Character Boosts?

[Shane.4023]

Hi guys. I have been away for a bit from GW2, and want to catch up to the upcoming Expansion. Thing is, my Characters are low levels, and none have completed main story yet. I have heard of Character Boosts for GW2, and I have a few, but not sure I should use them. Both Final Fantasy 14 and Star Wars Old Republic have boosts that can boost your Character level, and still let you go through main story and expansions. Does GW2 have boosts like that? Should I use the boosts I have? Thoughts and help appreciated  :)

[Arianth Moonlight.6453]

the level 80 boost only makes you level 80 (and gives you some level 80 gear and stuff). You still have to do everything else.

[Zebulous.2934]

The story quests may be easier at level 80, but you still need to unlock hero points and play through the story episodes.  The boost isn't that much faster.

I will warn you about the set of equipment that they give you ar the level 80 trainer in silver wastes: it cannot be salvaged, or sold, and any upgrades you socket to it cannot be extracted later.  You have to destroy/discard that set of equipment to get rid of it.

[Linken.6345]

48 minutes ago, Zebulous.2934 said:

The story quests may be easier at level 80, but you still need to unlock hero points and play through the story episodes.  The boost isn't that much faster.

I will warn you about the set of equipment that they give you ar the level 80 trainer in silver wastes: it cannot be salvaged, or sold, and any upgrades you socket to it cannot be extracted later.  You have to destroy/discard that set of equipment to get rid of it.

well only for elite specs lvl 80 give enough hero points to full unlock all core traits/utility skills.

[Danikat.8537]

You will not miss out on anything by using a boost. It won't progress your characters' story and you'll still be able to play through it from where you got up to. You'll also be able to play on low level maps anytime you want, you'll be down-scaled so you won't one-shot everything and you'll get XP and loot appropriate to your level.

What it does do is allow you to go to level 80 maps, including the expansion maps, and unlock the option to switch to playing the expansion stories if you want. Narratively all the stories chain together but functionally they're stand-alone, so you could be 1/2 way through the personal story and then start playing End of Dragons instead, or whichever one you wanted. The only downside is the characters will reference past events as if you were there, there's no alternate pathways or catch-up narratives for stuff you've skipped, so if you care about the story you probably want to play them in order, but it's your choice.

[Shane.4023]

Thanks so much for the info! I was hoping that if I used a boost, that I wouldn't miss out on Character Story and Expansions. I want to do the content in order though, try not to skip anything. What order should I do Story and Expansions in? Further thoughts and help appreciated  🙂

[Shane.4023]

37 minutes ago, Danikat.8537 said:

You will not miss out on anything by using a boost. It won't progress your characters' story and you'll still be able to play through it from where you got up to. You'll also be able to play on low level maps anytime you want, you'll be down-scaled so you won't one-shot everything and you'll get XP and loot appropriate to your level.

What it does do is allow you to go to level 80 maps, including the expansion maps, and unlock the option to switch to playing the expansion stories if you want. Narratively all the stories chain together but functionally they're stand-alone, so you could be 1/2 way through the personal story and then start playing End of Dragons instead, or whichever one you wanted. The only downside is the characters will reference past events as if you were there, there's no alternate pathways or catch-up narratives for stuff you've skipped, so if you care about the story you probably want to play them in order, but it's your choice.

Edited June 15 by Shane.4023

[Shane.4023]

37 minutes ago, Danikat.8537 said:

You will not miss out on anything by using a boost. It won't progress your characters' story and you'll still be able to play through it from where you got up to. You'll also be able to play on low level maps anytime you want, you'll be down-scaled so you won't one-shot everything and you'll get XP and loot appropriate to your level.

What it does do is allow you to go to level 80 maps, including the expansion maps, and unlock the option to switch to playing the expansion stories if you want. Narratively all the stories chain together but functionally they're stand-alone, so you could be 1/2 way through the personal story and then start playing End of Dragons instead, or whichever one you wanted. The only downside is the characters will reference past events as if you were there, there's no alternate pathways or catch-up narratives for stuff you've skipped, so if you care about the story you probably want to play them in order, but it's your choice.

Thanks so much for the info! I was hoping that if I used a boost, that I wouldn't miss out on Character Story and Expansions. I want to do the content in order though, try not to skip anything. What order should I do Story and Expansions in? Further thoughts and help appreciated  🙂

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Here's the order of Story Chapters/Episodes:  https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Story_Journal

and a list of every Episode (from Personal Story [Core] to Secrets of the Obscure):  https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Story_Journal/table

Welcome return, and good luck.

 

Edited June 15 by Inculpatus cedo.9234

[Danikat.8537]

11 hours ago, Shane.4023 said:

Thanks so much for the info! I was hoping that if I used a boost, that I wouldn't miss out on Character Story and Expansions. I want to do the content in order though, try not to skip anything. What order should I do Story and Expansions in? Further thoughts and help appreciated  🙂

If you open the Hero Panel and go to the Story tab it shows all of them in order. It should also automatically update to the next storyline you have unlocked when you complete one.

[Luthan.5236]

For learning I would recommend to at least level one char "normally" to level 80 trying to do a bit of the old core personal story.  Other chars can use the boost - it is a personal preference. If you use your boost immediately it might feel a bit more overwhelming when you go straight for the latest content. Afaik they even made it pretty fast to level with higher exp rewards and the adventurer guide achievements.

Of course you can also use the boost and then do the story in order (first visiting older maps because of the story steps) - this will slowly introduce you to mechanics that got added later (masteries and map-specific things). Only making the unlock for skills/traits a bit fast. That should not be that much of a big deal. Most will play around with that a lot anyways - to find a build that fits them. (If trying to figure out your own style instead of using a "recommended" build from some websites.)

The order of the story is in the link provided a few posts above. Wiki is always very helpful here. I recommend (if you plan to play more chars - to try out the other classes/professions later) trying to use different selections when you can make choices. This is mainly for certain missions in the core story where you might get a different mission later. For HoT and PoF afaik there is a reward choice once ... where you can select one of 3 back items (HoT with the order names: vigil, whispers. priory, PoF with like ... Amnoon, Sunspear and something else) where the following missions give rewards that fit together to complete a collection (to unlock a higher tier of the back item skin). There it is recommended to also get a different base item at the first time it is rewarded on each char. (Different one on the 2nd and 3rd char to also unlock those skins.)

Other than that most if the same I think. And can be replayed a lot (except the core personal story - everything before "season 1").

[Astralporing.1957]

18 hours ago, Shane.4023 said:

What order should I do Story and Expansions in? Further thoughts and help appreciated  🙂

It depends on what you want. Generally, the chronological order is preferred. The chronological order is personal story, LS1, LS2, Heart of Thorns, LS3, Path of Fire, LS4, Ice Brood Saga, End of Dragons, Secrets of the Obscure. You can see it shown in that very order in the Story Journal tab (with personal story shows as "My story").

Sometimes you might see people advising a different order. That is to unlock some specific stuff earlier (specifically, gliding and mounts). Notice, though, that by doing that you will get some parts of the story spoiled. If story is something you do care about, i'd advise against doing that.

[Atoclone.4810]

On 6/16/2024 at 11:10 AM, Luthan.5236 said:

For learning I would recommend to at least level one char "normally" to level 80 trying to do a bit of the old core personal story.  Other chars can use the boost - it is a personal preference. If you use your boost immediately it might feel a bit more overwhelming when you go straight for the latest content. Afaik they even made it pretty fast to level with higher exp rewards and the adventurer guide achievements.

 

This. When I returned to the game after a many year break despite having had all classes at 80 I started I've from scratch and played through all the way to 80 to get back into the swing of things and found it a great help 

[Eastwind.7209]

You'll notice that the Tyria personal story unlocks in stages at levels 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80. You will find if you play through each of the 8 quest lines that you earn around 4 levels worth of experience for each. To get to the next personal story missions you can do the adventure guide achievements (they give very good experience) or do map completion for a couple zones. There really won't be any grinding involved at all. People say it takes about 30 hours of gameplay to reach level 80. I think if you do the adventure guide its faster. The core tyria game and progressing to level 80 is sometimes viewed as a giant tutorial. 

The adventure guide can be found on the hero panel (H), then click on achievements (next to bottom icon on left), then expand "character adventure guide" and do them in order.

I would not use those boosters you have at all. Enjoy the base game. Level a couple of characters of different races and classes the usual way, making different choices so that you experience the different quests where the quest lines branch. After a couple times through the core game you'll get bored with it, and then after that is when you want to use the boosts and get new alt characters to 80 quickly when you decide you want a new class or alt. Even then, if the alt is a new class unfamiliar to you, it's worth doing some leveling to learn how to play that class. The base game is still well populated, you'll hardly ever be somewhere without other players around (some of the living world maps are a bit dead, but base tyria isn't).