Guild Wars 2

After playing around with most of the Elite Specializations during the BWE, I came to the conclusion that the only one I really want to complete is the Reaper, as none of the others really grab me (though I may try to casually fill out a few others in time). So naturally, I decided to hop straight into the Verdant Brink with my Necromancer and rush down the Hero Challenges first so I could unlock enough of the Reaper to make it competitive… but man, was that ever a mistake. It can be pretty tricky just to figure out how exactly you’re supposed to get to a given Hero Challenge, and then you’re probably going to run into mastery gating to prevent you from even getting there, and once you arrive there’s a decent chance there might be even more gating to prevent you from completing it (not that it would warn you that before you spent 10 minutes experimenting with different glider runs to get to that particular cliff).

The upshot of this was that I was extremely frustrated and logged off very unhappy.

Today, I decided to try a different tactic. I went back to the Verdant Brink with my other main, my Ele, but I have no interest in playing as a Tempest. So instead of rushing Hero challenges, I instead focused on following the story and running events, and I have to say, it’s actually a pretty well-designed and interesting map (mostly — there are some boss mechanics that are… questionable). So far I only have the jump mushrooms and gliders unlocked (I just unlocked updrafts) and they actually make the disjointed and asymmetrical terrain feel very fluid and navigable. I really like being able to leap off a tall branch and land lightly on a cliff hundreds of yards away (though I do wish it were possible to descend mid-flight without awkwardly going into a stuttering freefall — am I missing something?). The overall feel of the map is very visceral as well, with the day/night cycle doing an excellent job of breaking things up and forcing you to change tactics as the events unfold.

I have my fair share of issues with the expansion (the dungeon nerf, what appears to be the fractals nerf, the Tempest’s fundamental design flaws, the heavy story and specialization gating, etc), but I left the Verdant Brink today after a good 4 solid hours feeling pretty jazzed about it. I would encourage anyone who’s frustrated with the hard Elite Specialization gating like I am to put the Elites out of your mind and try to focus on playing through the map with your old builds for now. When you’ve gotten a few more Masteries unlocked, you’ll be able to go back, easily navigate from hero point to hero point, and generally be much less frustrated. I really wish Anet hadn’t thrown up these gates, but unless/until they lower them a bit, a zen attitude towards Elite Specs may make the game much more enjoyable for you.

Personally I am distracting myself with the revenant until Anet either changes their mind or admits they’ll refuse to change their mind.

Just doing key map exploration points. All daily rich ore nodes, all world bosses, marching through personal story for keys, going to do the achievements for season 2. I do this particularly because my rev is a sylvari, and sylvari are necessary for certain achievements.

Odd, I played my scraper right out of the gate of HoT, and having a fun time. I admit it was odd using a melee weapon with Engi, but I got used to it right away. So not sure how one can’t play elite from the start.

TJgalon.5012:

Odd, I played my scraper right out of the gate of HoT, and having a fun time. I admit it was odd using a melee weapon with Engi, but I got used to it right away. So not sure how one can’t play elite from the start.

You can play with a badly incomplete version of the spec that’s missing most of the traits and all the new Utility skills into pretty far in, sure. But a lot of people (myself included) find that aggravating and frustrating. If you don’t, good for you! For the rest of us, I hold to my suggestions that we stick to the base profession for now and put the Elite spec out of mind until we’ve grinded out a bunch of masteries.

I think the most enjoyable way to play HoT, meaning the new zones, is to just follow the storyline, get the masteries needed by doing events, killing mobs and exploring, and then continue with the storyline when you can.

If you focus right from the start on the 400 HP’s you’ll need, you’ll be very frustrated. Just go with the flow at your own pace, take the Hp’s in the maps when you can (IF you can) but don’t rush through everything because you’ll be halted at every nook and corner.

I play my mesmer old style, and i’m having a blast. Being able to kill champ challenges (not all, some are quite….weird, with a gazillion hp) with only 2 or 3 ppl is awesome.

And gliding…Oh.My.God. I simply love that stuff. Even if half the time i dunno where i’m going, it’s nice soaring through the skies trying to get to a particular spot or just seeing what hidden ledge it can take you.

I hold to my suggestions that we stick to the base profession for now and put the Elite spec out of mind until we’ve grinded out a bunch of masteries.

Words to live by. And by the time a lot of ppl are bored rushing , i’ll still be having fun discovering kitten i didn’t even know existed.

it actually quite fun, and i have 3 traits and a skill or two, and while I play the map, learning it, earning more hp, it reminds me when I first started and earning points to get stronger.

I agree with OP completely. Other than necro (which was pretty sub-par in PvE before Reaper) none of the elite specs are that much of an improvement over their standard counterparts in PvE. If I want to try an elite spec and play around with it, i go to PvP where I already have access to the entire thing. I’ve been having a ton of fun in sPvP with chronomancer, but I am just slowly working through the mastery by doing HoT stuff in general.

I will say that I’d love to have the elite spec available, and am of the opinion that 400 hero points is quite steep, but I also don’t feel that pressured into getting the specs, so I am perfectly content to take my time. A combination of some WvW and quite a bit of running around and exploring HoT maps has allowed me to make significant headway on them without getting frustrated about it.

Polismassa.6740:

Other than necro (which was pretty sub-par in PvE before Reaper)

Hey now, base Necro is underrated.

I get people’s frustration about not being able to rock their way through HoT with the elite specs. If I want to start a new character, even a Revenant, I can power level to 80 with Tomes of Knowledge, Birthday scrolls, etc. While players always had to level up their initial character, and I still tend to level my characters gradually, for many players it’s been years since they had to grind out traits/skills, while alt-leveling consumables trained them to expect they didn’t need to.

For better or worse, HoT doesn’t seem to be friendly to that. I’m so-so about the Tempest (cool abilities, but Staff > Warhorn) so I’m more intent on story progression and masteries than on hero points. It’s a mild frustration when I find a hero point I can’t reach because I haven’t obtained poison mastery, but if I were really hyped for my elite spec…

At least Masteries are a one-time thing. It should be much, much easier to unlock elite specs for alts, I think.

@OP

Funny, because the elite specs are the sole reason I bought HoT. I have literally zero interest in the jungle, loot, legendaries, or story. I’ve skipped the cutscenes I’ve gotten to so far to make the grind go faster, but have been on limited time and usually rage-logged preemptively from running around doing nothing except waiting for events.

DeceiverX.8361:

@OP

Funny, because the elite specs are the sole reason I bought HoT. I have literally zero interest in the jungle, loot, legendaries, or story. I’ve skipped the cutscenes I’ve gotten to so far to make the grind go faster, but have been on limited time and usually rage-logged preemptively from running around doing nothing except waiting for events.

I know, and I totally get your frustrating. The Elite specs were a big part of why I bought the expansion as well and it’s totally ridiculous that Anet gated them so very hard. We should absolutely keep bugging them to lower the gates at least a little, but in the meantime, the only way to save yourself from frustrating is to alter your expectations. I wish there were another option, but there simply isn’t.

I’ve been grinding hero points since release just for reaper spec… I got it today, just GS and F1 but that was enough to make the game enjoyable again.

It’s daunting knowing how many toons I have to do this too, severely regret buying more character slots.

Blaine Tog.8304:

DeceiverX.8361:

@OP

Funny, because the elite specs are the sole reason I bought HoT. I have literally zero interest in the jungle, loot, legendaries, or story. I’ve skipped the cutscenes I’ve gotten to so far to make the grind go faster, but have been on limited time and usually rage-logged preemptively from running around doing nothing except waiting for events.

I know, and I totally get your frustrating. The Elite specs were a big part of why I bought the expansion as well and it’s totally ridiculous that Anet gated them so very hard. We should absolutely keep bugging them to lower the gates at least a little, but in the meantime, the only way to save yourself from frustrating is to alter your expectations. I wish there were another option, but there simply isn’t.

I’m simply not playing the game for more than a few minutes at a time, mostly to talk to friends at this point.

Very much hoping for Black Desert to be good if this isn’t changed dramatically.

I play the new zone like I play any new zone. I run the perimeter as best I can to unlock as many WPs as I can get to, then run down the middle, again as best as one can. Mastery gating plays a major role in this map, but that’s OK. Now that I have 5 of the 6 WPs unlocked, I can teleport around doing events and picking off the other map elements to gain XP at a more leisurely rate. The goal for me for any map is to complete it and the order is of less importance, after getting the WPs.