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Hello! I'm newly returned to the game, and I'm SO lost!


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My wife and I are trying to get back into this game, because we enjoy playing MMO's together, and this is still considered one of the best. I still remember the mechanics of playing my characters, but I am completely lost in the game world. I've been nose-to-the-grindstone in my career for the past four years, and finally have a bit of time to enjoy playing again, but I genuinely don't even know where to start in picking back up. I have two full ascended chars, with 7 other partially ascended.....don't even know if that still means anything.

Any help would be very kind! My biggest hope through this post would be to find some folks to mob around with, but even just links to any form of post mordremoth guide would be helpful!

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May I suggest if you have a slot available that you kind of start from the beginning with one?

It will reintroduce you to the story, some of the beginning mechanics will come back fast.

Or, you could find a toon that is level 80 and run back through some of the story.,

It’s hard sometimes when things feel lost to feel confident, yet, revisiting some areas may bring back a lot of the experience you are missing fairly quickly.

Also, if you check your friends list and recognize someone that was helpful, that may be a good way to get back in also.

Welcome back!

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Ascended is still maximal armor/weapon/jewelery.

Storywise, after HoT:

  • ls3 Episode 1-6 (The 3.1 map requires full gliding, if you don't have it go back to HoT)
  • PoF
  • LS4 1-6
  • Ls5
  • Actual content

I would suggest follow the story (it Leads you everywhere), explore the maps the story leads you to and mixin daily fractals for loot.

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@Shahadien.4750 said:My wife and I are trying to get back into this game, because we enjoy playing MMO's together, and this is still considered one of the best. I still remember the mechanics of playing my characters, but I am completely lost in the game world. I've been nose-to-the-grindstone in my career for the past four years, and finally have a bit of time to enjoy playing again, but I genuinely don't even know where to start in picking back up. I have two full ascended chars, with 7 other partially ascended.....don't even know if that still means anything.

Any help would be very kind! My biggest hope through this post would be to find some folks to mob around with, but even just links to any form of post mordremoth guide would be helpful!

Like Strider suggested, I would have both you and your wife to start out on new characters. Play through the personal story. That will get you up to 80 and it will bring you through many of the vanilla maps. Then once you are done that and get some exotic gear for each of you and you have a better handle on your base classes. Then start into living world season 2. Go through that, it will get you to some new maps as well as introducing you to heavier CCs that aren’t in vanilla. Then once you are done that you can start into heart of thorns (the first expansion). Just a warning it is tough in there but it has some wonderful maps and mechanics. This way you can level up your masteries too. Having gliding is a wonderful thing.

Once you are done HoT you can play with your build. Try out the Elite specializations as you go through HoT. Once you finish HoT go to living world season 3, then you will go into Path of Fire (second expansion) work through that, play with the elites and masteries. Once you are don PoF. You should be able to know what kind of build you want to run. (You can easily continue with exotic gear, but could certainly start working on crafting ascended. Know that ascended is only needed for fractals and raids, which are 5-10 people content)

Then finally go on to living world season 4 and finally living world season 5 (ice brood saga) which will catch you up to everyone else.

If you have any questions feel free to message me.

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So I co-op play with my wife and we mainly do the story bits. I've never felt Ascended gear to be all that needed for anything other than raiding, which I don't do.

I'd also suggest that you either free up a character slot to play from scratch and play through the story. If you don't have HoT and PoF, I would buy those so you have access to the best content. If you don't have the seasonal content you'll have to buy that too, but it's worth it to keep the story progression and the area meta events.

Mounts are a thing, you should get them and then work for the other bonus griffon and skyscale. Both good mounts, and not too bad of a grind if you are working together.

I'm in a guild (MOX) that is a group of like minded people and a casual friendly environment. (https://discord.gg/G9mE6g7)

Welcome back.

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@"MokahTGS.7850" said:So I co-op play with my wife and we mainly do the story bits. I've never felt Ascended gear to be all that needed for anything other than raiding, which I don't do.

I'd also suggest that you either free up a character slot to play from scratch and play through the story. If you don't have HoT and PoF, I would buy those so you have access to the best content. If you don't have the seasonal content you'll have to buy that too, but it's worth it to keep the story progression and the area meta events.

Mounts are a thing, you should get them and then work for the other bonus griffon and skyscale. Both good mounts, and not too bad of a grind if you are working together.

I'm in a guild (MOX) that is a group of like minded people and a casual friendly environment. (https://discord.gg/G9mE6g7)

Welcome back.

I wouldn’t suggest skipping to PoF to get the mounts. It is a lot easier to learn the mechanics of the game if you play it through systematically. So you know how things work as they were meant to in each area.

I’m actually currently playing new characters with one of my friends that actually skipped ahead and got mounts. We are playing them without mounts. It’s a lot more fun and you see a lot more of the game if you play vanilla how it was meant to be played and HoT and eventually PoF.

I’m not sure if Mokah meant to imply getting mounts right away or not. I just simply wanted to advise to play the game through as it was originally intended. It makes for a more enjoyable experience.

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@ElijahFitzroy.5762 said:

@"MokahTGS.7850" said:So I co-op play with my wife and we mainly do the story bits. I've never felt Ascended gear to be all that needed for anything other than raiding, which I don't do.

I'd also suggest that you either free up a character slot to play from scratch and play through the story. If you don't have HoT and PoF, I would buy those so you have access to the best content. If you don't have the seasonal content you'll have to buy that too, but it's worth it to keep the story progression and the area meta events.

Mounts are a thing, you should get them and then work for the other bonus griffon and skyscale. Both good mounts, and not too bad of a grind if you are working together.

I'm in a guild (MOX) that is a group of like minded people and a casual friendly environment. (
)

Welcome back.

I wouldn’t suggest skipping to PoF to get the mounts. It is a lot easier to learn the mechanics of the game if you play it through systematically. So you know how things work as they were meant to in each area.

I’m actually currently playing new characters with one of my friends that actually skipped ahead and got mounts. It’s a lot more fun and you see a lot more of the game if you play vanilla how it was meant to be played and HoT and eventually PoF.

I’m not sure if Mokah meant to imply getting mounts right away or not. I just simply wanted to advise to play the game through as it was originally intended. It makes for a more enjoyable experience.

Did not suggest skipping content for mounts. I advised that they are important for current gameplay and should not be ignored. Although I disagree that mounts remove enjoyment of content.

On topic, biggest advice I have for Masteries (if you haven't done that yet) is to not waste points on season 3 skills, many of them only work in a particular area and some are not needed at all (I'm looking at you music mastery line)

As far as Mordremoth fight in the story is to make sure everyone has break bar skills and knows how to use them. Without breaking his bar you can get stuck in an endless loop with an unkillable boss. This is something I did with a Valkyrie Reaper build...he couldn't kill me and I couldn't break the bar so we were stuck in a stalemate. Mordremoth...I've come to bargain...

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@"Shahadien.4750" said:My wife and I are trying to get back into this game, because we enjoy playing MMO's together, and this is still considered one of the best. I still remember the mechanics of playing my characters, but I am completely lost in the game world. I've been nose-to-the-grindstone in my career for the past four years, and finally have a bit of time to enjoy playing again, but I genuinely don't even know where to start in picking back up. I have two full ascended chars, with 7 other partially ascended.....don't even know if that still means anything.

Any help would be very kind! My biggest hope through this post would be to find some folks to mob around with, but even just links to any form of post mordremoth guide would be helpful!

The beauty of this game is that once you get ascended - you're set for life. There is never going to be a "better" set. Even legendaries have the same numbers as ascended.So ascended will be more than enough for everything you want to tackle.

The only thing you might wish to do is change the stat combinations on it if your current one is either not as good as you remember or maybe you want to ty something different. In which case - https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Stat_changing

It's easy to do. Just don't throw a precursor in the Mystic forge as it will get destroyed.

You can't stat change trinkets, but if you have LS3, play the story, get all the maps and each one has a vendor that sells stat selectable trinkets. Bloodstone trinkets are the best because you can reset them for extremely cheap and change their stats for 100 unbound magic.

Other than that, i suggest following the story, doing the open world metas when you want (to get loot and map currency for fashion and stuff), fractals for gold and when you finish all the stories, you'll have a good general idea what's what and what you want to do after. This will in turn level your masteries so you can do more content more easily. Especially when you unlock mounts.

You can also do WvW and PvP if you're into that kind of stuff. Those are separate from the story so you can do it whenever.

Anyway... When you're doing story - you'll see what the game has to offer and you'll have a better idea what's there to do. At that point, set a goal for yourself - maybe you want to unlock Skyscale (a flying mount) when you're done with LS4 story, maybe you want to make a legendary, maybe you want some cool fashion armor so you do the achievements for it etc. There's tons of stuff to do, you just need to decide which content you want to do, like, what's your goal. For instance, mine is currently unlocking full set of Requiem armor and Dragonsblood weapons (just a few, not full set of those). So i'm doing the achievements necessary to unlock it and farming currency that i need for it. Before that i did Skyscale achievements which took me 2 weeks from start to finish. But i mainly play WvW so i do that stuff in the meantime.

So again, start with story, then you'll see what you like and just do that then. :smile:

Wellcome back to the game!

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@MokahTGS.7850 said:Did not suggest skipping content for mounts. I advised that they are important for current gameplay and should not be ignored.

Sorry, I disagree. All core content can be completed without mounts. They are not important for current gameplay, unless you are talking about the later LS chapters. True, that mounts are a QoL improvement in core maps, but they aren't necessary.

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@kharmin.7683 said:

@MokahTGS.7850 said:Did not suggest skipping content for mounts. I advised that they are important for current gameplay and should not be ignored.

Sorry, I disagree. All core content can be completed without mounts. They are not important for current gameplay, unless you are talking about the later LS chapters. True, that mounts are a QoL improvement in core maps, but they aren't necessary.

right here with you. in my opinion, mounts spoil the experience of core tyria and are only required on PoF going forwards (and would likely be optional starting from the new expansion, EoD, as mounts will no longer be the defining mastery for it just like gliding was HoT's)

sure it may make HoT a little harder (especially TD) but it will also make you learn to play better and be better aware of your environment instead of just brute-forcing your way forward with a mount ignoring everything.

edit: but yeah... i guess, if the OP doesn't want to bother with story continuity then it's their loss, but also their gain in terms of mobility.

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@"Shahadien.4750"

It seem that this thread have turned into Mount vs Non-mount discussion. As I see it get at least your Gliding up to where you can use stealth, later on Mount you can also get Mastery for going into Stealth. Combined with Bond of Faith Mastery you will be able to jump off your mount in air before you Mounts health pool will get too low and you instead start falling. With the introduction of Mount fall damage traits where changed and/or removed for most profession, so you now need to be prepared to go into Gliding in case you will suddenly get hit on Mount or you get to far off an edge and fall down. Springer (jumping mount) have some fall damage reduction as part of its Mastery which is also shared for other mounts.

Like everything else it is hard to give a precise suggestion for what to prioritise and it is long journey, if you left game and didn't have any Mastery at all at that time. Core Tyria where designed and later redesigned to include Gliding and Mounts. There are events that you unlock as you progress from story (LW and transition between Hot to PoF) that are also happening in core Tyria. In general keep map chat channel open to see where there is activities and rush to those events where there something like Bloodcrazed monster that show up or the Awakening Invasion (prevent portals to spawn and kill mobs different places where this happens including the portal which you also have a HP bar, if you target it). These events are easier to get to and in particular the Awakening Invasion which happens several places on map will be easier to keep tab on maps you need to be mobile to get there in time.

You don't need to do any story (LW, HoT or PoF) in order and I would recommend at least work at Gliding (story related to this Mastery) and then the story to get to Bloodstone Fen as here you can work towards getting both ascended rings, accessories and backpack which is 6 pc on your Hero Panel. Buy first Scrolls at the Unbound Magic vendor (special symbol on head) which work as portal scroll to get there from anywhere in game. It is account bound so you can move it to any character you want to go there and later you can buy Tomes which work to keep several Scrolls that belong to LW3 in one place (saves you inventory space). This system do exist for PoF, HoT and other area where you have map currencies (open Inventory - look for a small symbol on lower left and change mode to show currencies/wallet - here you can fast filter to show only map currencies or keys as an example).

Useful tools:

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Living_World(Will show you all LW)

If you need to buy LW episodes, do it from Gem Store (open Black Lion Trade Post as it is the same panel and pick correct tab which is a Gem symbol). The price is reduced on Gem Store to 160 Gem for each episode you didn't get for free (unlock for free from log in during certain dates). If you pick the option to buy episodes directly from Story Journal it will cost 200 Gem for each episode you lack. Story unlock for all your character (account bound), but you progression can be different from character to character (meaning your achievement which is for account, can be done on different character and will only show completed if you play the same character all through that episode for full achievement. If you use different character it will how you get on that character and not the complete picture which you need to use the Achievement section in Hero Panel.)

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mastery(Will show you where to start and how Masteries are organised after colour for each zone and related stories - you need to Achievement section on Hero Panel to see your progression for some Masteries).

I will also recommend to use https://gw2efficiency.com/ as it can help to find items on your account, keep track of you achievements and find out where there are gathering nodes (use copy feature which will copy a WP link, change into game, press or click to activate chat (make it into /s so you don't spam map channel and then click to go there where gathering node are supposed to be).

Do at least three daily and you get 2 Gold (for each account) from this: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Daily_(achievements).

If you look up gw2efficient>Gathering you will fast see which sector that have node where you at same time can do a Vista or just gather and also finish at least one part of Daily Achievement.

At Lion's Arch there is new NPC that sell special Gathering tools for Karma (be careful to not use too much Karma as it cost around 7K for each tool). Those tool are the same that you can by as Glyphs that you equip on any tool or the Permanent version (Unlimited Gathering Tools) of gathering tools that you can by in Gem Store. Read more about Enhanced Gathering Tools here and related Glyphs: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Gathering_tool

My personal favourite is https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Skyscale_Hatchling_Harvesting_Tool because it is a rather small Skyscale hatchling that do a fast animation and it is the only where you can get Glyphs of Reaping which have 600 range to collect all of the same node type. If you need to collect ore nodes just right click on tool, make sure in Hero Panel to left click on any gathering tool to filter and only show all Gathering tool and Glyphs, click on Glyphs and move it on the tool you want this Glyph to work and now you can collect all tree in range or all ores in range instead of plants which the default for Skyscale hatchling. The cost of Glyphs on TP for the most poplar like Industrious or Reaper can be rather expensive so it can be worth to keep an eye out for sales of those special Unlimited (or Permanent) gathering tools with is sold with Glyphs. In Gem Store they don't cost more then non-glyphs versions and you can use ordinary non-permanent Gathering tools with Glyphs. I know there is a lot players that recommend Volatile Magic permanent tool (it is a package for all three node type), but as fast you will have Skyscale unlocked then it is faster to use those paths in air (Volatile Motes) that can find in Dragonfall and also other places. Unbound Magic is possible to farm with Gliding/and or Skyscale at Bloodstone Fen, but I believe that most player will spend more time in PoF (incl related LW) maps then in (HoT) and related LW. What is important here is that every permanent tool have their animation and some can be rather slow or annoying over time (blocking view). In places where staying too long on ground can kill you from taking Damage over time (https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Environmental_hazard#Brandstorm), you will probably want Gathering as fast as possible and move on then have to use a WP from being killed.

To sum it up:

As you are couple you have the dynamic of sharing - each item that can be sold on TP will also mean can be moved to to another account and that way some things might go faster as to get gear or turn gear into mats from using Salvage Kits. Do get https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Copper-Fed_Salvage-o-Matic or any other permanent Salvage kit when it is on sale in Gem Store as it saves a lot of space, are fast to use as you can Right click Salvage Kit and let it Salvage everything that can be Salvaged after colour (tier). Use Invisible bag to store all green, blue and yellow unID (un IDentified meaning it is stored in a container and will first be shown it have been clicked or right clicked to pick mass open - as all container it can contain up to 250 items). Invisible bad is important if you want secure that you don't mass salvage anything you don't want to by accident. Upgrading Material Storage do also reduce how fast mats will occupy space and use Oiled bags to keep all junk in one space (bag). When you interact with certain repair stations or NPCs that work as merchant/vendores you can use "Sell all Junk" and get rid of junk items fast and for items that in general is very low income as some lower level upgrades that can be sold on TP (but will cost more to put up as those cost Tax) it can also be sold here. I hope this will give you and your wife a more informed start on what and how to do things.

Be careful and don't use too much Karma as it now have more use then it had some years ago and use GW2 wiki, gw2effieceny and YT (for achievement, progressing in Mounts etc) and join or start a guild to get access to guild rewards.

Don't use SnowCrow (which is based on RAIDing guild) as a base for run as solo or couple OW content as those are based on a group which is very close (in range) for getting and keeping max boon.

Try to have at least 12-14 K HealthPool which helps a lot in all content (use chat and filter one tab to only show only incoming damage and you will see how often you can have to two hit for up to 6K that will put you in a downed state). Condition removal and Stun break (including related boons like Resistance and Stability) helps a lot, but sooner or later when you enter HoT maps or PoF you will notice it can be very frustrating to have a low HP and still not be able to kill threats in time. Mastery that have been added over time in game have also changed how builds work and being able to use Stealth even on profession that do not have access to skills for it from Gliding or Mounts will also change a lot off how open world content work. There have also been added Ascended Food as crafting in this game which can be useful as you can Salvage low level food to get crafting material which is needed for Ascended Food. Look it up on GW2 wiki to learn more how to unlock this and what attributes that food can give. This kind of food have a 5 min duration as a Feast, meaning both you, your partner and everybody can Interact (Eat) get a boost from this food. The total duration for Ascended Food are 1 hour without any Primer to extend duration up to 12 hour.

These changes isn't something I see mentioned in this thread and is necessary to understand why it can be hard to start from scratch a new account or return to game without knowing what have been added since last time you and your wife played this game.

Defiance bar (aka break bar) have its own section GW2 wiki and I recommend to learn how this work and why condition is more useful then Berserker attribute (which is power, precision and ferocity to get spike damage) vs damage over time which still take effect on bosses or NPCs that have Defiance bar that are closed.

Hope both of you will now have more understanding where to look when there is something you don't understand or know. How to get better control of what to do as in use of gw2effiency also make it easier to search for items independent, if you are logged into game or want to see how far you have come in an achievement (which is also linked with a small icon to GW2 wiki) and what tools there is to make life easier in game as new Gathering Tools with Glyphs, larger bags and Portal Scrolls (and Tomes to collect all Scrolls in one place) that brings you to maps. Shared Inventory slots are in general expensive, but can be bought on sale so keep an eye out for Gem Store sales that aren't just for reskin f armour, weapon or mount as those do have an impact on how to play and how much work to keep Inventory from getting clogged up of items. Shared Inventory slot make it possible to fast change character and still have access to (share) items like Tome/Scroll or move Permanent items like to another character without having to get to a a Bank or a Craft Station where you can access Bank or Material Storage.

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@kharmin.7683 said:

@MokahTGS.7850 said:Did not suggest skipping content for mounts. I advised that they are important for current gameplay and should not be ignored.

Sorry, I disagree. All core content can be completed without mounts. They are not important for current gameplay, unless you are talking about the later LS chapters. True, that mounts are a QoL improvement in core maps, but they aren't necessary.

Agreed. And you have to do a lot of the PoF story just to get the xp and mastery points required to 1. get more than one mount and 2. train those mounts into anything useful - including getting subsequent mounts. Point 2 being the exception for the beetle and the skyscale but the second one, in particular, would be a nightmare to get without some other mounts. It's not like the mounts and their masteries get handed out at the start of PoF.

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@Hesione.9412 said:

@MokahTGS.7850 said:Did not suggest skipping content for mounts. I advised that they are important for current gameplay and should not be ignored.

Sorry, I disagree. All core content can be completed without mounts. They are not important for current gameplay, unless you are talking about the later LS chapters. True, that mounts are a QoL improvement in core maps, but they aren't necessary.

Agreed. And you have to do a lot of the PoF story just to get the xp and mastery points required to 1. get more than one mount and 2. train those mounts into anything useful - including getting subsequent mounts. Point 2 being the exception for the beetle and the skyscale but the second one, in particular, would be a nightmare to get without some other mounts. It's not like the mounts and their masteries get handed out at the start of PoF.

This is what a lot of people miss when recommending to go get a Raptor. Like, without masteries, you're just getting a slighly faster walking speed. Which, of course, can be useful, sure, but it's not the huge QoL improvement everyone makes it out to be. Mastered mounts - sure, great value - but to get those you actually need to finish the entire PoF and play metas.

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@Veprovina.4876 said:

@MokahTGS.7850 said:Did not suggest skipping content for mounts. I advised that they are important for current gameplay and should not be ignored.

Sorry, I disagree. All core content can be completed without mounts. They are not important for current gameplay, unless you are talking about the later LS chapters. True, that mounts are a QoL improvement in core maps, but they aren't necessary.

Agreed. And you have to do a lot of the PoF story just to get the xp and mastery points required to 1. get more than one mount and 2. train those mounts into anything useful - including getting subsequent mounts. Point 2 being the exception for the beetle and the skyscale but the second one, in particular, would be a nightmare to get without some other mounts. It's not like the mounts and their masteries get handed out at the start of PoF.

This is what a lot of people miss when recommending to go get a Raptor. Like, without masteries, you're just getting a slighly faster walking speed. Which, of course, can be useful, sure, but it's not the huge QoL improvement everyone makes it out to be. Mastered mounts - sure, great value - but to get those you actually need to finish the entire PoF and play metas.

Its good for mesmers and guardians that dont have speed signet.

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Welcome back to both of you! There has been quite a lot of new stuff since Mordremoth, so it's normal to be lost. But compared to other MMOs, there's nothing completely different/new mechanics/new gear/enchantment, etc, so I wouldn't suggest to start with a new character, especially considering that you said that you remember how to play. If your wife needs more time though, it might be a good idea.

Let's see.. content-wise, after HoT, we got the mounts with Path of Fire (this is probably the biggest change actually, and best QoL, but not so difficult to understand). You will unlock them (almost all) playing the PoF story (the fast beetle is unlocked with the DLC map Kourna, while for the flying Skyscale you must have all the maps of Living World 4).They added 2 new types of instances: Strike missions and Dragon Response missions, both unlocked after you unlock the hub Eye of the North (Living Story 5). The first ones are 10-man instances, with increasing difficulty, while the latter are 5-man instances that scale with the number of players (so they can also easily solo'ed - or duo'ed in your case). They are needed for a lot of farming achievement, but nothing really important, so don't feel any pressure in recovering them asap.As Quality of Life improvements, I remember the Novelties: gizmo, tonics, all this stuff don't fill the inventory of your character anymore, but they belong to a new inventory, account bound. The drops from the mobs also changed: now most of the mobs drop a generic Unidentified gear, that stacks; you can decide to open it or salvage it at any time.

If you are into the achievements hunting, it's usually better to play the last content, since you'll find more players. But currently there's nothing that you won't be able to recover later (there will be new Dragon Response missions, in the next months, that you can do even alone at any time, as said). So it's a good time to start again from where you both left (Mordremoth or a bit before). To give you an idea, PoF is easier than HoT: the mobs die faster, but they are more annoying, since they are aggroed from afar. Imo you can start from where you both left your story/Journal. The PoF story has some tough chapter when you play it for the first time, but if you go in 2, it shouldn't be too difficult. And open world contents... well, the autoattack is still the most used skill, so no need to "get good" for doing metas/playing around.(if you play on EU server and need something in particular/some help with the story, feel free to mail/whisper me. I'm particularly bored recently...)

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