This may very well be my first ever forum post but I feel as though I needed to post it.
I will break this post into two sections. Quick overview of the complaints many people have and then the reasons why I am loving the expansion.
Complaints
Everything is time gated
Elite spec is taking forever to get.
In my opinion(yes my own opinion) This is the only part of the expansion i was disappointed with until I realized something. I couldn’t use any utility, save my healing skill, at the launch of guild wars 2 I had to level and every certain amount of levels I unlocked the ability to purchase new skills with skill points. Could I get all the skills right away? No sometimes i wouldn’t have the required amount of skill points.
Mastery’s require too much exp
Mastery’s were not made to be completed in 1 day or 2 days they are something that you work towards as a goal. Throw on a kill streak booster. Exp Boosters and use other consumables that grant you % exp and they level up super fast.. MY guess is that 95% of the people complaining are also not using any sort of food buff…..
Why I am Loving this expansion
It made the game feel like it did when it first came out. All the exploring to do all the hidden rooms to find. (Already found a few hidden places that are pretty freaking amazing eyegasms)
After realizing that the elite spec actually required some work to get it I am loving the challenge some of the Hero points have. Brings more focus to the game then running full zerker and pushing 1. Granted I am still in my full zerker gear but I am having to rely more on my positioning and skill usage to make sure I do not go down during most fights. Remember we do have a dodge function for a reason.
Anticipation for raids is starting to kill me. With some of the new mechanics in open world pve the raid difficulty is going to feed a hunger for something hard to do in the game.
Fractals: Oh where to begin. This may be one of the most ingenious updates to a “dungeon” like mode of the game yet. I was a little shocked by the price of ascended salvage kits but the amount of rewards you get after completing fractal mastery’s is crazy. Only made it to fractal level 65 so far and some of the maps are requiring my normal group of friends and I to take a step back and think about each encounter. I have even done a few fractal 60’s with a friend that does not have HoT.
HoT Story: This might be my favorite part of this update. MY goodness did the actual story bring me back to remembering the good old guild wars 1 days.
Tl;Dr I enjoy the expansion and people need to just take a chill pill and play the game and the unlocks will come.