Skill Acquisition
Originally Published by Spooky
Maybe you've heard of a little thing called 'Skills' in Guild Wars - combined with your Attribute Points, these are the single most important aspects of your character. Your skills - to which you are limited to 8 in battle - determine what your characters role is, and what they can contribute to a fight. While it is certainly possible to only get 8 skills you feel like using and sticking with them for the rest of the game, the more skills you have, the more potential you have for diversity when you need to adapt to new situations. But with so many skills out there, how in the world are we to get our hands on them all? It's a good thing I served as a surrogate you to ask that question, because it just so happens that i'm about to answer it - there are three distinct methods, each with their own pros and cons.
Skill Trainers:
You may have noticed these NPCs (of which, you can find a listing here) hanging around in the various towns and outposts of Tyria. The function of a skill trainer is to present a list of the available skills, spells, and attacks that they have available to players, based on both of their professions (Primary, and Secondary.) If a player already has a skill that a trainer would have otherwise offered, it will not be included in the list of skills shown.
Pros:
· Since they are often located in Towns or places that characters would otherwise go to, Trainers are easily accesible.
· Trainers present the skills in a format that shows you all of their details - descriptions, casting times, energy costs, recharge times, etc. This allows players to take all of the time they need to decide whether or not a particular skill is the right one for them.
Cons:
· The skills that are available are a static set - the trainer isn't offering anything that you feel you're interested in, then you're out of luck.
· Buying a skill from a trainer costs you a skill point, and an ever increasing fee of gold.
Signet of Capture
The Signet of Capture is a one time use only (per purchase) skill that can be acquired from Skill Trainers. The signet, as the name suggests, is used in 'capturing' skills from enemy bosses. It is important to note that you can capture only from bosses - it will not work on random mobs walking around. To use the Signet, you must first find a boss who uses skills from one of your character's professions - you can not capture skills of a different profession from yourself - and wait for them to use a desired skill. At this time, you can use the Signet to 'capture' that skill, which consumes the Signet, and permanently replaces it with the 'caught' skill.
Pros:
· Some skills that are otherwise very rare can be found and captured from bosses.
· Powerful skills can be found earlier than a player might otherwise obtain them, through this method.
Cons:
· Using a Signet of Capture requires the player to spend 1 skill point, and an increasing amount of gold for each Signet - the same as if they had bought skills directly.
· Capturing from bosses can be a tricky prospect. You'll never know if you'll run into the boss you want, and often, you must stop your teammates from killing it while you see what skills it has.
· The Signet of Capture must be in your 8 active skills to use it, thus leaving your character with only 7 serviceable skills while hunting for bosses.
Questing
The newest method of acquiring skills introduced into Guild Wars, by taking part in the various quests that NPCs offer you, you may find yourself being rewarded with skills for your efforts. These NPCs can be found in many different locations - in towns, in mission outposts, in map hubs, and in explorable areas. They are, however, easily spotted - if someone has an enormous glowing green exclamation point over their head - chances are, they have a quest available for you.
Pros:
· No skill points are required to learn skills that are given as quest rewards.
· Multiple skills can be earned at once (sometimes up to three!) through this method.
· Questing often involves experience or gold rewards as well, making these an effective method of advancing your character.
Cons:
· You're not allowed to choose what skills you get as a reward (and as of this writing, you do not see what you will get until you undertake the quest.)
· Quests can sometimes be difficult, or time consuming.
Remember also that when a character learns a skill, it is 'Unlocked' for your account. What this means is that, should you choose to create a PvP character - that that character will automatically have access to every skill your RPG characters have learned (regardless if you still have them or not.) So if you plan on playing competitively, or even just dabbling around with it here and there, it is in your best interests to try and learn as many skills as possible - you'll never know when you might need one. Your characters will also be able to change their sub-class after Ascension, so it is feasible that one character could eventually unlock every skill in the game. That's quite a lot of skills - but hopefully this gives you a better idea of how to attain them. Happy adventuring!
MMO Guru Network
