Just reached Level 80 - Are there spoilers if I play one of the expansions?

[CountZero.2586]

Hi everyone,

So I'll start by saying that I play GW2 mainly for the story, which is one of the best from any game I've played.

Now I've just reached Level 80 and am halfway through my level 80 Personal Story. But now I've hit a roadblock.

So I've been playing on the main Tyria map and my experience bar has gotten full. As far as I can work out, I can now transfer this bar to Mastery Points. HOWEVER I can't start training Masteries unless I play one of the expansions.

Now I understand the expansions are supposed to be a couple of seasons ahead of the initial Personal Story. Won't I be hitting spoilers if I go straight to them? And if I dont play the expansion, what happens to my full experience bar? Can I transfer it off to something without starting one of the expansions?

Any help would be much appreciated!

[Vayne.8563]

Depends on what you consider spoilers. There are "spoilers" for playing either expansion but most of that stuff is relatively common knowledge now within the game. For example, would there be a spoiler watching Star Trek if you found out that the federation was at war with the klingons at one point? Maybe if you lived under a rock. I think particularly playing the first story of Pof, the worst you'd get is something from the blurb about the main plot/premise of PoF.

[Rognik.2579]

The direct order of story chapters, such as are currently playable, is Personal Story, Living World Season 2, Heart of Thorns, Season 3, Path of Fire, Season 4. If you don't want spoilers, you should play through Season 2 before hitting Heart of Thorns. Sadly, even starting at Season 2, there will be some minor confusion as you meet characters that were introduced in Season 1, which was only temporary content and is not currently playable in any way. Nothing in Season 2 should spoil the Personal Story. Heart of Thorns spoils a revelation at the very end of Season 2, and Path of Fire ruins a twist from the middle of Season 3. Otherwise, you can play either expansion if you want to unlock masteries.

Experience earned after level 80 is not wasted, though, as each "level" you earn will give you one spirit shard, which you can use to buy certain items from Miyani. Their usefulness is debatable, but it is still progression. When you earn all the masteries in a certain region, you will then also resume earning spirit shards.

[Randulf.7614]

The story is continuous so yes you will encounter spoilers

[Ayrilana.1396]

I’d personally finish up the personal story first and then read up on living story season one to understand what happened and the characters introduced. I’d then play season 2, HoT, season 3, and PoF in that order so the story makes sense. The expansion stories are not self-contained as the living story seasons build up the story to them.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

The story is continuous so yes you will encounter spoilers

This. That said...

most of that stuff is relatively common knowledge now within the game.

This as well. The grand reveals of Season 2 and Season 3 are ruined by the promotions, let alone gameplay, of Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire, respectively.

[ugrakarma.9416]

to minimize spoilers,-Avoid main site, and trailers. the trailers of HoT/PoF are huge spoils of season 2 and 3.-Season 2, avoid explore HoT maps(Verdant Brink, Auric Basin, Tangled Depths,Dragon Stand).

[Emerz.5913]

The direct order of story chapters, such as are currently playable, is Personal Story, Living World Season 2, Heart of Thorns, Season 3, Path of Fire, Season 4. If you don't want spoilers, you should play through Season 2 before hitting Heart of Thorns. Sadly, even starting at Season 2, there will be some minor confusion as you meet characters that were introduced in Season 1, which was only temporary content and is not currently playable in any way.

This. You definitely might get confused/feel unattached to the characters if you jump into the story in the middle. I suggest you watch this living world season 1 movie. I didn't get the chance to play it (started playing gw2 when LS season 2 just started) and thought they did a great job in summarizing what happened and who the characters are. It's a bit long, but totally worth it if you're into lore/want to know what happens between the personal story and LS2. After that then you can continue with HoT, LS3, PoF, and LS4.

Living Story Season 1 Movie:

[Dondarrion.2748]

Get past said roadblock, enlist help from the LFG tool if needed, you might be surprised others having same issue or simply a good samaritan showing up to offer their help.That way you don't need to play an expansion where you're bound to run into things that will spoil future stories for you.