People have said Heart of Thorns is an expansion that is too small to pay the price it is asking for. People do not like the thought of rebuying a game to get an expansion, making the price seem too high again. The reason for that is simple it is to entice new players to join the game.
Think about it like this recently before Heart of Thorns they were selling the base game at two different price levels. $10 and $15 much less than normal. When Heart of Thorns came out they offered to give the player that amount back if they got HoT. If someone had an account before that they offered an extra character slot, and an outfit for being a veteran. Ok we all know this.
Even though HoT is small in comparison to some MMO expansions it is making some huge progressions that the others do not. You cannot compare it to let’s say Factions. Factions was a separate game in itself which you could connect to other guild wars games, but you did not have to. Same with nightfall. Of course it was better if you did that some did not though. Compare it more with Eye of the North.
Guild wars 2 is a progressive game that is constantly over time changing unlike other MMO’s it is not just adding new content it is changing the design also. Most MMO’s of course do add new content new levels etc, but they hardly ever change the design of their games. Mainly because they have been hugely successful over time.
Quite a few people quote the GW2 manifesto video and say HoT is going against that because it has more so called grind in it. So what to be honest grind keeps you busy. The point is this you do not have to grind out those things if you do not want to that is your choice it can be done over time where you can enjoy the game more. Of course there are always people in a huge rush to go no where.
People also compare Guild Wars to Guild Wars 2 I find that hugely funny, because they are no where near the same game and they shouldn’t be. They say GW is the better game, because it was more polished. That is true after 10 years of course its more polished. GW’s took time to get that way, but at the beginning it was not that way, people had to learn, nerfs and buffs had to be implemented, skills had to be added and then separated from pvp even the separation of countries had to be intertwined into one polished game.
The same is happening to GW2, but people do not see it. It is always about each individual player for some, not the game itself. This game is based on cooperation not solo play. If you are good enough to do most stuff solo that is fine it means you are a good player. The game is designed both ways actually. Solo when you want, but if you cannot plenty of people to help you with your goals. I used to solo tomb of the primeval kings on my assassin. It made me some platinum and all kinds of stuff, but it was kinda boring alone. I also had a Barrage Pet ranger group that did it too. I found that way more fun, but the other was more profitable.
The progression is in the masteries and elite specializations. This way they can and will add new things to do in the game itself. The new specializations will make the old GW duel profession system pale in comparison over time. I would like to see the ability to save builds soon though. Including a place to store armor and trinkets in with the builds.
The mastery system will make and is making leveling obsolete. Think about it like this in GW our max level was 20 the max level of monsters was 32. The hits were in the hundreds from the player and maybe 800 max from a level 32. GW2 our max level is 80 and the hits are much higher 1,000-20,000 range (could be more or less). So the higher the level you go the numbers are just larger. Does that make the game any better? Not really its just higher numbers.
The masteries are also a way to give players more abilities that are based on the entire game itself not battle. It may however enhance battle here and there though. It does take some time to do though.
People want perfection in an imperfect world especially in an MMO. GW2 is not trying to be that MMO it is trying to coexist with it by being different. Sometimes that means trying things that may or may not work for some. If it does not work very well at least they admit it and try something new. The WvW revamp will be a good example, because Desert Borderlands was not a success, so maybe this will fix that.
Be patient this game is going to last for years like its predecessor.