Guild Wars 2

Without wanting to spoil it for you, if one of your outstanding areas is Cursed Shore your story will take you there anyway. But there is no reason why you can’t do as you suggest and finish up your story before going back to exploring – Tyria will be there when you get back from Orr

You’ll get some achievement points, XP and a few items I think for finishing the last few chapters of the story – I’m at about the same place in mine as you are so I’m not sure what you get at the end.

@Elowin
Like you I have solo’ed all the PvE maps. and would recommend you continue exploring, particularly the 3 maps in Orr, plus Frostgorge Sound and Fireheart Rise. The personal story takes you all over the Orr maps, and as a solo player it is easier if you have these previously explored.

Also, you get rare and sometimes exotics items for Orr map completions. These are much better than the personal story rewards.

A new concept introduction:

Do what feels the most fun at the moment.
This is a game, it’s meant to be fun.

You want to do dungeons? go ahead.
You want you personal story? do that.
Map completion? also a very valid option.
try WvW, sPvP, or, which is also a very revolutionary idea – alternate between all/part of the above.

Just do whatever you like. Have fun pal.
I alternate between map completion, dungeons, personal story, and leveling an alt with friends.

I quite agreee with omerk: Do whatever feels fun to you.

However, something in your post stroke my eye. " I’m beginning to think about how I want to end my gameplay…" Sad that you feel game ends with either the storyline or map completion. There is still so much out there to enjoy.

I am not going to tell you what happens at the near end of the story, no fear. But you need to know about a technicality. The penultimate Personal Story quest is also the last in the dungeon storyline. To complete Personal Story you will need to do that one dungeon with four other people as well as a bunch of NPCs, familiar from either Personal Story or Dungeon Story or ’Destiny’s Edge’ book.

Elowin.9078:

Is there a problem playing out My Story first at this point? When my story finishes do you get credits and then end up back in the game to finish up whatever else you want to do?

Yes, I believe you will get credits and you are able to return to any other gameplay elements mentioned by the others. By completing the personal story, it does not mean it will end there. So you can complete things in any order.

The items you receive from your personal story will always be based on the level recommendation of that particular part of the story. So you shouldn’t expect useful items from them until the very end (since you are already lvl 80).

You’re Personal Story may come to an end but there is plenty left to do!

The gameplay is endless to your imagination!

Personally I believe that everyone should try out the WvWvW battlegrounds even if PvP is not their forte. I love the game because there are so many different ways to play it!

If you enjoyed the storyline, videos, dialogues etc. then you should do the story modes of the other dungeons before doing the last quest (Victory or Death). The story modes of the dungeons tell the storyline of Destiny’s Edge and they will be with you during the last quest as the last quest is essentially the story mode of the last dungeon. And doing the other dungeons will give you a feel for doing dungeons with a group of (often unfamilliar) people. And once you have done the story modes you are granted access to the explorer mode of each dungeon, giving you even more to do. You will get tokens that you can exchange for weapons, armour, runes, tonics and so on, gold, maybe equipment that you can use…

There are also the fractals which you can do. Some are fun, some are less fun. Some require jumping skills, some need swimming. 3 are chosen at random, every even difficulty level has an additional fractal with a challenging boss encounter and bonus chest. Chance for rares and exotics to drop. I got my underwater weapons from one chest in the underwater fractal. An exotic trident and a rare harpoon.

Or you can hunt for lore. There are a lot of NPCs that tell you stuff, if you talk to them. Or just stand close to some NPCs and listen to their dialogues. Some are great and funny. And talking to NPCs might gove you the chance to complete your characters way of treating others. Remember, once upon a time you chose between dignity, charm and ferocity.

There is also WvW. Once you joined, check the mab for a blue mark. It’s a commander. People always follow them around. Join up. Running alone in WvW is suicide.

MMO’s are not like regular games. When you finish the story it doesn’t mean you’re completely done and you’ll never be unable to continue on that character.

It just means the main story arc is finished, you will be able to do everything else afterwards. So you can do it in whatever order you want.

Currently there is no ‘Looking for group’ (LFG) tool ..or Dungeon Finder tool to help you find a gruop ..somthing that is almost always present in MMO’s with dungeons ..Anet is working on making one. So for now you will have to ether..

Wait outside said dungeon and keep asking people who turn up.
Wait in Lions Arch and ask
Join a Guild and ask.

I personaly havnt done almost any dungeons so far becouse finding groups is such a pain in the a*s atm due to the way to chat system is limited and that fact there is no Tool that can help setups groups with the whole server. Not to mention that alot of pugs (pick up/public groups) fail misserably in these dungeons due to the way Anet made them ’hard’*.

*bassicaly all they did was make every monster/npc have tonns of HP and High Attack, Means if your group doesnt focus fire and each player know how to survive ..i.e dodging and using defensive skills ..your pritty much screwed.

You don’t actually have to do the first dungeon to get to the last. You can skip right to the end and finish your story.

Getting a dungeon run together is easier than people will tell you.

The thing is that a bunch of elite players get upset with new players, that’s where you get complaints like SolarNova.1052’s, where s/he’s basically saying that new players mess everyone else up. That’s not true, how much fun a group has in dungeons depends on player attitude, not how skilled they are. There are some minimum requirements – level is enforced by the dungeon, you should have decent gear, and settle party strategy beforehand if possible.

If you’re worried about it, join a big guild or a cross-server guild so you’ll have a pool of friends to do the run with. Or there’s ways to make sure you’re ready for a dungeon.

^ I agree with Gilosean. Dungeons are all about teamwork, I assure you everything in dungeons are all teamwork and making sure you have your class well learned so you can adapt to all sort of situations that dungeons may present.

It is possible to do a dungeon without armour as long as the teamwork is good, it isn’t so much about gear as to a well.learned profession and teamwork.

I do this to prove a point to some members that don’t believe me. Don’t let dungeons intimidate you no matter what people say.

^ Just a last note. It’s easier to tell them it’s your first run so folks can help you. If doing story it ain’t so bad just need some teamwork in one of the boss fights.