Guild Wars 2

Good afternoon, everyone.

I am coming back to Guild Wars 2 after an extended absence. I played the game upon initial release, but life took over and I have been unable to play since. Upon returning to the game, I am attempting to familiarize myself with the Living Story aspect of the game, and I am a little confused.

Is the content associated with each Living Story arc always available to a player? Or, does the story unfold in a serial manner, and only the current story arc can be played?

I’m reviewing all of the content that has been release for the game since I last played over one year ago, and I would love to participate in some of the events listed, but I am afraid that once the current arc for a given story event is completed, the content is no longer available to players.

Can someone please explain how the Living Story works, and how the content for each story arc is accessed?

Thank you for your help!

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Living_World_summary

Some parts of these story arcs left permanent changes and content while others like the election in Cutthroat Politics would make no sense to play through now. Many things are returning periodically, like when the Zephyrites will need to come again to trade with us or story dungeons being added as Fractals.

Just jump in, the water is fine. This video may help bring you back up to speed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce_dvXJercI

The Living Story content is temporary. Period.

If you missed it during the couple of weeks window when it was released it is gone.
No replayability. No refunds. No access to the rewards.

It’s ANet’s concept of keeping you attached to a game that has no subscription.

I’m sorry you’ve missed the content.

Different players will have different opinions as to whether you’ve actually missed anything.

Each arc last for about 2 weeks. After that, it’s gone and you can’t do it again. Whichever is the current arc, that’s the one that you can do.

There have been a few that are permanant, but most aren’t. Some might be returning in the future though, albeit a kittenanged.

Every two weeks, a new Living Story element is released. There’s one going on now alongside the Halloween event.

There is a Herald in each city that you can talk to if you’re lost. But usually, you get some in game mail that shows you what’s happening in the LS arc and at the bottom of the mail, there’s a “show me” button. You can hit it to show you where the LS arc is taking place. Once you’re there, there’s a golden starburst, either a NPC or some object, and interacting with it will start you on the patch.

To sum it up:
No, most of the LS you can’t go back and do because it’s temporary. Every two weeks you have a new LS element that shows up for some reward and some achievement points. After one is released, another will be on the same schedule almost. Talk to a herald or check your in game mail to see what the current arc is and where it’s started from.

Hope it helps.

Don’t forget the minigames! Southsun Survival and Sanctum Sprint were made permanent, if rotating and Sanctum Sprint is actually really fun!

I think you’ve got to treat the living story like a song on the radio. You can listen to the song that’s on the radio right now. There’s no point worrying about the songs you missed on the radio yesterday. If you come back to the GW2 you can enjoy the current update and hopefully by the time you need something else to do there’s another update coming.

The living story doesn’t rely on any history at all for any character. The down side is that it feels impersonal. The up side is that a new character can come into the story at any point and participate fully.

Stooperdale.3560:

I think you’ve got to treat the living story like a song on the radio. You can listen to the song that’s on the radio right now. There’s no point worrying about the songs you missed on the radio yesterday. If you come back to the GW2 you can enjoy the current update and hopefully by the time you need something else to do there’s another update coming.

I think of it more like moving to a new city. I cannot expect the city to go back in time and replay history for me but I can learn about it if I want to.