What to buy, and what is living world?

[Uskill.9741]

Hi, I am getting back into guild wars again, at launch I played until about level 20, but now I've got a new ranger I'm really enjoying at level 30 and plan to buy both expansions this Friday. However I was a bit confused about the living world things. I genuinely have no idea what they are, but I hear them brought up a lot in youtube vids. Are these purchases I'll need on top of the expansions, or are they included in the expansions?

[Cyninja.2954]

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

Yes they are purchases beside expansions at 200 gems per episode which you might have missed. Episodes are free unlocked if you log into the game while they are active and before the next episode is added. We are currently on Living World Season 4, Episode 4.

Available past Living World Episodes:Living World Season 2 (episode 1-8)Living World Season 3 (episode 1-6)Living World Season 4 (episode 1-3)

[Uskill.9741]

Oh wow...so in order to see that content I have to buy 3400 gems on top of both expansions? That's kind of disheartening....

[Danikat.8537]

The living world/story is basically DLC which sits between the expansions. They add new story and (in Season 3 and 4) new maps. If you want to play the full story in order you'll need them. If you're not interested in the story you may want some of them for the maps, the items or achievements.

The complete story order is:

• Personal Story (in the base game)
• Living Story Season 1 (currently unavailable)
• Season 2
• Heart of Thorns
• Season 3
• Path of Fire
• Season 4

Depending on how long you played after launch you might remember some of Season 1 - it was all temporary updates. New events, achievements, story etc. would be introduced every month or every 2 weeks and then removed again to make way for the next update. They finally stopped doing that and switched to permanent releases, but sadly Season 1 has never been made available again. There's a short re-cap in-game and longer ones on Youtube but that's it.

Oh and Season 4 is still being released - we're on episode 4 now and we're expecting at least 2 more after that.

[Uskill.9741]

I've heard that map completion is a big part of end game, will I need to buy these in order to get world completion?

[Cyninja.2954]

@Uskill.9741 said:I've heard that map completion is a big part of end game, will I need to buy these in order to get world completion?

No. World completion is never tied to DLC. It is strictly tied to core Tyria, HoT and PoF individually.

[Uskill.9741]

@Cyninja.2954 said:

@Uskill.9741 said:I've heard that map completion is a big part of end game, will I need to buy these in order to get world completion?

No. World completion is never tied to DLC. It is strictly tied to core Tyria, HoT and PoF individually.

Okay, that's good at least!

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

@"Uskill.9741" said:Oh wow...so in order to see that content I have to buy 3400 gems on top of both expansions? That's kind of disheartening....The Living Story episodes are responsible for about half of the max-level PvE content in the game. They include their own maps, storylines and exclusive rewards and are probably worth more than the price ArenaNet charges for them, and in the future you will automatically get all Living Story for free just by logging in at the right time, so its really not as bad as it may seem at first glance.

You should also understand that gems are not "premium" like in other games and do not have to be purchased with cash, many players convert gold to gems. The expansions are the only content that you have to buy with real money, everything else can be had using in-game gold if you own a non-free copy of the game. If you're poor you can find a good guild and they will usually help you cover the costs.

Basically the game is split between boxed and DLC content to allow for frequent updates.

[BunjiKugashira.9754]

Living World updates come with their own set of achievements, skins, minis, etc. From Season 3 on you also get a new map with each release, new masteries and some interesting gadgets.

It is entirely possible to play the game without any living world update even at the highest level (ranked PvP, top WvW servers / guilds, raids, etc).

[Kovac.4372]

Considering what other have said, you might want to keep in mind that:

• maps exclusive to living world content come with some pretty premium goodies, ascended items, skins, that sort of thing ...
• living world seasons 2 and 3 from time to time go on sale ... last time it was last month or something like that, but the discounts aren't major
• gem prices keep rising and the only viable gold farming spots (if you want to buy gems with gold) are at the end of expansion stories and in LW exclusive maps (pretty much forcing you to buy the seasons if you absolutely must play all story content in order)
• there are quite significant leaps in the story if one skips any of the living world seasons. I started HoT and PoF before playing any of the living world that precedes those stories (other than S1 back in the day) and EVERYTHING was new and unfamiliar ... IN MEDIAS RES ... what are we doing? Who are these people I know and am friends with? What is going on?

[Cragga the Eighty Third.60]

@Uskill.9741 said:Oh wow...so in order to see that content I have to buy 3400 gems on top of both expansions? That's kind of disheartening....

Maybe not QUITE that much, anyway.If you are buying the complete seasons at once, they are bundled at a lower cost: you can get the complete Season 2 for 1280 gems and the complete Season 3 for 980.

You will have Season 4 episode 4 already unlocked, since you are playing at the moment, when it is active. If you did not log in during 1, 2 or 3, that will be another 600, bringing the total to 2840.

You may want to check in your story journal to make sure you have not unlocked any of the other episodes before you buy! If you logged in at all when any of them were active, they are unlocked (though they can't be played without the appropriate expansion.)

And if you are patient--sometimes there are sales on living seasons. Not very often, but sometimes.

[Zushada.6108]

If you buy PoF ultimate you will get 4000 gems which is enough to unlock the LW episodes you missed. Also at checkout you can get HoT for 20 dollars and it offers LW2 for a discounted price. Have fun out there!

[Wyatt The Sad.5016]

Sorry to bump an old topic like this, but I feel like this needs to be addressed. As someone who has played the game for 9 days, and just finished the core story of Tyria I am now stuck at waiting to have enough money to buy nearly 4000 Gems just to unlock Living World Season 2,3 and 4. I asked my Guild friends and they told me I can't skip LW and play it later because if I did, I could not access parts of the game map on Hot expansion. Meaning I cannot continue the story without spending another crazy amount of money on something I had no idea was needed in the first place. I bought the Deluxe version and it included the Icebrood Saga and obviously as a new player I figured it means the LW DLC that will allow me to continue the game. But nah.

I don't think it's OK for Anet to basically lock you out of your personal story with money being the only way to continue. Very much like having to buy a lvl booster in order to play your personal story if you don't play with others. Just wth..

[Ronan.9518]

@"Wyatt The Sad.5016" said:snip I asked my Guild friends and they told me I can't skip LW and play it later because if I did, I could not access parts of the game map on Hot expansion. snip

That sounds like total kitten.Nothing from the Living world episodes is needed to play HoT you just need to own the expansion itself.You'll miss quite a bit of Lore from the Lw episodes to know what's going on but that's it.Same goes for PoF expansion.Just press H -> Story Journal -> Heart of Thorns: then press "Begin this story".

[Cyninja.2954]

@Wyatt The Sad.5016 said:I don't think it's OK for Anet to basically lock you out of your personal story with money being the only way to continue. Very much like having to buy a lvl booster in order to play your personal story if you don't play with others. Just wth..

Except, you are more than capable of playing the personal story of those expansions. The Living World Episodes are just story bridges between expansions, and yes, missing them will lead to missing some of the story inbetween. It will NOT lock you out of playing the expansion story lines though.

Not sure what you are referring to with the level booster. None are required in any way to progress the game. It is very possible, and that was the normal way in the past, to just level to 80 naturally in core Tyria.

I would remind you that this game has no subscription fee and no pay to win mechanics in the gems store. It does remain a MMORPG with continued development cost.

[Wyatt The Sad.5016]

@Cyninja.2954 said:

@Wyatt The Sad.5016 said:I don't think it's OK for Anet to basically lock you out of your personal story with money being the only way to continue. Very much like having to buy a lvl booster in order to play your personal story if you don't play with others. Just wth..

Except, you are more than capable of playing the personal story of those expansions. The Living World Episodes are just story bridges between expansions, and yes, missing them will lead to missing some of the story inbetween. It will NOT lock you out of playing the expansion story lines though.

Not sure what you are referring to with the level booster. None are required in any way to progress the game. It is very possible, and that was the normal way in the past, to just level to 80 naturally in core Tyria.

I would remind you that this game has no subscription fee and no pay to win mechanics in the gems store. It does remain a MMORPG with continued development cost.

Yea it is and I get that but do you honestly think that a newbie will know he or she is not paying for the whole story when he or she purchases the game on Anet? It's extra 50e for everything. At least make it clear for those who aren't aware. It would be a different story if the LW was an additional DLC with continuation after expansions but it's not. Takes place before, between and after. You only get a part of Icebrood Saga, despite the shop saying you'll get everything. That's my issue. And yeah I already paid for it.

Level booster, well it's a question of an opinion. You're gonna have a hard time leveling up to continue the story if you're playing alone (that means no PVP and no wvw), and you're in it for the story.I ref to the messages above by others.

[Danikat.8537]

I agree that it's misleading and annoying that there's no way to buy everything together in one package and I have no idea why Anet don't offer that option. But that's the only accurate part of your post.

Each storyline or release functions independently. You could, if you wanted to, play them in reverse order and you would still be able to do everything, and return to anything you've done whenever you want (except the personal story). Or you could play HoT and PoF and then go back to the living world later on. The only reason to play them in order is if you want to follow the storyline and avoid spoilers by seeing everything in chronological order.

Also the order of releases is:Personal StorySeason 1 recapSeason 2Heart of ThornsSeason 3Path of FireSeason 4Season 5

So you could space purchases out by buying the game (which gets you the core game, HoT and PoF) and then buying living world seasons one at a time as you get to them. (You could even buy each episode individually but I wouldn't recommend that because it works out more expensive than buying a full season.)

Also you absolutely do not need to buy a level 80 booster (or use other work-arounds to level up) to play the story, even if you play solo. You will have to do open-world content in between personal story chapters to gain enough XP to level up, but it's entirely possible to do that solo - either literally alone or with whoever happens to be around at the time. Open world content is designed to be playable solo, and will scale to the number of people who are around at the time. (And in case you're not aware this game has no kill or loot stealing, so you can play together with other people who happen to be in the same area without needing to be in a party, which often makes things easier.)

[Wyatt The Sad.5016]

I never said it wasn't possible, I said you're going to have a hard time if you are playing alone, which is what I was speaking about. Look at it from 25+ yo newbies point of view, not yours. They're not gonna know where to farm and level up for weeks till they can continue again, unless they're in a guild playing, alas not playing alone. My opinion is as valid as yours so no need to continue this discussion. All that I've said has been said above many times. The exception was that I was misinformed about the maps. But it does not change the point.

It's really misleading to sell the Icebrood Saga in the package when in fact you don't get the first parts of it included - > you'll have to pay for it anyway.

It's misleading to sell expansions as a package only to let the player know much much later than you need to pay 50 additional euros now, if you want to continue the story as it's planned to be played (unless you enjoy backtracking).

My criticism might be harsh but it has been said many times before and you'd expect Anet to react to it,eventually. Give us the opinion to but everything in one package, instead of giving bits and pieces for free and revealing you actually don't get this for free at all. I love this game and I've been HC playing it since I got it. And I also bought all the LW additions even tho I feel like I've payed twice for Icebrood. I'm more than willing to pay for dlcs, that's not the issue.

I understand some people have never and will never play the game for the story, but some of us do and it's especially excruciating for us that this game and its dlcs is marketed the way they are. .

[Danikat.8537]

@"Wyatt The Sad.5016" said:I never said it wasn't possible, I said you're going to have a hard time if you are playing alone, which is what I was speaking about. Look at it from 25+ yo newbies point of view, not yours. They're not gonna know where to farm and level up for weeks till they can continue again, unless they're in a guild alas not playing alone. My opinion is as valid as yours so no need to continue this discussion. All that I've said has been said above many times. The exception was that I was misinformed about the maps. But it does not change the point.

Ah, I see the problem. If you're looking to find specific farming spots to level up you are going to have a hard time, because they don't exist. In fact, thanks to Diminishing Returns staying in one place for too long will actually reduce the XP you gain, even if there's plenty of stuff to kill.

You're actually better off roaming around semi-aimlessly doing things which contribute to map completion and especially doing any events you come across, because those are one of the best sources of XP in the game.

So new players may actually have an easier time than people on their second, third etc. characters who are looking for the kind of short-cuts they may be used to from other MMOs, if they've somehow missed the ways GW2 is different from other games.

[Wyatt The Sad.5016]

@Danikat.8537 said:

@"Wyatt The Sad.5016" said:I never said it wasn't possible, I said you're going to have a hard time if you are playing alone, which is what I was speaking about. Look at it from 25+ yo newbies point of view, not yours. They're not gonna know where to farm and level up for weeks till they can continue again, unless they're in a guild alas not playing alone. My opinion is as valid as yours so no need to continue this discussion. All that I've said has been said above many times. The exception was that I was misinformed about the maps. But it does not change the point.

Ah, I see the problem. If you're looking to find specific farming spots to level up you are going to have a hard time, because they don't exist. In fact, thanks to

Diminishing Returns

staying in one place for too long will actually reduce the XP you gain, even if there's plenty of stuff to kill.

You're actually better off roaming around semi-aimlessly doing things which contribute to map completion and especially doing any events you come across, because those are one of the best sources of XP in the game.

So new players may actually have an easier time than people on their second, third etc. characters who are looking for the kind of short-cuts they may be used to from other MMOs, if they've somehow missed the ways GW2 is different from other games.

That's your opinion. Mine is different. Of course they exist and there are dozens of guides to level up doing farming, crafting or PVP. I edited my post above to point out the issues. Have a good one.

[Cyninja.2954]

@Wyatt The Sad.5016 said:

@Danikat.8537 said:

@Wyatt The Sad.5016 said:I never said it wasn't possible, I said you're going to have a hard time if you are playing alone, which is what I was speaking about. Look at it from 25+ yo newbies point of view, not yours. They're not gonna know where to farm and level up for weeks till they can continue again, unless they're in a guild alas not playing alone. My opinion is as valid as yours so no need to continue this discussion. All that I've said has been said above many times. The exception was that I was misinformed about the maps. But it does not change the point.

Ah, I see the problem. If you're looking to find specific farming spots to level up you are going to have a hard time, because they don't exist. In fact, thanks to

Diminishing Returns

staying in one place for too long will actually reduce the XP you gain, even if there's plenty of stuff to kill.

You're actually better off roaming around semi-aimlessly doing things which contribute to map completion and especially doing any events you come across, because those are one of the best sources of XP in the game.

So new players may actually have an easier time than people on their second, third etc. characters who are looking for the kind of short-cuts they may be used to from other MMOs, if they've somehow missed the ways GW2 is different from other games.

That's your opinion. Mine is different. Of course they exist and there are dozens of guides to level up doing farming, crafting or PVP. I edited my post above to point out the issues. Have a good one.

If you are "farming" enemies in this game to level, you are already being as inefficient as possible since grinding enemies was never a good method to progress to level 80.

That's to you from a pre launch veteran with 30 characters all decked out, level 80 and with full masteries as well as thousands of hours of game time.

Sorry, but this games leveling curve is beyond easy and has absolutely no requirement as to grouping or amount of players.

Here are some guide videos on the subject, hint: none of them recommend farming:

Now if you WANT to grind and farm enemies to level, and yes that will seem tedious because it IS inefficient, make sure to upgrade your gear every 5 - 10 levels on all available slots to a fresh batch of blue or green items (trinkets can be replaced every 15 - 20 levels).

[Cuks.8241]

Your criticism is totally valid if the main reason for playing is the story. If you want to experience it in the correct chronological order than yes, you will need to buy the LWs. It will also take you forever before you get the mounts which come with Pof and are really, really cool and useful and you can get them within 5 minutes of playing Pof. And forever ever before you get to the current content which is most populated.

If you don't mind the spoilers and are ok with some holes in the story I would suggest you first play the content you got (so Hot and Pof) and only then start buying the old LWs. I would even suggest you first buy LW4 before others because the quality is higher and maps are still very much populated. LW3 is close to LW4 and LW2 doesn't bring much beyond the story instances (you can already play the maps that came with LW2: Dry Top and Silwer Wastes).

Just treat it as a series of books with broken timeline. It is not uncommon books get published in a non chronological order. Also the stories themselves are pretty much self standing with maybe only a bit of confusion at the start. The biggest gap is probably between core and Hot because you have two LWs in between but you will never fill that gap since LW1 is unavailable. Actually there were a few important stuff in Hot I never knew what they really are about before playing LW2.

Also keep in mind you can switch between story chapters at any point and will not lose any progress.

[Wyatt The Sad.5016]

@Cuks.8241 said:Your criticism is totally valid if the main reason for playing is the story. If you want to experience it in the correct chronological order than yes, you will need to buy the LWs. It will also take you forever before you get the mounts which come with Pof and are really, really cool and useful and you can get them within 5 minutes of playing Pof. And forever ever before you get to the current content which is most populated.

If you don't mind the spoilers and are ok with some holes in the story I would suggest you first play the content you got (so Hot and Pof) and only then start buying the old LWs. I would even suggest you first buy LW4 before others because the quality is higher and maps are still very much populated. LW3 is close to LW4 and LW2 doesn't bring much beyond the story instances (you can already play the maps that came with LW2: Dry Top and Silwer Wastes).

Just treat it as a series of books with broken timeline. It is not uncommon books get published in a non chronological order. Also the stories themselves are pretty much self standing with maybe only a bit of confusion at the start. The biggest gap is probably between core and Hot because you have two LWs in between but you will never fill that gap since LW1 is unavailable. Actually there were a few important stuff in Hot I never knew what they really are about before playing LW2.

Also keep in mind you can switch between story chapters at any point and will not lose any progress.

Thank you for a proper and respectful reply that isn't based only on your own way of playing. You sum things up perfectly ?

Anyone saying this games learning curve is beyond easy is unable to look at it from a newbies perspective. There aren't websites dedicated to crafting, weapons and so on for nothing. Even players who've been playing for years use them still.

[Ashantara.8731]

@Wyatt The Sad.5016 said:Anyone saying this games learning curve is beyond easy is unable to look at it from a newbies perspective. There aren't websites dedicated to crafting, weapons and so on for nothing. Even players who've been playing for years use them still.

Yes, the game is quite complicated to grasp on some levels without external guidance. Too many currencies, too many different, unrelated ways of gear acquisition, a bloated crafting system etc. It takes time to get a grip on things, and as you stated correctly, even for veterans a lot of things are much easier with external help (see crafting, for instance).