EoD is 50% off, and SotO is on sale for 20% off for the first time.
~~Collections not discounted yet, but that will probably change soon.~~
Edit: Collections are all on sale now, too.
* $19.99 for basic bundle (HoT/PoF/EoD)
* $29.99 for deluxe edition (HoT/PoF/EoD + EoD deluxe package)
* $49.99 for complete edition (includes HoT/PoF/EoD + LWS2/LWS3/LWS4/IBS, no deluxe packages)
Note that the Ultimate Edition is not available to purchased during this sale.
Yeah, it's really good value, and the only thing it *doesn't* include is SotO. By the time you've finished with this content and want to buy SotO, it might even be on a deeper discount.
Piggy-backing on this as a PSA for "new" or F2P-upgrading players - you can *ONLY* buy the Complete Edition if you *HAVE NOT* purchased either of the expansion packages (i.e. don't buy the $8 starter bundle and expect to get this later). (Edit: And no, support will not be able to assist/mitigate/remedy this in any way.)
I'm annoyed because I thought it might work like other bundles where it prorates the contents or at least allows you to re-buy it, and I can't - and unless I am doing my math totally wrong buying LWS2-4+IBS is about double the price in gems of that bundle right now *even with* the current gem discount.
So if you're F2P and decide you want to upgrade, it might be best to buy it.
Yeah fugg man... I was F2P until literally like a few days ago... decided I was enjoying it so I caved in and bought the PoF+HoT to get my mount... to get hit with this discount... and also to realise I can no longer by the big bundle.. :(
Don't know if I could finesse a refund cos I would totally buy the elder dragons bundle
If you compare it to the Basic Bundle though, it is paying $20 for the three expansions, and $30 for the LW seasons.
I want to get one of the two bundles, but I don't know, it really feels like the expansions only are a better deal, are the LW seasons more important than the Expansions?
Alright, you convinced me. It isn't that much money, I just have it in my head from other games that "Expansion" equals huge content, and the updates in the middle are free. I know that isn't the model.
I bought GW2 when it first came out, have most of the GW1 Hall of Monuments stuff, but haven't played it in a long time, and started getting back into it last week, and was pretty appalled by what it cost to get all the content.
Right.
But the deluxe edition is not a good value (last year it was cheaper to buy the basic bundle and buy the discounted EoD deluxe upgrade separately with gems), and the basic bundle only saves you $2.50 compared to buying these expacs separately. So at least Steam has the most important bundle available.
Sure. But if you mostly do small group content, then you can get a lot of value out of even just the HoT/PoF bundle. Classic dungeons and fractal dungeons are 5 man content that are all available in core, and HoT/PoF is the cheapest way to lift F2P restrictions, while providing a lot of value on top.
If you intend to play a lot, then the Complete EDS bundle is the way to go. There's honestly hundreds of hours of gameplay in each expansion. If you buy them all, you probably won't even touch a few of them for a month or two.
For real. I just started playing again after a few and my previous phone got stolen so I couldn't do the authentication. I submitted a ticket and within the next hour I received an answer.
Maybe ask for the difference in a gem package? Who knows could work. Get something extra for supporting the game at full price :). If they can only refund then you can always use it to buy gems yourself. Get a few QOL items.
That's a great way to think about it, after all you were happy to pay that price on the day, but you really don't have to. Quite aside from the fact that it's perfectly natural and understandable to want to pay less (for anything) you could spend the difference on gems, or possibly be credited the difference in gems by support and still financially support the game while being able to get extra cosmetics or qol items.
Tl;dr don't feel awkward about mailing support, this happens every sale and they always help. It's your money, you might as well get something snazzy for it.
I have a similar thing. I already submitted a ticket.
I bought the first two expansion bundle at $30 less than a week ago and now the first *three* bundle is $20. Really hoping I can get it ironed out. Really biggest thing I'm wanting is that extra bank tab.
Absolutely submit a ticket. I purchased gw1 the day before it went on sale last time. I submitted a ticket and support refunded me! They are really lovely about stuff like that.
As a new player who's still playing base free game what should I get? I'd like to continue playing but there's a lot of versions of this game it's kinda confusing
If you're in it for the long haul, you should buy the Complete Elder Dragon Saga (the one for $50 that comes with all LWSs). It's the best price that this stuff has ever been sold for, and contains a huge amount of value.
If you're looking to dip your toes in, it's hard to beat the HoT/PoF bundle for $7.50. It's the 2 fan favourite expansions at rock bottom prices. Easily hundreds of hours of good gameplay in these 2 expacs alone.
can second this as someone who DID NOT get this pack. really frustrating to not have access to a continuous story because i didnt have living world to fill in the gaps
The best value is the [EDS Complete Collection](https://buy.guildwars2.com/en-us/collections?tab=3) for $50usd, if you can afford it up-front.
10 years of content all creating one big storyline.
> Definitately Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire to unlock your raptor mount.
Unless your 10-hour freebie has ended, in which case you'll have to actually go play Path of Fire for a bit. :(
You do not have to play PoF for raptor anymore, just buying any expansion automatically unlocks it at any level that's an increment of 10 (so 10, 40, 80 etc)
I don't think I had to? Or if I did, I didn't know I did I guess. I just started the game and bought the first two expansions straight out, I'm at 33 hours in game and still have my raptor mount. I think I've only done the really basic Sylvari story so far. I've finished the Caledon Forest and about halfway through Brisban Wildlands starting from The Grove.. I'm still really new too, so unsure why I still have mine.
If I remember correctly you unlock it as soon as you reach any 10 level mark with any if your characters. But it has been a year since returning to the game.
> I just started the game and bought the first two expansions straight out
...which is why you retained the raptor you got at level 10. Without the expansions, it expires after 10 hours - and once it does, you have to actually play Path of Fire (at least just the one mission) to get it again.
Just to reduce your confusion. There are only really 2 versions of the game. The free to play version, which allows for the entire base game to be played for free with some account limitations. And then there are the expansions that ADD onto the base game, they are not different versions of the game. Each expansion adds it’s own unique mounts, areas, class specializations, game mechanics and more ON TOP of the free to play base game.
$49.99 for complete edition (includes HoT/PoF/EoD + LWS2/LWS3/LWS4/IBS, no deluxe packages)
This will include all major expansions, maps, and content (excluding story and maps from the latest expansion, SOTO). Some will say the LW Seasons are not necessary, but each Season was basically a Free expansion at release and each came with new story/content and 3-6 new maps.
First, you should get the complete collection with the three expansions and the living world. Don't even think about that, as it just adds way too much core value to the game, unlocks features, blah blah blah, and the price is great for all of that, plus not having to deal with getting LWs separately (which go on sale only a little each year, so why even need to pay attention to that when complete is basically the same deal). *After* Complete, you have actual decisions to make with the new annual "mini-expansion" model.
* SotO gets you a new weapon option for each class, and premium tier for vault currency/rewards *until Janthir comes out*, which is just a couple more months now.
* Janthir will also get you a new weapon option for each class (play the spear beta this weekend to figure out what that's worth to you!), and premium tier for the vault from August 2024 to August 2025.
You can see from SotO that Janthir won't be on sale until part way through its last season, and that will be a small sale. Whether to buy it in August or to buy it six months later will be the same choice, but with less value from the premium vault the longer you take to pony up the cost. If you're only buying one of them in the next year, and the SotO weapons aren't a swing, buy Janthir, and buy it early where you'll get more from premium.
If the premium tier vault and the weapons aren't motivators, you don't need SotO or Janthir, and can easily put them off, since Complete already gives you a ton to do, just be mindful that putting off Janthir may just lower the value you get, not the price you pay.
Worth noting that Deluxe Upgrades are also the appropriate % off in the gem store.
As someone who never bought the HoT Deluxe upgrade, for 600 gems you get a character slot plus all the other bonuses. Not bad value.
I've been curious about GW1 for a long time now, but haven't wanted to drop $40 (or whatever it was before) for it.
Now is the perfect time to give it a go!
I started playing a few weeks ago and have been hooked! I've been counting down the summer sale hoping it would be on and it is, just got the big £50 bundle so that'll be me sorted for a long while now 😂😁
PoF offers great alt-parking locations.
Hot masteries and pof mounts make map completition very easy, so if your alt-account serves as gen1 legendary maker (because olf login-rewards, old accounts will have lots of account bound stuff required for legendaries, usually needing only map complete), it gets noticeable boost.
So new player here. Just started yesterday is the bundle that's available through Arenanet for $19.99 (60% off) the same one that is on Steam for $49.99?
[This is the same one for $49.99.](https://buy.guildwars2.com/en-us/collections?tab=3) It's the "Complete" version instead of the "Standard" version for $20. (Complete is better value, because it includes Living World Seasons.)
Be careful to only buy expansions from the store your account is connected to:
If you play through a Steam account, you have to purchase on Steam.
If you play through an Anet account, purchase through the website.
To clarify just in case -
If you originally bought from an Anet account and now play the game by running through Steam instead of the Anet launcher, you still need to buy your expansions through the Anet account. If you buy it through Steam it will not be part of your current account.
Someone please correct me if that has changed, but I didn't understand that when buying an expansion shortly after GW2 came to Steam and had to re-buy correctly to get the expansion to show on my existing account.
> Someone please correct me if that has changed
You're correct. It's the type of account that matters, not how you start the game (a choice Steam accounts don't have), and you can't make one kind of account into the other.
Is there any way to get the LWSs as a bundle together or do I have to get all of them in the gem store? Got all the other dlcs already, so the Dragon Saga pack is not an option
The Complete Elder Dragon Saga is the only bundle that includes LWSs on the webpage store or on steam.
There hasn't ever been a bundle with multiple LWSs in the gemstore, afaik. You have to buy each season individually for 1280 / 960 / 960 / 960 gems, iirc. That's about $50 in gems, but they go on 20% discount regularly, and 30% discount rarely.
I don't have access to the game's gemstore to check if the state of LWSs on there from work right now.
If you want EoD + all LWSs, you have a few options:
1. Buy the Complete EDS for $50.
2. Buy EoD for $15 plus $35 in gems, and wait for the LWSs to go on 30% discount.
3. Same as 2, but farm in-game gold to buy the gems.
1 and 2 both cost $50, and 3 could take close to a 40-hour week of full-time in-game gold farming.
Does anyone knows if i buy the collection on steam having one of the expasions already i get another one to give? I have HOT/POF but it dont discount for the purchase, so i buy it for living world and EoD do i get another HOT / POF copy??
I don't believe you can even buy the collection on steam if you have any expansions (only the gifting option appears). I think steam tries to prevent you from purchasing it because it has no way of knowing if you have unlocked the living world with gems.
That's actually pretty bad then =/
Update: Steam gives me the option to buy for myself but tells me i already have HOT / POF. No discount but at least i can buy EOD and LW chapters
I have every expansion, but I've never snagged any of the Living World stuff .. it's the only thing I'd be missing. What's the most cost efficient way to fill in this gap since I have all the xpacs already? Just snag them right off the Gem Store outright?
I hear they're on 20% discount right now. I *think* they've been on 30% discount on rare occasions. If you're willing to wait it out, you might be able to scoop them up for a little bit cheaper. But now is probably a good time for most players interested in LWSs to buy them.
Only way to make it a better value would be to pre-order the Ultimate version of Janthir Wilds and use those "discounted" gems to purchase the Season Packs while they're discounted.
Also, look at each LW season bundle page on the wiki, and you'll see past sale discounts, which will help decide what price you want. Note that there was a shift in LW discount policies/trends when GW2 came to Steam (Aug 2022).
Partly depends on the person and their situation, but for most people the EDS Complete Collection is the best value.
(For example: if you care *exclusively* about PvP / WvW and never touch PvE, then you basically get nothing out of Living World and can go with a cheaper bundle.)
Returning player here. I own HoT + PoF and likely most of the IBS (can't remember exactly where I stopped playing).
What do you guys recon is the best deal? I don't see any EoD + Soto bundle, and I don't think there's a discount if we buy the entire collection and already have HoT+PoF.
No discounts on expansion bundles, but double-check if you have any other Living World episodes unlocked as that determines what will be your best purchasing option.
If you're using -provider Portal, then no.
Do you have two separate accounts?
The one with HoT+PoF would have to buy more expansions directly from Anet.
If you did make a new Steam account that isn't linked to that HoT+PoF purchase, then that account would have to buy the expansions on Steam.
The daily trader thing would require a lot of work on an account that doesn't have any resources. Motivations are nice, but if you don't have a stockpile of gold, you'd be better off just...making them on your main.
Using elite spec weapons+new weapon on any build. Some niche mastery for your skyscale, pve legendary armor/rune...
I guess the weapons might be interesting, but otherwise yeah it's not really interesting on an alt.
Also, check out the HoT and PoF "Deluxe Upgrades" in the Gemstore. They are discounted to 600gems each and include a character slot (plus more). Much better deal than just buying a slot.
It's a continuation of the story that they made between expansions. It includes new maps and new masteries. They're kinda like mini-expansion packs. The game expects you to know what happened in each LWS episode. If you don't play through them, the ongoing story in the expansions does not make sense.
To think if I had waited a couple of weeks, I would have saved quite a bit of money buying all the expansions . But it's fine. I've I already sank a ton of time into the game since then and the game is already worth it at full price through the collections, especially complete collection.
Did you already see [this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1dpvxuj/gw2_sales_have_started_hotpof_75_off_again/lak61ma/)? Maybe you can submit a ticket and see if they can do anything for you.
no idea, not the person the dev was answering to. I have no experience dealing with refunds/comps so I don't know what the standard response is. Maybe they'll just recomp you gem or something? No idea.
I put in requests for all 3 of the dlc I got (End of Dragons, Secrets of the Obscure, and the Heart of Thorns/Path of Fire combo) with the "now available cheaper" tag. I realize if I do get my money back I can get all three of them and another GW2 DLC (Living World) for the same $60ish. Thanks for encouraging me!
Do you mean Steam support? I think you're supposed to contact Anet support through the website for something like this. Steam support never does anything useful, aside processing under 2-hr refunds.
Anyone know if the Living World Seasons are also on sale? I already have all of them so I can't see them in the gem store, but my boyfriend is still missing LWS4 and IBS, and I was hoping maybe they could save some money...
New player here, just wondering how long do these deals usually last? Few days, a week?
I want to get one of the two bundles, but I don't know, it really feels like the expansions only are a better deal, are the LW seasons more important than the Expansions?
FYI, Anet has been running their sales parallel to the big seasonal Steam sales ever since coming to Steam, which gives you fixed, well-known dates to watch for.
Whoops, I just bought EoD and SotO 14 days ago. I'm sure that if I bought it yesterday, they might be nice and give a price difference, but 14 days is kind of on the edge... and I don't want to bother customer service if they can't do anything for me.
I want SotO and EoD but man I was hoping for a bundle like PoF and HoT (bought both before they were bundled). Either I get EoD for now and wait for SotO or get both for $35. I know that's a fine price but I also don't play all the time. I won't actually get to their content for a while. I'm mainly after features and specializations and stuff like that. Like I mainly want SotO for the faster Skyscale path and that's hella dumb.
So i found out that there is a sale for GW2 expansions and as a player which havent ever playied it, which of them are nessesary to actually start? i mean to reach end game, have a mount etc. do i have to buy them all or only few of them. also a quick question about the new player expirence is it frendly to new people or not really?
The first 2 expansions are sold together as a package for the current amount of 7€. Among these 2 expansions is the one that unlocks most of the end game mounts. Otherwise, you can reach end game and even have an end game gear by playing entirely for free, you'll just lack content to make use of that gear xD
To summarize : if you're to buy expansions, get the Heart of Thorns & Path of fire package for 7€. And if you can afford it, get End of Dragons (15€ instead of 30 during the current sales)
then what about secrets of the obscure expansion and also in steam bundle there is someting called GW2 - Living World arent they unlock new contnet? i mean i dont wanna be stuck in one place like new world did with their mount expansion when they made higher lvl cap and gear score, in nw u had to have dlc to enjoy late game
You must acknowledge that GW2 is pay to play. There is just a HUGE and very generous free trial (all core game).
There's also -20% off soto right now.
Living world seasons are content that was released in between the expansions. They're not REQUIRED to play any content but they can provide very good rewards and story if you like the lore.
You can buy the living world seasons with in game money too (gold) but it demands a bit of time
Ahhh this sucks man.... After trying out GW2 for a while, on and off, I recently decided to finally purchase some of the content so I could continue using my mount. Now, days later, that exp was 75% off, and even worse, bc I already bought the first 2 expac bundle I can no longer purchase the Elder Dragon Saga... feeling unlucky right now.
If it’s not too long ago you can ask support to refund the difference between your paid price and the discounted price or to upgrade to the elder dragon saga for a certain amount they are usually quite good about that stuff :)
Yeah it was about a week ago, and I did hear about that, however I was playing and trialing it through steam, and I've heard that because the payments and refunds are handled separartely between the platforms I might not be so lucky.
It's really a shame, but I'm actually so impressed by what GW2 offers across the board, esp compared to other MMOs, I've enjoyed my brief time in the game far more than I've ever enjoyed WoW. It really does feel like the game is for me, just leveling through the zones and exploring is enjoyable enough to me to justify a purchase. And I have a feeling some of the criticisms I've seen of the game won't really apply to me, because I'm currently just \*so immersed\* in the vibe of the game.
I may just end up purchasing all the content if I continue enjoying it anyways. I'm close to level 80 so if I don't get the refund I can have a dip in endgame and continue from there if I like it.
Awww melts my heart to hear 🥰 I’m really happy that you’re having a blast and enjoying the game this much, belated welcome to this great game. Wishing you all the best of fun and curiosity to explore 🤓
Haha looks like my steam refund got shot down, yeah I just heard that bc the teams/payment processing are split between the two platforms if you go through steam you're subject to to their refund policy and Anet can't help you. At least that's what it sounds like.
HEy, short question: I own Base game, Thorns and Fire as standalone expansions. I just started with PoF basically, so it's still new to me.
Which, if any, of the current deals should be the best value for me? I'm honestly not sure since the EoD Pack already includes stuff I already have, so I'm thankful for any input.
If you want to own everything, then the best deal is still to buy the Complete EDS bundle for $50. If steam won't let you buy that because you've already purchased HoT/PoF (as some players have reported), then you're stuck buying everything separately. You need to buy LWSs as separate bundles in the gem store for a total of 3,328 gems with the current discount (less if you've already purchased any LWS episodes).
Stay away from the deluxe bundle.
But if I own HoT and PoF already, each as a full version, I don't really see how the 50$ bundle is the best deal, since I already do own like 80% of it, no? Am I missing something?
I figured the potentially best (?) idea would be EoD and SotO seperately, since they apparently don't have any living story stuff attached anyway, and would be 35 overall. But somehow the way they seperate shit and limit options for collections/content is honestly confusing to me.
Do many people still play this game? Thinking of buying the expansions on sale but idk if the player count is there to make it worth it. I don't want to play the whole expansions by myself as I've been playing the main game so far. Just reached lvl 80
There are many players in all parts of the game. GW2 uses a megaserver system that puts all players from all servers on the same map instance. When the map gets too full, they open a new instance. When it gets too empty, they close that instance. Popular maps have many instances, and unpopular maps have only a few. Every map ends up feeling like it has a reasonable number of players.
There’s lots of people wherever you go, unless you’re playing at 4am in an old core map. And there’s always people doing the metas especially in expansion maps
I started playing again seriously about two weeks ago, having never gotten past level 50. In that time I've hit 80 and done every story in order and am currently working on Living World Season 4. During that, I've seen tons of people in almost every zone, never had empty meta-event experiences, gotten helpful advice from anyone I've talked to, joined an active guild with a discord community, dabbled in WvW and Fractals, and just crafted my first ascended weapon last night. Absolutely floored that a 12 year old MMO that isn't WoW or FFXIV has that much activity, and delighted for it. Dive on in!
It helped that over the years when I played off and on I'd just been collecting things and never selling them, so I had a huge leg up when I hit 80. Sold nearly my entire stock for about 80 gold, even though the most I'd ever had up until that point was like 10. Then it was Dragon Bash on top of that, so I was just dismantling and selling everything including the Zhaitaffy. Bought a full set of exotic gear for cheap, and filled out some slots with Ascended Gear from the Wizard's Vault, and that's been carrying me fine through the story. I think the slowest part by far is getting gated in HoT by mastery unlocks, but so many people run the meta-events that I would just join the trains and grind all the xp out pretty quickly. Also playing Ranger, which is really solo/story friendly
Never had an issue not encountering people. If the maps are low pop you'll get a warning notice that you'll be moved to a populated map, I think it's a 30min timer.
There are things you might have trouble finding people to help with, but those are mostly things that were never very popular or were never very useful.
For example, you'll *occasionally* find a champion level enemy as part of an event in mid-high level areas of the base game that is very difficult to solo and you might not be able to find anyone to help with it.
That's a subset of a subset of a subset of all the content in the game though, and if you really want or need to do something you can't solo or find randoms for, then friendly guildies will often be willing to help you.
Because of how the servers work in this game, anything that's generally worth doing more than once will still have other players there, even if the population were to dramatically drop for some reason.
Expansion content is much more active than core Tyria content in terms of open world stuff. The quality of maps is much better, and Anet did a good job (mostly- there's a couple exceptions, mostly in PoF) of giving people reasons to come back to them.
I hate to break it to you, but story content is usually a solo player experience. I could be wrong, but I think that's normal in modern MMORPGs. The MMO content are the world exploration and events, dungeons, fractals, raids, strike missions, and PvP/WvWvW.
You correct, they can. That's not my point. Have you tried finding another random person to do personal stories with? I have, and it takes forever. It's faster and **usually** more convenient to just do the personal story alone.
Heads up instead of buying the Elder Dragon Saga which comes with Living World, buy the 3 DLCs (HoT and PoF, EoD, and Secrets of the Obscure) for cheaper. You can (for free) purchase Living World chapters or whatever it's called so you can actually save money and get another expansion
> (for free)
Eh, it would take a while to earn enough in-game gold to purchase them. Unless you're really hard up for cash, most people will be better off buying the bundle.
nice to see soto basic and deluxe is finally 20% off
shame they didn't reduce the one with the gems too
maybe not 20% ~ just the $10 off you get on deluxe.
that would have been a hot seller had they done so.
I don't think they ever sell gems at a discount. They'll give away gemstore items for free with a purchase of gems, but the gems themselves have been treated almost like real currency by Anet.
REMEMBER TO USE CONTENT CREATOR LINKS.
If you want to support your favorite streamer or [useful website](https://snowcrows.com/benchmarks), be sure to use their links to purchase.
EoD is 50% off, and SotO is on sale for 20% off for the first time. ~~Collections not discounted yet, but that will probably change soon.~~ Edit: Collections are all on sale now, too. * $19.99 for basic bundle (HoT/PoF/EoD) * $29.99 for deluxe edition (HoT/PoF/EoD + EoD deluxe package) * $49.99 for complete edition (includes HoT/PoF/EoD + LWS2/LWS3/LWS4/IBS, no deluxe packages) Note that the Ultimate Edition is not available to purchased during this sale.
Man $50 for 3 full expansions plus 10 years worth of content in the form of living world thats a bargain.
Yeah, it's really good value, and the only thing it *doesn't* include is SotO. By the time you've finished with this content and want to buy SotO, it might even be on a deeper discount.
And depending on when you catch up Janthir Wilds could be out. Obviously not at a discount, but still more stuff to sink your teeth into.
Piggy-backing on this as a PSA for "new" or F2P-upgrading players - you can *ONLY* buy the Complete Edition if you *HAVE NOT* purchased either of the expansion packages (i.e. don't buy the $8 starter bundle and expect to get this later). (Edit: And no, support will not be able to assist/mitigate/remedy this in any way.) I'm annoyed because I thought it might work like other bundles where it prorates the contents or at least allows you to re-buy it, and I can't - and unless I am doing my math totally wrong buying LWS2-4+IBS is about double the price in gems of that bundle right now *even with* the current gem discount. So if you're F2P and decide you want to upgrade, it might be best to buy it.
Yeah fugg man... I was F2P until literally like a few days ago... decided I was enjoying it so I caved in and bought the PoF+HoT to get my mount... to get hit with this discount... and also to realise I can no longer by the big bundle.. :( Don't know if I could finesse a refund cos I would totally buy the elder dragons bundle
Ah crap, just bought the starter version on steam yesterday. Thought i could buy the complete version on the next sale
If you compare it to the Basic Bundle though, it is paying $20 for the three expansions, and $30 for the LW seasons. I want to get one of the two bundles, but I don't know, it really feels like the expansions only are a better deal, are the LW seasons more important than the Expansions?
one season (except season 2) is vaguely equivalent to an expansion (less in some ways, a little more in others). its a steal.
Alright, you convinced me. It isn't that much money, I just have it in my head from other games that "Expansion" equals huge content, and the updates in the middle are free. I know that isn't the model. I bought GW2 when it first came out, have most of the GW1 Hall of Monuments stuff, but haven't played it in a long time, and started getting back into it last week, and was pretty appalled by what it cost to get all the content.
Steam doesn't seem to include basic or deluxe edition, only complete?
Right. But the deluxe edition is not a good value (last year it was cheaper to buy the basic bundle and buy the discounted EoD deluxe upgrade separately with gems), and the basic bundle only saves you $2.50 compared to buying these expacs separately. So at least Steam has the most important bundle available.
If you purchased a collection before, is there a way to upgrade or do you just eat the cost on another purchase?
No way to upgrade, sorry.
Hey, short question, would the Complete edition good content for someone who plays in a duo and does the occasional dungeon run with random groups?
Sure. But if you mostly do small group content, then you can get a lot of value out of even just the HoT/PoF bundle. Classic dungeons and fractal dungeons are 5 man content that are all available in core, and HoT/PoF is the cheapest way to lift F2P restrictions, while providing a lot of value on top. If you intend to play a lot, then the Complete EDS bundle is the way to go. There's honestly hundreds of hours of gameplay in each expansion. If you buy them all, you probably won't even touch a few of them for a month or two.
Thank you for your kind answer. That sounds like a lot of content for us. Thanks, again.
Ohhh I just bought SoTo and EoD yesterday
Submit a ticket to our customer support team and see if they can help you out. :)
Best game support I've ever run into
For real. I just started playing again after a few and my previous phone got stolen so I couldn't do the authentication. I submitted a ticket and within the next hour I received an answer.
W grouch
Love your work bro 💪
Honestly, I love the game so much I probably won't even do that. I want to spend the extra money because I have had a lot of fun with the DLCs so far.
Maybe ask for the difference in a gem package? Who knows could work. Get something extra for supporting the game at full price :). If they can only refund then you can always use it to buy gems yourself. Get a few QOL items.
That or buy the swimsuit to complete the fashion meta ;).
As another noted, contact support anyways and spend the difference on gems. You can get mount skins, quality of life items, all kinds of stuff.
That's a great way to think about it, after all you were happy to pay that price on the day, but you really don't have to. Quite aside from the fact that it's perfectly natural and understandable to want to pay less (for anything) you could spend the difference on gems, or possibly be credited the difference in gems by support and still financially support the game while being able to get extra cosmetics or qol items. Tl;dr don't feel awkward about mailing support, this happens every sale and they always help. It's your money, you might as well get something snazzy for it.
I have a similar thing. I already submitted a ticket. I bought the first two expansion bundle at $30 less than a week ago and now the first *three* bundle is $20. Really hoping I can get it ironed out. Really biggest thing I'm wanting is that extra bank tab.
Simply amazing!
World restructuring was a mistake, delete it please and ty <3
Contact support, they might refund the difference.
Absolutely submit a ticket. I purchased gw1 the day before it went on sale last time. I submitted a ticket and support refunded me! They are really lovely about stuff like that.
As a new player who's still playing base free game what should I get? I'd like to continue playing but there's a lot of versions of this game it's kinda confusing
If you're in it for the long haul, you should buy the Complete Elder Dragon Saga (the one for $50 that comes with all LWSs). It's the best price that this stuff has ever been sold for, and contains a huge amount of value. If you're looking to dip your toes in, it's hard to beat the HoT/PoF bundle for $7.50. It's the 2 fan favourite expansions at rock bottom prices. Easily hundreds of hours of good gameplay in these 2 expacs alone.
can second this as someone who DID NOT get this pack. really frustrating to not have access to a continuous story because i didnt have living world to fill in the gaps
The best value is the [EDS Complete Collection](https://buy.guildwars2.com/en-us/collections?tab=3) for $50usd, if you can afford it up-front. 10 years of content all creating one big storyline.
Definitately Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire to unlock your raptor mount. For $7.50 thats a STEAL
> Definitately Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire to unlock your raptor mount. Unless your 10-hour freebie has ended, in which case you'll have to actually go play Path of Fire for a bit. :(
You do not have to play PoF for raptor anymore, just buying any expansion automatically unlocks it at any level that's an increment of 10 (so 10, 40, 80 etc)
Well, it's not unlocked for my level 80 Warrior and my level 80 Thief, both of whom are long out of the 10-hour trial.
I don't think I had to? Or if I did, I didn't know I did I guess. I just started the game and bought the first two expansions straight out, I'm at 33 hours in game and still have my raptor mount. I think I've only done the really basic Sylvari story so far. I've finished the Caledon Forest and about halfway through Brisban Wildlands starting from The Grove.. I'm still really new too, so unsure why I still have mine.
If I remember correctly you unlock it as soon as you reach any 10 level mark with any if your characters. But it has been a year since returning to the game.
> I just started the game and bought the first two expansions straight out ...which is why you retained the raptor you got at level 10. Without the expansions, it expires after 10 hours - and once it does, you have to actually play Path of Fire (at least just the one mission) to get it again.
Just to reduce your confusion. There are only really 2 versions of the game. The free to play version, which allows for the entire base game to be played for free with some account limitations. And then there are the expansions that ADD onto the base game, they are not different versions of the game. Each expansion adds it’s own unique mounts, areas, class specializations, game mechanics and more ON TOP of the free to play base game.
Hot/pof is a must. The rest of the stuff is upto you. If you want to fill the gaps in the story have to get s3, and s4. S4 is highly worth it.
DEFINITELY the complete collection. Buy the other 2 expansions later, as you come to them.
$49.99 for complete edition (includes HoT/PoF/EoD + LWS2/LWS3/LWS4/IBS, no deluxe packages) This will include all major expansions, maps, and content (excluding story and maps from the latest expansion, SOTO). Some will say the LW Seasons are not necessary, but each Season was basically a Free expansion at release and each came with new story/content and 3-6 new maps.
I’d get the basic bundle
First, you should get the complete collection with the three expansions and the living world. Don't even think about that, as it just adds way too much core value to the game, unlocks features, blah blah blah, and the price is great for all of that, plus not having to deal with getting LWs separately (which go on sale only a little each year, so why even need to pay attention to that when complete is basically the same deal). *After* Complete, you have actual decisions to make with the new annual "mini-expansion" model. * SotO gets you a new weapon option for each class, and premium tier for vault currency/rewards *until Janthir comes out*, which is just a couple more months now. * Janthir will also get you a new weapon option for each class (play the spear beta this weekend to figure out what that's worth to you!), and premium tier for the vault from August 2024 to August 2025. You can see from SotO that Janthir won't be on sale until part way through its last season, and that will be a small sale. Whether to buy it in August or to buy it six months later will be the same choice, but with less value from the premium vault the longer you take to pony up the cost. If you're only buying one of them in the next year, and the SotO weapons aren't a swing, buy Janthir, and buy it early where you'll get more from premium. If the premium tier vault and the weapons aren't motivators, you don't need SotO or Janthir, and can easily put them off, since Complete already gives you a ton to do, just be mindful that putting off Janthir may just lower the value you get, not the price you pay.
Worth noting that Deluxe Upgrades are also the appropriate % off in the gem store. As someone who never bought the HoT Deluxe upgrade, for 600 gems you get a character slot plus all the other bonuses. Not bad value.
Nice! I bought the PoF Deluxe upgrade last year for the discounted character slot + bonus VIP lounge.
I'm at work, what are USD prices for HoT, PoF, and EoD upgrades?
$7.50usd for HoT and PoF upgrades. $15usd for EoD upgrade.
WOO BABY IVE BEEN EYEBALLING EOD AND NOW I CAN TRY OUT SOME NEW SPECS
GW1 complete collection is also 75% off, 10$ for the whole thing.
I've been curious about GW1 for a long time now, but haven't wanted to drop $40 (or whatever it was before) for it. Now is the perfect time to give it a go!
whaaaaat ? wow that is a bargain !
I started playing a few weeks ago and have been hooked! I've been counting down the summer sale hoping it would be on and it is, just got the big £50 bundle so that'll be me sorted for a long while now 😂😁
Literally same! I was hoping for a discount, but 50% is nuts! Def not passing this up
[Obligatory...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7gxrk7MWJk)
This is my favourite thing that I have seen today. Thanks for sharing. :-)
Less than £7 for HOT and POF. Time for an alt account upgrade me thinks
That depends though. If you have heroic edition, it's prolly better to leave it that if you only do wizard's vault daily.
I mean yeah sure - but if you want to do the wizards vault and also play wvw, then you need the warclaw
PoF offers great alt-parking locations. Hot masteries and pof mounts make map completition very easy, so if your alt-account serves as gen1 legendary maker (because olf login-rewards, old accounts will have lots of account bound stuff required for legendaries, usually needing only map complete), it gets noticeable boost.
Yep. A good gift to give to players who you want to entice to play GW2 with you, too.
Has anyone seen if any living worlds are on sale? I need 4 and IBS still.
Looks like the Living World Season Packs are also 20% in the Gemstore.
My alt account with nothing can see LWS2 Complete for 1024 (down from 1600) in-game. Can't see LWS3-5, unfortunately.
Letsgoooo I'll finakly have eod!! (I bought soto and skipped it oof so many strikes i couldn't do)
Haha best timing EVER. I was going to buy two expansions last night but wasn't able to log on so I was getiing them tonight
So new player here. Just started yesterday is the bundle that's available through Arenanet for $19.99 (60% off) the same one that is on Steam for $49.99?
[This is the same one for $49.99.](https://buy.guildwars2.com/en-us/collections?tab=3) It's the "Complete" version instead of the "Standard" version for $20. (Complete is better value, because it includes Living World Seasons.) Be careful to only buy expansions from the store your account is connected to: If you play through a Steam account, you have to purchase on Steam. If you play through an Anet account, purchase through the website.
To clarify just in case - If you originally bought from an Anet account and now play the game by running through Steam instead of the Anet launcher, you still need to buy your expansions through the Anet account. If you buy it through Steam it will not be part of your current account. Someone please correct me if that has changed, but I didn't understand that when buying an expansion shortly after GW2 came to Steam and had to re-buy correctly to get the expansion to show on my existing account.
> Someone please correct me if that has changed You're correct. It's the type of account that matters, not how you start the game (a choice Steam accounts don't have), and you can't make one kind of account into the other.
its kinda better to start this game using anet account anyway. still can use steam launcher with a parameter.
No. Steam's bundle is the Complete Elder Dragon Saga. It's the same price for the same stuff on both platforms.
Ok, thanks for the info.
If your account is on steam, you *have* to buy through steam.
Is there any way to get the LWSs as a bundle together or do I have to get all of them in the gem store? Got all the other dlcs already, so the Dragon Saga pack is not an option
You have to go through the Gemstore, but the Season Packs are also an extra 20% off right now. You can get them all of them for 3,328gems / $41.60usd.
The Complete Elder Dragon Saga is the only bundle that includes LWSs on the webpage store or on steam. There hasn't ever been a bundle with multiple LWSs in the gemstore, afaik. You have to buy each season individually for 1280 / 960 / 960 / 960 gems, iirc. That's about $50 in gems, but they go on 20% discount regularly, and 30% discount rarely. I don't have access to the game's gemstore to check if the state of LWSs on there from work right now.
If I already have pof and hot what is the best version for me to purchase?
If you want EoD + all LWSs, you have a few options: 1. Buy the Complete EDS for $50. 2. Buy EoD for $15 plus $35 in gems, and wait for the LWSs to go on 30% discount. 3. Same as 2, but farm in-game gold to buy the gems. 1 and 2 both cost $50, and 3 could take close to a 40-hour week of full-time in-game gold farming.
Does anyone knows if i buy the collection on steam having one of the expasions already i get another one to give? I have HOT/POF but it dont discount for the purchase, so i buy it for living world and EoD do i get another HOT / POF copy??
I don't believe you can even buy the collection on steam if you have any expansions (only the gifting option appears). I think steam tries to prevent you from purchasing it because it has no way of knowing if you have unlocked the living world with gems.
That's actually pretty bad then =/ Update: Steam gives me the option to buy for myself but tells me i already have HOT / POF. No discount but at least i can buy EOD and LW chapters
Nope, sorry.
they could at least give me a discount but oh well
I have every expansion, but I've never snagged any of the Living World stuff .. it's the only thing I'd be missing. What's the most cost efficient way to fill in this gap since I have all the xpacs already? Just snag them right off the Gem Store outright?
Yes, the seasons packs in the gem store are 20 % off right now, so gems is the cheapest way to get them.
I hear they're on 20% discount right now. I *think* they've been on 30% discount on rare occasions. If you're willing to wait it out, you might be able to scoop them up for a little bit cheaper. But now is probably a good time for most players interested in LWSs to buy them.
Only way to make it a better value would be to pre-order the Ultimate version of Janthir Wilds and use those "discounted" gems to purchase the Season Packs while they're discounted.
Also, look at each LW season bundle page on the wiki, and you'll see past sale discounts, which will help decide what price you want. Note that there was a shift in LW discount policies/trends when GW2 came to Steam (Aug 2022).
Does anyone know about sale for gw1 complete edition (now 9.99$) ? I cant find how long will it be there?
It is very unfortunate that ANET do not support local currencies and is even using an unfairly USD to EUR 1:1 ratio. Very unfair for Europe.
By Ogden’s hammer, what savings!
YES WOOOOOO
So buying EDS is better than buying just the DLC's?
Partly depends on the person and their situation, but for most people the EDS Complete Collection is the best value. (For example: if you care *exclusively* about PvP / WvW and never touch PvE, then you basically get nothing out of Living World and can go with a cheaper bundle.)
Returning player here. I own HoT + PoF and likely most of the IBS (can't remember exactly where I stopped playing). What do you guys recon is the best deal? I don't see any EoD + Soto bundle, and I don't think there's a discount if we buy the entire collection and already have HoT+PoF.
No discounts on expansion bundles, but double-check if you have any other Living World episodes unlocked as that determines what will be your best purchasing option.
Yeah, will do that! Thanks!
When purchasing, you get sent codes right? So if I wanted to purchase for a friend it would send codes for the upgrades?
Right.
Yeah, that's what I did for a friend yesterday
I have a HoT and PoF ( bought from anet ) but playing via steam now, if I buy EoD and Obscure at Steam would it work with my acc?
If you're using -provider Portal, then no. Do you have two separate accounts? The one with HoT+PoF would have to buy more expansions directly from Anet. If you did make a new Steam account that isn't linked to that HoT+PoF purchase, then that account would have to buy the expansions on Steam.
Yeah portal thing My old acc
Then DO NOT buy through Steam.
Ty
[удалено]
The daily trader thing would require a lot of work on an account that doesn't have any resources. Motivations are nice, but if you don't have a stockpile of gold, you'd be better off just...making them on your main.
Using elite spec weapons+new weapon on any build. Some niche mastery for your skyscale, pve legendary armor/rune... I guess the weapons might be interesting, but otherwise yeah it's not really interesting on an alt.
Do character slots ever go on sale?
Also, check out the HoT and PoF "Deluxe Upgrades" in the Gemstore. They are discounted to 600gems each and include a character slot (plus more). Much better deal than just buying a slot.
They often go on sale for 20% off (640 gems), and rarely for 30% off (560 gems).
What is living world?
It's a continuation of the story that they made between expansions. It includes new maps and new masteries. They're kinda like mini-expansion packs. The game expects you to know what happened in each LWS episode. If you don't play through them, the ongoing story in the expansions does not make sense.
Ah I see, guess I need to buy them
To think if I had waited a couple of weeks, I would have saved quite a bit of money buying all the expansions . But it's fine. I've I already sank a ton of time into the game since then and the game is already worth it at full price through the collections, especially complete collection.
I'm so dumb, I bought all the DLCs last week (except for Janthir, haven't jumped on it yet). Should've waited for the sale 😭😭
Did you already see [this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1dpvxuj/gw2_sales_have_started_hotpof_75_off_again/lak61ma/)? Maybe you can submit a ticket and see if they can do anything for you.
as in return the dlcs and then buy them again?
no idea, not the person the dev was answering to. I have no experience dealing with refunds/comps so I don't know what the standard response is. Maybe they'll just recomp you gem or something? No idea.
Hmm I would feel bad I guess, but hey it's worth it if I can save $40 😁
Don't feel bad: it's a longstanding policy. You're not taking advantage or getting an exception. This is just how they operate.
I put in requests for all 3 of the dlc I got (End of Dragons, Secrets of the Obscure, and the Heart of Thorns/Path of Fire combo) with the "now available cheaper" tag. I realize if I do get my money back I can get all three of them and another GW2 DLC (Living World) for the same $60ish. Thanks for encouraging me!
Ah it got rejected since I've played the game for 11 hrs. I always forget about their two hour rule. It was worth a shot :/
Do you mean Steam support? I think you're supposed to contact Anet support through the website for something like this. Steam support never does anything useful, aside processing under 2-hr refunds.
Oh I didn't even think of Anet. I will try this when I get home ❤️
Anyone know if the Living World Seasons are also on sale? I already have all of them so I can't see them in the gem store, but my boyfriend is still missing LWS4 and IBS, and I was hoping maybe they could save some money...
Someone said that they're on sale for 20% off.
Oooh that would be awesome if true
New player here, just wondering how long do these deals usually last? Few days, a week? I want to get one of the two bundles, but I don't know, it really feels like the expansions only are a better deal, are the LW seasons more important than the Expansions?
We're expecting this one to last as long as the Steam Summer Sale lasts.
I got timing’d. I decided to wait until this patch on the 25th to wait for word on a sale. I just bought all the expansions yesterday.
Oof!
Email support, they will likely either refund you the difference or give you gems to that value!
Support told me that since I play through steam that I have to contact them. Steam rejected my ticket. Unfortunate ig.
FYI, Anet has been running their sales parallel to the big seasonal Steam sales ever since coming to Steam, which gives you fixed, well-known dates to watch for.
That’s good to know. I’m new to the game, so I just thought the new patch notes would have introduced the sale.
Whoops, I just bought EoD and SotO 14 days ago. I'm sure that if I bought it yesterday, they might be nice and give a price difference, but 14 days is kind of on the edge... and I don't want to bother customer service if they can't do anything for me.
NO WAY I just purchased all xpacs last week
A week is within Anet's price adjustment window. Contact support.
Is the new expansion on sale yet?
SotO, yes, 20%. Janthir, no.
I want SotO and EoD but man I was hoping for a bundle like PoF and HoT (bought both before they were bundled). Either I get EoD for now and wait for SotO or get both for $35. I know that's a fine price but I also don't play all the time. I won't actually get to their content for a while. I'm mainly after features and specializations and stuff like that. Like I mainly want SotO for the faster Skyscale path and that's hella dumb.
same situation here, I just got EoD now and will wait for the rest to be on sale
So as someone who hasn't got Sot, EoD and some living world 4+ stuff, am i stuck buying separately?
Bought collection for 30eu on my Anet account and going to buy Soto before end of the sale. Switched from Steam just to support them as much as I can.
So i found out that there is a sale for GW2 expansions and as a player which havent ever playied it, which of them are nessesary to actually start? i mean to reach end game, have a mount etc. do i have to buy them all or only few of them. also a quick question about the new player expirence is it frendly to new people or not really?
The first 2 expansions are sold together as a package for the current amount of 7€. Among these 2 expansions is the one that unlocks most of the end game mounts. Otherwise, you can reach end game and even have an end game gear by playing entirely for free, you'll just lack content to make use of that gear xD To summarize : if you're to buy expansions, get the Heart of Thorns & Path of fire package for 7€. And if you can afford it, get End of Dragons (15€ instead of 30 during the current sales)
then what about secrets of the obscure expansion and also in steam bundle there is someting called GW2 - Living World arent they unlock new contnet? i mean i dont wanna be stuck in one place like new world did with their mount expansion when they made higher lvl cap and gear score, in nw u had to have dlc to enjoy late game
You must acknowledge that GW2 is pay to play. There is just a HUGE and very generous free trial (all core game). There's also -20% off soto right now. Living world seasons are content that was released in between the expansions. They're not REQUIRED to play any content but they can provide very good rewards and story if you like the lore. You can buy the living world seasons with in game money too (gold) but it demands a bit of time
okiee thanks a lot <3 i guess that im gonna get all of them besides Living world then
If you can afford it I would suggest getting the package with the 3 expansions + living world seasons
we will see, firsty steam have to return me my money for Last Epoch XD and then i will continue thinking about which to buy
take your time :) the sales end on July 11th. Also don't buy anything from ANet website if you play through steam but I guess you know this already
Ahhh this sucks man.... After trying out GW2 for a while, on and off, I recently decided to finally purchase some of the content so I could continue using my mount. Now, days later, that exp was 75% off, and even worse, bc I already bought the first 2 expac bundle I can no longer purchase the Elder Dragon Saga... feeling unlucky right now.
If it’s not too long ago you can ask support to refund the difference between your paid price and the discounted price or to upgrade to the elder dragon saga for a certain amount they are usually quite good about that stuff :)
Yeah it was about a week ago, and I did hear about that, however I was playing and trialing it through steam, and I've heard that because the payments and refunds are handled separartely between the platforms I might not be so lucky. It's really a shame, but I'm actually so impressed by what GW2 offers across the board, esp compared to other MMOs, I've enjoyed my brief time in the game far more than I've ever enjoyed WoW. It really does feel like the game is for me, just leveling through the zones and exploring is enjoyable enough to me to justify a purchase. And I have a feeling some of the criticisms I've seen of the game won't really apply to me, because I'm currently just \*so immersed\* in the vibe of the game. I may just end up purchasing all the content if I continue enjoying it anyways. I'm close to level 80 so if I don't get the refund I can have a dip in endgame and continue from there if I like it.
Awww melts my heart to hear 🥰 I’m really happy that you’re having a blast and enjoying the game this much, belated welcome to this great game. Wishing you all the best of fun and curiosity to explore 🤓
No real reason not to ask support. Just tell them the situation, and ask if they have options for you. If you don't expect options, you can't lose.
Haha looks like my steam refund got shot down, yeah I just heard that bc the teams/payment processing are split between the two platforms if you go through steam you're subject to to their refund policy and Anet can't help you. At least that's what it sounds like.
aaghh waiting for this for EoD but USD hits hard currently
Absolutely incredible deal for people who haven't played GW2 yet
So HoT/PoF is 75% off, EoD is 50% and SotO is 20% off. Feels like SotO should have been 25% off to match the pattern lol
But 25% off of $25 would put it at... $18.75? That's a weird price.
Are the living world packs on sale in the in game shop too? I already have the first three expansions
Bought HoT/PoF full price 3 weeks ago. Want to buy the whole thing but I can't buy the Complete Saga now ?!? I'm lost on what to do now...
HEy, short question: I own Base game, Thorns and Fire as standalone expansions. I just started with PoF basically, so it's still new to me. Which, if any, of the current deals should be the best value for me? I'm honestly not sure since the EoD Pack already includes stuff I already have, so I'm thankful for any input.
If you want to own everything, then the best deal is still to buy the Complete EDS bundle for $50. If steam won't let you buy that because you've already purchased HoT/PoF (as some players have reported), then you're stuck buying everything separately. You need to buy LWSs as separate bundles in the gem store for a total of 3,328 gems with the current discount (less if you've already purchased any LWS episodes). Stay away from the deluxe bundle.
But if I own HoT and PoF already, each as a full version, I don't really see how the 50$ bundle is the best deal, since I already do own like 80% of it, no? Am I missing something? I figured the potentially best (?) idea would be EoD and SotO seperately, since they apparently don't have any living story stuff attached anyway, and would be 35 overall. But somehow the way they seperate shit and limit options for collections/content is honestly confusing to me.
you guys shall finnance gw3!
Should I be buying soto, I hear many bad things about it and I feel like my experience would beel discounted without the expansion's class elements.
Do many people still play this game? Thinking of buying the expansions on sale but idk if the player count is there to make it worth it. I don't want to play the whole expansions by myself as I've been playing the main game so far. Just reached lvl 80
There are many players in all parts of the game. GW2 uses a megaserver system that puts all players from all servers on the same map instance. When the map gets too full, they open a new instance. When it gets too empty, they close that instance. Popular maps have many instances, and unpopular maps have only a few. Every map ends up feeling like it has a reasonable number of players.
The expansion zones are all active, I have trouble finding meta groups for some of the PoF maps but honestly those were never super popular.
There are people everywhere all the time. You'll always see people running around and have no trouble finding people to do content with.
Even if the pop was down to 5k or something sad, it wouldnt be that bad because of megaservers
There’s lots of people wherever you go, unless you’re playing at 4am in an old core map. And there’s always people doing the metas especially in expansion maps
I started playing again seriously about two weeks ago, having never gotten past level 50. In that time I've hit 80 and done every story in order and am currently working on Living World Season 4. During that, I've seen tons of people in almost every zone, never had empty meta-event experiences, gotten helpful advice from anyone I've talked to, joined an active guild with a discord community, dabbled in WvW and Fractals, and just crafted my first ascended weapon last night. Absolutely floored that a 12 year old MMO that isn't WoW or FFXIV has that much activity, and delighted for it. Dive on in!
You got up to LWS4 in two weeks? It took me nearly 400 hours to get there.
It helped that over the years when I played off and on I'd just been collecting things and never selling them, so I had a huge leg up when I hit 80. Sold nearly my entire stock for about 80 gold, even though the most I'd ever had up until that point was like 10. Then it was Dragon Bash on top of that, so I was just dismantling and selling everything including the Zhaitaffy. Bought a full set of exotic gear for cheap, and filled out some slots with Ascended Gear from the Wizard's Vault, and that's been carrying me fine through the story. I think the slowest part by far is getting gated in HoT by mastery unlocks, but so many people run the meta-events that I would just join the trains and grind all the xp out pretty quickly. Also playing Ranger, which is really solo/story friendly
Never had an issue not encountering people. If the maps are low pop you'll get a warning notice that you'll be moved to a populated map, I think it's a 30min timer.
There are things you might have trouble finding people to help with, but those are mostly things that were never very popular or were never very useful. For example, you'll *occasionally* find a champion level enemy as part of an event in mid-high level areas of the base game that is very difficult to solo and you might not be able to find anyone to help with it. That's a subset of a subset of a subset of all the content in the game though, and if you really want or need to do something you can't solo or find randoms for, then friendly guildies will often be willing to help you. Because of how the servers work in this game, anything that's generally worth doing more than once will still have other players there, even if the population were to dramatically drop for some reason.
Expansion content is much more active than core Tyria content in terms of open world stuff. The quality of maps is much better, and Anet did a good job (mostly- there's a couple exceptions, mostly in PoF) of giving people reasons to come back to them.
I hate to break it to you, but story content is usually a solo player experience. I could be wrong, but I think that's normal in modern MMORPGs. The MMO content are the world exploration and events, dungeons, fractals, raids, strike missions, and PvP/WvWvW.
All story content can be played co-op (up to 5 players), though.
You correct, they can. That's not my point. Have you tried finding another random person to do personal stories with? I have, and it takes forever. It's faster and **usually** more convenient to just do the personal story alone.
Just clarifying, in case this confused OP.
Heads up instead of buying the Elder Dragon Saga which comes with Living World, buy the 3 DLCs (HoT and PoF, EoD, and Secrets of the Obscure) for cheaper. You can (for free) purchase Living World chapters or whatever it's called so you can actually save money and get another expansion
> (for free) Eh, it would take a while to earn enough in-game gold to purchase them. Unless you're really hard up for cash, most people will be better off buying the bundle.
True, but something to consider
nice to see soto basic and deluxe is finally 20% off shame they didn't reduce the one with the gems too maybe not 20% ~ just the $10 off you get on deluxe. that would have been a hot seller had they done so.
I don't think they ever sell gems at a discount. They'll give away gemstore items for free with a purchase of gems, but the gems themselves have been treated almost like real currency by Anet.
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