Quest

A quest is a task assigned to you by an NPC for some reward. Quests have no impact on the overarching storyline; however, through the dynamic quest system, quests can affect other quests and explorable areas, as well as add depth to the world of Guild Wars.

An NPC with a quest to give will have a large, green exclamation mark (!) over his or her head. Speaking with that NPC will allow you to hear the quest and choose whether to accept or decline it. Accepting the quest will add it to your Quest Log. Declining the quest (or abandoning it later via your Log) brooks no penalty: you can always reacquire the quest by speaking with the NPC again.

Quest Categorization
Some quests are marked in-game as primary quests. Besides primary quests, there are no other official categories for quests. However, there are many commonly understood categories of quest.

Primary Quest
In pre-Searing, quests that propel you towards joining the Academy are marked as primary quests. In post-Searing, primary quests are used to lead you from one mission to the next. Anytime a completed mission sends you to a non-mission outpost, there will be a primary quest to get you to the next mission.

In both cases, primary quests generally do not have many inherent rewards. The purpose of the primary quest is to advance you in the game, not advance you monetarily.

Primary quests are identified by the green text "(Primary Quest)" next to the quest name in your Quest Log.

Skill Quest
Skill Quests include any quest which gives you a skill or skills as part of the reward. These quests are the most popular to do, the reason being that skills that are taught through these quests become available at trainers but at a later point in the game. So, they provide a fast and free (no gold, no skill points) way to obtain most skills.

For example, Captain Osric the skill trainer in the Northern Shiverpeaks, offers many skills, but almost all of them are available previously through quests in Ascalon.

Some skills are only available through Skill Trainers or Signet of Capture.

Profession-Specific Quest
Profession-Specific Quests are quests that are limited to a specific profession. They are usually offered by Profession Trainers for that profession. A Profession-Specific quest will only appear to a player if his primary or secondary profession is the designated one.

If a player changes his/her secondary profession, then the profession-specific quests of the old secondary profession will no longer be available while the ones for the new secondary profession will now become available.

All Profession-Specific Quests are Skill Quests.

Secondary Profession Quest
Secondary Profession quests include the six quests in pre-Searing Ascalon that allow you to choose a secondary profession and the six quests in the Crystal Desert that allow you to change your secondary profession.

All secondary profession quests grant a few basic skills for the newly acquired secondary profession. Pre-Searing profession quests grant the skills before finishing the quest, allowing players to sample each profession before settling on one. The Crystal Desert profession quests grant the skills upon changing to the secondary profession for the first time. In all cases, you cannot use the skills granted if you change your secondary profession away from the profession that granted the skills, though you do retain the skills should you change back.

Attribute Quest
Attribute quests grant you extra attribute points to use. These quests increase your power in a very direct way. Every player should seek these out and complete them.

These quests are among the most difficult in the game.

There are currently only 2 Attribute Quests in the game, giving you 15 attribute points each:
 * Forgotten Wisdom
 * The Hero's Challenge

Repeatable Quest
Repeatable quests are quests that can be taken again after they were completed. Normally, when a quest is completed, it cannot be taken again. Speaking with the quest giver will not provide any way of taking it. Still, there is a small sub-set of quests in high-experience explorable areas of the game that is repeatable. These quests recharge every time a player enters the area.

While main story Missions are repeatable in that they can be done more than once, you get the XP reward only for first time you complete the mission/bonus. Repeatable Quests give you the XP reward repeatedly, every time you complete the quest.

Other
Quests that do not fall into any of these categories are just called quests. They generally reward you with some experience, some gold, and a few items, though the exact mixture of these three rewards vary depending on the quest.

Quest Rewards
Quest rewards may be one or more of the following:
 * Experience points
 * Skills
 * Weapons, Shields and Focus Items
 * Gold
 * Attribute points (only in two quests: Forgotten Wisdom and The Hero's Challenge)
 * Skill points (only in one quest: Tithe for Ashford Abbey)

Note however, that Weapons, Shields and Focus Items that come as quest rewards, are different from regular items in the following sense:
 * They cannot be salvaged. Which means you should not use weapon upgrades on quest items, as you cannot salvage them back should you desire to change to a different weapon.
 * They have a higher value than a comparable looted item would have (often 2–3 times higher).

As such, most people sell their quest reward items immediately. However, early in the game, some quest reward items are noticeably better than loot and crafter items.