Guild Wars 2

Hey GW community,

I was just curious how the game has changed since the release of HoT.

Is HoT areas easier to solo now (I am much more solo than group-oriented)? Are graphics a bit more optimized now? Have there been more skills added (I thought the skillsets were really limited)? Etc..

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Depending on when you quit the game they did work on optimisation by adding a 64 bit client that in it self will reduce the crashes the game had esp in ds they also fixed a bug with a feature that caused massive fps drops for players. On top of that the xp gaims have been massively increased and the mobs have been nerfed to some extend tho some may argue its still hard to run around as zerker ele ^^ as for skills uhmm new skills no, they havent add any iirc, that will only happen with elite spec releases but due to balancing other skills that wasnt used that much and weapons have become more viable.

Edit: also season 3 gas started and the new map are not meta centric so theres also that for players like you who prefer to roll solo.

If you didn’t like the game before HoT or at HoT’s release, I doubt very much if much has changed for you. It’s essentially the same game with the same development team going in vaguely the same direction (that some of us noted years ago and some have only recently noticed).

However, your approach might be sufficiently different now that you might like it better. The only way you’ll be able to tell is to come back and play. That costs you nothing except a few hours of your time.

Thank you.

I guess the main things I’m looking for are the three things I posited above. Game performance, QOL changes to single-player, and added skillsets. If you or anybody else has anything to add to that that would be great.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

…same game with the same development team going in vaguely the same direction (that some of us have noticed years ago…).

what do you mean by that?

solfizz.5730:

Is HoT areas easier to solo now (I am much more solo than group-oriented)?

No, and the newer living story 3 content is a step up again in terms of “player skill” requirements, so if HoT was frustratingly hard, LS3 will likely be worse for you.

There have been few changes to things like hero points that made them easier to solo or anything like that. (Player skill improvements may have made some possible to solo that were not before, but that isn’t going to help you out any.)

solfizz.5730:

Are graphics a bit more optimized now?

Nope. I mean, I’m assuming you mean “will I get more FPS on the same hardware”, which isn’t so much “graphics” as “game client”, including all the CPU intensive simulation parts and all that jazz, but the net effect is: no, no more FPS on the same hardware, and it still bottlenecks on single core CPU performance.

solfizz.5730:

Have there been more skills added (I thought the skillsets were really limited)? Etc..

The design has absolutely not changed, so you still have roughly the same number of skills, and about the same amount of flexibility in allocating them.

This is also extremely unlikely to ever change, so either look for GW3, if it happens, or accept the current model is what you will get.

So, long story short, don’t bother, you won’t like it any more than you did before.

I can’t agree with the above poster. I think the Living World Season 3 maps are much easier than core Heart of Thorns Maps. Although I’ve not yet tried the last instance of Episode 4, I have not found the Living World Season 3 Stories especially difficult, either. I am an almost-exclusive solo-player.

As others have suggested, it would be best to try it out yourself, and make your own decision (unless, of course, you are asking whether you should purchase HoT or not).

Good luck.

My opinion was the updates in 2016 makes HoT easier than it was at launch. The 64-bit client, as long as you have 8GB (or is it just more than 4GB) helps a lot with out of memory crashes.

solfizz.5730:

Thank you.

I guess the main things I’m looking for are the three things I posited above. Game performance, QOL changes to single-player, and added skillsets. If you or anybody else has anything to add to that that would be great.

• Game performance: no substantial difference to me. Some people report that the 64-bit client is a lot more stable on maps with more stuff going on.
• QoL changes “to single player”: no idea what that might mean. The game is an MMO, so lots of changes are geared towards group play, although those (such as myself) who solo a lot can also see the benefits of some. There are still group hero challenges which most people cannot solo.
• Added skillsets. There are no new elite skills sets and I wouldn’t expect any before the next expac, whenever that is announced.

Never mind what you remember disliking: spend the same effort you’ve spent reading this thread by playing the game and see if you like it. You might prefer the game now, even if nothing has changed. Or you might hate it, even if everything you hated was “fixed.”

I can only speak from my experience but when in HoT I get massive frame rate problems after an hour or so, even though in vanilla GW2 |I have none. My drop rates are.. well..I get better drops out of the back of my dog. (3 months between decent drops and i mean 250g type drops. one every 3 months…that’s not even remotely good..) Dead maps causing me to change map every 15 mins or so…plus they keep making me go to Orr for my dailies That or Dragon’s Reach, which is almost always dead.
Yes, I tried LFG for DR, it ended up with the three of us looking awkward and we went our separate ways, vowing to never speak of it again…
Yet I keep playing as I have invested a lot of time into this game (the one before it too…)
I would just like to get the occasional award in recognition of this.

I would be more than pleased to get a 250G drop even once a year. More than once every 3 months?? That seems a bit much, in my opinion, as items worth that much are quite rare, I believe.

solfizz.5730:

Thank you.

I guess the main things I’m looking for are the three things I posited above. Game performance, QOL changes to single-player, and added skillsets. If you or anybody else has anything to add to that that would be great.

64-bit client likely improved performance. I’m not sure, though.

As far as QOL to single player – last April’s update nerfed several map events to be a little bit more solo-friendly (Wandering Champs got degraded to veterans), and the reward system was tweaked to make individual events be more rewarding (Still need cooperation for the “Big Metas” on each map – VB Night, Assault on Tarir, TD Chak Gerent, all of Dragon’s Stand). However, most encounters are best with at least one other player around, and the event chains still have 5-10 person groups in mind.

No added skillsets, and I don’t think any more will be added until the next elite spec.

Stevieboy.4192:

I can only speak from my experience but when in HoT I get massive frame rate problems after an hour or so, even though in vanilla GW2 |I have none. My drop rates are.. well..I get better drops out of the back of my dog. (3 months between decent drops and i mean 250g type drops. one every 3 months…that’s not even remotely good..) Dead maps causing me to change map every 15 mins or so…plus they keep making me go to Orr for my dailies That or Dragon’s Reach, which is almost always dead.
Yes, I tried LFG for DR, it ended up with the three of us looking awkward and we went our separate ways, vowing to never speak of it again…
Yet I keep playing as I have invested a lot of time into this game (the one before it too…)
I would just like to get the occasional award in recognition of this.

I assume you mean Dragon’s Stand. That map is on a universal timer. You have to look/join at a specific time in order to get involved.

And your idea of what constitutes a “Good Drop” is ludicrous. GW2’s loot system doesn’t work that way.

In my opinion, Season 3 maps are significantly less annoying than HoT maps. Enemies are more spread out, so it is easier to avoid unnecessary fights, and nothing hits for the same amount of damage that bristlebacks/smokescales/Coztic warriors do. Navigition is much easier as well, and they finally stopped linking everything to a meta event, so you can just explore and join whatever it is you want to do.
Having said that, is it exactly easier (especially the instanced quests)? Maybe (I would certainly say so), but not necessarily, depending on your profession, build, and goals. You probably already know this, but, just in case you don’t, necromancer/reaper is a really good choice for playing solo, if you’re having trouble.

Didn’t notice any significant performance improvements, and there are no new skills, though.

1. There’s a bit more for the solo player to do in HoT after the 4/2016 revision and the LWS3 zones are more solo friendly (if solo to you means running around alone plus anonymously joining others for group events).
2. Graphics seem the same to me as before, though I have a system and connection that rarely struggled before, and does not struggle now.
3. No skills have been added since the Elite Specs dropped with HoT. That said, the Elite specs added with HoT are still the rage in competitive modes and instanced PvE metas. The (few) balance patches since HoT launched have taken some builds out of favor (Reaper in raids) and changed functionality in other builds (engineer flamethrower is now more of a Viper’s build than a Berserker one).

IndigoSundown.5419:

1. There’s a bit more for the solo player to do in HoT after the 4/2016 revision and the LWS3 zones are more solo friendly (if solo to you means running around alone plus anonymously joining others for group events).
2. Graphics seem the same to me as before, though I have a system and connection that rarely struggled before, and does not struggle now.
3. No skills have been added since the Elite Specs dropped with HoT. That said, the Elite specs added with HoT are still the rage in competitive modes and instanced PvE metas. The (few) balance patches since HoT launched have taken some builds out of favor (Reaper in raids) and changed functionality in other builds (engineer flamethrower is now more of a Viper’s build than a Berserker one).

Good summary with one very slight addendum. There have been some limited skills added, just not profession skills.

For example, there’s a new downed skill earned through the living story and there are flying skills usable in one specific zone. Aside from that, I agree with this assessment.

Positives:
LWS3 maps are great
Fractals are much improved (you do little pieces of fractals instead of 3 in a row)

Negatives:
HOT is still HOT. If you hated it before you’ll still hate it.
Leather prices are a mess so hopefully you don’t need medium armor
Player base is down by about 25% since HOT release based on inventory scraping by gw2efficiency or based on revenues to NCSoft

LS3 maps are less annoying? O_o

Bloodstone Fen and Bitterfrost Frontier feels more like a test of how much BS can be stuffed in a single map.