Guild Wars 2

I’ve recently come back to GW2 after a long hiatus, and as a result I haven’t bought the HoT expansion yet.

I’ve leveled up a new Necro to 63, and once I hit 80 I’ll max crafting professions and get full exotic before considering to purchase HoT – I reckon that’ll take me about a month from now.

I’ve heard people mention that pre-ordering the expansion when it is released would give me instant access to HoT between then and the actual release of the new expansion, is that the case?

My motivation for potentially buying HoT now before the new expansion is that, by the time I played LS2, the maps were fairly dead and I don’t want my HoT experience to be ruined by lack of players (especially since I hear it is full of group content) – something which I fear might happen when the new expansion comes out.

… also, I wanna glide

Anyway, what would you suggest is the best option, given that I’d be purchasing HoT in about a month if I decided to do so? Finances aren’t a major issue, but at the same time I don’t want to spend money when I don’t need to.

Thanks in advance peeps

(Side note – I’ve been there got the t-shirt when it comes to a lot of core content. Aside from dungeons and fractals, there’s not much left to do so HoT would keep me satisfied until the new expansion)

Sometimes ANet has a sale on HOT. With the US 4th of July coming up, they might have a discount on HOT. If they do, then I would say purchase it.

Well the HoT maps will likely have less players as many will be in the new maps. If you intend to do anything on those maps, you’ll have difficultly. Eventually players will go back to those maps but possibly not as many as there currently are now.

If you don’t mind all of that, it’s cheaper to wait until later this year for the next expansion.

I don’t think pre-purchasing the expansion would give you access to HoT. I haven’t seen that announced anywhere.

It’s probably at least a year until next expansion so you might have a long wait ahead if you choose to do that. Get HoT, it’s worth it

Back when HoT was announced, they revealed that they would bundle all expansions together and only offer the latest one, just as the core game was bundled into HoT.

If you want to assume that’ll still happen, do not buy HoT from 3rd parties, as it’ll essentially be a waste of money unless you want to gamble on what the bonuses will be. For example, owning the core game granted you an outfit and a free character slot for pre-purchasing the expansion. The expansion should be revealed shortly after the final episode, which should be released within the next month. Although the expansion certainly won’t be out for several months at the very least, pre-purchasing will likely be made available within the next 2 months. If ArenaNet repeats how they handled HoT, anyone purchasing HoT directly from the store at this time will be refunded upon purchasing the next expansion. This is why 3rd parties are a waste of money, as they’ll receive the potential bonuses instead of a refund.

If you just want to buy HoT right now and don’t care about the refund, it can currently be found for $15.

Healix.5819:

Back when HoT was announced, they revealed that they would bundle all expansions together and only offer the latest one, just as the core game was bundled into HoT.

If you want to assume that’ll still happen, do not buy HoT from 3rd parties, as it’ll essentially be a waste of money unless you want to gamble on what the bonuses will be. For example, owning the core game granted you an outfit and a free character slot for pre-purchasing the expansion. The expansion should be revealed shortly after the final episode, which should be released within the next month. Although the expansion certainly won’t be out for several months at the very least, pre-purchasing will likely be made available within the next 2 months. If ArenaNet repeats how they handled HoT, anyone purchasing HoT directly from the store at this time will be refunded upon purchasing the next expansion. This is why 3rd parties are a waste of money, as they’ll receive the potential bonuses instead of a refund.

If you just want to buy HoT right now and don’t care about the refund, it can currently be found for $15.

So if I purchase the HoT expansion pack AFTER pre-purchases for the new expansion begin, I will receive a full refund for it as well as the bonuses? And a 3rd party would still provide the bonuses, only it won’t provide the refund?

Maybe, maybe not. The reason purchases were refunded last time was due to miscommunication in the FAQ pages, which seemed to indicate one would need to purchase the Core game in order to access HoT.

That issue is unlikely to happen this time around. I would not count on a refund, unless the purchase of HoT is within days of Expansion 2’s pre-purchase release, and one then pre-purchases Expansion 2 immediately.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Maybe, maybe not. The reason purchases were refunded last time was due to miscommunication in the FAQ pages, which seemed to indicate one would need to purchase the Core game in order to access HoT.

That issue is unlikely to happen this time around. I would not count on a refund, unless the purchase of HoT is within days of Expansion 2’s pre-purchase release, and one then pre-purchases Expansion 2 immediately.

Hmm, that would make sense.

I suppose in that case the options left are either buying from a cheap 3rd party, waiting for a sale or waiting a few months for the new expansion. As RupertAndi mentioned, they might have a sale soon so I’ll keep an eye out for that.

If pre-purchasing does not allow access to HoT content immediately, I guess I’ll buy HoT in the next month because I don’t want to go through the cycle of running out of content, quitting the game and then missing another expansion pack again haha.

Thanks for the help, everyone

The best advice I can give you is to use a guild to do the HoT content. The maps are already dead since the expansion is now well over a year old.

At best, you can find a meta map with alot of players in it.

As far as waiting to buy the next expo, keep in mind it likely won’t be released until at least six months after the announcement. HoT took like a year to be released after the announcement, if I remember correctly (my memory is fuzzy).

So in other words.. don’t hold your breath. We have no info right now.

We do have the information that the expansion will release with the same cadence as Living World Episodes, though with a bit more time for logistics (retailer copies/keys, etc.)