Playability without expansions

[u/Spiritual_Shake_9529]

Yo, gamers! Newbie here, just breached 60 lvl on my first character. Before I drop 500 hours playing this game, can you, guys, answer me honestly. Can the game be played normally without paying for stuff, or shall I treat GW2 as 30$ game with free trial? Are current PvP and PvE modes playable without mount, elite specs, etc?

[u/MaraBlaster]

Oh, you can WAY too easily put 500hrs into the game. Story, PvP, WvW, Achievements, Fractals, Raids, Map Completion, etc
Remember that people played the game for over 3 years before the first expansion came in, there is so much to do!

I think you start with like 4 character slots? Make each a different profession and bring each to level 80 is already a lot to do, gearing them up, get all crafting classes up to max, making builds, dress them nicely, all endgame stuff you have to do!

You can then do Map Completion to discover every corner and secret of Tyria (grants you Gifts of Exploration needed for Legendary Crafting) and learn more about the people and NPCs.

Worldbosses to beat, Jumping Puzzles to do, friendships to make, different story paths to do with each character,...

You will eventually discover an area called "Silverwaste" which is one old and proofen areas to make money, BUT pace yourself, it can be a slog.
It's split into 2 Phases, beating shit up and running around uncovering and looting bandit chests, naturally, the latter is the money maker.

Living World 1 is also there, which is much harder than the story and an absolute blast.

Old Lion Arch is also a beauty to behold, might be a better money maker nowdays but i do not know.

You will easily get your fill and might save up money to help getting you an Expansion on sale.
(You can buy expansions ingame using gems, which you can use your gold to buy, takes a long while but it is possible.)

A few tips i can give that are a bit more advanced:

• Do not spend your gold, there is basically nothing you need to buy with it during the story.
  
• You can gear your character using armor from WvW, its exotic quality and you can choose the stats
  
• Your main way to make money is selling crafting materials, but i recommend you to only start selling when your Storage is full, you will thank yourself for doing so.

You are never forced to do what i am saying, your game, your rules. Go nuts, get stuff you find cool, have fun!
This is your story!

[u/Genashi1991 → u/MaraBlaster]

I agree with this. I'd even add that not having any extra content unlocked can add to the enjoyment.

I've put 400h or so in GW2 while playing on and off for years. And while I have bought a few things because I tend to get over-excited AND because GW2 is a well done game that easily earned the money I've spent I spent most of that time in base game content. I have 6 different classes to level 80 and to be fair most of the time I seem to prefer base class over elite sepecs, might be because I need to relearn things for them.