Long-time WoW player

So Ive just come off 2 years of playing the timesink that is World of Warcraft.
I tried out GW at release - played a PvE ranger or something to 15 and didnt really find much to do.

Im trying to find the happy medium whereupon I can play an hour or two a night, have fun and still feel as if ive accomplished something without mindless grinding/raiding 4-5 hours a night. I do enjoy group pvp and 'raiding', but dont want to spend hours upon hours gearing up to be viable.

Is GW for me, and do I have to purchase the expansions to fully enjoy it?

PvP is relatively fast in GW excluding heroes ascent which can take some time. Most missions and quests in GW take about half an hour to complete so you still have the time to do many things in 1 or 2 hours. There is a small level of grind involved in GW especially GW:EN and nf but not that annoying.

I suggest you start off with prophecies since you already have it. Either continue your ranger or create a new character. Prophecies has the slowest learning curve and a good part of the game happens post level 20.

If you enjoy grouping to play, you may find GW a bit disappointing in that regard since most people use henchmen and heroes these days.

Sounds like guild wars would be perfect for you. It is much more casual than WoW.

Yep. If you want an hour or two of fun in a gaming session, GW is a great fit.

As to your question about the expansions, it kinda depends. You could take your time going through Prophecies PvE and decide if you enjoy it enough to buy the next campaign etc...

If you want to jump straight into PvP, you kind of need the skills from the other campaigns to be competitive.

But GW is a lot of fun. I hope you enjoy!

I also hope you truly are looking for a different experince than WoW. Many people make the mistake of assuming GW will be just like WoW without the monthly fee. They are usually sorely dissapointed.

I think you may be able to enjoy GW quite well with only 1-2 hours per night. The only downside you may experience is lack of other players with you thru the storyline/missions. This is a result of most players still playing are beyond these area's. Using a campaign that offers heroes(Eye of the North or Nightfall) can help out as can playing with other friends.
Unlike WoW, GW gear is very easy to acquire max level items. In PvP you simply make a character and all his/her equipment is maximum. No grinding needed to be on even footing. If you want to use your PvE character to PvP there are cheap and easy ways to have perfect/max items also.
Enjoy the pace, you can rush thru GW in order to do high end areas similar somewhat to WoW raiding without the mega-boss usually. Otherwise you can play the game thru like a single player mmorpg now also.
GL and HF.
You don't need all the campaigns/expansion to start GW but if you enjoy the journey I suspect you will acquire them anyways.