Heart of thorns or path of fire?

[Wunder.4827]

Hello.

I haven't been playing GW2 for a long time. I'd like to come back but feel confused with upgrades.

I have just "Guild Wars 2" account. Which upgrade should I have to enjoy the full game content? Heart of thorns or path of fire?

Do I need to buy both at the same time or just one? Can't find any information on how this works.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

You can purchase both or either. You can find the features for Heart of Thorns and/or Path of Fire in the Wiki, or the Guild Wars 2 site page(s). There's a discount when purchasing both at the same time from the official website.

Heart of Thorns offers Gliding, and one set of Elite Specializations; Path of Fire offers Mounts and another set of Elite Specializations.

Heart of Thorns offers access to the HoT Maps and Living World Season 3 Maps (additional Gem purchase); Path of Fire offers access to the PoF maps and Living World Season 4 (the current season) maps (Episodes 1-4 additional Gem purchase).

 

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Guild_Wars_2:_Heart_of_Thorns

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Path_of_Fire

 

Good luck.

[Ashantara.8731]

I would recommend you play the game's story chronologically, as it would cause only more confusion to skip all the story content by proceeding with Path of Fire.

 

What is the last story content you've played? Living World Season 1? Season 2? You definitely should get Season 2 first before purchasing the Heart of Thorns expansion, then Season 3, then Path of Fire, followed by Season 4.

[TheQuickFox.3826]

If you want the full game content (Like all story and all skills/specializations), you will need to purchase both. Each expansion brings its own area, story and new possibilities for your character. You don't have to buy both, because you can play them independently of each other.

 

Hart of Thorns has a higher difficulty and is more focused on group PVE play. It brings masteries like gliding and HoT exclusive elite specializations.

Path of Fire is a bit more casual-friendly and solo-friendly. It brings masteries related to mounts and it brings PoF exclusive elite specializations.

[melandru.3876]

pof has bounties, mounts, interesting story and some meta events

 

hot has gliding, bouncing, interesting story but more replayability (adventures, meta events)

 

 

both are fun in their own way

 

if you prefer group-content? go hot

if you are a loner? go pof

[Kindeller.3072]

You get a discount on HOT if you buy POF on the store... Honestly if you havent already i'd hold off... the anniversary is coming up and i'll guess they'll maybe do a 50% off sale again? You can pick up both pretty cheap that way! :)

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

If you just came back, play for a few weeks or a month to make sure you are invested in hanging around. At that point, I encourage you to purchase both expansions together, because the current cost for buying them together is US$50, which is a pretty good deal.

 

FYI the interface is a bit wonky.

* Select the version of PoF that you want (recommended: Standard, unless you intended to buy gems this year, in which case Ultimate; ignore Deluxe)

* Continue to Checkout

* In the "do you want to supersize" page that comes next, choose to add HoT for $20 (10 buck discount) (same recommendations: Standard or Ultimate, if you want more gems)

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

There's no such thing as Ultimate Heart of Thorns; it only comes in Standard Edition nowadays. At least from ArenaNet.