Guild Wars 2

is there a good place for a begineers guide to the Lore of GW2? I have noticed there isn’t a great deal of it in the actual game itself and so it would be good to understand it to set the mood more. ty

Really? Ive found there to be an almost overwhelming amount of lore. A good start might be to look at Wooden Potatoes Lore videos. You should be able to find them on Youtube. You can also try the wiki which you can get to from a tab on the top of this page.

Also have a look at the GW main page. There some information on the world to be gleaned from it as well. If there is something in particular you want to know about asking on this forum will probably get you answers.

Reading the two novels is a good way to get the backstory of Destiny’s Edge and the current state of the world.

I think you can pick up a lot of lore from just exploring and talking to NPCs – go off the beaten track. However maybe I just think that because I know the lore well and recognise things when I see them!

The novels have a lot of good stuff (and are easy to read, fairly typical tie-in novels). If you want history try The Movement of the World (but this is probably most interesting if you’re a GW1 player, since it fills in the gaps). The wiki in general is a great resource on specific topics!

I suggest also picking up the books: Ghosts of Ascalon and Destiny’s Edge. Good starting points.

I would start here:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Timeline

Bluefunk.2758:

is there a good place for a begineers guide to the Lore of GW2? I have noticed there isn’t a great deal of it in the actual game itself and so it would be good to understand it to set the mood more. ty

You’re looking in the wrong places because I see an exponentially huge amount of lore all over the place. They don’t come out and say “this is the lore!” (figuratively speaking, of course), but it is there.

But there is no “beginner’s guide to lore of GW2” in the means of lore that’s in the game bogged down for folks yet, simply because it’s still so new and we’re still learning all there is in the game.

The two links above will give you background information though.

Just read everything you can, especially the stuff that catches your eye. Do this in the game, in the books, on the official wikis, in this forum. Curious about something? Look it up. Don’t hesitate. Look up other things that first thing references. Don’t stop until you run out of things that you want to know more about right now, and do it again when there’s something else you want to know more about.

That’s the beginner’s guide to lore.

Oh, man!

So I played GW 1 at release of the core game and only for about 3 months. Never played any of the expansions. So I have a LOT of catching up to do.

Wooden Potatoes lore videos are nice but there is so much lore that to take it in all at once makes my head spin.

Question: Are the GW novels well written or are they targeted at younger readers? Contemplating picking one up but not sure I want to do that if the writing is too simplistic.

How does the writing in the GW books compare to say… the Wheel of Time or the Song of Ice and Fire series?

I would start here, this youtube video will definetely show you how the human race came around to Tyria, after that, i guess play Guild Wars, then go to the time-line or, just read between the lines in GW2 conversations.

Good luck.

Grizzly, I enjoyed both the novels. I wouldn’t say they’re targeted at younger readers – they’re simple, but in a straightforward, wise-cracking, adventure story kind of way. Nothing too complex or too amazingly written, but you can read them in a short time and get a taster of a lot of bits of lore and character stuff. Plus, there are references to the events of the novels laced throughout the game, which are fun to find once you know what you’re looking at!

So, not high literature, but amusing enough.

@Grizzly: The books are definitely not targets at younger audiences. In fact, I’d say they’re targeted for older (decapitations, grisly self-moving limbs, undead bodies being ground to goo), but not by much.

I enjoyed both novels, though Edge of Destiny is – plot wise – far lesser. Neither is outright needed to learn the main plot, though they do give insights on other things, especially Ghosts of Ascalon.

I’ve never read Wheel of Time or Song of Ice and Fire, so I can’t compare, but as Curuniel said, they’re not high literature. GoA is certainly better than most game-based novels though.