Still a little confused. Whats a Chapter and what an Act in these living story

[Knighthonor.4061]

I never really put too much attention into the living stories beyond just running the instances. But now I need the Mastery Points, and the achievements that go with them, but when looking at the wiki I dont see certain chapters that the wiki mention. I dont even know what is considered chapters.

this what mine say in the game:

*Heart of Thorn-1)Prologue2)Torn from the sky3)Establishing a Foothold4) The Jungle Provides5)In their Footsteps

*Living World Season 3:1)Out of the Shadow2)Rising Flames3)A Crack in the Ice4)The Head of the Snake5)Flashpoint6)One Path Ends

am I missing something?

For example I want to do the City of Hope achievement,https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/City_of_Hopethis say its the 8th Chapter. Whats that?

[Ayrilana.1396]

You’re on a character that hasn’t progressed beyond the “In Their Footsteps” story step.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/City_of_Hope#My_story

[Atharax.1986]

A chapter is what's after that segment of a story. An act is apart of that story.

I can see the "City Of Hope" as the 8th chapter. Try proceeding with the story, and you will get there. You'll have 3 more acts ("In their Footsteps, "Prisoners of The Dragon", & "Prized Possessions"). and then you'll reach the "City Of Hope" chapter. Finish the story and then you should get said-achievement you are looking for? Along with a Mastery Point after you complete it. Good luck!

[Danikat.8537]

Note: This post includes some minor spoilers in the form of story chapter headings and introductory text for the Sylvari level 30 story. More major spoilers (a summary of the end of HoT) has been blurred out.

Short answer: The story journal only shows your progress so far. A chapter is a numbered section of the personal or expansion story, equivalent to a Living World episode. An act is a collection of chapters and really only used as a way to group the expansion achievements together. Each chapter or episode is made up of steps (sometimes also called instances because most of them take place in an instanced version of the map) which is the heading you'll see next to the green star on the right side of the screen, next to events and other activities.

Longer answer: The story journal will update as you progress through the story. It will always show the expansions and Living World episodes (even on an account which doesn't own them) but individual chapters of the expansion storyline and steps within both expansions and LW episodes are hidden until you reach that point in the story.

For example here's a screenshot of the Story Journal for a low level character on an account which doesn't have HoT:

In the list on the left you can see that only the level 10, 20 and 30 chapters of the Personal Story are visible, everything else is hidden even though the character is level 48, because she won't unlock the next chapter until she completes the level 30 one. Below that are two minimised sections (Scarlet's War and Season 2) and then the Heart of Thorns category, expanded to show that only the first chapter is visible. Below that is Living World Season 3 which is expanded and shows all the episodes even though the character can't play them yet.

On the right is the info for the current chapter of the Personal Story, with a completed step marked with a tick and a summary of what happened and then the current step marked with a star and instruction on what to do next.

And for comparison here's a screenshot for a level 80 character who has completed the personal story and HoT:

At the top of the list on the left you can see the last 3 chapters of the Personal Story, the minimised Scarlet's War and LS2 categories then Heart of Thorns expanded to show all the steps (except there's actually too many to fit them all on screen along with the personal story). There's also a big 'Continue This Story' button to allow me to pick up where I last stopped playing that storyline if I want and a grey star next to Prisoner's of the Dragon to show that's where I left off. Incidentally you can also see different icons next to chapters where I've completed all the achievements and ones where I'm still missing some.

On the right you can see a summary for Hearts and Minds, the last step of the HoT story. The text is blurred out because there's some major spoilers in there, but since I've completed that step it's basically just a summary of what happened. Then there's info showing I have some achievements from the episode, that I've only got 2/3 mastery points and that I have not completed the master achievement and unlocked the reward.