Gaming Guild Wars

[James]

[font=arial]By the way, if I suddenly stop talking on Guild Wars it's because I'm loading a new area, haha. I'm not sure if the game actually alerts you to that or says I'm away or what.[/font]

[Papa Smurf]

Right click on your GW shortcut, then go to Properties. Find the file path name and add -image like so:

"C:/Program Files/Guild Wars/gw.exe" -image

Leave the quotes in there, and make sure there's a space between the path name/quotation mark and -image.

If this works correctly, you should be able to download everything when you doubleclick GW. I just tried it and I've got 20k files left. Those have got to be areas I haven't accessed yet, because I've gotten all of the major downloads over the past few days.

Hopefully this will help you on the long run, James. I hear it's much easier on dial-up users this way, because they can get everything in one go, rather than spending 15 minutes loading each map that has new data.

[James]

[QUOTE=Papa Smurf]Right click on your GW shortcut, then go to Properties. Find the file path name and add -image like so:

"C:/Program Files/Guild Wars/gw.exe" -image

Leave the quotes in there, and make sure there's a space between the path name/quotation mark and -image.

If this works correctly, you should be able to download everything when you doubleclick GW. I just tried it and I've got 20k files left. Those have got to be areas I haven't accessed yet, because I've gotten all of the major downloads over the past few days.

Hopefully this will help you on the long run, James. I hear it's much easier on dial-up users this way, because they can get everything in one go, rather than spending 15 minutes loading each map that has new data.[/QUOTE]

[font=arial]Wow, I didn't even know that was possible. That will make a massive, massive difference...I might do it tonight and let my laptop download overnight or something.

As I mentioned, the game actually runs reasonably well over dial-up...it's just those big downloads that kill me.[/font]

[Papa Smurf]

Though, I think it's a bit touchy. It seemed to handle 25k files just fine, and then I hit the remaining 32, and GW stops responding.

So I guess the trick there is download as much as possible, then just play normally and remove the -image from the file path.

[Desbreko]

[color=#4B0082]Using the -image switch should help a lot. It'll get you completely up to date on everything and then decompress the files all in one go, so you shouldn't have to download or decompress anything when zoning into areas. Just remember to remove it from the shortcut after you use it.

I'm glad you decided to get Factions, Jeh. Fina (my ranger) is still just hanging out in Kaineng Center and hasn't done any missions yet since traveling over from Lion's Arch, so maybe we can get together to play through the story. That would be fun. :)

And I'm curious, have you made an assassin or ritualist? Or are you going to play through the game with a Tyrian character first?[/color]

[James]

[font=arial]Just curious though; if I only download say 30% or whatever...will that have an effect? I left my laptop on all night and it did about that much over dial-up. Whether or not it starts the download again, will that 30% actually make a difference or do I have to do 100% for it to work?

In any case I'm enjoying the game and the loading really isn't too bad, even over dial-up. It's been quite managable so far.

I've got a Ritualist/Necromancer and I'm enjoying the mixture thusfar. I'm still at the very beginning, but I'm progressing well. [/font]

[Desbreko]

[color=#4B0082]I'm not sure if that will help or not. I suppose it would depend on what exactly was downloaded, and whether it kept the downloaded bits when it closed. I'd imagine it would keep them, but whether or not it's putting it into use until you finish and get 100% is also another matter. So, uh, short answer: I have no idea. :animeswea[/color]

[Papa Smurf]

Seems like the -image trick works. I've not had to re-download anything. From what I've read online, apparently "Decompressing" is what "Installing" has become. So...yeah. I think you're in the clear, James. ^_^

In other news, did anyone have any fun times this past weekend? They held an Elite For All event, with free access into two Elite PvE mission areas in Cantha. I didn't have a chance to get there, but my weekend activities were infinitely better than sitting at my computer for 4 hours so I could do one mission.

The Jersey shore is wonderful...and it's even better with the woman you love. :-) Great weather, too. The water was amazing.

But yes. Any good finds? We should organize a trip in-game. Do a few missions or something.

[Ezekiel]

[SIZE=1]Okay, so, I'm totally behind everyone else (pretty much) so I'm not even going to bother discussing missions. (I'm still stuck in Napui Quarter, boohoo).

I do wonder though...I see all these people selling weapons for prices like 30k, 15k etc, and I keep thinking...the most I've ever got up to is about 5k =/

I wonder, am I missing something here or is it just because I'm not very far in the game that my money isn't building up?[/SIZE]

[Boo]

[size=1]Hmm, in Cantha, I think, you can get a fair ammount of money rather quickly if you just do all of the quests you can find and kill everything on the way. :P

The weapons nowadays are ridiculously expensive, though. I just sold a longbow for 8k and I already thought that I was given way too much. A guildmate of mine at the same time spent over hundred K on buying two weapons. [/size]

[Desbreko]

[color=#4B0082]I had a great time during the Elite Weekend event (no thanks to all the crappy PUGs that were in Urgoz and the Deep). A guildmate and I joined some other people she knew for a barrage/pet run through Urgoz's Warren and we ended up rocking the whole way through. I was lucky and got one of the three green bows that dropped when we killed Urgoz:

[img]http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/1962/gwurgozlongbowua4.gif[/img]

It's currently one of the most expensive green items in the game, and I sold it for 100k plus 10 ectoplasm (about 180k altogether). Then I used 49k of that to buy and add mods to this sweet composite bow that I'm now using:

[img]http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/2826/gwfinacompbowxk2.gif[/img]

I figured Fina deserved a treat after such a great Urgoz run. ^_^

Anyway, there's not really any trick to getting rich or anything. There's only about two ways to do it: Get lucky and find some great drops like the one above and sell them, or farm a lot. If you've got a monk or a warrior there's a lot of areas you can solo farm fairly easily to make money, but it's pretty tedious.

Like Boo mentioned, though, you can also get a fair bit of money just by doing all the quests in Factions (many pay out gold rewards) so long as you're careful and save your money for the things you want the most.[/color]

[Ezekiel]

[SIZE=1]*puts on n00b hat again*

I was under the impression that items were colour coded in order of how rare they are, but obviously I must be wrong. Like, Des, that bow you sold for 100k...how would you know it was worth that much? I've apparently identified a few rare items and I didn't even know, and I've gone and sold them to merchants for a price much lower than I could have got if I sold them to a player.

I've heard lots of people talking on the Alliance channel about checking prices on Wiki, but when I looked I couldn't find anything.

I'm so bad at figuring this stuff out for myself. Forgive me. u__u[/SIZE]

[Desbreko]

[color=#4B0082]For the most part, the color of an item's text tells you whether or not it [i]can[/i] be worth anything, but not necessarily that it is or isn't worth anything. White, blue, and purple items usually aren't worth much, if anything, and are best sold to the merchant or kept for personal use, though there are some exceptions. Gold items are the rarest and can be worth the most, but there's also a lot of crappy golds out there that aren't worth anything.

The things that really determine a gold item's value are its skin, its inherent mods, abd its requirement. That is, what it looks like, what bonuses it has that are unchangeable, such as damage mods on weapons and skill recharge bonuses on caster equipment, and how many attribute levels it takes to use it. [url=http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3049452][u]This thread[/u][/url] on the GW Guru forums is a decent guide to what skins and stats make an item valuable.

Green items are unique in that each green item will always be the same as another of the same type, and they always have max stats. So, that Urgoz's Longbow I sold is exactly the same as any other Urgoz's Longbow in the game. This sets them apart in their own market and makes them easier to price. However, it also makes them more common and less likely to be worth large amounts of money.

There are two threads on the GW Guru forums that keep track of average prices for [url=http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/showthread.php?t=66631][u]Tyrian[/u][/url] and [url=http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3036210][u]Canthan[/u][/url] green items, which are good places to look when you find a green. They'll give you a price range for a green item, and that will help you determine how much you'll be able to sell it for.

For example, Urgoz's Longbow is listed at 150k-190k and I sold mine for 180k. The thread gave me the range that the bows were generally trading in, so then I ventured into Kaineng Center d1 (one of the biggest trading districts in the game) and watched the trade chat for a bit. Looking at the number of people wanting to buy and sell it, and what prices they were asking, I decided that I should be able to get 180k without too much trouble. So then I started advertising it for sale at that price; the next day, after a couple hours of trade spamming, I had sold my bow and was 180k richer.

Which reminds me, there is another way to get rich in GW, and that's through trading (buying low, selling high). It requires you to start out with a decent pool of money, though, since you have to be able to buy things first in order to sell them at a profit. It also takes quite a bit of time to find good deals and then to find people willing to pay for the item at a price above what you paid.[/color]

[Boo]

[quote name='Desbreko][color=#4B0082']Gold items are the rarest and can be worth the most, but there's also a lot of crappy golds out there that aren't worth anything.[/color][/quote]
[size=1]I had a very good example falling out of a treasure chest the other day:
[spoiler]
[color=gold][b]Aegis[/b]
[b]Armor:[/b] 16 (requires 9 tactics)
[b]Blood Magic +1[/b] (Chance: 20%)[/color]
[/spoiler]
Teehee, it was a fun one to have, though. :3

The shield would've been quite good (+1/20%) for blood warriors... If they exist. [/size]

[Ezekiel]

[SIZE=1]Des, thank you, you're my hero. <3

As a side note: I finished Nahpui Quarter today using only the henchmen. After over ten attempts with actual players, I think this proves that if you really want to get something done; use a computer. :animesigh [/SIZE]

[Desbreko]

[QUOTE=Boo][size=1]I had a very good example falling out of a treasure chest the other day:
[spoiler]
[color=gold][b]Aegis[/b]
[b]Armor:[/b] 16 (requires 9 tactics)
[b]Blood Magic +1[/b] (Chance: 20%)[/color]
[/spoiler]
Teehee, it was a fun one to have, though. :3

The shield would've been quite good (+1/20%) for blood warriors... If they exist. [/size][/QUOTE][color=#4B0082]Neil might want that . . . if he used tactics. But yeah, +1 mods on shields are pretty useless unless they're for strength or tactics. I could see a tactics +1 20%, +30 HP shield selling for a lot.

And yes, for a great majority of Factions, henchies will do better than people. Especially if you're playing a class well suited to using them, like a warrior, necro, or monk. It's unfortunate, but a lot of people in GW can't seem to put together a decent build to save their life.

I've been getting groups for most missions lately, though. After herding the henchies around on my monk, having to heal and call targets at the same time while getting the Canthan Grandmaster Cartographer and Adept Skill Hunter titles, I got really tired of it. Now I just want to play my role without having to direct the entire battle at the same time.[/color]

[Boo]

[size=1]Hm, right now I'm making a 55h set for my dear monk Sylvia. A guild mate of mine has quit being a 55h monk, so he had some stuff for me like the -50 Grim Cesta and a +5 Energy Fiery Long Sword of 18% enchantment. And he also gave me a superior Divine Favour rune, teehee. :'D

Now I'm still looking for the rest of the runes (Healing, Smiting). If anyone has some spare ones that I could buy, I'd be very happy. I might even let my pretty Ritualist dance infront of you without a shirt.

...<_<;

Anyway, I had made a new ranger. Mostly to get flowers and dyes from pre-searing. He got 3 silver dyes, 1 yellow dye (I think) and 14 flowers. :P I always hand them out to people who helped me with something. ;D[/size]

[Papa Smurf]

If anyone has backlogged quests, I'm going through my characters and finishing them. Figure I'll start with Ascalon quests, then hit up Northern Shiverpeaks, etc, go through Tyria, then hit up Cantha.

In fact, Duncan (my Warrior) still hasn't beaten Prophecies, so...I'm probably going to take some time and clear out Tyria. All the missions, the quests that I still have backlogged, probably a few final skill caps, as well.

Anyone interested?

[JJ]

I've started doing the same thing with my Mesmer, Gilia, so yeah, I'd be up for it. She also hasn't beaten it, so it should be fun. I'm up for it anytime you are, Papa Smurf.

[Desbreko]

[color=#4B0082]I've been taking Chloe and Eddie through Prophecies whenever I happen to get bored and feel like playing on them, so I'd be up for some questing and missions.

Stuff that Chloe has left: Frost Gate, Gates of Kryta, The Villainy of Galrath, and everything past Ventari's Refuge.

Stuff that Eddie has left: All the Ascalon and northern Shiverpeaks missions, all the Kryta missions except Sanctum Cay, Galrath, everything in the jungle, Thirsty River and Dragon's Lair, and everything in the southern Shiverpeaks and Ring of Fire.

So, yeah, I ran Eddie down to Sanctum Cay, did that, and have been working on getting him ascended. The reason being, I'd really like to cap Gladiator's Defense, and that's only found in Dragon's Lair. Chloe has been going through fairly normally though.[/color]

[Meggido]

So i think I've kinda given up on guild wars now. I'm at a stage where I'm deciding whether to delete from my comp for space or to leave it. Basically it was great fun for a while but a year and a half on it's gotten to be pretty much the same thing for me. It seems that for me there is no real depth to it anymore. I'm not sure if I'll start again when nightfall is released but at the moment I highly doubt it.

[Papa Smurf]

Try AB if you haven't already. I'm loving it. It's given me a new use for my Assassin, using bits of a build Desbreko created...and what a smashingly deliciously devious combination it is...

[Desbreko]

[color=#4B0082]I second that motion. If you're getting tired of PvE, try some PvP; it's a whole different ballpark. Unless you already have, I guess.

I'm getting kind of bored with the current PvE content as well, so I've been playing more alliance battles lately, like Smurf mentioned. The recent assassin buffs inspired me to make a Temple Strike build, and wow does it rock. My kill/death ratio tends to be around 5/1 in most matches, and running around ganking people is great fun. :cool:[/color]

[Meggido]

I think it's more me getting ready for the WoW expansion pack. For some reason I've always had more fun playing that game then GW. When the expansion comes out I'm gonna invest all my spare time into getting my characters to 70 and raiding. They're also changing the PvP system to a GW style which I did find superior. But at the moment since my WoW guild has disbanded I'm gonna focus that character on PvP taking up more time in a last ditch effort to get ranks and gear.

playing 2 MMOs is a lot of work to keep up with.

[Desbreko]

[color=#4B0082]So I was doing a Fissure of Woe run with some guildies about a week ago. The FoW is one of the end game PvE areas and, with a few exceptions in the Underworld, the only place you can get [url=http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Chaos_Axe][u]chaos axes[/u][/url]. As you can see, they look pretty awesome, the skin is rare, and 15^50 ones are worth quite a bit. So guess what popped out of a chest for me on that FoW run. :toothy:

[img]http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/8599/gwchaosaxetj8.gif[/img]

I ended up selling this baby for 100k + 3 ectos yesterday.

The moral of the story? You, too, can be a rich bastard if you remember to bring keys along in end game PvE zones.[/color]