....Companies like to downplay expectations and surprise to the upside (especially when they are a publicly traded company).

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-05-13-ncsoft-profits-up-yoy-but-down-on-last-quarter

Sorry ... Haven't had a chance to check the forums until now. Wanted to clear up what some are perceiving as condescending remarks.  The are not.  And they are not indented to be.  As I mentioned above I PvE and WvW a lot as well (every day).  The point of the thread is to point out some efficiencies in when to work toward the hard to get gear. I don't make any assertions that I "know" when the expansion will come out or if the level cap will increase.  ANET is very tight on not leaking info but like Nightsong I do follow various sites like Reddit, Guru, etc. as people speculate.  All I have mentioned is that I would put my gold on a level cap increase in the next expansion and that the expansion could come sooner than what some might think.  Companies like to downplay expectations and surprise to the upside (especially when they are a publicly traded company). 

They've already stated multiple times that an expansion is not in the works at the moment. The current focus for ArenaNet is on tweaking / fixing / balancing core game mechanics while expanding the Living Story.

Also, they have also stated that they will bump up the level cap down the road but that won't happen for a while (longer than three months and is still subject to change, they might not bump the level cqp). ArenaNet has also said that legendary weapons will be getting bumped up in stats to be on par with the Ascended weapons when those are released.

Edit: I'm regards to the Living Story, it started off small for a reason. ArenaNet was testing new background tech to see what worked, what didn't, and how far the players could push something before it broke. They will be ramping the stuff up more and more. Also... New races will never be a part of a living story (they are saved for expansions) but ArenaNet is not afraid to add in an Elder Dragon fight via the Living Story as a build up to an expansion being opened.

Spike mentioned that the Devs mentioned that an Expansion is due out this Fall

I am glad that you found a play style within the game that suits you and that you enjoy.  I do wish, however, that you could find a way to recruit for sPVP without disparaging those of us that enjoy other aspects of the game.   It is hurtful, and frankly, probably not especially effective.

FYI. I have Seven level 80s ....  So... I PvE and WvW quite a bit too (actually every day). This thread is more about "when" to PvE ---- basically pointing out that it isn't efficient to PvE and grind for hard to get Level 80 items as the expansion nears which will likely increase the level cap.  It is more efficient to Grind for these hard to get items (or save your crafting materials) after the expansion comes out

GW2 is a little over 8 months old... and if industry standards hold true... it means we probably have a bit over 3 months to a major expansion.

What does this mean??? 

It probably means in 3 months (or so) the new expansion will allow us to Level our characters to level 90 (or so)...

What does this mean??? 

It means..... all your gear... and even legendary items will be obsolete soon....... 

Games do this to start the PVE grind all over again so they can make more money off of people.... but of course it is fun (at the begining of the grind).

The point of all of this is to stop griding for your legendary items...... your acended gear (remember the stats aren't that signifcant of an improvement over exotic gear anyway --- and there is no "raiding"in GW2 that minor stats really make a difference)....

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Guess what HOWEVER ... sPvP RANK - carrys over from Expansion to Expansion ...to... Expansion.... 

So if you haven't tried it yet ... or if you just get frustated dying or ... getting beat....... we have some of the best sPvPers in the game in this Guild.  We have enough to form a tournament team again but we need more regulars.  Just go to the Guild Panel and see who is in the Heart of the Mists ---- PM them and team up...... its FUN 

Hmmm... sounds like I need to look into sPvP. But I will need help in building a viable ranger build for it.

Rangers are very powerful ATM in sPvP. Someone will need to walk you through the specifics (it's been shared amoung various Guardians that do sPvP). The two key elements are the signet that gives you regen and the trait that allows your pet to draw your conditions.

You'll end up learning far more about your profession and become far more adept in combat than if you only PvE or WvW.  For instance I can usually beat a level 80 (in WvW) with full exotics and legendary weapons with a sub 80 character simply because they don't know how to fight and are not proficient with their profession.

Learning to fight from sPvP experience is far more valuable than grinding for PvE cosmetics or even more than the small stat increase that you get from ascended gear.

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See recent posts above for other pics (don't have a good PVE outfit yet for my engineer - only sPVP outfit shown).  If people want to see my Charr Warrior and Mesmer Asura  - I can post those (but was thinking there were alot of pics here already).

Enjoy 

Welcome