Question about purchasing expansions.

[Chizzle.9815]

I know that if I purchase Path of Fire online, I get a free upgrade to Heart of Thorns. Does this also apply if I would purchase Path of Fire at say, Best Buy, or any other brick and mortar store? Or do I have to purchase it digitally in order to get both expansion? Thank you!!

[hlaraujo.3210]

My guess is that wherever you buy PoF, you'll get the serial key for the game and since last year, any PoF serial key will unlock HoT as well.

BUT you can always send an email to the support, they usually dont take that much to answer.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Any purchase of Path of Fire will unlock Heart of Thorns. Just make sure to purchase either from ArenaNet, or one of their authorized retailers.

[ShadowCatz.8437]

@"Chizzle.9815" said:I know that if I purchase Path of Fire online, I get a free upgrade to Heart of Thorns. Does this also apply if I would purchase Path of Fire at say, Best Buy, or any other brick and mortar store? Or do I have to purchase it digitally in order to get both expansion? Thank you!!

As you haven't been playing during those times that HoT and PoF had their Living World episodes where you unlocked those just by being logged into game, you will probably need to buy those. You can turn Gold (in GW2 the generell in game Currency for trading) into Gems or purchase Gems with real money. Each episode cost 200 Gems if you unlocke them from within Story section in Hero Panel, but it is cheaper to buy them in Gem Store or the Black Lion Trading panel (look for account upgrade section). There it cost 160 Gem for each. Right now we Icebrood

To explain it more in depth look for this thread or read wiki.

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/56713/what-to-buy-and-what-is-living-world

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Living_World

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Gem_Store

You need to have those Story episodes to get access to new part of map and naturally also the story in and around that part of map (the story also give items that is useful and achievement). What I try to explain you have the main story that is about what is going on in map (as part of meta events etc) and then the story that center around Destiny Edge and what happens with them as those fights the Eldre Dragons. That is why HoT today is included in purchase of PoF.

Here is package offer for HoT LW Season 2 and later- if you already have unlocked some part of it, then you will see a price corrected for what you still haven't unlocked. It will be delivered through in game mail (confirmation) and directly activated in Hero Panel (you should see chest symbols where there was symbol of locks). Those stories can be replayed to gain achievement and rewards.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Living_World_Season_2_Complete_Packhttps://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Living_World_Season_3_Complete_Packhttps://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Living_World_Season_4_Complete_Pack

I would recommend to do at least those Stories that start your Mastery for Gliding (came with HoT), so you can get around a bit faster. Then look up which stories you need to unlock mounts. When you are in Tyria you gain XP towards red mastery points (look in Hero Panel and you see three colour: red, green and purple). In HoT you earn XP after you have picked which Mastery line you want to learn and same for PoF which have purple MP. All this is after you have a level 80 character. The first character usually get a free level 80 booster as part of package, so it shouldn't be a long time before you get to MP and collecting those to learn or get access to new things.

Good luck

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Was Path of Fire even released other than digitally? I didn't think there were any boxed copies.

Edit: It was not.

Q: Will Path of Fire only be available digitally, or is there a boxed edition as well?

A: Path of Fire is available exclusively as a digital download. Please visit our official site for a full list of the available editions and exclusive bonus items, or click here to find other official retailers where you can pick up the game.

https://help.guildwars2.com/hc/en-us/articles/115010688287

[Danikat.8537]

@"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:Was Path of Fire even released other than digitally? I didn't think there were any boxed copies.

Edit: It was not.

Q: Will Path of Fire only be available digitally, or is there a boxed edition as well?

A: Path of Fire is available exclusively as a digital download. Please visit our official site for a full list of the available editions and exclusive bonus items, or click here to find other official retailers where you can pick up the game.

https://help.guildwars2.com/hc/en-us/articles/115010688287

I think some physical retailers were still selling it, the only difference is there's no disc inside the box, just the product key and instructions on setting up an account and downloading the game. They do the same thing with Steam games, where you can buy the game from the shop, but all you're really getting is Steam points and a link to download it, it just gives people an option to use cash. (Or a way for relatives to buy games as gifts if they don't trust online shopping and/or insist on having something to wrap up and watch the recipient open.)

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

May be. I'd consider that a 'boxed edition', but maybe ArenaNet doesn't.

I can't say I've ever seen one, and I always look for GW2 stuff.

[Cyninja.2954]

@Chizzle.9815 said:I know that if I purchase Path of Fire online, I get a free upgrade to Heart of Thorns. Does this also apply if I would purchase Path of Fire at say, Best Buy, or any other brick and mortar store? Or do I have to purchase it digitally in order to get both expansion? Thank you!!

The way this works is:Any game account which has Path of Fire unlocked now gets Heart of Thorns unlocked as well (not sure if one gets the shared account slot too, but all the content is unlocked).

There is no distinguishing between physical or digital copy as long as the key used is legitimate. This was likely done to encourage PoF sales and even more likely bring the non free to play version to one state across all account versions (where before there was 3: HoT only accounts, PoF only accounts and PoF and HoT accounts, now there is only HoT and PoF accounts as far as expansions are concerned).

What you will be lacking here is the not unlocked Living World episodes which you missed (aka the ones where you did not log in while they were active/released). Those remain gem store purchases or potentially limited free unlocks (this has happened once before with all the Season 4 episodes being unlocked weekly free of charge for active players).