[Returning player, have questions concerning HoT/PoF, Living World and ascended gear.]

@Urud.4925 said:

@Diplomate.2713 said:Thanks, I won't think about ascended equipment for now. Then I have another question, is the story in the living world any good? How is it compared to the main story? I could buy 400 more gems and purchase Season 3 and 4 or wait for a sale, if there are any for living world.If you're interested in the missing episodes, check the shop for the Living World Season 3 Complete Pack. You'll get a 20% discount (and the price is based on the episodes that you need).

Yeah, but according to the wiki, there are sales with even larger discounts. So I could buy seasons 3 and 4 and save gems to buy season 2 as well.

[Returning player, have questions concerning HoT/PoF, Living World and ascended gear.]

@Grolorm.4072 said:

@Diplomate.2713 said:

@Ayrilana.1396 said:You so do all story content in exotics so I wouldn’t worry about ascended too much if that’s your aim.

Ascended trinkets are awarded on LS3 maps by collecting the map specific currencies as well as unbound magic. It’s the fastest way to obtain ascended trinkets as laurels are substantially time-gated and you lose out on obtaining gold from them if they’re used for ascended trinkets.

Of the LS3 maps, Bitterfrost Frontier (episode 3) is often considered the best for farming and you frequently have people doing this at all hours of the day. I’m actually about to go into a grinding phase to get the trinkets that I need for all of my builds and I intend to use the LS3 maps and probably primarily Bitterfrost.

There are collections which award ascended weapons, such as elite specialization weapon collections, but I personally just found it easier to craft the weapon that I wanted. For some stats, I just crafts the easiest stat weapon I have and then convert it to the stats I want in the mystic forge. There is a sail cool down on refining ascended materials but you can buy the end product on the TP if in a rush.

Ascended armor isn’t something that I would focus too much on. For DPS builds, it’s only like a 2% increase over exotics. I’d make ascended armor more of a long term goal rather than stress over trying to quickly obtain it. Crafting is still a good option for these and I think a full set costs around 250G nowadays but I could be wrong.

Thanks, I won't think about ascended equipment for now. Then I have another question, is the story in the living world any good? How is it compared to the main story? I could buy 400 more gems and purchase Season 3 and 4 or wait for a sale, if there are any for living world.

The story is amazing for LW3 and 4. They upped their storytelling game quite a bit. Season 4 gives access to a few new mounts too. Griffon, Skyscale, Warclaw, and Beetle. You should be fine without season 2 for core mastery points., there are more than enough to get everything without it. Season 2 is more about learning history bits, it all occurs in silverwastes and dry top. (zones that are open world.) I ended up buying it last, and don't regret it, but the other seasons are better.

Isn't griffon part of PoF? I think I'm going to purchase these two seasons, but perhaps it would be better to wait for sales, which occur in August if I were to believe official wiki.

[Returning player, have questions concerning HoT/PoF, Living World and ascended gear.]

@Ayrilana.1396 said:You so do all story content in exotics so I wouldn’t worry about ascended too much if that’s your aim.

Ascended trinkets are awarded on LS3 maps by collecting the map specific currencies as well as unbound magic. It’s the fastest way to obtain ascended trinkets as laurels are substantially time-gated and you lose out on obtaining gold from them if they’re used for ascended trinkets.

Of the LS3 maps, Bitterfrost Frontier (episode 3) is often considered the best for farming and you frequently have people doing this at all hours of the day. I’m actually about to go into a grinding phase to get the trinkets that I need for all of my builds and I intend to use the LS3 maps and probably primarily Bitterfrost.

There are collections which award ascended weapons, such as elite specialization weapon collections, but I personally just found it easier to craft the weapon that I wanted. For some stats, I just crafts the easiest stat weapon I have and then convert it to the stats I want in the mystic forge. There is a sail cool down on refining ascended materials but you can buy the end product on the TP if in a rush.

Ascended armor isn’t something that I would focus too much on. For DPS builds, it’s only like a 2% increase over exotics. I’d make ascended armor more of a long term goal rather than stress over trying to quickly obtain it. Crafting is still a good option for these and I think a full set costs around 250G nowadays but I could be wrong.

Thanks, I won't think about ascended equipment for now. Then I have another question, is the story in the living world any good? How is it compared to the main story? I could buy 400 more gems and purchase Season 3 and 4 or wait for a sale, if there are any for living world.

[Returning player, have questions concerning HoT/PoF, Living World and ascended gear.]

Played GW2 in 2013-2014, then quitted. I logged in 3 times since I left, so I have living world S2E4, S3E4, S4E6. Recently I returned into the game and purchased the expansions, currently I'm leveling my mesmer who is already lvl 62. I really lucked out with trick-or-treat bags and got ember infusion which I sold for 1K gold, so now I have 600 free gold and purchased 1200 gems.

My first question is what gear do I need to start doing HoT/PoF content? Would exotic gear be enough? I assume it should be, since full ascended gear is only needed for the top content like fractals and raids.

Now, concerning the ascended gear, I read that living world seasons 3 or 4 are the easiest way to obtain it, or at least the trinkets. If it only concerns the trinkets, wouldn't it be easier to buy them for laurels, or am I missing something?I haven't delved into masteries yet, but I read that it would be hard to get Central Tyria mastery without S2 (well, I have one episode with 2 points). What else is S2 good for?

Which season would be the best to purchase? And are there sales for living world season bundles?

[Are guilds dead? Do veterans still play the game?]

Thanks to everyone for answering my questions. Judging by the number of replies, the game at least is far from dead. :)

I've already tried searching for a guild in the respective forum, but the problem is that I don't see a lot of guilds from my server (Piken Square). As far as I understand, the people I meet in game are now not necessarily from Piken as well, so finding a guild from my server to take part in WvW would be hard. So would you say finding the guild from your own server is way harder now than it used to be?

[Are guilds dead? Do veterans still play the game?]

Haven't played GW2 for 5 or 6 years, but recently decided to return and purchase the expansions. There's a lot of new content in the game in addition to the old one that I have totally forgotten and have fun dealing with again.

However, the thing that amazed me is that the guilds seem to be totally dead. I used to be in a fairly large guild of like 50-100 people, and when I play the game there are no people from this guild online at all. I was expecting to find a new guild through the map chat, but so far I have only seen one RP guild advertisement and it was probably in Queensdale, and a few German/French/Dutch advertisements. Back in the old days you could see people recruiting for their guilds even in the mid and advanced maps, not even talking about the starting areas that were borderline spammed by guild recruiters!So are casual guilds still a thing or are they limited to hardcore WvW/raid/fractal groups that only concentrate on those specific areas?

Another thing I've noticed is that all the friends that I used to have in the game haven't logged in for months or even for years. So is it safe to assume that the playerbase has changed completely after 2 expansions and so many years?