Guild Wars 2

I am new to the Guild Wars 2 game, and as such haven’t played the first part, which is a trilogy (available on steam). GW 2 could just be the came that could get me hooked on. I would like to read more about GW2 story – Which is the novel that I should be reading so that I can understand the story line much better in GW2?

If someone could shed light on this less talked about topic, it would be great!

The three GW2 novels are Ghosts of Ascalon, Edge of Destiny and Sea of Sorrows. All three deal with selected aspects of the overall picture of the GW universe.

Ghosts of Ascalon, the first to be published, is chronologically closest to the actual start of GW2, the year 1325. It tells how the peace negotiations between human Kryta and the Charr became possible, by a group of adventurers searching for an artifact of great importance to the Charr. The novel is highly interesting to read for those interested in the Prophecies campaign of GW1, in old GW1 lore.

Edge of Destiny, published second, plays a few years before GoA and has the most relevance to your personal story in GW2. It tells how the racial mentors you meet ingame came together to fight Elder Dragon champions and how they tried to kill an Elder Dragon, failed and split up. But ingame their ongoing story is mostly told in the dungeons. Still, the novel explains their story far better than what you get to know ingame.

Sea of Sorrows tells the events during the lifetime of one person, mostly the rising of the Elder Dragon Zhaitan, the world-changing destruction it caused and what came out of it – the destruction of the old city of Lion’s Arch and how it got “rebuilt”. It is the most distant in time to the ingame events.

If i had to recommend one out of the three for someone not acustomed to the game yet then i’d say Edge of Destiny as it has the most relevance for your own personal story and offers a slightly wider view of the ingame world than GoA.

Theoretically, you don’t need to read any to understand the game.

The important parts of GoA, based a year before the Personal Story, are explained in the Ascalon Catacombs story dungeon and Field of Ruins summit area.

The important parts of EoD are explained in Sorrow’s Embrace story dungeon.

The important parts of SoS are found on the Marriner Plaques.

Similarly, the few relevant gw1 parts are explained when relevant. Though called a sequel, the first game really only acts as Easter eggs and base background lore.

IMO, of the novels, SoS was best written (then GoA then EoD), but EoD gave the most lore but GoA and SoS, IMO, are equal in lore).

Thanks to both Frosch.7809 and Konig Des Todes.2086 for their well explained replies. The story does eventually unfold in the game itself as I explore.

Since I haven’t played Guild Wars 1, and have just gotten into the story from Guild Wars 2 — As Frosch.7809 mentions, Edge of Destiny talks about GW2.

Will it make any sense for me to just read the Edge of Destiny first, or do I need to read the books in sequence as well?

The books are unrelated and as such can be read in any order. The order of release was the order of intended ‘lore reveals’ though.

If you really want to get into lore, I suggest doing the following:

1. Play through GW1 (preferred order: Prophecies→Factions→NIghtfall→Eye of the North→War in Kryta→Heart of the North→Winds of change), reading the manuals for each before beginning each campaign.
2. Read any other external lore documents (e.g., An Empire Divided and The Movement of the World).
3. Read the novels in timeline chronological order (Sea of Sorrows→Edge of Destiny→Ghosts of Ascalon)
4. Play the Personal Story
5. Read a Season 1 summary
6. Play Season 2

IMO, GW1 has a far stronger story than GW2 does, especially the Living World, and can even be fun to play still, however this may turn you to have a view much like the veterans which has, until E5, been a “GW2 is ignoring and even greatly changing GW1’s great lore for worse lore!”; you can’t play Season 1, unfortunately, so you’ll have to go with summaries there.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

IMO, GW1 has a far stronger story than GW2 does, especially the Living World, and can even be fun to play still, however this may turn you to have a view much like the veterans which has, until E5, been a “GW2 is ignoring and even greatly changing GW1’s great lore for worse lore!”

@ the bolded: That thought defines my view of GW2 to this very day. Playing E5 did not help dissuading it at all, unfortunately. On the contrary; after finishing Hidden Arcana I’m in greater agreement with that notion than ever.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

The books are unrelated and as such can be read in any order. The order of release was the order of intended ‘lore reveals’ though.

If you really want to get into lore, I suggest doing the following:

1. Play through GW1 (preferred order: Prophecies->Factions->NIghtfall->Eye of the North->War in Kryta->Heart of the North->Winds of change), reading the manuals for each before beginning each campaign.
2. Read any other external lore documents (e.g., An Empire Divided and The Movement of the World).
3. Read the novels in timeline chronological order (Sea of Sorrows->Edge of Destiny->Ghosts of Ascalon)
4. Play the Personal Story
5. Read a Season 1 summary
6. Play Season 2

IMO, GW1 has a far stronger story than GW2 does, especially the Living World, and can even be fun to play still, however this may turn you to have a view much like the veterans which has, until E5, been a “GW2 is ignoring and even greatly changing GW1’s great lore for worse lore!”; you can’t play Season 1, unfortunately, so you’ll have to go with summaries there.

Nice, that’s more or less what I was aking for in another thread

I only miss the two external documents (will read soon) and Sea of Sorrows. Is it a good read ? This could be a nice christmas idea to give to my family^^

Thank you for your advice !

Lyndis.4653:

I only miss the two external documents (will read soon)

I’m pretty sure that the two Konig mentions are just mentioned as examples, there are more. You can find them here: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Category:Tales. It might be that there are some missing though. The most important document, by far, is The Movement of the World.

Yeah, they were just examples. The GW1 list to go to the above GW2 list:
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Category:History_of_Tyria

But the most important ones would be An Empire Divided and The Movement of the World.

Lyndis.4653:

Is it a good read ?

I personally really enjoyed SoS and felt like it was a more immersive read?

Great thanks for the inputs everyone! I’ve already gotten my hands wet in GW Factions. This should get the story going straight. Though I don’t find anyone online there, and the game as people said isn’t mmo in the real sense, its just multi-player with towns where you can party up with people.

Be sure to be in American districts when in gw1, and try to find an active guild. Folks are often congregating in Kamadan (Nightfall), Embark Beach (any campaign), and Temple of the Ages (Prophecies) last I saw.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Heeding your advice, I’ve completed the game manual for Guild War Prophecies, and the lore definitely making the first edition sound so much fun. Now that I’ve read the manual for the first part, I’m more interested in completing GW 1 rather than the Amazing GW2!

I wonder how much time is it gonna take before I can play GW2? Perhaps I’ll play both side by side now? Or perhaps that would be too much for me…

I’m surprised nobody brought this up, but WoodenPotatoes on youtube has some great videos on guild wars 1 and the lore.

I don’t really have time to do a full playthrough, but enjoyed watching his LP while working.

He also has some great lore series, including “Guild Wars 2 Mysteries” and “GW2 Storytime” where he reads the published stories.

I would start off with his GW2 story summary playlist to get your feet wet:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL00553A085339802C

The rest of his channel is here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/WoodenPotatoes

BlackBeard.2873:

I’m surprised nobody brought this up, but WoodenPotatoes on youtube has some great videos on guild wars 1 and the lore.

Nobody brings it up because I guess general consensus is that WP gets things wrong/puts a lot of his own conjecture into his videos. Which is fine, but if you’re trying to objectively introduce someone into the lore of the GW universe, then having errors and opinions presented as if they’re fact can get a little problematic because other people start spreading false ideas. (But I do really like his videos and he seems like a greta guy with a genuine enthusiasm for the lore)

FlamingFoxx.1305:

BlackBeard.2873:

I’m surprised nobody brought this up, but WoodenPotatoes on youtube has some great videos on guild wars 1 and the lore.

Nobody brings it up because I guess general consensus is that WP gets things wrong/puts a lot of his own conjecture into his videos. Which is fine, but if you’re trying to objectively introduce someone into the lore of the GW universe, then having errors and opinions presented as if they’re fact can get a little problematic because other people start spreading false ideas. (But I do really like his videos and he seems like a greta guy with a genuine enthusiasm for the lore)

As a dissenting opinion, I actually think WP is a great way to get people introduced. He’s not always right, but he gets the broad and even not-so-broad strokes down pat, and he consistently does so with enthusiasm. As far as our community in general goes, I think it’s a lot more valuable to have the new guys excited than it is to have them correct. After all, the old hands here are great at correcting people, but not so good at making them want to stick around.

I don’t dislike WP or his videos. I dislike people talking as if he’s absolute fact and the inventor of all the theories he brings up, the finder of all the facts he presents (right or wrong), when really, he’s often getting his materials from reddit and this very forum (and before it died, Guru1/2). Honestly, I wouldn’t be shocked if his fans start claiming he invented the wheel – that’s how blown out of proportion crediting to him goes.

I say WP is a good introductory to the lore, a good means to get people interested in looking more into it, but they need to do that “looking more into it” – else they’re just spouting “facts” which are effectively a 50/50 chance to be either fact or theory.

Until you start a YouTube series, Konig, and become like the ShoddyCast to Elder Scrolls franchise for GW2, WoodenPotatoes remain in the driver’s seat for exciting YouTube series on Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2, ever since the Let’s Play GW1 and now up until date with musings on lore, speculative thoughts and tidbits – both to be taken as introduction to lore as well as some given artistic freedom to embellish, but he also offers theories based on his own research of all the available lore plus other people’s interpretations of it.

Lore is interesting, but it’s not going to win you a lot of attention spread across a bunch of articles, composed into an exciting story and presented in a dynamic video format however will. But of course, you should treat it as that, it’s not all facts.

Dondarrion.2748:

Until you start a YouTube series, Konig

I’ve contemplated such.

But I think Anet’s writing team needs to get me more invested in the longevity of the game.

And their marketing team.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Dondarrion.2748:

Until you start a YouTube series, Konig

I’ve contemplated such.

But I think Anet’s writing team needs to get me more invested in the longevity of the game.

And their marketing team.

You’re fishing for a job aren’t you?

I personally liked the idea of reading through the material, cause then the history of game unfolds the way its meant to be. (As many have said here, unbiased.)

However Konig Des Todes.2086, it would be too long to play through GW1 at this point, so I’ve gotten back to GW2, so that I don’t miss the fun on GW2. It’s a dynamic world there from what I’ve heard.

PS: It was great fun to read the manual of GW1 Prophecies! However I couldn’t find a manual for GW2. There’s only the strategy guide…

That is great, I only suggested WP because his videos, especially the story one I linked gives a good overview of what happened in GW1. If you want to listen to his presentation of other theories, that is great.

I just remember when trying to find some sources about what happened in GW1, there weren’t a lot of sources that had a good amount of detail without getting into the nitty-gritty.

Important part of my argument, that I somehow managed to miss out, is that WP does a great job of communicating GW2 out to the masses and creating sparks of enthusiasm and interest for lore.
The individual lore aficinado however will of course like to research all lore sources themselves and then WP might be taking a few too many liberties to remain 100% straight on facts.

And Konig; I saw Gaile reply to you as KDT the other day, so you’re halfway into the loremaster position at Anet now

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Dondarrion.2748:

Until you start a YouTube series, Konig

I’ve contemplated such.

But I think Anet’s writing team needs to get me more invested in the longevity of the game.

And their marketing team.

I think you should, you are the most popular on the LORE forums. Do it and I can assure you will get a following very quickly without the need of GW2 team. Maybe they will notice you, as they have noticed WP. BTW, Im going to add you IG

plletz.6940:

PS: It was great fun to read the manual of GW1 Prophecies! However I couldn’t find a manual for GW2. There’s only the strategy guide…

There isn’t one. Well, there is, but it’s only a single sheet of paper that basically directs you to the GW2 Wiki.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

There isn’t one. Well, there is, but it’s only a single sheet of paper that basically directs you to the GW2 Wiki.

It seems so long ago since developers actually cared enough to create a good manual. I think I’m going to re-read my Baldur’s Gate 2 handbooks, just for Volo and Elminster.

Well, there’s always been the online manual (https://www.guildwars2.com/en/manual/) but of course, it’s not like the manuals for Prophecies or EotN.