Which Guild Wars 2 EXPANSION Should you Buy? [Late 2023!]

The base game for Guild Wars 2 is free to play, but most will agree it's really more like an extended trial. So when you're ready to throw your hard-earned cash at the game, which expansion should you pick first? Watch this video to find out!
I mentioned the Elite Specs wiki page in the video, you can check those out here:
wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Spec...
#guildwars2 #gw2 #gw2soto #heartofthorns #pathoffire #endofdragons #expansion
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:18 Base Game Overview
02:15 Heart of Thorns
03:05 Path of Fire
04:50 End of Dragons
05:55 Secrets of the Obscure
07:20 Living World
09:31 Final Comparison
11:03 The Winner
12:15 Steam Warning

[@user-mr5mk9jk1p]

never played GW2 and now i want to try out. thanks for the great guide👍

[@davidmorris2234]

If you have a job, I suggest that any player who likes, or loves this game, should buy the all inclusive package of all expansions, plus all of the Living World and Ice Brood Saga chapters, for the one time price of just $99. That's over 10 years of content for less than $10 per year, and it's a great deal. I don't think that deal includes the latest mini expansion, Secrets of the Obscure, but maybe there is a different package deal that includes everything that is being offered, after SotO was released? The Living World and Ice Brood Saga chapters can be purchased with in game gold converted into gems, but the expansions can't, so if money is tight, you have that option and can sometimes get the expansions on sale for half price. All if all, I think that GW2 is the best "bang for your buck" in the MMORPG genre, and great for players who like to take breaks from playing occasionally, without worrying about falling behind. Just my 2 cents, thanks for the video.

[@avoxtr]

I absolutely agree. It's worth supporting the game, it's still REALLY good value for money, better than pretty much anything else on the market!

[@hilding2063]

💯%

[@GW2Pseudo]

Tbh there may be a Holiday sale soon too. So maybe check in on that. Altho knowing ANet, who knows. 😅

[@Empezamos1734]

I just got all expensions + living world + 4.000 gems, account reset en 2 max level boosts for 100euro. Tryed the base game for 2 days and kinda liked it, got alot of content ahead of me. I’ll pick up the newest expension secrets of the obscure in a bundle when a new expensions comes out 👌

[@GW2Pseudo]

@@Empezamos1734 I'm not gonna knock you for that. But they already announced there's be Black Friday sales next week 😆

[@Elzowin]

As a new player with 5 hours into the game. I constantly find myself in disbelief that I missed out on playing this masterpiece all this while. I’m sure I’ll end up picking up all the expansions eventually but your video helped a lot. I’m gonna take my time, enjoy each expansion one step at a time rather than being overwhelmed by the content all at once. Thanks again!

[@bladerunner2006]

Yeah, I have 2k+ hours in this game, and if I could give my old self one advice, it would be this: Don't skip, don't rush. Even little things, like mounts. I rushed the springer because I wanted to cheese the game, but that really dampened the genius of the first expansion, Heart of Thorns. Because that one is all about exploring on foot or with the glider. Just do the story in order and try to pick up sweet stuff (like mounts) along the way. They also have these sweet meta achievements that lead you around every content era in a really immersive way.

[@stardust5079]

Thank you for the great guide video @Avoxtr !

[@Endrosz]

Excellent video, just the right amount of detail for new or returning players to make purchase decisions. I don't need these infos, I've been here for 11 years and know all about this, but I'm glad I can share this video with those who need some advice!

[@drolzak7]

Great easy to watch summary, and well put together!

[@avoxtr]

Thank you!

[@mystic865]

Great video for returning players. Thank you!

[@iShooks]

Thank you so much! I appreciate you!! This has helped me tremendously.

[@avoxtr]

Glad it helped you!

[@OleksandrProkhorovskyi]

Buy Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire first. These are main pillars of this game (via gameplay). If you can , also get your Living World Season's (DLC missions). They give you good amount of mastery points and completes the storyline .

[@NotAbsolutelySure]

Really informative video, appreciate the history along with the recommendation! I was recently coerced by some friends to not return to the abusive ex that is New World with starting GW2 and I gotta say the community kicks ass, and this was the perfect video for what I had questions on. I'm probably gonna end up picking up the Elder Dragon Saga when it goes on sale for the holidays.

[@avoxtr]

Glad you found it helpful, thank you!

[@zhaitan381]

Loving the videos please keep it up

[@avoxtr]

Thank you! 😁

[@akskajd7138]

i was thinking about returning to the game, this video really helped me a lot on gaining some information, thanks for that!

[@avoxtr]

Glad it could help, and welcome (back) to Tyria!

[@MrPhyxsyus]

Damn! Dude! How come ppl didn't get to your vid? It's like my top 5 of gw2 videos. You're totaly on n2, I would send to friends wanting an mmorpg anytime. Great vid!

[@avoxtr]

Glad you liked it, thank you!

[@citizenbolton9204]

How come I didn't know your channel. I love it :D

[@avoxtr]

Thank you!

[@combatturtle2261]

I went the route of buying all the Living World seasons that I missed with gold. Takes a while to save up with fractals but the ascended trinkets you can buy in them were worth it. Side note, I've seen you in raids sometimes!

[@avoxtr]

Well hey inadvertent raid buddy!

[@urud591]

I completely agree with you, very good overview. You can ask 10 players and you'll get 10 different answers (even if the expansions are only 4), but you also explained why someone should prioritize one expansion over the others. For people who are on a budget/students, or simply too busy IRL to play more than 3 hours per week, the bundle with HoT+PoF simply adds a lot of content for a low price (in addition to lifting the restrictions to the f2p accounts). And it's often (around 3 times per year) on sale at just 15€/$ (always official resellers!). For people who already know that they want to spend more time on the game, the bundle with the 3 first expansions should be the best choice.

[@uniquename111]

Very high quallity video with lots of good advice!

[@avoxtr]

Thank you!

[@ripdoxyyy]

Great video. I bought the POF/HOT combo. They got me with the trial raptor mount. Couldn't go back after that lol.

[@avoxtr]

The raptor mount is such a good selling point! They added that late 2022 before the 10th Anniversary/Steam Launch. 10 hour free trial, free forever if you buy an expansion. Arguably the best marketing ANet has ever done! 😂

[@wonderbread6100]

​@avoxtr ya they where able to capture alot of people with that one. My friend would have NEVER touched this game without a mount, and tbh I dont blame him after having them myself lol.

[@avoxtr]

What's crazy is to go run around HoT maps and remember that they were before mounts were in the game. Sure, they gave you movement skills like updrafts and speed boost mushrooms, but still.

[@wonderbread6100]

@avoxtr ohhhh ya, I pulled a "back in mah day!" on him with that

[@davidmorris2234]

@@avoxtr, Yeah, but the game was perfectly playable before mounts were released and I really did not miss them being in the game, until after they were released with PoF. Then they were a "must have" and unlocking them was a priority. Now, it's better for new players to complete the story out of order, just so they can get all of their mounts, and get them leveled up with the mount masteries, which makes getting around the HoT maps so much easier. Frankly, I avoided playing the HoT maps much, except for my first play through the story, until after I had completed all of PoF and then I went back and worked on getting map completion and all masteries for the HoT maps.

[@GW2Pseudo]

I find it so funny that pretty much all of the GW2 creators that have a positive attitude in 2023 lift lol. Solid vid fellow GW2 gym bro! 😁

[@Jayswitch24]

As an avid Ff14 player. Definitely going to try GW2 now. Looks so fun thanks

[@MusPuiDiTe]

Nice video! You are right, Living World seasons are basically expansions, ANet should have renamed them for better marketing ages ago IMO...voting for Attack on Kryta (LWS1) 😆 The advice I usually give to people is to finish up the free content (base game + living world 1) and based on the experience you had, if not sure how to proceed: - if you fall in love with lore and story and don't have to rush get everything from LWS2 in order (possibly wait for discounts, since there's some every now and then) - loving story but need to get ahead or rushed - not my thing but whatever -, go to Secrets of the Obscure expansion, since it started a detached story and requires minor understanding of previous events - for exploration lovers go with the Heart of Thorns + Path of Fire bundle, for glider and mounts - same for combat lovers, to unlock most Specializations for you characters with minimum expense

[@apsaify]

I think what Anet called LWS 1 before it came back is also good, The Scarlet War

[@jonathanhalko745]

do you get the same items from the steam expansion vs the game websites? The listing on steam only so the expansion only not the lv up item and inventor add-on Thank you

[@WoodWizard13]

This guy is in my guild, and he's pretty cool to play with

[@avoxtr]

I'm trying to figure out who's who!

[@elaxel1469]

The Hot +Pof is the great deal, unless you main an engineer. The jade bot is a must for relaxed and fun open world gameplay.

[@iamlullaboy9511]

Guildwars 2 just has the Metalhead-Gigachad as a youtuber

[@avoxtr]

I'm actually more into electronic music, but you know what, I'll take it!

[@juanpansuperchannel]

electro barbarian****@@avoxtr

[@ihaveaplan.ijustneedmoney.9777]

Another thing to note would be the Bladed Armor set from HoT. Its the cheapest armor set you can buy if you enjoyed Condition DPS or Healer/Support builds more than Power DPS builds.

[@avoxtr]

Yeah it's very handy to have. Also, they just added very cheap stat-selectable exotic gear you can get through WvW, too

[@johndurrett3573]

Someone posted in another video that LivingWorld 1 & 2 completion provided 20 slot bags. If true, i'm working thru LW1...its worth the effort to get those.

[@X33dbv]

It’s ridiculous, that I missed this wonderful game for a long time. I really love it.

[@traviscue2099]

While PoF isn't my favorite, you NEED the mounts. The Skyscale is essentail for doing a lot of content, since you need that speed to keep up with everyone.. And while you can get it in SoTo I'd argue that SoTo is an expansion for vets, not new players. At the very least you can get a Raptor mount. Once you get some mounts it might be worth starting in HoT.

[@JoseMora-ti4qg]

Elder Dragon Saga is on sale for $50. I will buy it and all new players should get it now. This is the biggest discount I have ever seen it in years, it was always from $100 to $80. Get it nooowwww!

[@patrickadair7025]

Love the shirt

[@YoDream52]

I would like to add, the ULTIMATE bundle (99 USD) is sort of cheaper than living world seasons bundle (99 USD). Cause it gives 4000 gems and 2 skins, where as each living world season bundle cost about 1000 gem each. Meaning if you bought the ULTIMATE bundle, you can convert the gems into living world seasons. (And each living world season could also be on sale in the gem store).

[@avoxtr]

Yeah, I think the ultimate bundle is just the best deal overall, you'd just need to also add SotO too!

[@slaytor42]

Thanks brother! THIS was exactly what I needed! Thank you. It's hard to find solif info , since I slept on this game for 10yrs. I'm a new GW palyer - longtime mmo payer. I know my shit, BUT this game is HUGE when you come in blind and have a preconceived mindset as to how other mmos run. (WoW, ESO, TSW, Swtor, New World, etc.) As an old school WoW nerd, I was always that bias player that never played GW1. I just picked this up about a month agop and absolutely love it. Hooked. The issue I have is the difference in lingo and trying to decifer wtf everything mean. Including the 1.5 million menus. Its hard to find legit and up to dat einfo when I want to min/max. I've always been a buy the expansions and subscriber to the pay models. But wasn't sure on this. I know how many things (currencies, gear, etc.) become obsolete when new content is released. That being said, Im already $100 in on this game in a month, without EoD, the seasons or SoO. (I'm a cosmetic, boost hoe) Recently hit 80 on my first toon and im more confused now than I was when I first started and figuring out the damn "Action Cam" keybing. (i actually almost ragequit because of that) Anyways, thanks again. You basically confirmed what I figured on the content. I've been buying as I level and play the content and story lore. You have a new subscriber. /cheers

[@avoxtr]

Glad you found it helpful! I came from GW1 originally too, and both games, especially GW2 kind of feel like the "anti-MMO." It really wants to buck a lot of trends for the sake of improving the player experience. For example, you mentioned min/maxing and old content becoming obsolete. Both are KIND OF not really a thing in this game. There's no endless gear treadmill--once you get best in slot gear (Ascended or Legendary, same stats for either), it's the best forever. You only need to make small adjustments when they tweak things during balance patches sometimes. And as I mentioned, old content never really does become outdated, and both of these things come down to the structure of the game being based around horizontal progression. So when new content comes out, rather than just increasing the max item level or whatever, it's just going to add something new to do. The expansion are a good example of this--Path of Fire didn't increase your max level or make your best gear outdated, it just added mounts. Instead of content adding vertically, it's added horizontally instead. By the way, I used to be a big Action Cam enjoyer, and it's still fun sometimes, but I found myself going back to using the traditional control scheme because I play enough classes/builds that frequently benefit from precise ground targeting. But you can set the keybind for it to whatever you want in the options. I use Ctrl+C for it! Hope this helps! 😁

[@Baard5Szomoru]

I waited for the black Friday last year and bought the entire promo thing So yeah 3 expansions for the price of 2 (and w/ discount) The Living World seasons, I bought them within a couple weeks of gold farming I decided to limit my daily gold profit to 100g exactly And I got lucky at the beginning of this year when the store rotated nicely with season 3,4,5 on sale so yeah I bought them all I'm only missing season 2 now although I'm not feeling the urge to buy it, it's so expensive for the little content it offers (IMHO)

[@avoxtr]

Getting it during a big sale like that is the best way to do it! But yeah you're not missing much without S2, it's arguably the least important one if you ask me

[@leagueoflegends-support4944]

I want to get back to GW2 but I left as they had no australian [oce] servers so when you played wvw/pvp you would just get stomped due to the 0.5 second delay per skill cast. I wonder if they will ever fix this issue, i'm sure this is one of the primary reasons that many of the internation player base left the game. A lack of reliable servers in their country.

[@avoxtr]

Yeah, unfortunately our friends in Australia (and NZ) pretty much have to just pick NA or EU and hope for the best, it's not great 🫤

[@blizz3166]

great video stad o7

[@avoxtr]

Thank you!

[@Ryderxz1]

Hello, do you know how much there will be a promotion to buy the expansion?

[@Mallowxiv]

ey good work stads o/

[@avoxtr]

Thanks Mallow! 🥰

[@Tis4Tony]

Just about to return to GW2 and this video helped me decide! the Winter sale is going on too, so at least BUY HoT and PoF for $7.49 :) Might grab EoD later on too!

[@avoxtr]

That's a crazy good deal!

[@arkanaloth2617]

I am happy that people are finally discovering a game world I've been a fan of since the beta for Guildwars 1. I do wish they had discovered it sooner cause the living world seasons were **FREE** if you logged in when they were first released and remained so until the next chapter came out. I've been actively playing since launch so over the past 11 years I've paid exactly $0.00 for every living world DLC. I do like the new system where you buy the expansion and have all expansion related DLC releases for that expansion by default when they come out. anywho, on topic... get all the expansions!!! (as you get to them cause 100$ lump sum can be painful) ^_^ smallllll correction. Icebrood saga gave us the united legions waystation which is an *incredible* mastery for doing some *really* difficult open world content. Having a skill that is off GCD that does massive breakbar damage is extremely nice for dealing with Heart of Thorns champions if nobody else is around.

[@avoxtr]

It really is just a crazy amount of game now, 11 years on! Also, it was quick and minor, but I snuck in a little on screen text when I said the IBS masteries weren't anything to write home about 😉

[@confirm4582]

Great breakdown! Gotta ask, what Reshade (or other graphics mod) settings are you using?

[@avoxtr]

I'm using ReShade! I've thought about doing a video on it, if there's interest for that too

[@confirm4582]

@@avoxtrFor sure. I've used Reshade in the past, but I noticed yours had a good balance of background blur while still keeping the UI visible. When I tried to use it my UI always got blurry or I couldn't find a good balance. I had to remove Reshade a while ago though when an addon broke that allowed me to set my game filter. I should look into it again, it can really make some environments pop.

[@avoxtr]

I actually swap back and forth. I haven't found a way to get a nice soft DoF/background fade AND keep the UI, so I hide the UI for those pretty shots. But I still run the contrast and punchy color filters all the time

[@anniebestie5104]

I'm just waiting for a discount to get PoF/HoT and finally have a mount. It's fckn tedious having to walk around everywhere.

[@avoxtr]

I'm guessing they'll do something for Black Friday, so hopefully not much longer!

[@vzlfkr]

I bought Path of Fire/Heart of Thorn + Secret of the Obscure. Man... getting skyscale using SotO expansion is way easier thank god. Also the weaponmaster is awesome

[@ajaler1]

I got all the expansions. Just finished off IBS, but still doing Drizzlewood for Mats

[@avoxtr]

I love Drizzlewood! One of my favorite meta maps. Fun story/dialog, fun action, beautiful scenery, and good loot.

[@ajaler1]

I agree. Just finishing off the last of Mastery in IBS before I start on EOD. So happy Drizzlewood helped with my most recent Aurora

[@avoxtr]

Those masteries for IBS were ROUGH! I spent so much time farming Drizzlewood and repeating Dragonstorm!

[@ajaler1]

@@avoxtr I agree. The dragon response ones seem not good but the rewards from the Meta in Drizzlewood is worth it. I been lazy for a week since doing Starfield

[@LC-pp4bb]

What monitor do you have? I just got the Samsung 57" Odyssey and, on the character select screen the top of my characters (mostly heads) are cut off. Are you playing in widescreen (21:9 or 32:9) also? If so do you have this issue, if not how did you fix it?

[@avoxtr]

I have a first gen Odyssey G9, and congrats on the new 57", I'm jealous! As for the clipping, if you play in full screen/ultrawide, there's no way around it. But luckily it really only affects the character select screen, and Core Game era story segments (when they do the SNL-style side-by-side conversations). Other than that it's perfectly playable! But normally when I play, I have the game in a ~1440p (16:9) window centered, with a browser to the right, and Discord/Telegram to the left. If you don't already have it, I HIGHLY recommend Microsoft PowerToys, as the FancyZones addon makes it really nice to set up custom workspaces and snap windows to predefined sizes/positions. Hope this helps!

[@smrcekztepily1128]

I got all living world seasons for ingame gold thanks to Wizard vault. Playing in order fór story, constantly having content to play. Best way imo

[@monkeypolice3048]

I started early, bought the expansion pack during the release but forgot how to get back into my account.

[@avoxtr]

It should be bound to your account, you might need to hit up Support if you don't have access to them!

[@ashrunzeda4099]

HoT, PoF, or SotO should be the priority. EoD didn't offer much except for new legendary skins which is endgame content that no newbie would ever prioritize in their first months of playing the game. Choose one of the following: 1. Get the HoT and PoF Bundle: You'll get to unlock mounts and a glider that'll make traversing in the core open world easier. 2. Get SotO: You can get to unlock the Skyscale which is a mount with a built in glider. It's essentially a helicopter that can shoot fireballs and it'll allow you to easily reach heights that would take effort to get even with a Springer (obtained from Path of Fire). SInce this Expac is the latest. Expect it to be loaded with players grinding for the new stuff it brought to the table. You'll experience the GW2 community more here than with other expansions at the time this comment was created. 3. Get PoF only (uber budget option): PoF contains 5 mounts that are essential to make core open world traversal so much easier. Not only that, the maps are not as confusing as HoT and the Metas are much more relaxed than the other expansions I've listed here.

[@patek2385]

ALL OF THEM

[@elpelu123]

Holi cow! This game is older than a decade!!!!

[@avoxtr]

And it's arguably more alive than ever!

[@diogohenriques9097]

thx for saying that the living worlds can be purchereat on the game shop thats gonna save le lots of money

[@avoxtr]

Yep, it's a grind, but it's doable!

[@schlingers3564]

Can you start off from any expansion with a new character? (or do you need to start with the base game?) And if so what are the trade offs to doing so?

[@avoxtr]

New characters will still start in the vase game (in Core Tyria), you'll need to be level 80 to play the expansions

[@kriparth]

I'm from India and there's a problem we can't buy it from the official site Does anyone suggest how we can purchase this?

[@Insig385]

I believe you can get ascended armor even without expansions? I remember getting ascended gear before hot released...I think? gosh that's so long ago lol

[@avoxtr]

I think you might be right, I couldn't really find anything definitive!

[@Tristen168]

what monitor you use for gw2?

[@avoxtr]

I'm using a Samsung Odyssey G9 (first gen, before the Neo or OLED)

[@tahbu]

I guess the Elder Dragon Saga collection discount doesn't apply for Steam players? Definitely would have bought it but unfortunately didn't find it in Steam

[@avoxtr]

Yeah looking at Steam it looks like they only have the $99 bundle right now, which is everything except SotO. Usually they make Steam and direct match, so it might just take a little time before Steam offers the same bundle!

[@bowlsem7]

POF for sure. Mounts make playing the game way more enjoyable.

[@sefciooo]

That's strange that we cannot link our accounts like in other games. Just login through website and link accounts :/

[@Nephalem84]

Anet should really consider bundling LW with their related expansions. I've had so many friends get pissed when they bought half the story with the HoT and PoF bundle.

[@avoxtr]

That would be a smart way to do it, or even just have it optional with each one

[@CheatingZubat]

Bro not even going to lie, I beat the main story and then bought everything lol. Living World included

[@rssiya2601]

I'll probably grab this for $50 because it's on sale, I'm backlogged though so I won't play it for a while. Not having a monthly fee is nice.

[@willitnoodle]

Why has our favourite norn stopped uploading 😭😭

[@avoxtr]

I'm still here just busy with life, but I have more coming soon!

[@DianaAce]

Praise Joko

[@Aureels]

The only one the is not really game changing is Soto that is a scam in comparison with the 3 others. The two most important are POF and HOT since they introduce aerial game and mount and that's really game changing. EoD is cool, but the turtle mostly sucks, people only use it to CC in some boss. More important, POF and Hot give you acces to the living world who add a ton of content super useful including a legendary full pve trophy You want to buy an extention, don't think, take POF and HOT pack

[@danielp8433]

buy all.

[@avoxtr]

Truth

[@doggiebrown]

hopefully someone can donate an expansion 🙏

[@safermurderweapon2831]

I personally wouldn't buy any of them separately. Wish Anet would just bundle them all and the living stories together

[@avoxtr]

They actually do now, except SotO, which is common for the "most recent" expac--they of course want to capitalize on it as much as possible. Here is the listing to the "complete collection" which is all 3 main expacs and LWS, so basically everything minus SotO: buy.guildwars2.com/en-us/complete-collection

[@noabakker3848]

I love this game , but hate weapon swapping so its not for me :(

[@avoxtr]

There's actually plenty of builds that don't require weapon swapping! Power Berserker is best if you swap Greatsword, but camping axe/axe still works fine. Condi virtuoso gets an extra clone of you swap, but you'll barely notice otherwise. And Engineer & Elementalist can't swap at all!

[@noabakker3848]

@@avoxtr I had no idea , i might give the base game a try then.

[@noabakker3848]

Love should be like, not a native English speaker.

[@Dark_Wizard_of_Mu]

Yes play Engineer and Elementalist if you don't like to swap weapons.

[@vichraev.5386]

GW2 was hailed at its launch as a next-generation MMO based upon lessons learned (of what not to do) from WoW, such as monetization, questing, PvP, character progression, how to handle power creep and expansions. Now, over a decade later, WoW still hasn't learned the lessons either from its own shortcomings, or from other games like GW2. It's why none of my friends or gaming contacts still play WoW...they have become tired of Blizzard's crap.

[@elromcohen6751]

for god sake...13 min video? BUY ALL next question please.

[@avoxtr]

That's the real answer!

[@elromcohen6751]

@@avoxtr Just joking bro. Great video 🤙

[@jawadshaalan5387]

okay ill just buy everything and grind it to death XD

[@avoxtr]

There's actually very little grind in this game! Kind of just depends on what you choose to play or work on, but it mostly only happens in Legendary crafting

[@poundsofslothcigars]

gonna be honest ur better off just buying them all. Its worth the money and the time considering ur gonna be able to put the game down a year from now and (baring another xpac comes out) Ur still gonna be just as set as when u left. This is one of the only games I can recommended straight up buying all the xpacs at once.

[@lionmeows]

None, toss this game in the trash. No point at all to play this game except fashion.

[@rom2865]

This video is exactly what I needed. It’s on point and fun to watch. Tysm and keep up to good work! 😘🫰

[@avoxtr]

Glad to hear, and thank you!

[@davidmorris2234]

I must agree that this video is well made, and his explanations are very on point and thorough. It got me to subscribe to his channel.

[@avoxtr]

Thank you!