leftharted.7102 Posted December 1, 2017 Share Posted December 1, 2017 Hi!So, me and the wife picked back up GW a bit after the PoF release, after having quit a Long while ago, like 4/5 years(ish); before Living World season 1. Back then it was just the main story, core map, No masteries, etc. We're super casual; mostly only doing open world PvE stuff together. I like to mess with PvP/WvW when she doesn't want to play, though (as she desnt like pvp). We've been having a ton of fun with PoF and have unlocked all of our mounts; even spent a smidge on gems to finish our Griffons. We also bought HoT when we bought PoF, and have been doing a bit of that... However......Our only issue so far, has been the Story. We quickly realized that we are 100% lost, and have NO clue who/why/what is going on... We still powered through the PoF initial story with the intention of revisiting it later on when it 'made more sense'... Originally we thought "well its because we skipped the HoT xpac..." but we both really wanted our mounts, especially since run-speed was a huge QoL feature that was lacking when we first played; and as soon as we realized the mounts all had special abilities etc; we just couldn't stop once we started... Now that we're starting with HoT content; I couldn't help but notice the EXACT same issue... we have ZERO clue who/how/why/what/where. It wasn't until this moment; that I realized the Season 1 and 3 content are locked behind Gem purchases (we never logged in during that 4/5year break, so we don't have them auto-unlocked..) To say the least, this kinda pissed me that this is even possible... I totally understand the Gem store given that this is a subscription-less game, and we've made Several additional purchases for gems etc outside of paying for HoT and PoF... but IMO, these should have been bundled into our direct purchases of HoT and PoF; given the fact that the main storyline of each seems to be 100% meaningless unless you're up-to-date with the Seasons. It seems we'd have to pay almost another $35 each to unlock all of the 'living world' content.... which isn't going to break the bank or anything; but its money id rather commit to Gems, rather than content that might be ultimately worthless, aside from the few hours it takes us to get through the actual Story portion...Honestly, we could just google/wiki/youtube the story to make HoT / PoF make sense at least... my real question; is what ELSE would I get from purchasing the living world season(s) that we're missing? I briefed the Wiki and didn't see any crazy rewards... maybe a few cosmetic things... but ehh... I guess my main concern; is i have read their is some sort of map currency for LW season 3 stuff; that buys nice accessories with those fancy new stat combo's that didn't exist way-back-when? Plus, we're just now experimenting with crafting etc to Eventually achieve ascended gear and maybe one day a legendary or two... are any of these features we're missing important to those goals? It seems i can plausibly get my hands on some of those neat +expertise & +concentration gear sets by having HoT unlocked; but would these living world areas that im missing aid towards collecting/crafting those special sets in any way???TL;DR: Beyond story content; and for a casual player: is purchasing the LW season(s) worthwhile in your opinion? Would you spend an additional $35 for them; if you hypothetically had to? Or, is this content worth skipping?TYVM! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueBudgie.2179 Posted December 1, 2017 Share Posted December 1, 2017 Hello, and welcome back to GW2! :)I'll try to break it down quickly:Living World Season 1 (which plays after the core game story) is unavailable to play and you'd have to check out either the ingame summary of story, or check out summaries online, so no money spent here anyway.Living World Season 2 (which plays before HoT) is purely story with the addition of some achievements tied to said story, and a few items you get from these achievements. If you get invested in the plot of the game I think it's worth experiencing it by playing through the content yourself, otherwise you won't get much from it.Living World Season 3 (which plays after HoT and before PoF) will give you the story, some new items, and the most important feature: six decently-sized additional maps to play on and explore, with varied settings each. Personally I really liked most of these maps and think those would make the purchase worth it, but of course that is up to everyone's own decision. (Edit: Owning LS3 also enables you to craft a legendary trinket, which you otherwise aren't able to craft.)Living World Season 4 is the current season (after PoF) which you don't have to pay for as long as you log in during the time of the episode's release. This season also adds new maps (or at least it added one new map for the last update, and I would suppose there will be more new maps for future updates as well).So TL;DR:If you're satisfied with knowing the story simply from online summaries instead of playing through it yourself, then I'd say you can skip purchasing LS2 and only get LS3 for the new maps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zionka.6897 Posted December 1, 2017 Share Posted December 1, 2017 I was in a similar situation as you, almost exact really. I do really enjoy experiencing the story in entirety though, so it was really bugging me I felt like i was reading/living a story with episodes of memory loss. I finally broke down and bought both season 2 and 3, and don't regret it at all. Not only did I enjoy the instances with story (some are really hard and frustrating, but rewarding) Getting the extra maps with new items to work for was worth it, knowing the story more completely was worth it, and to not have it always there nagging in the back of my mind was worth it too!I do agree it's poor form for ANet to charge for what should be free, but it is what it is, we're at their mercy. I just wish season 1 had the same option, as there still will be unanswered questions without just looking things up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therapite.3645 Posted December 7, 2017 Share Posted December 7, 2017 The thing about living story content, is that it definitely is free. You just need to log on while it's live the first time to 'unlock' it for your account. It's like a reward for being an active player, and they do email you and make mention of it in places on their media accounts so it's not like you won't know about it if you aren't playing as frequently for some reason. Season one not being replayable is one of the biggest regrets apparently and I'm sure they feel terrible about it not being something that people can enjoy over and over. Definitely get the content from the living seasons though to go along with the story from the expansions and play them through, and then replay them. Also remember to finish your actual 1-80 personal story as well since there are characters from there who will repeat or make appearances, and that goes for all iterations of the personal story for all races. Also some of those stories are just that good (Norn blacking out at the moot springs to mind). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mercury ranique.2170 Posted December 7, 2017 Share Posted December 7, 2017 It depends a lot on the story. LS1 is unavailable. LS2 has new maps, but they are not gated behind the story and open for everyone (Dry top and the silverwastes).LS3 gets more interesting as the maps are locked behind some story (basically, you need to do one or two instances to get transported to the map and unlock the first waypoint). They provide pretty decent farming methods Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dashiva.6149 Posted December 7, 2017 Share Posted December 7, 2017 LS1 wasn't intended to be repeatable, but can be re-experienced fairly well with this video LS2 wraps up parts of LS1 and shows the increasing impact an awakening Elder Dragon has on Tyria. It also let you relive some of the early days of the Sylvari if that matters The story is kinda shaky but ties into HoT fairly well. Your character doesn't have voiceacted dialogue, so be mindful of that.It offers two maps, Dry Top and Silverwastes, and they are decently populated and have a decent amount of content (events and achievments). The Silverwastes is a decent goldfarm if that matters.LS3 picks up after HoT and transitions very well into PoF while at the same time have a cohesive arc across the season, and the quality of storyinstances has been majorly improved compared to LS2. You get 6(!) decently large maps; each brings events, achievements, mastery points and have each their own set of daily achievments.Honestly you can almost consider LS3 to be a expansion on it's own since you get a rather large chunk of content for the buck, and I would recommend it. I might be biased though as there was quite a few callbacks to GW1 that I enjoyed, but I think it is still enjoyable for anyone that is interested in following the Gw2 story properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
endurio.7065 Posted December 7, 2017 Share Posted December 7, 2017 LW2, get it only if you are short on core mastery points. The main reason I got LW2 on my second account was to max out Pact Commander mastery line, the final level is the auto loot which is a huge QoL thing (you will never miss any loot as it is picked up automatically).LW3, each 6 maps can be done in isolation, again they give a ton of easy Maguuma mastery points, which you will need to max out the 4 HOT mastery tracks that are needed for crafting legendary weapons. I would try first episode 3 - crack in the ice, that is the one that unlocks the Bitterfrost Frontier map, this one is a farming paradise (farming for ascended trinkets, karma, gold,...). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guru.4078 Posted December 8, 2017 Share Posted December 8, 2017 HI. ya I felt the same I started before HoTok so short answercore - I assume you did thisliving story 1 - just watches the video it is great for filling in story already linked abovelike a tv show it is season 1 where everyone gets a backstory and you learn everythingliving story 2 - for me when ppl said it was not needed; it is totally needed this should be included in the game this is like seasons 2-6 of a tv show and your now just getting to season 8. this explains so much and I don't understand why ppl say it is not needed it is. it gives information on more than just your team but the world and each race and the dragons and understandinghot - take your time but this is not needed bc it just kills a dragon and eir died and aurea living story 3 - helped us bridge between hot and of - mainly ep 5this is the session when ppl who made youtube content got good and you can watch the full story if you don't have it unlocked if you don't care about farming and getting the itemspof - you didgood luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westenev.5289 Posted December 8, 2017 Share Posted December 8, 2017 The final chapter of LS2 awards more than its individual gem value if I remember correctly, considering that one of the achievements awards a hair dye kit (as well as other goodies).Something to think about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyninja.2954 Posted December 8, 2017 Share Posted December 8, 2017 Most has been said already.Besides the awkward getting used to again and finding a class you enjoy, absolutely get the Living World Season 2 and 3 content.May I offer a path of approach:get the LW2 and LW3 contentget in touch what elite specializations there are (HoT has multi minute videos on each, PoF has a short trailer too: )pick a duo you think you might enjoy (I'd recommend ranger for druid specialization in case your wife enjoys playing support)just play through the entire story together (watch a recap for Living World Season 1 once you beat the original campaign)the final mission of the vanilla campaign in Arah was changed a long time ago to be soloableYou are now looking at tons of hours of story. Also make sure to stick around after Living World Episodes and not leave immediately. There is very often additional dialoge and story between characters voice acted.After all this (and trust me, this will take a while) you can then decide to work on achievements, start new characters (and being back in the game make informed decisions on which you might want to play), get characters ready for fractals, get mastery ranks, etc. etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donari.5237 Posted December 9, 2017 Share Posted December 9, 2017 One other point: For LS2, you don't have to buy it to play the story so long as you have a friend who owns it and will start the instances for you (and give you info on the open world parts, what the npcs are saying and where clues are being seen). You won't get any AP or rewards, and you won't be able to cue dialogues or interact with yellow-name objects, but you will experience the story.For LS3, I believe you do need to own it or you can't even enter the new maps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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