Guide to Prophecies

This guide is an overview for new players to introduce the storyline and some of the features in Guild Wars Prophecies.

Pre-Searing
After character creation you will start the game in Ascalon City. The time setting is called the pre-Searing, it is a time during the war with the Charr against Ascalon. The Charr discover a way to destroy the great wall defending the city using fire magic during an event known as the Searing. This is a training period that allows a new player to get used to the controls of Guild Wars before progressing with the storyline in the Post-Searing world.

One of the first things a player will want to do is to talk to the Town Crier. He will be the character that will have a green exclamation mark above his head indicating he has a quest or message for the player. You will be directed to a person that will welcome you to the city and begin a primary quest chain that will allow their character to advance to post-Searing. To stay on track you can view all your quests in the Quest Log.

It’s suggested that the new player stay in Pre-Searing until at least the character has reached level 4, and until they are comfortable with the controls of the game. This is your chance to practice and learn how to fight with your selected profession, party with other players, gain more inventory space, communicate with other players, and trade with other players. In the Pre-Searing world, you can acquire skills and weapons, as well as experience. Some players have characters that by intent are not leaving the Pre-Searing portion of the game. This is not recommended for new players.

Secondary Professions/Skills
At the character selection screen, a primary profession was chosen (warrior, ranger, monk, necromancer, mesmer, or elementalist). This cannot be changed without deleting the character or creating another character in a spare character slot. For additional guides on your primary profession of choice see these articles:
 * Guide to playing as a Warrior
 * Guide to playing as a ranger
 * Guide to playing as a monk
 * Guide to playing as a mesmer
 * Guide to playing as an elementalist
 * Guide to playing as a necromancer

Part of your primary mission in Pre-Searing is to choose a secondary profession. You will be given a chance to try out any profession as a secondary before making a decision. The primary and secondary profession is listed as an abbreviation above a character for other players to view and also shows in the party window. For example, a Warrior who has selected a secondary as a monk is shown as a W/Mo. The Monk profession (Mo) and the Mesmer profession (Me) are shown with two letters so they do not get confused with each other.

When choosing a secondary profession, it is wise to select one that complements the primary profession in a way that you think is useful. If your Warrior has trouble healing, try Monk as a secondary. If your Necromancer would benefit from focusing on hexing enemies select Mesmer as a secondary, and so on and so forth.

Later in the game you will gain the ability to change your secondary profession. If you find you have made a choice that does not suit your playing style it is safe to continue playing the game using only skills from your primary profession until you can change your secondary.

Primary Attribute
As an example let’s look at an elementalist who has a secondary as a necromancer (E/N), she has different attributes for the professions. As an elementalist, her primary attribute is energy storage. It allows her to have a higher maximum energy than any other profession. Only elementalists get this bonus. She also has the other attributes of air magic, fire magic, earth magic, and water magic. As she levels up, she can put 'attribute points' in these different attributes to increase the power of related skills. In addition, she has three necromancer attributes to use - blood magic, death magic, and curses. The necromancer primary attribute is soul reaping, but because she's an E/N she cannot use this attribute because it requires the character to have a primary profession as a necromancer. Likewise a N/E (primary profession necromancer who has a secondary as elementalist), who has the benefit of soul reaping cannot use energy storage.

The list of primary attributes available are:
 * Strength for a Warrior
 * Expertise for a Ranger
 * Divine Favor for a Monk
 * Fast Casting for a Mesmer
 * Energy Storage for an Elementalist
 * Soul Reaping for a Necromancer

Attribute Points
Attribute points, which power certain skills, are gained as characters level up. You can choose to put these points in whatever attributes you like, and then add skills under that attribute to your skill bar. For example, if my elementalist has 5 attribute points in air magic and 0 points in fire magic, it's more sensible to add air skills, like Blinding Flash and Lightning Javelin. Likewise, it doesn't make any sense to have 3 points in Blood Magic when there are only Curses skills on your skill bar.

Armor
Each profession has its own types of armor that grant various benefits. For example Warrior armor has the single highest armor against physical damage. But elementalist armor grants them more energy. Overall across the professions it is balanced. As you progress through the game you will find armor for sale that has a higher armor rating than your current armor. It is always recommended to have the highest armor possible. See the armor page for more details.

Runes and Insignias
As you progress through the game you will find or buy runes and insignias that you can attach to armor. The benefits will vary depending on your primary profession. Be careful as strong attribute runes (+2 and +3 to attribute) while being powerful will incur a reduction in your total health.

You can acquire runes and insignias in the following ways
 * Rune Trader
 * Salvage from enemy armor using at least an Expert Salvage Kit

Builds and Skills
As you progress you will unlock or learn new skills. At any one time, you can only have 8 skills on a skill bar, but these 8 can be any skills you have taught your character. Any time you're in a town or outpost, you can change your skills and attribute points. Then, you can enter an explorable area or mission and test those skills. But if you don't like the skills you've chosen (i.e., using fire magic isn't effective against some enemies), you can zone back into town and change your skills.

Unlinked skills also known as No Attribute Skills are skills that are not listed under any attribute and require only that you belong to a profession that can use those skills. Some skills while being listed under a particular attribute do not actually improve as the related attribute point increases and so can be treated as if it were an unlinked skill.

You can acquire more skills in the following ways:
 * As a quest reward.
 * A Skill Trainer in post-searing.
 * Signet of Capture in post-searing, first encountered after you reach a town named Lions Arch.

Features Not In Pre-Searing Ascalon
Although Pre-Searing Ascalon gives plenty of opportunity to discover parts of Guild Wars, some of which are not available later in the game, it doesn't include everything.

Xunlai Chests
It costs 50 gold pieces to open an account with an Xunlai agent, but once you do, you can share items across all your characters who have access to the chests. Xunlai chests are available in almost every town and outpost. If your Warrior finds a fire wand your Elementalist can use, they can give the wand to the elementalist by putting it in the Xunlai chest. Then, the Elementalist can create a Xunlai account and use it.

Henchmen
Sometimes you can't always find a group of people to play with. You don't have to go into the 'beyond' by yourself. In most outposts or towns, there are a group of computer controlled players available to assist you. Their level changes as the game progresses, by the end of the storyline, the henchmen are level 20. Henchmen are always close to the level of foes in the region. If you don't know if you're a high enough level to fight foes in the area, the level of the local henchmen is usually a good indicator. To invite one into your party, open the party menu click on their names twice and they should add into your party roster.

Missions
Missions move the storyline along and upon completion place you in the next best place to advance your primary quests. In the Prophecies storyline, there are 25 missions, excluding the mission that moved you through the searing. After completing certain quests or other missions, you'll end up in a mission outpost. Upon entering a mission outpost, the screen will display "Mission Name - Cooperative Mission", which means that different players can group together to complete mission objectives. Missions objectives will vary and your goals will be displayed in your quest log.

When doing a mission, you'll find that there's certain objectives given to you from the start, and other objectives added throughout the mission. If all the players in the party die, you will be sent back to the mission outpost.

In the Prophecies campaign, each mission has a bonus objective, or another task to do during the mission. The bonus can vary for each mission and will be displayed in your quest log once certain requirements are met. Completing a mission and bonus adds to the Protector title track, and gives you extra experience and a skill point.

Experienced players who have already finished portions of the game often choose to skip parts of the storyline to advance their character fast later in the game. This is not recommended for new players as it requires that you have access to resources needed to provide for a late game character.
 * List of Prophecies missions

Other Expansions and Items
In post-searing you may begin to encounter players and items from other expansions of Guild Wars. You can later decide to purchase these expansions and gain access to more skills and items and professions and explore other parts of Tyria. Until then however you may still trade and obtain these otherwise unattainable items from players, but be wary of trading for items that you are unable to use. As an example, for a player who does not have nightfall, you could trade another player for a Scythe which is a melee weapon for the Dervish profession in Nightfall and you would be able to equip it. But because you cannot use the attribute of Scythe Mastery the weapon would be useless to you.

Suggestions
Not every player is going to be your friend. Unfortunately some players prey on the naivete of new players using various scams or by overcharging for items that are quite common later in the game. Let the buyer beware, before you accept any trade from another player be sure of what you are getting. This wiki is a great tool for learning where items come from and how hard they would be to obtain.

Guildwars is best enjoyed with other players, consider adding people you have enjoyed playing with to your friend list, also consider joining a Guild of players who have the same goals in mind.

Take it slowly, especially if you're new to the game. Early on you will find players willing to run you past difficult enemies into a later part of the game or rush you through a mission for a small fee. While free help is always nice, unless you know what they are doing for you, it is suggested you learn what is going on. If you do not know it may spoil your game or leave you at a disadvantage later in the game.

Additional Guides
Make use of other articles found on this wiki that benefit a new player, here are some examples
 * Guides
 * Currency
 * Elite skills.
 * Unique weapons and items
 * Emotes
 * /bonus items.
 * Customize weapons and items.