Guild Wars 2

Had GW2 for a while and was quite active a long time ago, even went to the big HoT reveal at PAX South, but then my interest kind of waned.

I’ve always been an “alone together” PvE kind of guy – meaning, I need a strong solo character that I can use to run around maps by myself killing stuff and looking at the pretty surroundings, while BSing with some casual guildmates and teaming up for an occasional dungeon.

I have a level 80 Ele and a level 80 Mesmer, an artificially leveled-up level 80 Revenant (which I played for about 5 minutes and which felt awkward as all get out).

My main was the Mesmer for a while, then I wanted something with more punch and less pinky butterflies, so I mained Ele (I tend to stick with one character at a time for a long time). Then Ele’s visuals got nerfed, followed by the actual nerfs, and that’s when I called it quits.

I bought HoT when it was on sale for cheap, made a Rev, ran around in the Silverwastes a bit but just couldn’t quite hit the right stride.

So now I’m kind of torn between a few game options and thought I’d give GW2 another look. I’ve been reading the forums and it seems that the game has shifted heavily towards group content and even trinity-like system. Is this true?

Also specific questions:

- For my playstyle (roaming PvE solo), is Mesmer better now than it used to be pre-HoT?
- Have they fixed/changed Ele visuals? And did PvE ele get any buffs to make up for the nerfs it sustained?
- Is Rev still busted?

Elite Specialization makes Ele strong if you know how to play tempest right.

There are more Elite Specs to be released as future updates in expansions so the current ones are just the first set.

Though watch your step in HoT maps as enemy mobs can be very brutal if you’re not careful.

It is fine to return to the game now but you certainly will have some work ahead to obtain the necessary Mastery for exploring HoT and Season 3 maps.

I’m going to give you the same advice I give everyone who asks, “is it worth coming back?” No, not for someone who asks the question that way.

The game has evolved, there are new things, and style changes in some areas (and not in others), but it’s fundamentally the same as it always has been. Whatever bugged you before is probably still going to bug you.

I think instead of asking the question, you should just play and see for yourself. There’s no subscription, so all it costs you is a few hours of your time, maybe 1+ hours looking at metabattle.com for build ideas and 3+ hours getting into it. You might find yourself loving the game, either because stuff really has changed… or more likely, because you have a new perspective. Or you might find you still don’t care for it. Either way, it’s barely any time when you consider how long you’d probably play a game you do like.

tl;dr try it out yourself; don’t take anyone’s word for what you’ll experience.

To your specific questions:

Xdmatt.3958:

I’ve been reading the forums and it seems that the game has shifted heavily towards group content and even trinity-like system. Is this true?

No, not remotely, in my opinion. There is more group content and ANet’s idea of raids, but the vast majority of the game is similar to how it was before. There are, however, more L80 zones and those are consider by some to be more interesting.

Xdmatt.3958:

- For my playstyle (roaming PvE solo), is Mesmer better now than it used to be pre-HoT?

It’s unchanged in my opinion, although I think chrono (the elite mesmer) is a lot of fun to play. But then, I don’t think it was bad before; it’s never going to be as faceroll as warrior.

Xdmatt.3958:

- Have they fixed/changed Ele visuals? And did PvE ele get any buffs to make up for the nerfs it sustained?

PvE ele is considered to be the most useful PvE class for just about anything these days, but … it has been for so long that I barely remember the early days when it wasn’t.

Xdmatt.3958:

- Is Rev still busted?

If you thought it was busted before, it hasn’t changed that much.

A lot of the visual nerfs were reverted and added into an option in settings called “effect lod,” so if that was a big turn off you can be happy to know they mostly heard people’s complaints about 2 months after their 2nd or 3rd set of visual nerfs.

Rev is really quite good once you get the hang of it, just takes some time. I main rev after having mained mesmer and I’d never go back, but it did feel weird for a while getting used to it.

- Chronomancer is a strong spec, but group oriented. That being said, as a main Mesmer, I also mainly roam solo. Try a signet build, it adds a lot of survivability. I don’t feel the need to use Chronomancer, but it can also be used in a solo build with really strong traits.

- Don’t know about the visuals, but Ele is quite good in PVE with a very dynamic gameplay (but you probably know that already). Catalyst do add some great utilities and damage.

- Imo, Revenant is all about finding a playstyle that fits you, and it may require some heavy fiddling. Herald brings a ton of utility, mobility, and damage increase, and really changes the feel of the class.

Also, HoT zones have been nerfed and are now more friendly toward solo roaming. You can’t let your guard down, though.

Okay, first with the trinity thing, it only exists in raids. There is currently one raid in the game. Dungeons are still there but Fractals are a whole lot easier to get into than they used to be, and they’re quite rewarding.

I play almost exactly like you play. I solo or duo at lot, while bullkittenting with my guild in voice chat, or guild chat.

I play through the HOT content just fine that way.

There are times, like in the core game, where you come up to a temple event and if there aren’t a lot of people there, it can get quite stressful.

I guess the real difference is, in the core Tyria world, you didn’t even really have to know anything about your profession to succeed most of the time. That’s changed some in open world HoT. You have to know something about your profession and something about your enemies.

Elementalists with the elite spec are definitely more powerful than the elementalist you played before, even unnerfed.

Revenant is a hit or miss for a lot of people but it’s generally considered more of a team/buff player. It’s definitely not my favorite solo profession.

Condition damage has changed making it more viable, so condition rangers, for example, are a thing now.

At the end of the day, no one can know whether it’s worth coming back for you.

Just give GW2 another look… Play at least few days and you will know if it’s worth coming back or not.