Guild Wars 2

A post I made on Tumblr has caught some fire, so I thought I’d see what the forums here think of this question:

What are the 5 worst maps in Guild Wars 2? Why?

(Just remember to be respectful and constructive where ya can, folks.)

I tallied all the posts here as well as the responses I got on Tumblr. Here are the WORST MAPS!

The Worst (It wasn’t even close)

• Tangled Depths (65)

Absolutely Insufferable

• Harathi Hinterlands (25)
• Dry Top (25)

Ghastly Design

• Dragon’s Stand (23)
• Straits of Devastation (21)

Flat Out Horrible

• Verdant Brink (17)
• Auric Basin (16)

Just Terrible

• Cursed Shore (14)
• Lake Doric (14)
• Southsun Cove (14)

Awful

• Bitterfrost Frontier (11)
• Lornar’s Pass (11)
• Malchor’s Leap (11)
• Dredgehaunt Cliffs (10)
• Draconis Mons (10)

Bad

• Black Citadel (9)
• Brisban Wildlands (9)
• Desert Borderlands (9)
• Ember Bay (9)
• Bloodstone Fen (8)
• Snowden Drifts (8)

Distasteful

• Edge of the Mists (7)
• Plains of Ashford (7)
• Fireheart Rise (6)
• Timberline Falls (6)

Unpleasant

• Bloodtide Coast (4)
• Fields of Ruin (4)
• Frostgorge Sound (4)
• Kessex Hills (4)
• New Lion’s Arch (4)
• Iron Marches (3)
• Metrica Province (3)
• Silverwastes (3)

Meh

• Alpine Borderlands (2)
• Diessa Plateau (2)
• Eternal Battlegrounds (2)
• Gendaran Fields (2)
• The Grove (2)
• Mount Maelstrom (2)
• Old Lion’s Arch (2)
• Blazeridge Steppes (1)
• Caledon Forrest (1)
• Queensdale (1)
• Rata Sum (1)
• Sparkfly Fen (1)
• Wayfarer Foothills (1)

Hot maps + that last released map.

Tangled Depths
Dry Top
Draconis Mons

I’ll leave it at three. Do I even need to specify the reason for my picks?

1. Tangled Depths – It’s extremely confusing at first, and even once you’re used to the map it’s still a bit of a mindkitten. It’s also very frustrating figuring out where things are due to the maze-like structure and three levels without many access points.

2. Lornar’s Pass – The sheer size of this map is really the only thing I dislike about it, but I hate the size of it enough to have it go in my personal Top 5 worst maps. It takes sooooo long to finish it just because it takes forever to get from one end to the other.

3. Blazeridge Steppes – Another one that is just freaking huge. It also has the disadvantage of being a very boring map, for the most part.

4. Verdant Brink – Map completion here (like in TD) is a bit more of a puzzle than I care for. I also don’t really like the overall meta for VB, which just makes me feel very “Bleh” about the map.

5. Bloodtide Coast – I don’t really know why I hate this map so much. I just know that I always end up saving it for last when I do full map completion on characters, and I always go “Ughhhhhhhh” when I realize I have to do it.

All HoT maps! i wish they just didn’t exsist in the form they are now with their 3 layers!!

get rid of the layers please… it’s just like a kittenin’ maze in there!

hopefully Arena net will learn from this and make the next expac maps not so kitten ed confusing!

1. Lornar’s Pass
2. Dry Top
3. Tangled Depths
4. Plains of Ashford
5. Straits of Devastation

Generally speaking I dislike massive maps with little going on. Lornar’s Pass is the worst offender, and Plains of Ashford and Straits of Devastation fall into a similar category. Tangled Depths is just a labyrinth beyond anything else in-game and even after tons of experience with the map I still get turned around. Lastly, I dislike Dry Top because it requires following strange paths (that followed the historic LW season 1 story) to get to new areas.

1. Edge of the Mists. - wins by a country mile. What a disaster!
2. TD
3. Dry Top
4. Straights of Devastation
5. Black Citadel/Rata Sum/The Grove/Mount Maelstrom (all tied for 5th)

I want to go from A to B. It’s as simple as that. Obscure and annoying routes annoy me. Don’t get me wrong – I like ONE or TWO oddities per map, but not whole maps full of oddities. From a player’s perspective it feels as though the map artists are under employed and are just making them complex because they have nothing else to do!

1. Lake Doric: horrid hearts, annoying scaling on events. I’ve done the bare minimum here and can’t bear returning.
2. Dry Top: scramble like heck to finish events, then scramble like heck to finish more events for the big payoffs. There’s no let up and little value hanging around if you aren’t on an organized map.
3. The Old Lion’s Arch. It had character the way mold in the fridge does, if you let it grow.
4. (tie) Black Citadel & the Grove. Beautifully rendered, awful to navigate

The worst is Dragon Stand, because the whole thing is all about the meta event and there is absolutely nothing else to do there.
TD is one of the best maps in the game. Its very entertaining to explore and traverse. Almost perfectly done(could have at least few more hidden mini dungeons)

Dry Top, TD and Curser Shore are the only ones I dislike.

FWIW, to offset the folks who had Lonars, its my favorite map.

1- Harathi Hinterlands. Nearly every Renown heart is about Centaurs. It’s incredibly boring to 100% this map, I more often than not leave it until last. I really hate this one.

2- Fireheart Rise. The ‘flow’ as you explore this map gets messed up in the northern parts.

3- Silverwastes. Shame it’s good for gold but jesus it’s tedius.

4- Alpine Borderlands. Really don’t know why I hate this map. It’s too, big. There’s quite a bit of void space in the northern corners. Desert is also too big, but with how the shrines work movement is slightly better.

5- Lions Arch. The original had so much more character and depth. Now it’s a bit dull, with seacreature structures like you’d find at a waterpark.

Sad to see several of my favourite maps being mentioned here. Some brief comments on what others have said before I drop my own list:

• The meta event in Dragon’s Stand is stellar as challenging open world content, and focusing the map around supporting that event as well as possible makes perfect design sense to me. Even when the event is not running however I enjoy exploring the map as it has good rewards (easy hero points, pods) and a wonderfully lonely and threatening vibe.
• Draconis Mons is another masterpiece in late-game open world content, a proper final exam for all the exploration skills the player has developed in HoT/LWS3. The rewards and the systems which give them are great, learning the map makes navigation progressively easier and the jumping puzzle is worthy of all the praise it has garnered and more.
• Verdant Brink is probably the best map for environmental storytelling in the game with all of its rich outpost storylines. Content is easy to get into, the terrain is wonderfully varied and clear layering makes its verticality easy to naviage.
• Tangled Depth is… admittedly not my favourite map. However it’s not in my bottom 5 because several elements of the map are rather good: in particular I would single out Rata Novus, the SCAR event chain and Zinn’s JP as being a cut above.

With that out of the way, my list:
1. Southsun Cove: An exceptionally barren map. And compared with the other level 80 zones this map is far below par in terms of innovation and exploration.
2. Bitterfrost Frontier: I feel this map is somewhat flawed, even beyond its AFK problem. The meta-mechanics (Elixir, Torch, blizzard) are not substantial or attractive, and I feel that the content is not well distributed throughout the area (e.g. boring areas like the ice sheets are packed with events whilst interesting areas such as the forest treetops or Kodan township have none).
3. Plains of Ashford: I wouldn’t call this a terrible map but I feel it is the weakest of the starting zones, with less NPC/terrain variety, fewer secrets to explore and fewer events to get involved in.
4. Black Citadel – aside from the navigation issue mentioned by others, this city has had less support since launch than Rata Sum, the Grove or Divinity’s Reach which have all had LW story relevance and two of which have race-specific festivals. That said all of the city maps feel a bit vestigal at the moment and could do with some rebuilding of purpose.
5. Hard to say for this last one, I guess it would be whichever of the mid-level core zones is the most forgettable.

Worst maps imo from 5-1.

5. Brisban Wildlands- About a 3rd of the map is an underground skrit cave… boring.

4. Straits of Devastation- Too much water in the middle. Events suck compared to CS and Malchor’s Leap. Um… Not sure what else to say.

3. Fields of Ruin- As I mentioned in map chat there yesterday, it’s a lvl 30-40 map that you have to go through a lvl 40-50 map (because there are no other maps attached to it), which makes it less likely for explorers to find. Also most of the map is plain and boring compared to the other really nice Ascalon maps. Other than the Ogre Wars event, I have no reason to ever go there.

2. Bloodtide Coast- Boring looking map with too much water. Events are lame (other than TT). Just a map that has nothing interesting in it.

1. EMBER BAY- Everything about this map sucks except for the wurm event.

Now can someone do this same thread but for favorite maps? :p

Edit- Can’t believe someone put EOTM in this list. I love the layout of that map.

Malchor’s leap aka that thing I run through to get to cursed shore.

Also dry top. It always felt like an experiment.

Every vannila maps except the snowy ones. Oh excluding se2 maps as well, rest are really good.

Trying to think of any map that would be the worst and honestly cannot think of any. They are good in their own way. I love that they are not cookie cutter maps like in most MMOs that are out there. Not a one is just like another. That is part of what I like about the game. They don’t cookie cutter the maps and each one you need to figure out the best way or ways to get around.

For me;

1) Southsun Cove – It’s really dull, the terrain is boring, and there isn’t much to do or see. Shame as I do like the beach resort bit at the first WP, but it’s tiny and there’s nothing there. Would have been nice to see more of the sort of environment along the coast. (should be said I missed a lot of LS1, so maybe it was more interesting then?)

2) Lions Arch – For me it takes a bit longer to load than other maps (had to move game off my SSD), and that puts me off going there. I wouldn’t mind if it was worth the wait, but I hate the look of it since the redesign, it’s a dull, grey, soviet era looking theme park. I don’t use the mystic forge much, but i brought the portable one just to minimise having to go to LA. I actually don’t even do fractals much because they mean having to load into LA first (shame we can’t enter from anywhere in the world after joining a party)

3) Frostgorge Sound – Not a massive fan of the design on this one, the right hand side is quite nice, but everything left of the mountains from there just doesn’t feel fun to wander around, not even the dredge bit. Also kittening quaggan race!

4) AFK Frontier – Strange one this for me, sure winterberries are great, easy to grab and useful, there’s some unbound magic, there’s lots of icebound chests, there’s champs & events. But I just don’t enjoy this map, on paper it has a lot of stuff going for it, but I find I just don’t find it fun for some reason. To me it’s a useful map, just not a map I really enjoy.

5) Fireheart Rise – I’m just not a fan of most of the terrain and environment here, so I’ll only come here if I need to for a daily. I do like the JPs here though.

I was tempted to put Black Citadel in there, but it is an interesting environment / design, so maybe it’s just the smell of the Charr that puts me off going there :p

Tangled Depths – beyond horrible to navigate, no flow to the map. No way to tell what level anything is on or where egress is from one level to another. Portions of the map are totally segmented from the rest. It’s a nightmare.

Harathi – annoyingly far away from access to other maps and no reason to return. Ever.

Tangled Depths is by far the worst map in the game.

Dry Top is another one in my opinion, I hate that map. I hate navigating it. I hate the sandstorm that applies a stupid after effect to nearly the entire map.

Lornars Pass is just a map that I find boring, possibly because of its ridiculous length

1. Harathi Hinterlands - I always hated the centaur war theme. Boring for me.

2. Dredgehaunt Cliffs - centered around the Dredge and the war of the Dredge. Plus snowy areas aren’t unique since all of the snow maps look too similar to each other.

3. Bloodtide Coast - I always get a headache because of how drab it is.

4. Lornar’s Pass - TOO big. Painful to get the hearts done.

5. Black Citadel - so incredibly confusing to navigate especially for a beginner. I feel sad for new Charr players.

Professor Sprout.1560:

Sad to see several of my favourite maps being mentioned here.

I know what you mean. Some of my favorites like Ember Bay, Edge of the Mists, and Draconis Mons being listed as bad maps makes me shake my head. I guess it proves how varied all our tastes are.

I’d say none of the GW2 maps are bad – the designers and artists are all top-shelf for this game. Some maps are less engaging than others though, so here are ones I don’t find as fun so usually just avoid them.

1. Plains of Ashford (even for a starter zone it seems too basic)
2. Desert Borderlands (too big and spread out)
3. Snowden Drifts (feels like it was an afterthought)
4. Straits of Devastation (a bit too much water with not a lot of reason to go in the water)
5. Bitterfrost Frontier (so much potential misapplied such as non-useful leylines and thermal tubes, daily elixir, areas with little need to ever visit twice – this map could have been so much better)

Tangled Depths. And pretty much all the new maps. They should be a joy to explore, like the original maps were, instead they’re a nightmare where most of the times you don’t know where the kitten you’re going or how the kitten go to some kitten point.
The new features and gliding are cool ideas, but there’s no need to create maps where the main element is confusion.

Tangled Depths. Hate it with every fiber of my being. Some areas actually make me nauseous. Strangely though Draconis does s not make me nauseous. I can tolerate it better.

Everything in the Orr area is just plain boring (Layout not too bad to navigate.
Tangled Depths is cool on paper, but annoying as hell to navigate and explore.
Draconis Mons is similar to TD, except at the very least you are spiderman so it’s not as bad.

That’s it for me as far as active maps go.
I also hate the Black Citadel. That place and go to hell, followed by the Grove.

All you folk hating on HoT maps wouldn’t know clever map design if it smacked you upside the head :P Those maps are some of the most inspired areas I’ve seen in any game, and there’s a definite symmetry to them that once you learn, makes navigating them a lot easier.

On the other hand, the maps near Hoelbrak (but not the city itself, which is quite a nice zone) are a tad boring, so if I had to choose a map, I’d choose one of those. However, I think we are all forgetting that one map that even ANet agreed was beyond saving:

God kitten ed Raid on Capricorn!

• Lake Doric
  (Visually unappealing, Bad Event scaling so it is very annoying when you dont play at primetime)
• Straits of Devastation
  (Nothing happening there / Mobs who arent hard but just annoying by chilling, crippling, pulling you / No interesting Heartquests)
• Tangled Depths
  (I dont have a problem with vertical big maps like Verdant Brink for example which was open at least but Tangled Depths took it a bit too far
  Mostly disliking it because important waypoints can also be contested on top of the map being hard to get around already …)
• Dry Top
  (Nothing to do solo, a bit like Lake Doric when it comes to being forced into a very active map to achieve anything /
  I like the aesthetic design a lot though)

Instead of a 5th bad designed map i decided to name a map that i found to be very well designed:

• Ember Bay
  —> Looks awesome (that one may be personal opinion only)
  —> 3 Waypoints and well placed thermal tubes to make navigation over the map easy without just having waypoints everywhere
  —> Nice to do the Events & Content in a group but also soloable!

shalywen.9548:

Tangled Depths. And pretty much all the new maps. They should be a joy to explore, like the original maps were, instead they’re a nightmare where most of the times you don’t know where the kitten you’re going or how the kitten go to some kitten point.
The new features and gliding are cool ideas, but there’s no need to create maps where the main element is confusion.

Agree , Everytime i want to reach POI or Vista , etc … I have to google search for video guide . It’s not fun .

1 . Tangled Depths – Extremely confusing, extremely intimidating (especially for a new player), even when you’ve learned it you still get lost.
2. Dry Top – Even after completing 2 precursors and legendaries, after doing mawdrey (which I believed needed geodes, not sure), after basically forcing myself to play that map I still find it a little difficult to navigate (though it’s not that terrible). Moreso, I feel like finding events to do is a chore in it of itself and the event variety seems non-existent.
3. Straights of Devastation – Half the kitten map is water, what’s the point?
4. Draconis Mons – I don’t really get all the hate that comes with this map but it absolutely can be a little bit annoying at times. For instance, after finishing all the achievements (which would generally mean, I’ve spent quite a bit of time on it), trying to remember/figure out how to get to Heathen’s Hold with my other characters was annoying. Also the heart at Heathens Hold, I wish there was a little more to do in order to finish it as it feels like it drags on compared to the others.
5. Desert Borderlands – It’s very big and too spread out kinda ensuring that fights are few and far in between. It’s also too vertical (I personally don’t think verticality is good in a pvp environment – also creating navigation issues). Although, I do think the underground castle is pretty cool.

i greatly dislike, from most to least, Tangled Depths, Fireheart Rise, Draconis Mons, Mount Maelstrom, Straights of Devastation .

Usually due to having too few events, complicated to navigate or just boring outside of meta events.

1) Dry Top.
2) EotM
3) WvW Desert Borderlands (I wouldnt mind this as a PvE map but dislike it for WvW)
4) HoT

Tangled Depths
Draconis Mons
(navigation/exploring is horrid)

Dragon’s Stand
(when the map is quiet, navigation/exploring is also horrid)

I like all the maps for what they are. If I had to pick I’d say Southsun was my least favorite, followed by Gendarran Fields and Bloodtide Coast. Not a huge fan of pirates, and I find those zones mostly bland. In fact the human areas in general are my least favorite being the most mundane.

1. Tangled Depths (for obvious reasons)
2. Draconis Mons (same)
3. Southsun Cove (that map is just boring)
4. Bitterfrost Frontier (those blasted long-range artillery ice elementals …)
5. Straits of Devastation (always hated it)

Bloodstone fen. The whole map is there just for your irratation. You want to get from this ledge to another with a glider? Too bad, there is a ley-line in between and you are get dragged a hundred of meters away before you can cancel your glider. Or maybe you want to get up high a little bit by that ley-line go get quickly to justicar fight? Good luck trying to detach from the line, mate. The whole line-line pattern is a mess.
Then you are simply flying on a glider, and without warning an AoE pops just in front of you, and here you go, falling to a death in a form of moa.
The ore and bloodstone nodes that are blocked by a magic rifts, and you can get randomly teleported 2-3 times before you find a safe way to mine that ore or the rift decipates.
The enemies are a pain in the kitten white mantle mesmers and jade constracts are the worst mobs in the game that should never existed. By the way, the whole jade event is a mess. It is long and repetative, with too many jades, and the legendary guardian is absolutely boring fight on the level of shadow behemoth. Just tank & spank, but it takes forever. The worst event chain in the game foe me.
And the most awfull thing in that map is that the rewards are really great. The best ring and amulet in the game. I can’t just ignore it like every other map I dislike, I have grind through the map and my teeth, cause that gear is so OP compaired to every other.

worst maps?

1 Southsun Cove
due to:

• the seeming lack of events other then the few related Legendary Karka queen…
• the horrid JP “stepping stones”
• the Guild Trek no-one in our guild wants to do
• the Guildmission “Crabb Toss” which requires to run circles for 5 minutes… It feels like a Nascar oval race. If something goes wrong, it’s catastrophic.

2 Iron Marches (Ascalon)

• for not being ocnnected to diessa plateau (sounds trivial but has been a frustration since my 1st character.

3 Lornar’s Pass (Shiverpeaks)
due to:

• 42 poi’s which annoy me really really bad doing map completion.
• The guild mission golem whcih is a pain to find.
  I was notified the golem is in Timberline Falls, SO I added Timberline Falls

4 Timberline Falls (Shiverpeaks)

• The guild mission golem whcih is a pain to find.

5 Dredgehaunt Cliffs (Shiverpeaks)

• cause I find this the 3rd map I prefer not to map after Lornar’s Pass and Timberline Falls, the only good things I found here are: is I got my 1st pre here and SE.

Just for the positive note

I love ALL the HoT maps, (Verdant Brink, Auric Basin, Tangles Depths, Dragon’s Stand
I love the 4 HoT maps cause they are more interesting then the other maps, especially the layering causes the need for exploring and a sense of direction and familiarisation to be able to navigate fast and correctly. But when you have the WP’s and most masteries unlcoked navigation is a breeze. I will say Tangled Depths is the most difficult to explore, BUT it is a challenge, and therefore interetsing and not because of the mobs. I also tend to notice new and more efficient ways to travel.

I like Draconis Mons as well, I feel it is a very decently made map.
I like Lake Doric. It is ok as well, with beautiful area’s unfortunately it’s tainted by AFK farmers

Generalized:
Orr is something I look upon with mixed emotions…
I would like to see Orr changing… getting greener and seeing some powerfull normal critter returning to retake their place in Orr… pushing the Risen back to the temples
I had this feeling since I killed Zhaitan the 1st time (say 4+ yrs ago…)
The Shiverpeaks make me feel cold inside.
I find The Shiverpeaks the least inviting area if I look at it. This includes Bitterfrost… I have 8 or 9 Norns but I prefer to avoid the cold.
Ascalon
I find the inherent Darkness of Ascalon’s maps a nice touch, and the link to Lore is enourmous
Kryta
I find the human cities (Divinity’s Reach& Ebonhawke) very beautful And again I enjoy the link to Lore
Maguuma
I have little fondness of Rata Sum, but it’s not because of the map, but because of Asura in general. As a bookah-only player I prefer to stay away from Rata Sum

I Love the Sylvari maps (Mount Malestrom, The Grove and Caledon Forest)
I fell in love with those and I still am, My positive feelings with these maps also affect my feelings towards Draconis Mons

1) Lake Doric. Man was I glad when I didn’t have to go there anymore. Unappealing map design, super annoying mobs, few rewards of interest to me (I don’t do minis).
2) Malchor’s Leap. I hate Orrian architecture, and the mobs are annoying.
3) Straits of Devastation. Orr, annoying mobs and lots and lots of water with no reason to go there. The only redeeming feature of all the water full of undead is that it leaves less room for Orrian ruins.
4) Tangled Depths. Beautiful design, hard to navigate, map is still insufficiently useful.
5) Edge of the Mists. I find the map very visually appealing. The navigation is what kills it for me (ledges/bridges to fall down from, with unclear 3-dimensional layout; waypoints in keeps are useless and there is no other way to get anywhere from spawn except to walk)

Honorable mention to Dragon’s Stand for the accessibility issues due to being tied to the meta event (the map is otherwise quite well designed IMO) and Lion’s Arch (long load times, lack of atmosphere compared to the original design).

Conversely, I love some of the maps others have mentioned here. Draconis Mons is super interesting and visually appealing (although I don’t go there anymore because the rewards don’t do it for me). Dry Top is one of my favourite maps, ever.

Top 3 best maps:
1. Auric Basin. It’s got everything, a long, and viarable web of events, big jungle, giant waterfalls, a city of gold. I held my breath a good few lungburns when I first entered the area.
2. Most of Orr. it’s gloomy, and sense of desperation- environment makes you feel like a war that’s already lost. (I just wish we could go back to the age where orrians were actually a threat in combat, though, they’re so weak now)
3. Tangled Depths. It seperates the unwilling and the ungeographical people from the hardened explorers and travelers.

Top 3 worst map.
1. Dragon’s Stand, yes, dragon’s stand. Why? for it is what it is, and not what it could have been. It’s too long, too repetitive, and the boss isn’t a threat, the boss is just a health sponge. I don’t feel like I am warring against an elder dragon, I feel like I’m doing dishes at a party and people keep putting more dishes in the sink.
2. Silverwastes. Don’t get me wrong, silverwastes is a fun map, but every fort is exactly the same, and you repeat the same 2 events in a never-ending cycle of repetition.
3. Any mid-range map (25-60 maps). These are the maps are supposed to have all the lore, all the progress in the world, all the events that make you think ‘wow, this world is alive’, and instead it’s all a big open wasteland of forestation, mountain or sogen.

Hrm, difficult:

1. Lake Doric. Dull, uninspired, doesn’t fit the theme, stupid way to avoid having to do underwater content, and that horrendous farm which tried to fix issues in all the wrong ways.
2. Eternal Battleground. Too cramped, lots of wasted potential, EotM ideas should have been used here instead of there.
3. Ember Bay. Don’t even know where to start with this one, biggest flaw for me is probably that it heralded the rise of the dreaded repeatable our-designers-are-too-busy-and-underpaid-to-make-actual-events hearts.
4. Auric Basin. Pretty, but much of the area seems flawed and rather… boring. I don’t know ,difficult to describe, but both TD and VB are more 3D, more alive, more filled with things.
5. Metrica Province. With the cool newbie things removed, the first half of this zone feels totally broken. You can clearly notice something was ripped out here, even as a newcomer. It’s such a weird idea to do this, when much of the earliest parts were built around quirky asura things.

Tangled Depths is a mess. It’s not so bad if you can use wallows and stick to the lanes, but there’s a lot of random nooks and crannies needed for map completion that are just stupidly unintuitive to get to (the mushroom forest under Rata Novus, the vista above Rata Novus you have to go halfway up the zone to get to, etc)

Other than that, the worst maps are the ones with too few waypoints, either literally (the Silverwastes and most LS3 maps could use at least one more each) or effectively (Orr, in particular, where at least half the waypoints are contested at any given time).

VanHalenRules.5243:

3. Fields of Ruin- As I mentioned in map chat there yesterday, it’s a lvl 30-40 map that you have to go through a lvl 40-50 map (because there are no other maps attached to it), which makes it less likely for explorers to find.

It connects to Divinity’s Reach, for the record, there’s a portal to it in Rurikton.

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

• The guild mission golem whcih is a pain to find.

2-MULT is in Timberline, not Lornar’s. That might be the source of your problem.

1. Tangled Depths. I have respect for the map design in theory; in practice it’s just not fun to spend so long finding one PoI, or one Vista, etc. Mini-map especially poor, even now and I speak having just completed the map again yesterday, for my sins.

2. Ember Bay. I do not enjoy fire-based content as it often bugs my epilepsy or just plain gives me a headache. Oddly, I have no problems to speak of in Mount Maelstrom or Fireheart Rise, the core world map’s vaguely comparable content, but Ember Bay is just harsh. Also, the place is depressing.

3. Inside of the Citadel of Flame dungeon. Again, some fire-based stuff in GW2 wants to give me seizures, therefore I do not favour this "map".

4. Bitterfrost Frontier. Bitterly disappointing. I usually love snowy maps, with some caveats (see no.5), but this one is quite joyless. The kodan stuff doesn’t really do it for me in terms of gameplay, and only two waypoints is clearly a joke.

5. Snowblind Fractal. Sometimes, the snowfall in game can cause problems for me, typically in a dark night time setting (the frequency of contrast between some colours/patterns triggers seizures at worst, a very bad headache and panic at best. I usually log or go to another map if it’s too much). Hence this fractal being particularly horrible. Got the mastery, and will never go back.

(Dis)Honourable mentions: All of Ascalon. Thankfully, there are some decent bits and charr are awesome, so none of "their" maps make the top 5, but goodness all that yellow brown boring bleh. Only exciting because of the Brand, Meatoberfest, and I always like the snowy bit in Fireheart Rise. Also, Dry Top: I still despise its sandstorms and only use the map for story, dailies or completion. Oh, and Draconis Mons. The only thing that saves it was I had fun playing it, even when it annoyed me. Its downside was I played too long, completely dried my eyes out, got a bad headache for two days, and couldn’t play GW2 for about two weeks after, when my eyes started to get better. Although, that was largely my fault, not the map.

it’s funny how everyone’s complaining that TD is one of the worst maps because of it’s layout, and I put it in my top 3 of best maps because it’s nice to have at least 1 geographically challenging maps

Hyper Cutter.9376:

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

• The guild mission golem whcih is a pain to find.

2-MULT is in Timberline, not Lornar’s. That might be the source of your problem.

Luckily I’m prone to mistakes as well… then add Timberline to the list as well, I’ll correct it in my post.

I don’t particularly have 5 maps to be called "worst maps ever" but if I had to choose one, I would say ember bay. I don’t criticize the design of the maps in general, it has been always been outstanding imo, even in the original guild wars, but ember bay has just no interesting things going on in terms of event and these events feel shallow to me. I can’t bring myself to say "I am gonna spend some time in ember bay to do some events". Southsun cove is a close follower I would say.

VanHalenRules.5243:

3. Fields of Ruin- As I mentioned in map chat there yesterday, it’s a lvl 30-40 map that you have to go through a lvl 40-50 map (because there are no other maps attached to it), which makes it less likely for explorers to find.

I guess if you ignore the gate from DR.

1: (by a mile) old LA. I totally hate the over-the top “city of Boats-lol-more boats-lol” look – the new one isn’t that great either but at least thematiccaly sound…..and less…boat-y – good riddance!
2: all Orr Maps (thank god for Frostgorge Sound if I wanted to go on lvl 80 maps) the moldy look made sense….but boy are the maps boring & tedious
3: SW so boring….even with “GOTHERELOADSOFSTUFF!!1!” mechanics
4: Bloodtide Coast, Caledon Forest, Groove (and Metrica) don’t like jungle all that much
5: new Kessex – at least gimme back the old loading screen please….

Oh…and I LOVE Lornar’s Pass! Huge maps are great. Lornar’s pass and Timberline Falls are topping my Top 5 Maps list. I have a ton of characters….the only map EVERY character has on 100% is Lornar’s Pass.
And cannot get on the Bandwagon for all the Draconis Mons hate. Not that i like it all that much but going counterclockwise trough it isn’t that terrible to navigate in comparison to Tangled cluster*ahem* Depths at all.

To each its own I guess…tastes are per definition different.

Captain Prinny.6492:

1: (by a mile) old LA. I totally hate the over-the top “city of Boats-lol-more boats-lol” look – the new one isn’t that great either but at least thematiccaly sound…..and less…boat-y – good riddance!

you’re not aiming to make a lot of friends on the forum, are you

For those who are interested, here’s the results I received on my tumblr so far:

The Worst (It wasn’t even close)

• Tangled Depths (25)

Absolutely Insufferable

• Harathi Hinterlands (17)

Ghastly Design

• Dragon’s Stand (7)
• Verdant Brink (7)

Flat Out Horrible

• Dredgehaunt Cliffs (6)
• Lake Doric (6)

Just Terrible

• Dry Top (5)
• Lornar’s Pass (5)

Awful

• Auric Basin (4)
• Southsun Cove (4)
• Timberline Falls (4)

Bad

• Bloodstone Fen (3)
• Snowden Drifts (3)
• Straits of Devastation (3)

Distasteful

• Bitterfrost Frontier (2)
• Black Citadel (2)
• Brisban Wildlands (2)
• Cursed Shore (2)
• Draconis Mons (2)
• Fields of Ruin (2)
• Frostgorge Sound (2)
• Malchor’s Leap (2)
• Metrica Province (2)

Meh

• Diessa Plateau (1)
• Ember Bay (1)
• Eternal Battlegrounds (1)
• Gendaran Fields (1)
• Iron Marches (1)
• Kessex Hills (1)
• Plains of Ashford (1)
• Queensdale (1)
• Sparkfly Fen (1)

Iron Marches is my least favorite because there is absolutely nothing there. Its so bland :|

On the other end, Harathi Hinterlands and Mount Maelstrom are my favs.

I wouldn’t say I “hate” any of the maps, but these are the 5 I dislike the most:

Kessex Hills – I would actually enjoy this map if it weren’t for one thing: the Toxic Spider Queen. I have arachnophobia, so when she is up I avoid that area like the plague. It’s inconvenient, to say the least, to have to find ways around an otherwise useful road to travel.

Snowden Drifts – I’m not sure why, but this map has always irritated me.

Brisban Wildlands – The spider canyons on the east and northeast of the map, and just a general dislike for the layout. It seems disjointed to me.

Mount Maelstrom – Although there’s a lot of good gathering and two fun world bosses there, there are way too many spiders for my comfort.

Bitterfrost Frontier – Spiders here? Really? Outdoor spiders typically become less active, and even dormant, in the cold. Although they can survive at temperatures down to 23 degrees F (-5 degrees C), Bitterfrost is certainly colder than that! I live in an area that experiences temps well below 23, so I know what that kind of cold looks like. Also, I hate being “frozen” by the ice storms every time I’m trying to get from point A to point B. So irritating.

Honorable mention goes to Southsun Cove. Not a whole lot to do here except when the Karka Queen is up. When there are other events, you have to chase all over the map, with few and oddly placed waypoints, to get to them. I also don’t like the guild mission Race there – my guild will usually skip that one. It’s just not fun.