I’ve enjoyed the maps brought by purchasing HoT. The gliding skill adds a bit of giddiness being able to glide instead of navigating fall depths for all maps (except WvW).
HoT maps are intimidating at first, especially if you don’t have exotic gear and knowledge of the mobs. Once I learned that, I’ve enjoyed the pace of HoT maps (when I know I need 2 hours of commitment). I feel LS3 would bolster the core Tyria map (non-HoT).
I’d always hoped that the expansion would enlarge the base Tyria map. I’m doing mapping on my alts and notice the lack of challenging content in the low-level zones. Many champs are missing, many dead-end caves are lacking the champ/vet that used to guard it. Those were fun memories for me as a newbie and never a deterrent from playing PVE. Some should be brought back.
I resent games that make the low-level zones a cake-walk to ‘hook’ the newbies. This game was originally about teamwork/solo-play. The low level challenges have been deprecated since the original release. Maybe if you thought the reward was a little high at first . . . adjust that, but don’t remove the challenges.
Please add some effort on expanding Tyria. The current ‘end-game’ zones require a longer period of dedication than I am often willing to commit to. I have ascended gear, but staying ‘active’ for 2 hours with no break is a bit demanding.
For example, why endure the long Jormag fight, when I can get the better rewards for a shorter stay in Fractals. I like what you’ve done with Shatterer and Tequatl to make them more strategic.
Please don’t focus soley on HoT, WvW or PVP. Give a little bit to the core game that we all came to visit and bring our friends to explore.
“John Spartan, you are fined one credit for a violation of the verbal morality statute”