As a completely new player is it wise to jump in and buy expansion?

[SkiiMask609]

I am just about out of story games and wouldn't mind something I could play that had some longevity and decent PvP - I haven't played a MMO since WoW a few years ago and that just bores me now.

What about this game keeps people engaged I noticed some very good things said in the reviews

(also is the PvP scene alive or is it mostly PvE content)

[DarkSlayer197]

First off, I recommend playing the Free to Play version first. You'll have access to the Core story and Living World Season 1 (The Scarlet War). That'll give you an idea if the game is for you. If you buy the expansions, you'll be given a lvl80 booster (the level cap) as the stories of each expansion are level 80 content. Since you are new, hitting the level cap will overwhelm you. Leveling up your first character is always recommended to learn your class and how the game works. Just as a side note, for core story, each chapter is unlocked per 10 levels (10, 20, 30, etc).

What brings people back a lot is that it is very casual friendly. It uses a horizontal progression system so there is no constant gear treadmill. Gear at launch can be as good as gear in expansions. The only difference is each expansion releases new content, maps, gear (that have different stats), world bosses, meta events, etc. Nothing really gets redundant as old content still has active players just as much as new content.

There are a lot of PvE stuff. Raids, Fractals, Dungeons, Strikes, World Bosses, Map wide Meta Events, etc. You'll have plenty to do especially if you decide to work on Legendaries which can take weeks at a time (though worth it due to Legendary Armory). PvP still has activity and PvP is getting an update with the new expansion (though I don't know much of the details since I hardly PvP).

There is also WvW and that mode is still healthy with active players. WvW is a large scale PvP as you invade, capture, or defend towers, keeps, or even castles. As WvW is guild based instead of Server based (change was recent), there are entire guilds and even alliance guilds that form up teams in WvW. Don't worry, guildless can still access WvW. Side note, Free to play players will have WvW locked until they have 1 character reach level 60. Even paid accounts can only have access to it once they have 1 character reach level 31.

With how casual friendly Guild Wars 2 is, people can take long breaks, come back and pick up where they last started. Just to give you an idea on how friendly it is, there are 3 Legendary weapon generations. Gen 1 legendaries are as powerful as gen 3s. The only difference is their visuals and how to obtain them. Even exotics (most common end game rarity) from Core Tyria are as powerful as exotics from End of Dragons.

[Hefutoxin]

Originally posted by TheCasualTryHard:

What about this game keeps people engaged

Horizontal progression means content stays relevant. I have a level 80 of every profession (max level) and even today I was doing some things in the core F2P areas of the game.

If you are bored of what you are doing, go to a different area and do something else. You can always find something that will allow you to progress in some way.

[Dr. Electrocutioner]

Might as well play the free stuff for a week or 2 at least to give time to decide if you want to keep playing it.

[LSD]

Originally posted by TheCasualTryHard:

and decent PvP

(also is the PvP scene alive or is it mostly PvE content)

You're in the wrong place for that. PvP is "structured PvP". It's 5v5s, and gear is ignored.
It's been dead for a long time, and overrun with bots even longer. The people who play it are hardcore into it, and getting your foot in the door isn't gonna be fun, especially when the playerbase for it is so small.

WvW is the other kind of PvP. It's 3 servers across 4 maps. It's a sort of PvE+PvP mode. It's not exactly dead, but until recently had been completely abandoned for ~8 years, and the recent "updates" have been handled by a team of one guy. The work is aimed at stopping the mode becoming abandoned, but the changes are simultaneously killing off what kept it alive all this time. It's worth a shot, but it won't scratch your itch for good PvP.

[Daniel]

You should stay f2p and check out if the game mechanics are for you. Do note that the difficulty level will increase dramatically in the xpacs, especially vanilla > heart of thorns spikes hard.

The PvP is worse than Vanilla WoW PvP. Sometimes you can’t even tell if people are hacking or if it’s actually a legit build. There is no balance in a greater sense.

Imagine playing vs a sub rogue in WoW, but all his CDs have like a 5sec cooldown and he can heal like a Druid and go invulnerable like a Pally, that is basically what GW2 PvP feels like.

The PvE is worth it nonetheless. Lots of stuff to do/farm for, achievements, mini games, cool seasonal events and the best ‘single player exploration’ I’ve experienced so far in an MMO. If you play this game fully blind you will have content for hundreds to thousands of hours.

[Astrallight]

Just play the core game for now as eveyone els says. If its then ok for you then wait for sales and buy Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire that comes out in a bundle for very cheap price.

[Kankaku]

As someone that did jump on buying it early I recommend not doing that. Play through everything you can for free then if you still want to continue buy the expansions.

You never know, you might get burnt out halfway through and decide the game isn't for you. Horizontal progression isn't for everyone.

[Dr. Electrocutioner]

PVP lobby exists for easy access to banking and the trading post, and also to reduce teleport costs.

[SkiiMask609]

Thanks for all the responses, I love the game and the fact that each weapon changes move sets.

Also had some double xp twitch drops I never claimed so it was a good time

Thanks again for all the positive responses

Cheers.

[Tirandys]

Buying content is locked just so you know. If your account is through steam you must buy expansions through steam, and if you started with arena net you must buy content through arena net.

Living world is different and I don't know exactly how as I got the complete steam version which comes with all living world seasons. But if you do not get it that way you must buy the living world seasons, except season 1, in the gem store.