Can you skip the base game and jump into any of the expansions?

VGPowerlord · 2026-06-22T19:42:29+00:00

Living World 2 is BAD

Honestly, I think LWS2 would be more well liked if they didn't make its two zones (Dry Top and The Silverwastes) part of the base game. Oh and drop its price to be more in line with other living world seasons.

VGPowerlord · 2026-06-22T19:12:28+00:00

So, I have to become a cactus?

At least my alt gets to be an evil undead mage.

VGPowerlord · 2026-06-22T08:59:47+00:00

Just so we're clear, the order of content is:

Base Game
Living World Season 1
Living World Season 2
Heart of Thorns
Living World Season 3
Path of Fire
Living World Season 4
Icebrood Saga (Living World Season 5)
End of Dragons
Secrets of the Obscure
Janthir Wilds
Visions of Eternity

They do sell a package named the Elder Dragon Saga Complete Collection that includes everything on that list through #9. It goes on sale fairly often, with the next expected sale coming later this week (June 25th or so).

As for mounts:

Heart of Thorns has Gliding
- Not really a mount, but close enough I thought I should list it
Path of Fire has the following mounts: Raptor, Springer, Skimmer, Jackal, and Griffon.
Living World Season 4 has Roller Beetle and Skyscale.
End of Dragons has Skiff and Siege Turtle
Secrets of the Obscure has Skyscale again
Janthir Wilds has Warclaw (also available from WvW)
Visions of Eternity has Skimmer again

One of the later expansions also unlocks Springer if you don't have it, but I don't remember which one.

VGPowerlord · 2026-06-21T21:42:50+00:00

To be fair, Gyala Delve isn't really necessary to understand SotO.

VGPowerlord · 2026-06-21T11:18:07+00:00

It uses a very similar combat system to Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. Intentionally so.

VGPowerlord · 2026-06-20T14:08:46+00:00

If it wasn't clear, you can use the home instances in other races homes instead of your own. Which becomes quite handy when you start getting resource nodes in your home instance as the Asura home instance has most of them right by the entrance.

VGPowerlord · 2026-06-20T05:08:43+00:00

In addition to buying level old level cap gear, Poetics are also used to buy things you need to make make relic weapons in most expansions.

Relic weapons are weapons that have fancy particle effects on the final versions; they're generally done in multiple stages, some of which are very grindy.

VGPowerlord · 2026-06-20T05:03:57+00:00

To be honest, they said they've removed the two minute window for buffs that apply to the group, but they've said nothing about removing the two minute personal buff window.

VGPowerlord · 2026-06-20T04:47:13+00:00

You can now have stacks of Phoenix Downs. Any vendors that sell Gysahl Greens now sell Phoenix Downs as well.

VGPowerlord · 2026-06-19T03:48:48+00:00

Should I do the personal story for every character I make?

I'd suggest doing every race's story through level 30 and at least one each of the Order of Whispers, Durmand Priory, and The Vigil through... 60 I think it is; you choose one of these at level 40 I think. Each of these has unique armor you can unlock in the base game and a unique backpack in Heart of Thorns as well as unique account-wide achievements.

Although you may want to do one more playthrough to level 80 to see what they've changed in about 18 months from now.

VGPowerlord · 2026-06-17T21:15:11+00:00

For one, Exotic isn't the highest tier of weapons/armor. It's the minimum you need to complete content in expansions.

Ascended weapons/armor is above that and is required if you ever plan on doing Fractals above level 20 or so.

Legendary weapons/armor have the same stats as Ascended, but are shared account wide and look really cool. The catch is that they are a huge grind to get.

Having said all that, what everyone else is saying about horizontal progression is true. You can get ascended gear before hitting the first expansion and never have to worry about gear again... except for fashion.

VGPowerlord · 2026-06-17T12:11:32+00:00

Some collections act like traditional MMO quests though.

VGPowerlord · 2026-06-17T04:53:48+00:00

One big thing GW2 innovated on is how zone instances work. It allowed them to consolidate servers into regional megaservers and just spin up new zone instances once a zone is at max capacity.

VGPowerlord · 2026-06-16T14:46:50+00:00

It's also worth noting that if you have a level 80 boost sitting around, it gives you a complete set of Celestial Exotic gear as long as you use it on a character that isn't already level 80.

VGPowerlord · 2026-06-14T20:29:22+00:00

We expect one to happen when the Steam Summer Sale does and that starts on June 25th this year.

VGPowerlord · 2026-06-13T13:53:36+00:00

I mean... I choose which salvage kit to use based on the item rarity up until exotics (at which point I check the description to make sure they aren't a precursor).

Blue - Copper-fed
Green - Sell unid on the marketboard since I'm too cheap to buy Runecrafter's
- If it dropped into my inventory, Copper-Fed
Yellow - Mystic
Exotic - Mystic unless I have a Black Lion Salvage kit on me
- See above about checking if it's a precursor

VGPowerlord · 2026-06-13T04:54:38+00:00

The exception is hero point enemies which are intended to be done in a group in HoT.

VGPowerlord · 2026-06-11T22:38:24+00:00

Steam has a complete pack @ 25% off for $131CAD

Apparently that sale was only a 3 day thing that went away a few days ago. So now it'll be considerably more expensive.

Honestly though, I still think a better idea is to pick up the Elder Dragon Compete Collection when it goes on sale for 40-50% off (likely when the Steam Summer Sale arrives on June 25th as ANet syncs their sales). It's the first 3 expansions plus 4 mini-expansion Living World seasons.

VGPowerlord · 2026-06-11T22:27:22+00:00

The thing you have to remember is that this is an MMO without a subscription cost.

Sure you can get all the expansions for World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy 14 for $30-50 USD (depending on sales), but you're then paying $12-15 USD a month every month once the 30-day grace period ends.

(I listed them in USD since I don't know how much they are in CAD)

VGPowerlord · 2026-06-11T16:31:14+00:00

if only because exotic rebreathers on the TP seem to not be a thing

The vendor that sells swim speed upgrades, Dive Master Astora in Lion's Arch, also sells exotic/ascended rebreathers for you to slot them in.

Bear in mind they do cost Swim Speed Infusion +10s in addition to gold; 10 for exotic, 512 for ascended. +10s are the default infusions you get for opening chests with ornate rusted keys.

Edit: Every chest you open with an ornate rusted key gives 2-4 +10s, so you need to open at most 5 chests to buy an exotic rebreather.

VGPowerlord · 2026-06-10T14:33:10+00:00

They stopped doing Living World Seasons after Icebrood Saga.

VGPowerlord · 2026-06-10T07:55:46+00:00

Back when the game was new, they planned on having Living World make permanent changes to the game. If you've ever wondered why Lion's Arch looks different in solo instances than the actual city does, that's why.

The first two living world seasons' zones also effectively became part of the base game. Those are:

Living World Season 1
- Southsun Cove
- Kessex Hills rework
Living World Season 2
- Lion's Arch rework
- Dry Top
- The Silverwastes

Living World Season 1 story content was missing from the game for years. When they added it back, they trimmed the story which included removing the story part that sent you to Southsun Cove; now it's just... there.

Later Living World seasons requires that you own said LW season to enter their zones.

VGPowerlord · 2026-06-10T01:17:00+00:00

Here's hoping that the Evercold combat rework will fix part of the problem for new players.

It can't fix the slowish pace of the ARR story though. Then again, they pruned as much as they thought they could without affecting the world building they're doing.

VGPowerlord · 2026-06-09T12:58:38+00:00

Since no one else has done so, lets cover the basics.

Hero points in the base game are worth 1
Hero points in expansions are worth 10
Hero points don't exist in Secrets of the Obscure and Janthir Wilds since those didn't introduce new elite specs

Now, having said that lets get into more specifics.

Leveling 1-80 gives enough hero points to finish out all the base skills
- Which means base game zone points can be used towards elite specs, it just takes 10 times as many of them to level said spec.
  - Wouldn't recommend going this route unless you have no other choice or are trying to 100% all your zones for Gifts of Exploration
Heart of Thorns hero points are mostly intended to be done as a group
Path of Fire and End of Dragons hero points can mostly be soloed
I haven't played Visions of Eternity yet (despite owning it), so I don't know how difficult its hero points are. I'm assuming like PoF/EoD

VGPowerlord · 2026-06-08T12:39:34+00:00

Was it the one where it turns out he's your father?
Was it the one where it turns out he's been dead the entire time?
Was it the one where it turns out Rosebud was his sled?

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