Guild Wars 2

Hello, I’m sure I’m not the only one who is still deciding whether or not HoT is worth purchasing.
To those who played in the beta weekend, do you feel like HoT is shaping up to be a good purchase? I feel like the original game gave me such a good value for my money, does HoT compare?
Is it still fun if you are playing alone? (all of my friends decided against purchasing HoT).

I know a lot of the content still hasn’t been demoed in the beta, but I would like you to share your thoughts anyway.

not worth a hundred bucks for the ultimate edition but i still bought it anyway because this will probably be the only game i will play for the next year or so

Above and beyond, but you might want to define your criteria. Some of the things I like, you may well have issues with. Likewise, I have grievances that you might have be able to overlook.

Overall, I am looking forward to full release. It feels very different at times to the core game, although not necs in a bad way. Mob design, ai, graphics, level design are all a different direction from launch.

Enjoying alot. Boss fights and events are fun and take some getting use to. Enemies actually move about. Assassins pop in and out. Mushrooms chase you. Guatds move about. Creatures move around during attacks.

I enjoyed the core game and I’m still enjoying it a lot.
I’m not enjoying HoT, however.
The maps are not optimized and you experience terrible fps drops (tho, to be fair, not as terrible as the first beta).
Gliding is okay, it doesn’t change the gameplay that much, enemies are crazy difficult and solo exploring doesn’t seem to be advised.
Masteries are also kinda meh, yes, you unlock abilities, but they seem to few and not impressive and the moment you unlock them – it’s grinding for statistics.
Maps are vertical but I was not in awe with them. It’s like a mess to me, a melting pot of frustrating chaos, especially for a solo playthrough.
One thing that I like HoT are the new abilities and professions which breath new life in characters.

It’s too early to tell if it was a worthwhile purchase. This is my first beta weekend and it’s a huge lewrning curve: new profession options, new enemies, new map. It’s definitely a high-level area and reminds me of Cursed Shore when GW2 was new. Definitely not geared for the average player to run around solo in.

From what I’ve seen, the new profession mechanics still need some work. They’re supposed to high level masteries, but they don’t seem to be better than the current ones, just different, giving you more options.

Tetterwing.3981:

I enjoyed the core game and I’m still enjoying it a lot.
I’m not enjoying HoT, however.
The maps are not optimized and you experience terrible fps drops (tho, to be fair, not as terrible as the first beta).
Gliding is okay, it doesn’t change the gameplay that much, enemies are crazy difficult and solo exploring doesn’t seem to be advised.
Masteries are also kinda meh, yes, you unlock abilities, but they seem to few and not impressive and the moment you unlock them – it’s grinding for statistics.
Maps are vertical but I was not in awe with them. It’s like a mess to me, a melting pot of frustrating chaos, especially for a solo playthrough.
One thing that I like HoT are the new abilities and professions which breath new life in characters.

havent had a single fps drop in two betas

No.

From what I have seen, all we we are getting another “drytop” or “silverwastes” type of map. Complete with the absurd amount of busy work grinding also associated with the aforementioned. (which we would have gotten for free in its entirety already the same way we got drytop and silverwastes if anet hadn’t decided to start withholding living story in order to label it as an expansion and sell it to us)

There is literally nothing that would make me want to buy this, and unless anet is just acting like verdant brink is the only map we are going to get to troll us, and we are getting a lot more than a grand total of: one new map, one new profession, the specialization system, guild halls, a few new legendaries… and one raid.

This is not an expansion…. this is living world season 3 with a price tag.

…and I’m already bored to tears with what we have available.

I’ve already got my pitchfork in my hand waiting for the day the expansion releases and everyone realizes the same.

Depends, what are you looking for?

See for me, I LOVE the revenant profession. It’s awesome. That alone is practically worth the cost of HoT. Plus I like the new zones, the new mobs and the gliding. It’s fun.

Oh and it’s not true that elite specs are supposed to be superior to core specs. I don’t think Anet ever said that. They are supposed to be something that gives you more options. A new play style, etc.

edit: To poster above. It’s already been confirmed that there will be 4 maps. Four maps, three biomes for most of them (though maybe not all?)

I think so. I’m not big on the fluff of ultimate editions….but the base price of HoT is well worth it. Gameplay for the dollars is good, and the new content is great quality. Keep in mind that with beta, we don’t have access to everything coming, but what I’ve seen makes me feel good about the purchase.

Imo YES but with some warning (but it is a beta!)
Elite spec:
Yes
Elite spec are funny, not all awesome but funny for 2 main reasons: 1) new weaponsand new traits > not the same old class and its always fun to have a new way of playing your favorite class. 2) “complete” the lore of the class. Ok not all, but it bring stuff like scythe on necro or time on mes wich I find to be a good point.
No
Well some points still need some works. I mean, the staff on daredevil not my jam wich is weird since I wasn’t against the idea at all. But I tried it and I switch back to my daggers. It’s just 1 example but you can find more on the forum^^.

Map:
Yes
The map is beautifull. Like really beautifull. Mobs looks good too. Events are regroup in chains of events wich make sense. Mobs AI is way better than in GW2 vanilla.
No
Some people find it hard to know what to do and where to do it. I think it’s just because they didn’t try because even if the map is quite confusing at first it become obvious after a couple of hours. Mob AI make encounter harder than vanilla, too much for some and not enough for others (you can find both on this forun). Personnaly I wouldn’t mind a bit more difficult. Events are not … lets say “alive”. During the day you might just sit and wait for something to finally start and at night you just have to defend areas. Imo this is just because its a beta.

Masteries:
Yes
I really enjoy the glider and the shrooms and after a couple of hours using them I miss them on vanilla. Using glider and shrooms improve so much your ability to move in VB.
No
Well no glider in vanilla and I think its not a good choice^^. Some people find it too long to reach the first tier of gliding and shrooms. Also some people think it is too hard to move inVB without them. I’m not one of them at all but I seen quite a lot of both kind^^.

Raids / guild hall
Not on the beta but I think it might be jsut what the game need to make people come back. But you can’t satisfy anyone and some will always complain about “hard content”.

Anyway:
For me YES HoT is a “must have” if you like GW2 and you want to get some endgame experience. If you like the current difficulty (or must I say lack of difficulty) you may be disapointed by HoT. But you have to keep in mind that we played “new char” on a new map with new ennemieson an unfinish map so people can’t really say what HoT will feel like at the release or even after a couple of months. I’m pretty sure that those who find it (too) hard right now will change their mind once they spend a few times on the map and those who think the opposite… well lets wait for raids^^.

While I like having the new character options, the new zone is…

Garbage.

It’s a greeny version of Dry Top, which I hated. I hate Dry Top so much. I like Silverwastes, because it’s mostly flat, and it’s accessible to join events and participate.
In Verdant Brink, I’m going around in circles on the few paths that are actually visible, and I can’t seem to get to anywhere else in the zone. (Just like Dry Top.)

The encounters are okay, though some of the enemies need tweaks. I’m so far 70/30 on it. Feels like it’d be more fun with friends and guildies, so take that into consideration.

I expect the new content could be worth the basic buy-in, but so far, I kind of regret what I got myself into.

I’m getting headaches. To much orange and green. Only colors really on the screen

OP: Those of you that got to take a bite, how was the full meal?

TheBlackLeech.9360:

No.

From what I have seen, all we we are getting another “drytop” or “silverwastes” type of map. Complete with the absurd amount of busy work grinding also associated with the aforementioned. (which we would have gotten for free in its entirety already the same way we got drytop and silverwastes if anet hadn’t decided to start withholding living story in order to label it as an expansion and sell it to us)

There is literally nothing that would make me want to buy this, and unless anet is just acting like verdant brink is the only map we are going to get to troll us, and we are getting a lot more than a grand total of: one new map, one new profession, the specialization system, guild halls, a few new legendaries… and one raid.

This is not an expansion…. this is living world season 3 with a price tag.

…and I’m already bored to tears with what we have available.

I’ve already got my pitchfork in my hand waiting for the day the expansion releases and everyone realizes the same.

There will be 4 maps, anet have said so. You haven’t played the beta and have false information – your opinion isn’t worth much.

The new area we’ve seen is great – fun dynamic events, gliding is awesome, interesting mobs to fight. Hopefully all the maps will be like this with varied themes and layouts.

The Chronomancer is so much fun, I am sad every day my Mesmer isn’t one yet.

I paid £35 for HoT and got such good value from 3 years of GW2 so far I’m sure it will continue to provide more.

I have rather enjoyed the Beta and know HoT will be fun as well. It’s just a matter of what you plan on doing in the game when HoT launches. Is it worth the money spent? For me, totally. I’ve enjoyed the masteries I have managed to get, the beauty of the map and am looking forward to getting gliding again when HoT launches so that I can explore and fly everywhere again

TheBlackLeech.9360:

No.

From what I have seen, all we we are getting another “drytop” or “silverwastes” type of map. Complete with the absurd amount of busy work grinding also associated with the aforementioned. (which we would have gotten for free in its entirety already the same way we got drytop and silverwastes if anet hadn’t decided to start withholding living story in order to label it as an expansion and sell it to us)

There is literally nothing that would make me want to buy this, and unless anet is just acting like verdant brink is the only map we are going to get to troll us, and we are getting a lot more than a grand total of: one new map, one new profession, the specialization system, guild halls, a few new legendaries… and one raid.

This is not an expansion…. this is living world season 3 with a price tag.

…and I’m already bored to tears with what we have available.

I’ve already got my pitchfork in my hand waiting for the day the expansion releases and everyone realizes the same.

Why so cynical? LS3? I don’t remember previous living stories bringing Raids, a new class, a large expanse on total skills, new trait lines that alter the base class, role necessity, harder creatures, new legendaries, legendary armor, fractal and pvp revamped systems, a new pvp mode (short of Courtyard if you consider that a pvp ‘mode’).

If you don’t think 50 dollars is fair after 3 years of playing the game and many much more time to follow, then… I’m sorry. But even 60 dollar console or PC games don’t amount to many hours of non-social entertainment. I’m not sure where you’re basing your views of “worth”. If you don’t like the game, don’t play it, but as far as content goes, saying its just a new Drytop is simply wrong and deceiving…

flipyap.5789:

OP: Those of you that got to take a bite, how was the full meal?

Hey thanks for posting this completely useless answer that has nothing to do with my question. I know that they haven’t been able to play the full game yet, but it was also more than a bite, maybe 10 bites out of a 100 bite meal, and after 10 bites you start getting a good feel for how the rest of the meal will taste.

Thanks for sharing your opinions guys.

ronpierce.2760:

Why so cynical? LS3? I don’t remember previous living stories bringing Raids, a new class, a large expanse on total skills, new trait lines that alter the base class, role necessity, harder creatures, new legendaries, legendary armor, fractal and pvp revamped systems, a new pvp mode (short of Courtyard if you consider that a pvp ‘mode’).

If you don’t think 50 dollars is fair after 3 years of playing the game and many much more time to follow, then… I’m sorry. But even 60 dollar console or PC games don’t amount to many hours of non-social entertainment. I’m not sure where you’re basing your views of “worth”. If you don’t like the game, don’t play it, but as far as content goes, saying its just a new Drytop is simply wrong and deceiving…

I think that after three years an MMO needs a true and real expansion… not this dressed up living story Heart of Thorns nonsense. Its a deviant scheme to squeeze more money out of its playerbase. Also…. price is not an issue…. obviously I’ve already purchased the “expansion”. I have been starved of content and have been dying for an expansion for years now. Living Story wasn’t enough…. so what did anet do…. they cut off content completely… saved up a handful of free releases… and then put a pricetag on it…. It is honestly insulting.

Coulter.2315:

There will be 4 maps, anet have said so. You haven’t played the beta and have false information – your opinion isn’t worth much.

The new area we’ve seen is great – fun dynamic events, gliding is awesome, interesting mobs to fight. Hopefully all the maps will be like this with varied themes and layouts.

The Chronomancer is so much fun, I am sad every day my Mesmer isn’t one yet.

I paid £35 for HoT and got such good value from 3 years of GW2 so far I’m sure it will continue to provide more.

Do you have a source for where Anet said there will be four maps?

Also, I have definitely played the beta…. how does your foot taste in your mouth?

Sylent.3165:

I’m getting headaches. To much orange and green. Only colors really on the screen

I pity anyone who is colour-blind playing this zone.

I also wonder if the designer has ever seen pictures of a real jungle. Using the ‘Cursed Shore’ technique of making the mobs blend into the BROWN background in no way corresponds to a real jungle where animals can be fairly brightly coloured because they are nasty to eat. The designer has missed a trick here, for example you could of made the Frogs very brightly coloured which would mean, say, that they explode on death. you could have had a whole colour code for what mobs do in death? Now that would be novel!!!

Plz don’t let anyone fool you, this expansion is worth it. Just look at the beta footage of streamer, like woodenpotatoes, and you can make your own opinion. Some people will never be satisfied doesn’t mean you have to pass on this gem.

I’d say no, but that’s probably just me… There really wasn’t a lot to interest me beyond the story, the new maps, and the masteries though.

Gliding is fun, but it’s started to fall flat for me due to the nature of the map. Because everything is so narrow and claustrophobic, where you can go becomes very limited and it all ends up feeling kind of monotonous.

In addition, the current map has the issue of feeling neither truly remote and desolate, nor emotionally-engaging IMO…
(Needs less towns/outposts for the former [including enemy bases], ideally spaced further apart, yet more friendly settlements for the latter [with compelling NPCs]).

Bouncing mushrooms are convenient, but it seems like the map was either designed to be frustrating so they’d be useful, or that they were created after the maps were to help resolve a fundamental deficiency in their design.

The event chains are decent (well, as GW2 events go at least), but need to be more diverse and have a large number of branches. I’d prefer a much more elaborate dynamic event system in general (different triggers, branches from one chain affecting the progress of a separate chain, cross-zone events, etc.), but I’ve wanted that since before GW2’s launch, so I can’t expect much there. :-/

As for the story… The first chapter back in BWE1 was slightly better than most personal story steps, but I have no faith in the story in general at this point. :-(

Basically, it’s the other maps that will make or break my purchase as it stands.

Sylent.3165:

I’m getting headaches. To much orange and green. Only colors really on the screen

The colour palette has kinda hit me too. TBH it’s a jungle and to be expected, but I think the smoke effects are washing the colour a lot, blurring things out which isn’t helping. The fps issues will also be coming from the smoke for many people.

I fed back about smoke effects being too much last bwe, they instead seem to be even more present now.Added with the higher level of gfx detail and particle effets flying off everywhere, the smoke/mist is just an extra layer too much for my eyes. It’s also distilling the night effects somewhat which is a shame.

I enjoy it, it offers more of a lot of the things that I personally like.
Updated fractals (even if no new fracs are added yet)
Updated classes via the specs (some are good, some aren’t, but then, some of us like ele most n some of us like war most, it’s pretty subjective)
Updated and improved (imo) wvw maps, we’ll see how it goes once the ball really gets going with wvw on those
Guild halls, which seem to be adding some cool stuff

Frankly, if you’ve enjoyed GW2 so far, why would you think HoT won’t be worth supporting Anet?

With GW1 and all of its expansions and EotN, I feel they improved on things every time for the most part, the game by the time EotN came, was quite different from when Prophecies first started, and for me, it was better. Even if there were some things we could gripe about, overall, Anet did well enough to have my trust.

Randulf.7614:

Sylent.3165:

I’m getting headaches. To much orange and green. Only colors really on the screen

The colour palette has kinda hit me too. TBH it’s a jungle and to be expected, but I think the smoke effects are washing the colour a lot, blurring things out which isn’t helping. The fps issues will also be coming from the smoke for many people.

I fed back about smoke effects being too much last bwe, they instead seem to be even more present now.Added with the higher level of gfx detail and particle effets flying off everywhere, the smoke/mist is just an extra layer too much for my eyes. It’s also distilling the night effects somewhat which is a shame.

I thought it was just my PC. The smoke/fog effects are WAY too bright.

jerkic.6319:

Hello, I’m sure I’m not the only one who is still deciding whether or not HoT is worth purchasing.
To those who played in the beta weekend, do you feel like HoT is shaping up to be a good purchase? I feel like the original game gave me such a good value for my money, does HoT compare?
Is it still fun if you are playing alone? (all of my friends decided against purchasing HoT).

I know a lot of the content still hasn’t been demoed in the beta, but I would like you to share your thoughts anyway.

As has been stated, depends on your criteria. Per mine and for me so far it is not worth getting.

I am a WvWvW focused player, I do PVE but I dont care for it either way. And in WvW the biggest issue is of course population imbalance / nightcapping. So add to that 3 years of neglect and some broken promisses along with them adding a lot of fluff to WvW and I am very skeptical to the point that I will not buy it until I see that they do something about it as per their announcements, and that something is actually effective and works.

So for me the judgement is still out, only thing I see so far that is a step in the right direction is locking up full servers, but, thats just a small improvement not a solution, the rest, like new mechanics, new map, etc. at this point its all just useless fluff. It had meaning only back when servers were full, not anymore.

So we’ll see if they actually do something and in a reasonably timely manner instead of another 3 years and what that something is.

TheBlackLeech.9360:

ronpierce.2760:

Why so cynical? LS3? I don’t remember previous living stories bringing Raids, a new class, a large expanse on total skills, new trait lines that alter the base class, role necessity, harder creatures, new legendaries, legendary armor, fractal and pvp revamped systems, a new pvp mode (short of Courtyard if you consider that a pvp ‘mode’).

If you don’t think 50 dollars is fair after 3 years of playing the game and many much more time to follow, then… I’m sorry. But even 60 dollar console or PC games don’t amount to many hours of non-social entertainment. I’m not sure where you’re basing your views of “worth”. If you don’t like the game, don’t play it, but as far as content goes, saying its just a new Drytop is simply wrong and deceiving…

I think that after three years an MMO needs a true and real expansion… not this dressed up living story Heart of Thorns nonsense. Its a deviant scheme to squeeze more money out of its playerbase. Also…. price is not an issue…. obviously I’ve already purchased the “expansion”. I have been starved of content and have been dying for an expansion for years now. Living Story wasn’t enough…. so what did anet do…. they cut off content completely… saved up a handful of free releases… and then put a pricetag on it…. It is honestly insulting.

Coulter.2315:

There will be 4 maps, anet have said so. You haven’t played the beta and have false information – your opinion isn’t worth much.

The new area we’ve seen is great – fun dynamic events, gliding is awesome, interesting mobs to fight. Hopefully all the maps will be like this with varied themes and layouts.

The Chronomancer is so much fun, I am sad every day my Mesmer isn’t one yet.

I paid £35 for HoT and got such good value from 3 years of GW2 so far I’m sure it will continue to provide more.

Do you have a source for where Anet said there will be four maps?

Also, I have definitely played the beta…. how does your foot taste in your mouth?

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Guild_Wars_2:_Heart_of_Thorns#The_Heart_of_Maguuma

4 maps.

“There is literally nothing that would make me want to buy this” sorry when I read THIS I made the assumption that you didn’t buy it – because NOTHING could make you…

I stand corrected on the ‘playing beta,’ I do wonder what the something that made you buy it was though.

Coulter.2315:

TheBlackLeech.9360:

ronpierce.2760:

Why so cynical? LS3? I don’t remember previous living stories bringing Raids, a new class, a large expanse on total skills, new trait lines that alter the base class, role necessity, harder creatures, new legendaries, legendary armor, fractal and pvp revamped systems, a new pvp mode (short of Courtyard if you consider that a pvp ‘mode’).

If you don’t think 50 dollars is fair after 3 years of playing the game and many much more time to follow, then… I’m sorry. But even 60 dollar console or PC games don’t amount to many hours of non-social entertainment. I’m not sure where you’re basing your views of “worth”. If you don’t like the game, don’t play it, but as far as content goes, saying its just a new Drytop is simply wrong and deceiving…

I think that after three years an MMO needs a true and real expansion… not this dressed up living story Heart of Thorns nonsense. Its a deviant scheme to squeeze more money out of its playerbase. Also…. price is not an issue…. obviously I’ve already purchased the “expansion”. I have been starved of content and have been dying for an expansion for years now. Living Story wasn’t enough…. so what did anet do…. they cut off content completely… saved up a handful of free releases… and then put a pricetag on it…. It is honestly insulting.

Coulter.2315:

There will be 4 maps, anet have said so. You haven’t played the beta and have false information – your opinion isn’t worth much.

The new area we’ve seen is great – fun dynamic events, gliding is awesome, interesting mobs to fight. Hopefully all the maps will be like this with varied themes and layouts.

The Chronomancer is so much fun, I am sad every day my Mesmer isn’t one yet.

I paid £35 for HoT and got such good value from 3 years of GW2 so far I’m sure it will continue to provide more.

Do you have a source for where Anet said there will be four maps?

Also, I have definitely played the beta…. how does your foot taste in your mouth?

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Guild_Wars_2:_Heart_of_Thorns#The_Heart_of_Maguuma

4 maps.

“There is literally nothing that would make me want to buy this” sorry when I read THIS I made the assumption that you didn’t buy it – because NOTHING could make you…

I stand corrected on the ‘playing beta,’ I do wonder what the something that made you buy it was though.

Again… that wikipedia entry is not sourced.

Anyone can edit the wiki.

TheBlackLeech.9360:

Coulter.2315:

TheBlackLeech.9360:

ronpierce.2760:

Why so cynical? LS3? I don’t remember previous living stories bringing Raids, a new class, a large expanse on total skills, new trait lines that alter the base class, role necessity, harder creatures, new legendaries, legendary armor, fractal and pvp revamped systems, a new pvp mode (short of Courtyard if you consider that a pvp ‘mode’).

If you don’t think 50 dollars is fair after 3 years of playing the game and many much more time to follow, then… I’m sorry. But even 60 dollar console or PC games don’t amount to many hours of non-social entertainment. I’m not sure where you’re basing your views of “worth”. If you don’t like the game, don’t play it, but as far as content goes, saying its just a new Drytop is simply wrong and deceiving…

I think that after three years an MMO needs a true and real expansion… not this dressed up living story Heart of Thorns nonsense. Its a deviant scheme to squeeze more money out of its playerbase. Also…. price is not an issue…. obviously I’ve already purchased the “expansion”. I have been starved of content and have been dying for an expansion for years now. Living Story wasn’t enough…. so what did anet do…. they cut off content completely… saved up a handful of free releases… and then put a pricetag on it…. It is honestly insulting.

Coulter.2315:

There will be 4 maps, anet have said so. You haven’t played the beta and have false information – your opinion isn’t worth much.

The new area we’ve seen is great – fun dynamic events, gliding is awesome, interesting mobs to fight. Hopefully all the maps will be like this with varied themes and layouts.

The Chronomancer is so much fun, I am sad every day my Mesmer isn’t one yet.

I paid £35 for HoT and got such good value from 3 years of GW2 so far I’m sure it will continue to provide more.

Do you have a source for where Anet said there will be four maps?

Also, I have definitely played the beta…. how does your foot taste in your mouth?

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Guild_Wars_2:_Heart_of_Thorns#The_Heart_of_Maguuma

4 maps.

“There is literally nothing that would make me want to buy this” sorry when I read THIS I made the assumption that you didn’t buy it – because NOTHING could make you…

I stand corrected on the ‘playing beta,’ I do wonder what the something that made you buy it was though.

Again… that wikipedia entry is not sourced.

Anyone can edit the wiki.

https://heartofthorns.guildwars2.com/game/maguuma

“You’ll journey through four of the largest, most diverse and replayable maps ever built in the world of Guild Wars®; maps in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns are designed as three-dimensional volumes rather than traditional flat planes. You’ll have more to explore as you travel through the jungle biomes, from the canopy heights to the jungle floor and deep below into the jungle roots.”

http://heartofthorns.guildwars2.com/game/maguuma/

Fernling.1729:

https://heartofthorns.guildwars2.com/game/maguuma

Thank you sir…
This doesn’t confirm or deny anything I’ve said so far though…

I still feel as if we may be receiving these other three maps later…. not part of the initial release but delivered through the course of Living World Episode 3.

Anet did say somewhere that they will be continuing the Living World after the Release of HoT…. and I mean we don’t even get to fight Mordremoth until the story is over.

“Buying HoT” is just a paywall between players and Living World Episode 3.

You will get one map in the Maguuma Jungle when HoT is released…. and you will get the others in bite sized pieces every two weeks as the living story progresses.

Doesn’t seem quite worth it, but it is unfinished right now. Hard to tell how good a movie is by watching the first 10 minutes.

I think it’s funny that TheBlackLeech sounds so bitter about HoT, but decided to pre-purchase it anyway despite claiming to know how little there is in the expansion. Fanboy in troll’s clothing.

TheBlackLeech.9360:

You will get one map in the Maguuma Jungle when HoT is released…. and you will get the others in bite sized pieces every two weeks as the living story progresses.

Source for that. The link posted that says we’ll get 4 maps does not mention that only one would be available at launch. Not fair for you to ask for source on that and then not source your claim.

I honestly don’t think the beta is a good way to judge how good HoT will be.

• We have VERY limited, shallow access to a tiny sliver of one new map. And only one piece of a story instance.

• Revenant and all the new specs still feel alien and uncomfortable at this point because no one has really spent any quality time to get to know them in-depth, across all game modes. Plus, balancing and bug fixes are still being worked on — and the Ranger and Engineer elites haven’t even been implemented yet!

• Hang-gliding and bouncing off mushrooms is very cool, but most of us really haven’t gotten a full picture of what the mastery system really means, and what it accesses.

• Raids aren’t yet a thing. Neither are any of the upcoming guild features.

• Everything feels rushed and inconsequential, because we feel pressured to see as much as we can in a weekend, then it all goes away.

It’s important to remember: this is not a demo of HoT. This is not a limited trial period of the full expansion. This is a very controlled, closed-off segment of some features, for testing and QA purposes. Don’t start thinking “This is what HoT is,” because this is only a small piece.

NetherDiver.6079:

Doesn’t seem quite worth it, but it is unfinished right now. Hard to tell how good a movie is by watching the first 10 minutes.

I think it’s funny that TheBlackLeech sounds so bitter about HoT, but decided to pre-purchase it anyway despite claiming to know how little there is in the expansion. Fanboy in troll’s clothing.

Do you think its funny that someone who has been with Anet and Guild wars for over 10 years is would be insulted by how cash grabby Anet has gotten lately?

Do you also think its funny that Anet continues to lure in more and more new players with shinies while neglecting their veteran players who have supported them the whole way?

Anet said “Buy whats behind this curtain” and I trusted them… and I got burned.

For no other reason than I trusted them, like a fan would.

There was nothing behind the curtain when I prepurchased…. and there is still barely anything there. Lesson learned.

They don’t care what the players get as long as they get their money.
We got fooled into paying for content we were already getting for free.

Players – “We don’t have enough content to keep us busy… can we have an expansion?”
Anet – “The Living world is not enough content for you guys?”
“Let me just take the exact same living world releases you were going to get for free….. not give it to you for a while…. and then put a price tag on it. and sell it as an expansion”
Players – “This isn’t what we asked for”

Anet is no longer the master of delivering enjoyable worthwhile content, and has instead become the master of twisting words, and leaving out details. They lure in new players to get new wallets, and don’t care about anyone else.

How can you not understand why I am upset?

I have always been a Guild Wars fanboy…. but I assure you I am NOT trolling.
I mean all of this from the bottom of my heart.

Anet did not always operate this way, and it is sad that they are so different now.

TheBlackLeech.9360:

Fernling.1729:

https://heartofthorns.guildwars2.com/game/maguuma

Thank you sir…
This doesn’t confirm or deny anything I’ve said so far though…

I still feel as if we may be receiving these other three maps later…. not part of the initial release but delivered through the course of Living World Episode 3.

Anet did say somewhere that they will be continuing the Living World after the Release of HoT…. and I mean we don’t even get to fight Mordremoth until the story is over.

“Buying HoT” is just a paywall between players and Living World Episode 3.

You will get one map in the Maguuma Jungle when HoT is released…. and you will get the others in bite sized pieces every two weeks as the living story progresses.

Seriously read that site, they are literly saying four maps, that doesn’t mean living story, that means at launch. I do not get how you can read something and then still try to deny it. Btw They also said that the current story would wrap up in the expansion.

I know you want to troll, but at least accept it when someone brings the facts into it. If you don’t like the expansion so be it, but this is being hatefull and intentionally misleading.

I was already excited pre beta because there was a lot of stuff announced I was interested in. My main concern was only 4 maps because that sounds real small.

Now that I have been playing the beta I can happily say that because of the way they are packing them full of content (and how what we have seen is only a small section of 1 map) I think I will be plenty satisfied with 4 maps.

Definitely do not regret prepurchasing

Fox.3469:

TheBlackLeech.9360:

Fernling.1729:

https://heartofthorns.guildwars2.com/game/maguuma

Thank you sir…
This doesn’t confirm or deny anything I’ve said so far though…

I still feel as if we may be receiving these other three maps later…. not part of the initial release but delivered through the course of Living World Episode 3.

Anet did say somewhere that they will be continuing the Living World after the Release of HoT…. and I mean we don’t even get to fight Mordremoth until the story is over.

“Buying HoT” is just a paywall between players and Living World Episode 3.

You will get one map in the Maguuma Jungle when HoT is released…. and you will get the others in bite sized pieces every two weeks as the living story progresses.

Seriously read that site, they are literly saying four maps, that doesn’t mean living story, that means at launch. I do not get how you can read something and then still try to deny it. Btw They also said that the current story would wrap up in the expansion.

I know you want to troll, but at least accept it when someone brings the facts into it. If you don’t like the expansion so be it, but this is being hatefull and intentionally misleading.

Do you honestly think I’m trying to be hateful or misleading?

How on earth do I get called an anet fanboy and an anet hater in the same thread?

Here are the facts:
I bought the expansion before I knew anything about it because of the hype train.
Now that the hype train has crashed, I have yet to see anything that would make me want to encourage others to buy the expansion, and I would not purchase the expansion today if I had not already purchased it in the past.
Anet has become rather adept at twisting words and leaving out details, and I would not trust what you think they are saying without reading between the lines.
Anything that could be considered a plus or a feature for HoT would be advertised…
…and anything that would be considered negative or a flaw in HoT will not be advertised…

Examples:
Anet – “The Maguuma Jungle will have 4 new maps.”

That could mean
A) We will get all 4 new maps in the jungle on release of HoT
B) We will get one new jungle map on release and will get the remaining maps over time.

Neither of which make the statement false.

But I ask you this…
Has anyone seen any of these other maps?
Does the one map we have seem anywhere close to finished?
Do you believe we will have three more maps, in equal size and quality to Verdant Brink, finished given the release date of HoT?

Anet never said anything about a Mordremoth encounter

That could mean
A) We will be able to fight Mordremoth on day 1 of the release of HoT, regardless of no mention.
B) Mordremoth won’t be defeated until a future Living Story episode is released.

Both are possible….

But I want you to know…
Since Anet never said anything about a Mordremoth encounter, they are likely hiding the fact that we won’t get to fight him till later, otherwise they would be advertising it.

I vote purchase.

Pros:
Group events galore! Not only are there a lot of group events, but they are actually enjoyable. And knowing each one raises my masteries is really nice. I didn’t think I missed earning usable experience after 80, but now that I’m getting it again I realize I did.

The maps are really well done, meaning the scenery is really nice. Its also quite challenging to explore. Not everything is on the same plane and you have enemies EVERYWHERE which aren’t always easy to get past.

The day and night cycles are also interesting, although not as notable as other features. Especially since night time is boring. Which I find interesting because you would think that would be the time for an ambush.

Cons:
Elite specs are not worth it. Sure some of the skills are interesting but I’m only using two of the new skills on my thief. I’ve also played ele and necro. To me, if I was planning my purchase on new skills or new ways to play my same character, I wouldn’t bother.

Not going to be as enjoyable with solo players. Running around this map is tedious and I find it more fun with other players. I also haven’t seen many events that can be solod.

If there is even a possibility of an expansion to an MMORPG not being worth buying then you should quit the game. Expansions move a game forward, perhaps Arena-Net is giving away too much for free.

I’m enjoying the beta. I like the verticality of the zones. I like gliding trying to get to new places. I love the jumping mushrooms. The story, what little of it I’ve experienced, feels good to me.

I think HoT is worth it in major changes to game systems. The content I’ve played so far is fun, but the mastery system and the elite specialization system is enough for me, not to mention guild halls and, if you like challenging content, raids. I’m even looking forward to the Pact Commander mastery line.

TheBlackLeech.9360:

Fox.3469:

TheBlackLeech.9360:

Fernling.1729:

https://heartofthorns.guildwars2.com/game/maguuma

Thank you sir…
This doesn’t confirm or deny anything I’ve said so far though…

I still feel as if we may be receiving these other three maps later…. not part of the initial release but delivered through the course of Living World Episode 3.

Anet did say somewhere that they will be continuing the Living World after the Release of HoT…. and I mean we don’t even get to fight Mordremoth until the story is over.

“Buying HoT” is just a paywall between players and Living World Episode 3.

You will get one map in the Maguuma Jungle when HoT is released…. and you will get the others in bite sized pieces every two weeks as the living story progresses.

Seriously read that site, they are literly saying four maps, that doesn’t mean living story, that means at launch. I do not get how you can read something and then still try to deny it. Btw They also said that the current story would wrap up in the expansion.

I know you want to troll, but at least accept it when someone brings the facts into it. If you don’t like the expansion so be it, but this is being hatefull and intentionally misleading.

Do you honestly think I’m trying to be hateful or misleading?

How on earth do I get called an anet fanboy and an anet hater in the same thread?

Here are the facts:
I bought the expansion before I knew anything about it because of the hype train.
Now that the hype train has crashed, I have yet to see anything that would make me want to encourage others to buy the expansion, and I would not purchase the expansion today if I had not already purchased it in the past.
Anet has become rather adept at twisting words and leaving out details, and I would not trust what you think they are saying without reading between the lines.
Anything that could be considered a plus or a feature for HoT would be advertised…
…and anything that would be considered negative or a flaw in HoT will not be advertised…

Examples:
Anet – “The Maguuma Jungle will have 4 new maps.”

That could mean
A) We will get all 4 new maps in the jungle on release of HoT
B) We will get one new jungle map on release and will get the remaining maps over time.

Neither of which make the statement false.

But I ask you this…
Has anyone seen any of these other maps?
Does the one map we have seem anywhere close to finished?
Do you believe we will have three more maps, in equal size and quality to Verdant Brink, finished given the release date of HoT?

Anet never said anything about a Mordremoth encounter

That could mean
A) We will be able to fight Mordremoth on day 1 of the release of HoT, regardless of no mention.
B) Mordremoth won’t be defeated until a future Living Story episode is released.

Both are possible….

But I want you to know…
Since Anet never said anything about a Mordremoth encounter, they are likely hiding the fact that we won’t get to fight him till later, otherwise they would be advertising it.

You are denying 2 things that have been stated in interviews by Arenanet to be fact. They did confirm our current storyline will come to a conclusion in HoT, whatever conclusion that is, of course they aren’t gonna tell you the specifics, but the entire mordrem jungle story line will be completed.
They also stated multiple times that there will be multiple maps at release, and colin uses the words “as players venture trough these maps” all the time when talking about the expansion + you have the official website listing it as a feature or heart of thorns + they confirmed “not all maps in the expansion will have 3 layers”, clearly showing multiple maps will be in there+4 maps have already been found in datamining + it’s on the official GW2 wiki+they clearly stated they are only showing us verdant brink to not spoil everything.

Plz stop making stuff up just to have an oppertunity to be negative. Start from the facts. This site https://heartofthorns.guildwars2.com/game/#maguuma is factual info on what will be there on release. If it isn’t there on release, like raids, wich will be added a few weeks into the expansion. It is specificly mentioned in the blog post. Also note that the living world season 3 is NOT listed as a feature here, since it’s not there on launch.

Stop trolling, if you don’t like the game, don’t play, but do not feed lies into the playersbase that is asking for honest information. There are plenty of people here able to build a reasonable argument towards the OP, both positive and negative, without making stuff up.

Oh and btw i hope you learned your lesson about pre-purchasing something blindly, that is your fault and your fault alone. I pre-purchased because i have faith in the developper, wich has given me over 10 years of awesome gameplay in both GW1 and GW2, if you don’t then you should not pre-purchase until you have all the info you need, and make an informed decision

Fox.3469:

TheBlackLeech.9360:

Fox.3469:

TheBlackLeech.9360:

Fernling.1729:

https://heartofthorns.guildwars2.com/game/maguuma

Thank you sir…
This doesn’t confirm or deny anything I’ve said so far though…

I still feel as if we may be receiving these other three maps later…. not part of the initial release but delivered through the course of Living World Episode 3.

Anet did say somewhere that they will be continuing the Living World after the Release of HoT…. and I mean we don’t even get to fight Mordremoth until the story is over.

“Buying HoT” is just a paywall between players and Living World Episode 3.

You will get one map in the Maguuma Jungle when HoT is released…. and you will get the others in bite sized pieces every two weeks as the living story progresses.

Seriously read that site, they are literly saying four maps, that doesn’t mean living story, that means at launch. I do not get how you can read something and then still try to deny it. Btw They also said that the current story would wrap up in the expansion.

I know you want to troll, but at least accept it when someone brings the facts into it. If you don’t like the expansion so be it, but this is being hatefull and intentionally misleading.

Do you honestly think I’m trying to be hateful or misleading?

How on earth do I get called an anet fanboy and an anet hater in the same thread?

Here are the facts:
I bought the expansion before I knew anything about it because of the hype train.
Now that the hype train has crashed, I have yet to see anything that would make me want to encourage others to buy the expansion, and I would not purchase the expansion today if I had not already purchased it in the past.
Anet has become rather adept at twisting words and leaving out details, and I would not trust what you think they are saying without reading between the lines.
Anything that could be considered a plus or a feature for HoT would be advertised…
…and anything that would be considered negative or a flaw in HoT will not be advertised…

Examples:
Anet – “The Maguuma Jungle will have 4 new maps.”

That could mean
A) We will get all 4 new maps in the jungle on release of HoT
B) We will get one new jungle map on release and will get the remaining maps over time.

Neither of which make the statement false.

But I ask you this…
Has anyone seen any of these other maps?
Does the one map we have seem anywhere close to finished?
Do you believe we will have three more maps, in equal size and quality to Verdant Brink, finished given the release date of HoT?

Anet never said anything about a Mordremoth encounter

That could mean
A) We will be able to fight Mordremoth on day 1 of the release of HoT, regardless of no mention.
B) Mordremoth won’t be defeated until a future Living Story episode is released.

Both are possible….

But I want you to know…
Since Anet never said anything about a Mordremoth encounter, they are likely hiding the fact that we won’t get to fight him till later, otherwise they would be advertising it.

You are denying 2 things that have been stated in interviews by Arenanet to be fact. They did confirm our current storyline will come to a conclusion in HoT, whatever conclusion that is, of course they aren’t gonna tell you the specifics, but the entire mordrem jungle story line will be completed.
They also stated multiple times that there will be multiple maps at release, and colin uses the words “as players venture trough these maps” all the time when talking about the expansion + you have the official website listing it as a feature or heart of thorns + they confirmed “not all maps in the expansion will have 3 layers”, clearly showing multiple maps will be in there+4 maps have already been found in datamining + it’s on the official GW2 wiki+they clearly stated they are only showing us verdant brink to not spoil everything.

Plz stop making stuff up just to have an oppertunity to be negative. Start from the facts. This site https://heartofthorns.guildwars2.com/game/#maguuma is factual info on what will be there on release. If it isn’t there on release, like raids, wich will be added a few weeks into the expansion. It is specificly mentioned in the blog post. Also note that the living world season 3 is NOT listed as a feature here, since it’s not there on launch.

Stop trolling, if you don’t like the game, don’t play, but do not feed lies into the playersbase that is asking for honest information. There are plenty of people here able to build a reasonable argument towards the OP, both positive and negative, without making stuff up.

Oh and btw i hope you learned your lesson about pre-purchasing something blindly, that is your fault and your fault alone. I pre-purchased because i have faith in the developper, wich has given me over 10 years of awesome gameplay in both GW1 and GW2, if you don’t then you should not pre-purchase until you have all the info you need, and make an informed decision

You literally did not even comprehend what I posted… at all.

I’m saying you need to read between the lines.

Here is an example from the not-so-distant past…

Anet says something like
“New competitive game mode where guilds can compete, guild versus guild”

Fans hear GVG, everyone is talking about how great gvg is going to be…

Developers refer to new game mode as GvG in interviews….

New gametype is revealed as stronghold…. and
Stronghold is no more of a GvG than regular vanilla Spvp is.

…and yet anet never lied

All you have to do is type GvG and Gw2 into a search engine and you will find hundreds of blog sites raving about how GvG is coming.

How did such a miscommunication occur?

Because Anet twisted their words, and made stronghold sound like GvG.

They gave people what they wanted to hear, but didn’t give them what they wanted to see.

I’m not making this stuff up, man.

Please, continue calling me a troll, you are only insulting yourself and your own intelligence.

If you don’t believe me, fine.

but when the expansion comes out and I’m right…. don’t say I didn’t tell you so.

TheBlackLeech.9360:

snip

Ok. I can play too.

Anet hasn’t specifically stated the weapon types that the first three HoT legendary weapons will be. They’re going to all be staves.

Anet hasn’t specifically stated the number of story episodes that will be in the expansion. I say that we only get the one that we saw in the beta with the rest being released biweekly.

Anet hasn’t specifically denied that every player in the game is actually a Skritt wearing racial disguises. We’re all Skritt.

You cannot definitively say anything I just said above is false just as I cannot definitively say any of it is correct. I could ignore that, say I’m correct, and then say anyone who disagrees with me is just a fanboy but I won’t. I would be doing actually what you’ve been doing if I were to do that.

What you’re doing is holding something only to be true if Anet has specifically stated it to be so to the most minute detail. Anet stated on the HoT website that there will be four explorable maps. They didn’t specifically state that all four would be included on release so you took it upon yourself to shed doubt on it to further your own agenda. You make a lot of assumptions with no sources and yet call out anyone that does the same. There’s more evidence against your position(s) so that’s why you place such a very high burden of proof on anything that you disagree with.

Ayrilana.1396:

TheBlackLeech.9360:

snip

Ok. I can play too.

Anet hasn’t specifically stated the weapon types that the first three HoT legendary weapons will be. They’re going to all be staves.

Anet hasn’t specifically stated the number of story episodes that will be in the expansion. I say that we only get the one that we saw in the beta with the rest being released biweekly.

Anet hasn’t specifically denied that every player in the game is actually a Skritt wearing racial disguises. We’re all Skritt.

You cannot definitively say anything I just said above is false just as I cannot definitively say any of it is correct. I could ignore that, say I’m correct, and then say anyone who disagrees with me is just a fanboy but I won’t. I would be doing actually what you’ve been doing if I were to do that.

What you’re doing is holding something only to be true if Anet has specifically stated it to be so to the most minute detail. Anet stated on the HoT website that there will be four explorable maps. They didn’t specifically state that all four would be included on release so you took it upon yourself to shed doubt on it to further your own agenda. You make a lot of assumptions with no sources and yet call out anyone that does the same. There’s more evidence against your position(s) so that’s why you place such a very high burden of proof on anything that you disagree with.

I have played the beta, and myself and many others have seen one single, solitary, incomplete map.

When I see 4 maps, I’ll believe it.

Until then have fun riding the hype train.

Come find me when the expansion launches, and I’ll be happy to bow down to you and admit I was wrong if that is indeed the case….

I have nothing left to say that you guys are willing to listen to.

If I’m wrong… everyone wins… and I really want to be wrong… but I don’t think I will be.

Buy it already. I waited until last week to buy cause i wanted to see some more elites and decided to bite the bullet for access to the BWE, and I am not dissapointed after entering the beta. The events are challenging, gliding is awesome (anyone know if we can take our gliders in the vanilla game?) And if the current bit of map we can see is an indication of the rest, I am totally stoked to spend weeks and months in them. I think the only legit gripe to date is about some of the elite tracks like Tempest but that is what beta is for: to flush out the problems.

With raids, new borderlands, new pvp map type, guild halls, new class etc there is more than enough content to justify the purchase.

TheBlackLeech.9360:

I have played the beta, and myself and many others have seen one single, solitary, incomplete map.

It’s a beta test; not a demo or head start. They’re not going to give you the entire map.

It’s really hard to say. So far it’s not redefining the game, just adds more of it.

PvE is nicely looking, but in the dragon fight the dragon doesn’t move. Anyway it is good level design artistically. I wished there were open dungeons, party dungeons or indoor instances. Only 1 raid so that is bound to get repetitive.

PvP has only 1 map so that is disappointing.
WvW has only one new map as well but it is big.
Guild halls will surely be interesting.

It looks fun, but I don’t think it will keep me interested until later than next summer.

jerkic.6319:

Hello, I’m sure I’m not the only one who is still deciding whether or not HoT is worth purchasing.
To those who played in the beta weekend, do you feel like HoT is shaping up to be a good purchase? I feel like the original game gave me such a good value for my money, does HoT compare?

As an example, I will just compare the “open world” PvE-maps:

There a are some things we know already from A-Net: There will be 4 new PvE maps, not all have three biomes and we have now seen 50% of the first map, verdant brink (around 25% in the BWE1 and another 25% in the BWE2). Assuming all 4 new maps will have the same size (and playtime and fun..) I have seen and played 1/8 of HoT-maps (of course, not the final versions, it is a beta overall)

Comparing only this to the maps of the GW2-basegame (and the price when GW2 released) I would say, HoT has not such a good “value for money” ratio and seems a little bit overpriced.

Knowing what I know now, I still would have purchased it. It seems “a little” overpriced, but it is still fun (well, a lot of it) to play.