Guild Wars 2

So, I don’t think I have seen a thread on this yet so I decided to make one. I am curious what people’s favorite and least favorite maps in the game are, both HoT and base game in terms of fun and gameplay. Especially since the new maps differ so much from the old maps. So, post your favorite/least favorite maps (not including cities) below and lets see what people actually like.

Here are mine:

Favorite: Fireheart Rise
Lots to do and explore, fun hearts and events as icing on the cake and not the whole cake.

Least Favorite: Silverwastes
Grindfest, very little to do if you aren’t farming.

Yeah, been a while since one of these.

Fave: Wayfarer Foothills (even post NPE). Norn are my favourite player species and I think the starter map does a decent job to help a player to start learning about them, and get into the struggle against the Sons.

Least: either Metrica or Brisban. Not sure why but I just don’t feel any sort of vibe through those maps. Even my Asura start in Wayfarer.

For favourite, I would probably choose Timberline. I just love the scenery there. I still have a soft spot for Queensdale though.

Least favourite, and unlike the OP, I would chose Fireheart Rise. It just reminds me of drought and bushfires. Plus you can’t take three steps in that place without something trying to chuck rocks, bite, sting, burn or otherwise do you harm

I am not fond of Bloodtide Coast either. I just don’t like the colours.

Let me just clarify again: I don’t mean the looks of the maps, I mean how fun they are to play game play wise. Personally I hate the look of fireheart rise, but the gameplay was one of the most fun experiences I have had map exploring in this game.

Favorite map: Labyrinthine Cliffs
Home of the Bazaar of the Four Winds! I loved the vibrant colors, Canthan-esque architecture, and the large wooden airship. It was a map full of energy; NPC merchants selling their wares, and adventurers conjuring strange new magic around every corner! It was a lot of fun harnessing the Three Aspects to explore the map. I can only imagine how awesome it would be if we could use our gliders there!
(Too bad the map is now scrapped, and won’t likely ever be coming back… RIP)

Least favorite: Dry Top
On the other hand, despite being a (poor) replacement for Labyrinthine Cliffs, I absolutely hate Dry Top with a burning passion. I personally find it difficult to navigate, and I often get lost or take a wrong turn somewhere. The sandstorms are annoying as hell, and makes navigation even more frustrating for me. Using the Three Aspects is not one bit fun on this map. Plus it is a sad reminder of the terrible fate that befell the Zephyrites…

Favorite(s)
Caledon Forest — I’ve started so many sylvari, this map just feels like home. I like the variety of events and hearts, from infiltrating the nightmare court to asuran research and quaggan rescuing. I also really like the jumping puzzle for some reason — whenever I see Morgan’s Spiral is up I want to start climbing.

Verdant Brink — I’m waiting to explore other HoT maps until I’m a little further along in the story; however, I’ve enjoyed VB more than any other map in the core game. The events really feel like they’re going somewhere, and there’s more teamwork with other players offering to help with hero points or that elusive bladed coat. Also, I love gliding and the fact that I can accidentally fall off a cliff, start following updrafts, and discover a completely new area. Sometimes I glide halfway across the map before I realize how far I’ve gone.

Least Favorites
Orr maps. I really wanted to finish the personal story, so I had to desperately run from waypoint to waypoint trying to find the route to the beginning of the next instance before I died (and had to start over anyway because the waypoints were contested). The grimy look of things didn’t help (VB is hard, but I can at least appreciate the scenery). I’m sure Orr was probably a lot more fun closer to release, when more people would do play there, but I hardly see anyone, and mostly they’re just mining ore and ignoring dynamic events.

Either Caledon for general cool looking hangout and clearing multiple times on alts or Auric Basin for endgame farming stuff, and it’s pretty. Too bad they removed the TP from Caledon though~ always crafted there. Now the Grove is my favorite Hangout.

An issue with Auric Basin as well is it goes from one of my favorites to least favorites when every single WP in the zone is contested… It then takes hours to get around.
It still has nice events to do though and lotsa xp from the champion HPs and other fun stuff to murder violently, except for those annoying T-Rexish Dinos that charge knockdown and spam blinding diarrhea everywhere… There’s an interesting borderlands ending to the Meta~ but it’s rare that it succeeds with pugs and needs organized taxi. ;< Oh, and it has a magical golden chicken.

Least favorite map is Dry Top. Farming for Mawdrey, Amber skins and etc is the most unenjoyable map grind I’ve experienced. Getting around is a pain, farming the dull limited amount of events for keys is a pain, looking for chest is a pain, waiting for sandstorm is a pain, and RNG fossil grind is a pain.

My favorite map is probably either Bloodtide Coast or Kessex Hills.

Both are very chill maps. Neither will stump you mentally over “How do I get to that Vista??” or anything like that and neither have extremely difficult enemies to defeat (Although the Destroyer Cave in Kessex can be depending on your class and setup). Bloodtide is fun with pirates, varying weather and some varied underwater exploration while Kessex has that home-ish feel and Wizard’s Castle/Tower paying homage to the first game. Both the perfect balance of fun and exploration.

My least favorite map is the Orr Maps.

The scenery is terrible, the placement of waypoints/enemies/events/ect is terrible and it’s a hassle to get to where you need to go because you know every time you visit that whatever waypoint you go to is going to be contested for no reason.

I do however respect the art that is there and the mentality behind it, with them having underwater elements on the land as it has surfaced and the decay… I know it’s supposed to be unpleasant to be there, but I think they took it overboard to the extent that it makes the game in those sections anti-fun and I’ve thought the same thing since release.

For me there was no thoughts of “Wow, I want to see more of these maps and explore!” and instead I had thoughts of “Man this sucks… I can’t wait to be done with all this so I can get out of here!”.

Frostgorge is my favourite for variety and number of enjoyable events. Stacked with a decent meta, champs, great scenery, deep underwater to explore, interesting lore and races….this is how future explorable zones should be modelled on.

Im not a fan of early Ascalon zones at all. They lack something I cant quite put my finger on.

Most under utilised zone goes to Southson. This needs so much more, including events and hero points. Honorable mention to Snowden for being a gorgeous snow level…with virtually nothing going on it

Best starter is Queensdale for me, followed by Metrica.

Favourite: Caledon forest (it actually feels like you’re in a different world), Auric Basin (This remains the most beautiful HoT map, meta is achievable unlike VB and TD).

Least favourite: Drytop… I don’t like desert looking place. The events are not fun and I don’t like the sandstorm. I rarely play this map.
Orr because it’s annoying and again, desert/dead looking.
Silverwastes, dead looking place. Plus that really annoying spinning flower that makes me want to rage quit.

Favourite: Diessa Plateau – I can make 4 gold in an hour easily just farming the trees and plants. As far as prettiest and most majestic? I’d say Mount Maelstrom. I really like the variations in land-types there.

Least Favourite: All of the Orr maps for the same reasons Sky.8035 listed right above here..

Most favorite: Timberline Falls, Metrica

Least: TD. Of all the MMO’s that I have ever played in my life, TD is the absolute worst zone I have ever experienced.

PvP favorite: Tough call, but anything with decapping that’s just straight up cap and decap. Least favorite: Skyhammer, though actually using the cannon is fun. It isn’t fun however to have the cannon used against us or have all that falling risk. Fighting areas are too cramped and narrow.

PvE: Favorite: Probably Tangled Depths because it’s easy to get lost and the layout itself adds to challenge with some dead ends and confusing twists and turns, so knowing my way shows I mastered the area, lots of nooks and crannies to explore and mob groups require some strategy to deal with. The waterfall dive is fun, got there because I thought I found a jumping puzzle since you can calculate that it’s possible to glide from a helicopter to a helicopter blade then onto the cliff. Up that ramp is the free mastery point for diving and a vista. I’m not even done exploring it yet. Then you have the meta which is very unfriendly for casuals and PUGs, meaning if you clear it it shows skill and coordination on your part. Rata Novus is also a really cool place and those big frog people are kinda cool like the one I agreed with on the story mission from Verdant Brink.

Least favorite: I don’t know, many lower level maps seem to be in line with each other. maybe Queensdale, it’s generic, bland, a starter zone so you don’t get any of the necessary mats for ascended crafting, and not really much to do there once you fully explore it.

“Least: TD. Of all the MMO’s that I have ever played in my life, TD is the absolute worst zone I have ever experienced.”

Maybe why you think it’s the worst is actually proof that it’s the best ironically? The map pushes you to scout your environment, not just for enemies but the actual land itself. Everyone on the scale from “How do I equip stuff?” to “I just earned some cash at the ESL tourney! Suh-weet!” should be represented. Besides isn’t breaking into a new level of skill a lot of the fun with these games? That’s what Tangled Depths does, pushes you out of the comfort zone so one learns better and obtains more skill.

Aguri.2896:

Let me just clarify again: I don’t mean the looks of the maps, I mean how fun they are to play game play wise. Personally I hate the look of fireheart rise, but the gameplay was one of the most fun experiences I have had map exploring in this game.

I really like how they make getting to a rich platinum node an actual challenge. You basically size up the environment, calculate jumping trajectories, then arrive. And there’s lots and lots of enemies to slay. It’s quite polluted, meaning aesthetically the player knows that something’s wrong so it works there from a narrative perspective too. It’s really made clear that bad people who really want us dead run the place (Flame Legion in this case). I think it’d be great for part of living story season 3 or 4 to take place there if we’re going to Flame Legion territories next.

Best Starter Map:

Metrica Province: I love how the scenery, the hum of Asura tech, and the gentle music mesh together.

Best Map:

Timberline Falls: It’s simply gorgeous. I can almost feel the crisp, cool air whenever I go there.

Worst Map:

Any of the Orr maps really. If the developers were going for dreariness, they got it right.

Best City

Rata Sum: For many of the same reasons as Metrica Province, but with the added bonus of having all the services nicely arranged and easy to get to. By the way, have you seen the Rata Sum sky at night? Beautiful!

Divinity’s Reach gets a close runner up as it’s the only “city” that actually feels like an actual city.