Guild Wars 2

Looking to get back into the game, after leaving in late 2014 due to IRL stuff. I’ll probably be looking to do WvW, PvP, and Dungeons/Fractals, which are part of the base game. However, I see the elite specialisation(s) are locked unless I purchase HoT, which makes me wonder if I’ll be underpowered in WvW or Fractals. So my question is, will we have to buy HoT to be competitive? Or is it possible to run endgame (non-HoT, obviously) content without the expansion?

I suppose I should also ask if Fractals are obsolete now. Is Ascended gear still the best gear in the game, or has HoT introduced higher tiers?

You should be fine for fractals. Depending on your profession you will miss something compared to others, but it wont render you unable to play endgame content.
In Spvp getting anywhere without elitespecs is possible but extremely hard. If you want to be truly competitive, you probably need them.
But todays patch may finally change that.

Ascended and legendary gear is on par- this is still the highest tier in the game.

The vast majority of the PVE player base is in the HoT areas and raids.

The only thing you will be “ok” for is fractals.

You are at a HUGE disadvantage in PVP without elite specs as every metabuild is currently an elite spec and that isn’t likely to change.

I would recommend just buying the expansion as you will enjoy the game much more with it.