Rudhraighe's Adventurers Society Guide to Guild Wars.

Greetings Lords and Ladies, to a novice guide to Guild Wars. Most of what you will find in this guide will, on second reading, seem to be nothing more than common sense wisdom and the ramblings of thirty plus years of computer gaming experience. But please bear with me as I may in some fashion jog your memories on a few basic gaming tactics. This guide is not intended for the Uber Experienced Power Gamer, but rather for the casual, or new to gaming novices. Also you will not find any Player VS. Player tips in this guide as I have yet to fully experience that aspect of the game, and eagerly await someone to volunteer to mentor me in that aspect of Guild Wars. Just for reference to those who will ask about my Guild Wars gaming history, I started playing Guild Wars during the early opening hours of the October "World Preview Event" WPE, and have played every "Beta Weekend Event" BWE ever since. While I started out with focusing on a Warrior/Monk for my first two events, I have since switched to playing a Monk/Ranger as my primary character, and I also dabble with an Elementalist/Ranger, and Ranger/Necromancer. All total, of all the Beta available time I have missed perhaps less than eight hours out of each of the events. As for other games and platforms let's just say my first electronic game attached to the aerial of my black and white TV and had 2 twist knobs as controllers, my first computer game was on 1" wide paper tape and had to be loaded thru a paper tape feeder before you could play, my first PC games were on the Atari 400, Apple II, and IBM PCjr, systems, and my first personal computer was a Timex Sinclair 1000.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Tarrant "Chris" Rahl, and Chantal "Mel" Dubois of GWOnline.net for their encouragement, aid assistance, and support, and for running the BEST Guild Wars fan site, with the best reference material, on the entire internet.

But enough about me let's get on with talking about Guild Wars.

The First thing you need to do is to make sure that your system can run Guild Wars please go to the Guild Wars system requirements user support page. One of the major hardware requirements often overlooked is a compatible Video Card and drivers. While almost all new computers my include processor and memory requirements most do not include the video card requirements. If you do have a system that can run Guild Wars the next thing you need to do is BUY a copy of the game. You can order or pre order the game from several reputable shops and online companies, for those I will refer you to the Guild Wars home page. For those of you who live outside of the United States there are many reputable online companies that will accept your money order and mail in form, (if you do not have a credit card), and often ship within 2-3 weeks.

After buying a copy of the game, Please read the outside of the box completely and savor opening the box, like a rare once in a lifetime experience, there are often game hints and strategies included in the text. After ripping into the box, like an eagerly awaited Christmas present, and BEFORE attempting to load the game, please also read all the material that comes in the box, only after having read everything inside the box, is it time for you to prepare your computer for loading the game.

Preparing your computer before loading Guild Wars. Like all programs Guild Wars will run better in a clean, up to date environment so, please check for viruses, worms, ADware, and Trojans, etc., remove all unnecessary memory resident programs, (advanced computer users can attempt to use Regedit), uninstall old or unused games and programs, remove system program components often included with your system software, remove all unnecessary programs from your computer, (control panel "add or remove programs" also "add/remove Windows components"), check for system and hardware updates from all of your hardware, (mouse, video card, modem and monitor, etc.) and system vendors, (please remember Microsoft updates often spawn more updates to update the update you updated), and finally clean and defragment all drives. Clean your mouse and mouse pad, shake out the cookie and sandwich crumbs and wipe off your keyboard, and wash your monitor and back up your system. Note that firewall and a virus scan programs are highly recommended, and updated reference files will help protect your computer from unwanted internet intrusions.

Once you have done everything to make a nice clean updated home for the Guild Wars program it is time to install it. Please read and follow the installation instructions very carefully. I recommend installing Guild Wars on its own drive partition or at the very least, in its own sub directory. Because Guild Wars includes a "Print Screen" function, you can quickly use up a lot of hard drive space on captured screen shots of the game.

So now you are ready to play Guild Wars, you have read the box and all of its contents, you have installed the game in a clean environment, you are connected to the internet, and have protection from any unwanted intruders . . . You click on the Guild Wars Icon . . . The first thing you notice is that the game will connect several times to ArenaNet for any updates to the log in interface, launch program, and user interface. This is because Guild Wars uses Streaming Technology to constantly keep the program up to date at all times. You will then be presented with a log in screen that includes a "Message of the day" and an in game options tab. This tab will allow you to keep track of Friends, Guild, User Interface Options, and Messages. For now click on "Create new Account" you will be given a choice of, "Worlds", regions to play in, select the region of your choice and "Continue" you will then be asked for a valid E-mail address, this address must be yours because Guild Wars will Validate your registration. Please read the End User Licencing Agreement EULA. You then need to choose a password please please make it a password you will remember and one that nobody who knows anything about you would ever guess. You then will be prompted to enter a "KEY" code that you will find located in the box. Once you have entered a Key to a particular E-mail address that key is no longer valid and cannot be used by anyone else.

A little about the "Options" menu before we log in to play the game. You will find a tiny Colosseum 'Arena' icon on the right side of your screen, open it and you will find several tabs available to you. Right now we are concerned with the "Options" tab click it and you will find features you can use to Customize the game to your playing style. You can choose Language Options, Graphics Options, Sound options, and Game Options "Control Setup".

We will start with Graphics Options, keep in mind that the higher you FORCE your graphics the greater the chance that you will encounter skipping, freezing, stoppages, and something we call Lag, (Lag can be caused by several things one of which is your system trying to process images), it is recommended that you use the "auto detect" feature located under the Advanced key as a starting point, then if you experience Image lag, due to computer and video card processing speed, slide the Quality bar further to the left until the game runs smoother. If your lag is caused by your internet connection try closing all unnecessary programs that access the internet, like mail, updates, browsers, and other messaging options, or try reconnecting and hope for a better connection speed. I managed to play most of my BWE weekends using a 56K modem connected at 35.4Kbps while running Teamspeak, HydraIRC, Yahoo Messenger, and Connecting with Internet Explorer to GWOnline.net (for maps and directions), all while running Guild Wars at the same time without any internet lag except for new area downloads.

Choosing the right "Sound options" can be tricky but here is a little tip when creatures, "Spawn", come out of the ground or drop from overhanging shrubbery they make a particular sound and each sound is specific to each creature just before it appears. If you set your "effects" volume higher than the other two you can hear them long before you can see then and be prepared for their arrival.

Game Options (Control Setup) will be one of the most important features to customizing your game play. Just as a boxer does not enter the ring with one hand tied behind his back, so too a gamer should not play a game without knowing both Mouse and Keyboard shortcuts, and commands. Look over the default keyboard commands and review every one and find it's location on the keyboard. Using these keyboard shortcuts are one of the major telling differences between a novice and an experienced gamer. If you are not comfortable with the location of a keyboard command, (after playing several hours on the default setting), Guild Wars gives you the option of moving those commands to a more comfortable key. It is most Important that you learn and remember these commands in order to enhance your gaming skill. I print out a crib, or Quick reference sheet, and place it near at hand on under my mouse pad to use as a quick reminder. You can also find Emote commands available on GWOnline.net. One of the keys I redefine is the "Reverse Camera - Reverses camera direction while key is held" to the "B" key, so I can look behind me at the touch of a key. Keep in mind while playing that the "Alt" key Display names of nearby items/objects, like Chests and other items, and the "Ctrl" key Display names of nearby Foes/Characters.

Please look over the Interface Guide on GWOnline.net for further information and introductions to the player interface. If you have read it, and thoroughly understand it, it is now time to stock up on snacks and drink because we are ready to log in. Please keep in mind all of the Preparation that you do before you enter the game will pay off in an enhanced gaming experience. Also check out the Beta Weekend Event Game Guide from GuildWars.com.

After entering your super secret password that takes five minutes to remember with your shadow secret decoder ring you are greeted with the character creation option. The only mistake you can make here is entering an obscene or suggestive name as your character's name, remember to a lot of people Labels and names can be very important, so please use a name you can identify, and "Live" with. Otherwise any class choice of the six possible choices has its good points and its bad points and those you will learn very quickly as you play your character, you cannot make any mistakes here. Pick your "Looks" the back of the character from your perspective is more important than the front, but others have to look at you too, and your face is the "Window" to your character.

The Following material may include some Spoilers please consider carefully before you continue.

You now find yourself standing in the outskirts of Pre-Searing Ascalon overlooking the town, clothed in only the simplest of armor, learned in none of the most basic of skills, but armed with the preferred weapon of your class, and carrying a backpack. At this point time is not an important issue, but putting to use what you learned in the previous section of this guide is. Use the "Ctrl", and "Alt", keys learn to walk around, see where you can and cannot go, play with the camera angles, and distance features. Experiment with targeting and movement, learn to walk backwards as well as forwards because until you talk to the other "Non Player Characters" NPC's in the area, or cross the bridge into town, you pretty safe here. Open your inventory, look at your empty backpack, ok that begs to be filled but more on that later. Also available to you is the option to "Customize" your user interface. Please make use of this feature to make the game information comfortable and accessible to you. I recommend increasing the size of your HUD to include a large portion of the lower right of your screen as this tool will be the most helpful to you in the new area ahead. Ok once you have explored all the buttons and keyboard commands, opened and closed your inventory, assigned hot keys to all your weapons, and looked at all the character windows, it's time to talk to that NPC human over there standing on the podium. So walk over to him and click on him.

Royal Herald #1: this is your first encounter with an NPC {Non Player Character}. NPC's with large green ! Over their head have IMPORTANT things to say so talk to them. It is important to read all conversations carefully and thoroughly, keep a note pad and take notes if necessary about all the "NPC's" you meet where you met them and what they said. One of the most important skills you can develop is to "Talk" to everyone "NPC", and to look at everything, record conversations, and signpost directions, write down the names of areas you visit, and once you have talked to someone GO back later and talk to them all over again. Often when you have completed a mission, a Quest, or a task you will find that "NPC's" that did not talk to you before now have something very important to tell you and that NPC's who had little to say before have a lot more to say now. So write down names and where you saw them or what they had in inventory, you never know when a quest will ask you to complete a task and that the only information they will provide you is a name, or a location, no directions, no instructions no other helpful hints. Keep a log or a journal of who, what, where, when, how, and Why. Record where you find animals that don't appear in red, your ranger friends will thank you later. You can use these logs and journals to write your own stories, travel guides, or to refer to later to help another player.

Looking out over the town of Ascalon and on your mini map Heads Up Display "HUD" you will notice that there are green, yellow, blue, and red dots, hostile creatures are red, you and party members are green, other players are blue, and NPC's, and pets are yellow. You were directed to locate Sir Tydus congratulations on your first Quest. Open your Quest 'L'og and see the description of your first task, fortunately he is the next yellow NPC over the bridge into the town of Ascalon proper. You will also see a green arrow, and a glowing green aura on your HUD, pointing you in the direction of your currently activated quest, this Glow and Arrow only function for the Quest you currently have selected.

Sir Tydus, Welcome to the Ascalon Army... You gain experience for completing your first Quest, talk with him further and you gain more insight, and more Quests, and directions, again look in your Quest 'L'og and locate the quest you wish to pursue next. Turn around and enter the City of Ascalon proper.

The City of Ascalon: Outfitter, Royal Herald #2, Ascalon Guards, Sandre Elek, Namar, Guild Registrar, Baron Egan, Weaponsmith, Crafter, Prince Rurik, Cynn, Chancellor, and King Adelbern. Ascalon is filled with NPC's some that want to talk to you at different times about different quests. And some that won't give you the time of day politely. Again talk to everyone, take notes, and look into ever corner and crevasse.

On entering a new town, or outpost things can seem to be a bit chaotic, and busy, but hey it's a town. Here making use of your keyboard commands will once again help you in good stead because players tend to crowd NPC's of importance and drowning out the yellow dots on your HUD. Use your keys to locate the NPC's in town check in first before you go shopping, socializing, joining groups, missions, or anything else. The GWOnline.net NPC guide is a good way to start at this point. Only after Talking to all the NPC's in town three times, yes I said three, and making notes, and accepting quests, and missions, is it time to go Shopping. AN IMPORTANT NOTE HERE, DO NOT: beg, whine, plead, or spam,(post repeats of the same message in rapid succession), the chat channels. These areas are populated by Large numbers of human, or mostly human Players. Getting yourself "Blocked" by a user means you have lost a human contact, a recourse, a team mate, a guild invitation, or even a friend. Do ask polite questions and engage in polite conversation. Do listen. Do think before you type. There are no Stupid Questions, just impatient people. Do Treat others with respect. Do Not encourage a player that is being rude or inconsiderate, if they attack you directly in chat just add them to your "ignore list". Do add spammers to your Ignore list,(they probably are not the kind of players you want to associate with anyway). If a player annoys you or tries to take advantage of you just add them to your "ignore list". Do not be hasty, at low levels to join a guild, you may find yourself being exploited for profit, wait take, your time, do research on the guild, spend time adventuring with them, Before you accept. A guild that goes around inviting everyone in sight is probably not a guild you want to be a member of. Do be kind, and generous, but, don't cut your own throat. Do save the friendly taunting, and jabs, for the Arena. Don't follow someone in a cape, just because they are wearing a cape. Arguing with someone else in chat may not only get you blocked by that person, but EVERY person in town, remember you never know who may be listening. Do, Use your common sense and treat other people with the same patience and consideration you would like to receive in return.

Shopping in town, here is the part where wheeling and dealing can net you a tidy profit, and either make or break your day. As I said earlier all items have value, of some sort or another, nothing is useless or trivial. How you use your inventory and what you do with your items will make a big difference on what skills you can afford to purchase, and what armor, and equipment you wear. This is a part of the game, and players that learn some basic rules here can be just as successful here as out in the wilderness. NPC merchants are very predatory and do not negociate on price, they can take you or leave you it matters not a whit to them. NPC's will offer the lowest minimum price that an item is currently worth, and will sell at highest market demand prices they can get away with. So a good way to start your day is to try to get a price on everything you own in it's current condition from every NPC in town. Start a journal of prices and what they buy, sell, or make. Note the difference between what an object sells for and what they will pay for it. Dye traders pay more for Dye than crafter's, crafting component traders buy, and sell crafting material in lots of Ten, and give a better price than anyone else for material in lots of Ten. Listen to the market Chatter around you, players will be asking to buy, sell, and trade a large number of items. Another Good Recourse for item values will be RPGTraders.net Guild Wars Trading pages. Read thru these pages to add information to your shopping journal. If you happen to get lucky and find a player that wants to buy something you have in inventory for a fair price go for it, and be happy. The same goes the other way, but do not be too hasty to buy too many object just yet. because your adventure is just beginning and Skills are going to be a higher priority for you right now than weapons, or armor. Unfortunately at low levels not many items have a large market value, and if it is marked "salvageable" or if you have better items to use it may be an object you may want to Salvage for materials. Look at the GWOnline.net Salvage guide for more ideas on what Salvaging an item can provide. Keep in mind Expert Salvage kits while more expensive will provide you with a better salvage than basic kits. A little note here and perhaps an exploit that will be repaired in the future: Salvage Kits sold with one use left will get you back Half your gold. After deciding what to keep what to sell and what to salvage, you need to keep a goal in mind what you are looking to craft, or buy. Again for your basic recourse needs GWOnline comes to your rescue, with an Armor Crafting Guide, and a Skills Trainer Shopping Guide. While Armor prices appear to be stable, Skill prices are determined by numerous factors some of which appear to be, the number of skills you have purchased, and what level the skill is, and where it is sold. I will at some point in the future be writing:"Rudhraighe's Adventurers Society Guide for the Merchant (or how to get stinking Rich)", the moment I have completed all the research. After you have spoken to everyone in town it's time to go outside. Henchmen were not available in pre-searing Ascalon but it is a safe tutorial area for soloing and fun to play in.

Exiting Ascalon City: Lady Althea, Prince Rurik, Captain Osric, Ascalon Guard, Aloe Seed, Trina Yunn, Collector Brownlow, Lina the Healer, Gwen, A Personal Trainer for your Primary Class:(Howland the Elementalist, Verata the Necromancer, Artemis the Ranger, Van the Warrior, Sebedoh the Mesmer, Ciglo the Monk), Later: Haversdan, and Old Mack. More NPC's awaiting your conversation and others in conversation already, please note what you overhear, and afterwards, I recommend that you talk to your personal trainer first and get a few SKILLS to start your day, then talk to Gwen.

Look at your skills, Read your skill descriptions and attribute requirements, assign attribute points when you level based on your skills and what you feel is the most important for you, attack, defense, healing, curses, etc. Do keep in mind that many of the skills you start with are actually pretty good skills, and those skills will help you most and become more powerful as you put more attributes into them. Rearrange your skills into what you feel is a comfortable configuration for you, you can sort by type, cost, or even by what key you like to hit most often. Some players sort by skill combinations or "Combo's", you need to be comfortable with your interface and you need to "Know" your skills and where to find them, and assigned all the available attribute points.

You now have a much larger list of Quests than when you started, speak to everyone in this area and gather all the Quests, and information you can before continuing on. Just behind your 'Personal Trainer' or Haversdan you will see some Aloe Seeds, they are marked in "RED" on you HUD so that means they are hostile enemies, kill them. At this point you need to consider what is best for your character skill set. Ranged weapons are always "safer" than close in "Melee" but given the primary profession you chose will determine what you will do. This is where learning to "Target" with the keyboard comes in handy and is a good place to practice targeting hostile creatures. Once the three Aloe Seeds are dead you may get your first experience with an "Item Drop", you may have "popped" an item or two, pick up your loot and inspect what you have, you may have a better weapon than what you started with, if so switch weapons. Remember Pick up Everything that belongs to you or is unassigned. This is where you learn that being a packrat is a GOOD thing. Every item no matter how insignificant or seemingly useless is crucial to you in some way especially now. Every item has value, it's determining what that value is that separates a rich gamer from a poor one. Some items are good for "Salvage", others for sale to NPC's, and still other for trading to other players, and the best ones are the ones you can use. Click on the item and it will have a short description and your name on it. If you leave an item on the ground too long it will become "party" property and any player may then pick it up. Now is a good time to assign F1-F4 keys to your weapons. Prepare yourself, and ready your weapon and skills, because the adventure is about to begin.

Slowly walk over the rise to the left and listen. . . If you are careful and have your volume set correctly you will hear the sound of more creatures coming upon you. You can prepare for their attack and take then out. Just around the bend to the left across the river is more creatures guarding a River Skale Queen, and Gwen's Broken Flute, take it out when you are ready. It is also a good time to rest and heal after your previous combat. Knowing when to wait and regenerate energy, and health, and when to Rush into the next battle is also an important learned skill. Pace yourself go slowly here take little bites of adventure at a time, do not be afraid to "Run away" when you get hurt too much Again rest after your combat and do not move forward until you are ready. Now is a good time to go back and talk to Gwen and to your 'Personal Trainer'.

Complete your business here, rest, and restore energy before continuing down the valley. Ambush monsters one at a time, draw them off as before and clean up the valley that way. If you find a better item and still have enough gold now is the time to go back to the weapon smith and have it customized. Pick one or two of the better weapons you can use and have them personalized. Personalizing weapons gives them +20% damage and do not make them unsalvageable, but it does make them un-tradeable with other players. Please remember to keep up with your Quest 'L'og and return to collect your rewards and talk with ALL the other NPC's. Completing Quests often 'Unlocks' other NPC conversations and Quests.

Keeping track of Quests is a full time business but Guild Wars makes it easy. First you have your Quest 'L'og use it often, collect rewards frequently. Secondly for the Quest you have highlighted in your Quest 'L'og, your HUD will have location, and direction clues, and arrows, that's what that green arrow on your HUD is for. Remember some Quests require you to re-start your instance to become active just 'Zone' out and back again or enter a town and go back outside.

Looking for adventure. You have checked in with all the NPC's in town, and now you have a list of things to do and places to go. Or you can just step outside town and do a bit of looking about. . . Wait, you are talking about adventuring here. Another Rule: Never go adventuring without considering some kind of preparation, and planning, even if it's just to take a step outside for a breath of fresh air. It's a hostile, untamed world out there and lots of creatures looking for a bite, of you, to eat. If you do not know the territory, it is better to go with others in a group, or at the very least take a full escort of Henchmen with you, until you get a feel for the lay of the land. If you take henchmen, feel free to poke around, get messy, make mistakes, and die a lot, and repeat. When exploring on your own, Explore every little corner, crevasse, and nook. But if you intend to travel with others there are some basic and necessary things you need to know and remember.

Traveling with others, or how to be a TEAM player. The first thing you need to do is look around and "listen" to the chat. Move closer to the exit you want to use, or kneel, or stand next to the henchmen closest to your profession, facing in the same direction they are, and be patient. DON'T spam the chat channel repeatedly: "I'm a Newbie and I Want to Go Outside", this is a bad way to start with a party. Do ask politely every once in a while: " I would like to join a party heading for XXXX Please." Be specific, be polite, in where you want to go or what it is you want to do, have patience. Do not run around randomly adding other players to your team, it is considered rude at worst, and pretentious at best. Please do not attempt to be a leader into uncharted territory unless you have all the basics down pat, (if you want to do that just grab henchmen and go on your own). Just because some one it at the top of the list, or is wearing a cape, does not mean they are a good leader, or even the leader of a party (monk, and spell caster party leaders often find it easier to lead from behind instead of being at the top of the list). If a party has more henchmen than humans be wary, and remember that while a few henchmen are ok, they lack personal initiative and direction, and the player may just be adding you because he/she ran out of henchmen to add. Do not join a party with less than thirty minutes left to play, it's considered rude and inconsiderate of others.

Henchmen are NPC hirelings that tag along with you on adventures and provide support and additional firepower. They do not do this for free, they take a portion of the experience earned on a kill and also though you never see it take their share of item drops, also when gold is divided they take a share of that as well. While henchmen can mean the difference between a successful adventure, quest, or mission, they do EAT a portion of what you could be earning on your own. As I stated previously I'm an experience hog and I prefer to take things a bit slower and earn a lot more in items, gold , and experience. But remember the earlier rules.

When you do join a party, use the party chat, and introduce yourself, confirm that the party is going where you want to go, and be certain you know who the party leader is. When you have confirmed that the party leader has the same goals as you do, relax engage in polite conversation but do not expect the party builder to respond, (they are busy building a party). Ask about the party's experience in the area you are traveling into, ask about things you need to know and, inquire nicely about what skills they think you should need, or what strategy, or plan of attack they are going to be using. Don't overwhelm the party with too many questions all at once, have patience, but do let them know you have never been this way before. Know who the party leader is. DO Not use the HUD for tick-tack-toe, smiley faces, HUD Art, or ping spamming, the HUD is for the party leaders use and is not to be used frivolously. Follow The Leader, please this is important, unless told otherwise stay within spell casting range of the leader at all times, do not wander or stray, and follow directions. If you notice a creature, chest, treasure, or item, point it out to the leader but do not wander off on you own from the party. In most cases it's not going to be worth the party failing a mission, or quest, over some small trifle. Remember your basics, ignore item drops until the end of the combat in that area, region, or zone. Rest between engagements. Learn to target the same monsters that the party leader instructs you to target, do not try to pull a Highlander, and take on the enemy army all by yourself. Do not Run ahead into more creatures. When told to run, run Back the way you came, the area there is less likely to attract new threats, and is more familiar to you. Do not ask, or pester other players for their item drops, they need then just as much as you need yours. You may however engage in a little trade with other party members, but do not let it interfere with the goal. Do not enter "Curtains" unless directed to do so by the party leader. Do not quit because you died, most parties will have someone that can resurrect you so that you can continue the adventure. Only quit or abandon a party as a last resort, and offer your apologies before doing so. Follow the directions of the party leader, do not engage in party politicks, or mutinies, if things get nasty tender your apologies before leaving. Use the skills you have learned, review your mistakes, and learn from them, add them to your storehouse of wisdom. Parties should work together as a team. Nothing in the game can beat good teamwork, other than a stronger team doing the same.

Buying Skills, How to decide what skills to buy. Guess what, GWOnline.net along with the heroic efforts of Garzahd, (thank you again Garzahd, your efforts are much appreciated) provide you with the Guild Wars Attribute Calculator it along with the Progression Guide will assist you in understanding attributes, and skills better. Another very useful tool and my current favorite is The Edge Guild Wars Utility, this is the utility I use the most to build and test characters before I create them online. Review the Professions Introduction and the particular professions you have chosen, to decide what kind of path you would like to experiment with. Please keep in mind while no profession combination is bad, certain skills work better together than others. Head over to the Forums at RPGForums.net for the Guild Wars Forums to look at what some fans think of particular character builds and skill sets. Do remember it is always better to think for yourself and make mistakes, than to let someone else think for you. Buying skills should be done with deliberate fore thought and planning. Don't buy skills just to collect them, keep a log of who sells what skills and where they are located, chances are that those skills will be there for you, if you happen to change your mind, later. If you have purchased skills now is the time to "swap" them out into your skill bar. If you still need help on deciding how to "Build" your character and what skills to buy, I will at some point in the very near future be writing: "Rudhraighe's Adventurers Society Guide to Character Building and Development". That will include topic like "What to do if I can't find a skill, or If a skill is not available?" until then keep an eye out on GWOnline.net for hints and tips.

On choosing and crafting armor. After Choosing what your Ultimate armor requirements in exotic crafting material are going to be, hoard and never sell those materials, if you don't have to. That includes materials to make the materials you need, (like wood and iron to make coal, to make steel). But until you have gathered all the gold and materials for your dream armor you are going to want to buy something better than what you are wearing along the way. A good rule of thumb here, go with the simple stuff, the stuff without all the glitz and jangles. Craft basic material armor until you have gathered all the exotic material that you need for your dream armor. Don't worry the basic stuff is salvageable and is going to serve you well while you gather what you need for the good stuff. Also DO not worry about dyeing the cheep stuff the dye will be worth more to you, to earn gold and as barter, than the looks at low level, on cheap armor are worth. Save the Dye for when you get the final suit you want to wear, then treat yourself to a bit of color.

You have done some basic research on skills, and armor, and most of the high end weapons are beyond your current attribute points. You have decided what to salvage in your inventory but don't have enough gold to buy a salvage kit, and nobody want's the stuff you got even at two gold pieces each. Ok, at this point it's time to sacrifice a bit of profit and sell stuff off to a vendor, first start with the cheap components, and slowly work up to the more expensive items, until you can afford a salvage kit. Once you have a salvage kit use it as needed, try to keep at least two or three salvage kits with you at all times. Now you are ready to head out of town again.

It is always better to experiment with secondary professions before accepting one as your favorite. Play around have fun, try out all the other professions before deciding on the one you want. You get more experience and Quests if you try out all the professions. Each secondary profession has it's advantages and disadvantages, so try them all.

I have included a couple of additional TOOLS for you to use the first is a link to a Map of Pre-Searing Ascalon, complete with the name and location of important NPC's, Items, and Monsters. Please use this map responsibly. The Second is a list of Collectors, the items they Collect, and where to find them. Enjoy.

Collector List and Locations: Collector Brownlow: Skale Fins (Just Outside Ascalon)
Collector Jacobs: Baked Husks (Ashford)
Collector Walden: Unnatural Seeds (Ashford)
Collector Humphreys: Worn Belts (Ashford)
Collector Kaylee: Grawl Neclaces ( Ashford Entrance to Regent Valley)
Collector Karleen Gargoyle Skulls ( Upper Catacombs)
Collector Gwynn: Skeletal Limbs (Upper Catacombs)
Collector Bettany: Shadowy Remains (Lower Catacombs)
Collector Rownan: Dull Carapaces (near Master Ranger Nente Regent Valley)
Collector Varis: Spider Legs (near Ivor Trueshot Regent Valley)
Collector Karleen: Gargoyle Skulls (Bridge in Regent Valley)
Collector Hatcher: Warden's Trophies (Near Bear Hunters Regent Valley)
Collector Findley: Colossal Jawbones (outside Fort Ranik Regent Valley)
Collector Varis: Spider Legs (Fort Ranik)
Collector Hatcher: Warden's Trophies (Fort Ranik)
Collector Mindle: Enchanted Lodestones (Wizards Folly Fishing Village)
Collector Savich: Icy Lodestones (Outside Foibles Fair)

If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
if you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.
~W.S. (MSND5:1)