Guild Wars 2

I haven’t played GW2 since very early-on after release.

I purchased the core GW2 game and played all 8 classes through their “starter” zones up to level 32-ish and moved away from GW2 shortly thereafter (so only a couple months into the game being live). I haven’t touched it since.

I’m considering giving it another shot.

I know there have been some kind of live events over the years and there was a recent expansion (Heart of Thorns).

Question 1) Do I need (or is it strongly suggested) to get Heart of Thorns a.s.a.p.? …or does it not even matter till I get through the original core content? Is there any real significant reason to own HoT before you get a character through the original release’s content (aside from the new class, of course)? (note: Assuming you want to play through it aside from the “get a free level 80” thing)

Question 2) If I own the original GW2 version and purchased the base Heart of Thorns edition, would I have the “full” game – i.e. “all the expansion materials of note since the launch of the game”? …or are there more hidden purchases required to basically have the “full” current game?

Question 3) Which classes are currently the most solo-viable? I solo a lot and only normally really worry about group content in the end-game…

Question 4) This is always a subjective, hard to answer question… but I’ll try anyway. For an player new to the game (as I’d essentially be after all this time), how long does it commonly take to hit max level nowadays? Early on I remember it was a hell of a grind but things like that often change over the years in MMOs? I don’t need a hard hour count… just in general …and do you hit it in this time by playing through the content (questing, exploring, etc) or is there tons of kill grinding to progress at a reasonable pace?

Thanks in advance for any info!

1. You don’t need HoT to play the Core Game. As far as story, it doesn’t matter until your reach around level 80 or so. The only advantage in the core land is gliding, but you cannot obtain that until you complete the requirements in Heart of Maguuma.

2. Yes, you’d have the full game if you buy Heart of Thorns. The expansion includes the Core game. However, to gain the ‘perks’ from the Core game, you’d have to have gotten the Core game when or around it came out. The old ‘perks’ from Core game are not included à la the Collector’s Edition.

3. This depends on your play style, but PvE-wise necromancer and ranger are the best classes to solo content in PvE. Bar none.

4. If you’re a casual, with limited time, and not using boosts from Tomes of Knowledge, it can take one to three months. If you’re playing hardcore, with boosts, it can be done in less than a week. Some have done it in a day, but those are extremes. In most cases, you should make max level, doing heart quests and the like, around a month or two. With Tomes and similar items, even less time than that.

Personally, I wouldn’t worry about getting to max level in a hurry. Just play the game, enjoy yourself, and you’ll be there in no time. As of now, there’s no rush because there isn’t much to do once you finish all the core quests and achievements.

That should keep you more than busy until Living World Season Three comes out.

Hope this helped.

1) There is no need to get HoT until you get to level 80. You might want to get it before completing everything in the base game because it includes mastery tracks that have to be trained by getting experience points in the base game, so any experience you get from level 80 onwards can contribute to those.

There’s no cap on total experience points you can get, but you don’t seem keen on grind and this reduces the risk that you’ll have to repeat content to get them.

2) You’d have everything except Season 2 of the Living Story, which is a kind of introduction to Heart of Thorns. You can play the expansion without it but the story will make more sense if you’ve done it. It can be purchased in-game for 200 gems per episode or there’s a complete pack for 20% less. (You’ve also missed Season 1 but that was temporary so it’s not available any more, unfortunately.)

All the other in-game purchases are novelty or convenience items (like outfits for your character or extra inventory space), no actual content.

3) Any class can work solo and there’s a lot of debate on which are best/easiest to play/can complete maps fastest etc. My advice is to go with one you find fun because you’re hopefully going to be spending a lot of time playing them.

4) I don’t think anyone could tell you exactly in hours as it depends a lot on how you play. I think it took me around 100 hours the first time but I spent a huge amount of time doing things that didn’t contribute at all to levelling up or were terribly inefficient (like spending 2 hours trying to complete 1 jumping puzzle).

One thing I can say for sure is it’d be impossible to complete everything in the core game without reaching level 80. I think even if you just explored the open-world maps you’d hit 80 before you finished. Add in the story, possibly dungeons, crafting, gathering materials and all the other things that give XP and you really don’t need to worry. My most recent level 80 has just 33% map completion and has done at least 1 full map after reaching max level.

Also just so you’re aware grinding kills is never a sensible option in this game. It’s actually actively discouraged – kill too many enemies in the same small area and you’ll stop getting XP or items. When people talk about grinding in this game they’re usually referring to things like running dungeons or doing huge map-wide event chains in places like The Silverwastes multiple times in a row. Grinding in the conventional sense just doesn’t happen.

I remember liking all the classes, but I particularly remember loving my Mesmer… hope they feel solid for soloing

I recently returned to the game after not playing for about 3 years (I stopped sometime at the start of LS1 to play another game). This time around I decided to start a new level 1 character (necro).

1. I didn’t buy HoT until after I hit 80. If you decide you like the game after playing again then you will eventually want to get it.

2. As others have said you would need to buy LS2 if you want to do that content. It’s not necessary, but really helps to get to know the characters you interact with in HoT. You also get some Central Tyria mastery points from it, and some decent gear. If you don’t buy it and want to know the story before playing the HoT maps you could watch youtube playthroughs. There are some good ones.

3. I have really been enjoying necro since I also play mostly solo. I’m using a power-based reaper minion master build (reaper/death magic/blood magic, gs and axe/dagger, full zerker gear, full minion bar). HoT zones were a bit tricky until I got my reaper specialization and some exotic gear, but now are not an issue.

4. It took me about 2-3 weeks to level to 80 playing approx. 3 hours per day. I used two tomes (to rush to get my 3rd trait tree) and got around 12-15 levels in the mid-level range from crafting artificer to 400. Otherwise it was all from map exploration, hearts, personal story, events/occasional world bosses. I finished all of my races home maps (Kryta) and Orr, but didn’t do any of the other race maps until after 80. No PvP or WvW. No dungeons. I did use some birthday xp boosters that I had lying around. So this should give you a good idea.

I also have a mesmer and she is definitely not quite as easy to solo with as the necro (but fun to play though).

Edit: Actually, thinking about it some more I believe I only got 7-8 levels from artificing 400. I got close to 15 levels on my mesmer from crafting both tailoring and weaponsmithing to 400 each. It only costs a few gold to get to 400 crafting if you save up mats as you play (and if you use crafting boosters).

Khaziel.3164:

I remember liking all the classes, but I particularly remember loving my Mesmer… hope they feel solid for soloing

One thing not mentioned is that when you purchase HoT you get a free level 80 boost on one character. So you can immediately get into the new content and unlock things like glider.

Every class is fine to level with. Necrosis and Rangers are good for champs. Ellis and wars great for toms of smaller baddies at the same time.

I’d hang out in the mesmer forum to get a feel of where they are now. They aren’t really the class they used to be as far as tricky play