Living World Season 3 ?

Heard LWS3 is arguably the best way to get ascended trinkets. Still true?

When I open the Journal page it says it costs 200 gems to unlock. It's 200 for EACH episode I assume, not for the whole thing? According to https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Living_World_Season_3_Complete_Pack this whole season costs 960 gems. But obviously 6 episodes x200 =1200gems. And I'm pretty sure there were 8 episodes in my journal, so likely the wiki is outdated. This makes it 1600gems overall. Yet there are also notes that "This pack's price is reduced by 160 gems for each episode previously unlocked on the account." Does that mean episodes unlocked already in any season at all or just in this one?

I want to get this season just as a way to gear up, not interested in mmo story. Story in GW2 is not bad, but it's hardly Game of Thrones. Sadly, it's not even WoW level story which got carried by characters introduced in WC3 and then slowly butchered. So, is there a way to buy just the episodes that allow me to farm those trinkets or have to buy chronologically?

Lastly, Living World episodes are unlocked for free if you log in the game at the time of its creation, correct? But do you have to play them or reach certain episode to unlock the next? For example, I started playing this game around January this year. I could begin LWS4, but I did not log during the release of the previous episodes for obvious reasons. Can I play all or just some of the episodes?

@"EpicName.4523" said:Heard LWS3 is arguably the best way to get ascended trinkets. Still true?

When I open the Journal page it says it costs 200 gems to unlock. It's 200 for EACH episode I assume, not for the whole thing? According to https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Living_World_Season_3_Complete_Pack this whole season costs 960 gems. But obviously 6 episodes x200 =1200gems. And I'm pretty sure there were 8 episodes in my journal, so likely the wiki is outdated. This makes it 1600gems overall. Yet there are also notes that "This pack's price is reduced by 160 gems for each episode previously unlocked on the account." Does that mean episodes unlocked already in any season at all or just in this one?

There are 6 episodes in LS3 not 8. If you buy the whole pack you get a discount thus the 960 price. And the 160 discount is for unlocked episodes of the specific season.

I want to get this season just as a way to gear up, not interested in mmo story. Story in GW2 is not bad, but it's hardly Game of Thrones. Sadly, it's not even WoW level story which got carried by characters introduced in WC3 and then slowly butchered. So, is there a way to buy just the episodes that allow me to farm those trinkets or have to buy chronologically?

Each episode comes with a map with different farming options. Check the wiki to see what trincket you want from which map and then you can choose specific maps to unlock with the respective episode. You can unlock which ever episode you choose. That being said i still think that the whole LS is great value for money since one extra map along side the story is a very good addition. BTW do not forget that you can get the episode with in-game money.

Lastly, Living World episodes are unlocked for free if you log in the game at the time of its creation, correct? But do you have to play them or reach certain episode to unlock the next? For example, I started playing this game around January this year. I could begin LWS4, but I did not log during the release of the previous episodes for obvious reasons. Can I play all or just some of the episodes?

Not sure what you mean. If you log in at the time the episode is live that is unlocked (and only that) and you can play the unlocked episodes at any order. Nothing more than that. BTW LS4 only has one episode out at the moment. So you have not missed any episode from the season.

BTW LS is also tied to its respective expansion. So LS3 needs you to own HoT to be played and LS4 needs you to own PoF.

If you want only gear you need just chapter 3 (bitterfrost). There you can get backpiece one ring and one accesory wizh any hot or core stats. The another accesory, ring and ulet can be bought from fractals with core, hot and pof stats.

Btw if you want stats from core game everything exept backpack can be bought for laurels

Another key point to add to what Turin said, if you do NOT own PoF, you can't play the Season 4 episode, BUT it is STILL unlocked on your account. So, if you put off buying PoF until next summer, once you do purchase PoF, you will instantly gain access to all of the Season 4 episodes you unlocked by logging in while they were live.

Just buy episode for episode for 200 gems. 200 gems can be bought with 54 gold these days, it's really cheap. Once you bought an episode, you can farm there, get your ascended trinket(s) and also enough gold to buy the next episode. There's lots of stuff to get on these maps that make you money. You can even turn the Unbound Magic into gold.

In short, the LW S3 episodes are well worth their money, they quickly pay for themselves. In addition, you get new maps, story, fun and ascended trinkets. I bought the last two missing episodes two days ago with my farm account, simply because it only cost 54 gold each.

For back just keep upgrading the spinal blades till you hit ascended. Also u can change its stats any time by just recoloring it.