Guild Wars 2

Well, it’s been a while since I posted, or played for that matter, I hope things have been going well for all of you , that populations are tip top, pugs for dungeons and meta events are plentiful, and that WvW and sPvP are brimming with players. I know most people would dream that a game would collapse behind them when they left, but, I had no such dream, in fact, I hoped things would go well enough to justify a whole new expansion, and it seems it has. So. ta da.. I’m back to check it out .

Now, I left because I was unhappy with the HoT expansion and as opposed to playing a game past its’ point of fun, I simply took my own advice and moved on to other games.

HoT made it clear that Anet was moving away from it’s casual base to cater to other gamer demographics, which is fine, it’s their game, and they have every right to do whatever they want with it, my only option is play or not play , so I opted out, but, I am piqued about PoF, however before I download the game, I am wondering if PoF is more like the Core game, or is it more like HoT.

I think you need to give examples of what you consider casual, because as casual goes, GW2 has it in spades and just might not mean what your definition of casual is.

There’s a free Beta Weekend starting tomorrow; you can check it out for yourself. I understand that means downloading the game, but you’ll only get opposite opinions here on the forum. Besides, no one really knows yet what the expansion has to offer, in full.

Good luck.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

There’s a free Beta Weekend starting tomorrow; you can check it out for yourself. I understand that means downloading the game, but you’ll only get opposite opinions here on the forum. Besides, no one really knows yet what the expansion has to offer, in full.

Good luck.

I thought people already had previews of the expansion?

Nope, only a few select Partner Participants. The free Beta Preview Weekend starts Friday, August 11th.

Come join the fun! =)

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/get-ready-for-the-guild-wars-2-path-of-fire-preview-weekend/

STIHL.2489:

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

There’s a free Beta Weekend starting tomorrow; you can check it out for yourself. I understand that means downloading the game, but you’ll only get opposite opinions here on the forum. Besides, no one really knows yet what the expansion has to offer, in full.

Good luck.

I thought people already had previews of the expansion?

There was a press meeting in which some members of the press were able to play the demos that we will get this weekend and next. But no demo has yet been publicly available.

yeah only special ppl like wooden potatoes already played it and made vids on youtube about their experience. The rest of us have to wait til tomororw for the beta, and teh following weekend is the beta to try the elite specs in wvw/pvp

From what i have seen though, it’ll be a mix of HoT and core. The mastery system isnt indepth like HoT was, so will be faster to do them. That maps are more for exploring too with classic gw1 monsters that are upgraded. Like the hydra’s which are really awesome now. And lore has been added with regards to the elite specs. So id say it’s a bit more casual just cuz it might feel less grindy then HoT was when it first came out.

STIHL.2489:

Has Anet Remembered the Casuals?

No, not even a little bit.

Like anet ever forget about the casual.

zealex.9410:

Like anet ever forget about the casual.

It did.. very much so, with HoT. Which is why I am asking if they decided to remember us with this upcoming expansion.

If you don’t think Anet forgot about the casuals when making HoT.. then.. simply put.. you’re not a casual so would not notice it. No shame in that.

STIHL.2489:

It did.. very much so, with HoT.

In what way?

scionofhorus.8629:

STIHL.2489:

It did.. very much so, with HoT.

In what way?

Well for openers, and this is just walking into the zone, they made travel around the zones multi-leveled (and requiring at last some masteries) thus turning each zone into ginormous jump puzzles.

But, if you really had not idea of the many thing that were done that made HoT unfriendly towards casual players, so much so that you needed to ask this question, I am going to wager that you are nowhere near close to being a casual player yourself, so, no offence to you in any way, but it would be impossible for you to gauge if PoE was in fact casual friendly or not, thus you really could not answer my question.

I took a year off too because how terrible HoT was and how I hated every minute playing in those maps. I still hate these, meta events are still awful and exploring the maps solo annoying.

But, HoT is not last content Anet has added. You should try out Living Story Season 3 to understand where the game is heading. I have tried both HoT maps and LS3 maps recently, and they have improved a lot. There are still meta events but they are not blocking your exploration anymore. There are still enemies, some pretty annoying, but groups of veterans do not jump on you every second anymore.

Draconis Mons is only new map designed by same madmen who did HoT maps, which makes it confusing and impossible to travel without guides. Luckily, it is just 1 map, and you can avoid it after going through the story, just like you should avoid HoT maps.

Are LS3 maps more casual friendly? Yes. We will also soon be able to test new expansion maps but from LS3 I have hopes again.

STIHL.2489:

zealex.9410:

Like anet ever forget about the casual.

It did.. very much so, with HoT. Which is why I am asking if they decided to remember us with this upcoming expansion.

If you don’t think Anet forgot about the casuals when making HoT.. then.. simply put.. you’re not a casual so would not notice it. No shame in that.

I think you are using a different definition of casual than most people would. If by casual you mean “no inclination to do anything challenging” and “just want the face roll easy status quo to remain” then I’ll agree.

Most people would simply define “casual” as someone who plays on an irregular basis or less than X hours per day. Not playing much has nothing to do with being able to play HoT.

HoT can be super casual, the events are on all the time, you can literally do one within 30mins anytime of the day, the maps hardly need any of the masteries to get around, I didn’t unlock much of them for weeks or months after launch and played through HoT no worries, casual as.

STIHL.2489:

scionofhorus.8629:

STIHL.2489:

It did.. very much so, with HoT.

In what way?

Well for openers, and this is just walking into the zone, they made travel around the zones multi-leveled (and requiring at last some masteries) thus turning each zone into ginormous jump puzzles.

But, if you really had not idea of the many thing that were done that made HoT unfriendly towards casual players, so much so that you needed to ask this question, I am going to wager that you are nowhere near close to being a casual player yourself, so, no offence to you in any way, but it would be impossible for you to gauge if PoE was in fact casual friendly or not, thus you really could not answer my question.

I feel you, I’m trying HOT for the first time and navigating the maps is a freakking nightmare. Imo when you play a game you should relax and enjoy it, but most of those maps are so kitten annoying and full of hordes of enemies that constantly harass you that I get so kittened to the point I just quit the game.

I really hope that POF is different, I’m starting to regret buying it sight unseen.

OP, while you may self-identify as casual, there is little agreement among all who so identify. Some think of the word as meaning preference for easy content; others for limited time spent playing; still others for solo-only play. There may be as many understandings of what “casual” means as there are people using the term.

Based on what little you’ve told us, I’m going to guess your definition refers to dislike for vertical navigation and maybe dislike for HoT mob difficulty, thought the latter is a leap.

What I can do is tell you a few things.

• Living Story Season 3 zones moved a bit away from HoT design parameters in some ways, but not in others.

1. There are event chains, but no over-arching map meta such as we see in the 4 HoT zones. Participating in events is more on a drop-in basis, as we saw in core, and less dependent on consulting timer sites and hoping to use LFG to get to the one or two active map copies.
2. Mobs in LSS3 zones are not particularly difficult, with a few exceptions. Some of them do have what I find to be annoying mechanics (When you “kill” a White Mantle Mesmer, for instance, it turns out you’ve killed his/her clone, and then need to kill him/her, all while it and then s/he are spamming the bright pink beam of Mesmer Greatsword 1 at you).
3. There is still a vertical component to movement in LSS3 maps, but I find getting around in them to be quite a bit easier, as there is a lot less of the trademark ANet, “Can’t get there from here.”

Perhaps those map designs are going to be indicative of what see in PoF, just as Silverwastes and to some extent Dry Top were precursors to HoT.

As to PoF, we know little. There will be huge zones. There will be bounties. There will doubtless be events. There will be Elite Specs and doubtless some means to unlock them. There will be mounts which have unique movement capabilities, and those capabilities will be necessary to get to some places on the maps. Mounts look to be obtained via Masteries, though we do not know as yet if there will be any major substantive changes to how Masteries are acquired.

As to whether any of that constitutes “casual-friendly” or “casual-unfriendly” to what casual means to you, well, only you can answer that. Bear in mind that the preceding is some amount of pattern analysis and some amount of guesswork coupled with the facts revealed in the PoF announcement. The best, and only really reliable indication of whether PoF will suit you or not is going to be trying it yourself, and the only cost to try the free beta weekends is the large download.

STIHL.2489:

Well for openers, and this is just walking into the zone, they made travel around the zones multi-leveled (and requiring at last some masteries) thus turning each zone into ginormous jump puzzles.

So you’re upset because the game was more difficult?

But, if you really had not idea of the many thing that were done that made HoT unfriendly towards casual players, so much so that you needed to ask this question, I am going to wager that you are nowhere near close to being a casual player yourself, so, no offence to you in any way, but it would be impossible for you to gauge if PoE was in fact casual friendly or not, thus you really could not answer my question.

Started playing with HoT after a friend recommended it. I haven’t done a single fractal or raid. I play infrequently. I’m the definition of a casual.

Your definition of “casual” is flawed. You can be a casual player and still be proficient at playing a game. If you want to mindlessly faceroll through content then I don’t know what to tell you.

I believe I am a ‘casual’ player, in the sense that I know nothing about builds, nor really care.

Yet, I was able to do content in Heart of Thorns, finish the Story (though it took me a year), complete every Living World Season 3 map, Story and Meta, …and lived to tell the tale.

If you are having difficulties, there are always players on the forums offering assistance (and, I’m sure, in-game).

I look forward to tomorrow, and the launch of Path of Fire (I just hope my potato computer is up to the task…sigh).

Good luck.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

I think you are using a different definition of casual than most people would. If by casual you mean “no inclination to do anything challenging” and “just want the face roll easy status quo to remain” then I’ll agree.

Most people would simply define “casual” as someone who plays on an irregular basis or less than X hours per day. Not playing much has nothing to do with being able to play HoT.

HoT can be super casual, the events are on all the time, you can literally do one within 30mins anytime of the day, the maps hardly need any of the masteries to get around, I didn’t unlock much of them for weeks or months after launch and played through HoT no worries, casual as.

I think you’re confusing challenging with annoying.

When you open the map and there is a huge road that leads to where you want to go, you follow the road avoiding hordes of enemies that constatly hit you slowing you down, and then you discover that the road is not right but instead it’s leading you toward a dead-end with even more enemies..that’s not challenging, that’s bad design and it’s annoying.

When you have to do a daily adventure and it takes 15 mins to get there because the map it’s a mess, there are only few WPs and you can’t use them because there is a fight that’s prevent you to teleport there..that’s not challenging, that’s bad design and it’s annoying.

When you finally get to the adventure start point and you can’t play the adventure because there is currenntly a huge and long event near that part of the map..yeah you guessed.

When you complete the adventure, get a silver score but find yourself inside a room full of enemies that charge you all at once and one-shot you..seriously wtf? Why the game doesn’t teleport you to the beginning or outside instead of leaving you there and get smashed?

All the above happended to me this morning while I was doing a daily and the beetle adventure. Was it challenging? Nope. Was it annoying? Hell yes..I completed the daily and log out because I was kittened.

I think OP had a similar experience..I wasn’t doing a raid, or pvp or high level fractals or whatever, I was doing a simple daily and some exploration and while I’m doing that, I’d like to relax and not be annoyed and kittened off by everything there is on my way.

Redden.5869:

I think you’re confusing challenging with annoying.

When you open the map and there is a huge road that leads to where you want to go, you follow the road avoiding hordes of enemies that constatly hit you slowing you down, and then you discover that the road is not right but instead it’s leading you toward a dead-end with even more enemies..that’s not challenging, that’s bad design and it’s annoying.

When you have to do a daily adventure and it takes 15 mins to get there because the map it’s a mess, there are only few WPs and you can’t use them because there is a fight that’s prevent you to teleport there..that’s not challenging, that’s bad design and it’s annoying.

When you finally get to the adventure start point and you can’t play the adventure because there is currenntly a huge and long event near that part of the map..yeah you guessed.

When you complete the adventure, get a silver score but find yourself inside a room full of enemies that charge you all at once and one-shot you..seriously wtf? Why the game doesn’t teleport you to the beginning or outside instead of leaving you there and get smashed?

All the above happended to me this morning while I was doing a daily and the beetle adventure. Was it challenging? Nope. Was it annoying? Hell yes..I completed the daily and log out because I was kittened.

I think OP had a similar experience..I wasn’t doing a raid, or pvp or high level fractals or whatever, I was doing a simple daily and some exploration and while I’m doing that, I’d like to relax and not be annoyed and kittened off by everything there is on my way.

There’s about 1 minute walk from the frog city waypoint (never contested) to the beetle adventure and it does not have any enemies on the way. Also once you’re finished, click retry and it does indeed teleport you back to beginning. Hope this helps next time you need to do it.

The word “casual” isn’t particular helpful in discussions. Nearly everyone calls themselves “casual”; it’s only other people that might consider them hardcore.

For example, there are people with over 6000 hours in the game who consider themselves “casual” because they just fiddle around. They don’t practice rotations or theory-craft builds; to them, it’s just playing casually

There are likewise people who spend huge fractions of their gaming time perfecting builds and footwork, who solo challenge mode bosses, and consider themselves to be casual because they don’t have very many hours in the game.

So please try to find another way to describe what is meant by “has ANet remembered the casuals” because as it’s written, it could mean all sorts of things to different people.

I don’t know exactly how the new PoF regions will work. But the focus on this expansion is mounts, so I assume the maps won’t be as vertical as the HoT maps were. I assume there will be plenty of flat terrain for people to ride their new mounts on.

The way I interpret the explanation of the presentation is, to my understanding, PoF is an expansion of HoT. In essence, PoF is an extension of HoT rather than the Vanilla GW2 original design (manifesto).

So, contents in PoF will be Masteries and Collections centric like HoT. There will still be form of verticality on maps, though less. Indeed, professions’ build will be heavily centralized on the PoF elite specs with an obvious advantage over everything that precede them.

So in core PoF will be basically the same with HoT with less chaotic stupid maps and mounts.

I personally don’t think we can judge it with preview. Anet is not going to put the bad side of PoF in preview, if there is any at all. Remember, HoT preview was Verdant Brink which was one of the better map in HoT and lots us of got sucked in only to be disappointed.

My advice is, if you hated HoT a lot, best wait for reviews a month or two into the PoF expansion before deciding to buy or not. Don’t rely heavily on Woodenpotatoes’ words, he can be rather a suck up to Anet at times.

STIHL.2489:

zealex.9410:

Like anet ever forget about the casual.

It did.. very much so, with HoT. Which is why I am asking if they decided to remember us with this upcoming expansion.

If you don’t think Anet forgot about the casuals when making HoT.. then.. simply put.. you’re not a casual so would not notice it. No shame in that.

Gw2 is one of the most casual friendly mmos. Mmorpgs require attention n focus, yet here u have one set of gesr that is always top, even exotic is almost just as good. No lvls beyond 80. Many ways to enjoy the game at ur phase, just look at their recent edition of adding legendary armor to spvp n wvw which only require time, not precision like in raids.

HoT was exploration next lvl in the maps, not more hc

Imo GW2 is the most casual player friendly MMORPG i ever played. You have easy acess to highend gear. No ‘’you must play’’ endgamecontent. The HoT maps are a little bit confusing and the mobs are a little bit harder to handle but if u use dodging and spend a little time with exploring you’ll be fine with it.

Most of the HP in the jungle nowadays you can easily solo or duo.

The only things for wich you need help are big metaevents or as casual like me, for some LS Bosses. But i have made good experience with asking for help in the mapchat or using the LFG.

I play on the european megaserver if you play there too and you want to give the game an other try, i can help you througth the jungle if you want for HP and MP.

So according to the OP a “casual” is someone with bad direction skills

Redden.5869:

I’m trying HOT for the first time and navigating the maps is a freakking nightmare. Imo when you play a game you should relax and enjoy it, but most of those maps are so kitten annoying and full of hordes of enemies that constantly harass you that I get so kittened to the point I just quit the game.

I agree with you that gameplay should be relaxing and enjoyable. But different people enjoy different things, and find different activities relaxing.

I’m as casual as they come, pretty old for gamer standards, with fulltime job and family (including two very “special” teenagers), house, and whatever else you can think of. I play this game whenever I find the time, to relax, to enjoy myself, to chat with friends. I refuse to grind or play any content I don’t enjoy.

That said, I love the HoT maps, and the Tangled Depths and Draconis Mons are probably my most favourite maps of the whole game. I love the exploration available on those maps, diving in blindly and exploring until I have figured out where to go and how to get to places. I love working my way around groups of mobs rather than just running through without paying attention to what is walking around.

Sometimes I die. Sometimes it’s a nuisance that I want to go places and can’t just walk straight in. But most of the time those maps are just so much more enjoyable and relaxing than going straight to an objective and being done with it.

To me, the journey really is the reward. That’s why I play MMOs in my free time, rather than just watching tv. I want to explore, I want to puzzle, I want to interact. This game sure is good for that, that’s why I’m playing this game to relax and enjoy myself. If it wasn’t like that, I’d rather find something else to spend my time with and leave this game to the people that enjoy this kind of thing.

That said, of course I’m hoping that PoF will give me more of what I love about the game, including multi-layered maps and true exploration.

My situation is pretty similar to Rasimir’s and I have to agree with him/her completely.

I consider myself casual and found DM one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences I’ve had in a long time.

Maybe it’s the definition of “casual” that’s the problem here.

That question is difficult to answer because everyone defines “casual” a bit different. So it depends on what deatures you disliked on HoT.

If it was the multilayered map design, then I have good news for you. The new zones are in the desert which means by default that they are my open and spacious then vertical. So a lot easier to navigate through.

If it was overall enemy difficulty. Then I have no idea. I guess we will find out this weekend.

STIHL.2489:

zealex.9410:

Like anet ever forget about the casual.

It did.. very much so, with HoT. Which is why I am asking if they decided to remember us with this upcoming expansion.

If you don’t think Anet forgot about the casuals when making HoT.. then.. simply put.. you’re not a casual so would not notice it. No shame in that.

I am a casual.

I dont feel that Anet forgot casuals with HoT.

I dont care for navigating the HoT maps so much, but the encounters and such are fun.

I am a casual too.

Even though I don’t play very often I was able to get enough mastery points relatively fast. I will not get all of them at the moment because some of them are just too difficult or time consuming for me, but that’s ok. I still got enough points for the most important masteries.

Navigating the new maps is always exciting and fun. I have zero sense of direction. And I was still able to find my way through the maps. Getting lost in the jungle adds to the exciting and authentic feeling of that place.

Oh, and I am really really bad at fighting. And even I was able to somehow survive the monsters in the new locations(most of the time) xD So really…if even I am able to navigate through the jungle and survive those monsters, then I don’t know what you’re doing wrong. I really suck at playing and even I was able to enjoy the game so far xD

I feel like being a casual player actually gave me an advantage in HoT, particularly regarding navigating the maps.

I wasn’t going in with a checklist of goals I had to complete as efficiently as possible so I could move on to my next set of goals. I was just going to have a wander around and see what happened. I might have an end-point in mind, whether that’s reached a particular vista or POI or the next story step or whatever, but it didn’t bother me if I didn’t get there.

In the process I got to know my way around, not by looking at the map and knowing which ‘level’ each thing was on (I struggle to read maps of all kinds, GW2s is better than many but I’m still inclined to ignore it) but by remembering how I got there.

Draconis Mons is a prime example. When people in my guild were “complaining”/bragging that they’d already finished the story in the first few hours and only had achievements to do but that was going to be really difficult because of the impossible map I’d barely started the story but was able to tell them the map was a spiral and if you just kept going up and left you’d get there because I’d gone in ignoring the mini map and the markers and just wandered around to see what I could find.

I can’t see why a multi-layered labyrinthic zone is an anti-casual thing; it’s all about if you like exploration or not.
A zone like TD offers players hours of exploration gameplay, while something like Lake Doric gets old really really fast.

Go play Super Mario Galaxy to learn how to orient in a 3D environment and then play Bloodborne or Dark Souls to learn how to die and overcome challenges. Then play GW2 and you notice how easy this game is. Players these days… deconstructing the gaming industry since 10 years. I remember the 90ies where there weren’t any masses who complained about the games. Instead you contemplated and asked yourself: what can I do to get better? Stop the whiny kittening and entitlement and overcome the ‘challenge’.

I personally don’t find HoT as non-casual as some others do. I like the challenges and yes at times it does get annoying and frustrating when it gets unreasonably hard, which can be improved on. But if casual means face rolling content, the fun probably won’t last very long.

Going back to PoF, I feel like it will be a bit of both core and HoT so that both kinds of players are satisfied. Reaching more audiences should generate more revenue.

HoT’s open zones are very nice relaxed casual content. :o

Why do people think they were not? They have enemies which can kill you faster, yes, but we are also much stronger, so this just barely evens out.

Yea I don’t get this whole “Anet forgot about casuals” thing. I think people want the game to return back to when you could just auto-attack and faceroll everything with no challenge at all. I’m a casual player. I only play a few hours out of the week and I have no trouble getting around HoT zones and have completed the HoT story for several of my toons.

I’d say that everything except raids and high level fractals are very casual stuff. You can do anything else very casually at your own pace and just as much as you like and how you want to do it.

I still consider myself casual even after 10.000 or something hours because I do not do instanced group content. I spend my time in outworld and stories when ever new one comes.

I do what ever I want to do, when ever I want to do it. I use the kind of builds I like to use and I have fun with, because I am free to do so since I don’t do group stuff. Everything in the world is open to me, just waiting for me to do it, except raids and high level fractals.

GW2 is extremely casual friendly and amazing MMO for soloer.

I’m casual too.

However:
I’ve done hot meta at least 10 times.
I’ve made it to Gold1 in pvp
I’ve finished wood box in wvw
I’ve almost made it through t1 fractals. Just need infusions for t2.

I just got back after 4 years. Everything is new to me. All in the course of 3-4 months.
I play an average of 1-2 hours a day. By average, meaning, I don’t play everyday.

So what gives? Maybe you’re just bad at dodging and lazy?

The main issue with this game being to much friendly with casuals even the game it has low skill standards to be effective…

HoTmaps were a diferent aproach on how a mmo map could work nothing more… it has nothing to do with casuals, what u guys are noticing is another thing, ive tryed those maps myself i didnt even completed HoT campaing, and it made me quit pve once for all, but that was because gw2 pve is bad, all about aoe spamand pwoer creep gameplay, and hot zones lack players for events..

As a casual player myself, I have NO idea what the OP is talking about. The game was far more difficult to solo when the expansion FIRST came out…but it got better quickly:

1. I learned to stop using green gear. Period.
2. I learned how to make money so I could buy orange gear.
3. I learned to dodge attacks and actually pay closer attention to how my characters were built. I had no reason to do so until HoT. Most things ‘til then were pretty easy to autoattack to death. At first, the expansion felt unfair, but I started to get used to it.
4. A few weeks in, the expansion got NERFED. Maybe more than once. (I don’t recall.) Suddenly, the game was fairly easy again…MOST of the time. Now the challenge was in specific areas rather than every group of pocket raptors or mordrem.
5. As the game stabilized, exploration become fun again. I could solo many of the hero point spots. I figured out how to reach more and more mastery spots. I advanced. The game was good!
6. After some time, living world chapter 3 came out…and it was GOOD! New zone after new zone. New stuff to collect, achievements to hunt, mechanics to play with (I had a blast grappling from tree to cliffside to tree).

The game’s been good for some time now. (From a casual perspective.) The devs owned their mistakes, fixed them, and even changed a lot of the grey-area stuff that the playerbase just generally disliked. I find it difficult to still beat them up over mistakes so long ago. Especially since they were so fast to fix ’em.

Regarding map design, I do at least KIND OF get that. *cough*tangleddepths*cough* …but much of it was pretty easy to learn and traverse. Especially once you got a few ranks in gliding (which itself was pretty easy). There’s a balance between an area that’s fun to explore with lots of secrets to uncover…and a freakin’ maze where you can see your goal on the map but CANNOT find which tunnel goes there (Tangled Depths).

Further, some of the design was also pretty frustrating – having to do an event chain before you could remove the vine barrier to get where you needed to go (unless you unlocked the 3rd mastery in mastery line D, went to THIS location somewhere else to teleport past the vine barrier HERE…). That was also pretty bad design IMO, but it really ISN’T that difficult to learn to get around. …but the last five or six zones have been pretty great for the most part. I think the devs learned from their mistakes in HoT and we’ll have a pretty great expansion ahead!

Sadly you’ll need to at least get mastery points from HoT maps. You’ll need up to ley-line gliding (highly recommended, or at min to lean technique) and a few others like bouncy mushrooms. After you force yourself to do something in HoT throws up a little bit then you can start having some fun because the season 3 maps are all pretty fun and awesome except Draconis Mons, steer clear of this HoT map wannabe after you get the story/mastery points from it.

You can get a full set of ascended trinkets/back of your stat choice in about a week in LS3. You can get a free ascended weapon of your stat choice by finishing HoT story and doing the broken caladbog quest (repeatable on other characters). Then set yourself a goal like 1 piece of ascended armor per week or whatever is reasonable for you to farm the gold/mats and craft. Fully kitted character in a month or so starting from nothing-ish. It’s pretty casual as long as you gear like this and stay away from raids where the elitist “meta” kids hang out. I swear if I hear that kitten word one more time regarding this VIDEO GAME…anyway, I digress. GL.

Vindicus.2130:

the season 3 maps are all pretty fun and awesome except Draconis Mons, steer clear of this HoT map wannabe after you get the story/mastery points from it.

Aw, it wasn’t THAT bad. Honestly, I probably had the most fun with that map. I LOVED the grappling gimmick. Plus, if you took the season’s maps in order and earned the masteries, it was pretty easy to use the thermal tubes to get around quickly (even before you got the waypoints). Most of the difficulty is in the scavenger hunting achievements.

At the very least, people should give Draconis Mons a try. It does seem to have the greatest number of detractors, but not everyone hated it…and it was definitely no Tangled Depths (nor even Auric Basin, which closed off paths depending on which events were completed).

ProtoGunner.4953:

Go play Super Mario Galaxy to learn how to orient in a 3D environment and then play Bloodborne or Dark Souls to learn how to die and overcome challenges. Then play GW2 and you notice how easy this game is. Players these days… deconstructing the gaming industry since 10 years. I remember the 90ies where there weren’t any masses who complained about the games. Instead you contemplated and asked yourself: what can I do to get better? Stop the whiny kittening and entitlement and overcome the ‘challenge’.

Sorry, but this post comes across as l33test. Some people face enough “challenge” in their every day lives and coming to GW2 to face more isn’t relaxing. The game has got harder and more challenging and thats not really what the Filthy Casual welcomes.

My problem with HoT is the platforming. There are many MP’s that are hidden behind platforming (gliding/jumping) that I am unable to get. I didn’t grow up with platform games, I am no good at it, and have no interest in getting good at it. A lot of people say they have far more MP’s than they need, but I can’t get enough to get all the masteries, because of the platforming.

There is one rather notorious MP that is hidden behind a lengthy set of gliding platforms. I watched a video of someone else doing it quite a few times. I tried to follow what that guy did, as exactly as possible. I always failed. Somehow or other, I simply couldn’t get the timing exactly right. THAT is platforming. I don’t care what anybody says, that is a pure definition of platforming.

Platforming is almost entirely my problem with HoT. I hate Tangled Depths most of all. It is very confusing. I have never gotten to the lowest level because I can’t find any access to it. There are no clues, whatsoever, where the heck the access point(s) are.

This game is supposed to be an MMO, not Mario Brothers. Having a few jumping puzzles for those who like them, that is entirely optional, I am fine with. But hiding important things, like MP’s and HP’s behind any of them, I am entirely opposed to.

If you mini-max you get more then enough points. If there is content you prefer not to do it can be a challenge. I got just enough points to get my elites and unlocks on what was needed and spend most of my time playing the original content.

From what i’ve seen, it’s going to be a little better with PoF than with HoT, but the game is still much more strongly tilted towards hardcore crowd than before. And it’s not better for it at all.

Well I can’t, and to be honest, I have no urge to respond to everyone, to be blunt, I am just going to flat out ignore anyone that opens with something like “’I’m casual, you need to L2P noob1!1!!!” or some such similar nonsense.

If you thought that would endear me to what you have to say, you are very mistaken.

IndigoSundown.5419:

OP, while you may self-identify as casual, there is little agreement among all who so identify. Some think of the word as meaning preference for easy content; others for limited time spent playing; still others for solo-only play. There may be as many understandings of what “casual” means as there are people using the term.

“Casual” is a mindset, or more aptly put, an approach on how someone plays the game. In simple terms, “casual” defines their motive and drive, as opposed to being serious about the game, or hardcore. Truth is, being “Casual” is irrespective of skill or time played. As how many hours someone invests into a game or how skilled they are at playing a game, have no bearing the mindset they have or how they approach the game.

In short, a “Casual” is not looking for a something serious that they have to work at or treat like a job, they are looking to escape into a fantasy world as someone might take a casual stroll in the woods to escape the daily grind of life.

In light of this new clarification I’ve edited my post to suit your requirements. (Note, when I say ‘you’ I don’t mean you personally, it’s just that the alternative is to write ‘one feels’, ‘one can’ etc. and that sounds pretentious.)

I feel like being a casual player actually gives you an advantage in HoT, particularly regarding navigating the maps.

You’re not going in with a checklist of goals you have to complete as efficiently as possible so you can move on to the next set of goals. You’re just going to have a wander around and see what happens. You might have an end-point in mind, whether that’s reaching a particular vista or POI or the next story step or whatever, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t get there.

In the process you will get to know your way around, not by looking at the map and knowing which ‘level’ each thing is on but by remembering how you got there.

Draconis Mons is a prime example. ‘Hardcore’ players will rush through the story, getting to each point as quickly as possible without taking it in then try to start on achievements and struggle to complete them because they don’t know where anything is. Whereas casual players are more likely to take their time to look around and learn thatr the map is a spiral and if you keep going up and left you’ll get to each area eventually.

I am going to say that I am a “filthy casual” first off, and I say that tongue in cheek and laughing about it. I do not play for a long period of time very often. When I do play, I do what I want to do and I have fun doing it. This said……I did not complete the story in HoT zones, because it was not fun for me. It was confusing. It was very hard, when HoT first came out and all of a sudden there were “harder” mobs and cries of “Get gud!!” from all the people who caught on quickly to mechanics. The up and down of the jungle was enough to seriously make me motion sick. I HAVE done the Living World Season 3 Story, so its not like I just don’t like doing story. It’s my FAVORITE. I just really cannot stand the HoT maps.

My husband played this game religiously until HoT came out. He absolutely HATED the up and down stuff and all the levels in the maps. He spent about a couple of hours in the jungle and said “…..**** this.” He has not been back since except for once during the Halloween fest, and even then, after an hour, he said “I don’t want to play too long and get excited, then know I have to go back to that stupid expansion for my masteries.”

He is VERY good at MMO’s, has been playing them for around 20 years now, and he is not one that just gives up easily. And yet two hours in HoT maps ruined this game for him. It was just TOO different, TOO quickly. I think if they had released an expansion that had a happy medium between Core Tyria, and HoT first, to get people used to the idea, then it would not have left such a bad taste in a LOT of people’s mouths.