How to buy the expansion as a gift.

A family member would like to buy the expansion as a gift. They have an account, they play too. They can't see a place to do that, and neither can I. There's no 'purchase this as a gift' option anyplace.

To gift buy it from the GW2 web store or other Anet authorized retailers (if they offer pre-purchase) and once you get the game key you can it to give to the recipient. Just don’t register it and don’t buy it through the in-game store as the in-game store automatically adds it to your account if you don’t have it already. Of course if you already have PoF on your account the in-game store won’t be an option anyway.

A note on pre-purchase, if you buy it from outside Anet via an approved retailer make sure it is pre-purchase and not pre-order. Most sites I see right now are offering pre-order which would mean you don’t get the key until release day as opposed to pre-purchase that grants the key at the time of purchase. Really at this point you are best off buying directly from Anet to make certain you are getting the pre-purchase as the prices are the same as other authorized retailers. So there is no real advantage to buying it outside Anet unless for some reason you have to.

A last mention, if you have a favorite GW2 streamer/content provider check their information as they may have a referral code you can use. Once purchased via the referral code a small portion of the purchase price goes to the content provider so it helps support them.