Participating in Events

For many MMOs, characters gain experience by completing quests. These are activities offered by non-player characters (NPCs) that players accept and perform. They include killing a set number of monsters (kill quests), picking up items from the ground (groundspawns) or from bodies (gathering quests), or protecting an NPC or group of NPCs from enemies as they move through the wilderness (escort quests).
Guild Wars 2 handles these activities differently. As you enter a region and move around, you’ll encounter events, which encompass just about anything that’s going on in the area. New events occur regularly, and they’re heralded by a message across your screen. In addition, if you look on your minimap, there are icons indicating event locations.
A standard event in Guild Wars 2 would be to go over to, say, a dam and drive out harpies. The harpies have a concentration of force over the dam, and they have strong morale. As you kill the harpies, their morale decreases, and once enough of them have been defeated, the rest of the flock scatters and runs. You get experience from killing the monsters and from completing the event! Events that require gathering materials from the ground or bodies are easier to complete than the typical MMO model. Instead of having to find an NPC and have them ask you to do something, you have more control over how much you want to help and where you go. First, the NPC is clearly marked on your minimap (by an asterisk), and most of the time you don’t even have to talk to them to start participating. As you move around or defeat foes, you pick up the materials. Once you feel like you’ve gotten enough, then you talk to the NPC and drop off the stuff. The event meter tells you how much you contributed and how close the event is to completion. You can choose to stay and complete the event or go on your merry way; you will always get some reward for your trouble, but the more you help, the better the reward. Escorts are marked by shield symbols on the minimap. Generally, you talk to the NPC and off er to help them by protecting them (and/or their group or beast of burden) as they go between locations. is gives you an opportunity to see more of the world and can lead you to new and interesting locations (with new and interesting events in them).

COME ONE, COME ALL
Events in Guild Wars 2 are open to everyone. All it takes to join the event is simply to be in the area. Killing one enemy (or even just hitting several as you run by) can help to complete the event and gain you a little bit of a reward. Even if the event fails, you’ll get something. And this works for escorts and gathering events as well. If you’re in the area, all you have to do is walk for a few feet and help protect a caravan; if you have a gathering item, all you need to do is pass one to the NPC for it to help. There is no reason not to chip in on an event! Conversely, there’s no penalty for not doing the event. You won’t miss out on subsequent follow-up events or a vital piece of rare equipment. You simply won’t get the rewards (money, experience, or karma) associated with the event’s completion.

Getting Better Equipment

Gaining more powerful or higher-level equipment is a huge focus of character progression in MMOs, and Guild Wars 2 has a number of ways for you to get nice stuff.

THE EQUIPMENT RAINBOW
The color of an item gives a quick indication of how powerful it is. The rarer the quality of an item, the stronger it is. Exceptional items (such as those of exotic or rare quality) have higher stats and more powerful sigils; common items have lower stats and minor or no sigils. Sigils are added benefits you gain by equipping the particular item to which the sigil is attached.

The easiest way to find weapons and armor is as loot from killing monsters. If an enemy’s body is glowing, there’s loot for you to pick up. If you’re in a party and you see a glowing corpse, that loot is for you and only for you, and no one else in the group will ever see what you’ve acquired. Monsters drop a wide variety of items, and you can usually keep yourself moderately equipped with what you find.
There are periods when you haven’t found something you need in quite a long time or you want something special. In general, it’s more prudent to keep your weapon up to date than your armor; after all, if you kill something quickly, you won’t have to worry about it hitting you! Still, if you’re running around with the same gloves you had at level 5 and now you’re at level 30, it’s time for a change.
At the Trading Post, you can fi nd anything that other players feel is worth putting up for auction.
These include weapons, armor, and runes, as well as containers (bags, packs, etc.), dyes, and crafting components. Trading Posts are found in every major city, and in major settled areas around the world. Another way to gain equipment is through crafting. Crafting is a means of making your own equipment by combining the raw materials (like thread, cloth, metal) at a specifi c location (such as a forge or loom). Crafting can be very addicting and satisfying, but it does require a time, money, and material commitment. If you want to know more about crafting, see the Crafters and eir Fine Goods chapter.
You can also buy equipment directly from vendors. Vendors are found in all the capital cities and scattered throughout the world. In fact, sometimes they even appear after you have successfully reclaimed an area in an event. Most armorsmiths and weaponsmiths sell gear at 5-level intervals (you gain access to new gear at levels 5, 10, 15, and so on). us, the majority of vendor equipment can fi ll out any gaps in your character’s gear that you haven’t been able to satisfy in other ways or if you simply don’t feel like going back to the Trading Post.
You accrue karma while completing various renown tasks and events. You can spend this resource to purchase higher quality equipment. Look for karma vendors as you explore. Sometimes these are unlocked by completing renown tasks and talking to the NPC around which the task centered (they’re still marked with a heart on your map). See if they have anything fun to purchase.

Leveling Characters

The most rudimentary means of character progression is leveling. As you play your character, you gain experience, which raises your character’s level. Higher levels increase your character’s stats, and hence effectiveness.
There are many ways to gain experience. Killing monsters is the most obvious way, but there are more. Exploring the world itself, completing your personal story events, fi nishing renown tasks, and participating in dungeon runs are all ways to acquire experience. You can even gain experience by crafting, and by harvesting the ingredients for crafting. e most eff ective way to gain experience in Guild Wars 2 is to do a number of these things during a play session.

RENOWN TASKS AND NPCs
For an easy way to tell where you should explore, look at the renown hearts while you walk through each region. Highlight these hearts on your map to see their level; even at range, this lets you know if you’re in a place with monsters that are appropriate for your character to fight. Let the hearts be your guide to the world! Complete the tasks that NPCs associated with renown hearts give to earn experience, gold, and sometimes gain access to special vendors! 

Participating in Events

For many MMOs, characters gain experience by completing quests. These are activities offered by non-player characters (NPCs) that players accept and perform. They include killing a set number of monsters (kill quests), picking up items from the ground (groundspawns) or from bodies (gathering quests), or protecting an NPC or group of NPCs from enemies as they move through the wilderness (escort quests).
Guild Wars 2 handles these activities differently. As you enter a region and move around, you’ll encounter events, which encompass just about anything that’s going on in the area. New events occur regularly, and they’re heralded by a message across your screen. In addition, if you look on your minimap, there are icons indicating event locations.
A standard event in Guild Wars 2 would be to go over to, say, a dam and drive out harpies. The harpies have a concentration of force over the dam, and they have strong morale. As you kill the harpies, their morale decreases, and once enough of them have been defeated, the rest of the flock scatters and runs. You get experience from killing the monsters and from completing the event!
Events that require gathering materials from the ground or bodies are easier to complete than the typical MMO model. Instead of having to find an NPC and have them ask you to do something, you have more control over how much you want to help and where you go. First, the NPC is clearly marked on your minimap (by an asterisk), and most of the time you don’t even have to talk to them to start participating. As you move around or defeat foes, you pick up the materials. Once you feel like you’ve gotten enough, then you talk to the NPC and drop off the stuff. The event meter tells you how much you contributed and how close the event is to completion. You can choose to stay and complete the event or go on your merry way; you will always get some reward for your trouble, but the more you help, the better the reward.
Escorts are marked by shield symbols on the minimap. Generally, you talk to the NPC and off er to help them by protecting them (and/or their group or beast of burden) as they go between locations. is gives you an opportunity to see more of the world and can lead you to new and interesting locations (with new and interesting events in them).

COME ONE, COME ALL
Events in Guild Wars 2 are open to everyone. All it takes to join the event is simply to be in the area. Killing one enemy (or even just hitting several as you run by) can help to complete the event and gain you a little bit of a reward. Even if the event fails, you’ll get something. And this works for escorts and gathering events as well. If you’re in the area, all you have to do is walk for a few feet and help protect a caravan; if you have a gathering item, all you need to do is pass one to the NPC for it to help. There is no reason not to chip in on an event! Conversely, there’s no penalty for not doing the event. You won’t miss out on subsequent follow-up events or a vital piece of rare equipment. You simply won’t get the rewards (money, experience, or karma) associated with the event’s completion.

Multiplayer Online Game Basics

Suppose that you’re not only new to Guild Wars 2 but new to massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) in general. Well, this is the section for you! Here, we’ll talk about common concepts in all MMOs, how they relate to Guild Wars 2, and how you interact with an online environment like this one.

Compared with Single-Player Games

MMOs are a completely diff erent experience than general single-player games. Most single-player games have well-defi ned boundaries; as you play them, you are guided through a storyline with a set beginning and end, and you don’t socially interact with other people. Your character’s progression is determined solely by decisions you make (through skills/levels), but the characters themselves are defined through a static pool of traits. With the exception of the occasional gameplay patch, the characters (and the world  they inhabit) don’t change in terms of gameplay or eff ectiveness.
MMOs aren’t like that. First, because they are fully online, they are dynamic. What you experience in terms of gameplay, character progression, and social interactions can change depending on what server you join, who you meet, and what you determine to be important.
Try this example. In a single-player game, the end of the game is the end of the plotline. However, in an MMO, you have a lot of input regarding what you consider the “end” of the game. Is it when you hit the events in the highest-level regions? How about when you discover all the crafting recipes? Or, is it when your gear is the best it can be? What about once you’ve completed every single task available or discovered every single exploration point? The answer depends on what you want, and you don’t have to pick only one! Make up new ones as you go.

A Story All Your Own

Many people’s enjoyment of a game depends greatly on how they relate to the story. They look for a vibrant world with well-developed characters and imaginative plotlines. It’s even better when they get to contribute to the environment they inhabit.
Many MMOs have been criticized for not having a story or plotline that relates to a player, that the player in an MMO doesn’t have an eff ect on the world. This isn’t the case with Guild Wars 2.
All players have their own personal story. is story depends on choices you make, from your character’s creation to decisions other characters ask you to make. What you decide changes what missions become available to you and how the story progresses. Your race, character background, affiliations, and morality all play a major role in the epic quest that unfolds.

Your Place in the World

In addition, we mentioned that Guild Wars 2 is very dynamic, right? Things happen in the world when you aren’t there, and it changes according to what you do (or don’t do). You may find a fort filled with hostile centaurs that attack you the moment you get close. The defenders of the area are all gone or dead, and you have to decide to help or just move on. If you help, you can fight the centaurs back, revive the guards, and restore the fort. Soon afterward, you might see a merchant show up. The next person to arrive will find a well-defended bastion in the wilderness, complete with protection and opportunities to buy, sell, and repair. How’s that for having an effect on the world?

Developing Your Character

Character progression is a defining trait of MMOs. Because what is important varies from player to player, there are numerous paths to power. Here, we’ll take a look at the various ways characters can progress, from rising in level to gaining equipment to crafting and beyond.
Remember, this is a chapter on MMO basics. We’re only going to cover these topics in a general manner. For more information, and especially how they relate to Guild Wars 2, read our chapter How to Play Guild Wars 2.

The History of Guild Wars

The origins of the world of Tyria are lost in time and shrouded in myth. They are also colored by cultural perceptions, bias, and mysticism. But if we can’t have facts, at least we can have stories! This section of our book is about the time before Guild Wars 2, from the formation of the world to the events that took place in the original Guild Wars and its expansions.

Cosmology and Geography

The Mists constitute the fabric of time and space. Within the Mists are worlds, each with their own realities and histories, floating as islands in the ether. Some worlds are enormous, such as the Underworld, the home of the dead; others are simply residences for powerful spirits or deities. At the center of the Mists is the Rift, and within the Rift is the Hall of Heroes, the fi nal resting place of powerful and virtuous souls.
Tyria is only one world among many in the Mists. It is a very large world, but history has only chronicled events that have taken place on three major continents; these continents are Tyria (named for the world), Cantha, and Elona.
For a long time, only events on the continent of Tyria were known to historians (the primary storyline of Guild Wars: Prophecies takes place there). Trough the subsequent Guild Wars expansions, people began to learn about events in other parts of the world. Tyrian history and human culture are both heavily represented in this, but the other races have many of their own stories and legends to add.

The Creation of the World

Tyria is said to be over 11,000 years old, but its primordial history is still mostly shrouded in mystery. The earliest lifeforms on Tyria were the Elder Dragons, who spent much of their time in hibernation, and the Giganticus Lupicus, a race of giants that are now extinct.
There is a 7,000-year gap in the timeline of the world, for unknown reasons. The ancient Tome of the Rubicon mentions several races: the dwarves, the mursaat, and the seers. It also states that the mursaat and the seers warred with each other, but the reason why and the resolution of the conflict are unrecorded. Of course, the Tome of Rubicon is a dwarven book, and its prophecies and histories are far more concerned with dwarven matters. At some point in prehistory, beings of enormous power, knowledge, and magic walked and lived upon the land.

Races

Humans

Humans were once the dominant race in Tyria, but now they hold only one region as their own. As such, Kryta is a land of refugees and survivors; it has a diverse populace, composed of people from all over the world. Humans have a large variety of skin, hair, and eye colors, with a wide range of heights and body shapes. As a culture, humans tend to be spiritual, and they look to their gods for guidance and morality. eir faith has bolstered them in dark times, and although the gods may be silent now, that hasn’t stopped humans from standing fi rm against evil. They possess abundant determination, cleverness, and courage. This will serve them well in the trials to come.

Norn

Norn are built in proportions similar to humans, but they stand larger and stronger. These 9-foot-tall people can withstand great hardship and cold temperatures. As a culture, the norn prize skill, personal achievement, and prowess in hunting and battle; success is the greatest measure of worth. Still, the norn are a tolerant group. When the hardest test is survival, it doesn’t help to get hung up on trivialities. When they aren’t focusing on individual accomplishments, norn spend their time warming up with their companions around a good fi re, drinking beer, and telling stories of renown.

Charr

Fierce, strong, and cunning, the cat-like charr are made for war. Standing slightly taller than humans, the charr usually settle into a hunched posture, but they will drop to all fours while running. ey have tails and short fur, in a variety of colors and patterns (like those of tigers, leopards, lions, and cheetahs). Their elongated muzzle hides sharp, long, canine teeth. While charr do have retractable claws, they prefer to fi ght with weapons. With their ferocity and intelligence dedicated to battle, the charr may find it more challenging to adapt to peace.

Asura

Small, wide-eyed, and quick, it might be tempting for the uninformed to think of the asura as whimsical or saccharinely cute. Nothing could be further from the truth. A closer look demonstrates how the asura have been marked by their subterranean origins. eir small stature and fast movements allow them to traverse tunnels, and their wide eyes let them see in the dark. Any lingering doubts about “adorableness” can be dispelled by the asuran smile: they possess a mouth with abundant, small, shark-like teeth. And while the asuran temperament does value some level of lightheartedness, behind it all is the keen calculation of a researcher. These tiny geniuses have supreme confi dence in their intellect and the use of applied intelligence. They are not shy or modest about their skills, and the path of the world has no choice but to be shaped by their will.

Sylvari

The sylvari are a race of humanoid plants. Slightly shorter and more “willowy” than humans, the sylvari have a fey cast to their features, with pointed ears and tilted eyes. Instead of hair, they have leaves or petals; some of them even have bark-like skin. Sylvari come from large seed pods on the Pale Tree. The first 12 sylvari emerged about 25 years ago, with more arriving as the years went on. They are a young race in Tyria, and they are still trying to fi nd their way in the world. Although a bit naïve, sylvari culture prizes the search for knowledge and an individual’s quest to fi nd a welldeveloped morality. rough it all, they look toward friendship and joy. In a dangerous and dark world, they off er light and a happy spirit.

Regions and Races

The world of Tyria is a rich and exciting place. It’s separated into several major regions: Kryta, Ascalon, the Tainted Coast, and Orr. The regions are bound by the natural barriers of the Steamspur and Shiverpeak Mountains. To the south lies the Sea of Sorrows, with the city of Lion’s Arch occupying its northern shore. e shoreline of the far west, along the Strait of Malchor, is known as the Tarnished Coast. e far east ends at the Blazeridge Mountains and what lies beyond is only mystery.

The Regions

Lion’s Arch

Lion’s Arch, once the capital of Kryta, is now a power in its own right. is multiracial city is a primary gathering point for traders, explorers, and adventurers. From here, the Lionguard battle myriad threats facing Tyria, and their forces can be found wherever tranquility and stability are
threatened.

Kryta

The green and fertile lands of Kryta offer the perfect location to settle down, grow a few crops, and raise a family. From Divinity’s Reach, the new Krytan capital, the Seraph military works tirelessly to try and defend those traveling through Queensdale, Kessex Hills, Gendarran Fields, and Harathi
Hinterlands. It’s a region worth fighting for, and it’s the last chance for many humans to live a life of peace. Whether the centaurs will give them that chance is still uncertain.

The Tarnished Coast

All of the peninsula is a vast and verdant jungle, but while the wastes have completely dried and are uninhabitable, the Tarnished Coast has maintained its wildland of tropical trees. It is here that the asura and sylvari races have made their homes (from their capitals of Rata Sum and the Grove, respectively). Metrica Province and Caledon Forest collectively pour into the Brisban Wildlands, and later into more cultivated territory.

Shiverpeak Mountains

The northern and southern Shiverpeaks cut through the lands of Kryta and Ascalon. These rugged and foreboding mountains are the domain of the norn. From their capital of Hoelbrak in the (slightly gentler) Wayfarer Foothills, the norn have claimed and now protect the regions of Snowden Drifts, Lornar’s Pass, Dredgehaunt Cliff s, and Frostgorge Sound. ey’re threatened by the mole-like dredge, the mighty jotun, and from internal strife because of the Sons of Svanir.

Steamspur Mountains

The Steamspur Mountains mark a natural barrier between Ascalon (to the east) and Orr (to the south, across the sea). The high elevations of Timberline Falls and Mount Maelstrom soon give way to the swamps of Bloodtide Coast and Sparkfly Fen. These mountains may offer salvation: they provide a natural barrier against the undead making their way inland, through the marshes.

Ascalon

Ascalon is the domain of the charr. eir capital of the Black Citadel sternly rises over the Plains of Ashford, proclaiming the might of the Legions. Ascalon is a land that has long known war, and the regions of Diessa Plateau, the Fields of Ruin, Blazeridge Steppes, Iron Marches, and Fireheart Rise have been marked by scorched vegetation and dry savannahs. It is a tough land but a strong one. How fi tting for the dauntless charr. ey fi ght against Ascalonian ghosts, human separatists, and members of the renegade Flame Legion.

Orr

The sunken land of Orr has returned from the watery depths, and with it, the populace of the destroyed land. e Orrian undead now plod inexorably along the Cursed Shore, past Malchor’s Leap, and through the Straits of Devastation. Much of the region is coastal, with large expanses of water punctuated by islands and shorelined hills. ere are few bastions of safety, with only a few forts trying to stem the tide of living dead. Even the large expanse of sea isn’t safe; undead wildlife and the risen Orrian navy patrol the ocean. Dark times indeed.