Giving this another go!

[slowpoke.1894]

I bought and played GW2 at launch but only got to high 20s on an Engineer and then quit.  Over the years I have tried coming back but it never stuck.  My highest level toon is a 35 Ranger but I haven't played in years, so I think I am going to start a new character.  Think I have it narrowed down to Thief or Mesmer.

It seems like you level super fast compared to what I remember.  Due to my history of losing interest, I'd like to give the game a good try before buying the expansions.  Other than perhaps some additional storage space and level 80 boosts, can I hold off until 80 to buy them, or will I be missing out on a lot content along the way?

I would love to get into this game and I am hoping this time it clicks.  I have always recognized the quality and I hear the community is really good these days.

Would also welcome any tips people would care to give.  Have been watching a lot of youtube videos but could always use good insight.

Thanks much!

 

[Danikat.8537]

Welcome back!

I think you're making the right choice by holding off on buying the expansions, no sense paying for more of the game if you're not sure you're going to play it. You won't miss out on anything by doing that. I think the only difference it will make before you get to level 80 is that you'll get a tempoary trial of the raptor mount at level 10 instead of permanently unlocking it like you would if you had an expansion, but the raptor isn't required for anything in the core game and you will be able to unlock it later on if you choose to buy Path of Fire or End of Dragons. Other than that everything in the expansions is for level 80 characters so you don't need to decide on buying them until you get to that point.

If you do want to buy a level 80 boost I strongly recommend buying an expansion instead. Each one comes with a level 80 boost and it's not much more expensive than just buying the boost from the gem store. (Not sure of exact prices in other currencies but in the UK it's £17 for the boost or £22-26 for an expansion pack.)

[Linken.6345]

Dont delete your old characters birthdays are tied to them.

[slowpoke.1894]

Thank you very much!

[RavensSorrow.6128]

Welcome back!

Enjoy the world and leveling. There is no rush. Though if you want a faster path to 80 follow the Adventure Guide in the achievements tab. A lot of small things you can do to get big experience as you level. Once you get used to it you can really level quickly if you ever want to try other characters. Everything you do gives xp too. Mining, crafting, fighting, exploring, even resurrecting a downed player/npc. Also, all loot is personal, so you'll never feel bad about loot stealing or tagging mobs like other games have. So always join in a fight, event or whatever to keep that experience coming.

There is a lot of stuff to do at 80 even for Free players. You get the entire core maps, story and living world season 1 all for free. When and if you decide to play an expansion, you don't have to go through them all if you don't want to. Grab the newest one and come join us there. Or go back and relive everything through the older but certainly not dead content. Because of how gearing works all the old stuff is still run fairly consistently. I came back around path of fire and have rarely found a dead map outside of my weird hours. 

Follow tags! If you see someone with a commander tag up, ask map, see what they are doing. Sometimes they are just marking a puzzle for people. Other times they are killing world bosses. Join them. Do the stuff! Doesn't matter if you are level 10 or 80. If you're on the map go see it. You can contribute thanks to the scaling and still get cool skins or crafting materials needed for later. You can click on the tag to join them too, most leave their tags open. Being in the group gives you priority on receiving buffs and heals vs those outside of the squad. 

Never be afraid to ask for help. This game is great at rewarding players working together so you'll almost always find a helping hand. You can also do "/wiki" in game to bring up the wiki on anything in game you have questions about. It's a great resource and very helpful. For any other guides I recommend Mukluklabs as a streamer and content creator. There are many other good guide sites but he is who I used to get started so I share the love!

Most important have fun! Enjoy your time in game and do what you find fun. There is no rush to catch up and you aren't as behind as you feel. If you have more questions feel free to mail me here or in game. I'm on fairly often as work allows.

[Ember.8510]

Hi, personally I think not buying the expansions is the best way to enjoy the game for the first time as you get to do it all the old fashioned way on foot and there's a real sense of progression once you unlock your mounts in the order they were originally intended to be unlocked. So feel free to just play the free game as a trial - that's what it's there for. You might be locked out of whispering/trading post/portals to certain maps to some extent but I can't really remember. It wouldn't be a big deal though.

I will preface this with you should play whatever you want and all classes are viable, however since you've mentioned not being able to stick with engineer and ranger already it sounds like you're quite reliant on your class being fun/engaging to get into the game. So I'd probably suggest going for a more beginner friendly and fun open world levelling class to start with, like necromancer or guardian. Mesmer is notoriously complicated and thief the opposite - very simple in terms of weapon skills at least, because the thief's initiative system means it's most efficient to just spam the same/best skill over and over again (initiative system means you have no individual skill cooldowns and you just wait for your global cooldown metre to replenish). Thief was my first ever class and I got bored of it eventually for this reason. Don't let that put you off if you really want to play those classes though, they can still be fun and they might even really click with you, it's just a pre-warning based on my experience since you asked for advice. Of those 2 you mentioned I'd recommend thief for a new player.

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

On 1/20/2024 at 9:45 AM, slowpoke.1894 said:

I bought and played GW2 at launch but only got to high 20s on an Engineer and then quit.  Over the years I have tried coming back but it never stuck.  My highest level toon is a 35 Ranger but I haven't played in years, so I think I am going to start a new character.  Think I have it narrowed down to Thief or Mesmer.

It seems like you level super fast compared to what I remember.  Due to my history of losing interest, I'd like to give the game a good try before buying the expansions.  Other than perhaps some additional storage space and level 80 boosts, can I hold off until 80 to buy them, or will I be missing out on a lot content along the way?

I would love to get into this game and I am hoping this time it clicks.  I have always recognized the quality and I hear the community is really good these days.

Would also welcome any tips people would care to give.  Have been watching a lot of youtube videos but could always use good insight.

Thanks much!

 

my best advice is beware that what you see as a new player is only a very ,very small amount of the game. even if you're just a story player, completing the entire personal story from 1-80 is currently only about 10-15% of the total, and that;'s completely disregarding all other content.

 

i think the game has poor new player retention because it doesn't even begin to show them what the game is really like.

 

try watching this very long, and very in-depth review if you want to stick with the game (make sure you have english subtitles turned on). it's the truest review of the game i've ever seen, and although it does have spoilers, they're mostly provided without proper context!~

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJqhhWh-jpc

 

Edited January 21 by SoftFootpaws.9134

[mercury ranique.2170]

Hello and welcome back.

Happy to see you want to give it another go. To give you solid advice it would help to understand why you kept loosing interest in the past. You mentioned slow levelling in the past.
Although it is true there are a few shortcuts to leveling. Also they changed the entire experience with a new player experience (NPE). So things have changed here, but not significant.

GW2 levelling is different then most games. In most games the levelling is a learning curve towards the end game. This is only partly true in GW2. There is a much more gradual change and endgame and levelling game do not differ as much. So what you get during levelling is basically what you get when you reach max level.

So why should you stay if the levelling game was boring in the past? The main reason is that GW2 really is very different. There is a main story line that takes you by the hand, but at the same time you also have the freedom to play just as you want from the start. So dare to leave that dotted line and go explore the world.

[Mistwraithe.3106]

I have a few comments to add…

The extra bag slots from a paid account make a significant improvement to ease of managing your inventory. The raptor mount also makes getting around much easier so if little frustrations like this annoy you then I would seriously consider getting the first expansion (Heart of Thorns plus Path of Fire, they are bundled).

Also, I really enjoyed the story BUT the core personal story is significantly more staid and impersonal than the rest. Living World Season 1 I found significantly better, Living World Season 2 even more so, than Heart of Thorns I loved, etc. Keep this in mind if you are story focused. Note that unfortunately you need to buy LWS2+, they aren’t bundled with the expansions (unless you buy the big full story bundle).

[slowpoke.1894]

Wow thanks again everyone for all of the great information!!

[Danikat.8537]

14 hours ago, Mistwraithe.3106 said:

I have a few comments to add…

The extra bag slots from a paid account make a significant improvement to ease of managing your inventory. The raptor mount also makes getting around much easier so if little frustrations like this annoy you then I would seriously consider getting the first expansion (Heart of Thorns plus Path of Fire, they are bundled).

Also, I really enjoyed the story BUT the core personal story is significantly more staid and impersonal than the rest. Living World Season 1 I found significantly better, Living World Season 2 even more so, than Heart of Thorns I loved, etc. Keep this in mind if you are story focused. Note that unfortunately you need to buy LWS2+, they aren’t bundled with the expansions (unless you buy the big full story bundle).

Minor correction: the OP will not get extra bag slots by buying an expansion.

Free accounts are limited to 3 bag slots, instead of the 5 paid accounts have, but they also cannot post on this forum and free accounts weren't available at launch. That means the OP has a paid core account, they don't have access to expansion areas or masteries (including mounts) but don't have any of the restrictions free accounts have like fewer bag and character slots or being unable to use map and team chat.