Guild Wars 2

So, I bought the game, pre-ordered actually, I played around with it for a few hours but never really got into it. I was distracted with college and Team fortress 2. Now, I’ve got more free time and I want to get back, or rather, get into GW2.

So, my questions:

1.)What are some NEED TO KNOW things, for example items of common knowledge that you wish you knew when starting.
2.) Are there any aspects of the game I should avoid?
3.)What should my focus be?
4.)How much has changed since release?
5.)Has the game become Pay2win, or is it just aesthetics?

I may think of more, but I appreciate the help.

1. I wish I knew about WvW so I didnt end up in FC… (Though Im honor bound at this point to stay there)
2. Not really. People shouldnt limit themselves. Ive tried basically everything cept Fractals…..yet. Avoid being a jerk maybe? :P
3. Fun. If not having it, why play?
4. Dunno, I joined late. Alot Im betting.
5. Nope. Nothing I know of you can buy that tips any scales

This person has done a great job of amalgamating knowledge http://dulfy.net/category/gw2/
avoiding things? not that I can think of unless it is personal preference.
focus on fun as Saelune said
It has developed, can’t really give specifics since it would cover a lot of ground, just read the patch notes that are archived.
Aesthetics are the goal, nothing gives a boost that can be bought that can’t be earned in game.

Thanks for the help, good advice and that website looks really promising.

For the need to know things:
Alt+Move splits the stack.
Ctrl+Click pings an item directly to chat while Shift+Click puts the link in your current text line.
Start phasing yourself out of defensive builds sooner than later, once you learn the typical tells of enemies, you’ll be able to avoid 99% of all damage anyways.
If and when you buy gems with gold, check the history and make sure you don’t buy right as some big gem store thing is announced; you could end up paying twice what you should pay for them.

Way too much to list! Check out the sticky at the top of Players Helping Players:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/OMG-If-you-only-knew-this-tips-for-new-players/first