Guild Wars 2

Just to make sure this is where you go to register a new account.

https://account.arena.net/register?alt=gw2

Does your current account already have HoT? If not are you sure you didn’t use the code to upgrade your current account? If not what error message do you get when trying to create the new account? If registration does not work with a valid email account not already associated with a GW2 account, and you have made sure you are inputing the code correctly, you may need to contact support.

Are you trying to use the same email address to register the account as the one as your current account? If so you will need to use a different email address.

No.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Character_creation#Name

The last step is to choose a name for your character, which can include from 3 to 19 characters. Names must be composed entirely of letters and (optional) spaces; names always use title case (i.e. the first letter of each word is capitalized) and must begin with a letter.

For non-space characters, the English versions of the game allow the standard 26 letters of the alphabet along with accented letters such as à and è. All client versions on all servers also allow ÄÖÜ Umlauts in name while a German keyboard layout is used.

You can buy the spinal blade blue print scraps 1 through 4 on the TP. Then mystic forge them to get the spinal blade pack blueprint. From your same link it gives the recipe as seen below.

If you just want to gather here is a hint.

https://www.gw2efficiency.com/gathering/permanent-nodes

Certain nodes can net a fair amount of gold in 20-30 minutes at a slow rate. Once you learn it you can do it much faster depending on how long your loading screens take. Of course it also depends on if you have the maps completed.

It depends. If you ever think you might want to craft The Bifrost then hold on to them. If you like to gamble, just want to add some mostly fine and masterwork dyes to your collection and are not afraid of being let down then use them.

Just to see what you may end up with here is the table of dyes that can fall from an unidentified.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Unidentified_Dye

“There are 382 possible colors that can drop from an Unidentified Dye including 181 Common, 119 Uncommon, and 82 Rare. "

From my personal experience the odds of getting a dye worth more than the unidentified dye itself are very low. They are selling right now for about 72 silver a piece. If the odds of getting something decent were higher they would sell for much more.

kingstead.4795:

Hello! My girlfriend and I were going to be purchasing Deluxe HoT while it’s on sale but we were wondering something…my girlfriend swore that she read somewhere that the deluxe package comes with a total makeover kit as well. I’m familiar with what it comes with, but maybe it’s a special deal going on with the sales now? I’ve been looking around and haven’t seen anything that confirms that or doesn’t include it, so I figured it would be best to ask here.

Thanks in advance for anyone who can help clear this up for us!

It does not. The sales page tells you exactly what it includes, nothing more nothing less.

http://buy.guildwars2.com/

No one knows right now but Anet. To the best of my knowledge they have not announced any upcoming new hairstyles. That doesn’t rule it out though.

Oldirtbeard.9834:

JustTrogdor.7892:

Oldirtbeard.9834:

You do realize that a 2 week sale would cover everybody’s pay period, or hell how about some advance warning so that people can save for it in advance even?

Since you seem to be on a very tight budget maybe you should stash away a little money each pay check in a GW2 fund. That way when things like this come up you are prepared. I’ve lived on a low budget in the past and learned saving a little for “fun items” as I called them a very helpful technique.

When you live pay check to pay check something always comes up, something always breaks, something just plain goes wrong that would ideally better be fixed immediately rather than later.

So what would have happened if the sale did fall when you got paid and you spent the $25 on HoT and then one of those issues you mentioned occurred and you suddenly needed that money? Now you can’t pay to fix whatever ever broke or goes wrong. Would you have blamed that on Anet? Trust me I’ve been in your spot. In my case I put things like gaming on the back burner and never complained that I could not afford them. When I could save a little here and there and afford them it was a nice treat. That was just the way things were and I lived with it.

Oldirtbeard.9834:

You do realize that a 2 week sale would cover everybody’s pay period, or hell how about some advance warning so that people can save for it in advance even?

Since you seem to be on a very tight budget maybe you should stash away a little money each pay check in a GW2 fund. That way when things like this come up you are prepared. I’ve lived on a low budget in the past and learned saving a little for future “fun purchases” as I called them a very helpful technique.

Seera.5916:

And I never said the risk goes to 0 when using a middleman. I don’t disagree that off TP trading is a terrible idea. But I realize that some people don’t think it’s terrible enough to not do it and nothing we say will convince them otherwise so it’s best to make sure that they lower their odds of being scammed as much as possible. And we don’t know if the OP has decided the risks are too great or not. He could still proceed to off TP post.

The best way to lower the odds of players getting scammed is to tell players to never off TP trade no matter the method. That is the only 100% chance of never getting scammed. You keep talking about this mysterious player that is determined to make off TP trades and that isn’t even what this thread is about. It never was.

Seera.5916:

JustTrogdor.7892:

Seera.5916:

JustTrogdor.7892:

Seera.5916:

Like I said, a good suggestion for those who stubbornly stick to not wanting to trade on the trading post. Given the chances of being scammed and ANet’s lack of support for it, one would have to be stubborn to not use the trading post. Because not using the trading post is not the smartest course of action for trading an expensive item for gold.

Well I was initially responding to Illconceived Was Na who said:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

You can use a third person to escrow the trade, if you’re worried. For example, if your “sorta friend” reads the forums, you might consider asking one of the forum regulars, since both parties could reasonably trust that person (assuming they were willing to get in the middle). I know of a couple of folks that asked WvW commanders, since they, too, are known, trusted 3rd parties.

That was their response to the OP who asked about the risks of off TP trading. It wasn’t about someone that is stubborn and not wanting to trade on the TP. It as a suggestion they gave to a person asking if off TP was a good idea. That is why I said it was a bad idea because every off TP trade no matter the method is a bad idea.

Fair enough llconceived Was Na said this at the end of the post.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

For me, the 15% savings is too little for just a single transaction. I prefer the security and simplicity of using the TP.

My argument is suggesting any method of off TP trading is a bad idea.

Unfortunately, there are players who do think the 15% savings is worth the risk (that’s a crazy idea) and letting them be smarter about their bad decision is never a bad idea if you can’t convince them to make a better decision.

Yeah but we are talking about the OP who Ill and others have been responding to. That player that asked about the risk. They never said I’m going to trade off TP no matter what. This is not necessarily the player willing to take the risk that you mention. So giving them advice on off TP trading is a bad idea. Especially since Anet does not support it and it is just asking for trouble no matter who those involved in the trade are.

Anyway, it’s been fun/not really. I’ve not forum PvP’d for a while. Not that I miss it. I’m tired and need sleep.

But the forum lurkers will also read it and they may not be so reasonable as the OP.

Ill’s suggestion is a valid comment to the OP. That there is a lowered risk if you can find a trusted middleman. Finding one that both parties can trust would be the hard part and you’d likely spend the same amount of time it would take to earn the 15% tax to find the middleman.

Caught me before edit.

What happens if the middle person’s account is compromised during the trade and the items or gold are shipped off to gold seller accounts or just deleted by some person for the heck of it? That would be one big mess where everyone gets burned. It’s not likely but it is a very real possibility.

This is why every type off TP trading is a terrible idea. There is always a way for someone to get burned. From what I have read GW1 had a P2P trade system and people got ripped off all the time. I can’t confirm it because I never played GW1 but I am sure I have seen posts about it here.

There is no one that can be trusted on the forum, in game, or anywhere for trades. The only safe trade is via the TP and every single person, lurker or not, needs to know that. Off TP trading should never be encouraged. It is encouraging problems.

Seera.5916:

JustTrogdor.7892:

Seera.5916:

Like I said, a good suggestion for those who stubbornly stick to not wanting to trade on the trading post. Given the chances of being scammed and ANet’s lack of support for it, one would have to be stubborn to not use the trading post. Because not using the trading post is not the smartest course of action for trading an expensive item for gold.

Well I was initially responding to Illconceived Was Na who said:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

You can use a third person to escrow the trade, if you’re worried. For example, if your “sorta friend” reads the forums, you might consider asking one of the forum regulars, since both parties could reasonably trust that person (assuming they were willing to get in the middle). I know of a couple of folks that asked WvW commanders, since they, too, are known, trusted 3rd parties.

That was their response to the OP who asked about the risks of off TP trading. It wasn’t about someone that is stubborn and not wanting to trade on the TP. It as a suggestion they gave to a person asking if off TP was a good idea. That is why I said it was a bad idea because every off TP trade no matter the method is a bad idea.

Fair enough llconceived Was Na said this at the end of the post.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

For me, the 15% savings is too little for just a single transaction. I prefer the security and simplicity of using the TP.

My argument is suggesting any method of off TP trading is a bad idea.

Unfortunately, there are players who do think the 15% savings is worth the risk (that’s a crazy idea) and letting them be smarter about their bad decision is never a bad idea if you can’t convince them to make a better decision.

Yeah but we are talking about the OP who Ill and others have been responding to. That player that asked about the risk. They never said I’m going to trade off TP no matter what. This is not necessarily the player willing to take the risk that you mention. So giving them advice on off TP trading is a bad idea. Especially since Anet does not support it and it is just asking for trouble no matter who those involved in the trade are. What happens if he middle person’s account is compromised during the trade and the items or gold are shipped off to gold seller accounts? That would be one big mess.

Anyway, it’s been fun/not really. I’ve not forum PvP’d for a while. Not that I miss it. I’m tired and need sleep.

Seera.5916:

Like I said, a good suggestion for those who stubbornly stick to not wanting to trade on the trading post. Given the chances of being scammed and ANet’s lack of support for it, one would have to be stubborn to not use the trading post. Because not using the trading post is not the smartest course of action for trading an expensive item for gold.

Well I was initially responding to Illconceived Was Na who said:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

You can use a third person to escrow the trade, if you’re worried. For example, if your “sorta friend” reads the forums, you might consider asking one of the forum regulars, since both parties could reasonably trust that person (assuming they were willing to get in the middle). I know of a couple of folks that asked WvW commanders, since they, too, are known, trusted 3rd parties.

That was their response to the OP who asked about the risks of off TP trading. It wasn’t about someone that is stubborn and not wanting to trade on the TP. It as a suggestion they gave to a person asking if off TP was a good idea. That is why I said it was a bad idea because every off TP trade no matter the method is a bad idea.

Fair enough llconceived Was Na said this at the end of the post.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

For me, the 15% savings is too little for just a single transaction. I prefer the security and simplicity of using the TP.

My argument is suggesting any method of off TP trading is a bad idea.

Seera.5916:

JustTrogdor.7892:

Seera.5916:

JustTrogdor.7892:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

You can use a third person to escrow the trade, if you’re worried. For example, if your “sorta friend” reads the forums, you might consider asking one of the forum regulars, since both parties could reasonably trust that person (assuming they were willing to get in the middle).

I’m sorry but that advice is not very good. That is just asking certain people to get caught up in off TP trading drama and can cause problems for all 3 parties involved.

PlayerA.123 says to middle person PlayerB.123 here is the gold for the sword PlayerC.123 wants to trade. PlayerB.123 takes the gold and tells PlayerC.123 I have the gold send the item so I can give it to PlayerA.123. PlayerC.123 never sends it. Now the middle person PlayerB has the gold, no item to send back and looks like they are in the middle of a scam. With the gold send limit now customer support is bogged down trying to sort it all out who where the scammers when PlayerA.123 says, “WTF? where is my item or gold back. PlayerB.123 promised the trade would work. They only sent me part of my gold back.”.

I’m a regular and there is no way I’d get in the middle of something like that. It’s just asking for a mess. Stick with on TP trading, pay the tax and rest easy.

Worse case PlayerA.123 can send in a support ticket mentioning the names of PlayerB.123 and PlayerC.123 and let ANet sort out who scammed whom.

That’s my point. More bogging down support with off TP trading drama which Anet has stated over and over they do not suggest. Support issues cost time. Now you have 3 people caught up in a crappy situation. Meanwhile players with other support issues have to wait while support figures out this 3 way off TP love triangle.

But it is still a valid suggestion for players who do stick stubbornly to not wanting to do the trade via the Trading Post. Find a middleman than both parties trust and work through them.

I do not trade off of the trading post nor would I ever unless it’s for something that’s under 10s and only because I need some now and there’s none on the trading post. And I never need things now. I’m patient. I can put up a buy order. So the chances of me ever not using the trading post is slim to none.

Trading off the TP is never a good suggestion no mater what method you use. Anet has stated that themselves in the fact they do not support it.

Seera.5916:

JustTrogdor.7892:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

You can use a third person to escrow the trade, if you’re worried. For example, if your “sorta friend” reads the forums, you might consider asking one of the forum regulars, since both parties could reasonably trust that person (assuming they were willing to get in the middle).

I’m sorry but that advice is not very good. That is just asking certain people to get caught up in off TP trading drama and can cause problems for all 3 parties involved.

PlayerA.123 says to middle person PlayerB.123 here is the gold for the sword PlayerC.123 wants to trade. PlayerB.123 takes the gold and tells PlayerC.123 I have the gold send the item so I can give it to PlayerA.123. PlayerC.123 never sends it. Now the middle person PlayerB has the gold, no item to send back and looks like they are in the middle of a scam. With the gold send limit now customer support is bogged down trying to sort it all out who where the scammers when PlayerA.123 says, “WTF? where is my item or gold back. PlayerB.123 promised the trade would work. They only sent me part of my gold back.”.

I’m a regular and there is no way I’d get in the middle of something like that. It’s just asking for a mess. Stick with on TP trading, pay the tax and rest easy.

Worse case PlayerA.123 can send in a support ticket mentioning the names of PlayerB.123 and PlayerC.123 and let ANet sort out who scammed whom.

That’s my point. More bogging down support with off TP trading drama which Anet has stated over and over they do not suggest. Support issues cost time. Now you have 3 people caught up in a crappy situation. Meanwhile players with other support issues have to wait while support figures out this 3 way off TP love triangle.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

You can use a third person to escrow the trade, if you’re worried. For example, if your “sorta friend” reads the forums, you might consider asking one of the forum regulars, since both parties could reasonably trust that person (assuming they were willing to get in the middle).

I’m sorry but that advice is not very good. That is just asking certain people to get caught up in off TP trading drama and can cause problems for all 3 parties involved.

PlayerA.123 says to middle person PlayerB.123 here is the gold for the sword PlayerC.123 wants to trade. PlayerB.123 takes the gold and tells PlayerC.123 I have the gold send the item so I can give it to PlayerA.123. PlayerC.123 never sends it. Now the middle person PlayerB has the gold, no item to send back and looks like they are in the middle of a scam. With the gold send limit now customer support is bogged down trying to sort it all out who where the scammers when PlayerA.123 says, “WTF? where is my item or gold back. PlayerB.123 promised the trade would work. They only sent me part of my gold back.”.

I’m a regular and there is no way I’d get in the middle of something like that. It’s just asking for a mess. Stick with on TP trading, pay the tax and rest easy.

I’ve always been of the opinion that friends and followers should be mutual. That is if someone wishes to follow me I should have to approve. I think IndigoSundown makes a good point in that it could be a privacy option. That way people that don’t care could turn it off. At the very least I should be able to remove followers.

Oldirtbeard.9834:

It’s all good I guess ANet would rather make less money then, why not just put crap in the store and leave it there ffs!

I’ll direct you to your own post from a few days ago.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/A-time-for-reflection/first#post6236358

Oldirtbeard.9834:

-SNIP-

We need to appreciate that we play a game that has been developed by a company that not only produces half way decent content but also knows how to keep the lights on.

-SNIP-

Acquisition

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Bazaar_Quaggan_Mini_Pack

You missed the sale.

If you have the funds I suggest getting a gaming mouse. From my experience it will really improve your game play. Personally I use a Logitech G600. Almost every skill I use and weapon swap is on thumb buttons. I was a bit intimidated by it at first because I was used to using the keyboard so much. But once I got used to it and assigned the buttons that felt natural my game play improved by a large margin.

Going outside and doing things is rewarding enough for me. I don’t need a video game to encourage me to do that. It’s much more rewarding than playing GW2. Maybe GW2 should offer some IRL rewards for playing the game.

Also, I think I have one of those Pokemon things in my yard. On several occasions recently I’ve seen people standing around my yard staring at their phones. At first I thought maybe it was some kind of cell phone driven zombie apocalypse starting. After finding out about Pokemon Go maybe I’m not too far off. Perhaps I should start charging admission.

Donari.5237:

There is a blog now.
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/guild-wars-2s-living-world-returns-on-july-26/

It confirms that you can unlock access to LS3 by logging in even without HoT.

To clarify, you can unlock it but you cannot access it until the expansion is purchased.

If you don’t own Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns, you can still log in to unlock the episode for free—it’ll be there waiting for you once you purchase the expansion!

While I value our emergency personnel and service members, I don’t think this will be a very popular suggestion with many. People from all over the world play and may have varying opinions, especially regarding military members. Also as you stated it would be pretty much impossible for Anet to verify if the person is truly a member of one of those groups. I don’t think Anet will really want to review official identification of each person. So what you would end up with is a tons of people saying, “Hey yeah I’m a police officer give me my shiny icon,” when indeed they are not.

If you are interested perhaps you could organize a player driven in game appreciation event much like other groups have done. As a veteran I’d be interested in participating.

Here is the Anet L80 boost tutorial video and this issue is discussed specifically at just about the 5 minute mark in the video.

.

And the support page discussing this.

https://help.guildwars2.com/entries/99059447-Level-80-Boost

What if all my characters are already level 80?

You can choose to either create a new character or to consume the boost with one of your existing level 80 characters. Using the boost on a level 80 character will deliver the package of rewards that is normally delivered when making the boost permanent. However, there is no trial for an existing level 80 character, so the item will be permanently consumed if it is used by a level 80 character. You will need to confirm twice before the item is consumed if you want to use it on an existing level 80

Did you make sure your mail isn’t full meaning it reads 10/10? If your mail is full it can block items sent via mail. If that is the case once space is opened it should show up along with any other mail you may have received. If that isn’t the case then you may consider submitting a support ticket. The link is at the top of the page.

Behellagh.1468:

As for a native Linux version, not going to happen for the same reason we don’t have a native Mac version. The game engine wasn’t designed to be cross platform and doing so as an afterthought is more expensive and it is a simple trade off between cost to do and additional income if they do VS Cider/Wine emulation in which the Cider version is in perpetual Beta since Cider is in perpetual Beta if nVidia is still actively supporting it at all.

Well to be fair, Anet has stated that they are working on a native Mac client. They have not made any promises but it is known that is something they are working on. Here is the last update from a few months ago.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/support/Can-we-please-get-a-working-Mac-Client-Merged/page/12#post6158218

As for Linux I wouldn’t get any hopes up. Let’s see if they manage to get the native Mac client working.

There are a few options to purchase HoT and upgrade.

You can purchase HoT in game through the gem store panel (note still requires real money and cannot be purchased with gems). This will automatically upgrade your account once purchased. You may need to log out and back in for the upgrade to complete after purchase.

Or you can buy it through the web store.

http://buy.guildwars2.com/

Using this method the game key will be emailed to the address used during purchase. You then login to your My Account page where you will find the area to add the code to upgrade your account.

Another option is to purchase through an Anet approved retailer.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/retailers/

The code will be sent to you however the retailer describes it. Once received the instructions to upgrade are the same as if purchased through the GW2 web store.

Submit a support ticket and see if they will issue a gem refund for the duplicate. They have been known to help in cases like this.

Andraus.3874:

JustTrogdor.7892:

Aside from the image with a person with their face in their elbow pit I’m not really sure what dab means. Is there some meaning to placing your face in the elbow pit? Label me old I guess.

I think it’s like … You don’t have a tissue and you don’t have a sleeve so…. You dab your nose in your elbow pit. But you bend your knees at the same time for +1

Ahh yes that reminds me many many years ago when I used to work in food service that is how we used to contain a sneeze so we didn’t sneeze on our hands. We didn’t bend at the knees though. I’m not sure what a sneeze in the elbow pit emote means though.

Aside from the image with a person with their face in their elbow pit I’m not really sure what dab means. Is there some meaning to placing your face in the elbow pit? Label me old I guess.

Freakshow.1809:

Crazy idea!

Have you tried creating a new character with the same name as the soulbound gear?

would be interesting to learn rather or not this would work, doubtful but nothing to loose.

It doesn’t.

Were did you buy it from? Anet does not sell hard copies of the game directly. Some retailers do. So if you bought it from a 3rd party you most likely will need to talk to the seller for assistance. If it is one of Anet’s approved retailers and if they refuse to help you then I’d suggest submitting a support ticket.

If you have an account on Guild Wars 2 Efficiency and use your API you can get a list of what you need, even based on what you already have, with current cost on the TP. When using the crafting interface choose “Use own materials” at the top and the “crafting” radio button next to the precursor (Leaf of Kudzu for example) instead of the “TP” option. It is a very helpful tool for crafting complex items.

Sounds like something you have going on with your keyboard settings outside the game. You could always disable the caps lock. I know that is one thing I do whenever I set up a new computer because it is a mostly useless and annoying key. If you are interested in that google “disable caps lock Windows 7” for a walk through.

On another note I did a quick google search and found this thread related to a similar problem. Maybe that will help.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/support/Caps-lock-key-minimizing-game-client/first#post288699

Other searches I found show that this happens to people in other games as well. From what I read it seems it has to do with settings/software outside the game.

Personally if it were me I’d just disable that darn key unless you do a lot of writing that for some reason helps to use all caps.

Indeed you will need to make a support ticket for assistance.

Known bug.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/bugs/Really-Bright-Areas-Merged

Fenom.9457:

That name tho.. How is it even possible?

It’s a bug.

Randulf.7614:

Which one has the heart where you have to stealth to sneak past the Ash Legion? I swear that Heart takes longer than the rest of the map to complete…

It is Blazeridge Steppes and isn’t that hard. You just sneak to the closest 3 flags over and over after they reset The one immediately to the upper right along like a hall way is easiest aside from the first one on the left. Takes like 10 – 15 minutes at most. But true if you try to stealth your way to all the flags you are going to have a hard time.

Best to contact support. The link is located at the top of the page.

The HoT maps. All the core maps are easy, just time consuming.

Huck.1405:

JustTrogdor.7892:

Anet has stated that they cannot fix it because they no longer work with the contractor that developed the forum and do not have or want to allocate the resources to fix it themselves.

That shows how high on their list of priorities their customers are.

Well to be fair that part was tied into the statement about looking into other forum options and not wanting to spend money on a short-term fix. Here is the full quote from the link above so what I posted in my own words as a synopsis is not taken wrong .

The problem is deep within the technology behind the forum structure itself. Yes, we had a search engine in the beginning, but it was broken by our forum contractor in the course of working on other things. We no longer have a relationship with that contractor or his company, and someone else is not able to step into the system and fix the search engine because (1) our programmers are tasked with other essential work, (2) the forums run on a web framework with which most of our programmers are not familiar and (3) we’re investigating other options for forums and it would not be prudent to pour money into hiring someone to fix this as a short-term solution.

My team agrees that it would be great to share the system that is outlined in the OP, and we’re going to figure out a way to do that. It won’t be as simple as “plumbing” the current search window to go to Google — each of us still will need to input the search manually, but it’s better than the current “poke and prod” to find a particular post!

Anet has stated that they cannot fix it because they no longer work with the contractor that developed the forum and do not have or want to allocate the resources to fix it themselves.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/Forum-s-search-feature-doesn-t-work-A-tip/first#post4612877

In the same post linked above it was mentioned that Anet is looking into other forum options. That was in December of 2014 though so I am not sure where they stand on that.

If it worked like a true crafting station it sure would put a dent in demand for the permanent banker since people could use it to access the bank as well.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

They do. On these very forums in the News and Announcements sub-forum.

Good luck.

Game release notes forum.

Well, in my opinion I’d look for a profession you think you will enjoy first before going for world completion. It can be a long haul if you are working on world completion and not enjoying the profession. Leveling happens pretty fast in this game so if you test out a few other professions you might get a better feel for what you will enjoy.

You might consider reading over some of the profession forums to see what people are saying about each profession. Fell free to ask questions in those forums about a profession you may be interested in. Just be weary of the people that constantly complain this and that is nerfed etc. Most people will give you good feedback though.

Welcome to GW2. You will probably get a lot of different answers because each profession has a play style that appeals to different people. You should have 5 character slots so I suggest you play around with different professions. As to your question in my opinion I have the most fun with Revenant and Mesmer (note Mesmers can be a bit lame at lower levels but once opened up fully are pretty cool). For me most boring is Warrior, Guardian, and Ranger.

If you have HoT on your account you would have received the L80 boost. Logging into the game should tell you if you got it or not. Also you can login into your account page and it will tell you what version you have HoT or just core.

https://account.arena.net/content

Well if they were by account age then wouldn’t you only get one each year as opposed to receiving one for each character’s birthday? Some of the earlier rewards were not so great, Queen Jenna, but the level scrolls, birthday boosters, dyes and such are nice to get more of.

You can test it without using it up. Here is the Anet tutorial on it.

My advice if you are new create and play a number of professions to see what you may enjoy. Save the L80 boost for later when you have played through a lot of the game from a new point of view that has advanced through the game and learned the fundamentals. The value of the L80 boost in my opinion is really for players that have been around for awhile, leveled several characters, and don’t want to work through leveling up yet another character.

Of course if you do use it right away you will still be able to experience all the low level maps, personal story etc. However, even with down scaling you will be at an advantage as compared to a true level appropriate character. Plus you might use it and then end up not liking the profession you chose. That is why I suggest you start off with trying out a few professions from the start to get a feel for what you will like.

tl;dr Level up a profession or two the traditional way. Save the L80 boost for a profession later that you think you want to insta 80. You can then test it as shown in the tutorial linked above before you commit to it.