New Player - Complete Package or DLC?

[Baxhald]

Hey,
Completely new player on Steam release and I'm just wondering if I should purchase the DLC (all 3) or the "Complete Package" which is sometimes buggy and disappears on Steam page.
After reading about it the complete package includes the 3 DLCs and "Living World", which is something that unlocks at level 80 and is on it's 2nd season now, being a new player and being nowhere near this level, is it still worth me buying the complete package or just the DLCs?
All DLCs are £51.98, and the complete package being £86.97, so £34.99 extra, I'll probably get to level 80 (guessing this is max) at some point, as I've played other MMOs for a long time and enjoy the grind.
Also, what are the seasons all about? Is it extra content?
Thanks for any help.
Bax.

[Dzymbdzol]

Offical website :)
50€ for all 3 expansions, buy LWS in world with gold

[Q]

I'd say get Heart of Thorns + Path of Fire package 1st, you can wait for End of Dragons. and just like Badyl said, get the Living word season ingame, it will take some time but you are going to be so busy with base game/vanilla and the two first expansions so there's no hurry to get LWS.

[Dzymbdzol]

Never buy LWS in game, you don't know when you will have gems worth of 500€

[LLZwerg]

That depends a bit on if you want to have it all right away. The Expansions I'd say are definitely worth it (especially PoF for the mounts).
The Living World also offers pretty much, but they can be obtained also for free (though this may take quite long to get them all). The single episodes of Living World "return" from time to time and when you login while the episode is active you will get it for free forever. So e.g. first LW2 Episode 1 will be available for 2 or 3 weeks where you can get it by login. Then Episode 2 will be available for 2 or 3 weeks and so on. But as there are 5 Living World seasons with several episodes you can see that it will take more than a year to get them all that way.
Another way is to buy them in the gem store by trading ingame gold for gems which will also take quite a while and you will spend very much time with boring grinding, so I would say that is the least appealing way to get them and may even make you loose interest. Also as a new player you will have a harder time to farm gold and you will need a lot.

In general, if you like the game and want to stick with it for a longer time, I'd say it's worth the extra cost for the Living World. If you are unsure, get the Expansions first and get the LW seasons later.

[dootee]

Living World Seasons are content between expansions,

Chronologically:

Base game story
Season 1 (free for everyone, currently re-released)
Season 2
HoT expansion
Season 3
PoF expansion
Season 4
Season 5 (also called The Icebrood Saga)
EoD expansion
probably Season 6 (2023)

Seasons are divided into episodes, you get episodes for free if you play during window around release, There was also an event last year that gave each episode for free each week if you loged in.

For now consider playing free to play/buying 1 expansion, and decide if you want to buy the rest.

Also:
If you want to spend less money on the complete package, skip season 2:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1284210/discussions/0/3432326587495422579/

[Q]

Originally posted by badyl:

Never buy LWS in game, you don't know when you will have gems worth of 500€

??? 1st you tell him to buy LWS in "world" with gold... i thought you meant "ingame" coz that's where the gold is earned lol.

Then you reply "never buy lws in game" ?? i don't understand.

Most people get the LWS content ingame, by saving gold, trading for gems and tadaaaa one episode at a time. Gold is super easy to adquire it will take few days if he learns how to farm gold efficiently or just by doing simple stuff as world bosses, Silverwastes events etc.

[RotherHans]

Honestly, just get your first character to lvl80 for now.
You really don't need anything from the expansion packs and getting by on foot actually is a better way for complete newbie to play.

You actually have a better chance to stumble across events than constantly zipping about on a mount and missing everything.
If you really like GW2 and have that much disposable income,
then get the complete package at the end.

It will save you tons of grinding and unlocks about 3-5 times more content.

[PsyBlade]

Try the base game (free) for a few weeks and decide then. As you said, all the paid content comes after.

The 5 living world seasons are normal content released between the expansions.
Base S1 S2 Exp1 S3 Exp2 S4 S5 Exp3 (I expect S6 next year)

[birdfoot]

The Living World (LW) content includes the additional content (organized as "seasons") released between the expansions. These content should contain season 2, 3, 4 and Icebrood Saga (basically, season 5). Season 1 is content that is being reworked currently and is released as free content to everyone.

The key things about LW are:

1) Story missions that connect the storylines between expansions. Important if you like the story.

2) Additional map areas which also introduce area-specific currencies that provide cheaper alternatives for obtaining ascended trinkets among other things.

3) Access to acquiring 2 additional mounts, Roller Beetle (ground) and Skyscale (flying).

4) A legendary amulet that can obtained through completing various achievements that are tied to LW content.

If you like grinding, there's a good chance you'll probably like LW since it gives you more things to grind for.

It's hard to advise on the worth of it though, as I didn't really enjoy GW2's story or the LW stuff in general. But I did appreciate that it provided alternatives to obtaining trinkets and access to the other stuff like mounts.

[Leopanther]

Though to clarify, if you like playing through the story linearly you may want to consider the complete package. Living Story are the patches of story between expansions, often with their own new maps (especially the later seasons).

The story goes like this: Core Game -> Season 1 Living Story* -> Season 2 Living Story -> Heart of Thorns (1st expac) -> Season 3 Living Story -> Path of Fire (2nd expac) -> Season 4 Living Story -> Icebrood Saga (is like season 5, just different naming) -> End of Dragons (3rd expac)

* Note that Season 1 initially happened as live events in game and thus wasn't replayable later on (for that they have a 'history lesson' in the story tab that recaps what happened). However they are currently remaking Season 1 to make it replayable for all.

I'd say your best shot is just playing through the core game for free, and if you really feel like it's a game you'll keep playing and investing much time into, decide then which package is more worth it to you. Having all of it unlocked at once can be a big convenience, but you can also just go piece by piece which has the advantage that you don't lose as much money if you suddenly lose interest.

Edit: Damn.. in the time I wrote that, like 5 others already explained too xD

[Baxhald]

Thanks for all the replies, gonna play the game for a bit today and see what I want to do later, didn't expect so many replies so fast. lol