Easy to get back into?
The best way to check would be to log in. If you havent purchased the expansion I don’t recommend purchasing it first. There was a pretty big change to traits, turning them into specialisations that is much easier to see in person than it is to explain over text. Also there have been changes to several abilities and skills (as balancing usually goes that route), and so it’s worth it to take some time to see if you are comfortable or can become comfortable with the way skills are at the moment.
If you have purchased the expansion, I also recommend logging in, but there is a lot more for you to learn about and see:
Firstly, the story continues from living world season 2, going into four new maps that are more difficult than core tyria ever was. The maps are fun to explore but ARE difficult, beware. I actually havent played in a while so I don’t know if the new HoT maps have had their difficulty for solo players reduced since then. If someone could confirm the state of HoT maps compared to launch, that would be great.
Secondly, a whole new system: Masteries (which are exclusive to HoT owners)! Instead of gaining new levels, your experience points go towards the new masteries that are HoT exclusive. Masteries are split between core tyria zones and HoT zones , so that’s always something to be aware of if you’re trying to gain xp for one mastery instead of another. Masteries are basically new ‘abilities’ in the form of different methods of interacting with the environment. One HoT mastery is gliding, which at launch was exclusive to HoT zones, but is now available everywhere you can play. Gliding is it’s own branch of masteries, meaning you can level up the gliding ‘branch’ and improve your gliding ability. There are other branches too, but those are specific to HoT zones. If you have HoT, gliding is the most relevant when you’re outside HoT zones. On the other hand, in core tyria there are three ‘branches’, which are fractal related, legendary related, and a third branch called ‘pact commander’, which affects basic gameplay (such as increased runspeeds in cities and, at the highest level, the ability to autoloot without pressing any buttons among a couple of more that I cant remember at the moment). One more thing to note, masteries are account wide, so once you unlock gliding on one character, every character can glide no matter what level they are at.
Then, we get into the Elite specialisations. Elite specialisations require a very large amount of hero points (250 if I recall correctly. At launch it was 400 but after feedback, it was changed to the 250 it now is) so you’ll need to either do a large amount of legwork in core tyria (which if you got all the hero points in core tyria, it still wouldn’t be enough) or you can tackle HoT hero points. I recommend a combination of both, since each HoT hero challenge is worth 10 hero points. In the first HoT map many are soloable but after that, you’re going to need a group, and thus the recommendation of obtaining all core tyria hero points to make life easy.
Onto the specialisations themselves, they add the ability for each class to wield a new weapon, a full set of utilities, a new heal and a new elite revolving around the theme of each specialisation. The specialisations also either add a new class mechanic ability or alter current abilities (with the exception of the thief elite, which adds an extra bar of dodge instead). So while it might take a while to attain, the elite specialisations add a newish way of playing your class(es).
(part 1/2, sorry i didn’t expect it to be so long)
A new profession: Revenant! A wielder of mist magic and able to call about legends of the past (both heroes and villains!), exclusive to HoT purchasers, this profession also has an elite specialisation that needs to be unlocked by hero points too. However it offers a completely new style of play, allowing the ability to swap your utility bar for another (though unfortunately, for revenants, each utility bar cannot be altered, instead each ‘set’ of utilities sits around the theme of a legend. You have two slots for legends that you can alter out of combat, but once in combat you can only swap between your two chosen legends). Revenants also utilize a new mechanic alongside the legend/utility bar swap: energy! Other than weapon skill 1, each skill uses up some energy from your energy bar, with most utility skills using more energy than weapon skills. Energy constantly regenerates though, so if you run out you’ll be back in the battle in no time. If you swap legends you also reset your energy level to 50 out of 100, and this happens whether you’re in or out of combat. the energy bar rests at 50 outside of combat and begins regenerating to 100 once you begin combat. One more thing. each legend has an ‘upkeep’ skill, meaning that it will constantly use energy for however long you keep using the skill for, until you disable the skill, swap legends or run out of energy.
There’s also the introduction to raids but you mentioned being casual, so I’m not sure raids would interest you. Still worth mentioning anyway (like the fact that raids are 10 player experiences).
That’s all the HoT stuff, but there’s a bit more.
Living world season 3 officially began a few months back. Living world season 3 story takes place after the events of HoT and, because you missed those releases, you’ll need to purchase access to them on the gemstore (someone please confirm this).
Living world season 3 also opens another ‘branch’ of masteries that are relevant in the all new maps that have been released for the story so far! The masteries don’t really affect your ability to traverse previous HoT zones or core tyria zones apart from the latest mastery that was released with episode 4 that provides a universal downed skill. Since masteries are account wide, once you unlock that skill, it becomes available for all characters.
That’s everything I can think of. Give it a try and see if you’ll enjoy the game again (but don’t buy HoT until after you’ve reacquanted yourself with your current class. If the current state of your class(es) aren’t up to your satsfaction, then it’s not worth purchasing HoT).
Good luck!
(Part 2 of 2, again sorry didn’t expect it to be so long)
Get your elite spec by playing through HoT’s story and you’re good to go. Ascended and legendary items are still the best in the game.
Thanks for all the info.
I don’t have the expansion yet. I guess I’ll log in and look at things before I decide.
You won’t find Living World Season Three Episodes in the Gem Store, but you can purchase them with Gems through the Living Story section in the Hero Panel.
Welcome return, and good luck.
I left the game a month or so before the expansion came out and am wondering if it’s easy to get back into it or has too much stuff changed making it difficult?
I was always fairly casual. I have one legendary and never got into crafting ascended items.
Just debating getting back into it.
I got back to the game after HoT launch after pretty much only levelling to 80 and playing some dungeons (mostly story) with friends back on vanilla. I had a friend to tutor me on some basics, but I’d still say it was very easy to get back to the game.