Talk:Guild Wars Factions

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Chapter 2 Skills
I'm not sure where to put this, but it seems approprate to put it here, since it's better than spamming it all over the various other places it could be relevant (proffession page, proffession skills quick reference, proffesion skills category). The March 9th update added locked chapter 2 skills to the PvP character creation screen.

[list snipped]

Lava Font shows up both on the unlocked list and the locked list for some reason. -- Gordon Ecker 17:17, 11 March 2006 (CST)


 * I've taken the liberty of snipping your long list of skills (that appears to be the same list, complete with errors and misspellings, that was posted to gwguru) because there are already substantially complete articles that have this info. &mdash; Stabber 00:48, 12 March 2006 (CST)


 * Thanks. Wait a minute, the exact same typos? Wierd, I transcribed the skill list myself, so I guess the gwguru list was copied from here (not that I'm complaining or anything), either that or the in-game list had typos. -- Gordon Ecker 12:35, 15 March 2006 (CST)


 * I spoke with someone in the alpha and they reported that ANet is doing... something... but it should get "fixed" before Factions is released. He said duplicate skills have been coming and going (in the alpha, at least) and guessed it was for testing purposes.  --68.142.14.8 19:10, 12 March 2006 (CST)

Professions not to added in each chapter
This is as good a place to note this as anywhere as I got this from the new IGN article I just added a link to. But according to the article "They don't intend to add new professions with each new campaign..." Interesting, I wonder if that means if we link our accounts for the chapters that don't include new profession we won't get any new character slots. --Rainith 18:04, 12 March 2006 (CST)

Speaking of which, I dont understand what is going to happen in terms of character slots. I have 4 chars for chapter one, and I pre-ordered Factions. Does that mean I'll have 8 total slots? Or can I port over ascended characters to Factions and clear up a spot in chapter one? I also heard something about "merging" the accounts, and now I'm all confused. What is going to happen to the number of char slots? -Auron of Joo


 * My current understanding is that if you treat GWP and GWF as two separate games, then each will have 4 slots of its own. However, if you "link" the two games by adding the GWF key to your GWP account, then the merged GWP/F game will have six total slots. I assume that in this merged game you have a choice of where a new role-playing character will start -- Pre-Searing Ascalon or the Shing Jia Monastery. Does this clarify things a bit? &mdash; Stabber 17:52, 13 March 2006 (CST)


 * Exactly. The officical FAQ explains it in detail. -- 18:01, 13 March 2006 (CST)
 * Which article mentioned Professions not to added in each chapter? I checked all three IGN linked and didn't see it mentioned. -PanSola 18:11, 15 March 2006 (CST)
 * http://pc.ign.com/articles/695/695213p1.html Second page IIRC. --Rainith 00:20, 16 March 2006 (CST)
 * EDIT - Hmmm, they seem to have removed that. It was in the second paragraph of the second page.  The part where they talk about the number of skills.  --Rainith 00:23, 16 March 2006 (CST)
 * Little off topic but look at the videos. Theres one where the kill count passes 400!  Also, you can see what the new Flesh Golem looks like. | Chuiu 00:40, 16 March 2006 (CST)


 * Personally I liked the dragon. Too bad I doubt that rangers can get one as a pet.  --Rainith 00:51, 16 March 2006 (CST)


 * I'm a bit disappointed. I can't start a new Factions profession in the Prophecies campaign, nor can I buy new skills/armor when I travel to Tyria with a Factions profession character.  I suppose it makes sense though.  It'd be a lot of work to make new NPC's and quests and alter Quest Rewards to deal with the influx of Assassins and Ritualists that would happen in Tyria. &#91;&#91;AOTT]] 13:18, 1 August 2006 (CDT)

200 Years...
Approximately two hundred years ago, the Greath Northern Wall was erected.

Approximately two hundred years ago, Lord Odran entered the rift.

-PanSola 18:11, 15 March 2006 (CST)
 * It must have sucked living 200 years ago Redford of Bedwin 12:49, 28 April 2006 (CDT)

New Factions Concerns
Ok. So the new Factions has much hype all around it, but will you have to pay to play?
 * I haven't seen anything to suggest that Arenanet has any plans to change their business model. Unless that changes, the only cost will be the up-front game purchase and there will not be a monthly fee. --Barek 10:41, 21 March 2006 (CST)
 * The business model is not changing. You have to pay a one time price for the retail to play.  If you play on the Taiwan, Japanese, or Korean servers, the existing 30-day card system also will remain. -SolaPan 11:13, 21 March 2006 (CST)

That's good news. Thanks for the information.

An update for this page now?
A lot of content for this page seem to be loking to the future, now the game is in retail shouldn't this be reduced like the Guild Wars page? --Jamie 08:00, 3 May 2006 (CDT)


 * well i'll give it a shot... --Jamie 08:03, 3 May 2006 (CDT)

Stuff to do

 * Clean up links (possible delete & start again)
 * Clean up Features list
 * Possible reorder of headers?

any help with these sections will be much appreiciated --Jamie 08:13, 3 May 2006 (CDT)


 * How about delete EVERYTHING, then pick up pieces again to add back? -PanSola 05:58, 4 May 2006 (CDT)


 * O_O;; if thats what you want to do, do it... --Jamie 06:00, 4 May 2006 (CDT)
 * I would if I were interested in working on the article after blanking it. Right now I'm not interested, so I'm not gonna blank it. -PanSola 11:20, 5 May 2006 (CDT)


 * 6 new armor types for each profession is wrong. I believe it's from a pre-release Gaile chat where she was quoting someone on the art team, IIRC what she said was 6 or more styles per profession. The actual numbers are 30 (3x6 core, 6x2 sin/rit) new armor functional types (excluding sin and rit basic armor) and 68 (7x6 core, 13x2 sin/rit) new art styles. -- Gordon Ecker 06:25, 5 June 2006 (CDT)


 * It says "more purchasable character slots." I know it's been confirmed that this will happen in the near future, but shouldn't this be removed until the slots are actually available for purchase? --Sykoone 19:50, 8 July 2006 (CDT)

Add a section dealing with the (lovely) LOCKED doors. I have not played Factions very much and have only encountered the 1st few locked doors. Are there locked doors throughout the game? Frostty1 21:20, 2 October 2006 (CDT)
 * There sure are... there's a list of what quests unlock what at Factions area unlocking. &mdash; [[Image:Fin_sig.gif|User:Kyrasantae]] kyrasantae  21:29, 2 October 2006 (CDT)

14 missions
This page says there are 14 new missions. Unless Monastery Overlook is counted (It has mission objectives, but not completion bonuses or mission outpost), then shouldn't there only be 13?

My guess is the Unwaking Waters missions are counted separately for the 14, when they probably shouldn't be (I don't believe they are for the title, but not positive on that). --Kryshnysh

Can I add Prophecies key to activated Factions account? &mdash;The preceding unsigned comment was added by 80.65.16.121 (talk • contribs) 21:15, 7 June 2006 (CDT).
 * Same answer as "Can I use my car keys to drive your car?", though circumstances differ. -User:PanSola (talk to the [[Image:follower of Lyssa.png]]) 15:12, 14 June 2006 (CDT)


 * What? That's just wrong, Pan. Just like you can add a Factions key to a Prophecies account, you should also be able to add a Prophecies key to a Factions account. Why on earth would new players, who start by buying Factions, be cut off from playing Prophecies forever? -- [[Image:Bishop_icon2.png]] Bishop [ rap|con ] 16:16, 14 June 2006 (CDT)
 * Why would adding a Prophecies key active a Factions account? That's like using a gift certificate for Barns and Nobles at Target.  Prophecies key, by definition, activates a Prophecies account.  You may add it to a Factions account to activate it for Prophecies, but you cannot add a Prophecies key to activate a Factions account. -User:PanSola (talk to the [[Image:follower of Lyssa.png]]) 17:26, 14 June 2006 (CDT)


 * FYI: don't look now, but I think you're both arguing the same thing. I believe the problem is different interpretations of what was being asked.  Did the anon mean "Can I add Prophecies key to activate d [a] Factions account" or "Can I add Prophecies key to [an already] activated Factions account" --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 17:30, 14 June 2006 (CDT)


 * You may be right. I thought it was so obvious that what he asked was the latter, regardless of the broken English, that I never considered the former. But now I see how it could be read that way. -- [[Image:Bishop_icon2.png]] Bishop [ rap|con ] 19:25, 14 June 2006 (CDT)

Move request
I disagree with this move request. "Guild Wars Factions" is the official title of the software, and I fell that is the appropriate place to have an article that gives a summary of the software package. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 08:47, 14 June 2006 (CDT)
 * I disagree too. "Guild Wars Factions" is the full, official game title, and hence this should also be the name for the wiki article. "Factions" is okay as a shortcut name, but it should remain a redirect. --[[Image:TurningL sml.gif|Tetris L]] 09:08, 14 June 2006 (CDT)

Why a Failure?
I loved Factions. It was great with alot of new stuff added, as well as interesting sights and things to do. They gave you a monk or ritualist for every mission so you never found yourself wanting for a healer like in Prophecies, and the missions were always a good challenge. So... uh... Why is it considered a failure amongst players? -- Lu Zon 29th of November
 * I don't know either. They tried something quick, and that's it. I just don't see any reason either to say it's a failure. I like longer ones like Nightfall and Prophecies, but the pace of Factions was... different, but not a failure. So far I have yet to see a bad campaign being made by ArenaNet, as they have shown unmatchable efficience compared to any other company, in my opinion. Ericdanie 23:15, 29 November 2006 (CST)


 * I've heard a fair number of people complain about the PVE being "too fast". Honestly? Low-level PVE sucks. It's boring. It's areas that aren't very challenging when you're there the first time and that you can't meaningfully repeat after you've hit level 20, anyway. It's having the same cookie-cutter build as every other player because those are the only 10 skills you have access to at that point (people complained about being able to buy all the skills so early in the game, too... wth?). A lot of people honestly seemed to be somehow put off by the spectre of anything resembling difficulty in PVE. I think 75% of the game being made up of low-powered areas that you have no substantive reason to come back to is, frankly, a huge waste of the map.
 * All the gates were frustrating, though, even for me. And too many people saw getting faction as a chore rather than an excuse for PVE players to have their own little slice of PVP without the hardcore PVPers monopolizing it (that was Aspenwood for a while).
 * Meh. I liked it. The skills were wonderful, a good bit of the world was absolutely breathtaking, and just the Deep alone kept me entertained for like an entire month. &mdash; 130.58 (talk) 23:39, 29 November 2006 (CST)
 * I completely agree that low-level PvE sucks. Someone on the SomethingAwful forums commented that Nightfall's Istan was the length of one of Homer's great works. I would rather the game get me up to 20 quickly so I can stop using half-arse builds and run the good stuff and play the fun game. Kessel 23:48, 29 November 2006 (CST)
 * I didn't even bother making native toons in Nightfall. Just warrioring all the way through. But I think anyone who says that pretty clearly hasn't had to sit through the catalogue of ships. &mdash; 130.58 (talk) 00:03, 30 November 2006 (CST)
 * TBH I dragged my NF toons through Istan just to get the quest to travel to Cantha, where they promptly solved all the super-high XP quests available there and rocketed to a 20. Allowing me to finally play the game. *grin* Kessel 04:36, 30 November 2006 (CST)

So you guys didn't take it to be a failure? Ooh, that makes me feel better I suppose. I loved Factions, like I said before, and I really get down when everyone says it sucks. My guild mate said he didn't like factions because "The Scenery was all the same (The City was Half the map was what he said) and all the monsters looked alike (Afflicted, Am fah, Afflicted, Jade Brotherhood, afflicted, Luxon/Kurzick) and it got the missions were too hard for the wrong reasons. I don't know what he meant by that, but yeah... anyone got a response to that @_@? Lu Zon 30 of november!
 * I wouldn't call it a failure either. I'd say it's a just different. Those who complain are mainly comparing it against the more PvE oriented Prophecies and Nightfall. The whole reason why low-level in Factions was boring was because they decided to let you speed up the leveling process, which IMHO, is a bad move for PvE. Your guildmate was probably referring to the timed master's rewards. Some of those are somewhat tough to get with just PUGs.
 * PS - to sign your comments automatically, type ~ at the end of it. -- Ab.Er.Rant (msg Aberrant80) 02:03, 30 November 2006 (CST)


 * It certainly was NOT a failure to me; I for one was so, so grateful they sped up the progression in Factions. I will never willingly do another Prophecies character. Slog through all that again? No thanks. Cantha has great missions, great scenery, great skills, great weapon and armor additions, and great character designs IMHO. Arshay Duskbrow 02:56, 30 November 2006 (CST)


 * This gives me Hope and makes me feel a bit better on the subject I personally wish more of my guild felt the same way as you guys... I'd leave but I'm the leader of it @_@.  Anyways, I'd be happy to hear a bit more on your opinions on the perks and faults of Factions if you want to post a bit more... and I kinda like personally writing silly things to sign my posts, but lemme give thisa try. Lu Zon 05:28, 30 November 2006 (CST)


 * Well, I do think the completion-time-based mission rewards on pretty much every mission were a mistake (I'm okay for that being the case in one or two like in Nightfall). And I think the city really should have had much more variety rather than just sprawl since you had to spend so much time there. The Forest and Jade Sea were both fantastic, though, and I liked the overall pacing of the game. There were some great missions like Unwaking Waters and some really annoying ones (Raisu Palace -- I really disliked that so much of it was about the uber skills). But it was a great game. &mdash; 130.58 (talk) 16:09, 30 November 2006 (CST)

It Occurs to me that We've yet to hear from anyone who truley hated Factions... Doesn't anyone who hated factions want to say something? Lu Zon 05:51, 4 December 2006 (CST)

I think the reason I liked factions so much was because it was so fast paced. I hated the grind and tediousness in prophecies, and there are a lot of it in Nightfall as well. In missions everyone concentrated on moving as fast os possible while still surviving, rather than tediously pulling things one by one. Seriously it's more challenging to rush in and try to survive and kill everything... and it's more fun that way. Oh and the lightbringer and sunspear points are a horrible idea for nightfall... I HATE GRIND! SO yeah, Factions IS my favorite campaign of all 3 because it has the least amount of GRIND built into it ==Lania Elderfire 14:14, 15 December 2006 (CST)

I like Factions alot! It's quick to get to the good parts (no Grind like the poster above me said) and everything moves at a quicker pace. Even the missions are timed so co-operation and fluidity are the key! My only complaints are that it feels half done! There aren't enough quests in Cantha to do (They should go back and add a few, that wouldn't be so hard!) and some information seems to be off (Like the description for Seitung Harbor! All because they wanted to get the Tyrians to the 16 man mission right off the bat!  They could have made Zen Daijun into a 16 man-er...). Please A-Net! Go all Sorrow's Furnace on Factions!


 * I greatly dislike Factions. The pace, the feel, the franticness. . . all of it.  I have 10 Guild Wars characters. One character has made it as far as the Jade Sea area.  My Assassin and Ritualist have made it to the boats to get out of Cantha as quick as they could :).  About my GW playstyle: I never PVP, and the only PVE groups I run are either solo (with henchies) or with friends I know and get along with - very rarely PUGs, so I very well may be the minority as far as the demographic that NCSoft is shooting to please with this game (it is a MMO after all).  There is no point in having a character leveling process as the game rushes you to the max level as fast as possible.  Though not technically an RPG game, Prophecies gives me an illusion that I am starting with a wobbly-kneed hero and helping train them into a hero of the land. Factions made me feel like I had joined the military and needed to be as tough as I could be as quick as I could be.  No sense of growth or development.  I find the monotony of getting gold, commendations and experience for every single quest mind-numbingly tiresome (this is a problem I have with Nightfall as well). The fact that all master rewards simply consist of beating the mission in x number of minutes makes me think of all the lovely visuals that were put into the game that I am not seeing as my goal is to ultimately rush through each and every mission as fast as I possibly can. On and on and on I could go.  Not meaning to rant - sorry if it sounds like one.  Ultimately I enjoy Guild Wars as a whole very much.  --Diordna 04:10, 5 April 2007 (CDT)

I liked Factions a lot better than Prophecies. Roughly 85-90% of Factions is lvl 20 content. In Prophecies, 35-45% is lvl 20 content. I also liked Nightfall because all but Istan is lvl 20 content. --Swift Thief 08:49, 22 April 2007 (CDT)
 * i think it was much better then nightfall not quite as good as prophices but factions seems to be really unimportant when you compare it to gw:en prophices and nightfall its like the spin off to a popular tv show but factions will always be better then nightfall because its sticking with mhenlo cynn eve etc (who in my opinion are the real main characters of guild wars) i would say factions was perfectly put together for characters native to factions nightfall was so long i hate it and prophices although nice just isnt enough to do in pre. although collecting the 10k faction for kurzicks or luxons is just too much make it 5k and thats fine

...I must be strange, but I find Factions to be the most grinding-ish campaign. I mean it took me like two days to reach high enough lvl on my proph range before she could do fun stuff (lvl 18 works and then it's easy reaching lvl 20), but I'm stuck on my lvl 14 necro in Cantha without anything to do because the mainland is too hard for her. But yeah it's probably me who is strange ._. I think the locked doors are the only things that really really bugs me with Factions. I love exploring, it's part of the reason I play this game and the scenery in Factions is lovely (which is why rushing through missions to get masters doesn't feel natural to me like someone already stated). But if I'm not allowed to enter an outpost every once in a while, what's the point?=/ I mean I can't explore all in one go. Tandtroll 22:51, 1 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Grinding in factions is nothing compared to some of the title track grinding in EotN. The locked gates were to try to prevent runners from taking players across the whole continent without having to complete any of the missions, and effectively skip the game to just get to the end.  It was one of the improvements to the game that I actually liked.  And if you are stuck as a lvl 14 in the mainland, my suggestion would be to pick up some of the numerous quests between Kaineng Center and Naphui Quarter.  There are many quests in the towns and explorable areas, lots of which are basically road runner quests that require minimal fighting.  They can be used to help get your level up faster.  Also making sure you have max level armor will make your character just as durable as a lvl 20, minus the health difference.  Hope this helped. -- [[Image:Isk8.png]]   I~sk8   (T/C) 22:56, 1 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Not true, Isk- damage is affected by level difference. [[Image:Felix_Omni_Signature.png]] 23:01, 1 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Well, ... I effectively phail at GW trivia today it seems. All other comments still stand though :P -- [[Image:Isk8.png]]   I~sk8   (T/C) 23:06, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Daggers on poster
Anyone know if there exists a set of daggers with the same skin as the ones on the poster for factions (carried by the sin in the bluey/purple armour). Also featured on the front of the blue Factions box. Any help would be greatly appreciated thanks.

other campaigns
can characters from other campaigns get shing jea island-- 22:47, 19 July 2007 (CDT)
 * Yes --Gimmethegepgun 22:51, 19 July 2007 (CDT)

Lag/CPU Usage
I've played Guild Wars Prophecies on my computer, and it took barely any CPU usage, so it ran very smoothly. I started playing Factions without installing the Factions disk, and it took a lot of my CPU usage, so it was all blocky and the equivalent of serious lag. Is there any relation with my not installing the Factions disk?
 * Yes, because it has to actively download all of the files that you are using from their server while you are playing (background downloads) this eats up CPU usage, and slows the computer and the game itself while it attempts to load the next bit of ground you are going to walk on, while you are walking on it.--[[Image:Gigathrash_sig_G.jpg]]ìğá†ħŕášħ Talk 04:09, 14 April 2008 (UTC)