Guild Wars 2

I’m relatively new to gw2, played back when it first came out and enjoyed it but life kept me from playing much, made it to roughly 30’s. I’m back now and have the boost, im in no hurry to rush and plan to do map completion but I like longbows and think the dragon hunter would be fun to play. My question is if i just boost him can i still explorr and quest like i would with new character or will it throw everything for a loop with too much info at once?

1. Using the boost would not effect your ability to explore or do the story in any way other than to make killing mobs easier. Maps do scale slightly but you will still find things easier as an 80 than if you are at the same level as the map or story.
2. I would strongly recommend saving the boost for later. You will learn the game better if you level up your first character the normal way. I personally used the boost on a class that I wanted to have at 80 but did not enjoy playing (and thus did not what to spend time leveling normally).
3. I main a DH and find it very fun to play but rarely find any reason to use the long bow. If using a long bow is something that you are keen to do, you might want to consider a ranger. But the key to having fun is: play what you want, how to want.

Yes you can still explore, but yes you might also be overwhelmed with info.

Getting to level 80, either by using the boost or levelling up normally, won’t prevent you from doing any of the lower level content. Because the game scales you to the level of the area you’re in you will even get meaningful XP and items and will get to actually fight instead of just 1-shotting everything at level 80.

I used my boost on my warrior and then immediately started exploring a level 1-15 map and doing his personal story from the start (which is intended for level 10).

But when you use the boost it unlocks all your basic skills and traits (everything except the elite spec) and assigns you a pre-set selection. You’re given a full set of exotic equipment with soldiers stats and a few weapons to choose from. You’re also dropped into Silverwastes which is a level 80 map with a long meta-event chain. Which means you’ll have to use waypoints or the Heart of the Mists to go back to where you were and carry on your story.

On top of that you won’t be able to use any XP unless you use your story journal to play through the first HoT instance to unlock masteries (and once you’ve gained XP to train up the mastery tracks you’ll need to obtain mastery points to actually activate them).

Oh and the boost does not unlock the elite spec – you won’t be able to play a Dragon Hunter right away. You’ll need to collect Hero points from Challenges in PvE or using Proof of Heroics in WvW to unlock it.

Now maybe you’re reading that and thinking “Ok, that’s fine. I’ll need to think about a build to use while I unlock Dragon Hunter and which content to prioritise, but that’s ok.” Or maybe you’re going “Wait…what? Skills and traits I remember but what’s a mastery point? Is it the same as a hero point? Do I want soldier’s stats? Do I want to do a ‘meta event chain’? How do I use the story journal to activate HoT?”

If your reaction is closer to the second one I’d recommend holding off on using the boost for a while at least and using that time to level up normally and familiarise yourself with the game (even if you remember it fairly well a lot will have changed).

You can use the level 80 boost at any point – so if you get to level 30 or 50 or whatever and feel like you know what you’re doing now and the remaining levels are just a barrier you can use the boost then. Or use it on a second character to give yourself more options.

The Longbow on the Dragon Hunter has been really watered down so if you’re going to choose to play a class based on a longbow I wouldn’t suggest using your 80 boost on a Dragon Hunter right now Power Rangers or power Druids are good with longbows and the Conde Berserker Warrior makes use of a longbow as well so try those out also Dragon Hunters really easy to level up and a insta 80
boost on a easy to level up character is to me a waste best of luck

I strongly recommend that you level your first (and even your second) character normally. Learn the game a bit, then use the booster when you’ve been there/done that as far as leveling is concerned.

Rushing content in this game seems to lead to intense frustration or burn out for many. Take your time; there’s rarely any need to hurry.