Just started for first time

I just started the game for the first time, was wondering if i NEED the expansions or can just forget about for now, i started with a mesmer cuz they seemed cool to me.is there also any starting tips i might need, or just play the game and ill be fine. Thanks

Expacs will give you the benefits of being a paying customer, so being able to whispers and trade and etc. Play the game five hours or so and then decide if you want to buy. (or wait 10 weeks and then buy, point is get a feel first with the free game.)

Everyone is going to chime in with their newbie tips. My biggest advice is ignore them all. GW2 is exploration friendly. Do your thing. I highly suggest you don''t ruin everything by following some guide or something stupid like that.

@Fluffball.8307 said:Expacs will give you the benefits of being a paying customer, so being able to whispers and trade and etc. Play the game five hours or so and then decide if you want to buy. (or wait 10 weeks and then buy, point is get a feel first with the free game.)

Everyone is going to chime in with their newbie tips. My biggest advice is ignore them all. GW2 is exploration friendly. Do your thing. I highly suggest you don''t ruin everything by following some guide or something stupid like that.

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@Sagramor.7395 said:

@Fluffball.8307 said:Expacs will give you the benefits of being a paying customer, so being able to whispers and trade and etc. Play the game five hours or so and then decide if you want to buy. (or wait 10 weeks and then buy, point is get a feel first with the free game.)

Everyone is going to chime in with their newbie tips. My biggest advice is ignore them all. GW2 is exploration friendly. Do your thing. I highly suggest you don''t ruin everything by following some guide or something stupid like that.

This.Open those guides when ur max lvl and own both expansions, before that just explore and try new things.

Welcome to the game!! Like everyone else said, explore and find your way around first, and if you like it enough, get the expacs :) There's no NEED to get them, since they are endgame content (i.e. you can only play them after you hit 80)

I started with mesmer too, and boy, now I understand what they mean by "it's a difficult starter class". But that doesn't mean you can't have fun with it! Maybe you'll find yourself being a bit squishy at first, but dodge and evade are your best friend (and keep moving or stay at a distance). Overall, just slowly explore, take in the world around you (learn to recognise places!) and just have fun :D

You need to be level 80 anyway to go to and play in the expansion maps so get a feel for the game before deciding if you want 1 or both expansions. Each is different and each has it's own special stuff.Do not be afraid to ask in map chat for help. You can type /wiki in the chat window along with what you want information on. You also can access the wiki from the top of the page here. I also look for some help from Dulfy - http://dulfy.net/ - it has walkthrus and stuff to help.

Given the fact you can write on the forums means you do own the base game (paid version), else you cannot write but only read. With the full paid core game you should have all options like trade, whisper, mail etc. It is not needed to get the expansion as you can do full content of open world on core tyria maps, join fractals, do dungeons and join guild missions (as long as they are on core tyria). If you want to play on PoF (incl mounts) or HoT (incl gliding, guild castle options and raids) maps then you will need either the expansion of your choosing (or both). If you buy 1 expansion you actually got the core game for free included (which you seem to have already). Another thing worth mentioning is that if you log in game when a living world season comes out for PoF (season 4), you will get this story episode incl its map automatically unlocked for free. (Costs 200 gems per episode otherwise). If you do not own PoF you cannot play it but it will be unlocked for you if you decide to get it later.

Do your own thing for now. If you find something particular aspect that you really enjoy, steer yourself in that direction. Once you feel you need more, drop in on the expansions at that point.

Quick reminder: Free accounts cannot post on the forum. If someone is posting here that means they own at least the base game and aren't subject to the free version's restrictions.

On that basis I agree with the people saying there's no need to buy the expansions now. You can do everything in the base game without them (and that's a lot of content) and you can't play in the expansion maps or use the new elite specialisations until you're level 80 anyway. The expansions do come with an item which will instantly level one character to 80, but when you're brand new to the game that would just make things more confusing.

For now I recommend just taking your time, exploring and experimenting and learning the game as you go along. Pay attention to what the game tells you rather than assuming it's just like one/all the ones you've played before because there's almost certainly some things which are very different.

And if there's anything you don't understand or you get stuck on feel free to ask. Either on here, in map chat, in your guild when you get one, or you can check the Wiki which has a lot of info. Most people are pretty friendly and will try to help.

@"Epiq.9078" said:I just started the game for the first time, was wondering if i NEED the expansions or can just forget about for now, i started with a mesmer cuz they seemed cool to me.is there also any starting tips i might need, or just play the game and ill be fine. Thanks

For now, learn to play the core game. Learn how to play your profession and if you want try out other professions. Don't start with mesmer. It's one of the most complex professions in the game. What I would recommend is to play either warrior, ranger or necromancer. Those professions are the most beginner friendly in the entire game. That doesn't mean they don't have a skill ceiling, it's just that they do not overwhelm you with so many things at once.

Play PvE for now to learn your starting profession. The hearts you see on the map or when you talk to scouts to reveal them are the quests in the game. The orange quests are events which are repeatable, meaning if you're level 80 and you come back to that zone, you'll get to play those events again. Explore every single zone because once you 100% complete zones, you get rewards for it.

For crafting, I recommend you use gw2crafts.net so you don't lose valuable materials for crafting and check out the wiki for the profession you're playing to see what crafting disciplines you need the most. If you check out the warriors' wiki, you'll see that the best crafting disciplines are armorsmith and weaponsmith. There are other professions the warrior can use, but you don't need those. For the most part, every single one of your characters should have 1 discipline for crafting armor (armorsmith - heavy, leatherworker - medium, tailor - light) and 1 for crafting weapons (weaponsmith - melee weapons and shields, huntsman - projectile weapons and off-hand utility items, artificer - magical weapons).

Playing with friends is no problem. If you're on different servers, it doesn't change a thing. You can still play with them.

Don't use level 80 boosters. Learn how to play the game naturally at your own pace. Also the gear you get from level 80 boosters is awful. It's best to craft that gear rather than getting it from boosters.

On the map, you will most definitely see two types of icons: an colored arrow icon and an apple icon. The arrow ones are players called commanders. These players are there to lead players in meta events where you can get a lot of karma, gold and possibly better gear if you're lower level. The apple ones are players called mentors. They don't lead players in meta events, but instead they are there just to help out new players. Don't be afraid to ask them anything, they will help you out.

Ditto on level how you like. Do what you want. Also, don't do what you don't like. If a particular Heart seems tedious or uninteresting, feel free to skip it for now.

Some folks say to level with exploration, events , hero points and the personal story quests. Doing the hearts is just accidental. But again, do what seems fun.

This game also seems to create Attention Deficit Disorder. You log on to do X, and then get distracted with Y and Z. As long as it's fun, just roll with it.