Guild Wars - How To Lower Ping / Change Territory?

Question

I've never played the original GW - but I thought I'd give it a try. When I connect and start playing, the game seems slow and unresponsive. If I bring up the performance window I can see that my ping > 400ms.

Can anyone tell me if there are European verse US servers like there are in WoW? I don't remember being asked, nor do I see a way to choose.

I've tried to Google it; but I'm having trouble avoiding results for 'Guild Wars 2'. I was able to find information about 'Territorys' which seems like what I want; but I can't figure out how to set it's value.

My NCSoft account was created in the United States; perhaps there is no way to change it?

Asked by Rob P.

Answer

The original Guild Wars doesn't have servers like you might be used to in WoW. Instead, servers are split into "districts" that you can change at will. If you look in the upper left-hand corner of your screen (by default UI configuration), you'll see which district you're in at a particular time. If you're already in a European district and you're getting a high ping, try switching to an International district.

I haven't played in Euro districts much, myself, but I seem to recall some people complaining that they weren't as responsive as American districts. Since you can change for free, instantaneously, whenever you're in a town or outpost, might as well give all of them a shot and see which one works best for you.

Relevant Wiki Article

Answered by Artless

Check more discussion of this question.

In Guild Wars, how can I get an attribute of +1 +2 or +3?

Question

What are the possibilities to increase an attribute of a value of

• +1 ?
• +2 ?
• +3 ?

When I read something like "Domination Magic 12 + 1 + 2" for instance, what should I do to get the +1 and +2 ?

Asked by Dran Dane

Answer

When you see stuff like Domination Magic 12 + 1 + 2, the first number is the +1 attribute that you get from your piece of headgear. The second number is from the recommended equipped rune (I'm assuming you're reading build guides off of PvX wiki or somesuch). So in this case, it would be 12 points in Domination Magic, a +1 to Domination Magic headpiece, and a Major Rune of Domination Magic +2.

You can get this by applying Runes to your piece of armor.

• Minor runes give +1
• Major runes give +2 and Health -35
• Superior runes give +3 and Health -75

Only the highest quality rune you have on your armor will count for the attribute. So you can't put on 3 Minor runes and get +3 to an attribute. You need to use a Superior rune for that. The hit you take to your health stacks in the same way as the +X to attributes. If you have a Superior Rune of Domination Magic and a Superior Rune of Illusion Magic on your armor, you will have -150 health.

In addition, there are weapon upgrades you can get with a 20% chance to give you +1 in a certain attribute, as well as consumables, like Candy Corn, Golden Eggs, Lunar Blessings, and Grails of Might. The weapon upgrades aren't used very often though, and Grails of Might are the only attribute-raising consumable you can reliably get year-round because it's craftable, as you can only get the others at certain times of the year during events.

Answered by FAE

Check more discussion of this question.

Are your Guild Wars account keys tied to your E-Mail?

Question

I owned Guild Wars and Guild Wars Factions back in the day, but I cannot for the life of me find either of the disks or CD-Keys. Are the keys tied to my E-mail account? So if I download the free trial and login with my E-mail will my keys be attached? Or am I totally screwed if I cannot find my keys?

Asked by Emerica.

Answer

You do not need your CD Keys memorized. These keys are indeed attached to your email. The email doesn't even need to be active anymore. I have on several occasions had to uninstall Guild Wars in the past to "focus" on school work. Each time I reinstalled, I just enter my email and password(now you also need to enter the name of one of your characters) and logged in successfully without entering my CD Keys.

I have also on several occasions stayed over at a friends house who also played Guildwars. I was able to just log on using my email/password without having to deal with the CD Keys at all.

Answered by Jay

Check more discussion of this question.

Fastest way to the Eye of the North? (Any campaign)

Question

I'm looking for the fastest way to get to the Eye of the North region with a new character. I have the Prophecies, Factions and Nightfall campaigns on my account. But since I only played PvP characters I have no clue which of the three offers the fastest way. Preferably only using the NPC companions.

Asked by Sartur

Answer

I'm going to go on the assumption you want the access to the Hall of Monuments for your Guild Wars 2 playthrough. In this case, your best bet would be to start a PvE character in Factions or Nightfall, if you want to do it through normal play. However, there's a few things you may want to consider, depending on what you plan to do.

For reference's sake, you can get there by talking to the following characters. You must be at least level 10 in order to accept any of these quests:

• Len Caldoron in Lion's Arch (Prophecies)
• Minister of Maintenance Raiugyon in Kaineng City (Factions)
• Bendah in Kamadan (Nightfall)

Considering how slow Prophecies plays in regards to leveling curve and mission pacing, this isn't an ideal choice at all really. You could pay to have someone run you to Lion's Arch, but you may not be level 10 by the time you get there. As I've never done the run myself, I'm unsure. However, Prophecies has the easiest obtainable weapons for the HoM because of Oppressor weapons, the requirements for which are less work and cheaper than Tormented and Destroyer weapons.

Factions' leveling curve to 20 is the fastest. Even without taking the sidequests on Shing Jea Island into consideration, you should be a good chunk of the way to level 20 by the time you finish the missions there and travel to Kaineng City. Factions also has the shortest campaign, so you could finish that out for some easy points for your HoM, in addition to 2 of the unique companions you need for the Monument of Fellowship, the Black Moa and the Phoenix.

However, Nightfall lets you receive a bunch of heroes (Koss, Dunkoro, Melonni, Tahlkora, and Acolyte Jin/Acolyte Sousuke) pretty early, which will make completing more of the PvE content easier, if that's your plan. In addition, the Nightfall campaign itself has the most points to offer because of Vabbian armor, Tormented weapons, and the most heroes.

Based on these factors and depending on your long-term goals, I'd say it's a toss-up between Factions and Nightfall. If you just want to just level up to get straight to EotN and don't care about the Nightfall heroes, go Factions (as you do still get Vekk, Gwen and Ogden in EotN), but if you want to have more heroes for PvE play, start in Nightfall.

Answered by FAE

Check more discussion of this question.

Is it possible to buy a PvP-only account in Guild Wars?

Question

Is it possible to buy a PvP-only account in Guild Wars? What is the official price?

Asked by Dran Dane

Answer

Yes, you can. The PVP Access Kit sells for $19.99 USD on the PlayNC Store.

Buying the skill unlock packs and the PVP item unlock pack will cost extra, of course.

Answered by Teryx

Check more discussion of this question.

How to obtain the Eternal Conqueror of The Fissure of Woe title in GW?

Question

My question is should we do the Fissure of Woe in Hard Mode or Normal Mode in enough to obtain the title of Eternal Conqueror of The Fissure of Woe?

Asked by Dran Dane

Answer

You do not need to do it on hard mode in order to get the Fissure of Woe statue. In fact, I would recommend doing it on normal to keep things simple.

Answered by yx.

Check more discussion of this question.

Guild Wars 1 vs Guild Wars 2 (from Demo Expo) gameplay

Question

Has anyone here gotten the privilege to try out the GW2 demo from the expo that was hosted a while back? I'm specifically interested in what the actual gameplay was like. How does it compare to the gameplay from GW1?

Answer

I played at GamesCom 2010 and it was brilliant.

Visually it's as good as the first game after the dx9 update. Although with the new illustrative style, most of the UI and menus and other interface elements are more painted.

The world map is now HUGE. With a moderate zoom out you experience what is akin to the regular mini-map (u) ingame. But it also plots your course, so you can see where you have been. Although teleporting now costs a small amount of gold.

The skillbar, now being a 10 slot bar is fantastic, even with the static set of skills in place. The only down side to this is the loss of auto attack, but you can CTRL+Click a skill and it will auto cast, which is meh, well I don't like it personally, but there you go.

Many of the old classic skills are back and or have been reimagined for the new game.

As for the characters, environment and other world elements, they are all fabulous as you'd expect and live up to the hype totally.

The demo that I played was brilliant fun and felt like a really polished and finished game, so I can only imagine that they are just building the rest of the content before they go gold with it, which I'm praying will be in 2011/12 sometime.

Gameplay specifically, feels very similar to GW1, although the loss of the auto attack as I said feels odd. The ability to jump now is great, giving characters more manouverability. The actual combat feels very similar again, with any experienced GW1 played able to just jump in right away. One minor change that I found is the ability to combo quicker. There seems to be more of a focus on quicker more action orientated gameplay in the demo I played.

Although many reviews have said that you are able switch weapons only outside of combat, I found it possible, as a ranger, to shoot some arrows, use a bow attack, swap to dagger, dash in for a dagger attack, use a dagger escape to roll away, and swap back to bow for a finishing attack. Perhaps it was a bug/unfinished thing, but it made for some great combos and really fun encounters.

Battling mobs in the world is great, as you do see other people about, and I ran across a game dev who was dead, ressed him and then we went on a little revenge rampage! Was great fun.

The other new, and much publicised gameplay mechanic is the dynamic event, which works brilliantly. You get a notification pop up and bingo, your right there, so why not? You find loads of other players there are doing the same thing, healing each other, ressing and calling targets and all that jazz. It instantly feels like you are in a group of 10 players doing something cool, which effects the game world.

So there you are, I know it's not an official line, but I've played GW1 for 68 months so far, and couldn't let this question slide ;)

My Pics, http://picasaweb.google.com/neon1024/GamesCom201002#

Check more discussion of this question.

How do I make Guild Wars download all its content at once?

Question

I've just reinstalled Guild Wars, without the CDs. I'm using directly the client installer from their site. It downloaded and installed some files for a while, and then it launched. However now, each zone I go to has to download before, if I go there for the first time.

Is there a way to make Guild Wars preload all of its content, instead of retrieving it "on demand"?

Answer

Yes, it's possible. What you have to do is create a new shortcut with the switch -image.

So copy your shortcut to Guild Wars (don't use your normal shortcut), right-click on it, choose Properties and in the target box add -image so that it looks like
“C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\gw.exe” -image

Mind you that this is a lengthy process, it might even take a couple of hours.

Check more discussion of this question.

How can I change my secondary profession?

Question

I recently starting playing Guild Wars again after a lengthy hiatus, however, I can no longer recall how I change my secondary profession.

How can I change my secondary profession?

Answer

The requirements for changing your Secondary Profession are different, depending on which campaign you do it in and from which campaign your character originates. I'll be linking to the official Guild Wars Wiki, as it's an invaluable resource that isn't at risk of going going down anytime soon, and anyone playing the game should use it judiciously, as there's a ton of information.

I'll refer to campaign characters as coming from their continents of origin, so it will be as follows:

• Characters originally rolled in Prophecies are Native Tyrians. Acquiring your Secondary Profession in Tyria requires becoming Ascended.
• Characters originally rolled in Factions are Native Canthans. Acquiring your Secondary Profession in Cantha requires becoming Weh no Su.
• Characters originally rolled in Nightfall are Native Elonians Acquiring your Secondary Profession in Elona requires finishing the quest Hunted!

In addition to acquiring the ability to change your Secondary Profession, you will also be allowed to enter the Realms of the Gods, aka The Underworld and the Fissure of Woe, which are elite areas in the game. You must be Ascended in order to enter these areas (in addition to the world needing the Favor of the Gods and having to pay 1 plat to enter).

Characters are allowed to complete the ascension quests of other continents, but some may not receive the benefits of Realm of the Gods access and Secondary Profession changing. I'll outline that further on in each campaign section. Ascension with a capital "A" refers to Tyrian Ascension specifically, while lowercase "a" ascension refers to the process of acquiring those benefits.

A note about running: It's not uncommon in Guild Wars to have people run you places for ingame money (platinum, commonly abbreviated as "plat"). This involves having people use specialized movement speed builds in order to get you from one outpost to another, skipping the usual order that you would take to naturally complete the game. As I am neither a runner nor do I have people run me places, I won't be taking running into account for these comparisons, but you should know that it is an option if you choose to do so. Going rates vary though, depending on which route you're paying for, how long it is, and whether or not patches nerf builds, so you'll have to do your own research on that.

Prophecies

Acquiring Ascension benefits in Prophecies takes the most amount of time out of all the campaigns when comparing how long it is from rolling your character to how long it takes to get to the missions you need. Prophecies is also the slowest paced of the 3 campaigns. You will be stuck with your current Secondary Prof for about 2/3 of the campaign.

Ascension Requirements

Quests

• Elona Reach
• Dunes of Despair
• Thirsty River
  • The above 3 can be completed in any order.
• Augury Rock

Location in storyline: The 15th-18th out of 25 missions. They're located in the Crystal Desert. You're transported to the major outpost there, Amnoon Oasis after completing the Sanctum Cay mission.

Ascension-exclusive benefits

There are a few quests/locations that you can only get access to if you complete the above 4 quests for Tyrian Ascension. These include:

• Dragon's Lair mission - Part of the main storyline, so you must be Ascended to complete the Prophecies campaign.
• Vision of Glint missions - Missions that occur after the Prophecies campaign.
• Tomb of the Primeval Kings outpost - Allows access to The Underworld explorable area, which is different from the Underworld area you must be pay to access, but no one really goes here anymore because its drop rewards were nerfed due to excessive farming.
• The Hero's Challenge, the second quest that gives you extra Primary Attribute points (native Tyrians only)

Secondary Profession Access

In Prophecies, after completing Augury Rock, you can do one of two things:

• Map to the Great Temple of Balthazar and speak to the Profession Changer. You pay a one time fee of 500g for each profession you want to unlock. So if you're an Elementalist/Necromancer and want to open up /Warrior, you pay 500g to open up Warrior. If you want to unlock /Ranger, you pay another 500g and so on.

• Alternatively, you can complete your choice of 4 of the 6 missions (obviously the ones for your current primary/secondary are excluded) to unlock the various secondaries for free. These are located in the following outposts in the Crystal Desert area:

  • Seeker's Passage outpost
    • The Monk's Path
    • The Ranger's Path
  • Heroes' Audience outpost
    • The Elementalist's Path
    • The Necromancer's Path
  • Destiny's Gorge outpost
    • The Warrior's Path
    • The Mesmer's Path

The path you choose to take depends on which you value more, your time or your money. The quests aren't necessarily super long or difficult, but you do need to have access to the various outposts, which requires running around and opening them up.

Native Character Benefits

• Native Tyrians - Yes
  • can still acquire 50k experience bonus from Augury Rock after completing Hunted!
• Native Canthans - Yes
  • can acquire non-exclusive ascension benefits before becoming Weh no Su
  • can still acquire the 50k experience bonus from Augury Rock after completing Hunted!
• Native Elonians - Yes
  • can acquire non-exclusive ascension benefits before completing Hunted!

Factions

Factions is the fastest paced campaign where you'll hit level 20 before leaving the starter island. People who level PvE characters and don't want to wait until getting through Prophecies to be able to access the Realms of the Gods will often travel to Cantha to become Weh no Su.

Weh no Su Requirements

Quest

• Nahpui Quarter

Location in storyline: The 4th of 12-13 (number is variable because the story branches at one point, but you can go choose to do the other mission if you want) campaign missions. You arrive here after completing the Vizunah Square mission, then the Finding the Oracle and Closer to the Stars Primary Quests.

Secondary Profession Access

• After completing Nahpui Quarter, you are taken to the outpost Senji's Corner where you can speak with Senji to change your profession. There is no free option in Factions. You can only pay 500g per profession to unlock them, like in the Great Temple of Balthazar.
• You still have the option to visit the Profession changer in the Great Temple of Balthazar if you want

Native Character Benefits

• Native Tyrians - Yes
  • can gain non-exclusive ascension benefits before beating Augury Rock
• Native Canthans - Yes
• Native Elonians - Yes
  • can acquire non-exclusive ascension benefits before completing Hunted!

Nightfall

The pace of Nightfall falls in between Prophecies and Factions, but you still get access to Secondary Professions much earlier than Prophecies.

Hunted! Requirements

Quests

• Hunted! (obviously)

Location in storyline: Received after Consulate Docks, the 4th of 18-20 missions (like Factions, the story branches, so some missions are optional).

Secondary Profession Access

• Completion of "Hunted!" will take you to the Sunspear Sanctuary. Take the quest The Command Post from Lonai, which will have 3 parts to it. You must complete the first part, Building the Base: Prisoners of War in order for the Profession Changer NPC Zuwarah to show up in the Command Post.
• You may also access the Secondary Profession changer at the Great Temple of Balthazar.

Native Character Benefits

• Native Tyrian - No
• Native Canthan - No
  • If you are a foreign character, while you can complete the quest Hunted!, you cannot gain ascension benefits from it. Because of this, in order to use Zuwarah, foreign characters must have ascended in another campaign.
• Native Elonian - Yes

An Important Note

One thing some people don't notice is that you do not need to revisit Profession Changers to change your secondary again if you already have the profession unlocked! When you are in an outpost, simply open your Skills window (K by default).

Simply click on this highlighted area and it will open a dropdown for you to choose from the various Primary/Secondary profession combinations you have unlocked.

Changing Secondaries for Heroes and PvP Characters

This doesn't require any quest completion. You can change these at any time in an outpost (the same way as above) to any Secondary that your account has access to. The requirements are: - Prophecies for the 6 core professions, Warrior, Ranger, Monk, Elementalist, Necromancer, and Mesmer - Factions for Assassin and Ritualist - Nightfall for Dervish and Paragon

Check more discussion of this question.

Is there a way to combine texmod .tpf files into one “package” file?

Question

So, I play a lot of Guild Wars, and I generally load it through texmod to get certain UI enhancements that make the screen a bit prettier. This works generally well, but it annoys me a bit that each time I load texmod, I need to select about five different .tpf files from a drop down list before I can run the game through the program with the enhancements I like.

Is there some way to combine .tpf files into one file to reduce the amount of times I need to click the screen? I ask this out of sheer laziness.

Answer

Not really a direct answer, but this might save your some time and clicks. I usually load three .tpfs, so in Texmod I click on the .tpf folder button, and then press 3. This loads the third on the list, and bumps the mod in the second position into the third position. Basically, you should just have to press the 5 key five times.

Might help!

Check more discussion of this question.

Guild Wars trial key is full of X's and doesn't work

Question

I got a Guild Wars trial key by clicking the free trial button on their website, however, it's full of X's, and trying to plug it into the game doesn't work. I'm really not sure what to do - I can't seem to obtain the full trial code. I checked my email but didn't see any emails from guild wars.

Any ideas? Am I missing something really obvious?

This is the client that I downloaded.

Answer

If you look closely at the nearby text, you can see that the trial code has already been used on the account. Most of the code is X'ed out, because it now just serves to let you distinguish between different codes you may have applied at some point.

You don't need to enter the code again, you should be able to simply start up the game and play.

Check more discussion of this question.

Guildwars trial key full of X's, doesn't work

Question

I got a Guild Wars trial key by clicking the free trial button on their website, however, it's full of X's, and trying to plug it into the game doesn't work. I'm really not sure what to do - I can't seem to obtain the full trial code. I checked my email but didn't see any emails from guild wars.

Any ideas? Am I missing something really obvious?

This is the client that I downloaded.

Answer

The serial code has already been applied to your NCSoft account. The reason it is full of X's is because they obfuscate full codes on your account details. Since the key is already applied, you should now be able to log into Guild Wars using the email and password you have chosen for the account.

The email will likely be the email associated with the NCSoft account (what you've scribbled out, though this may be different) and your password may or may not be the same as your NCSoft Master Account, depending on what you have chosen. You control the passwords for your Master Account and your Guild Wars account separately, so if you cannot log in using your NCSoft Master Account details, it's likely because they are different than your Guild Wars account itself.

Check more discussion of this question.

What gold items should I sell to people as unidentified, which ones to identify and later on sell individually?

Question

I am having quite a hard time guessing which skins for weapons and off-hands are considered favored thus getting high prices, and which count as plain skins and therefore to be sold bunched together for people going for the identification title.

I am using GwEstimator and often do price-checks in my alliance chat and of course google, but I have been playing for more then a year now and I feel like I am missing on some secret of what makes item really unique, and what makes them just merchant food/packages for identifiers.

I appreciate any thoughts and considerations you have while figuring out whether you are going to sell separately or wholesale.

Answer

Anytime a gold weapon isn't max damage for its class, you should sell it as unIDed (such as a 8-16 damage sword, for instance). Also, gold armor (depending on how lucky or not lucky you feel about getting a good rune).

For skins, it is a good idea to check this thread to see what skins are rare and you should keep those. Usually you want rare skins with low reqs (9 preferably).

Updating answer to address "do the requirement skill for holding the weapon matters as well?"

Yes, but only for extremely rare skins like the Bone Dragon Staff. In those cases, even ones with useless skill reqs such as Smiting are worth less, than the more useful skills such as 9 Prot or 9 Heal. Even still, because the skin is really rare, it's still worth a bunch of ectos. General rule of thumb, if it's on that list in the link I provided above, it's worth something. If not, then if it's something rare like Req 8 then it's probably worth a decent amount as well. Other than that, you can choose to either ID for the title or hope for a good mod to sell (like +30 hp), or just sell as a junk id.

Oh, and one last thing, Canthan-only weapon skins tend to be worth more since they can't be modded with inscriptions. So if you find a 15^50 weapon with reasonable req (like 9 or 10), it's worth getting some opinions on whether or not the skin is desirable. The value has since dropped a bit due to the fact that the HoH chest can drop them in the inscribed form but they are still in good demand imo.

Check more discussion of this question.

What is final quest in Guild Wars?

Question

What is the quest (or quests) which may be deemed as final in Guild Wars? I am not talking about missions. I am talking about quests after all missions. What is the must final quest?

Answer

I am not entire sure what you are asking about in your question, but here is a list of stuff that may fall under what you are interested in:

1. Challenge and Elite (none storyline missions/quests) - Fissure of Woe, Underworld, Sorrow's Furnace, Tomb of Primeval Kings, The Deep, Urgoz's Warren, Mallyx. These are are all elite missions/zones that grant unique greens, possibly minis, and other rewards is not related to the storyline.

2. The series of War in Kryta quests that were added in over the previous year or so which leads up to Guild Wars 2 are probably the latest in terms of story (and possibly the final story related missions).

3. The Vision of Glint quest series can be done after the prophecies missions.

4. The final quests for each campaign are: Hell's Precipice (prophecies), Imperial Sanctum (factions), and Abbadon's Gate.

5. The Eye of the North update has a direct link to events in GW2. The final mission for EotN is A Time for Heroes.

6. Filling up your Hall of Monuments or maxing all titles (very challenging and impossible for certain discontinued titles) may be considered the final quest for some.

Updated as of 8/18/2011

1. hard mode quests that you can complete.

2. Winds of change, which is the Canthan equivalent of events and stories leading up to Guild Wars 2.

Check more discussion of this question.

Guild Wars : Is it possible to finish the Underworld quests with heroes?

Question

Is it possible to have heroes in your party for the Underworld quests? If so, how many of your 8 party members is it practical to have be heroes in order to finish the quests?

Answer

There are a few specific spots where having additional people would greatly help as heros can get overwhelmed quite easily. Also, having a few very specialized builds would greatly help. Namely, a obsidian flesh elementalist and a spellbreaker monk.

1. The Four Horsemen - the enemies comes as two split groups here, most teams send 1 obsidian flesh tank + SB monk handle one side while the team takes out the other half.
2. Escort of Souls - It helps a lot if one person triggers the quest while the rest of the party remains at the spawning point to kill enemies and clear the path. Otherwise, the souls will die.
3. Servants of Grenth - same thing as the Four Horsemen, two groups will spawn, one towards the king one towards the reaper and you must protect both.

There are a few other tips and tricks that a skilled UW quester should know, I haven't done this in a while and the last time I did the mission was with my guild. It is highly recommended you go in with at least one person who knows what they are doing. Even a proper UW run with a prepared team will take ~1.5 hours.

Short answer, the more knowledgeable human players you can get, the easier UW will be. It will be extremely hard to do with just heroes.

Check more discussion of this question.