Thinking of buying GW1

I’ve been playing GW2 since launch but I have never played GW1. I really love the lore behind the Guild Wars universe and was debating whether to buy GW1 to do a playthrough purely for the story (although it isn’t cheap on Steam which is a bit annoying). Is the transition from GW2 to GW1 hard for a casual player and would you recommend GW1 to a GW2 player in 2017? Or would you say to just watch WoodenPotatoes playthrough videos on YouTube? Like I said, I’m not really interested in a challenge, I would just like to learn more of the lore and experience the story for myself.

@"NixiPixi.8320" said:I’ve been playing GW2 since launch but I have never played GW1. I really love the lore behind the Guild Wars universe and was debating whether to buy GW1 to do a playthrough purely for the story (although it isn’t cheap on Steam which is a bit annoying). Is the transition from GW2 to GW1 hard for a casual player and would you recommend GW1 to a GW2 player in 2017? Or would you say to just watch WoodenPotatoes playthrough videos on YouTube? Like I said, I’m not really interested in a challenge, I would just like to learn more of the lore and experience the story for myself.

Is the transition hard? Yes. We are talking about a partly 12 year old game. Not being able to jump will be one of your first big shock moments.

Is the GW1 story worth it? Absolutely.

How long will it take to rush through the GW1 story and will it be hard? It won't be hard if you use Heroes, you might even enjoy yourself and the story is a lot of fun.

Should you watch WP videos? Depends on if you want to risk trying out GW1. It will be a lot more immersive to play the story yourself.

As far as builds, use this site: https://gwpvx.gamepedia.com/PvX_wiki (not actually sure how up to date this is) and pick one of the pve team builds (https://gwpvx.gamepedia.com/Category:Meta_working_PvE_team_builds). Discordway was very strong and the 7 hero support build will carry you through 99% of the game.

Expect to be shocked and need a lot of time to get used to the game play. After that you should be golden and have a good lots of fun working through the story. I'd say start the Eye of the North story first (the last one, only until you get some of the heroes, then leave it for last) or Nightfall and get Heroes as fast as possible. Then once you have a nice hero team setup, play through the other stories. Factions will be quite difficult unless you are hero supported.

There is a lot of game to play for 30$ (if you are thinking of getting the trilogy pack).Of course there is the in game bonus mission pack wich has some inconsequential lore that you probably don't need to buy (for 10$)

But, if you enjoy the trilogy, consider eye of the north, just completing the stories might be enough achievemnts to get some of the linked accounts exclusive rewards, which to some may not be great...but they can only be worn by GW1 players linked.

also the person above me, reccomended builds that do currently work. People still play the game, and guilds are still active, but more consolidated.

It will take some time to get used to the controls and gameplay of GW1 if you're used to GW2, but it's nothing bad. You'll also have an extremely limited player population, which makes heroes (which you get if you have Nightfall and/or EOTN) necessary for beating later missions. I highly recommend getting the game (all three campaigns and EOTN). The lore alone makes it worth it, for me.

gw1 is alot harder then gw2 just a heads up i'd say about 4x and vanquisher mode is about 12x. Especially sense gw1 was nerfed into the ground years ago you will be doing 1/3rd the dmg that people did on release, but fret not! you can death level moa's to lvl 20! [have a fun week for that lol]{its a achievement}

I want to throw this out there: GW1 is just flat out DIFFERENT from GW2. It was a different era, and it is a different style of play. It is more of the Diablo II era, and a lot of the movement and mechanics specifically maintain that type of feel as opposed to the open movement feel of GW2.

Understand that this isn't some artifact of its age; this was on purpose. Games like Everquest already existed with the same style of movement as GW2, so it's not like the tech didn't exist. The movement and combat mechanics of GW1 were chosen specifically for the genre of the game.

There has been a lot of debate about this, but in general it is easier to NOT think of GW1 as an MMO, but rather a CORPG (Co-op RPG) like Diablo II. Go in with that mentality, and you can appreciate the game for what it was meant to be, rather than judging it against other games that aren't even the same type.

Guild Wars 1 is an absolutely amazing game, and I hope you enjoy it. The story is great, the gameplay is out of this world, and it will tell you a lot about GW2 that you might not know.

Good luck!

As others have said, there are some super fun elements to the game. Give yourself at least 1-3 weeks to figure out how everything works, see if you like it.

Among the things that are hard to get used to (compared to GW1):

• No jumping; you have to walk everywhere.
• Most skills plant you in place.
• No autolooting; you have to make sure you spot and pick it all up.
• No consume/salvage all; it's a lot of clicking.
• You get the idea.

I just want to add one more important point. Do not forget to link your GW1 account to your GW2 account. Log in your ArenaNet web account and link the game by entering the serial number in.

You better have a lot of patience if you are going backward with the game. Like someone already mention, it is an old game so cartography or PvE exploration will be hectic. You probably will enjoy GW1 more than GW2 (if the game allows jumping). I will also purchase GW1 for this account too. I miss GW1. Enjoy GW1

Things I liked about GW1:Waypoints didn't cost anything, weapons didn't scale damage, I loved the armors/professions, and you could trade directly with other players without a "tax."

Those are a few of my favorite things.

just don't use pvx wiki unless you want to be a dead clone, experience the game for yourself and see what build fits your style.i have never ever used PvX yet do better then most, why play a build i don't know when my own does the job just as good or better.

the game is old and u cant jump and its more like a co-op than a mmo...still it is a far far better game than gw2...

Note: And for linux users gw1 can reach 150+ fps with a mediocre and old gpu card, on wine.The game could be repopulated with linux users AH!

GW1 its a must have game.

Best pve game ever created. Pvp was as good, but certainly not in 2017

I did. Wished I didn't. Draw your own conclusions.

GW is an amazing game with a TON of content and story. The only caveat is to be clear it is not a mmorpg. If you love classic party style RPG style games, but expanded to include an online element then you will enjoy the game.

I also bought GW1, and it's a fun game, although oh so different from GW2. I find that i don't play it as often as id' like because it gets a bit boring playing alone (because you'll be alone 99% of the time since most outposts are empty now - and those are the only places you meet other players).

OHHHH THE GREAT GW1, I loved this game. Its old but its still gotta b up there as 1 of the best ever made and if u go back with a bit of time u could hav the GWAMM title for nostalgia :). No need to worry about peeps, there will b some I'm sure and if not u hav loads of heros to enjoy the great game with HAVE FUN :)

Just a quick side note; I've often seen physical copies of Guild Wars for sale in second hand stores like Value Village (and others). do not buy those as the keys have been used. I know it sound silly but I've seen people take these boxes to the cashiers and had to advised them about the keys.

@Noa.7490 said:Just a quick side note; I've often seen physical copies of Guild Wars for sale in second hand stores like Value Village (and others). do not buy those as the keys have been used. I know it sound silly but I've seen people take these boxes to the cashiers and had to advised them about the keys.

that's cute, i have 3 accounts because of a second hand unused copy.....

@sorudo.9054 said:

@"Noa.7490" said:Just a quick side note; I've often seen physical copies of Guild Wars for sale in second hand stores like Value Village (and others). do not buy those as the keys have been used. I know it sound silly but I've seen people take these boxes to the cashiers and had to advised them about the keys.

That's cute, but "Unused" is the keyword here. The copies I'm talking about had already been opened.

post removed

@"MattDu.7123" said:Thinking of buying it as well, mainly because some of my ranger pets are locked if I havent played it.Did see that, it wasn't as I also hoped, in the steam christmas sale. You could buy it from a third party seller but if you want it 100% genuine it is £12.99 for the platinum edition on the guild wars 1 store which is the base game plus the third expansion eye of the north. And I think you only need those two keys to link accounts for the rewards.

http://store.guildwars.com/store/gw/cat/categoryID.67871700

Just to clarify a little bit: Guild Wars Prophecies, Guild Wars Factions, and Guild Wars Nightfall are all campaigns which each work as base, standalone versions of GW1. EOTN is the only expansion, and you can apply it to any of the three "base" campaigns. And, yes, all you need to link the accounts is one of the base campaigns and EOTN. Buying the Platinum edition is a good option because it gives you Prophecies and EOTN. However, if you plan to go for as many Hall of Monuments points and rewards as possible, you should look into getting the Trilogy set, along with the Platinum Edition. While EOTN gives you access to some useful heroes, Nightfall gives you even more of them, which will make your gameplay easier. Getting the Trilogy also just gives you access to more possible achievements, which will make your HoM journey a bit easier/faster, and even more lore to dive into.

As other people have said, it's just a totally different game. Some things that will feel the most different would be the lack of jumping and dodging, the way enemy AI behaves (if you are a caster you need to be super careful because the AI will focus you super hard) and the fact that in order to acquire and use elite skills you have to steal them from bosses. Is gw1 harder than gw2? I'd say they are both equally hard in different ways. In gw1 you have a lot less room for mechanical outplays and therefore more time and effort needs to be spent on assembling the best team for each mission. By contrast in gw2 if you are mechanically skilled enough you can run pretty much whatever you want.

@Noa.7490 said:

@sorudo.9054 said:

@Noa.7490 said:Just a quick side note; I've often seen physical copies of Guild Wars for sale in second hand stores like Value Village (and others). do not buy those as the keys have been used. I know it sound silly but I've seen people take these boxes to the cashiers and had to advised them about the keys.

you stated that second hand versions are always used, that is clearly false.

@"MattDu.7123" said:Thinking of buying it as well, mainly because some of my ranger pets are locked if I havent played it.Did see that, it wasn't as I also hoped, in the steam christmas sale. You could buy it from a third party seller but if you want it 100% genuine it is £12.99 for the platinum edition on the guild wars 1 store which is the base game plus the third expansion eye of the north. And I think you only need those two keys to link accounts for the rewards.

http://store.guildwars.com/store/gw/cat/categoryID.67871700

Yes that is a much more reasonable price but if you then decide you want the other 2 campaigns - they are £12.99 each so it ends up costing as much as buying the trilogy plus expansion :/

So the general consensus seems to be - it is an awesome game but I could find it hard to get used to due to restricted movement and lack of QoL features. If it was a tenner I wouldn't hesitate but it is a little pricey so I need to know I will definitely play it before splurging dat cash. Thanks for the replies everyone, gave me some things to think about.