Guild Wars 2

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I have a lot of catching up to do with the LS, as I just barely started the fire island (sorry, the name escapes me) chapter but lost all interest by that point. But then I wonder how much of the new expansion will actually focus on the LS. Yes, I know that the expansion, like HoT, is a continuation of that story. But I am wondering if the maps and such will still be accessible even though I haven’t caught up in the story.

I know this is probably a silly question with an obvious answer (answer is probably “yes, you won’t be restricted”), but with how far behind in the LS I am, I am worried about how playing PoF will affect me if I haven’t gotten up to speed on the story so far. All I really want is to explore a more desert-like map (though some promotional images still makes it look more like Dry Top, not the kinds of deserts I loved in World of Warcraft).

You can always watch YouTube video playthroughs and skip past the combat portions to see the story. You can also read the summaries on the wiki.

The story episodes themselves don’t take all that long and you could probably finish them over a weekend at a leisurely pace.

The LS3 maps, if you logged in during the 2-3 months after their initial release, should be unlocked on your account. (I’m going to guess you’re on the Ember Bay chapter, learning more about Primordus, and not Dragonis Mons, where we’re chasing after Lazarus.) Once a chapter is unlocked, it is unlocked forever and can be replayed whenever you so choose. If you didn’t log in during those periods, you would need to buy the specific chapter to be able to play through the story and eventually unlock the new map. (Interestingly enough, I believe if you’ve unlocked the LS3 exclusive mastery, you can level it all the way up so long as you have enough Maguuma mastery points and earn XP in HoT/LS3 maps.)

As far as story locations, it seems as if PoF will start by taking a zeppelin from Lion’s Arch down to the Crystal Desert, and the story should take place entirely in the areas around there, leading southeast into Elona. None of the Living World maps really come close to where we’ll be exploring in PoF, and the FAQ says that no masteries from HoT will be needed to complete anything in the area, although they will be usable.