Any decent maps for GW1's?

I'm trying to get to Maishang Hills from Kaineng Center, but the only route i've been told multiple times is by questing through certain primary quests for a *couple* weeks.

I haven't played since the Core gameplay of GW1 (5+yrs?). Is it no longer possible to use 'Explorable Areas' to reach most areas in the game anymore? Or is Factions 90% quest based, and I cannot reach Maishang without questing for weeks ?

In short, "No, you can't."

Starting in factions, and continuing in Nightfall, gate-checks were put in which disallow players from running to certain areas. In factions, these checks occur first to disallow you from leaving Kaineng City. After that, you'll have access to the first part of Echovald Forest and The Jade Sea, but you'll be locked out of the later half, until you farm faction for Luxons and Kurzicks.

In Nightfall, there are physical gates which disallow you from progressing across the areas without doing the quests. In some cases you can circumvent this (by death-running in the sulfurous wastes and such), but I've found it easier/faster to just do the quests.

So, basically you need to do the main quest line to get through them. It does not take weeks, unless you can only play 20 minutes a day.

I am guessing, they wanted to prevent "runners" in Factions. Many areas are closed unless you do primary quests and missions. I do not know the exact chain of quests you need to complete. I would say, locate the outpost your last completed mission dropped you in and find the quests there to continue. If you have done the primary quest, then locate the next incomplete mission to continue.

Yea , the problem for me is finding the quests i need. Right now i've got a pretty good route to get down to Archipeligos. I did the beginning quests that unlocked that X.SkyWay or w/e to get into Shenzun Tunnels. Right now I'm trying to get to Matsu Fort so I can keep going SE to get to the Archipelegos .

Hopefully I don't run into any barred gates before then !

It is horrifyingly frustrating to come back to GW1 and needing to spend weeks just to obtain skills i need to be useful for EOTN Q_Q.

1) It is still possible where it was possible to begin with, which is to say some areas of Prophecies only.
2) You do need to reach Maishang by following the primary quest and mission chain.
3) It doesn't necessarily take weeks. You can realistically do it in a few days (depending on playtime) as long as you are focused on it. Factions is a relatively short campaign anyway.

Yeah, as others have said, while I understand your frustration at having to play through the entire campaign again and again instead of just going where you need to go in Factions, on the plus side, at least it doesn't take weeks.

If you have a proper day spare devoted to gaming (I realise that becomes rarer and rarer as you get older though, certainly did for me), if using a pre-established character coming in from another campaign, and if you know what you are doing and where you are going, you can easily finish Factions in a single day. It's the shortest campaign by far.

If you are starting a brand new character fresh in Factions though, it will take a little longer, but still no more than two days.

You can't skip ahead in Nightfall either (though you do a get a bit more freedom and are tied to the province you are supposed to be in in the storyline instead of just literally the area), but that takes significantly longer to finish than Factions.