Do you need to play GW1 to understand GW2

So I'm definitely going to buy GW2, will I understand it if I haven't played GW1?

Seeing as how we have very limited info on how the game works, no-one will be able to say for sure. Some of the lore in GW1 you will miss out on I guess but as far as gameplay goes, I doubt it.

If you want to understand everything that's going on firsthand, then you should play the original. However, if you don't really want to play it (which you should), you could just read up about the storyline and lore online.

So no, you don't have to, but it's a great game and well worth your money and time.

Do you think I should buy GW1 so I could understand the story?
If I do buy the first one I'm not gunna be buying any of the extra chapters to it, so I don't know if that would mess up the story or not.


EDIT:
Ok, but I won't have to buy any of the extra chapters to understand it would I?

You might want to pick up the expansion or get the prophecies and Eye of the North bundle, since there's much more information that would help you understand the sequel, like the new races and stuff about the dragons.

It takes place a few hundred years after GW1 and you can play as multiple races.

I'd say that it wouldn't hurt.

Ok.
Looks like I'm going to go buy GW1.

I have never even heard of GW until today, so I won't have any idea what I'm doing.
Can any of you gimme any tips, or links where I can get some tips?

As everyone else had said, you should play the original to understand the storyline. At the very least you should play Prophecies and EotN (Eye of the North). The other storylines you can read about online, and don't necessarily have to play.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Main_Page

The Guild Wars Wiki. Bookmark it. It's your best friend

If i where you i would just buy Gw trilogy (all 3 games in one box) it cost like 40 bucks and just buy eotn which is liek 10 bucks.

Any thing you need can be found at the wiki
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Main_Page & Builds can be found at
http://pvx.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
If you cant find something just ask on here, or even pm me in game if you want (not on as much tho)

You will have at least a year to play GW before the release of GW2. Lots of time to enjoy the game and learn the story at the same time. With EotN expansion you can also add a Hall of Monuments which will give you (unspecified as of now) benefits in GW2.

EoTN is the one that you want if you want to understand the storyline of GW2 the best because it has Norns, Asuras, Humans, and the Charrs. These races only appear in EoTN and will play a major role in GW2. There's one of the Ancient Dragon near the end of the story but the game didn't go much into the Dragon if any at all. To be able to play EoTN, you must have 1 of the other 3. (Nightfall, Factions, Prophecis)

I do recommend you get the Trilogy because its a far better deal at $40 USD. I got mine on sale for $20 and EoTN for $15. A standalone will be like $30 USD right now I think.

If you want lore for GW2 I'd suggest you to read http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Movement_of_the_World and if you are charr intrested: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ecology_of_the_Charr

Anyways, I'd suggest that you play much of GW1 first, so you know about the basic lore of GW1.

Really, while it would be nice for the OP to buy the original games (for the sake of supporting Arenanet), odds are that nothing in GW1's storylines will be relevant to understanding GW2's: the world has gone through much upheaval, after all, and will be shaped differently, very few of the cities/towns/outposts and landmarks will be left, the relationships between and the territories of the races will be entirely different and their histories that are relevant to the GW2 experience shaped more by the promotional materials and posted timeline covering the time between the games, and so on.

If knowledge of the GW1 storylines (from actual gameplay as opposed to the summaries you can easily find on the wiki) is of any help in understanding GW2's story, I doubt it'll be even as necessary as playing Warcraft I-III was to understand what's going on in World of Warcraft.

However, buying the games would be nice - as pointed out, there's still at least a year before GW2. Plus, the campaigns and EotN are fun and well worth the price (even if you buy the standalone editions one at a time - I've paid maybe $115+sales tax for the games that way and I definitely have gotten my money's worth), even if you only play through them once (and even better value if you find them enough fun to play through with multiple professions). And the storylines are decent, too.

You will definately understand it.
For example, most of world of warcraft's players never played the single player warcraft games, but it has turned out into a highly sucessfull game for all players. A-Net would not of likely walked into the sinkhole of tying the two games together too tightly, i wouldn;t bog yourself down with buying and playing a game that has a shrinking playerbase, focus your efforts to enjoy the start og GW2 , many argue the first couple of years of a game are its best, so i would take it in and enjoy it

And others would argue that games don't really hit their prime until after a few years, when the devs have really had time to go over the thing and make it fun, fluff it out with content, add the systems that didn't make it in at launch. Warcraft being a great example of that. GW is another... my husband and I thought the first year of GW was utterly awful. The Nightfall preview event got us back; been addicted ever since.

But we're ages off from GW2, and I'm sure you'll be fine in the lore department without GW1. That said, if you're intrigued by GW1, it's cheap as heck nowadays, and free to play, so why not try it? The game can be mostly soloed just fine, so even a dwindling playerbase (debatable) won't slow you down. Mostly the playerbase is being focused in specific areas on a daily basis thanks to zquests, and GWEN is still loaded with people.

I would be really surprised if you had to play GW1 to understand the plot of GW2. The company that makes the games want people to be able to play them. Making the game confusing to new comers would be a bad idea.

I would recommend playing GW1 if you are interested in it. It is pretty cheap if you shop around.
If you are really a fan of persistant worlds though and the instanced structure of GW1 doesn't appeal to you though, don't bother.