Returning player looking to get hooked again

Hey all, I used to play Guild Wars quite a bit back in the day, but I haven't played since BEFORE Heart of Thorns. I have none of the expansions, though I am strongly considering picking them up but want to get back into the game again first. As a returning player I want to know, is the game hard to get back into after being absent for so long? I played a warrior, a necro and had a mid-level engineer. Should I just mill about on my old warrior, who is 80, or make an alt to re-familiarize myself? I heard about all the PvE content being shared world stuff across servers which is nice since it means I won't have to relocate. Is getting into a guild difficult, or are there plenty willing to take on an old player returning like myself?

@Basheybashey.4385 said:I want to know, is the game hard to get back into after being absent for so long?

not really. it just takes time... depending on how dedicated or how hooked you are it will really vary but it's nowhere near hard.

@Basheybashey.4385 said:I played a warrior, a necro and had a mid-level engineer. Should I just mill about on my old warrior, who is 80, or make an alt to re-familiarize myself?

don't delete your old characters for their age/birthday gifts!!

that being said, it's best to create a new character even if it's another warrior (if that's what you fancy) or try another class.... then level them from 1 to 80 fresh. do everything in the order intended to re-familiarise yourself with the game's systems and combat. when you find that you're re-acquainted with the game again and have finally familiarised yourself with everything, you may resume/return to your older/legacy characters if you wish.

boosting to 80 (or resuming from a level 80) being a completely new player (or if you absolutely, completely forgot how to play) is usually a recipe for being overwhelmed and confused on what is what and what to do now.

treat the journey to level 80 and the 1~80 personal story as your tutorial to Tyria.

@Basheybashey.4385 said:I heard about all the PvE content being shared world stuff across servers which is nice since it means I won't have to relocate. Is getting into a guild difficult, or are there plenty willing to take on an old player returning like myself?

there's plenty of guilds who want to have you! you can head over to your starter map (Queens/Metrica/Wayfarer/etc.) or your starter city or in Lion's Arch and wait for a map shout recruitment or do a /map and ask if there's anyone recruiting.

alternatively you can check either:

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/categories/looking-for-guild-or-https://www.reddit.com/r/guildrecruitment/

for gw2 related recruitment posts.

If you decide to go the route of starting over at level, don't be afraid of boosting past the first few levels. I wouldn't jump all the way to 80, but to 20, 30, or even 40 wouldn't be an issue, in my opinion.

Some administrative stuff:

1. Heart of Thorns is now included with the purchase of Path of Fire.
2. Living World Seasons are extra and have to be purchased through the gem store and you have to have the associated expansion to access them - HoT for Season 3, PoF for 4 and 5.
3. If you login while an episode is "live" - even on a Free to Play account, you unlock that episode for free on your account and can access it once you have met all the other requirements (like owning the expansions).
4. Gliding was added with HoT. Mounts were added with PoF. Once unlocked/trained on one character, they are available across your account, so even as a level 3 character running around Queensdale, you can still ride your raptor or glide down off a cliff.
5. Some of the guild hall services will be available to you without the expansions, some will not. The free boosters at the tavern in the guild hall are helpful for leveling, but they require an expansion. Using the repair anvil doesn't require the expansions.

Welcome back. I've been here 5 years this December and I'm still enjoying myself.

Alright, thanks for your advice! I've been mucking around on an alt and I think I more or less remember the game now.

Should I finish off my 'personal story' on my main before picking up the expansions or just dive right in? And also with the expansions should I just follow through their main story progression I assume they have in order, or would you recommend one over the other, such as jumping right into path of fire for the mount or what have you. I'm mostly interested in PvE content like the dungeons and excited to try the raids I've heard they added which is super cool, though I do also do a bit of PvP.

If you don't mind spoilers or story continuity I'd say by all means get the mounts. Even the raptor makes life easier. But if you want the story and character introduction to make sense I'd say stick with progression.

@"Basheybashey.4385" said:Should I finish off my 'personal story' on my main before picking up the expansions or just dive right in? And also with the expansions should I just follow through their main story progression I assume they have in order, or would you recommend one over the other, such as jumping right into path of fire for the mount or what have you. I'm mostly interested in PvE content like the dungeons and excited to try the raids I've heard they added which is super cool, though I do also do a bit of PvP.

the chronological order is:Personal Story > LW Season 1 Recap > LW Season 2 > Heart of Thorns > LW Season 3 > Path of Fire > LW Season 4 > Icebrood Saga (current)

pvp, jump in anytime! for World vs World, PvE Raids and other endgame instanced PvE wait until you have a full set of Exotic tier equipment for your chosen build/class. you can google "snow crows gw2" for raid builds and "discretize eu gw2" for tier4 fractal builds, for everything (non raid, non t4 fractals) else: google up "metabattle gw2" for build guides and general reference on how to play your chosen class more efficiently.

if you don't care about the story, or don't mind getting spoiled, you can do the first mission of Path of Fire expansion (entry is at Lion's Arch) on one of your old level 80 characters and complete it to get the first mount then come back to your current character. it's a very nice QoL thing to have when exploring (mobility, safety, etc.) but it's nowhere near required that you do so. you can completely clear all content in Heart of Thorns, seasons 2 and 3, and the personal story without any of the mounts.

Alright thanks very much for all your help! Going to finish my personal story then pick up path of fire and heart of thorns! Having a great time coming back so far