If you value a ton of top-quality content, a fully voiced story-line built inside an immersive universe and the friendliest community you have ever seen in an MMORPG, Guild Wars 2 is probably the game for you.

Guild Wars 2 takes place in the world of Tyria, the surface of which is home to numerous humanoid races and civilizations engaging with each other, but also where beneath all that, primordial beings known as the Elder Dragons are hibernating. Due to events taking place in the previous games of the series, five Elder Dragons have awaken from their slumber and are causing widespread destruction to Tyria and corrupting its inhabitants. The story is enormous, with many twists and external threats, but I guess this is the main take you should know before beginning your adventure. Everything else will be known in due time.

GW2 differs from the usual MMORPG formula, there are no simple straightforward quests such "Kill 20 monsters" or "Gather 10 wood" to proceed. Instead of the traditional questing system, each area has its own unique dynamic events that bring each and every map to life, presenting you with its history by having players explore & interact with it. Each action has multiple outcomes that also result in new events, creating a cascade effect. In addition to that, you don't have to be in a party to participate and you can jump into the action at any moment, even if the event is at its peak. You can also join your friends anywhere, as levels don't really matter in this game. Your level and equipment are scaled to the map and the EXP reward is percentage based. If you have a friend who's ahead, or if your buddies are only beginning, you can play content together with no real restriction whatsoever.

One of it's biggest selling points is that GW2 is NOT Pay to Win. However, it is not Free to Play either. While it advertises itself as such, it's more like a trial of the main game. Let me explain:
GW2 has 3 major expansions, which I'll refer as HoT (Heart of Thorns), PoT (Path of Fire) and EoD (End of Dragons). The core game is essentially available to everyone, but some key game-play elements such as Gliding, Mounts, a bunch of different class specializations etc. are locked behind said expansions. Purchase them separately or as a bundle, once you do, you will not have to spend another dime in game, at least until a new expansion comes along. You can still top-up and buy cosmetics or quality of life stuff for your account, but everything in the shop is also purchasable with in-game currency. That includes Living World Seasons, which are lore based episodes of content that act as the ongoing story-line between expansions, giving access to numerous maps and features. You can think of them as mini-expansions.

You want to experience PvP in this game? No fear. Structured instances of PvP in the forms of a few individuals or even worlds against each other are easily accessible with just the click of a button. Most of the stuff (including class specializations) in casual or competitive PvP is available to everyone, meaning trying out builds or different classes is quite easy, or even encouraged in some cases.

Fashion; Hate it or love it, cosmetics are a huge part of Guild Wars 2. You’ll be frequently unlocking skins throughout your adventures, either by looting them, crafting them or by purchasing them from the trading post/cash shop (which you can do using in-game currency, as mentioned earlier). Once a skin is unlocked, it is usable account-wide. Now here's the big reveal; dyes. You are able to dye your equipment with hundreds of different obtainable colors, making fashion a complete headache. You want wings? Sure. You feel like being a walking fire hazard? Go ahead. There are so many different combinations that you will spend many hours creating your own outfit, or you can just copy someone else's if you don't feel like going through this process.

End Game; There is no real end-game in Guild Wars 2. The game is enormous and it's always evolving. You can have thousands of hours put in game and still have stuff to do. You can craft Legendary equipment (which is a very long process), work towards account progression, dungeons, strikes, raids, fractals, you name it. You can even hunt for collections or aim to reach the top rankings in competitive.

For a game that launched back in 2012, Guild Wars 2 has been very well maintained considering that most games of this genre die out after the initial hype is over. The constant release of new content over the years makes GW2 a game with hundred of hours of unique game-play, innovative ways to explore the MMORPG genre and a compelling story that starts out slow but ends becoming breath-taking. My recommendation is that you should simply play the game for the first dozens of hours without getting any expansion, test the waters (something like a trial period), and then if you feel like exploring what this game has to offer, which you probably will, go ahead and enrich your experience. I'll only say this: enjoy the ride.

Edit: some minor spelling mistakes