I can't wait for Factions to be released either... If only I had the money to buy it.

Does anyone have an estimate for the release date?

In Australia would be preferable, this backwater island continent doesn't seem to get anything on time.

I'd love to help any and all out there. I have a pretty kik ass lvl20 mesmer, anticaster/shutdown chick: Mimi North (also Sterna Caspia, Calypte Anna and my new necro still presear, Mona Necrosyrta)

Just add me to friends or PM me whenever.

The global release is sceduled for April 28th. It says it on the login screen.

Wow, I haven't played this in awhile... my laptop died and that was my main computer for playing Guild Wars. My desktop has a NVidia GeForce 6600GT which causes GW to crash under certain situations. The most easily repeatable crash is during the D'Alessio Seaboard mission. It sucks. :(

But I've certainly managed to more or less finish the first installation of GW. My monk finished all of the missions, and has extensive experience in The Underworld and Fissure of Woe, but has not yet finished all the quests. I'm about 1/3 way to a full set of Ascetic's Fissure Armor for the monk too. I also did a little bit of PvP/GvG, and have capped nearly all of the monk elite skills. So anyway, my characters are:

Me/R20 Oberon Skyhanger (ascended, to Droknar's Forge)
Mo/N(Me,W)20 Ganymede Skyhanger (ascended, to Hell's Precipice)
N/E(Mo)20 Deimos Skyhanger (ascended, to Iron Mines of Moladune)
E/Mo(Me)20 Europa Skyhanger (ascended, to Ice Caves of Sorrow)

One of these days I'll get back to playing again. I miss my guild, they rock!

Rock on, thanks for the tip Mage, haven't logged on in a couple of weeks, just started a new job, working hard, so time is at a minimum. I'm definitely going to make time for that bad boy though!

Mage, thanks for the hookups.

I have a question. I noticed that I health decreases on it's on when I'm out exploring without a quest. I starts once I confront anything. I show no spell cast on me. I thought you could explore if you wanted too. Why does this happen?

You can't explore freely in post-searing, only in pre-searing. Spells are not the only way you can be damaged, physical damage (especially from warriors) may occur too.

Woot!

Is anyone else digging the Factions preview? Man, some stunning landscapes, new architecture and music.

And Assassins... oh Shadow Step my new best buddy...

Sounds like oberon has got it right, but I can't be sure unless I'm there to see what's going on. But I have to say that you are probably aggrovating creatures with ranged attacks while you are wandering around.

no, no ranged attacks. I cleared the way through and then I die. I resurrect and make my way back. During my travel back to where I died I lose health. I have to use a potion to regain my health till I can use Life Siphon on a baddy.

vampiric weapon maybe? No clue what's going on.

Oh wait, I just realized.. you might be walking through poisoned water. Usually you'll see that because your health bar turns green.

Potion??? :confused:

But that shows up as a condition in the top left of the screen. I've never used a vampiric weapon, but that's all that's left that I can think of.

By the way, I played with Krycheck and it turns out you were right, he had a vampiric weapon. He quickly figured out that you're supposed to use weapon sets with a non vampiric weapon to switch to between battles.

Also, by "potion" he meant he used the skill Troll Unguent. The icon for it sort of looks like a potion so I could understand that confusion.

Ah, troll unguent. Good to know he got that problem solved.

Yay I win, I was right!

So is anybody else as annoyed as I am at the update that has the game saying: "You have been playing for 3 hours. Please take a break."?

And its pretty pointless too, because the timer resets each time to you change which character you are playing.

3 hours? seriously? i haven't played guild wars in a while, but i remember having having to set aside at *least* three hours if I was hoping to get through a mission/bonus thing. sounds pretty lame.

What mission where you doing?

When I got the warning today it was after I had gone through Ice Caves, Iron Mines, and Thunderhead Keep. I didn't do the bonuses for any of them but still. I don't know of any mission/bonus in the game that takes 3 hours. Even a Tombs run only takes 1 1/2 - 2.

well, i guess i'm including the time it takes to get myself started, find a group, and the inevitable failed attempts with a crappy team. granted, once things get rolling, the mission itself wouldn't take 3 hours, but it seems like the whole process would get me close to that.

That's why I either use henchies or ask guildies, no dealing with the idiots that play and somehow manage to make it past pre.

I just finished Thunderhead Keep on my 4th character the other day. So now all 4 of my chars can buy any non-elite skill through Dakk at Ember Light Camp! :)

I agree, the new timer is lame. I also HATE having to log out and relogin just to change characters.

There are only a few missions that take more than an hour, and it depends if you do the bonus (Riverside Province can be done in 15 minutes, but requires an extra hour if you do the bonus). Some quests (especially Defend Droknar's Forge, Defend North Kryta Province and others involving Titans and the Prophecies PvE endgame) can also take more than an hour. I don't think I've done any that take more than 2 hours, unless you count Fissure of Woe or Underworld runs.

I just started soloing FoW with my warrior and it takes forever. I can't wait to get better at it so that it will take less time. I've been playing GW for 9 months and I have yet to get one of my chars past Ring of Fire, I just have no motivation to complete the last missions.

So, anyone preorder Factions?

I'm going to get it tomorrow anyhow, just wondering what the first impressions are?

Wow, nobody has posted anything about Factions yet? There were members of my guild in Cantha 2 min. after the servers were opened. I, unfortunatly, do not have Factions yet, and I won't have it for a few weeks, I'm broke.

I started a Ritualist today. I preordered, and it's mostly pandemonium at the moment.. some people cant get in, and the people that can seem to be rushing about trying to power level or get all the new equipments.. However, I'm having fun with the ritualist.. but I think he's better suited as a secondary to a caster class. Oh well. The missions seem like they're going to be a lot of fun :)

ya i was looking into factions too...i can afford it no prob i just don't feel like paying for it...lol i hear that it's suppose to be qicked though....i restarted my account cause i deleted my old one not realizing that i still needed it...lol so i'm only at lvl 10 right now...what's stats is everyone else???

My Assassin is at level 12 and I'm totally loving the new profession. I'm curious about the Ritualist, but you gotta admit there's something about dealing a massive amount of concentrated damage that appeals...

I'm waiting for my guildies to lvl their assasins to 20. I want to see how well they will fair against my warrior. I did a pre-emptive skirmish against a lvl 12 today, I killed him in 5 seconds, but his first attack did 32 dmg, and that was through physical resistance ( I mainly play W/Me, as it is badass). Seems like the ritualist was an attempt to mix the elementalist and necromancer classes though.

I can't wait to find a sundering axe haft. 20/20 sundering with penetrating blow is gonna do some serious dmg.

I found a 20/20 sundering set of daggers with +30 fortitude as well yesterday.

A pity they are a pathetic 6-12 dmg though. Still useful for the early game I suppose.

I think an assassin could go head to head with a warrior and win if they played it right. Let's just say you better be packing clumsiness if you go against a level 20.

Nah, Assassin head to head with a Warrior usually ends up in the Warrior's favour. When you are high damage, low durability going up against high damage, high physical durability... yeah. However, this is GW, there's a counter for everything, if you use Blinding Powder or Temple Strike, you can beat a Warrior no problem. Likewise, if they Blind you...

Gotta love how there's a counter to everything.

I use the two reposte skills to get around blind when dueling an assasin, they kill themselves attacking me. And physical resistance gives me the armor to withstand alot of their attacks. That along with elemental dmg from my ids or fds takes them out pretty fast.

Dueled a lvl 17 last night. Kicked ass, however, the other person has no runes as of yet. I can't wait for him to complete the character, it'll be some awesome dueling.

So how's everyone doing in Factions?

My Assassin has made level 20, but is pretty scant on skills. Anyone got any tips on what I should be prioritising at the skill trader?

wow.. you're lvl 20 already..
man i'm a slow player.. my highest prefactions character is still only level 17.. i really stop too many times to smell the roses i guess.. ( and i'm also a very casual gamer)

I just came back to the game a few days ago (finals just ended.)

With quests giving you 2-3000 XP I found myself leveling a hell of a lot faster in Shing Jea than my Tyrian characters ever did.

I'm interested in playing Guild Wars, but the thought of paying $100 for both games is kind of putting me off. Does anyone know any retailers who are offering a bundle of the two games? If I could find something like that it would probably make my decision much easier haha.

i gleamed this from a faq on www.guildwars.com

Is Guild Wars Factions an expansion pack or a stand-alone game?

Guild Wars Factions is a stand-alone product. Those who own Guild Wars are not required to purchase Guild Wars Factions in order to continue playing on their game account, and those who purchase Guild Wars Factions may play without purchasing Guild Wars. However, there is a strong level of interconnection between the two games that makes having them both an exceptional experience.

So..
you can choose which ever one you wanna play no need to drop 100 bones

Geez, no word on GW for a couple of months.... Has everyone just stopped playing?

(I wish I could play it right now, but my laptop crapped out....)

I've been playing tons of GW

Right now I'm moving my new PVE monk through the desert, but I've been enjoying expanding into new areas in the game like trading and PvP.