thanks for your replies. i think you may be overestimating my ability and my apetite for challenge.
there are enough posts about difficulty and grouping on this forum and on reddit to make me know that hot would not be enjoyable for me as it is now. i tend not to play the harder parts of these types of games. i bought all of the first gw games and really enjoyed them but i never did any of the hard dungeons or bosses and never did hard mode.
in this game i have spent a bit of time in silverwastes and drytop but not really enjoyed them and i really struggled to complete the story line. in other words, i am nowhere near an expert player. i just enjoy wandering around collecting stuff and doing simple quests. i think i’d like gliding and i’d like to make a revenent and i’d like to continue the story.
i don’t know why they did not include some easy areas in hot. guildwars has always been about lots of easy content and some optional hard content.