Planning to buy expansions, why does only the bundle contain 'living world' ?

[4lx]

Nevermind, felt like asking but got agressive overly excited fanboys tripping in a monitization world.

[Tyrian Mollusk]

Living world has always been sold only through the gem store. Since many people suggested over the years that Anet should make it more clear they have additional purchased story content beyond the expansions, they included that Steam bundle to show all the new Steam players what the "complete" package looks like.

Living world is kind of a weird thing, because you get it for free if you are in the game when it's new (and I mean a few weeks, so it's not hard to catch), but if you aren't then you have to buy it with gems. They occasionally put it on sale in the gem store, and have even a couple of times gone through and given the existing chapters away free. You can buy it with in-game gold via converting gold to gems, too, unlike the expansions which are cash-only, though that takes a ton of time making the gold.

Note that living world 6 will be starting up next year, and will be free to pick up as it releases. No idea whether the complete collection will change to include the new content or become yet another of Steam's misnamed non-"complete" packages.

[mysaga]

Story goes continuosly goes like this:

• Personal story
  
• Living World Season 1 (free)
  
• Living World Season 2 (buy with gems or in bundle)
  
• Heart of Thorns (buy, included in bundles)
  
• Living World Season 3 (buy with gems or in bundle, HoT required)
  
• Path of Fire (buy, included in bundles)
  
• Living World Season 4 (buy with gems or in bundle, PoF required)
  
• Ice Brood Saga (aka LW S5, buy with gems or in bundle, PoF required)
  
• End of Dragons (buy, included in bundle)

Living World Seasons can be bought by converting gold to gems, so basically for free. But this requires quite some dedication.
The complete bundle here on steam is the only one that includes the living world directly and you save some money compared to buying them separatly.

EDIT: Corrected ISB req, fromatting

[Doomguy]

in addition to what the others said, yes the living world are necessary if you want to follow the story and if you want the flying dragon mount Skyscale (yes, you want it).
Plus they add some of the most gold rewarding farming zones.

[Tyrian Mollusk]

Originally posted by mysaga:

Ice Brood Saga (aka LW S5, buy with gems or in bundle, no reqirements)

LS 5 requires Path of Fire.

[Nico]

Story wise the game makes no difference between the expansions and living story, it just continues to present the story, so the living story is absolutely required if you want to experience the whole story. Though so far living world season 1 is still incomplete, so you still will miss out a bit from its story, which is why there's also a video in the journal under 'scarlets war' to summarize season 1 so you can go into season 2 with more knowledge about the past.

Other than that all but season 2 also offers many new maps you can explore with tons of new achievements you can do, season 4 even offers 2 new mounts you can unlock with a lot hard work. So especially seasons 3-5 are well worth the money. Season 2 is a bit debatable, but part of the pack, so whatever ... and still required for the whole story.

Price wise the complete edition is quite good, since in the pack the living story costs 40€, but with gems you would need 4160 gems, which are 52€. Though you ofc could convert gold into gems, but especially early on that's not super viable. Also since you also want gems for other stuff, like a copper salvage-o-mat.

[Doomguy]

Originally posted by Nico:

Story wise the game makes no difference between the expansions and living story, it just continues to present the story, so the living story is absolutely required if you want to experience the whole story. Though so far living world season 1 is still incomplete, so you still will miss out a bit from its story, which is why there's also a video in the journal under 'scarlets war' to summarize season 1 so you can go into season 2 with more knowledge about the past.

Other than that all but season 2 also offers many new maps you can explore with tons of new achievements you can do, season 4 even offers 2 new mounts you can unlock with a lot hard work. So especially seasons 3-5 are well worth the money. Season 2 is a bit debatable, but part of the pack, so whatever ... and still required for the whole story.

Price wise the complete edition is quite good, since in the pack the living story costs 40€, but with gems you would need 4160 gems, which are 52€. Though you ofc could convert gold into gems, but especially early on that's not super viable. Also since you also want gems for other stuff, like a copper salvage-o-mat.

The season 1 Scarlet part is up again since about a week.

[mysaga]

Originally posted by Doomguy:

The season 1 Scarlet part is up again since about a week.

That is episode 4. In total there will be 5 episodes. Last one is expected to come in November, but no official announcement yet.

[Doomguy]

Originally posted by mysaga:

Originally posted by Doomguy:

The season 1 Scarlet part is up again since about a week.

That is episode 4. In total there will be 5 episodes. Last one is expected to come in November, but no official announcement yet.

oh ok I still haven't replayed it yet

[mysaga]

Originally posted by Tyrian Mollusk:

Originally posted by mysaga:

Ice Brood Saga (aka LW S5, buy with gems or in bundle, no reqirements)

LS 5 requires Path of Fire.

Fixed. Thanks for correcting me. Wasn't sure about that.

[4lx]

Jesus what a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of stuff to buy then, can't they just release an expansion and make us buy it rather than charging for a patch?

[</>]

Originally posted by Doomguy:

in addition to what the others said, yes the living world are necessary if you want to follow the story and if you want the flying dragon mount Skyscale (yes, you want it).
Plus they add some of the most gold rewarding farming zones.

is there a specific season that unlocks said mount? and which of them has the most useful farming route?

[Doomguy]

Originally posted by Whoka:

Originally posted by Doomguy:

in addition to what the others said, yes the living world are necessary if you want to follow the story and if you want the flying dragon mount Skyscale (yes, you want it).
Plus they add some of the most gold rewarding farming zones.

is there a specific season that unlocks said mount? and which of them has the most useful farming route?

Season 4 gives you the starter quest to unlock the Skyscale, but the quest will take you around the whole world. You need everything to complete it.

[Doomguy]

Originally posted by 4lx:

Jesus what a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of stuff to buy then, can't they just release an expansion and make us buy it rather than charging for a patch?

That's content, not a "patch". Also, yes they did wrap everything in a single bundle for you to buy without having to worry about missing anything. They just can't sell that for 40€ it's just too much stuff. Maybe wait for a sale this Halloween or Black Friday or Christmas who knows.

[4lx]

> Thats content, not a patch

OK Time to quit here, thanks.

[Carnasid]

Yes, content updates are not patches. Patches fix broken things, content updates (wait for it, this will blow your mind) add content.

Wild, right? Who would have guessed.