I've never played any of the Guild Wars games (or any other MMO), but I've long admired from afar.  I'm now thinking of finally getting one, but I don't know which to get. There are three stand-alone games, Guild Wars, Factions, and Nightfall, yeah? And then an add-on, Eye of the North, which required one of the other games to be used, if I understand correctly.
So I'm wondering which one I should get? I'm surprised there aren't more two- or three- or four-in-one packs, I think you can get a pack that includes The original game plus the new Eye of the North expansion, but other than that all games have to be bought separately, yeah? And what about the collector's editions, what do they contain over and above the non-collector editions?
If the games are all stand-alone, does the second contain all the stuff from the first game plus more, and the third contain all the stuff from the first two plus more? Obviously alot of people are going to be thinking Guild Wars + Eye of the North, since it's the newest, but will that have more or less RPG content than Factions or Nightfall?
For me the primary concern is the game elements; the widest selection of character classes, spells, skills and equipment etc.
 
So, that's a bunch of questions. Help me out where you can, please
 
And if you really feel strongly that there is another MMORPG out there that is better then you can recommend it, but I'm not interested in anything with subscription fees, or anything that's archaic or a simple little freeware text game.
 
Thanks

I had the same exact questions you're asking a couple months ago. I didn't feel like shelling out $100 for a game I might not even like, so I asked some friends that played Guild Wars and I got a buddy key to try the game out, needless to say, that was the last time Guild Wars ever crossed my mind.

My advice would to ask around for a buddy key, heck, someone here might even have one they are willing to part with.

Go with the 1st Guild Wars - Prophecies
 
Because it has the biggest content + Nice storyline w/ twisters like in 24, Lost, Heroes or Prison Break

I gave a dude a buddy key, I think I got more..
 
Anyways, quick notes.
Prophecies (the first), Factions, Nightfall, all standalone chapters.
Eye of the North - Expansion, needs 1 of the 3 chapters.
 
If you want to do serious PvP, as in guild vs guild battles, you'll need (I think) atleast 1 chapter and the PvP paks (I think they're only sold online through the store) or the entire collection.  You need all the skills for various builds you can get, same I guess goes for the hardcore areas where specific skills are important (PvE).
 
What they contain.. hmm, suggest you look at www.guildwiki.org
 
Prophecies has 6 original classes, monk, elementalist, mesmer, necromancer, warrior, ranger.
 
Factions adds 2, ritualist, and assassin
 
Nightfall adds 2, Dervish and Paragon.
 
Prophecies + factions + nightfall = 10 classes to choose, but prophecies + nightfall = 8, you do not get the 2 classes from factions, but you can interact with people that are (you also miss out on their continent, has misssions, quests).
 
If you only had factions, you wouldn't get stuff like hero battles (nightfall).  But you do have access to 8 character classes to choose (basically the prophecies classes with different looks).
 
It's pretty complex I guess, read up on like wikipedia or guildwiki if you're still interested and not totally confused.  And i'll look for a buddy key...
 
I do suggest prophecies as well, but i'm not sure how many players there will be as it's the original and quite a few years back..

You should be able to pick up a copy of the original (Prophecies) pretty inexpensively, and it is definitely the place to start. It is under $30 at Amazon, which represents a pretty decent deal for a good MMO with no monthly fee. GW was my first MMO, and I enjoyed it greatly, then moved on to WoW. Now that you mention it, maybe I'll dust GW off and take it for a spin again - might be fun!

Cool, thanks guys, that helped, especially your post Stemnin. I did know about the wiki, but it would be hard to get certain answers from it, though I will have a look. I'm leaning toward Prophecies as several of you suggest.

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Jurosem, I would recommend trying Neverwinter Nights 1 or 2. It plays like a miniature MMORPG in multiplayer mode if you join a server with a persistent world. You just buy the game once and there are no other fees. One of the most unique features of Neverwinter Nights is that some people can log in on the server as Dungeon Masters. It means that they can organise interesting quests for players, control monsters or NPCs, give exp or gold to players, create or destroy furniture or other objects in the world etc.