Guild Wars 2

Should it be because you do not believe in preordering, prefer adopting the “Wait and see” option, are not interested in HoT (yet ?) or straight up cannot afford it, is there any “Core”, or F2P players who will keep running around GW2 without the xpac ? And if yes, what will you be doing ?

I am. I am really excited about the new borderlands map. I also love PvP and can’t wait for the changes. That said, I am not buying HoT because the PvE doesn’t look like my cup of tea, and I only really felt like 3 of the elite specs looked all that great. The price tag was a little steep in my opinion as well. Since they did the f2p conversion(I have two paid accounts)I was hoping that meant they’d sell the professions and elite specs a la carte or in bundles.

I was always into maps like Frostgorge, Cursed Shore, and Maelstrom. The lack of climate diversity in the HoT maps coupled with the fact they look like they are Dry Top/Silverwastes hybrid maps is a turn off for me. Would have been nice to get a fiery map, a tundra map, a new beach/lake/big river type map. All jungly isn’t all that great and after waiting for 3+ years to get a lot of new content and paying about the same as the base game for it but with a lot less content than the base game? No thanks.

PvP and the new Borderlands look great though. The WvW Borderlands map looks like what I envisioned WvW as from GW2 launch. I didn’t like WvW much at all, but I am really excited for it now.

I’m kinda in the same boat as Iason right now. I’ve just not seen enough (or had enough questions answered) to go ahead and buy the expansion yet. I’ll wait for a few weeks and see what the reviews are before I go ahead an order it.

Right now, while I still think GW2 is the best MMO I’ve played, there are still too many unknowns about the Xpack.

This explains most of what is coming in the expansion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wisyZ4YAbE

I’m waiting to see if it is anything more than a fifty dollar Living Story. I didn’t care for, or complete, either Season 1 or 2 – and the Dry Top and Silverwaste maps are not my cup of tea.

Plus, Fallout 4 is being released in about 3 weeks. I expect to speed a huge amount of time playing that.

PyrateSilly.4710:

This explains most of what is coming in the expansion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wisyZ4YAbE

This is actually a great guide and answered several of my questions! Thanks for posting this link.

- I had no idea that mastery tracks were account bound. This is great!
- 50 member squad UI for WvW?
- Guild Vs Guild battles!!!
- I thought there was only 1 new PvP reward track. Good to hear there will be several.
- I wish there was some confirmation, one way or the other, if there will be new or additional character customization option. GW2 really lacks in character diversity.

Looks like I’m going to order it tonight…

For me it’s a mix between “wait and see”, no interest in the known content options and no money available for the time being. I’m a solo player, unless it’s unforced during open world events. So raids and dungeons don’t faze me the slightest. Elite Specs sound fun, but outside of Revenant, due to it being a completely new profession, nothing’s shouting “must have” at the moment. So yeah, no hard feelings or anything. I still have my Guardian and Warrior at least to get to 80 (both are around 72) + my Ranger (45) and Necro (38) if I feel really motivated.

On behalf of all the Play4Free players who can not post on the forums….

Yes, we will still be playing; we’ve not been here all that long, and look forward to Halloween and Wintersday! =)

I don’t think HoT is worth the price from what is known now, but I’m holding final judgement till after release. I want some of the new specs, but it’s just not enough to justify the cost of what I have the impressions is going to be a lackluster amount of new pve content. I’ll probably stay around without buying it, but that does depend on how well the new borderland map renews my interest in wvw, as well as how other changes affect pve/the game overall.

There are still some looming concerns and unanswered questions that could certainly sway my decision to stay into a decision to leave. Mostly regarding how core game changes like map rewards/masteries are being handled for those not buying HoT. If those things are locked behind the expansion paywall, I don’t see myself staying around as a second-class player.

mrstealth.6701:

There are still some looming concerns and unanswered questions that could certainly sway my decision to stay into a decision to leave. Mostly regarding how core game changes like map rewards/masteries are being handled for those not buying HoT. If those things are locked behind the expansion paywall, I don’t see myself staying around as a second-class player.

Well, they have already said that only those that bought HoT will get the map rewards and masteries. Expansions add to the game and only those that buy the expansions get the additions. It has always been that way for expansions for every other game – MMO or otherwise – so I am not sure why you think it might be different with this game.

raises hand

I’m not buying jack until I see:

• How the economic changes pan out (especially given ANet’s track record in this particular area)
• What makes raids ‘elite’ content. Specifically whether they are something you can work toward, learn about, and overcome; or something that is ‘elite’ because it just flat out excludes casual players based on real world time/economic/responsibility restrictions out of their control.
• Anet demonstrates they intend to fix the class mechanic flaws and stat system errors we all suffer through instead of using specializations as an excuse to ignore them. (Though admittedly, they’ve been doing pretty good in this area lately.)
• Whether there is even enough content in HoT to warrant the full price tag of a launch title.

Not buying for several reasons: steep price (not sure if it’s justified by the content it gives), lack of WvW changes (borderland change is free anyways), elite specs either ridiculously OP or UP atm (nerfs/buffs will be coming, then we’ll see what’s really viable), PvE content doesn’t interest me, a lot of my guildies are skipping it.

Will I play? I currently do not, but might hop back in if there’s an influx of old and new players through HoT.

PyrateSilly.4710:

mrstealth.6701:

There are still some looming concerns and unanswered questions that could certainly sway my decision to stay into a decision to leave. Mostly regarding how core game changes like map rewards/masteries are being handled for those not buying HoT. If those things are locked behind the expansion paywall, I don’t see myself staying around as a second-class player.

Well, they have already said that only those that bought HoT will get the map rewards and masteries. Expansions add to the game and only those that buy the expansions get the additions. It has always been that way for expansions for every other game – MMO or otherwise – so I am not sure why you think it might be different with this game.

That’s the impression I got from their info, but I don’t think I ever saw it clearly stated. Not getting the new map rewards would mean that HoT buyers get more rewards for doing the same content, while non-buyers still have to suffer the consequences of reduced dungeon rewards and salvage changes.

I’m fine with new content coming with new rewards. That’s expected with any expansion. But if they’re nerfing existing content rewards, and shifting that into HoT-only rewards for doing the same old content, that’s just a slap in the face that I’m not willing to stay around and take. I don’t care who bought or didn’t buy whatever, if I’m doing content I have access to (and have had access to for years) along with someone else, I should have access to the same rewards as that person.

Not buying HoT but still playing the game.

No outrage just a sense that what has been presented about HoT is not worth my money.

What will I do? Probably play a bit less. Some WvW. I love the Orr maps. Probably spend some time there.

I don’t ever want to buy anything from Arenanet again. I can’t stand anything they have been doing recently. As for the game and the expansion itself I have gotten disconnected about all the details. It’s a weird situation of the current state of the game not really existing to me, I’m just dwelling in my memories from when I loved this game.

While sulking and complaining about everything I have been grinding like crazy for gold for some character remakes I wanted. And there’s the clock tower, soon. After that, I don’t really know what I will be doing, until the next halloween (as Guild Wars is what truly introduced halloween to me ;_;).
Logging in to admire my characters sometimes I guess.

I probably will, but I wish I hadn’t.

Wasn’t expecting a bomb like the one released today to insult pretty much everyone so blatantly and ruin the purpose of the expansion.

I’ll be passing on it for a while. This “xpack” is far too expensive for what little it offers. Not only that, but, if i recall, not all the things it’s supposed to bring will even be available at launch. Making the price tag look EVEN WORSE.

I’m holding off and waiting on the dust to settle.

The whole thing feels rushed to me and I’d rather pay half price in a month or two for a complete and solid product once the hype has died down than full price in 2-3 days to be a beta tester. Been gaming too long to get caught up in the whole “new shinie!!!” trap.

The gear grind also concerns me and if that’s implemented to an even greater degree I will probably leave Tyria for good. I don’t play Guild Wars for that.

Lastly I main Thief and it’s so broken right now I’ll wait and see if it gets some post HoT lovin else just pick it up cheaper in a few months and re-roll Rev like the majority of the class players are doing.

Got a lot of other games to keep me entertained till then.

I am getting it, but not right away considering I can’t do any of the content until I get to level 80, and then grind a bunch of stuff just to unlock a kitten elite spec on my guardian. Kind of pointless?

mrstealth.6701:

PyrateSilly.4710:

mrstealth.6701:

There are still some looming concerns and unanswered questions that could certainly sway my decision to stay into a decision to leave. Mostly regarding how core game changes like map rewards/masteries are being handled for those not buying HoT. If those things are locked behind the expansion paywall, I don’t see myself staying around as a second-class player.

Well, they have already said that only those that bought HoT will get the map rewards and masteries. Expansions add to the game and only those that buy the expansions get the additions. It has always been that way for expansions for every other game – MMO or otherwise – so I am not sure why you think it might be different with this game.

That’s the impression I got from their info, but I don’t think I ever saw it clearly stated. Not getting the new map rewards would mean that HoT buyers get more rewards for doing the same content, while non-buyers still have to suffer the consequences of reduced dungeon rewards and salvage changes.

I’m fine with new content coming with new rewards. That’s expected with any expansion. But if they’re nerfing existing content rewards, and shifting that into HoT-only rewards for doing the same old content, that’s just a slap in the face that I’m not willing to stay around and take. I don’t care who bought or didn’t buy whatever, if I’m doing content I have access to (and have had access to for years) along with someone else, I should have access to the same rewards as that person.

They’re giving the game away for free. It would be insane for them not to encourage people to buy the expansion. It’s unreasonable to think they wouldn’t. There are probably hundreds of thousands of people who play the game now without spending a dime. At what point would you, as a company, not make it so that the paid content rewarded players better.

They’re not actually nerfing the rewards. They’re simply not upgrading them.

Vayne.8563:

They’re not actually nerfing the rewards. They’re simply not upgrading them.

False. Dungeon rewards are going to be heavily nerfed.

I’ve had to opt to not get it until probably December. Medical bills and stuff sneak up on you like that.

I was still a little on the edge honestly. Mostly because I have no interest in Raiding. And I mostly just play open world PvE at this point. But I do look forward to the story stuff and Masteries. I’m kind of glad its not a super necessary mandatory need-to-have now kind of expansion. Like other MMOs. Don’t feel like being 3 months behind is really going to cause me any issues in the long run.

Only thing I really feel like I’m losing out on in the meantime is exp I get doing Halloween stuff going towards Masteries. But meh, no big loss. And doubt we will see any Living Story episodes show up till January at least with the Raid being delayed a bit.

But being a player since launch. I do kind of feel a strange sense of disconnect that I am going to have from my other fellow Veterans. Guess I’ll have to tell them to keep their spoilers away from me.

For me its a combination of things:

WVW – I want to see what exactly and precisely a-net does to improve the population imbalance and nightcapping, this will not just determine if I buy HOT or not but if I stay in the game at all. So its a wait and see on this.

400 Hero points per toon – I have 7 lvl 80s, would be 8 with revenant, that is 3200 hero points to farm. Considering that I am a wvw player that is equal to 1600 ranks. I have been playing this game since early release with about a year break and I am currently at rank 1567, so to earn that many ranks for those hero points will take me 2 years ….

I don’t want to wait 2 years to unlock all the specs, that is just too stupid and rediculous.

A lot of the people who are not buying the expansion also never read this forum.

I want to buy it only when they take out the so called “bonus core game” to existing core game users

Vayne.8563:

They’re giving the game away for free. It would be insane for them not to encourage people to buy the expansion. It’s unreasonable to think they wouldn’t. There are probably hundreds of thousands of people who play the game now without spending a dime. At what point would you, as a company, not make it so that the paid content rewarded players better.

They’re not actually nerfing the rewards. They’re simply not upgrading them.

Free players are already heavily restricted and getting less rewards. They don’t even get the daily login rewards that paid players get. If Anet is worried about giving free players the new map rewards, they can simply block that feature off from free accounts. I might not be buying HoT right now, but I’ve certainly paid for my game several times over.

And, as mentioned above, rewards are most definitely being nerfed. Dungeon rewards are being reduced and salvage is being changed, with the new map bonus rewards system being part of the reason for the changes.

Lord Kuru.3685:

Vayne.8563:

They’re not actually nerfing the rewards. They’re simply not upgrading them.

False. Dungeon rewards are going to be heavily nerfed.

The guy was talking about zone rewards, which is what I was talking about. No one mentioned dungeon rewards.

However, dungeon rewards are pretty much out of line with every other reward in the game. No other activity generates direct cash that way, or puts gold into the system. Which doesn’t have anything to do with what the guy said. You should try context sometimes.

mrstealth.6701:

Vayne.8563:

They’re giving the game away for free. It would be insane for them not to encourage people to buy the expansion. It’s unreasonable to think they wouldn’t. There are probably hundreds of thousands of people who play the game now without spending a dime. At what point would you, as a company, not make it so that the paid content rewarded players better.

They’re not actually nerfing the rewards. They’re simply not upgrading them.

Free players are already heavily restricted and getting less rewards. They don’t even get the daily login rewards that paid players get. If Anet is worried about giving free players the new map rewards, they can simply block that feature off from free accounts. I might not be buying HoT right now, but I’ve certainly paid for my game several times over.

And, as mentioned above, rewards are most definitely being nerfed. Dungeon rewards are being reduced and salvage is being changed, with the new map bonus rewards system being part of the reason for the changes.

Dungeon rewards should have been nerfed ages ago. The reason stated was valid. Dungeons create gold. They add cash to the economy directly, which isn’t good for the game.

Vayne.8563:

Dungeon rewards should have been nerfed ages ago. The reason stated was valid. Dungeons create gold. They add cash to the economy directly, which isn’t good for the game.

The last change they made to dungeon rewards was increasing them. If it was that big a of a problem, I think it would have been changed/reverted long ago, or just not increased the rewards to begin with.

Anything you do to get gold outside of selling items on the trade post creates gold. All of the coin drops and fodder sold to the merchants every day is probably a lot higher than the amount coming from dungeon rewards. If they wanted to control the amount of gold being put into the economy, they should be adding more gold sinks to help balance the flow.

Their stated reason for the change is pretty clear. They want our focus to be on fractals and raids, not dungeons.

mrstealth.6701:

Vayne.8563:

Dungeon rewards should have been nerfed ages ago. The reason stated was valid. Dungeons create gold. They add cash to the economy directly, which isn’t good for the game.

The last change they made to dungeon rewards was increasing them. If it was that big a of a problem, I think it would have been changed/reverted long ago, or just not increased the rewards to begin with.

Anything you do to get gold outside of selling items on the trade post creates gold. All of the coin drops and fodder sold to the merchants every day is probably a lot higher than the amount coming from dungeon rewards. If they wanted to control the amount of gold being put into the economy, they should be adding more gold sinks to help balance the flow.

Their stated reason for the change is pretty clear. They want our focus to be on fractals and raids, not dungeons.

But they didn’t nerf the silverwastes, I wonder why.

Katreyn.4218:

I’m kind of glad its not a super necessary mandatory need-to-have now kind of expansion. Like other MMOs. Don’t feel like being 3 months behind is really going to cause me any issues in the long run.

This is exactly how I feel, which is weird for me as every other release since Prophecies dropped has been a “must own now!!” kind of buzz but it’s great that I can largely go without it for a month or two till I decide whether I want to continue with the game at all. The f2p model is great in this respect as at least the old map won’t go complete ghost-town and one of my biggest enjoyments in any MMO is helping out newer players so I’m pretty much fine waiting to see how things play out and just rocking around meeting newbies.

I’m also of the opinion that release month is often a turn off for me as many players are out to burn through the new content as quickly as possible like a fat kid with a new cookie jar and I’m not into that buzz. Things seem much more chill and relaxed once those players have charged through the new content and are back to QQing about being bored while I can just enjoy it at my own pace.

Vayne.8563:

Lord Kuru.3685:

Vayne.8563:

They’re not actually nerfing the rewards. They’re simply not upgrading them.

False. Dungeon rewards are going to be heavily nerfed.

The guy was talking about zone rewards, which is what I was talking about. No one mentioned dungeon rewards.

However, dungeon rewards are pretty much out of line with every other reward in the game. No other activity generates direct cash that way, or puts gold into the system. Which doesn’t have anything to do with what the guy said. You should try context sometimes.

He directly talked about reduced dungeon rewards. From his post:

“while non-buyers still have to suffer the consequences of reduced dungeon rewards”

You should try reading posts before reflexively responding to defend Anet sometimes.

I haven’t bought it yet. I don’t know if I will. I was already feeling like the content isn’t worth $50 and, since the price announcement, it sure seems like a lot of content will be released “shortly after Heart of Thorns launch.”

I also have no interest in focusing on raids or fractals. I don’t have time for it. If I wanted to be raiding, I’d still be playing WoW.

Full disclosure, I have bought it for my kids because they wanted it. The other 3 accounts are in a “wait and see” mode.

Me i have no plans to buy it any time soon i want to see how the raids/guild halls play out

if all it is, Is ppl raiding and hanging out in there guild halls making all the normal places empty then i will know it’s time to move on and fine a new game

So I still have to “prepurchase” in order to get the bonus character slot? Bunch of bologna honestly if that’s the case (havent been on the website for some months until this week). Guess I rather wait for a third party to sell it for a discount without all the “prepurchase only” tactics

Vayne.8563:

mrstealth.6701:

Vayne.8563:

They’re giving the game away for free. It would be insane for them not to encourage people to buy the expansion. It’s unreasonable to think they wouldn’t. There are probably hundreds of thousands of people who play the game now without spending a dime. At what point would you, as a company, not make it so that the paid content rewarded players better.

They’re not actually nerfing the rewards. They’re simply not upgrading them.

Free players are already heavily restricted and getting less rewards. They don’t even get the daily login rewards that paid players get. If Anet is worried about giving free players the new map rewards, they can simply block that feature off from free accounts. I might not be buying HoT right now, but I’ve certainly paid for my game several times over.

And, as mentioned above, rewards are most definitely being nerfed. Dungeon rewards are being reduced and salvage is being changed, with the new map bonus rewards system being part of the reason for the changes.

Dungeon rewards should have been nerfed ages ago. The reason stated was valid. Dungeons create gold. They add cash to the economy directly, which isn’t good for the game.

Actually you are wrong according to john smith

The main reasons was not because dungeons generated too much gold. They plan to give people almost the same direct gold in new places.

The main reason was because they no longer want to encourage people to do dungeons, and want them playing different content.

He answered this question directly in the forums. The liquid gold non issue was player theory.

They are closer to correct than you are based on what john smith said

ITT: People who do not normally play MMOs. Most MMO Xpacks are mandatory for continuing to play the game AND they are full price (40/50$).

I guess there is a downside to GW2 pulling in players that are not normal to MMOs.

displacedTitan.6897:

Most MMO Xpacks are mandatory for continuing to play the game

For WoW, you don’t need to buy xpack to play the game.

MyriadStars.5679:

displacedTitan.6897:

Most MMO Xpacks are mandatory for continuing to play the game

For WoW, you don’t need to buy xpack to play the game.

Sure you don’t NEED it but you will be playing a single player game after about a week. Also like 99.9% of the content in WoW Xpacks are for Xpack only.

displacedTitan.6897:

MyriadStars.5679:

displacedTitan.6897:

Most MMO Xpacks are mandatory for continuing to play the game

For WoW, you don’t need to buy xpack to play the game.

Sure you don’t NEED it but you will be playing a single player game after about a week. Also like 99.9% of the content in WoW Xpacks are for Xpack only.

True, but this is probably not the reason why many people are not buying HOT. It seems that many people are not buying because they don’t think there is enough content in HOT. The amount of new content in a WoW xpac is really much more. I think people do have to play other MMOs to conclude that the content in HOT is less than a normal xpac.

Honestly, after reading the posts here, I start to wonder whether I have made a bad decision on preordering the game…

MyriadStars.5679:

displacedTitan.6897:

MyriadStars.5679:

displacedTitan.6897:

Most MMO Xpacks are mandatory for continuing to play the game

For WoW, you don’t need to buy xpack to play the game.

Sure you don’t NEED it but you will be playing a single player game after about a week. Also like 99.9% of the content in WoW Xpacks are for Xpack only.

True, but this is probably not the reason why many people are not buying HOT. It seems that many people are not buying because they don’t think there is enough content in HOT. The amount of new content in a WoW xpac is really much more. I think people do have to play other MMOs to conclude that the content in HOT is less than a normal xpac.

Honestly, after reading the posts here, I start to wonder whether I have made a bad decision on preordering the game…

My most recent experience with an Xpack was FF14 and I can tell you the content in that Xpack is so much less than what is in HoT. They did the same thing with releasing Alex raid after the original Xpack launch, in addition they added less skills, less character progression (bigger numbers only), what looks like the same amount of story content and nearly ZERO for non xpack purchasers or casual players. Also its worth noting that most of the content in Heavensward and WoW Xpacks are maps and zones meant to level you up that you will NEVER go back to again, except on a new character for their levels.

Imagine of HoT was just adding 500 to each of your stats in exchange for ~20 hours of grinding through a couple linear story maps 10 or so times each.

This is what I meant by people here clearly don’t play MMOs typically, to say HoT has no content is a total lie. Every new map is endgame here and none of them are sacrificed for pure level grinding.

displacedTitan.6897:

MyriadStars.5679:

displacedTitan.6897:

MyriadStars.5679:

displacedTitan.6897:

Most MMO Xpacks are mandatory for continuing to play the game

For WoW, you don’t need to buy xpack to play the game.

Sure you don’t NEED it but you will be playing a single player game after about a week. Also like 99.9% of the content in WoW Xpacks are for Xpack only.

True, but this is probably not the reason why many people are not buying HOT. It seems that many people are not buying because they don’t think there is enough content in HOT. The amount of new content in a WoW xpac is really much more. I think people do have to play other MMOs to conclude that the content in HOT is less than a normal xpac.

Honestly, after reading the posts here, I start to wonder whether I have made a bad decision on preordering the game…

My most recent experience with an Xpack was FF14 and I can tell you the content in that Xpack is so much less than what is in HoT. They did the same thing with releasing Alex raid after the original Xpack launch, in addition they added less skills, less character progression (bigger numbers only), what looks like the same amount of story content and nearly ZERO for non xpack purchasers or casual players. Also its worth noting that most of the content in Heavensward and WoW Xpacks are maps and zones meant to level you up that you will NEVER go back to again, except on a new character for their levels.

Imagine of HoT was just adding 500 to each of your stats in exchange for ~20 hours of grinding through a couple linear story maps 10 or so times each.

This is what I meant by people here clearly don’t play MMOs typically, to say HoT has no content is a total lie. Every new map is endgame here and none of them are sacrificed for pure level grinding.

Ok wait… I am just reacting to this because I think you have a few things wrong.

1) Nobody said HoT has no content to offer. Of course it has content to offer, and it’s not bad content either. However it’s rational to wait for the hype to pass and try it out yourself when you are sure the value/content is okay, or possibly when it’s put on sale. You don’t lose anything by waiting, you can carry on playing the game without HoT or you can do something else. You do potentially lose something by buying it right off.

2) There’s no such thing as a “typical” MMO. Sure we can try to compare GW2 to WoW, Lineage, Tera, Lotro, but while these share certain characteristics, and so does Guild Wars 2, it’s still a very open concept, and the game industry is continuously developing based on what consumers want or what works. Typical grind mmos in my opinion are long past, because there’s more and more sandbox type games where you yourself define the game. The gaming industry can and will adapt to this, so MMO’s too will change. GW2 has taken many steps in the right direction already.

displacedTitan.6897:

This is what I meant by people here clearly don’t play MMOs typically, to say HoT has no content is a total lie. Every new map is endgame here and none of them are sacrificed for pure level grinding.

This is something that I wouldn’t agree. Each wow xpac that I bought (starting from burning crusade) had many new dungeons at launch. Having many new maps to level up your characters will make character progression less boring. You can hop to a different map to level up your character if you are bored of the current map. The launch price of each xpac is also $10 less than the vanilla. It certainly takes more work to create a new continent than to create 4 new maps.

With 4 maps in HOT, you are locked into them and do things repeatedly to progress horizontally, which is more boring. Yes, people do go back to level 60 maps such as Dry top and silverwaste, but it’s really boring for many, so for people who think that SW grind is boring, the four new maps probably won’t be very interesting.

displacedTitan.6897:

ITT: People who do not normally play MMOs. Most MMO Xpacks are mandatory for continuing to play the game AND they are full price (40/50$).

I guess there is a downside to GW2 pulling in players that are not normal to MMOs.

Most MMO xpacks also ship with a hell of a lot more content than this one does too.

Blackhearted.1264:

displacedTitan.6897:

ITT: People who do not normally play MMOs. Most MMO Xpacks are mandatory for continuing to play the game AND they are full price (40/50$).

I guess there is a downside to GW2 pulling in players that are not normal to MMOs.

Most MMO xpacks also ship with a hell of a lot more content than this one does too.

I also just recalled that WOW xpacs are typically priced $10 cheaper than vanilla at launch.

displacedTitan.6897:

MyriadStars.5679:

displacedTitan.6897:

MyriadStars.5679:

displacedTitan.6897:

Most MMO Xpacks are mandatory for continuing to play the game

For WoW, you don’t need to buy xpack to play the game.

Sure you don’t NEED it but you will be playing a single player game after about a week. Also like 99.9% of the content in WoW Xpacks are for Xpack only.

True, but this is probably not the reason why many people are not buying HOT. It seems that many people are not buying because they don’t think there is enough content in HOT. The amount of new content in a WoW xpac is really much more. I think people do have to play other MMOs to conclude that the content in HOT is less than a normal xpac.

Honestly, after reading the posts here, I start to wonder whether I have made a bad decision on preordering the game…

My most recent experience with an Xpack was FF14 and I can tell you the content in that Xpack is so much less than what is in HoT. They did the same thing with releasing Alex raid after the original Xpack launch, in addition they added less skills, less character progression (bigger numbers only), what looks like the same amount of story content and nearly ZERO for non xpack purchasers or casual players. Also its worth noting that most of the content in Heavensward and WoW Xpacks are maps and zones meant to level you up that you will NEVER go back to again, except on a new character for their levels.

Imagine of HoT was just adding 500 to each of your stats in exchange for ~20 hours of grinding through a couple linear story maps 10 or so times each.

This is what I meant by people here clearly don’t play MMOs typically, to say HoT has no content is a total lie. Every new map is endgame here and none of them are sacrificed for pure level grinding.

Heavensward:

• Four(?) new dungeons
  *One raid with two tiers thus far
  *Three new classes
  *Upgrades to existing crafting/gathering disciplines
  *Flight
  *One new continent

HoT:

*No new dungeons (fractal changes only)
*One raid
*One new class and new skills and a new weapon for each class (elite spec)
*Gliding
*The jungle – size unknown.
*Upgrades to existing crafting

I also personally loved the story in Heavensward. Not to mention FFXIV already had ‘elite’ specs – they’re called jobs. All classes/jobs can be unlocked on a single character, they have downleveling for their ‘dynamic events’ and having a max level character gives you a boost to leveling alts.

If HoT gives me as much as Heavensward, I’ll be very, very pleased.

MyriadStars.5679:

This is something that I wouldn’t agree. Each wow xpac that I bought (starting from burning crusade) had many new dungeons at launch. Having many new maps to level up your characters will make character progression less boring. You can hop to a different map to level up your character if you are bored of the current map.

The 4 HoT maps offer far more content than the 6 maps (only 5 if you play one faction) of WoW’s latest expansion. WoW’s maps offer very little replayability.

MyriadStars.5679:

The launch price of each xpac is also $10 less than the vanilla. It certainly takes more work to create a new continent than to create 4 new maps.

If you are strictly talking about creating geographic landscape (without monsters, quests, voiceacting etc…) then you can bet your kitten that it took Arenanet more time to create 4 HoT maps than the couple of flat 2D-maps WoW-expacs offer since over a decade.

MyriadStars.5679:

With 4 maps in HOT, you are locked into them and do things repeatedly to progress horizontally, which is more boring. Yes, people do go back to level 60 maps such as Dry top and silverwaste, but it’s really boring for many, so for people who think that SW grind is boring, the four new maps probably won’t be very interesting.

The 4 HoT maps offer far more content than the 6 maps of WoW’s latest expansion. WoW’s maps offer very little replayability. Also I’d rather be “locked” into actual maps with replayability instead of the couple of dungeons you’re locked in when playing WoW. Also whether horizontal progression is more or less boring than vertical progression is a matter of personal opinion. Arenanet went for horizontal progression and had great success with it.

Straylight.7529:

MyriadStars.5679:

This is something that I wouldn’t agree. Each wow xpac that I bought (starting from burning crusade) had many new dungeons at launch. Having many new maps to level up your characters will make character progression less boring. You can hop to a different map to level up your character if you are bored of the current map.

The 4 HoT maps offer far more content than the 6 maps (only 5 if you play one faction) of WoW’s latest expansion. WoW’s maps offer very little replayability.

MyriadStars.5679:

The launch price of each xpac is also $10 less than the vanilla. It certainly takes more work to create a new continent than to create 4 new maps.

If you are strictly talking about creating geographic landscape (without monsters, quests, voiceacting etc…) then you can bet your kitten that it took Arenanet more time to create 4 HoT maps than the couple of flat 2D-maps WoW-expacs offer since over a decade.

MyriadStars.5679:

With 4 maps in HOT, you are locked into them and do things repeatedly to progress horizontally, which is more boring. Yes, people do go back to level 60 maps such as Dry top and silverwaste, but it’s really boring for many, so for people who think that SW grind is boring, the four new maps probably won’t be very interesting.

The 4 HoT maps offer far more content than the 6 maps of WoW’s latest expansion. WoW’s maps offer very little replayability. Also I’d rather be “locked” into actual maps with replayability instead of the couple of dungeons you’re locked in when playing WoW. Also whether horizontal progression is more or less boring than vertical progression is a matter of personal opinion. Arenanet went for horizontal progression and had great success with it.

I didn’t get the latest wow xpac, but still your approach is flawed. Among the 5 xpacs of wow, you chose one that you think has the least amount of content and compare it to the only xpac of GW2. This is hardly a fair comparison.

You also ignored other stuff in a typical wow xpac, such as new dungeons. You also ignored the amount of work/time that Blizzard spent on closed beta testing for each xpac.

MyriadStars.5679:

I didn’t get the latest wow xpac, but still your approach is flawed. Among the 5 xpacs of wow, you chose one that you think has the least amount of content and compare it to the only xpac of GW2. This is hardly a fair comparison..

LMAO that’s exactly what I did.

Why is it not a fair comparison? Please elaborate. Don’t just say it.

MyriadStars.5679:

You also ignored other stuff in a typical wow xpac, such as new dungeons. You also ignored the amount of work/time that Blizzard spent on closed beta testing for each xpac.

Of course I ignored the “other stuff”. You talked about the HoT maps and how much more it takes to create a continent (like dreanor) vs. the Maguuma Jungle. Of course I’m not going to mention WvW or guild halls or new classes in that context.

If the expansion had to do with Elona, Cantha or anywhere else that wasn’t some jungle where people are going t be gliding about everywhere inside of – I’d have already pre-ordered the expansion by now.