Guides
How to get the thing you are after, what it costs at this hour’s prices, and the steps a wiki assumes you already know.
Starting out
You hit 80. Now what?
Level 80 in Guild Wars 2 is not the finish line, it is where everything else starts. Where your experience goes now, what gear you need, and how to avoid drowning in the list of things to do.
Levelling to 80: what gives experience and what wastes your time
Guild Wars 2 hands out experience for almost everything, so there is no separate grind to do. What works, why killing mobs is the worst option, and whether to spend your Level-80 Boost.
Mesmer: why it is hard and why people stay on it anyway
Clones, phantasms and shatters look like clutter on screen for the first few hours. How the two illusion types differ, what each shatter does, and why mesmers get invited for portals rather than damage.
Nine professions: which one to roll first
Armour weight, core mechanic and elite specialisations for all nine classes in one table. Plus a straight answer to "what should a new player pick", which depends on how you like to play rather than on which class is strongest.
Trading Post
Making gold
Crafting: what to level, what it costs, and who needs it at all
Nine disciplines, a cap of 500, two active per character. When crafting saves you money, when it eats money, and why you should price the finished item before you make it.
Your first gold: where new players lose it and where it actually comes from
Half of what you pick up in the low levels is worth more on the Trading Post than the vendor pays. The other half is not. How not to waste your first coins, and where it comes from instead.
Mounts
Griffon: 250 gold and no waiting
The biggest direct price tag of any mount, and the most honest one: you pay once and fly the same evening. What you have to finish first, where the collections start, and why 250 gold is not the hard part.
Every mount, what it costs, and the order that makes sense
Nine mounts, from the free raptor to a griffon at 250 gold. A table of the real price tags and requirements, plus the order to chase them in when your wallet holds five gold.
The four Path of Fire mounts: where the trainers are and what they charge
The raptor arrives with the story, the rest have to be bought. Exact prices, vendor names and the maps they stand on. Plus the jackal trick that saves 10 gold 40 silver.
Roller Beetle: the fastest mount in the game, and it asks for no gold
The beetle costs nothing at all, only three collections back to back. Which episode you need, who to talk to in the Domain of Kourna, and why it outruns everything on flat ground.
Siege Turtle: two seats and a pair of cannons
The End of Dragons turtle carries a passenger and shoots. The hard part is the egg: either beat the toughest meta in the game, or pay 200 Writs of Dragon's End and skip it.
Skyscale: two routes, and one costs a third as much
Through Secrets of the Obscure the dragon costs 15 gold and one evening. Through Living World Season 4 it costs 41 gold, six currencies you cannot buy, and a minimum of three days of waiting. And when the long way is still worth it.
Warclaw: it used to cost 8 gold, now it is free
The easiest mount to obtain in the game, which half the playerbase still does not know. Two routes: one World Ability Point in WvW, or the Janthir Wilds story. Neither costs anything.
Story and translations
The three orders: which one to join at level 30
The choice happens in the last mission of the level 30 story and cannot be undone. Durmand Priory, Order of Whispers or Vigil: how they differ, and what the decision changes later.
The personal story: how it is built and why it is easy to miss
Eight chapters, three acts, level 10 through 80. Where to find it in the journal, which points branch permanently, and where every race converges into one line.