from GW to GW2

I played Guild Wars ages ago (before Nightfall was released) and i was thinking about replaying it before GW2 launch cause i don't really remember anything. I really care about the lore and the story so i thought maybe you guys can help me out. The question is, where should i start? What chapter should i choose? (Prophecies, Factions, Nightfall or Eye of the North) Can i just complete Prophecies or do i need to complete them all to understand the whole story?

prophecies is most important for the story and lore. Factions is my favorite and the shortest. nightfall is the most popular. To understand the whole story play everything

For GW2 as it is right now, Prophecies and Eye of the North are most relevant for catching up on the lore. I would expect GW2 to expand in the near future after release, so Canthan and Elonian stories will tie in eventually, but you needn't worry about that now.

Do Prophecies, maybe detour to the other port cities to get armor, skills, and heroes, then carry on. Then do North. Then start in on War in Kryta followed by Hearts of the North. If you care about what happens to a certain character you meet in Hearts of the North and want to do Winds of Change, you'll have to complete Factions first (but it's a quick campaign).

from the point of view of lore this is the list (most important one first).

a: Eye of the North (The lore is actually a teaser for GW2).
It is however an expansion, so best not played first
b: Prophecy's.
c: War in Kryta/hearts of the north (not a campaign but a free update implemented to gap the story from gw to gw2)
c: Nightfall (it explains a lot bout the 7 gods of tyria).
d: Factions (totally cut off from the rest of the world during GW2.

So logic dictates to first do prophecy's, then Eye of the north, then the free content war in kryta/hearts of the north. the nightfall and if time left factions. however it might be wise (if you didn't do that before) to visit the other continents. prophecy's is a very long campaign with a very slow learning curve. the othe rcampaigns give you early access to things like heroes, max lvl armor and weapons, skills and possibility to change secondary profession. making prophecy's a lot easier

I have almost just started a replay of the story too, difference may be that I sort of remember most stuff and only do primary quests (some of the lore is in the side quests)
Anyways... I chose to go through chronologically, which means: Prophesies - Factions - Nightfall - Eye of the North - War in Kryta - Hearts of the North - Winds of Change.
I expect to be able to get through most of it before start. Right now I am getting through sort of quick so it seems plausible. However, I am not learning I am... cruising xD

Anyways that is the order the events happen in if it matters. If you just want the bits that tie in with GW2 do what the others said

At first I was like, "So?" But then I remembered, yeah, GW2's handling of the gods is entirely spoilerific of Nightfall, so it might be a good idea to complete that campaign before moving on to GW2.

And then of course the end of Nightfall has some spoilers for both Prophecies and Factions....

Ideally one would play all the campaigns, expansions, and add-on content in order, as Dewshine is proposing.

Unless you don't mind minor spoilers.

6 gods not 7.

Thank you guys, you really helped me. But i got a bit confused with this "Guild Wars: Beyond". Is it a whole chapter or just few missions like War in Kryta?

It's the quest chains that are War in Kryta, Hearts of the North, and Winds of Change. "Beyond" is the umbrella term they're using for the content that is being added to tie up the storylines of the campaigns.

Gondrakif, don't forget about the goddess of truth, so 7.

Guild Wars: Beyond is a name for all content released after the Eye of the North expansion as free content that has the purpose to bridge the story from GW to GW2. Currently it consists of 3 parts.

1: War in kryta (mostly in kryta but partly in EotN)
2: Hearts of the North (starts in Eye of the North, but most of it plays in the maguuma jungle and explains the ancestors of GW2 character Logan Thackeray.)
3: Winds of change (plays fully in factions and explains the position of Chanta in GW2

There where plans for atleast two other parts. One in nightfall centering bout the return of Palawa Joko to power, and one in ascalon-region that centers bout the formation of gw2 city of ebonhawk. Due to delays in the release schedule and the shortly release of GW2 it is uncertain if they will ever be released. There is no change at all they will be released before GW2 for the simple reason that the live team is transferd to the gw2 team to help prepare the gw2 release.

Bout 5, 6 or 7 gods I couldn't count, so excuse my confusing last post to rectify I'll use spoiler tags (but gw2 will have 6 gods):