Guild Wars 2

I just started playing GW2 for the first time, but I noticed that Living World Season 2 – Complete was on sale in the gem store. Seeing how I may be sticking with GW2 (really like it so far, why I never tried it before is beyond me!), should I start with season 1, then 2, then HoT?

Not sure how these modules or stories work yet (my highest toon is 34ish), but I like the idea of cash shop modules (well, that’s what we called them in D&D); however, I could not find a season 1. Is season 2 a continuation, so I’ll be jumping into something that I won’t get the background for? Or is it stand-alone, story-wise?

I’d like to progress slowly, as I enjoy the journey to end game more than end game, typically, so any advice is appreciated!

Sadly Season 1 is un-re playable at the moment, the devs have said the intedn to bring it back on way or another. There is a cool gw2 youtuber that made “Tyrian Characteology” series about almost all the major characters from Season 1, see all of them and you’ll get a pretty good feel of the Season

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLu6e24dQtVRerleVcx9bL0IRr1iyqy7NA

You should start with the games main/original storyline. There’s a ton to do all the way up to level 80 with the main story about fighting the Elder Dragon Zhaitan.
The Living Story updates are set after the personal story. Unfortunately as other’s have pointed out, Season 1 was temporary content. As such it’s not replayable at the moment, but hopefully will be in the future. The official wiki is a great place to read up on Season 1 though. http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Living_World_season_1

So once you’ve finished the personal story I’d recommend reading the plot of Season 1, and then continuing on to play Season 2 (which can be purchased as you’ve seen and is replayable). Unfortunately with how things were done jumping straight into Season 2 would leave you very confused. It’s a direct continuation of S1.

Heart of Thorns, the new expansion, continues on from Season 2, so I’d leave that until last.

Thanks all, I’ll keep progressing (and enjoying the trip) to level 80 and my personal story, then check out the youtube / wiki stuff on season 1…

Again, thank you all for the clarifications!

For properly experiencing the story, the best order to go with is:

• Personal Story chapters 1-4 (levels 10, 20, 30, 40)
• Ascalon Catacombs story (level 30)
• Personal Story chapters 5-6 (levels 50, 60)
• Caudecus Manor story (level 40)
• Twilight Arbor story (level 50)
• Personal Story chapter 7 (level 70)
• Sorrow’s Embrace story (level 60)
• Citadel of Flames story (level 70)
• Personal story chapter 8 (level 80) sans Victory or Death (final mission)
• Crucible of Eternity story (level 75)
• Honor of the Waves story (level 78)
• Victory or Death (final mission)
• Season 1 recap (actual content no longer available)
• Season 2
• Heart of Thorns

A couple notes:

The level differences in the Personal Story and the dungeon story modes is caused by a now-old update called the New Player Experience; originally personal story chapters weren’t all the same level or at every 10, but each mission was ~2 levels higher than the last, so the level order made more sense, but when they changed the personal story levels they didn’t change the dungeon story levels. The two were meant to run side-by-side after the beginning of chapter 4 of the PS and recombining with the final mission (which was originally both a PS step and a dungeon story mode).

Season 1 follows the personal story and, as mentioned above, is currently not available. Some ArenaNet devs have stated wanting to bring it back as permanent content in Season 2’s format but there are no current plans to actually do such. Instead, they added in a very unfulfilling recap, which becomes available at level 80.

Season 2 and Heart of Thorns are the same story arc, effectively, while the personal story/dungeon story were one arc and Season 1 was its own arc. You will not understand HoT well without Season 2 – and unfortunately, you’ll be left with a ‘huh?’ on Season 2 without enjoying Season 1. The best you can do is watch the recap, read the wiki’s summary, and any youtube videos suggested.

Also, one last thing. In the personal story, there are a lot of returning NPCs later on in the plot, however, their placement is predetermined to certain storylines – so even if your early storylines have characters that’d return, you might not actually see them and instead get these seemingly ‘new characters’ which you’re supposed to care about. If you want to see as many returning characters as possible in a single playthrough, I made a crude graph here a while ago. It’s not been updated with HoT (which sees some returning characters) though.

Excellent list, King Death! That is so very helpful! Thank you much! Vielen Dank!

Welcome Old Roy! Unfortunately Season 1 is unavailable. However here’s what you can do. Visit the GW2 Wiki to see the list of Living World updates in order, then go to Youtube and do a search for them (i.e. “Battle for Lion’s Arch”). That way you can feel like you got to experience them.