User:TerrorBite/New Player Guide/Creating A Character

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Creating a Character[edit]

This character creation guide is intended for players who are completely new to Guild Wars 2. It is intended as an alternative to the more technical primary article on character creation.

Primary article: Character creation

Choose a Race[edit]

First, you must select a race and gender. There are five different playable races in the land of Tyria:

For more information, you can view the article on each race, or read the page about playable races.

Choose a Profession (Class)[edit]

Next you must select a class, although in Guild Wars 2 this is called a profession. There are eight playable professions in Guild Wars 2. The following list gives a brief summary of each class.

  • Warrior icon small.png Warriors are masters of martial skills. They're versatile in combat and benefit from offensive and defensive abilities.
  • Guardian icon small.png Guardians specialize in protective and defensive magic. A deep sense of loyalty to their allies fuels their passion and power.
  • Thief icon small.png Thieves are expert in the shadow arts. They utilize stealth and shadowstepping to surprise and to get close to their target.
  • Ranger icon small.png Rangers are versatile and durable; proficient with the bow, yet surgical with the sword. Their loyal pets, which rangers tame and train, distract enemies while the rangers strike safely from a distance.
  • Engineer icon small.png Engineers are technological and alchemical masterminds. They employ turrets, grenades, elixirs, a variety of other impressive devices, and concoctions to overcome their enemies.
  • Elementalist icon small.png Elementalists have harnessed Tyria's natural forces. Their powers of destruction are drawn from an affinity with the four elements that make up the world.
  • Necromancer icon small.png Necromancers are masters of the dark arts. They summon the dead to fight for them, channel blood energy and rend their enemies' souls.
  • Mesmer icon small.png Mesmers are masters of mirage. They weave deception magic that seeks to confound, disorient and dumbfound their enemies.

For a better overview of each class, a list of their advantages and disadvantages, and an explanation of their special abilities, see my [[User:TerrorBite/New Player Guide/Profession Guide|Profession Guide]] for new players.

Opinion: Warrior is usually a popular choice for a first character - they're straightforward and easy to play. If you prefer to strike from a distance, Rangers are also fairly easy and make a good starting character.

There are three different classes of profession, which affects the type of armor that they can wear:

It's worth noting that all classes have ranged and melee options, but certain classes are better for melee and others are better at ranged.

Choose Physical Attributes[edit]

After selecting a class, you will choose your character's physical attributes - height, appearance, and armor dyes. Most of this should be pretty straightforward.

The colors you select for your armor will be applied to any armor that you equip, you're not just dyeing your starting armor. You can only choose from a small selection of colors when creating a character, but you can unlock more later on in the game, and change your armor colors later if you choose.

Choose Your Biography[edit]

The next four steps will determine your character's backstory and personality. Note that a "Skip to End" button appears at this stage; if you press it, you'll be given random choices for everything below.

First, unless you're a Ranger, you'll be asked to choose a piece of armor (headgear or shoulder pieces, depending on profession) in addition to the chestpiece, leggings and boots you start with. Rangers don't get extra armor, but instead get to choose one of three animals to be their starter pet. Different races of Ranger get a different selection of pets to choose from.

Next, you will be asked to choose whether you are charming, ferocious or dignified. This choice determines your character's initial personality. Personality has a minor effect on your interactions with certain NPCs, such as the dialogue options you're offered or the way they react to you, but it has no direct effect on gameplay or story.

The next three questions vary depending which race you chose, but in all cases, the answers you give will affect the first few chapters of your character's personal story.

Choose Your Name[edit]

Finally, you choose a name for your character. There's a few restrictions to note:

  • The name can contain only English letters (including accented letters) and spaces, and can't begin with a space.
  • The name must be between 3 and 19 characters in length, and can't already be in use. It should be in Title Case.

If you're a roleplayer, you may want to choose a name that suits your chosen race. The wiki page for your chosen race will have full details on their naming customs, along with their history and other useful information.

Immediately after your character's name is accepted, you will see a cinematic that showcases your new character to you. After this, the first episode of your personal story will begin, in the form of the tutorial mission.

Tutorial Mission[edit]

You will begin by speaking to an NPC, marked with a green star: Storyline (interface).png This icon marks your current personal story objective. For now, simply follow the star to see what to do next. The tutorial will give you lots of hints in case you get stuck.

The mission will be different depending on the race you chose, but generally the first NPC will tell you to go and speak to a second one. After fighting your way through enemies to reach this NPC and talking to them, an event will start. Details will appear on the right of your screen telling you what you need to do. After completing the event, you will move on to your first boss battle. NPCs will aid you in fighting the boss, and there may also be other players in the tutorial who created characters at the same time as you did.

After defeating the boss, your tutorial is complete. You will reach Level 2 and receive a reward, and your second skill slot will unlock. There will be a second cinematic that relates to your story, then you will be sent into the open world, close to where your tutorial began. You're now ready to begin playing Guild Wars 2!

Personal Story[edit]

Your journey through Tyria has begun! Since I've mentioned the personal story a few times now, I feel I should explain what it is and why it's important.

Primary article: Personal story

Your Personal Story is your character's own story campaign. Your story takes place as a series of episodes, each episode being a single mission occurring within a private section of the world that will be dedicated to you and your story. However, you must travel through the open world to reach the location that each story mission takes place in. You can bring friends to help you through your story if you like - if you are in a party with other players, they will be invited to join you when you enter a story episode.

The very first episode of your story was your tutorial mission. After this, your story will continue in eight parts, with the first part becoming available at level 10. Each part of your story will be composed of several chapters, each of which will be composed of several episodes. A new part of your story will unlock every 10 levels. At the end of each chapter of your story, you will receive a reward, consisting of Bags of Loot, experience, and often various pieces of gear (weapons, armor, or other items). You'll also receive a larger reward after completing all chapters in a part. It's highly recommended that you play through your personal story, since the loot you receive will be quite useful to your character.

The first three parts form the first arc of your story. Each race will experience a completely different story during this arc, and the choices you made during character creation will also have a significant effect on the story that you play. Following this will be the next five parts forming two more story arcs. These arcs have a common theme for all characters, though they will be heavily affected by choices you make within the story. To avoid spoilers, I won't say anything more about them.

At the end of certain episodes in your personal story, you will be offered choices on what to do next, allowing you to choose between two or more alternate missions to play next. However, some choices are significantly more important. For example, at the very end of Part III you will be asked to make a major choice which will affect the next three parts of your story.

What next?[edit]

Read on to discover the basics of Guild Wars 2 gameplay, including some tips that the ingame tutorials and hints won't tell you.