John Stumme’s Guide to the Hall of Monuments
Countless new players have been introduced to the world of Tyria thanks to the overwhelming excitement building for Guild Wars 2. But did you know that you can acquire unique rewards in GW2 based on your accomplishments in the original Guild Wars? Thanks to the Hall of Monuments, you can—so if you’re looking to make sure that you’re starting GW2 in style, then this guide can help get you started on the path to prestige!
Before we start, it’s important to note that this article is aimed at players that are new to Guild Wars and the Hall of Monuments, or are looking for ways to make what appears to be a daunting task more approachable. For all you veterans, sadly you will not find the secrets of getting 80 points out of 50 here. That information I will be guarding, and keeping to myself. Insert maniacal laughter here.
Ahem. Getting back on point.
Let’s start with an explanation of what the Hall of Monuments is: it is both a physical location within the world of Tyria, and a progress calculator that is located on our website. The Hall of Monuments in-game location is where you will need to dedicate, or register, your achievements, while the web page lists all of the accomplishments available, as well as all of the rewards that you can earn for your tier of progress. There are unique items for the first 30 points, with special titles being awarded every 5 points, up to the maximum of 50 points. All of these rewards are cumulative—you get the items at your level of points plus everything below it.
It certainly seems like a lot to do, right?
If you’re shooting for the full 50 points, then it’s going to require a lot of dedication and commitment. However, most people will be content to get 30 points for all of the special items, and that’s a task that’s much easier to break down. Before going into this, have a target in mind. Take a look at the rewards calculator, and find which items are most appealing to you. Let those be your goals, and you may just find that as you achieve them, you’re so close to the next tier that you might want to just keep going!
In order to get started, you’ll need two things: any one of the original Guild Wars campaigns—Prophecies, Factions, Nightfall—as well as the Eye of the North expansion. I’d suggest picking up the Guild Wars Platinum Edition, available now, which contains both Prophecies and the Eye of the North expansion.
Eye of the North allows your character “physical” access to the Hall of Monuments, which is where you’ll be recording the achievements that you earn from your campaigns of choice. Over the course of playing the game, you’ll naturally make your way here, and earn tapestries that will allow you to use the Hall of Monuments. This isn’t something you need to do right away—all of the accomplishments that you earn will be ready and waiting for you by the time you make it to the hall. So don’t worry about immediately getting there if you’re completely new to Guild Wars—just focus on what you can do on the way!
Let’s start by taking a look at some of the easiest goals to obtain.
The first place to start is the “Honor” monument. This is the monument that allows you to dedicate titles and achievements related to gameplay. A natural place to start is with the Eternal Hero of Tyria/Cantha/Elona achievements. You’ll earn these for finishing the campaign of Prophecies, Factions, and Nightfall, respectively. Just by playing through and finishing the story normally, you’re guaranteed to get one thing that you can dedicate to your Hall of Monuments. It doesn’t sound like much, does it? But let’s take a look at what that first achievement will get you.
By dedicating one achievement in the Honor monument, you will immediately get the “Any Statue” progress, which by itself is worth 2 points. In addition, for having used the Hall of Monuments, you’ll also receive the “Accounts Linked” progress, which is worth 3 points. Just by these actions, you’ve earned yourself 5 points out of 50, your first title along the Hall of Monuments reward track, and you’re only one point away from having the complete set of Heritage armor skins!
Depending on which campaign you chose to start with, there are several activities you can be doing over the course of completing the story that will help you earn additional points easily. For example, starting with Nightfall will set you up to earn points from the “Fellowship” monument—with the added benefit of making it easier for you to play and complete the other campaigns.
But just what is the Fellowship monument? This is the place where you dedicate achievements related to your Heroes and pets. Nightfall introduced Heroes to Guild Wars—they’re basically companions that you can equip and customize as you would your own character, which allows you a lot of versatility in customizing your party. This versatility will go a long way to making Prophecies and Factions easier, as you’ll be able to change your team to overcome the challenges that you’ll face.
Your Heroes can earn you points at the Fellowship monument by having their armor upgraded—there are a variety of armor types, but the easiest to obtain may be Elite Sunspear armor. This upgrade comes from Stolen Sunspear Armor items, found in Dajkah Inlet’s challenge mission. You’ll be able to explore here over the course of completing Nightfall’s campaign. These items can then be used to upgrade five of your Heroes, which would net you 1 point for “Any Hero Statue” and an additional 2 points for “5 Companion Statues (Full Display).” If you’re playing as a Ranger primary or secondary, you’ll also be able to get another easy point from this monument for having a pet at level 20, which will net you “Any Pet Statue.”
One of the titles worth considering while playing through the game is the Cartographer title, particularly on Normal Mode. Whenever you find a new map, take the time to explore it! This is a great way to progress your title and make a LOT of money, as you’ll be killing a lot of creatures and discovering some of the smaller quests within each zone.
As you’re playing through the game, be certain to pick up all of the gold that’s dropping, as well as all of the items that are reserved for you. Any gold picked up is split between your party (even if your party is comprised of Henchmen or Heroes), but items are yours alone. This means that when you sell them, the entirety of the profit goes to you. And trust me; you’re going to want to have gold on hand for tackling some of the other monuments. For example, the “Resilience” monument allows you to dedicate elite armors that your character owns. Most of these will end up costing you a minimum of 60k in gold, not counting the materials needed to make them! So you’d better make sure you’re saving up. Perhaps consider looking into a guild that offers a solid 401k program.If you’re comfortable with trading with other players, or just very business savvy, the monument for “Devotion” can be an easy place to pick up some extra points. Devotion is where miniatures, more commonly known in-game as minis or minipets, are dedicated. Some miniatures can be earned as rare rewards in the game, but the largest influx of these items come from veteran accounts—players earn one on each of their character’s yearly birthdays. This means it’s fairly easy to get ahold of a common miniature, which will get you 1 point for “Any Miniature Statue”, and a rare minipet for another point and the “Rare Miniature Statue.”
The last monument to talk about is “Valor,” and this is where special weapon sets are dedicated. If you have Prophecies with Eye of the North, and have completed either of those campaigns, you’ll be able to access the additional War in Kryta content. Finishing all of this additional content is guaranteed to net you the resources you need for one Oppressor Weapon, which is another 2 points for your Hall: one for “Any Weapon Statue” and one for “Oppressor Weapon Statue.” Acquiring the two other weapon types (Destroyer and Tormented) is also fairly easy if you look to trade with other players. I did mention you should be saving up your gold, right?
This was a fairly high-level look at some of the things that you can be doing in Guild Wars in order to earn yourself some cool rewards for Guild Wars 2. If you’d like to see what some of the Hall of Monuments rewards look like in Guild Wars 2, you’re in luck – we made a video just for you.
Once you break it down into its core parts, you’ll see it’s within reach to score yourself some cool stuff—and once you’ve gotten started, it’s that much easier to tackle some of the more difficult challenges. For players who are ready to take that next step and get the most out of their Hall of Monuments experience, our fans have put together an excellent guide that goes in-depth on how to earn every last point.
Now get out there and get fighting, and someday, you too may be revered as a Champion of the Gods!
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