Guild Wars 2

GW1. I want to know the lore of GW1 and (finally) started playing it. Just made it past the Searing and… wow! I didn’t realize how big this game was when I bought it 8 years ago.

That said, suddenly, this seems like a daunting task. So far, I’ve barely just saw the names of NPCs from Ascalonian Catacombs. Is it worth it to play through all of GW1 to learn all of this or should I find some other method?

well, GW1 is still a pretty solid game, but a lot of the meat of the lore is hidden in sidequests and stuff, things you wouldn’t necessarily come across just playing the campaigns. either way, i think it’s worth checking it out.

Seriously, a lot of the lore is found through exploration and searching it out. Just running through the whole story and minimal side-quests or explorations . . . doesn’t cut it.

I’m going to aim for the Cartographer title, too!

Koviko.3248:

I’m going to aim for the Cartographer title, too!

You poor fool.

Best of luck to you with that. Remember to explore EVERY area you step into thoroughly.

Koviko.3248:

I’m going to aim for the Cartographer title, too!

there’s a TEXmod that should help you with that.

from one cartographer to another, you won’t get the title unless you use it. trust me.

it’s not like GW2 where massive swaths of map get uncovered at once. you’ll have to hug walls like you wanted them to have your kids.

How… solo-able is GW1? I’m getting the feeling that solo-ability was a feature added with GW2 that wasn’t present in GW1, like buyback and out-of-combat movement speed.

Koviko.3248:

How… solo-able is GW1? I’m getting the feeling that solo-ability was a feature added with GW2 that wasn’t present in GW1, like buyback and out-of-combat movement speed.

GW1 is very much about party composition, but that doesn’t mean your party members have to be human.

there are henchmen of pretty much every profession in every outpost that you can “invite” to your party, and once you get to nightfall and later EotN (if you’re playing them in order), there are heroes, which are like henchmen that you can customize the skills of.

honestly i can only think of a couple missions i had trouble soloing (fighting abaddon in nightfall, for one). but the system should very much allow you to go through it all on your own, even if you end up requiring a build guide or a walkthrough for the toughest missions (which aren’t that many anyway).

the biggest challenge in GW1 is surviving the mind numbing boredom of kaineng city in factions :P made me quit the game for a long time, that place. i eventually got back, but good god, i hope it was all set on fire if we ever visit cantha in GW2.

You can solo fine, but you need to learn how. Heroes help out immensely, once you can really equip skills you want.

People in GW1 were telling me that Nightfall and Factions don’t really have much in terms of story. Is that true or an exaggeration?

It’s not true at all. Plenty of interesting story in all three campaigns (more in Nightfall than in Factions, though I personally like “the feel” of Factions better).

I think maybe what people in GW1 were trying to tell you, is that Nightfall and Factions doesn’t really have much in terms of story that is related to GW2. Which is true.

Oh, okay. IIRC, Nightfall and Factions are supposed to be Cantha and Elona (not particularly in that order), right? So, when (read: if) Anet releases those continents, then those would become relevant?

Koviko.3248:

People in GW1 were telling me that Nightfall and Factions don’t really have much in terms of story. Is that true or an exaggeration?

wat? nightfall has by far the best campaign in GW1 :/ and one of the longest too.

factions isn’t that well executed though. it’s really cool on paper (which is why people like woodenpotatoes make it sound so awesome), but the execution is rather poor. still cool to see it for yourself (especially the locations, kaineng aside)

and yes, the story in those games is relevant to GW2, moreso nightfall than factions, since it deals with kormir and abaddon, but they will really become relevant once those continents come into play (like why cantha is so isolationist, or why there is an undead overlord ruling over elona)

I refuse to read “if”! You insult me! :P
But, yes, that’s the way it work yeah. However, some of the latest stuff regarding the Crystal Desert (The Ghostly Hero – aka Turai Ossa – in the “Arcane Obscura” instance) is partly tied to Nightfall (Elona) lore.
See (don’t know if you know this already, but): the continents Tyria and Elona are connected through the Crystal Desert. There are no seas separating the two. So down in that area there is some lore cross-over.

This map shows you the approximate locations of each continent in comparison to eachother. Tyria in the north, Elona south of the Crystal Desert, Cantha at the far south.

P.S. Even though ANet never releases Elona or Cantha, both are absolutely worth playing if you develop a liking for the Prophecies campaign!

Ohhh. That’s where the Crystal Desert is? I really do need to play GW1. I’m messing up all kinds of things in these lore discussions! What order should I play them in? The order that they were released? Or would Prophecies → EotN → Nightfall & Factions be fine? My goal is to “catch up” to you guys before HoT is released.

I just have to find a way to adjust to being able to play GW1 and then do my dailies in GW2 without pressing all of the wrong buttons and wasting my dodges.

The sequence it got released would make most sense story-wise, since that is also the chronological order (Prophecies & Factions =1072AE > Nightfall = 1075AE > EotN = 1078AE).

However, if you want to go for just the most GW2-relevant lore I’d suggest you go for Prophecies and then EotN.

P.S. Don’t think about that yet, start out with Prophecies, and if you really like it: just play the whole thing

Koviko.3248:

Ohhh. That’s where the Crystal Desert is? I really do need to play GW1. I’m messing up all kinds of things in these lore discussions! What order should I play them in? The order that they were released? Or would Prophecies -> EotN -> Nightfall & Factions be fine? My goal is to “catch up” to you guys before HoT is released.

I just have to find a way to adjust to being able to play GW1 and then do my dailies in GW2 without pressing all of the wrong buttons and wasting my dodges.

historically, the release dates are also the order in which the events happened. honestly, of all the campaigns, EotN is the one that will offer you the least “new, interesting lore”, since it was basically a set up to GW2 and as such, you end up learning a lot of it by playing GW2, but it’s definitely still worth checking, if only to see who’s that charr with the massive statue in the middle of ashford, or that norn in wayfarer, or where the name “sons of svanir” comes from.

Titus.4285:

The sequence it got released would make most sense story-wise, since that is also the chronological order (Prophecies & Factions =1072AE > Nightfall = 1075AE > EotN = 1078AE).

However, if you want to go for just the most GW2-relevant lore I’d suggest you go for Prophecies and then EotN.

P.S. Don’t think about that yet, start out with Prophecies, and if you really like it: just play the whole thing

There’s also Beyond content (circa 1079-1080 AE) that can easily be started after Prophecies and Factions – so if you start seeing far more complex enemies in your quests, you just started up Beyond. Best to wiki what counts as Beyond content, so you don’t accidentally begin that.

All in all most of the lore is in side quests and quest texts.

Wooden Potatoes has a very good lore play through, so I would suggest doing a bit of a play along. Play a bit, watch a vid and see what you missed, repeat. Plus if the task is too daunting you can just watch the vids instead.

The game is pretty soloable, at least for the most part. There are some missions that may trip you up.

Hope this helps.