Guild Wars is a fantasy MMORPG developed by ArenaNet and published by NC Soft. The game was released on April 26, 2005 and it was rated T for Teen.

In Guild Wars, the action takes place in a fantasy world named Tyria, in which the player has the chance to develop his in-game character by completing quests, fighting NPC monsters and other players. Unlike other MMORPGs, in Guild Wars you have the chance to choose the type of game you wish to play: PvP or PvE. Based on this choice, you enter the game with a character of level 1 or with a character that reached the maximum level: 20. In the PvP mode, you will not be able to access any areas available in PvE mode, while in the PvE mode you will be able to unlock the items that are already unlocked in PvP.

The game features 3 campaigns:

• Guild Wars Prophecies – released on April 28, 2005;
• Guild Wars Factions – released on April 28, 2006;
• Guild Wars Nightfall – released on October 27, 2006.http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/guildwars/tech_info.html?tag=tabs;summary

Guild Wars also features an expansion, Guild Wars: Eye of the North, which was released on August 31, 2007. In order to play the expansion, you need one of the previous campaigns and a level 10 character. The expansion adds new zones and dungeons.

This page will explain character creation, quest completion in PvE mode and which PvP arenas are available, as well as some tips you should now before facing other players.

Guild Wars Minimum System Requirements

• OS: Windows 95/98/2000/ME/XP/Vista/7;
• CPU: Pentium 3 - 800MHz or higher;
• RAM: 256 MB or higher;
• HDD: 2GB;
• Video: 32 MB compatible video card or better;
• Directx: 8.0 or higher

Guild Wars Recommended System Requirements

• OS: Windows 95/98/2000/ME/XP/Vista/7;
• CPU: Pentium 3 - 1GHz or higher;
• RAM: 512 MB or more;
• HDD: 2GB;
• Video: 64 MB compatible video card or better;
• Directx: 8.0 or higher

First step required before starting your journey in Guild Wars is to create your character. Guild Wars offers several features in order to help you create a unique and outstanding hero. This step will show you how to create a character in the game: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guide_to_character_creation

1. Choose your character type: You can choose from 2 types, depending on how you intend to approach the game. If you want to build up your hero and focus on PvE, than you can choose the Role-Playing Character, which will allow you to follow the story-line. You will start at level 1, with a basic armor and weapon and your goal is to reach the maximum level by competing quests. If you pick PvP-Only Character you will start at the maximum level (20) with customizable weapons and armors and you will not be able to access any PvE zones, but you will focus on fighting against other players in the PvP zones.
2. Choosing your campaign: This is the most important step for a PvE player because it will affect the game-play. Guild Wars features 3 campaigns: Prophecies, Factions and Nightfall. Each of them has a different story-line and you can access different professions. For example: If you choose the Nightfall campaign you will be able to play as a Paragon or Dervish. These professions are not available in Factions or Prophecies. This step is important only for PvE characters. A PvP player will always start in Great Temple of Balthazar. Choosing your campaign will also give you access to different areas to play on and different quests to complete.
3. Choosing your profession: In Guild Wars a profession is similar to a class in other MMORPG’s. After you choose your campaign you will get the chance to choose one profession that can’t be changed after your character is created. You should consider choosing your profession based on your play style. The basic professions available are: Warrior, Ranger, Monk, Necromancer, Mesmer and Elementalist. If you play the Factions campaign you will be able to choose from two more: Assassin and Ritualist, while choosing the Nightfall campaign will unlock the Paragon and Dervish.
4. Choosing your gender: It is a step that will allow you to pick from a male or a female character. There are no differences, beside the aspect and the voice of your hero. The quests will be the same and the choice you make is just aesthetical.
5. Customizing your appearance: It is the step that will allow you to fully change the aspect of your hero. Again, this will not affect the game-play, but be careful when you choose how your character will look, because the only way to change this in the game is by buying Makeover Credits or Extreme Makeover Credits from the online shop. You can choose from different types of faces, skin colors, hair types and so on.
6. Customizing your body: It is the last step in the customization process and you can only choose how tall you want your character to be. This is also an aesthetical choice and will not affect your game-play or your character’s stats.
7. Choosing your name: Will allow you to set an unique name to your character. Make sure you respect the game policies because offensive or abusive names will be blocked. If you have a character that you want to delete, in order to start with another one, you can use the same name within 24 hours. That is the amount of time, your name will be reserved.

In order to level up in Guild Wars you have to complete the quests given by the game NPC'’s. To complete a quest you should:

1. Find the NPC: In Guild Wars you can acquire certain quests from certain NPC’s. They are all over the world and every quest-giver is marked in the game. When you approach the NPC and click on it a small window will appear in which you can see the quest list (if more than one). Chose one quest and another window will open showing you the story of that quest and two buttons that will allow you to accept it or deny it.
2. Completing the quest: Is the most important step on which you have to meet the objectives required. You might be asked to kill monsters, bring specific items back to the quest-giver or just travel and talk to another NPC. Reaching your objective could be easy or hard and you could be able to do it alone, but you could be asked to find more players to help you. If you decide to abandon a quest you can do that by accessing your quest-log, but be aware that you can only do it in cities only. You will not be able to do it in combat zones. The abandoned quest can be regained from the same NPC.
3. Claiming your reward: Beside experience, when you complete a quest you will also receive gold. Some other rewards may include special items, attribute points or even special skills that cannot be found so easily. After you reach the goal of the quest you have to return to the quest-giver in order to claim your reward.

There are several quest types depending on how they are played in the game. Some of them are: Solo Quests (in which you will be teleported in a new zone, and you will complete them alone), Repeatable Quests (they will be available for you again as soon as you complete them) and more.

Your quest log will also group the quests, depending on their importance in the game. You can complete: Primary Quests (they form the center line of the story), Festival Event Quests (will be available only during certain festivals), and so on.

If you choose the PvP Character in Guild Wars, your starting level is also the maximum level in the game: 20. You will have access to all the items, type of armors and all the skills which are normally locked for PvE characters. But as a PvP player you will not be able to access any PvE areas, quests or any other features, and your main goal is to concentrate on defeating the other players in one of the available PvP modes. Another interesting fact is that some skills (Ex: Energy Drain) will behave differently in the PvP mode. http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Energy_Drain

There are several types of PvP arenas in Guild Wars, on which you will be able to challenge your opponents:

• Alliance Battles: Will require 6 teams (3 vs. 3) and the objective is to capture points. The teams are randomly picked up by the system to join a side or another.
• Fort Aspenwood/Jade Quarry: Will require 2 teams (1 vs. 1) to complete a mission. http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Fort_Aspenwood http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Jade_Quarry
• Codex Arena: Is a PvP mode that requires two teams of four players. They will fight against each other using only one skill: The Codex.
• Random Arenas: Requires two teams that will fight in the deathmatch mode.
• Heroes Ascent: Is a PvP mode in which 2 teams of eight players will have to complete a series of trials. The ending trial is Hall of Heroes.
• Guild Battles: Is also requiring 2 teams of eight players but the goal is to kill the Guild Lord of the other team.

In order to successfully complete a PvP battle, players should take in consideration some of the following rules:

• In a PvP battle all players will receive damage. There is no tank; therefore your equipment has to be able to protect you.
• Make sure you carry a resurrection skill, no matter what is your profession.
• You have to be able to fight without resting for several minutes, because in PvP there is no pause between battles.
• Melee fighters must be buffed in order to increase their movement speed.
• Use short time casting spells with lower damage, instead of spells with bigger damage but a long casting time.