Guild Wars 2

So just verify that I’ve got this down, ok? As I understand it…

The Living Story is unlocked for my whole account, despite the fact that I only completed it with one character. But the achievements, which are account wide, can only be accessed and completed on a per-character basis once that character has finished the Living Story once.

Dry Top will remain as-is, since it’s got region achievements and is necessary to access the Living Story chapters.

Geodes and the respective vendors will remain in Dry Top as well.

On 7/15, we’ll simply get the next installment of the Living World Story, which will probably open up another section of Maguuma, but not reconfigure the existing Dry Top (for reasons mentioned above).

“The Living Story is unlocked for my whole account, despite the fact that I only completed it with one character.”

Yes

" But the achievements, which are account wide, can only be accessed and completed on a per-character basis once that character has finished the Living Story once."

Yes to the bonus achievements that are unlocked once you finish the story. If you complete the story on additional characters you will get the story rewards on every character (just like personal story rewards)

“Dry Top will remain as-is, since it’s got region achievements and is necessary to access the Living Story chapters.”
99% sure yes.

“Geodes and the respective vendors will remain in Dry Top as well.”
As far as we know

“On 7/15, we’ll simply get the next installment of the Living World Story, which will probably open up another section of Maguuma, but not reconfigure the existing Dry Top (for reasons mentioned above).”
As far as we know, yes. We don’t know if we’ll get new sections/zones or not, but it is likely.

I too would like clarification on what exactly WON’T remain for each of the installments.
If they would just say… this specific part will be gone, everything else stays, then I know what to expect.

any changes to the map (like the vines in Prosperity we saw in the trailer) will most likely be instanced.

The vine changes we are now seeing in several Open World maps are likely transitory. Much like the beached whales in Lion’s Arch. They may show up and affect Waypoints in a minor or major way for a period of time, and then..as the story progresses…move on/disappear/be taken care of.

Anything that might pertain to Achievements, though, is likely permanent to any map…old or new.