I was always super interested in legendary equipment, so when I came back to the game after years away I just picked one weapon from the list, put it into gw2efficiency, expanded it’s required materials list and looked through it until I saw something that requires me to do content which I felt comfortable doing, like map completion or open world events. From there I naturally re-familiarized myself with the game as I kept working towards the legendary.

There are more potential companions in the game than just the ones available as origins, don’t worry about being stuck with those three

If you don’t directly pay for a product but engage with it, you are still supporting it. You are driving up user metrics, generating ad revenue, creating content for others (videogames, social media). It’s complete nonsense to claim you are against something but then continue to use it

This does apply to the current Reddit situation but I formulated this view a while back after quitting Gacha games, people playing those titles looooooove talking about how they would never pay a penny due to the evil monetization but they have no qualms about recruiting friends, writing positive reviews, being content for paying players to lord over, creating guilds etc.