Guild Wars 2

Hello all!

So, I’ve been away from the game for 4 years. I genuinely enjoyed it when it first came out, played for a while, got to level 45…but my priorities drifted to other games and eventually I more or less forgot about GW2.

Seeing things for the upcoming expansion piqued my interest again, so I thought I’d return and give it another go. I’m starting a brand new character to start fresh with, but I had a few questions if someone wouldn’t mind helping me out.

Currently I don’t have the expansion, just the base game. Is there any reason I need to buy the expansion now, or can I level without it and make that decision once I’m 80? Mostly I’m just curious if there’s anything the expansion unlocks for me that would benefit a leveling player. If not, I’m happy to hold off until I have a better idea of how much I’m enjoying the game.

Gliders. I don’t remember these being a thing when I started. Are they only for max level characters?

Gem store outfits/weapons/etc. It pained me to go through my wardrobe and see all of these amazing locked outfits that I fell in love with only to find out they’ve apparently been retired for some time. Does anyone know if they ever bring these items back, or is it more of a limited time only thing and once they’re gone I’m SOL? If it’s the latter it’s a bit of a bummer because they’ll sit there forever taunting me.

I feel like I had more questions but they’ve slipped my mind for now. If there’s any other little helpful tips feel free to let me know, I’m sure I’ll appreciate any advice!

And if it makes a difference, I’m going Ranger for my character as they’ve always been my favourite class.

Thanks for your time!

You can wait until you hit level 80 before buying and not miss out on much – all the major expansion content (story, new maps, masteries, and elite specs) requires max level. One thing you could use now – each expansion lets you instantly boost one character to level 80, but the concensus is that it’s better to level up to 80 normally on at least one character first, and use the boost on an alt.

Gliding requires a level 80 character to unlock it, but because masteries are account wide, once one character unlocks gliding, every character on your account, regardless of level, will be able to glide.

Gem store items get cycled in and out all the time. If there’s something you want that’s not there now, it should come back around eventually.

That’s good to hear then, I have no intention of using a boost right now since I want to experience the full game on my own, at least for my first time through.

And ahh you don’t know how relieving it is to hear that about gem store items! It’s very discouraging to feel like I missed out on so much being away for 4 years. I’ll keep my eyes peeled then!

Thanks for the responses!