Guild Wars Lore - GW1 Playthrough?

Dia Duit (hello) fam,

I recently read the book Ghosts of Ascalon by Matt Forbek and I thought the world of the book. I really love the characters, the adventure, the surprises, and most of all the Guild Wars'iness of it all.  I'd like to ask the lore Gods as well as the GW1 players if you think GW1 is worth the lore and if it correlates to GW2 well. I played GW1 VERY briefly back in the day and would like some input before I throw money at it. I'm looking for the lore experience and a great story.  Sometimes when I play GW2 I don't feel the connection of a background story and thought GW1 might provide insight to the stories I'm going through in GW2. It can be a turn off in gaming because it feels almost mind numbing not knowing enough. I want my head to explode from lore overload! But, I don't want to have to read it all on Wikipedia or something.

Also, if you know of any other guild wars books, please recommend!

Respectfully,

Kyle

GW1 provides a limited history to GW2.  I'm not sure it "connects" very well.  I've played both extensively and they are very very different in story and playstyle. 

Most of the "connection" we see is names of places and names of ancient heroes. 

GW1 is a much less complicated game as well.

Only way you'll know is to play it for a while.  (I'm assuming when you say throw money at it, you're either talking about expansion packs or you've lost your login information."

Personally, the only thing about GW1 that connects to the game for me, is some of the character names of GW2 are descendants of characters in GW1.

I love the Guild Wars books!  I have read them all.  They are as follows:

Sea of Sorrows by Ree Soesbee

Edge of Destiny by J. Robert King 

Ghost of Ascalon  by Matt Forbeck and Jeff Grubb

I enjoyed all of them and highly recommend if you are into the lore.

Thank you both!

ill be sure to read those books. I may just do a run-through on gw1 for fun

Every now and then I log back into GW1 for the nostalgia. And the happiness lasts right up to the point where I am killed by a pop-up treasure chest, or by my npc followers boxing me in like angry nightclub bouncers  (the absence of the "jump" ability in GW1 is lethal when the props are against you).  At that point, the nostalgia vanishes and I run back to GW2.  I still love the soundtrack and the books, and my Monk/Necro with his switchable secondary professions, but honestly, these days, the gameplay gives me ulcers.

Definitely recommend the books though. 

I know you said you don't want to look it up on Wikipedia, but the original GW game wiki (as opposed to generic Wikipedia) is still maintained by players, is up to date, and includes a section on lore. http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Lore

Another resource that might be somewhat helpful is (surprisingly) on Reddit, and is also current: http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2uiyim/psa_for_those_who_want_to_keep_up_with_the_lore/      It includes a couple of links to playthrough videos done from a lore standpoint, which might be helpful instead of or in addition to, working through the content yourself, depending on how you want to approach it.