Guild Wars 2: The One Thread

[Edge-]

The story telling is so good in this expansion even if it is more dragon stuff. There's also a ton of background politics and happenings that might hint towards future stories. Actually they kind of did that with POF season 4 (in the Joko arc). I would be lying if I did not say some of the characters grew on me.

I've spent way too much time from fishing.

This is where I thought it was going initially, before it became clear that dragons would be at the core of the story. But I like that even despite that focus, the vast majority of the story/conflict/etc. is delivered through personal conflicts and politics. I love when games like this get into in-game politics, it's way more interesting, and Anet is leaning into it in both a serious/jokey way. Loved the "DMV" style moment in the story.

And seriously, without mopeypants Braham I'm a big fan of this cast of characters. Did a good job bringing a lot back (love seeing more interactions between Marj/Cass) and some hints at other romantic interests for characters.

[qwerty123456]

Feels like you are really supposed to do the story first before the zones. Havent really started the story yet as I was gathering hps for alts and then took my ranger into dragons den for the turtle pet. So much more shit to interact with that requires mastery points than other zones.

Turtle pet kinda sucks too. It has a ranged siege attack, a shield skill, a leap/defence break, and a bite. 3 of those skills require melee range and it almost exclusively wants to shoot shit. It also doesn't stick by you so if you wanna use the barrier then you gotta pay attention to where the little shit decides to stop.

[VMSmith]

I'm picking up GW2 again after not playing for many, many years. When I had last played I had not even made it through leveling, but I find myself lately desiring a little fantasy-oriented romp to balance out my sci-fi MMO playing and I thought I'd try out GW2 again.

The first ten levels were just fine and enjoyable, re-discovering that low-level content, but then I ran into this "personal story" and I'm wondering ... do I actually need to pay attention to this or can I just skip through it? Because it's sooooo boring. But, at the same time, I want to get the overarching story of the game, maybe. So will skipping the personal story portion leave me clueless later on?

I really just want to run around and fill up hearts and see vistas and discover POI's. Do I miss out on too much just doing those things while leveling?

[Ghost of Cow]

I'm picking up GW2 again after not playing for many, many years. When I had last played I had not even made it through leveling, but I find myself lately desiring a little fantasy-oriented romp to balance out my sci-fi MMO playing and I thought I'd try out GW2 again.

The first ten levels were just fine and enjoyable, re-discovering that low-level content, but then I ran into this "personal story" and I'm wondering ... do I actually need to pay attention to this or can I just skip through it? Because it's sooooo boring. But, at the same time, I want to get the overarching story of the game, maybe. So will skipping the personal story portion leave me clueless later on?

I really just want to run around and fill up hearts and see vistas and discover POI's. Do I miss out on too much just doing those things while leveling?

Missed out on story? Go through our helpful recap!

"Dragons bad, beat up dragons."

Glad I could help.

[Edge-]

I'm picking up GW2 again after not playing for many, many years. When I had last played I had not even made it through leveling, but I find myself lately desiring a little fantasy-oriented romp to balance out my sci-fi MMO playing and I thought I'd try out GW2 again.

The first ten levels were just fine and enjoyable, re-discovering that low-level content, but then I ran into this "personal story" and I'm wondering ... do I actually need to pay attention to this or can I just skip through it? Because it's sooooo boring. But, at the same time, I want to get the overarching story of the game, maybe. So will skipping the personal story portion leave me clueless later on?

I really just want to run around and fill up hearts and see vistas and discover POI's. Do I miss out on too much just doing those things while leveling?

I think you still need to do the story for a few unlocks but largely you can skip/ignore it and just breeze through cutscenes and whatnot.

TLDR: Dragons bad, trying to destroy the world, you need to unite the races (and build a team of badasses) and stop them. Also some other shit and other baddies, but mostly just giant magical dragons trying to destroy the world and you need to stop them, but stopping them has other consequences.

You can probably find a few videos with more proper TLDR's for it, I mostly remember the odd character and broader strokes of the story. If you just wanna work on map completion then go for it, it's a lot of fun to do your first full clear of the map.

[Lex Icon]

I'm picking up GW2 again after not playing for many, many years. When I had last played I had not even made it through leveling, but I find myself lately desiring a little fantasy-oriented romp to balance out my sci-fi MMO playing and I thought I'd try out GW2 again.

The first ten levels were just fine and enjoyable, re-discovering that low-level content, but then I ran into this "personal story" and I'm wondering ... do I actually need to pay attention to this or can I just skip through it? Because it's sooooo boring. But, at the same time, I want to get the overarching story of the game, maybe. So will skipping the personal story portion leave me clueless later on?

I really just want to run around and fill up hearts and see vistas and discover POI's. Do I miss out on too much just doing those things while leveling?

if you don't mind spending 30$ the latest expansion seems to have considered players such as yourself and does a recap when starting out and adds a little tutorial on basic combat mechanics etc.

[VMSmith]

Missed out on story? Go through our helpful recap!

"Dragons bad, beat up dragons."

Glad I could help.

I think you still need to do the story for a few unlocks but largely you can skip/ignore it and just breeze through cutscenes and whatnot.

TLDR: Dragons bad, trying to destroy the world, you need to unite the races (and build a team of badasses) and stop them. Also some other shit and other baddies, but mostly just giant magical dragons trying to destroy the world and you need to stop them, but stopping them has other consequences.

You can probably find a few videos with more proper TLDR's for it, I mostly remember the odd character and broader strokes of the story. If you just wanna work on map completion then go for it, it's a lot of fun to do your first full clear of the map.

Thank you both! So other than skipping through to unlock some things, it's basically just a generic fantasy story involving dragons? Great, I've had plenty of those so I can focus on what I really want to do ... bopping bad guys with a sword or dagger, seeing what there is to see in the world, and just generally progressing a character. I'll happily read through a synopsis if I get the urge. tbh WoW has cured me of enjoying fantasy video game stories.

if you don't mind spending 30$ the latest expansion seems to have considered players such as yourself and does a recap when starting out and adds a little tutorial on basic combat mechanics etc.

So, some further questions:

I don't mind spending some money if it turns out I enjoy the game. I'm not sure I need a combat recap as I'm figuring things out pretty well as I'm leveling, though I imagine it gets more in-depth the further I go. So ... would you recommend leveling through at least once, or using a max-level skip? If the only thing I'd really be losing is the joy of many dings, I may be OK with that. I'll have to think that over, if skipping is otherwise not a bad choice.

Also, do you need to buy all the expansions, or just the current one? I gather that I can forego the Living World stuff since it just seems to be story and I plan on ignoring that, would that be the case?

Lastly, is there anything to do at endgame that is not instance-based, i.e. not a raid or dungeon? Grouping is fine, when I feel like it, but not fine when it's all there realistically is to do.

[Edge-]

Thank you both! So other than skipping through to unlock some things, it's basically just a generic fantasy story involving dragons? Great, I've had plenty of those so I can focus on what I really want to do ... bopping bad guys with a sword or dagger, seeing what there is to see in the world, and just generally progressing a character. I'll happily read through a synopsis if I get the urge. tbh WoW has cured me of enjoying fantasy video game stories.

OG story is alright. It depends on the characters more than anything, IMO. Its strength was more in that it had some great characters depending on which faction you end up choosing. A lot of it is generic, but I enjoyed it enough and I liked how they did cutscene presentation. Story does improve with expansions though, I'm big into the End of Dragons story and it's pretty great with some nice twists and turns.

So ... would you recommend leveling through at least once, or using a max-level skip? If the only thing I'd really be losing is the joy of many dings, I may be OK with that. I'll have to think that over, if skipping is otherwise not a bad choice.

Recommend going through once so you can get familiar with at least one class and a lot of the mechanics in the game, as they're introduced as you level.

Also, do you need to buy all the expansions, or just the current one? I gather that I can forego the Living World stuff since it just seems to be story and I plan on ignoring that, would that be the case?

Each expansion is sold separately, so it's up to you. They go through the story chronologically but none are necessarily "needed" to do expansion content in another expansion. Though I'll say that the masteries can be HUGE. Heart of Thorns masteries are largely isolated, but gliding is freaking great and super useful all over the world. Path of Fire added mounts (with actual purposes, not just as speed boosts) including some optional mounts you need to grind for and spend some gold (gryphon from core expansion, beetle from S3 which is like a race car of sorts, skyscale with S4 that's like a helicopter), highly recommend this if you plan on sticking with GW2 as the mounts are a massive, ginormous, huge QoL buff, even just the base mounts.

LW stuff is more story focused though it has plenty of masteries as well, though IMO less generally useful. They do sales on them sometimes and have given them away leading into EoD, so they might do that again.

Lastly, is there anything to do at endgame that is not instance-based, i.e. not a raid or dungeon? Grouping is fine, when I feel like it, but not fine when it's all there realistically is to do.

"The whole game is endgame"

Like, seriously though. The whole game is still applicable at that point as the point isn't a linear gear treadmill - once you have exotic gear you're basically set. Fractal gear is a bit better but largely not remotely required, and legendary gear is just as strong as Fractal gear but just allows you to swap stats on it so you can use it between multiple builds (I believe...I don't own one).

At max level you've got...

World completion/farming DE's and zone meta's (your level scales to zones so they can still give some XP and decent rewards, and you're still much stronger when downscaled compared to characters actually at that level)
Dungeons (no longer really supported, and doable while leveling)
Fractals (sorta like dungeons, but harder and with scaling difficulty as you get Fractal gear)
PvP/WvW (don't ask me, I don't do either)
Raids (still seem pretty active, much more mechanics focused boss fights)
Strikes (mini-raids that are largely just one boss fight, reportedly the latest crop is good but I don't know)
Achievements - there are tons of these and a lot provide pretty neat rewards, or just if you're an achievement hunter
Leveling crafting professions/harvesting materials etc.
Farming for specific things like legendries or certain mounts (which are also achieves, but I count this separately)

And other stuff. But largely you can sorta just do whatever you want and you'll make headway. There's no real "goal" in the endgame in terms of getting X or Y tier set, it's much more open ended where you can set your own goals.

[Geckoo]

I don't mind spending some money if it turns out I enjoy the game. I'm not sure I need a combat recap as I'm figuring things out pretty well as I'm leveling, though I imagine it gets more in-depth the further I go. So ... would you recommend leveling through at least once, or using a max-level skip? If the only thing I'd really be losing is the joy of many dings, I may be OK with that. I'll have to think that over, if skipping is otherwise not a bad choice.

Also, do you need to buy all the expansions, or just the current one? I gather that I can forego the Living World stuff since it just seems to be story and I plan on ignoring that, would that be the case?

I always recommend to use the max level boost as a way to unlock the big two account-wide QoL features: gliding and mounts. What you do once you have them unlocked it's up to you, but it means that if you feel like leveling through the original game you'll have those two things as soon as you leave the small introduction instance, and they really make leveling through those unexplored zones better.

The story does follow a linear narrative through expansions and living world seasons, but you can start at any point and follow any order, so you don't need all expansions or buy them in any particular order.

In terms of features, the last expansion (EoD) has it's own features and more importantly, also unlocks the basic versions of gliding and a couple of mounts.
The only problem is that gliding is from the first expansion (heart of thorns), and mounts are from the second expansion (path of fire), so while you'll have their basic versions, you won't have access to their mastery lines to improve them to their best. But it is certainly a great starting point and you can always get the other expansions later if you enjoy the game.

Like, seriously though. The whole game is still applicable at that point as the point isn't a linear gear treadmill - once you have exotic gear you're basically set. Fractal gear is a bit better but largely not remotely required, and legendary gear is just as strong as Fractal gear but just allows you to swap stats on it so you can use it between multiple builds (I believe...I don't own one).

Just to confirm... yes, ascended items (fractal gear) and legendary items are equal in terms of power. What legendary items have is massive QoL attached to them: you can swap to any stat at any time with no cost, you can swap runes or infusions without an extractor, you can change their skin with no transmute charge cost and you can use them with any of your characters at the same time.

[Ghost of Cow]

Just to confirm... yes, ascended items (fractal gear) and legendary items are equal in terms of power. What legendary items have is massive QoL attached to them: you can swap to any stat at any time with no cost, you can swap runes or infusions without an extractor, you can change their skin with no transmute charge cost and you can use them with any of your characters at the same time.

Legendary items are far more than just QoL, it's literally thousands and thousands of gold savings. You can just try out new specs, change specs on the fly, basically do anything you want or need to without cost. Which is the primary limiting factor to all of those things for most players.

Also, when talking about gear, everyone kinda forgets the progression in the form of things like AR that will gate you out of groups just the same as "gearscore". Or the real expense to building a spec - good runes and sigils. That and the often asinine expectations for LI that groups have for endgame content, but that's community issues, not the fault of the game. (Though some form of matchmaking wouldn't hurt.)

All in all GW2 is still an extremely grindy game in varying degrees depending on what you're trying to do. The whole spiel about "everything is endgame" and "there's no endgame grind" are things that ANet said early in the beta as part of their original design, but which really didn't hold up in full as the game developed. (Just like "no expansions"!)

[Edge-]

Legendary items are far more than just QoL, it's literally thousands and thousands of gold savings.

Well...minus the price for them, which is hefty.

You can just try out new specs, change specs on the fly, basically do anything you want or need to without cost. Which is the primary limiting factor to all of those things for most players.

Over a long enough time, sure. But exotic gear is usually fairly cheap and putting together a basic set to try out a new build isn't too expensive.

Also, when talking about gear, everyone kinda forgets the progression in the form of things like AR that will gate you out of groups just the same as "gearscore".

If you're talking about agony resist then yes, but that's only for progression through fractals.

Or the real expense to building a spec - good runes and sigils. That and the often asinine expectations for LI that groups have for endgame content, but that's community issues, not the fault of the game. (Though some form of matchmaking wouldn't hurt.)

Depends on what you do. You can get by with affordable sigils for just about everything in the game. Obviously for harder strikes/raids etc. you'll want the best ones you can get, but you largely don't need them.

The whole spiel about "everything is endgame" and "there's no endgame grind" are things that ANet said early in the beta as part of their original design, but which really didn't hold up in full as the game developed. (Just like "no expansions"!)

They do hold up. The "no endgame" line is largely in reference to the fact that what you do while leveling is what you do at max level. There's not some huge new "endgame" that's disconnected from what you did while leveling. Raids and strikes are about it, and they released those in part due to player requests.

Same goes for expansions, as their initial plans for LS didn't quite work out as intended and players wanted to see bigger expansions. We still get free LS content between expansions, something that GW1 never received in the same way.

[Ghost of Cow]

Over a long enough time, sure. But exotic gear is usually fairly cheap and putting together a basic set to try out a new build isn't too expensive.

Depends on the spec. Sure, if your BiS for a build is just Berserker or something. But then your BiS runes are probably Scholar and that's not cheap by any means.

Some prefixes are horribly expensive, though. And runes/sigils can't be easily removed or swapped despite being extremely expensive. Given the rate at which gold is generated for most players it very much is a grind just to try multiple builds within just one class.

They do hold up. The "no endgame" line is largely in reference to the fact that what you do while leveling is what you do at max level. There's not some huge new "endgame" that's disconnected from what you did while leveling. Raids and strikes are about it, and they released those in part due to player requests.

Same goes for expansions, as their initial plans for LS didn't quite work out as intended and players wanted to see bigger expansions. We still get free LS content between expansions, something that GW1 never received in the same way.

But it's not the same stuff. The things you do while leveling aren't the things you do when max level by any means anymore. Fractals, strikes, raids, getting your ascended sets, doing with WvW with functional builds and stats, etc.

Sure you can go out and randomly do meta events and such at max level if you want, but there's really no point to that. No different than going out and randomly doing "leveling content" in other MMOs when max level. You can do it, but you really can't go around claiming that "this is the endgame!" with a straight face.

And yes, the playerbase asked for things like raids and fractals exactly because the whole initial concept didn't work out like ANet planned.

[Edge-]

Depends on the spec. Sure, if your BiS for a build is just Berserker or something. But then your BiS runes are probably Scholar and that's not cheap by any means.

You don't need BiS gear to test out a new spec to see if you want to play it or not, that's my point. You can put together an absolutely acceptable and functional set without too much money spent for the most part.

Some prefixes are horribly expensive, though. And runes/sigils can't be easily removed or swapped despite being extremely expensive. Given the rate at which gold is generated for most players it very much is a grind just to try multiple builds within just one class.

I mean, gold can be hard to come by but like...not really? I've kitted out every character I have with two sets of exotic gear for different builds, and have more sets on my guardian. I'm perpetually poor, rarely have more than 200G at any given time. But you're grossly overstating the cost to trying a new build unless you think you need BiS gear to test out if a build is fun for you or not.

But it's not the same stuff. The things you do while leveling aren't the things you do when max level by any means anymore. Fractals, strikes, raids, getting your ascended sets, doing with WvW with functional builds and stats, etc.

It is. Still mostly doing open world content and meta-events and whatnot. Fractals are functionally an extension of dungeons, not radically different from those. Strikes/raids are literally the only thing meaningfully different at max level, and those were added in direct response to player requests.

And with the minimal power gain of ascended sets, they're not remotely necessary/required unless you're pushing fractals or harder raids.

Sure you can go out and randomly do meta events and such at max level if you want, but there's really no point to that.

It's fun? You can get crafting materials you need? Some have specific rewards that you may want to farm? I mean, there's plenty of reason to do them, which is why they're pretty active usually. Boss portal devices are dope.

No different than going out and randomly doing "leveling content" in other MMOs when max level. You can do it, but you really can't go around claiming that "this is the endgame!" with a straight face.

Except that the content in most MMO's isn't designed to still be relevant/rewarding to high level players and contribute towards endgame grinds they may be working on.

And yes, the playerbase asked for things like raids and fractals exactly because the whole initial concept didn't work out like ANet planned.

Sure, no plan is perfect. That's why it's good for studios to pivot and adjust as necessary. This is a good thing at the end of the day, rather than dogmatically sticking to the original Manifesto and refusing to ever alter course to matter what.

[Ghost of Cow]

It's fun? You can get crafting materials you need? Some have specific rewards that you may want to farm? I mean, there's plenty of reason to do them, which is why they're pretty active usually. Boss portal devices are dope.

Again, you can do that in most any MMO, though. Hell, I spent a long time in WoW at one point farming mageweave when I was max level because dust was so profitable.

No one says, "Scarlet Monastery is endgame" just because of that, though. It's just a phrase that has stuck in GW2 because it sounded so good at first, but the game never really turned out that way.

Sure, no plan is perfect. That's why it's good for studios to pivot and adjust as necessary. This is a good thing at the end of the day, rather than dogmatically sticking to the original Manifesto and refusing to ever alter course to matter what.

Of course, and that's fine. I'm not going to pretend that the changes don't exist, though!

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Now that the expac has been out for a bit, how does it compare with the prior expacs?

[qwerty123456]

Well...minus the price for them, which is hefty.

Yeah the Aurene weapon's cost like 400$ if you bought the gold for them. Mats are crazy expensive too. Especially when they made it seem like these legendary weapons were gonna be like something you would wanna collect a set of with different forms based on the Elder dragons. There's what 16 diff weapon types X 7 different dragons + precursor form. I assume you are going to need a fuck ton of mats to "evolve" it to a different form as well.

Now that the expac has been out for a bit, how does it compare with the prior expacs?

I like it better than heart of thorns and a little less than Path of Fire. The spec collection look like they are easier than HoT but Grindier/Harder than PoF since you gotta complete the story on every profession now.

[VMSmith]

I always recommend to use the max level boost as a way to unlock the big two account-wide QoL features: gliding and mounts. What you do once you have them unlocked it's up to you, but it means that if you feel like leveling through the original game you'll have those two things as soon as you leave the small introduction instance, and they really make leveling through those unexplored zones better.

Thank you. That does seem to suggest that using the boost makes sense. If I enjoy playing enough to buy the first two expansions I may just use it then. I tried playing my old character that's at level 50 and it seemed ok, it's a warrior. Took me a while to figure out where I was though, which turned out to be Caledon Forest. I guess I was just trying to complete that zone the last time I had played. I might try out a few classes and see what appeals to me. I appear to have that warrior, the thief I made recently, and sub-level-10 toons in Necromancer, Guardian and Elementalist. My Guardian looks too much like Adam Driver so I may have to delete him because it's too uncanny.

The "no endgame" line is largely in reference to the fact that what you do while leveling is what you do at max level. There's not some huge new "endgame" that's disconnected from what you did while leveling. Raids and strikes are about it, and they released those in part due to player requests.

Yes, this sounds like what I'm looking for. A number of other posters have gotten away from my intentions, which are to avoid instanced group content. I'm glad to hear that there's still relaxing content at max level. For reference my favorite MMOs have been Star Wars Galaxies and Star Trek Online, both of which had/have very freeform content at max skill/level. I like the idea of being able to do whatever strikes my fancy at a particular moment and to have it be both fun and rewarding, a concept that most current MMOs sadly lack.

[Edge-]

Again, you can do that in most any MMO, though. Hell, I spent a long time in WoW at one point farming mageweave when I was max level because dust was so profitable.

Not in the same way you can with GW2, where when you're going to farm lower level zones you're scaled down so you can still get relevant rewards.

No one says, "Scarlet Monastery is endgame" just because of that, though. It's just a phrase that has stuck in GW2 because it sounded so good at first, but the game never really turned out that way.

The existence of world boss trains, which go across all zone levels, strongly disagrees with you. It's delivered on it. It's hardly perfect, and you can't control player behavior, but it's delivered.

- - - Updated - - -

For reference my favorite MMOs have been Star Wars Galaxies and Star Trek Online, both of which had/have very freeform content at max skill/level. I like the idea of being able to do whatever strikes my fancy at a particular moment and to have it be both fun and rewarding, a concept that most current MMOs sadly lack.

Eyyyy, I'm into STO again now (just picked up lifetime sub). It's another game I enjoy for being fairly "casual" in that you can just enjoy the episodes and whatnot even if you don't have any clue what you're doing (but I'm finally trying to learn!)

It's sorta like that, though in STO all I've really done are episode content. Depending on what expansions you own etc. you can do stuff like hero point trains that folks host for expansion content, there are a lot of zonewide meta-events (mostly in the more recently added zones) that folks run and can be rewarding, lots of "quests" via achievements that take you all over and require farming, world bosses to kill etc. And it can all be done solo for the most part, especially since boons/heals etc. don't require you to be in the same group for world bosses etc.

[Ghost of Cow]

Yes, this sounds like what I'm looking for. A number of other posters have gotten away from my intentions, which are to avoid instanced group content. I'm glad to hear that there's still relaxing content at max level. For reference my favorite MMOs have been Star Wars Galaxies and Star Trek Online, both of which had/have very freeform content at max skill/level. I like the idea of being able to do whatever strikes my fancy at a particular moment and to have it be both fun and rewarding, a concept that most current MMOs sadly lack.

The thing is that most of the best rewards in the game do come from instanced content in GW2. Sure, you can go farm a low level area or something but you're not gonna get anything. You can do world boss trains for days and nothing is gonna drop. Do zone metas for days and you'll get a tiny bit of gold.

The systems are there in GW2 but they're not very fleshed out or rewarding. Compared to doing fractals where you'll literally have so much ascended loot dropping that you'll be destroying it. Not to mention the gold you'll be raking in.

Ultimately I'd just recommend playing GW2 because you find the gameplay fun. Not because of some nearly decade old marketing lines.

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Not in the same way you can with GW2, where when you're going to farm lower level zones you're scaled down so you can still get relevant rewards.

But I made vastly more from low level stuff in WoW or XIV than in GW2. Of course the rewards are relevant.

The existence of world boss trains, which go across all zone levels, strongly disagrees with you. It's delivered on it. It's hardly perfect, and you can't control player behavior, but it's delivered.

Other games have open world bosses, and they tend to be more relevant and rewarding than GW2 somehow.

[Edge-]

Other games have open world bosses, and they tend to be more relevant and rewarding than GW2 somehow.

Across all zone levels? Or just in "current content"? Because I know WoW added them in for more recent expansions, but I've seen no real discussion about farming older bosses the intended way. I'm not talking about going and wiping some unscaled low level boss and walking away with some gold, but like, people actually continuing to do the boss events as they were designed.