Guild Wars 2

I don’t have HOT yet but am thinking of buying it.

But, what I don’t understand is HP’s.
What is the difference between HP’s, Tomes of Knowledge, Spirit Shards, etc?

I noticed for my main character it said something like 29 HP’s, which to me is arbitrary as I can’t figure out where that number comes from.

Then there’s the Gold medal for characters, and a reddish one.

Any clarification available?

Okay, let’s start with how it was before:
There were skill points on the map that you used for your skills/traits. The remaining skill points were used for mystic forge crafting materials.
You also got one skill point for each level up beyond 80.

The system changed now: Skill points became hero points now which have the same purpose, but you can’t trade them in for mystic forge material. Instead, you use spirit shards for those – spirit shards are random drops, reward for dailys etc.

Tomes of Knowledge give you a level up if you’re under 80 or a spirit shard if you’re 80.

Can’t figure out what you mean with gold / reddish medal, sorry.

Hero Points (formerly a combination of trait points and skill points) are what you use to unlock your specialization traits and utility skills. You will get 400 Hero Points simply for level from 1-80, which is enough to fully unlock all of the core specializations and abilities. From there, the elite specializations costs another 250 Hero Points, which will unlock the associated elite specialization traits, abilities, achievements, and weapons. Hero Points beyond the ones you get from leveling are earned by doing hero challenges around the world where core Tyria hero challenges grant 1 Hero Point each and Maguuma Jungle hero challenges grant 10 Hero Points each.

Tomes of Knowledge are used to level characters under level 80. Upon reaching level 80, using a Tome of Knowledge will give you some amount of Spirit Shards rather than adding experience. It is recommended not to use them for this purpose unless you don’t have any more characters to level.

Spirit Shards (formerly skill points but the mechanics have since changed) were converted from existing Skill Points. Spirit Shards are no longer used for learning skills but are instead used to buy Mystic Forge materials from Miyani in Lion’s Arch. These are occasionally found as drops from kills, in daily chests, etc.

Also this:

Can’t figure out what you mean with gold / reddish medal, sorry.

Maybe by gold / reddish medals he’s referring to the masteries? They appear in standard maps as gold medal thingys and in HoT ones as red~ also reflected in these colors on the hero page.

I think CD673141 is right as I see those on the Hero page, but it says I need HOT to access, so that makes sense.

You use those hero points to unlock mastery tracks after you have gained enough exp to max out tier 1you spend 1 point.
To be able to to do tier 2 then experience fill out bar spend another 2 hero points to be able to gain exp for tier 3 etc