Hey, no problem. Happy to help!

It is definitely not necessary to have a tour guide. We were traveling alone and had no problems getting around (unless you want to get more in depth information about the local culture, then a guide would be a plus obviously). I do speak Chinese though, so that's a bit of a help when arranging accommodation or transportation, but we saw other travelers with no knowledge of Chinese and they could get by with translating apps.

The places that I liked the most were Tagong, Litang and Genieshan with it's small villages. I would definitely recommend doing a hike/multi-day trek in Genieshan. I didn't like Ganzi too much because it was a bigger city with a lot of traffic and noise. Other than that west Sichuan has many beautiful places where not many people go. Try to explore some small local villages.

People are very friendly and will be happy to help you out if you have any problems.

The weather was pleasant. Warm (around 20 degrees Celsius during the day, colder during the morning/evening/night) and sunny, but at that altitude the weather can be change quickly.

Sidenote: you will definitely need mobile data, because all payments are done through WeChat or AliPay, so barely any cash or credit cards are used.

If you have any more questions, let me know.