Guild Wars 2

Hey, these are just my two cents.
My overall opinion on the expansion and the maps in PvE is positive, but there are some issues that become become apparent while playing the new content that can be off-putting. I will also refrain, as much as I can, from talking about adventures and how they are integrated withing the map cycles.

- Artistically stunning. Beautiful environments, custom-tailored soundtracks and quality voice acting on the events for all four maps. Nothing more to add.

- Outpost system most of the time give a clear start and end point for the event chains. This allows the player to easily follow the story they tell(like a traditional quest chain, but repeatable) and the achievements tied to them make it apparent which part of the chain the player may have missed. Imo, GW2 has needed this since launch. Wandering around the map hoping to stumble on an event is fun the 1st few times, but if I want to experience the full storyline of a given zone, having an indicator that something MORE is there and where to generally look for it saves countless hours aimlessly wandering around.

- For people that like exploration it may be a good idea to add side events with their own story. This would have been superb in Auric Basin and the Exalted. Not everything needs to be tied to Mordremoth. I kind of get the feeling that adventures are supposed to fill this gap and they took up the development time, because they seem similar in nature, but I digress.

-Meta events. All are fun and I like the fact that there is varying difficulty withing the meta itself(some lanes/bosses being harder than others). However I dislike the fact that all metas are on a hard timer and I believe making the meta event trigger based on player participation like SW is better. I don’t see a point in the meta triggering even if there are no people on the map to do it. Map hopping should be a non-issue with the way participation bonuses work.

- Too many bags. I assume this is because there needs to be a difference from the champ. bags from central Tyria, but it is just taxing to filter. Please make the bags across all 4 maps only one rarity, kind and with unified loot so they can stack, including the ones from the map bonuses.

-Map currencies – a bit on the grindy side. VB is fine, however why don’t we get the “keys” in AB and TD from progressing the meta and events? I’m fine with machetes in DS requiring the previous three currencies, but I don’t like having to buy the other two on top of needing currency for skins. You don’t need to buy Crowbars , Shovels in SW either (bandit keys are a non-factor since you get a lot more tokens), Zephyrite Lockpicks are sold, but even they have alternative ways of acquisition.

Map specific notes:

-Verdant Brink – Upper left outpost needs to be a bit more accecable. I do not think the raid will need a lobby area, since interest will drop in time and people will be a lot less inclined to PUG it, but if not then yes a lobby will be needed or the raid moved. Solid map overall.

-Auric Bsin- My favourite map. Needs less downtime when selecting players for the armors. Awesome achievements about collecting stuff on this map.

- Tangled Depths – Why are there so many events that are part of the outposts, but not tied to the meta event? I do not understand. Or more so, why is the timer so long if they’re intended to give late arrivers a chance to build up participation? A 2h+ timer is too long, especially since the rewards from the Gerent are also tied to the participation bonus and the event itself lasts 10-15mins. Really good map, but annoying to play due to the design because I feel like I don’t get enough for my time invested in it.

- Dragon’s Stand – Love it. Only maybe make it so that the timer does not start until the initial escort has begun.

General suggestion: If meta progresses with player activity, we can have a 5-10min. downtime between each state (non-active meta>pre-meta break > active meta > post-meta break> non-active meta).

This is most of what I have to say about the maps. Any discussion is welcomed and when I have time I would love to write about some of the other features like masteries, adventure, specializations, raids etc. from a PvE point of view since that is almost exclusively what I play.

Edit: Spelling and added a missed sentence.

-Map currencies – a bit on the grindy side. VB is fine, however why don’t we get the “keys” in AB and TD from progressing the meta and events? I’m fine with machetes in DS requiring the previous three currencies, but I don’t like having to buy the other two on top of needing currency for skins. You don’t need to buy Crowbars , Shovels in SW either (bandit keys are a non-factor since you get a lot more tokens), Zephyrite Lockpicks are sold, but even they have alternative ways of acquisition.

THIS ^

I have crowbars and airship parts out the wazoo…. I need ley line crystals which don’t seem to come from more than half the events in Tangled Depths. It is a total grind in my least favorite map that is difficult to navigate to say the least and gated behind events to a larger extent other than Dragon’s Stand. Despite the repetition of events and well traversed areas in Verdant Brink or even Silverwastes, I find it less tiresome and quite reasonable considering time/effort earning currencies for the exchanges.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Airship_Part
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ley_Line_Crystal

It is so much easier farming certain currencies more than others (note the difference in number of ways to obtain units between the two). I spent an hour in Tangled Depths doing mini events some of which were leading to the meta (which always seems to fail) and I earned 15 crystals. The crystals were from a grey chest drop from an event I don’t even remember participating in. There is to me no defined and definite way to even grind your way to some of the rewards.