Returning Player Question: Play all the old story or watch story recap and straight into EoD?

[Stuckili.4157]

Hey guys, nice to be back!
 

I returned to GW2 after a looong break and need your opinion on approaching the new expansion. My "problem" is that I especially love the MMO experience during new releases or expansions.

Now, as GW2 is quite story-driven, I'm not sure if I should play all the old story content starting with Season 2 all the way until EoD. Or if I could simply watch a story recap on YT, jump straight into EoD, and replay the story later.
 

If I replay all of the story, I might fear missing out on the expansions' launch experience, which could lead to less enjoyment of the previous content. Also, I want to enjoy and explore all the zones thoroughly and don't feel like I am rushing through them just to get to EoD faster.

On the other hand, I don't want to ruin my story experience by playing EoD before experiencing the rest of the story.
 

What would be your recommendation? Cheers!

Edited March 2, 2022 by Stuckili.4157

[Superkai.4692]

Honestly, since it is a lot of Story and would need a lot of time to play, I would suggest you start directly with EoD.

Since season 1 is missing from the game, you have to start the story "in between" anyway. So you might as well start with EoD.

[ElijahFitzroy.5762]

welcome back,

 

If you enjoy knowing all the lore and nods and hints to parts of the story I would recommend going through all the story from vanilla onward. Its a good story and there is lots of lore packed into everything. Plus you can get lots of different items along the way to help you.  Like Superkai said unfortunately Season 1 is missing but you can certainly watch the cut screens, there is a really good video someone made on youtube with all the recorded cuts scenes from season 1.

 

Otherwise if lore and nods to different parts of the story doesn't matter you can certainly start on EoD but a heads up if you haven't played through any of the other content in level 80 zones like HoT (Heart of Thorns) or PoF (Path of Fire) you will be missing several very important items such as gliding and mounts. Both very helpful in EoD. Plus one of the best areas in GW2 is the maps in HoT areas. You'll still see many people playing around those maps even when new content comes out. 

 

So in the end it is up to you but if I was recommending it to myself I would say to start from the beginning, but I am a huge fan of GW2 lore.

 

once again welcome back and have a good time in Tyria or Cantha!

[antunesac.4768]

 

enjoy tyria's story is perfect and immersive, cantha is not worth it, it's terrible

 

Edited March 4, 2022 by antunesac.4768

[Mungo Zen.9364]

On 3/2/2022 at 1:58 PM, Stuckili.4157 said:

On the other hand, I don't want to ruin my story experience by playing EoD before experiencing the rest of the story.

Given that the Living World - Icebrood Saga series doesn't lead directly into Cantha the way LWS 2 and 3 lead into HoT and PoF it almost feels like a standalone story using some of the same characters.  There is very little in the way of callbacks to older content as well, so I would think you can jump in, enjoy it and then go back for the other story content.

[Stuckili.4157]

Thanks to everyone for giving me direction and opinions! 😄
 

My decisions will now be based on a friend that might return to GW2 again.
If he does, we will play all of the old story together before jumping into EoD.
If he doesn't, I will most likely jump straight into Cantha starting this weekend.