Will I have to buy more than 2 expansions to experience whole content in GW2? New player.

[hash.6287]

So few days ago I decided to give GW2 a chance after 5 years break. I hit 61 level with my Warrior and I have started thinking about buying expansions. I want to spend money on expansions - HoT and PoF.

 

So is it possible to experience all the content without spending more money in the game shop? I saw some 'Living World Seasons' that cost gems but I don't know how important are those in terms of getting some gear or **those stories are just for lore?** I am new to the game, I don't know how to farm gold etc. How long would it take to farm gold to buy those 'Living World Seasons'?

[Linken.6345]

the living stories are the story bettwen core and hot, then bettwen hot and pof now its tie bettwen pof and next expansion.

 

So if you want all of the story you have to buy em

[hash.6287]

I understand that I have to buy them (Living World Seasons) to play them but I asked if it restricts me from for example getting some gear, character progress, getting mounts or anything else or it is just for the lore purpose?

 

Plus I asked how much time it would take to buy them via farming gold as a new player?

[Sephylon.4938]

Each expansion comes with their own set of stat combos, and unique armor/weapon skins. As fot the living worlds, seaon 2 has ascended trinkets tied to its collections (nomads I think), season 3 has esily obtainable stat selectable ascended accessories and backpack, season 4 has the beelte mount on the newest map.

[Khisanth.2948]

HoT stats require HoT

PoF stats does not require PoF

 

Gliding is only available with HoT

Mounts are only available with PoF

 

Gliding/mounts are only required in their respective expansion although they can make other stuff easier as well.

[hash.6287]

Maybe I wasn't clear enough. I want to spend money on HoT and PoF so lets treat it like deal done. I don't want to buy anything else from the game shop for real money.

 

Does the lack of Living World Seasons will restrict me from getting some important stuff or I can live without them and buy them some time later via farming gold and exchanging it for gems?

 

> E.g. > As fot the living worlds, seaon 2 has ascended trinkets tied to its collections (nomads I think), season 3 has esily obtainable stat selectable ascended accessories and backpack, season 4 has the beelte mount on the newest map.

 

Is it important or I can farm stuff like ascended trinkets and accessories via other methods?

[Danikat.8537]

Minor but important clarification: Content in games generally refers to things you can do - maps you can explore, stories, PvP modes etc. not the rewards you get from it, which makes your first post kind of confusing. There's a lot of content in Living Story (LS) episodes, but you appear to be interested in items and character progression, which is a different kind of question.

 

There is some gear you cannot get without doing the LS, but there's no guarantee you'll actually want it. Gear in GW2 has very little linear progression - you can get top tier equipment relatively quickly and from a wide variety of places. So it's not as simple as saying you cannot get the best gear in the game without doing the LS, or that you'll have to skip a tier and will really struggle getting the next one up without it. You can get the best gear in the game even if you just have the original base game. But what's more important than having top tier equipment is having the right stats for your build and playstyle, and there are some stat combinations which are much easier to get from certain living story episodes than anywhere else. But it may turn out that you don't want any of those ones anyway.

 

Likewise you can get mastery points from them, but you can get enough from the expansions themselves to fully train all the mastery tracks, so you don't need the LS. There is one mount, but it comes from the latest episode and you'll unlock that one free just by logging in, so that's a non-issue. There's also some unique skins but like the stats you may not want them.

 

Basically I recommend you don't buy them yet and wait to see if there's something you want which comes from an LS episode, then buy just that episode.

 

How long it would take to farm the gold is one of those "how long is a piece of string?" questions - there are as many answers as players and none is wrong, it just depends on how you go about doing it. But a LS episode costs 200g. At the current conversion rate that's 60g, which is not a lot of money for most people (and IMO the rate is kind of high right now, I don't like to exchange gold when it's about 110g for 400 gems). Some people would tell you they can make than in an hour, or it's the kind of money they get just playing normally (and some of them may even be telling the truth). I'm a casual player who avoids farming if I can help it and I'm confident I could get that in a week. Or I might have enough materials in the bank to get it right away.

 

By the way if the ability to farm gold is important you might want to get Daybreak, the first episode of season 4 - it gives you access to Istan, which is currently one of the best farming locations.

[Sephylon.4938]

> @"hash.6287" said:

> Maybe I wasn't clear enough. I want to spend money on HoT and PoF so lets treat it like deal done. I don't want to buy anything else from the game shop for real money.

>

> Does the lack of Living World Seasons will restrict me from getting some important stuff or I can live without them and buy them some time later via farming gold and exchanging it for gems?

>

> > E.g. > As fot the living worlds, seaon 2 has ascended trinkets tied to its collections (nomads I think), season 3 has esily obtainable stat selectable ascended accessories and backpack, season 4 has the beelte mount on the newest map.

>

> Is it important or I can farm stuff like ascended trinkets and accessories via other methods?

 

There's fractals, pvp, wvw and raids as an alternative.

[BunjiKugashira.9754]

There are a few things you miss out on if you don't have the living seasons. Apart from the story the most important are:

- ls3 ep4 you get a 5th downstate skill and downstate life-leach

- ls4 ep 1 you get a very lucrative farm map

- ls4 ep 1 you get a new mount ability to use your character's hp instead of your mount's while mounted

- ls4 ep 2 you get a 32 slot bag

- ls4 ep 3 you get the rollerbeetle mount

[evilsofa.7296]

A certain detail is that you can only buy HoT and PoF with real life money; they cannot be bought with only gems. Living World 2 and Living World 3 can be bought with only gems. You can earn gems in game by earning gold and then converting gold into gems, at a rate that changes over time. That being said, the cost of buying the LW2 and LW3 Complete packs is 1280 gems and 960 gems for a total of 2240 gems, which at the moment would cost approximately 660 gold (385 gold for LW2, 288 gold for LW3). This is an extremely large amount of gold for a new player to earn.

 

I've been through LW2 several times now and I'm not sure yet if there's much there in terms of gear but there's a lot of lore. I think it's debatable whether it's worth buying. You do get a bunch of Central Tyria mastery points just for going through the story.

 

You don't need to buy LW2 for access to The Silverwastes and Dry Top, the two areas where most of the action in LW2 takes place. Ironically, doing the Silverwastes RIBA a lot may be the most efficient way to gather the gold needed to buy LW2 and LW3.

 

LW3 is absolutely worth buying just for the gear. There are three main divisions of gear: weapons, armor and trinkets (2 rings, 2 accessories, amulet, backpack). LW3 gives you relatively easy to obtain ascended trinkets, which are either very hard to come by or not available at all elsewhere. It also gives you portal tomes which give you easy access to 6 otherwise out-of-the-way locations around Tyria, and guilds tend to post their guild bonus banners at these portal locations. The 6 locations and the storyline are varied and interesting, at least to me. Unlike LW2, you only get access to these areas by buying LW3.

 

The storyline progression is as it is listed in Hero > Story Journal: My Story, Scarlet's War, Living World Season 2, Heart of Thorns, Living World Season 3, Path of Fire, Living World Season 4. My Story is commonly referred to as Personal Story and is the level 1 to level 80 storyline. Scarlet's War is Living World Season 1 and is not available for replay and never will be, which was a mistake that Anet will not repeat.

 

I went through the whole storyline the first time strictly in storyline order - not having gliding until HoT, and not having mounts until PoF. I even did a bunch of map Central Tyria map completions without gliding or moutns. I strongly recommend at least getting basic gliding by doing the first two missions in HoT and the basic raptor by doing the first mission in PoF as early as possible. Having most or all of the mounts from PoF will make HoT much, much easier. HoT is, generally speaking, much harder and much more geographically complicated than PoF.

[VanWilder.6923]

> @"hash.6287" said:

> So few days ago I decided to give GW2 a chance after 5 years break. I hit 61 level with my Warrior and I have started thinking about buying expansions. I want to spend money on expansions - HoT and PoF.

>

> So is it possible to experience all the content without spending more money in the game shop? I saw some 'Living World Seasons' that cost gems but I don't know how important are those in terms of getting some gear or **those stories are just for lore?** I am new to the game, I don't know how to farm gold etc. How long would it take to farm gold to buy those 'Living World Seasons'?

HoT and PoF were on sale a couple months ago. Bad luck!

I was once set my mind clear, enjoy the core game only, F2P version. But then I missed out Mastery points, the gliding, the mounts, the ascended gears, etc ...

Then I could not resit anymore, bought both HoT and PoF. Unlocked all the coolest things. But nothing was ever enough, I bought Living Word season 2 and 3.

I am finally happy that I got a (sort of) completed set of Guild Wars, ofc not Gw1 or Ls1.

[necromaniac.7629]

> @"hash.6287" said:

> So few days ago I decided to give GW2 a chance after 5 years break. I hit 61 level with my Warrior and I have started thinking about buying expansions. I want to spend money on expansions - HoT and PoF.

>

> So is it possible to experience all the content without spending more money in the game shop? I saw some 'Living World Seasons' that cost gems but I don't know how important are those in terms of getting some gear or **those stories are just for lore?** I am new to the game, I don't know how to farm gold etc. How long would it take to farm gold to buy those 'Living World Seasons'?

 

Take this advice from me, if you want to enjoy the game in the long run, don't spend money on cosmetic stuffs like gem store skins outfits etc... spend your money on buying the expansions ALL the living world stories(most of them unlock new maps for you which make getting mastery points easier(you need mastery points)). spend money on increasing your inventory storage ,bank storage and material storage. Do every story there is and try to get the achievements in them. You should also try to get max mastery rand, GET WORLD COMPLETION, also spend your money on more character slots and last but definitely not least! try to get 500 in every crafting discipline(tailor, weaponsmith, artificier etc...) GETTING 500 IN ALL CRAFTING DISCIPLINES IS VERY IMPORTANT TOO(and will cost probably more that 1g) oh and try to make toons from all the elite specs of PoF and HoT

[hash.6287]

> @"necromaniac.7629" said:

> > @"hash.6287" said:

> > So few days ago I decided to give GW2 a chance after 5 years break. I hit 61 level with my Warrior and I have started thinking about buying expansions. I want to spend money on expansions - HoT and PoF.

> >

> > So is it possible to experience all the content without spending more money in the game shop? I saw some 'Living World Seasons' that cost gems but I don't know how important are those in terms of getting some gear or **those stories are just for lore?** I am new to the game, I don't know how to farm gold etc. How long would it take to farm gold to buy those 'Living World Seasons'?

>

> Take this advice from me, if you want to enjoy the game in the long run, don't spend money on cosmetic stuffs like gem store skins outfits etc... spend your money on buying the expansions ALL the living world stories(most of them unlock new maps for you which make getting mastery points easier(you need mastery points)). spend money on increasing your inventory storage ,bank storage and material storage. Do every story there is and try to get the achievements in them. You should also try to get max mastery rand, GET WORLD COMPLETION, also spend your money on more character slots and last but definitely not least! try to get 500 in every crafting discipline(tailor, weaponsmith, artificier etc...) GETTING 500 IN ALL CRAFTING DISCIPLINES IS VERY IMPORTANT TOO(and will cost probably more that 1g) oh and try to make toons from all the elite specs of PoF and HoT

 

Don't worry. I will spend money **only on HoT and PoF (expansions)**, I won't spend them on Living World Seasons and other stuff from the shop, maybe I will buy those later with gold.

[necromaniac.7629]

> @"hash.6287" said:

> > @"necromaniac.7629" said:

> > > @"hash.6287" said:

> > > So few days ago I decided to give GW2 a chance after 5 years break. I hit 61 level with my Warrior and I have started thinking about buying expansions. I want to spend money on expansions - HoT and PoF.

> > >

> > > So is it possible to experience all the content without spending more money in the game shop? I saw some 'Living World Seasons' that cost gems but I don't know how important are those in terms of getting some gear or **those stories are just for lore?** I am new to the game, I don't know how to farm gold etc. How long would it take to farm gold to buy those 'Living World Seasons'?

> >

> > Take this advice from me, if you want to enjoy the game in the long run, don't spend money on cosmetic stuffs like gem store skins outfits etc... spend your money on buying the expansions ALL the living world stories(most of them unlock new maps for you which make getting mastery points easier(you need mastery points)). spend money on increasing your inventory storage ,bank storage and material storage. Do every story there is and try to get the achievements in them. You should also try to get max mastery rand, GET WORLD COMPLETION, also spend your money on more character slots and last but definitely not least! try to get 500 in every crafting discipline(tailor, weaponsmith, artificier etc...) GETTING 500 IN ALL CRAFTING DISCIPLINES IS VERY IMPORTANT TOO(and will cost probably more that 1g) oh and try to make toons from all the elite specs of PoF and HoT

>

> Don't worry. I will spend money **only on HoT and PoF (expansions)**, I won't spend them on Living World Seasons and other stuff from the shop, maybe I will buy those later with gold.

 

Oh ok but HoT and PoF are just two one-time purchases, once you buy them, you don't spend any more money on them

[Urud.4925]

There are often discounts for the Living World packages (I think we currently have one), so you could always buy them later on, when you'll have enough gold or feel like putting other 15€ on the game. Also, consider that you can buy the episodes (and thus the relative map) singularly. The price of the bundle will be reduced, so you won't pay twice for what you already bought.

 

If you are interested in the lore/checking the episodes first, you can play LW2 with someone who already bought it, for free (you won't get the rewards though - the loot is meaningless, the chapters are mostly useful for 1-2 core mastery points each)

If you are interested in trinkets with HoT (or PoF) stats (you can check them [here](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ascended_trinket "here"), in the third table, under "Require Heart of Thorns" ), LW3 offers an easy way to farm them (check the second table). Marauder and Viper are good combos, but if you're fine with Central Tyria stats (like Berserker), you can buy them with laurel/guild commendations, even easier.

[jbrother.1340]

> @"hash.6287" said:

> Maybe I wasn't clear enough. I want to spend money on HoT and PoF so lets treat it like deal done. I don't want to buy anything else from the game shop for real money.

>

> Does the lack of Living World Seasons will restrict me from getting some important stuff or I can live without them and buy them some time later via farming gold and exchanging it for gems?

>

> > E.g. > As fot the living worlds, seaon 2 has ascended trinkets tied to its collections (nomads I think), season 3 has esily obtainable stat selectable ascended accessories and backpack, season 4 has the beelte mount on the newest map.

>

> Is it important or I can farm stuff like ascended trinkets and accessories via other methods?

 

Here for lack of what seems like a straight answer from anyone else really that is not a mess.

 

Living world 3 seems to be the most consistent way to get ascended accessories for basically free and just your time almost. It is worth buying with gold or with money over LS2 I feel. I enjoyed both someone but LS3 more overall for content as well as opportunities.

 

You might try waiting for a sale on the LS3 modules.

 

 

Is it that you cannot afford it (which is not an issue and understandable for many of us) or that you don't want to spend anything past that in cash? If you have a ton of time gold to gems is ok, if you don't though it sure is nice to have more bank space character slots and other stuff out of the shop without having to farm hour after hour to get it. Wait on your bag slots and bank stuff until sales occur and they do from what I have seen a couple times a year. if nothing save your gold and convert slowly and save up gems until a sale and use fewer :)

[taconight.3167]

I am new and this may not be accurate but i'll kinda run down what i did because i had a lot of the same questions.

I played in 2012/13 for initial release. Made a guardian to level 79 and left. I came back about a month ago and there was so much stuff i didn't know what to buy.

 

The HoT and PoF expansions offer elite specializations , content, items and a lot of things exclusive to them.

 

Living world season 2 is considered the most unnecessary (as well as most expensive when not on sale). If you enjoy the story it's worth it but you won't miss out on anything of value other than mastery points (for me it was a big deal).

 

Living world season 3 has several maps that offer a shorter route to ascended items and are good for money making , farming etc.. I enjoyed the story on it and it's by far my favorite content right now.

 

Season 4, i have not started but i paid to unlock with leftover gems.

 

There are a ton of quality of life things that are worth doing in the expansions and you can return to the core game and finish up anything. Mounts, gliding being the most important. It makes a world of difference. Depending on your money here is what i did:

 

Bought PoF ultimate + HoT normal = 100$ and came with 4k gems i think.

Bought Season 2 on sale , season 3, bank extension, and salvage-0-matic with the gems from PoF Ultimate and still had some gems left i think.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TheQuickFox.3826]

A lot of achievements and the legendary item Aurora are linked to Living World maps. You will probably not need them right away but you will probably want them on the long run for the full GW2 experience. The Living World maps are quite good, so you probably want this content in the long run, at least if you find the time to actually play it. :)

 

Some non-content purchases will make your life a lot easier, like some bag slots and bank tabs to expand your storage options. So, yes, this will cost you some extra money, but in comparison with some other MMO's you will save yourself a monthly subscription fee.

[hash.6287]

> @"jbrother.1340" said:

> Is it that you cannot afford it (which is not an issue and understandable for many of us) or that you don't want to spend anything past that in cash? If you have a ton of time gold to gems is ok, if you don't though it sure is nice to have more bank space character slots and other stuff out of the shop without having to farm hour after hour to get it. Wait on your bag slots and bank stuff until sales occur and they do from what I have seen a couple times a year. if nothing save your gold and convert slowly and save up gems until a sale and use fewer :)

 

It is more about that I don't like to spend on game more than I need. For example in MOBAs I buy only heroes/champions for money, never skins or mounts.

 

It is just weird from my perspective that even if I buy expansions I am still restricted from some content like easier access to ascended trinkets, accessories or farming locations because I wasn't here when this(LWS) stuff was free.

 

> @"TheQuickFox.3826" said:

> A lot of achievements and the legendary item are linked to Living World maps. You will probably not need them right away but you will probably want them on the long run for the full GW2 experience. The Living World maps are quite good, so you probably want this content in the long run, at least if you find the time to actually play it. :)

>

> Some non-content purchases will make your life a lot easier, like some bag slots and bank tabs to expand your storage options. So, yes, this will cost you some extra money, but in comparison with some other MMO's you will save yourself a monthly subscription fee.

 

Another restriction just because I don't own LWS maps? Oof.

[VanWilder.6923]

> @"hash.6287" said:

> > @"jbrother.1340" said:

> > Is it that you cannot afford it (which is not an issue and understandable for many of us) or that you don't want to spend anything past that in cash? If you have a ton of time gold to gems is ok, if you don't though it sure is nice to have more bank space character slots and other stuff out of the shop without having to farm hour after hour to get it. Wait on your bag slots and bank stuff until sales occur and they do from what I have seen a couple times a year. if nothing save your gold and convert slowly and save up gems until a sale and use fewer :)

>

> It is more about that I don't like to spend on game more than I need. For example in MOBAs I buy only heroes/champions for money, never skins or mounts.

>

> It is just weird from my perspective that even if I buy expansions I am still restricted from some content like easier access to ascended trinkets, accessories or farming locations because I wasn't here when this(LWS) stuff was free.

>

> > @"TheQuickFox.3826" said:

> > A lot of achievements and the legendary item are linked to Living World maps. You will probably not need them right away but you will probably want them on the long run for the full GW2 experience. The Living World maps are quite good, so you probably want this content in the long run, at least if you find the time to actually play it. :)

> >

> > Some non-content purchases will make your life a lot easier, like some bag slots and bank tabs to expand your storage options. So, yes, this will cost you some extra money, but in comparison with some other MMO's you will save yourself a monthly subscription fee.

>

> Another restriction just because I don't own LWS maps? Oof.

I was Gw2 F2P player about 1 year ago then my friend bought me HoT and PoF as a gift after seeing that I was enjoying the game for 4 months.

Then I am even enjoying the game more than ever, saved myself up to get the Gold to Gems so I could buy Living World Season2,3.

I have not used any real money to make any sort of transaction in Gw2. You and I are the same, I do not care about fashion war or Achievement Points. I just want to have fun and relax. If you have the same goals as mine, saving the gold to buy each expansion or buy 1 expansion first then farm and save the gold to gems to buy the other expansion, same for the Living World.

I could do it, you can too. Without the expansions and Living World, You will miss out a lot

 

Good luck and have fun gaming.

 

[Moira Shalaar.5620]

> @"BunjiKugashira.9754" said:

> There are a few things you miss out on if you don't have the living seasons. Apart from the story the most important are:

> - ls3 ep4 you get a 5th downstate skill and downstate life-leach

> - ls4 ep 1 you get a very lucrative farm map

> - ls4 ep 1 you get a new mount ability to use your character's hp instead of your mount's while mounted

> - ls4 ep 2 you get a 32 slot bag

> - ls4 ep 3 you get the rollerbeetle mount

 

This covers most of the functionality but to add a couple more, albeit lesser points:

- ls3 ep4 gives new stat combo seraph

- Ls4 ep3 gives new stat combo plaguedoctor

- ls3 ep1 gives access to ascended amulets/rings/back items that can reset stats hot/core stats only. I love these and am equipping all my chars with them. Almost like legendaries.

 

Can you get by with just the 2 expansions? Absolutely! Are the living story seasons worth buying? IMHO at least 3&4. 2 is primarily story, skins and unlocking ascended jewelry from laurel vendors.

[Sephylon.4938]

> @"hash.6287" said:

> > @"jbrother.1340" said:

> > Is it that you cannot afford it (which is not an issue and understandable for many of us) or that you don't want to spend anything past that in cash? If you have a ton of time gold to gems is ok, if you don't though it sure is nice to have more bank space character slots and other stuff out of the shop without having to farm hour after hour to get it. Wait on your bag slots and bank stuff until sales occur and they do from what I have seen a couple times a year. if nothing save your gold and convert slowly and save up gems until a sale and use fewer :)

>

> It is more about that I don't like to spend on game more than I need. For example in MOBAs I buy only heroes/champions for money, never skins or mounts.

>

> It is just weird from my perspective that even if I buy expansions I am still restricted from some content like easier access to ascended trinkets, accessories or farming locations because I wasn't here when this(LWS) stuff was free.

 

 

You can buy the living worlds using in-game gold, real money just offers the quickest way.

 

> > @"TheQuickFox.3826" said:

> > A lot of achievements and the legendary item are linked to Living World maps. You will probably not need them right away but you will probably want them on the long run for the full GW2 experience. The Living World maps are quite good, so you probably want this content in the long run, at least if you find the time to actually play it. :)

> >

> > Some non-content purchases will make your life a lot easier, like some bag slots and bank tabs to expand your storage options. So, yes, this will cost you some extra money, but in comparison with some other MMO's you will save yourself a monthly subscription fee.

>

> Another restriction just because I don't own LWS maps? Oof.

 

Just aurora, duno about the ring yet. https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Aurora

 

Ap is mostly for completionists

 

[hash.6287]

> @"VanWilder.6923" said:

> > @"hash.6287" said:

> > > @"jbrother.1340" said:

> > > Is it that you cannot afford it (which is not an issue and understandable for many of us) or that you don't want to spend anything past that in cash? If you have a ton of time gold to gems is ok, if you don't though it sure is nice to have more bank space character slots and other stuff out of the shop without having to farm hour after hour to get it. Wait on your bag slots and bank stuff until sales occur and they do from what I have seen a couple times a year. if nothing save your gold and convert slowly and save up gems until a sale and use fewer :)

> >

> > It is more about that I don't like to spend on game more than I need. For example in MOBAs I buy only heroes/champions for money, never skins or mounts.

> >

> > It is just weird from my perspective that even if I buy expansions I am still restricted from some content like easier access to ascended trinkets, accessories or farming locations because I wasn't here when this(LWS) stuff was free.

> >

> > > @"TheQuickFox.3826" said:

> > > A lot of achievements and the legendary item are linked to Living World maps. You will probably not need them right away but you will probably want them on the long run for the full GW2 experience. The Living World maps are quite good, so you probably want this content in the long run, at least if you find the time to actually play it. :)

> > >

> > > Some non-content purchases will make your life a lot easier, like some bag slots and bank tabs to expand your storage options. So, yes, this will cost you some extra money, but in comparison with some other MMO's you will save yourself a monthly subscription fee.

> >

> > Another restriction just because I don't own LWS maps? Oof.

> I was Gw2 F2P player about 1 year ago then my friend bought me HoT and PoF as a gift after seeing that I was enjoying the game for 4 months.

> Then I am even enjoying the game more than ever, saved myself up to get the Gold to Gems so I could buy Living World Season2,3.

> I have not used any real money to make any sort of transaction in Gw2. You and I are the same, I do not care about fashion war or Achievement Points. I just want to have fun and relax. If you have the same goals as mine, saving the gold to buy each expansion or buy 1 expansion first then farm and save the gold to gems to buy the other expansion, same for the Living World.

> I could do it, you can too. Without the expansions and Living World, You will miss out a lot

>

> Good luck and have fun gaming.

>

 

I am not F2P player. I bought GW2 vanilla 6 years ago. I have no problem with spending money on HoT and PoF. I just don't like that something smaller than expansions (LWS) costs almost as much as expansion.

[Urud.4925]

Well, LW3 unlocks 6 maps. They are not as big as the 4 maps unlocked by each expansion but they also have a good story, although shorter. LW2 has a decent length.

Many of us bought the expansions when they have been released (HoT alone was 50€), but I understand that buying everything that has been released in 6 years all at once can be expensive now. However, there's already so much stuff in the 2 expansions, that until you get bored you'll have enough gold to buy the LW. There's really no rush.

The only "limit" really, it's about the trinkets (only if you like the HoT stats, otherwise you can buy them with other tokens) and that you won't reach 274 MP.

[ZeftheWicked.3076]

Bit late to the party but:

 

There are two stat sets that are available only via Living Story or having legendary gear:

Seraph (Condition damage + Precision main stats, Healing Power and Concentration secondary) and Plaguedoctor (same thing, except Vitality instead of Precision). These belong to respectively S3 ep 4 (Head of the Snake) and S4 ep 3 (Long Live the Lich)....which you can unlock right now for free if you got PoF.

 

Another big miss out is legendary accessory (Aurora). It is the final reward you can aim for from full set of Living Story season 3 maps. Other then that living story maps are generally a fun and well designed supplement to core ones. Core HoT maps and PoF maps will give you access to main features and gear stat sets.

 

Living Story maps will provide few useful additions, but mostly places to farm things you cannot easily farm elsewhere (karma, crafting materials for end game gear, laurel and guild currency free accessory sets).

 

Also am not sure about legendary weapons. Almost all releases had a new legendary weapon on board. If that's just a tag-along, or few of them are indeed locked behind having the episode they were released with, i don't know.

 

Anyway - farm up that gold, change it to gems and buy your episodes as you go ;)