Length of story (HoT + PoF)

How long (approximately, in hours) are the HoT and PoF stories (without Living World S3)? My friend and I are going to get together and try to play through them together, and since we're both short of time, I'd like to know how much gameplay are we looking at (we're both lvl 80 with full exo and some ascended gear). I think that the core game story is doable in 1 day if you set your mind to it (i.e. do nothing else and you're lvl 80) - how long are those stories compared to the core game?

I think HoT was about 4 hours when I ran it on alts. I’m not sure about PoF but it’s longer than HoT.

That depends a lot of how much you take time to enjoy the open-world aspects of progressing through the story, and how much you read/listen to lore stuff. Both expacs have a lot of open world stuff involved in the story progression.

If you blitzkrieg the ever loving hell out of it (like 1 day for the entire core story), I think you're looking at mere hours for both combined. That's not the answer I'd give anyone but you, though.

@Fluffball.8307 said:That depends a lot of how much you take time to enjoy the open-world aspects of progressing through the story, and how much you read/listen to lore stuff. Both expacs have a lot of open world stuff involved in the story progression.

If you blitzkrieg the ever loving hell out of it (like 1 day for the entire core story), I think you're looking at mere hours for both combined. That's not the answer I'd give anyone but you, though.

Listening or not doesn't make any difference since it's all unskippable. You're going to be spending that time regardless.

@Khisanth.2948 said:

@Fluffball.8307 said:That depends a lot of how much you take time to enjoy the open-world aspects of progressing through the story, and how much you read/listen to lore stuff. Both expacs have a lot of open world stuff involved in the story progression.

If you blitzkrieg the ever loving hell out of it (like 1 day for the entire core story), I think you're looking at mere hours for both combined. That's not the answer I'd give anyone but you, though.

I meant more along the lines of optional dialogue. A ton of NPCs have voiced dialogue aren't required to listen to.

@"Fluffball.8307" said:If you blitzkrieg the ever loving hell out of it (like 1 day for the entire core story), I think you're looking at mere hours for both combined. That's not the answer I'd give anyone but you, though.

That's what I was hoping for - we won't be rushing it for the sake of completing it as fast as possible, but we have allocated one whole day (late morning to late evening) just to go through the stories. If you'd get "mere hours" from a rushed playthrough, I think we might just make it through in double that time without it feeling rushed. Cheers!

Damn, we didn't even finish HoT because you have to train certain masteries to progress in the story, which naturally took a while.

Does PoF also have this mechanic?

Just two cents...the story is much more then the story instances itself. I personally always experienced a lot more pleasure in enjoying in between. PoF is all about exploration and the maps and events and ambience are synced with the story. In HoT the story is tied to map meta’s. The final battle consist of an instance and a meta at the same time. So my advice is to enjoy the game as a whole. Do not rush just the story.

@JackassTheX.6351 said:kitten, we didn't even finish HoT because you have to train certain masteries to progress in the story, which naturally took a while.

Does PoF also have this mechanic?

To a lesser extent. PoF masteries are mount related and you will need the raptor, springer and skimmer to progress the story - which are purchsable with currency. To get he springer mount, you require the raptor long jump mastery. I forget if you need anything specific from the other mounts, but otherwise that is it.

I found HoT took me a lot longer simply because it was so gated by Masteries. I don't like being stalled mid-story to train a skill, so even when I started HoT and got to the first mastery block (bouncing mushrooms) I paused the story and trained a bunch of masteries before completing the story. It took WAY longer than PoF though. Like others have mentioned, the PoF masteries are strictly related to mounts that are connected to hearts. Once I figured that out, I paused my story, went to the hearts that offered the Springer and Skimmer mounts, completed the heart and then finished the story and map complete while training the mounts. I also found the story missions for HoT a fair bit more challenging than PoF. Granted that could be due to my own experience and the choice of character I chose for the story.

Good luck with your story!

@mercury ranique.2170 said:Just two cents...the story is much more then the story instances itself. I personally always experienced a lot more pleasure in enjoying in between. PoF is all about exploration and the maps and events and ambience are synced with the story. In HoT the story is tied to map meta’s. The final battle consist of an instance and a meta at the same time. So my advice is to enjoy the game as a whole. Do not rush just the story.

I wouldn't dare! However, I tend to complete the story in a few sittings because I like to have a continuous experience. I kinda thought the core story was a bit underwhelming when I first completed it but when I completed it with my alt and I leveled my char up (the old fashioned way, no tomes, mind you) before even starting, I thought it was pretty good.

I'm a very deliberate type of person and I enjoy going about things by finishing one aspect and moving on to the next. The fact that GW2 has such a great story is a godsend because I never get tired of story missions, so to me, it's not rushing, it's more taking the time to appreciate it. The fact that GW2 has such fantastic maps (even Tangled Depths isn't that horrible) is also a godsend because I never get tired of exploring. One man's rushing is another man's focused enjoyment, I guess.