Completely lost.. Where to start?

Hello everyone,

I bought this game when it was first released, but never really played it as I was always subscribed to a few other MMO's, and had very little time due to work. Now that I have more free time to play, and no other games I am interested in, I want to start this again. But I really need some advice on where to start...

Firstly, what profession would you advise? I want to have two characters, a ranged, and a melee...

Secondly, if I want to play through for lore purposes are there any regions or places that I should definitely go to?

Third, any general advice? If you could restart the game from scratch, what would you make sure to do early?

Thanks for all and any help!

Edit: Mainly for PVE, maybe one character for PVP.

1) all classes have a melee and range build available, though some only have them through especs (hot+pof)2) lore wise: personal story->living word season (lws)2 [season 1 is only available through a recap from an npc in la, though there are fractals that touch upon it, plus a youtube vid of the whole thing]->heart of thorns(hot)->lws3->path of fire(pof)->lws4 (currently happening). All living worlds can be purchased from the gemstore.3) making a new character will get you better antiquainted with the changes, though you can replay the story on your old toons. Also don't delete any of your old toons simply for the birthday gifts. Also pace yourself and set goals for yourself and what you want to do

My advise:1: Choose a class you like the look and sound of. If you want to try a class out, once you complete the intro and reach lvl 2 with any class you can go into the pvp lobby and tryout all the endgame specs for that class.2: Have fun leveling. (follow the story in order etc etc)3: Once you reach max level you will find you can get a lot of Tomes of Knowledge, one you have enough you can just instantly level a new character so eventually you can have every class (of which I would advise you to do so)

I hope you the best of luck, this game is great ^^

1) Just start with what you think will suit you the most. Most would recommend Necro, Warrior, ranger and guardian for their survivability and ease of play. They would also caution against starting with Ele and mesmer due to their steeper learning curve.2) Just follow the personal story. The beginning of the story for each race is different, but they eventually come together and continue down the same story. When I first started, I played through with human, then worked through the other four races until i got to the point where the stories come together. Eventually, I did go back and complete the story with the other races.3) Definitely roll a brand new character (don't delete ANY characters, as sephylon said). ANET has crafted the "new player experience" for this game in a way that teaches you the basics over a longer period of time. You don't really come out of "tutorial mode" until you hit level 80.

Thanks for the help guys ^^

So how do we unlock elite professions? I thought the deadeye looked quite interesting, how would I go about doing that? Or is it a max level thing?

In addition to the good advice you've already gotten, I can suggest some helpful resources both in-game and out.

• /wiki is a command you can type directly into the game to pull up the community-driven wikipedia for Guild Wars 2, which can be very handy for identifying items, NPCs, maps, and other aspects of the game you don't quite understand. Say you receive an Ornate Rusted Key from an enemy; you simply type /wiki Ornate Rusted Key into your chat, and it will bring up the wiki page for that item which explains what it is, where to get it, and what achievements might be linked to it.
• Dulfy is a player who runs and maintains a Guild Wars 2 website dedicated to play-through guides and achievement walk-throughs based on information provided by the community. Often, after a release of new content or during a live event, she will post instructions for how to complete new achievements and activities should you find yourself stumped. Dulfy's website is updated often, and can be found here: dulfy.net/category/gw2/achievements/
• that_shaman has created a timer for powerful mobs called world bosses. These are usually the main enemies for a map, and their events are often referred to as 'metas'. Killing these bosses is sometimes a daily achievement, and shaman's timer will tell you which boss is scheduled to spawn and where you can find them. That timer can be found here: dulfy.net/2014/04/23/event-timer/

In addition to all that stuff, I recommend checking the Game Release Notes whenever the game is patched, as those notes sometimes contain little easter eggs and hints to what is happening in the game world.

Lastly, you can never make too many characters (unless you run out of slots). Every year, your characters will be given a gift for their 'birthday', and characters can also act as additional storage space if you want to collect items but run out of bank space; this is extremely handy for things like the Four Winds Festival that's happening right now, as you often end up with a ton of currency items from the event which you may want to have for the next year.

@Lewisk.9853 said:Thanks for the help guys ^^

So how do we unlock elite professions? I thought the deadeye looked quite interesting, how would I go about doing that? Or is it a max level thing?

By owning the expansions and being lvl 80. De is pof espec of thief

Thanks everyone, these are some really useful tips. I appreciate all the help :)