Getting started (Nightfall)

Welcome to Guild Wars Nightfall, and welcome to GuildWiki!

You're a new player and need somebody to show you 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 Nightfall campaign. (If you need help with that, read the roleplaying character creation guide.)

After creation of the character and an introductory cinematic, you'll find yourself on the remote Island of Shehkah. Nearby you'll see Kormir, Koss and several Sunspear Recruits, as well as a Weapons Locker.

If you are not familiar with the game basics you should follow the request of Kormir for a basic introduction and accept the quest Rally the Recruits (Tutorial) from her.




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 * Note: If you are familiar with the game basics, then you may instead choose the quest Take the Shortcut (Skip Tutorial) from Kormir. You will still receive the 'free skills and XP, effectively raising your character to level 2 upon entering Chahbek Village. Instead, it will be necessary to find your own path to Chahbek Village.

Once you have completed the quest Rally the Recruits (Tutorial) you may talk to First Spear Jahdugar at the gate and accept the "Into Chahbek Village" quest.

Accept that quest and select to enter Chahbek Village.

Chahbek Village
Upon entering Chahbek Village, a short cinematic will play, where you will end up in your first outpost. There will be a number of other players here, most of similar level to yourself. Talk with First Spear Jahdugar again to accept the reward for Into Chahbek Village, and to start the quest Quiz the Recruits. Note that when you accepted the reward for the quest, you also unlocked the Hero Koss. Koss is now a member of your hero party, and can be added to your party whenever you are in a town or outpost. Do this now, by selecting Koss in your Party Window.

Attributes
If you haven't already done so, now is a good time to "level up" your character's attribute points. Press 'K' to bring up the "skills and attribute points" window, and spend your attribute points for both you and Koss. You can decrease the number of attribute points spent on an attribute only while in a town or an outpost.

Complete the quest Quiz the Recruits while you are in Chahbek Village, as it does not require travelling any further than this outpost. Upon completion of this quest, First Spear Jahdugar will offer you entry into your first mission. Decline the offer, and instead talk to Jibehr and undertake the quest Never Fight Alone. To add a henchman to the party, click on the henchman so that their name appears in the party window, and click the + symbol to the left of their name. Likewise you can also kick a henchman or player from your party in a similar way. Select the name of the player in the party window, and choose kick. Note you can only do this when you are the leader of the party. If you are not the leader, you can only leave the party. Once you have added a henchman to the group, complete Jibehr's quest. You should now be ready to undertake the first mission. Speak with First Spear Jahdugar to commence the mission Chahbek Village. Note that Koss has to be a member of your party for the mission to be available.

Completing this mission, and every mission, in Nightfall will grant you with a reward, based on how well you have done in the mission. For this mission, the reward is based on how many recruits stayed alive, so as your first mission, it may be worth taking it slowly. Other missions may be based on killing extra bosses or how fast you complete the mission.

Primary Training
After the cinematic has played, you will be in Churrhir Fields. First Spear Dehvad will have a quest for you called Primary Training.




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You only need to speak to one of the experts for your profession, as First Spear Dehvad will grant you the remainder when you finish the quest. Once you have spoken with the experts in your field, speak to Dehvad again, and he will reward you with your first Sunspear Promotion Points. These points serve to indicate how far through the ranks of the sunspears you have risen. He will also direct you to Second Spear Binah to allow you entry into Kamadan, Jewel of Istan, the capital city of Istan, and ask you to return to him once you are level 5 to begin training in a secondary profession. Follow his advice and enter Kamadan.

Kamadan, being a major city, will have a large number of both players and NPCs. Most of the NPCs have professions of their own, such as Merchant, Skills Trainer or Rune Trader. To find out about the services they offer, talk to them. Like other NPC's, many of them will also offer you quests. You should be able to find 6 quests while in the city, as well as complete the one from Xunlai Agent Jueh. This will give you access to a vault common to all your characters.

When you're ready, leave town to explore the Plains of Jarin. Note that there were other exits in the town (Consulate and Sun Docks).

Most explorable areas in Elona will have a Resurrection Shrine by any portals to neighbouring regions, along with a scout or priest, who will bless you or give you a bounty to complete. Speak with the Sunspear scout to your east, who will give you a bounty to hunt plant-life. These bounties will increase you through the Sunspear Ranks faster, as they provide you with both extra experience (XP) and Sunspear Promotion Points for each monster of the appropriate type that is slain.

You are now free to explore Istan, either simply wandering around, or more conventionally by following quests. The quest Armored Transport should be just ahead, and Dengo will lead you to the Sunspear Great Hall as part of it. There will be more NPC's with quests just outside. You can press U to display the Mission Map to show the area you are currently in, as well as the path you have travelled. Enter the Sunspear Great Hall once the Armored Transport quest has updated.

Sunspear Great Hall
Note that when you enter the great hall, your mission map will clear the path, and any blessings upon you will be removed.

Again, there are a number of quests to undertake within the great hall. Runduk will have a quest Rising in the Ranks: Master Sergeant. This quest will provide you with extra attribute points once completed. It is based on the number of Sunspear Promotion Points you have, which increase from quests and bounties. You can find out how many Promotion Points you have by Pressing 'H' and choosing the titles tab. This screen tells you how your character is progressing through the Guild Wars world.

Pressing 'M' will allow you to map travel back to Kamadan to claim any rewards, and accept any new quests that may be available.

Continue exploring Istan, completing quests, and collecting loot from slain enemies, until you have reached level 5.

Secondary Training
Once you have reached level 5, return to Kamadan, and speak with First Spear Dehvad again, he will give you two quests, Secondary Training, and Command Training. Speak with Second Spear Binah again to return to the Sunspear Encampment. Speak with as many experts as you feel necessary to in order to gain an understanding of the skills available to the other professions, and then return to First Spear Dehvad to choose your secondary profession, and to obtain a new Primary Quest, Leaving a Legacy.

Bear in mind that there is no right or wrong choice of which profession to choose - each will have its own merits for the primary profession you already have.

While in the Sunspear Encampment you may also seek out Tactician Haj for the command training quest, to learn a little more on how to control your Heroes.


 * Note: If you happen to change your mind later on in the game about your secondary profession, you will be able to change your secondary profession. Before making your choice, consider talking to all experts, even if you don't intend to pick these professions, as it will unlock extra skills for your heroes to use.

Getting Basic Equipment
As soon as you can afford it, which can be anytime after you have first reached Kamadan, you should consider improving your equipment, which will make it easier and faster for you to level up.

Get Xunlai Storage Space
You should by now already have a Storage account for your new Nightfall character. This allows you to transfer gold and items from your other characters to your new character, and vice versa, which should make it much easier for a new character to obtain new equipment. You should also purchase a storage account upgrade so you can store your crafting materials there without taking up valuable storage space!

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 via any of these methods:
 * Buy it from a Merchant for 100 gold.
 * Get it as a quest reward for the quest Need More Stuff.
 * Trade it from collector Nenah in Kamadan for Juvenile Termite Legs. Note that this will be done anyway as part of the Need More Stuff quest.

A Bag will increase your inventory space by 5 slots. You can have two bags. You can get a bag via any of these methods:
 * Buy it from a Merchant for 100 gold.
 * Trade it for 1 Battle Commendation at a Sunspear Quartermaster in the Sunspear Great Hall.
 * Obtain it as a reward from a Collector such as Sehyal.

A Rune of Holding increases the capacity of a bag by 5 slots. You can apply one per bag, but they cannot be applied on your belt pouch. You can get a Rune of Holding via any of these methods:
 * Trade it for 3 Battle Commendations at a Sunspear Quartermaster in the Sunspear Great Hall.
 * Buy it for 500 gold at Merchants in Blacktide Den or beyond. (If you are a member of a guild with a Merchant in the Guild Hall, he will also sell these runes.)

Improve your Armor
Your initial armor is very weak and does not offer much protection. As soon as you have collected the necessary materials and gold you should get some better armor from one of the Armor Crafters in Kamadan, Jewel of Istan. Prioritize chest armor and then leg armor before the others, as they receive more hits than the other pieces (though they also cost more to craft).

As an alternative, you can obtain armor from the various armor collectors around Istan, which have the same armor rating as the ones you can buy in the cities, but be aware that some of these collectors are far away from the cities, and you'll have to defeat many foes for the necessary trading items, and run through a large amount of land to reach them.

One other option is to delay armor crafting until you reach Consulate Docks (either by getting a Ferry from another player or completing the quest The Time is Nigh), where max level armor can be crafted. Although it is possible to go through all of Istan without gaining new armor, it will be much more difficult to complete missions and you will die much more often. Generally, the expensive armor is more than a fair trade for the vastly increased durability.

When you have spare funds, buy Minor Runes for the attributes of your primary profession from the Rune Trader in Kamadan and apply them to your armor. Minor runes are usually fairly cheap and have no downside, so there is no reason not to use them. Often Major Runes will be cheaper than Minor Runes, but they carry with them a -35 penalty to your hit points. At low levels this penalty can make advancement very difficult, but for a character that can afford the hit point penalty, this is sometimes a cheaper, more potent option to consider.

Improve your Weapons
The weapons you start out with won't do much damage. As you kill foes on the island you will find better weapons in the drops. Some weapons you may find require a certain level for an attribute of either your primary or secondary profession. Most high-end weapons require at least 9 levels invested in the linked attribute to do their maximum damage potential.

There are several other ways to obtain better weapons besides finding them in the drops of beaten foes. On the island there are collectors who offer weapons in exchange for collectors items. In major cities you will also find weapon smiths who will craft you a weapon in exchange for some materials and gold. Finally you can trade with fellow players for gold or items to obtain better weapons to use. The weapon smiths can also customize your weapons to increase their efficiency, however these are then useless to other players, so don't use this feature if you plan on selling your weapons! (You won't need to worry about this too much until you find weapons that are appealing to other players - generally the ones with maximum or near-max stats and not the ones you will find in your first 10 or so levels).

Obtain new Skills
Skills can be purchased from Skill Trainers throughout Elona, however the cost of each skill costs more gold than the previous skill purchased for the character in question. Skills also cost skill points, which are awarded for completing missions, advancing a level, or for obtaining a new "level" past level 20. Hero skills can also be "purchased", costing Hero skill points, allowing Heroes to use skills that your account has not yet unlocked. If you purchase a "hero" skill that matches your primary or secondary profession, you learn it as well, so check the Hero Skill Trainers before spending your own hard-earned skill points!

You must have already selected a secondary profession before a Hero Skill Trainer will allow you to spend Hero skill points. This requirement closes an exploit that allowed players with one profession to learn skills from multiple secondary professions and add those skills on their skill bar.

Exploring Areas
At any time during your time in Istan, you are free to explore the area and fight foes to gain experience and collect drops (also known as loot). This way you can increase your character level and thus your attribute points as well as collecting money and materials that you will need to buy better equipment.

See Istan for a list of locations and maps. Be aware that some gates remain closed to you until after you have completed certain Primary Quests, so you cannot enter certain locations immediately.

Additional Quests
Whenever you see a green exclamation mark above the head of an NPC, talk to him/her to check for quests offered. Be aware that some quests are not available until you have finished certain Primary Quests (read below). There are many quests to be found in Istan. It is advisable to complete a few of them to get your character to a higher level before leaving the island.

Further Missions
Once you have finalized your secondary profession, you will be issued with a new Primary Quest (Leaving a Legacy). Completing Primary Quests will advance the storyline, but remember that you can complete these at a pace you are comfortable with. It is often advisable to complete other, secondary quests, to level up your character. Some NPC's will also have a Green Battle Symbol above their heads, indicating a mission is available. Again, some missions are not available until after you have completed a plot element in the Primary Quests.

Attribute Point Quests
On Istan, the two attribute point quests which give you 15 attribute points each, are both found in the Sunspear Great Hall, require you to obtain Sunspear Promotion Points. They are achieved at Master Sergeant (100 points) and First Spear (300 points).

Leaving Istan
After completing the third mission, you will be able to take a ship from the Sun Docks to the Consulate Docks Mission arriving on the mainland of Elona in Gandara, the Moon Fortress. This is where the real challenge begins.

As with Factions, you can always return to Istan after going to the mainland if you need to finish any missed objectives.

If you complete every quest on Istan before you leave, and complete all three missions with Master's reward, you should be at least level 18 when you reach the mainland. This means you only need to do a couple of easy quests in order to reach level 20 and get your 200 attribute points. Additional skill points can be found in other quests.


 * Good luck, and have fun!