Getting started (Factions)

Welcome to Guild Wars Factions, and welcome to GuildWiki!

You're a new player and need somebody to show your the ropes of Guild wars? GuildWiki is the largest resource for Guild Wars related knowledge on the internet, and it will provide you with any information you need. But let's start with the basics. Read on!

Familiarize yourself with your new character
Let's assume you have just created a roleplaying character for the Factions campaign. (If you need help with that, read the roleplaying character creation guide.)

After creation of the character and an introduction cinematic, you'll find yourself in the Monastery Overlook. Nearby you'll see Instructor Ng and Master Togo, as well as a few fellow AI-controlled students.

If you are not familiar with the game basics you should simply follow the instructions of Instructor Ng for a basic introduction and accept the quest Mantid Hatchlings from him.


 * Note: If you are familiar with the game basics, then you may skip the quest Mantid Hatchlings from Instructor Ng. You will still receive the 'free skills upon enterring the Shing Jea Monastery, and your character will have advanced to Level 2.

Once you have completed the quest Mantid Hatchlings you may talk to Ludo at the gate and accept the "Seek out Headmaster (name)" quest. The name of the headmaster depends on your primary profession:

Accept that quest and accept to enter the Shing Jea Monastery.

Developing your Profession(s)
When you first enter the Monastery you'll probably be confused with all the fellow players and numerous NPCs standing and running around. For now, you can ignore most of them. But if you're curious, you can explore the city and talk to some of them to check what services they offer. You may also read some of the tablets (click the yellow text you see) in town for some more explanation of the game mechanics, kinda like an in-game manual.

When you're ready, resume the quest sequence to develop your character, as follows.

Step 1: Seek out your Primary Profession Headmaster
The Headmaster you've been asked to seek out can be found near the gate to the Monastery Overlook.

Step 2: Locate your 1st Primary Profession Trainer
Your Headmaster will then assign you a new quest "Locate (name)" to locate a Profession Trainer for your primary profession. The name of the Profession Trainer again depends on your primary profession:

All these profession trainers can be found in Sunqua Vale.

Step 3: Do your 1st Primary Profession Training Quest
Each profession trainer offers one profession specific quest. During the quest you will receive two additional skills for your primary profession:

Step 4: Track down your 2nd Primary Profession Trainer
Upon completion of that quest you will then receive a new quest "Track Down (name)" from your primary profession trainer to track down an other profession trainer. The name once again depends on your primary profession:

All these profession trainers can be found either in Panjiang Peninsula or Kinya Province.

Step 5: Do your 2nd Primary Profession Training Quest
Each of these profession trainer offers one profession specific quest. During the quest you will again receive two additional skills for your primary profession:

Step 6: Audience with Master Togo
Upon completion of that quest you will then receive a new quest "An Audience with Master Togo" from your profession trainer to return to the Monastery and talk to Master Togo, who can be found in Linnok Courtyard. This completes the quest sequence for your primary profession.

Secondary Profession Quest Sequence
After the quest An Audience with Master Togo, Master Togo will assign you with a new quest "Speak with Headmaster (name) ((profession))". These are the same Headmasters as listed above for the primany profession. Pick the Headmaster for the secondary profession that you'd like to learn.

This will start a second quest sequence as listed above for the primary profession, but this time it will be for your secondary profession. As the final quest, you will receive Journey to the Master.


 * Note: If you're not sure about your preferred secondary profession yet, don't worry, as long as you haven't finished the whole quest sequence for the secondary profession you can still abandon and try a different secondary profession by talking to the Master Togo again and picking a different Headmaster quest. This way you can not only test out all secondary professions, but you can also collect all the rewards (XP, gold and Monastery Credits) of all the secondary profession quests!

Once you have completed the whole sequence and returned to Master Togo, your secondary profession will be fixed.

Getting Basic Equipment
As soon as you can afford it (at any time during the profession quest sequence!) you should improve your equipment, which will make it easier and faster for you to level up.

Get Xunlai Storage Space
Especially if you have a Factions account merged with a Prophecies account, and you already have a high-level Prophecies character it is recommended that you open a Storage account for your new Factions character as soon as possible. This allows you to transfer gold and items from your old character to your new character, which should make it much easier for the new character to obtain new equipment.

Maximize Inventory Space
As soon as you can afford it you should maximize your inventory space.

A Belt Pouch will increase your inventory space by 5 slots. You can get a belt pouch this way:
 * Buy it from a Merchant in Shing Jea Monastery for 100 gold.
 * Get it as a quest reward for the quest A Belt Pouch.
 * Trade it from collector Marik Kuri or Hai Lae in Sunqua Vale. You'll have to slay a few Mantids or Kappas to obtain the items they are asking for, but that should be fairly easy.

A Bag will increase your inventory space by 5 slots. You can have two bags. You can get a bag this way:
 * Buy it from a Merchant in Shing Jea Monastery for 100 gold.
 * Trade it for 1 Monastery Credit at a Monastery Quartermaster.

A Rune of Holding increases the capacity of a bag by 5 slots. You can apply one per bag. You can get a Rune of Holding this way:
 * to be added

Improve your Armor
Your initial armor is very weak and does not offer much protection. As soon as you have collected the necessary material and gold you should get some better armor from one of the three Armor Crafters in the Shing Jea Monastery.

As an alternative, you can obtain armor from the various armor collectors around Shing Jea Island, which has the same Armor Level as the ones you can buy at the Monastery, but be aware that some of these collectors are far away from the Monastery and you'll have to defeat many foes to reach them.

Furthermore you should buy Minor Runes for the attribute of your primary profession from the Rune Trader in the Monastery and apply them to your armor. Minor runes are fairly cheap (usually 150 -250 gold) and have no downside, so there is no reason not to apply them.

Improve your Weapons
to be added

Insignia Quests
Once you have fixed your secondary profession, speak to your Headmaster again to receive the "Insignia" quest for your primary profession. This will take you to Instructor Ng again, who will grant you access to the Shing Jea Dojo and give you a sequence of advanced training quests, with free skill rewards:

Exploring Areas
At any time during your profession quest sequence you are free to explore the area and fight foes to gain experience and collect drops. This way you can increase your character level and your attribute rank and you collect money and materials that you will need to buy better equipment (see next paragraph).

See Shing Jea Island for a list of locations and a map. Be aware that some gates remain closed for you as long as you have not fixed your secondary profession, so you cannot enter certain locations.

Additional Quests
Whenever you see a green exclamation mark above the head of an NPC, talk to him/her to check for quests offered. Again, be aware that some quests are not available as long as you have not fixed your secondary profession and/or finished your first mission (read below). There are many quests to be found on Shing Jea Island. It is advisable to complete a few of them to get your character to a higher level before leaving the island.

Your first two Missions
Once you have fixed your secondary profession, you will be granted access to the first mission location, Minister Cho's Estate. The quest A Formal Introduction will take you here.

Take on the mission and complete it for extra XP and Skill Points. For details, read: Minister Cho's Estate (Mission)

Leaving Shing Jea Island
Once you have fixed your secondary profession, you are free to leave the Shing Jae Monastery area via the Saoshang Trail and explore the eastern side of the Shing Jea Island. The quest The Road Less Traveled will take you to Seitung Harbor. From here you can take a ship to the main land of Cantha. This is where the real challenge begins.


 * Good luck, and have fun!!