisible walls which was equally annoying since I really like wandering around and exploring.

[Kazgrel]

I played for a while during vanilla/Prophecies and some during Factions, but stopped prior to Nightfall release and never went back until some point last year, when I picked up Nightfall and EotN so I could unlock HoM stuff. It is a jarring difference going back after having played GW2 for a while. Clunky is the word that came to mind, but after a few minutes that wore off (perhaps partly due to having played it years ago).

One thing GW1 trumps it's succesor in: build customization. Whether or not all of them are legitimately good, I would lean towards no...but the combos are nearly limitless.

[Lazuli]

I'm not sure what holes you are talking about but you gotta pay attention to the cut-scenes and talk to mission NPCs to get the full (main) story. Go from prophecies > factions > nightfall > eotn to do it in order. Though it doesn't really matter since they are standalone games except eotn which is a true xpac and only play that if you've done prophecies first to avoid confuzzlement.

Prophecies > eotn works just fine, and then you could do the others since they are their own story.


Maybe I misunderstood the OP and you are saying loose holes that are in GW2.

[Valeron]

factions and nightfall aren't really necessary if you are trying to get the lore for GW2

I recommend playing both if you have them but if your primary aim is to gain knowledge of the world for GW2 then Lazuli's suggestion of prophecies and eotn is perfectly serviceable.

Just an aside, I found Nightfall to be the best of all of the campaigns in terms of story and overall gameplay.

[Deleted]

If you want to get into it easier, head for Nightfalls, as you can get your Heroes, which are better than Henchies.
Class wise, that all depends on what you like to play. Personally, I play an Ele/? (/Mesmer mostly) but read often that in Hard Mode, they have it a bit tougher than the others.
Although a great Heroes set-up/build can make life a doddle in some places

If after more hints, you could check Reddit`s /r/GuildWars, there`s often plenty of folk on there willing to help/hint etc.

Story wise, you may see some holes in Guild Wars, because some times there`s a quest out of the way that can be missed unless you happen to run past it. Had similar on my play through, where I didn`t find certain quests until long after I`d completed all campaigns. You could also check out old WoodenPotatoes clips on Youtube, he used to do loads of story line stuff.

As for toys in gw2 from Guild Wars, check out the Hall of Monuments page with your char`s name, mouse over the orange squares to see what you can get.

[Deleted]

I really wish I could remember my login info for Guild Wars I was always annoyed about it when they said there'd be redeemable stuff for GW2, and then I never got around to sorting it out.

I don't suppose they would have kept the account for this long. It must be at least 3 or 4 years since I've logged into it.

[Deleted]

There`s folk come back from longer breaks & still got their accounts back, although don`t expect Anet to rush.
Seems replies are sloooooooow for most, but worth a shot.

[worprz]

I played for a while during vanilla/Prophecies and some during Factions, but stopped prior to Nightfall release and never went back until some point last year, when I picked up Nightfall and EotN so I could unlock HoM stuff. It is a jarring difference going back after having played GW2 for a while. Clunky is the word that came to mind, but after a few minutes that wore off (perhaps partly due to having played it years ago).

One thing GW1 trumps it's succesor in: build customization. Whether or not all of them are legitimately good, I would lean towards no...but the combos are nearly limitless.

It's kind of funny, I played wow for a long time and I decided to try out Guild Wars since I didn't have to pay monthly. I couldn't stand it, I couldn't jump, the game felt clunky to me and I didn't realise there was a back story like wow had.

Anyway years later I started playing gw2 and I loved it so I decided to go back to the first Guild Wars so I could get a better understanding of the universe. I have to say I enjoy the game much more than when I tried to play it years ago. I think it's partially because I like the universe much more than I did before.

[Eldar45]

I highly recommend GW1 for its Story. The Nightfall story is the best, but if you want to get relevant background into GW2 then you need Prophecies + Eye of the North.

Factions doesn't really have much relevance to the main story in GW2 right now but Nightfall has some, particularly it has Kormir's story, who is referenced a bunch in GW2.

[Deleted]

I bought them all at some sale. I had difficulty with lag and it felt like the combat style was really hard to get used to, felt really clunky for me. And maybe I'm just too picky when it comes to graphics now days

I really wanted to get in to it because of the story.

[ChronoSul]

I really wish I could remember my login info for Guild Wars I was always annoyed about it when they said there'd be redeemable stuff for GW2, and then I never got around to sorting it out.

I don't suppose they would have kept the account for this long. It must be at least 3 or 4 years since I've logged into it.

They would trust me it had been about 4 years since the last time I played when I played it again right before GW2 came out. On topic though GW1 is a great game the main parts of the story u'll want to do is the base game and Eye of the North. Nightfall is also worth mentioning Factions is alright but probably the worse atleast It was when I was like 11 its been a long time

[Judai]

From memory, the lore is based in different times.
Think it was Elonia (Nightfall) takes place first, then Prophecies (Original) then Cantha (Factions), then Eye of the North.

But as most are saying, Proph/EotN is the way to go, and pay attention to the cut scenes, they fill a few blanks

[ChronoSul]

From memory, the lore is based in different times.
Think it was Elonia (Nightfall) takes place first, then Prophecies (Original) then Cantha (Factions), then Eye of the North.

But as most are saying, Proph/EotN is the way to go, and pay attention to the cut scenes, they fill a few blanks

Prophecies happens first followed by Factions than Nightfall and finally eye of the north this can be told by looking at the second to last boss in Nightfall. That boss will look familiar if you do it in this order