Guild Wars 2

Hey everyone! As the title may suggest I’m a returning player and I have not played for 2 years. I quit right before the HoT update and I’m not just getting back into it.

I don’t know where else to post this so sorry if its in the wrong place.

I only have a few questions actually.

Am I able to keep up from the Living World Developments? I’m a real fan of the whole History and Story development of GW2 (I’ve read the books. Loved them.)

Has the story for the main quest line and the Living World evolved so far out that I would be lost/clueless?

Has there been any major changes excluding HoT?

How’s the WvW and the server population? Is it still poppin?

Thats all for now really… I guess I have to patch the game now. SEE YA :P

“I’m not just getting back into it”…I meant to say I’m “now” just getting back into it. Typo :P

CookiesNCreamXP.9856:

Hey everyone! As the title may suggest I’m a returning player and I have not played for 2 years. I quit right before the HoT update and I’m not just getting back into it.
Welcome back

I don’t know where else to post this so sorry if its in the wrong place.
I’m happy to reply anyways

I only have a few questions actually.
Bring it on!

Am I able to keep up from the Living World Developments? I’m a real fan of the whole History and Story development of GW2 (I’ve read the books. Loved them.)
Well after Living story 1, which was the scarlet period, we saw introduyction of LS S2 whcih is unlockable if you havent got it unlocked for 1600 gems (8 chapters times 200 gems), this is the introduction to a lot of the stroy now going on in HoT. If you have interest in the story I would suggest you buy it, It will bring you to the new maps from before HoT and will allow you to unlock styats found in those maps (the jewels anyways). These new maps are called Dry Top and Silverwastes. Silverwastes is the main farm map of the majority of players. It is an engaging map.

Has the story for the main quest line and the Living World evolved so far out that I would be lost/clueless?
You would have some serious missing pieces… I’ll stop here, cause I do not want to spoil stuff. I would suggest you play LS S2 if you are into gw2 lore wise, S2 is better then HoT story lorewise and I even consider some of it nice replayable content for my alts.

Has there been any major changes excluding HoT?
YES. condition dmg is now viable if not more potent then DPS in many situations. The cap iof conditions has been raised from 25 stacks to 1500, fire and poison have become stackable as well torment was introduced, as was resistance and taunt.
This is the biggest change by far, other than this condition dmg change, we have a new lions arch, new stats (Sinister, Nomads) new foods (mostly from LS S2, and unlockable in Silverwastes and Dry top), Ascneded gear has become very expensive, leather is now valuable. and much more…
New WVW borders(which genereally weren’t so well recieved tbh)
Updated fractals. Dungeons have seen a nerf in rewards and as a consequence most players used to run dungeons have fanned out to other places in the game (partially factals and partially the HoT RAIDS)

How’s the WvW and the server population? Is it still poppin?
1st in the top 9 servers WvW is still good, though with a bit less ppl, in the next 9 numbers have gone down considerably, in the lower servers it’s pretty dead. EBG is generally still alive, borders are mostly dead below the 1st 9 servers. Dead since the introduction of the desert(ed) borderlands (= launch of HoT), Some changes were made to WvW and it is still playable though the mandatory WvW buffs are now linked to the guild hall. The guild hall is HoT content, but non_HoT owners can join a guild with an unlocked guild hall and gain benefits. Oh and Pirate Ship Meta…(mostly ranged bombs)

Thats all for now really… I guess I have to patch the game now. SEE YA :P

Have Fun. (added comments in BOLD)

CookiesNCreamXP.9856:

Am I able to keep up from the Living World Developments? I’m a real fan of the whole History and Story development of GW2 (I’ve read the books. Loved them.)

Excluding season one unfortunately, yes. You can play all of season two which leads into HoT.

They designed season one and two differently. Season one was a living open world event that happened at intervals that you had to be at in real time when it came out.

Someday they might bring season one back in the new format.

If you don’t have or are missing parts of season two, you should be able to pick up the parts you need for like ~200 gems.

CookiesNCreamXP.9856:

Has the story for the main quest line and the Living World evolved so far out that I would be lost/clueless?

Not especially. Same basic story. Each dragon does tend to bring a new trick or twist. But in general it’s easy to follow.

That said, a lot of major things happen in HoT.

CookiesNCreamXP.9856:

Has there been any major changes excluding HoT?

A whole bunch. New trait system, new pvp reward system, wvw EoTM map… a lot of the basic systems have been overhauled and improved over the years.

It’s not hard to figure out though.

Season two brought a couple new PvE maps prior to HoT out west. The drylands before the jungle area that opens up in HoT: Dry Top and The Silverwastes.

CookiesNCreamXP.9856:

How’s the WvW and the server population? Is it still poppin?

WvW has experienced a slight drop since HoT came out.

Most are waiting for the new revamps that Anet is going to do for WvW and a lot of people weren’t satisfied with the state of WvW post-HoT.

The top WvW servers still have a powerful presence in most places, even the new borderlands.

The lower tier servers that have always had coverage problems are worse for wear. Server population in general though?

Tons of people still play.

You may want to move servers if WvW is your thing and you’re not a server that WvW’s very much any more.

Otherwise the game is absolutely fine to return to. I did the same thing a while back and there’s tons of achievements and story to get stuck into and all the old stuff you may have done (farming in Orr, fractals, dailies, jumping puzzles) are all still there.

If you’re not in one, join a guild and get (back) into guild missions and grab those guild hall goodies. They’re very tasty!

Awesome! Thanks peeps

WvW = dead.
PvP = half dead because of bugs + terrible matching system.
PvE = timed maps and a LOT of grinding. I don’t mind the grinding, I think it’s relaxing so it’s OK but if you want to complete the HoT collections you have to redo the same content 9x, once for each class.

General Health said it well. There’s lots to do (more if you have HoT thanks to all the collections introduced that send you doing things all over the place, PvE wise).

Be aware that if you took your break two years ago you left well before the HoT update. Probably before Living Story 2, in fact — HoT just came out at the end of last October, after being announced at the end of January 2015. You can experience LS2 without buying it, though you cannot get the achieves or rewards from it, if you get someone who has unlocked it to run you through the chapters. If you logged in for even a few seconds (fully in game that is) at any point during the LS2 chapter releases, you will already have the chapters unlocked that you logged in during and not have to pay to unlock them now. I think it’s 200 gems per chapter?