New Player - which Living World should I buy first

[Ramza Beoulve.4087]

Hello... :D

I'm a new player and have been fascinated by the exploration and the lore that available in GW. So naturally I bought all expansions. But then I feel devastated knowing that some portions of the game are not available with the expansions and I need to spend gems (Living World and Icebrood Saga). So I plan to grinding gold to then exchange it with gems. My only concern is that which living world do you think I should buy first? considering I really love story and lore but I also want some exploration and efficiency in my game. Also do you think they will make all living world contents available for free considering the return of LW season 1?

[Angelz.9713]

If you're not worried about going in order I would say LWS3, LWS4 & Icebrood Saga are very helpful in exploration. Also in, that you can get ascended trinkets that are stat selectable with magic and map currencies. 
Also, if you're not in a hurry, GW2 has a huge Anniversary sale every year in August and usually the LWS will go on sale at that time. 
Good luck and enjoy!

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

5 hours ago, Ramza Beoulve.4087 said:

Hello... 😄

I'm a new player and have been fascinated by the exploration and the lore that available in GW. So naturally I bought all expansions. But then I feel devastated knowing that some portions of the game are not available with the expansions and I need to spend gems (Living World and Icebrood Saga). So I plan to grinding gold to then exchange it with gems. My only concern is that which living world do you think I should buy first? considering I really love story and lore but I also want some exploration and efficiency in my game. Also do you think they will make all living world contents available for free considering the return of LW season 1?

In MMO terms, being able to buy them for gold is "free", especially considering you can make 30g/hr and have all the Living World seasons in a week if you're dedicated to it.

 

Anyway, you should start with LWS2, and move on from there. If you start with later seasons you'll find the difficulty too high and get destroyed. The difficulty slowly ramps up from Personal Story to the latest expansion, but the difference is extreme, with there being a huge leap in HoT especially.

 

All of Core can be cleared with about 1k DPS + some sustain, later content needs 5-10k DPS while still maintaining even more situational awareness and sustain than before.

Edited June 23, 2022 by Hannelore.8153

[squeegee.4320]

They just made all the Living World content free for a period of time prior to the release of EoD, so I doubt they will be doing the same anytime soon.

If you want to play in order (you said you loved story and lore) I would suggest starting with LWS2, obviously. And also watch the LWS1 recap video because only 2/5 of the LWS1 re-do is released so far).

Most people find the other seasons to be better in terms of quality, however.

[Harfang.1507]

7 hours ago, Hannelore.8153 said:

In MMO terms, being able to buy them for gold is "free", especially considering you can make 30g/hr and have all the Living World seasons in a week if you're dedicated to it.

I mostly agree with @Hannelore.8153 except for that part about 30 g/hr. An experienced elite player, sure. A newbie? Unless they are very gifted, that's unrealistic, by an order of magnitude.

Lore: chronological order

Rewards: arguably S4 > S3 ≈ IBS (aka S5) > S2

Cost: LW episodes will sometimes be made free for a short while, but it is true that it is unlikely to happen anytime soon. Yes, the August sale is probably your best bet for cost saving, though last year's August sale was a wash.

[Ramza Beoulve.4087]

12 hours ago, narwhalsbend.7059 said:

They just made all the Living World content free for a period of time prior to the release of EoD, so I doubt they will be doing the same anytime soon.

Wait really? Ah man I missed it.

 

18 hours ago, Hannelore.8153 said:

In MMO terms, being able to buy them for gold is "free", especially considering you can make 30g/hr and have all the Living World seasons in a week if you're dedicated to it.

Yeah its pretty great that I am able to get gems by grinding gold. I am just confused on why they make a portions of the main story lock behind the gems store and not directly available through the expansions. Wouldn't it just annoyed new players? considering they cant just get the main stories right away because getting just 50 golds is difficult(at least for me now).

 

Anyway, thankyou for everyone for recommending the order of LW for me to buy. I asked this because I read that LWS2, despite it is the best first LW to buy lorewise, doesn't have many contents in terms of exploration. So I am little bit cautious about it.

 

As of now I think I will buy it in story order. Do you guys think LWS2 would have enough content to keep me grinding?

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

50 minutes ago, Ramza Beoulve.4087 said:

Wait really? Ah man I missed it.

 

Yeah its pretty great that I am able to get gems by grinding gold. I am just confused on why they make a portions of the main story lock behind the gems store and not directly available through the expansions. Wouldn't it just annoyed new players? considering they cant just get the main stories right away because getting just 50 golds is difficult(at least for me now).

 

Anyway, thankyou for everyone for recommending the order of LW for me to buy. I asked this because I read that LWS2, despite it is the best first LW to buy lorewise, doesn't have many contents in terms of exploration. So I am little bit cautious about it.

 

As of now I think I will buy it in story order. Do you guys think LWS2 would have enough content to keep me grinding?

The Ultimate edition provides almost all the gems you'd need to buy all Living World seasons, but the devs aren't good at explaining this on the website, so its very confusing to new players.

 

And yes, some kind of auto-unlock system upon purchase would be much better.

 

Btw for gold go to LFG->Central Tyria-Squads and look for Silverwastes/RIBA, join the squad and then right click a party member and join the map while physically present in the Silverwastes (reachable from Brisban Wildlands). If you do this before playing LWS2 though there could be major spoilers.

 

Its not the highest Gold Per Hour (GPH), but its 24/7 and easy for new players to handle. Search YouTube for something like "guild wars 2 riba farm" to learn how to profit from it.

 

After LWS2 start HoT and once you've cleared the story switch to Tangled Depths->Auric Basin meta runs, which have about the same income but only happen once every few hours so aren't as exhausting (though you do need to arrive at the maps early, join squads, etc.).
 

Every expansion and Living World season has its own gold and material farm. LWS2 offers two maps: Dry Top and Silverwastes and they are still some of the best farms in the game, players just don't recommend buying it because the maps are accessible without purchase (like everything pre-HoT). However, that means you have to deal with spoilers if you haven't been able to play through the story.

Edited June 24, 2022 by Hannelore.8153

[squeegee.4320]

The way they advertise LW is a common complaint... As someone who likes lore I am happy that you are playing it in order!

The above post should be helpful. Considering you already have the expansions, stepping into LWS2 and HoT should give you a whole bunch of content and provide a nice "pause" in the story where you can grind up any gold you missed before jumping into LWS3 and PoF.. LWS3 maps are very varied which made them more enjoyable to me than the mostly Elonian LWS4.

Dry Top and Silverwastes (the LWS2 maps) are easily my favorites maps in general. The Silverwastes meta (RIBA) is very fun just to play as well as rewarding. These are accessible even without LWS2.

LWS2 does start off with the assumption that you know what the Zephyrites are. You can read the history section on their wiki just stop before the "In 1327 AE" paragraph as that covers LWS2. Sadly, it does not seem they are going to cover the Zephyrites in the LWS1 return judging by how they are leaving out content not directly related to Scarlet.

[LSD.4673]

I personally did HoT before buying S2. I wasn't hugely impressed with S2. Besides lots of filler, it only sets the stage for HoT; but all the pieces have already been put in place. New characters like Braham and Taimi, for example.

Season 3 is, again, lots of filler, but sets the stage for HoT. It takes a long, meandering path to get there, with very little substance along the way. But, feature wise, is the best means of acquiring ascended accessories (Bitterfrost). Map wise, they're dead, and for good reason.

S4 wraps up the weirdly unfinished PoF story, but besides the 32slot easily gained bag, and maybe the Rollerbeetle and Skyscale, i have no love for the maps.

Icebrood Saga would be a little odd to play without S4, but besides that, has a fantastic opening few chapters and great maps with worthwhile metas with great gold rewards. Then it hits DRMs -- universally panned -- and the story falls off a cliff.

They're working on re-releasing S1. I'd advise waiting a bit for an inevitable sale before committing to buying them.

If you don't mind the odd story mashup, go for Icebrood, as it'll make earning gold super easy for buying the other packs.

[klamse.8326]

What are your goals in the game?

 

If you care about the order of the story, then definitely buy and play them in order. Frankly I just bought them all with real money because I was more focused on playing through the whole story before I got into the end game. I did the story journal in chronological order. Farming the gold will take a while if you don’t have any LS episodes because those are where great money is made.

 

If you want ascended trinkets then you really only need LS3 episode 3 plus the IBS episodes that unlock bjora marches.

 

If you want the roller beetle and skyscale get the entire LS4 pack. The quality of life from these two mounts (especially the skyscale) is incredible. The skyscale requires every map, and the roller beetle only requires LS4 episode 3.

 

If you just want maps that you can farm for gold then LS4 episode 6 for dragonfall and whatever episode of IBS has drizzlewood coast.

 

My favorite maps are all of LS4. I play them a lot after the story because I just enjoy the content, money making, collections, etc within those maps. That said I still did the maps in order for the story.

[Doghouse.1562]

On 6/23/2022 at 5:30 PM, Harfang.1507 said:

Cost: LW episodes will sometimes be made free for a short while, but it is true that it is unlikely to happen anytime soon. Yes, the August sale is probably your best bet for cost saving, though last year's August sale was a wash.

Having recently started a further account, I can definitively say that buying all the LS content has already reached a point where it's seriously expensive for a new player (unless they're prepared to go very slowly and grind the necessary gold). If I didn't already enjoy GW2, frankly I probably wouldn't have bothered, apart from LS4 for the mounts. In my book, ANet need to do something to make it, if not necessarily totally free to all and sundry, at least way more accessible - it's rather ridiculous having some of the least-necessary DLC costing, total, way more than the rest of the game put together.

Edited July 21, 2022 by Doghouse.1562

[Vayne.8563]

On 7/22/2022 at 4:13 AM, Doghouse.1562 said:

Having recently started a further account, I can definitively say that buying all the LS content has already reached a point where it's seriously expensive for a new player (unless they're prepared to go very slowly and grind the necessary gold). If I didn't already enjoy GW2, frankly I probably wouldn't have bothered, apart from LS4 for the mounts. In my book, ANet need to do something to make it, if not necessarily totally free to all and sundry, at least way more accessible - it's rather ridiculous having some of the least-necessary DLC costing, total, way more than the rest of the game put together.

I disagree with this opinion. The entire game to date, all of it, every scrap, is the same money as playing six or seven months of WoW or Final Fantasy XIV.   That's for all the content which is a lot more than six or seven months of content, if you're playing all of it.

The only difference is once you hit seven months in those games, you keep paying. Those games are $180 a year to play, rather than about $100 all up to play.  Seems to me this game is a steal.

Making something free in a game that has no sub or even an optional sub is very different from making it free in a game with a sub.  

[ugrakarma.9416]

On 6/23/2022 at 12:14 AM, Ramza Beoulve.4087 said:

Hello... 😄

I'm a new player and have been fascinated by the exploration and the lore that available in GW. So naturally I bought all expansions. But then I feel devastated knowing that some portions of the game are not available with the expansions and I need to spend gems (Living World and Icebrood Saga). So I plan to grinding gold to then exchange it with gems. My only concern is that which living world do you think I should buy first? considering I really love story and lore but I also want some exploration and efficiency in my game. Also do you think they will make all living world contents available for free considering the return of LW season 1?

since u will grind gold to buy the rest: buy LS4 first. its the most rewarding in gold terms.

 

Edited July 31, 2022 by ugrakarma.9416

[Doghouse.1562]

On 7/24/2022 at 3:51 PM, Vayne.8563 said:

I disagree with this opinion. The entire game to date, all of it, every scrap, is the same money as playing six or seven months of WoW or Final Fantasy XIV.   That's for all the content which is a lot more than six or seven months of content, if you're playing all of it.

The only difference is once you hit seven months in those games, you keep paying. Those games are $180 a year to play, rather than about $100 all up to play.  Seems to me this game is a steal.

Making something free in a game that has no sub or even an optional sub is very different from making it free in a game with a sub.  

I understand that viewpoint, but you're not comparing apples with apples. The fact that Some Other Game (TM) has a different business model and is more expensive to play simply isn't germane.

My point is that we're talking about content that ANet not only originally made permanently available for free to existing players, but then went through the exercise of doing so AGAIN for anyone who missed it the first time. I simply don't see the logic, from a player retention viewpoint, of locking it behind a significant paywall (roughly twice the cost, in total cash, of EoD) for players coming into the game now. I'm not arguing that it should be totally free - simply that it's currently significantly overpriced for what it delivers. (And from a longer-term business viewpoint, I'd also suggest that player retention and slow, continuous spend is WAY more desirable, and profitable, than higher player loss and larger, short-term hits. But that's ANet's decision to make.)

Edited August 10, 2022 by Doghouse.1562

[Vayne.8563]

1 minute ago, Doghouse.1562 said:

I understand that viewpoint, but I don't think you're comparing apples with apples. The fact that Some Other Game (TM) has a different business model and is more expensive to play simply isn't germane.

My point is that we're talking about content that ANet not only originally made permanently available for free to existing players, but then went through the exercise of doing so AGAIN for anyone who missed it the first time. I simply don't see the logic, from a player retention viewpoint, of locking it behind a significant paywall (roughly twice the cost, in total cash, of EoD) for players coming into the game now. I'm not arguing that it should be totally free - simply that it's currently significantly overpriced for what it delivers.

 So they reward loyal players who log in, and charge people who come after at a completely reasonable rate. Those people who come after are already getting the game far cheaper than we did. I know I paid $60 for the original Guild Wars, $60 for HoT and $30 for both POF and EOD. That means I'm buying the game for $180 that new players get more cheaply.

Many companies have methods to get people to log in and this is one of them. When the new episodes of the living world come out if you stay around, you'll get them free too, just by logging in during the couple of months they're the newest living story.

 

There's an nominal charge, and that's all it is, for people who aren't here, that can even be paid for in in game gold. 

Rewarding veterans is part of the system every MMO uses.

[ProtoGunner.4953]

On 7/24/2022 at 4:51 PM, Vayne.8563 said:

I disagree with this opinion. The entire game to date, all of it, every scrap, is the same money as playing six or seven months of WoW or Final Fantasy XIV.   That's for all the content which is a lot more than six or seven months of content, if you're playing all of it.

The only difference is once you hit seven months in those games, you keep paying. Those games are $180 a year to play, rather than about $100 all up to play.  Seems to me this game is a steal.

Making something free in a game that has no sub or even an optional sub is very different from making it free in a game with a sub.  

Seven months? You can rush through story in 2-3 weeks. I did that for return to... to get the lege amulet.

[Fenom.9457]

Sadly, you start with the worst season of all by far. The story is fine but the gameplay is frustrating and the achievements are downright kitten.  Season 2. 
 

Although I guess if you’re bothering to ask you don’t mind going out of order. Cause I mean it’s super super easy to find the ordering in the personal story journal.. if just counting the numbers is too hard ... so yeah, as far as gameplay honestly the Icebrood Saga was my favorite pre-champions. So it gets butchered for the latest expansion and you’ll find disappointment in the end, so maybe start with 3 and 4 which are, looking at the WHOLE finished season, the best ones