A Berserkers look at Heart of Thorns
To make for easier reading I’ve decided to split this up in several chapters, with TL:DRs at the end of every one of them. Please try to keep in mind I’m trying to be unbiased, but I’m not altogether neutral on all of these points – and sometimes someone’s gotta be the devil’s advocate.
The Pros of Heart of Thorns
1) The storyline was appealing. I’ve really been looking forward to seeing how things ended up with Glint’s Egg, and how the story would revolve around Destiny’s Edge and their inheritors. In that aspect I think HoT really delivered; feels were had and I’ve pretty much finished the entire new storyline in a single inning. As far as was possible. But more on that on the Cons.
2) The maps are a pleasure to look at. With the different routes, mini jumping puzzles, and dozen different angles to approach a location, the maps really delivered on the visual part.
3) The new Elite specs are awesome! I’ve been looking forward to running around setting things on fire for a while and I’m pleased to announce things have been set on fire indeed.
4) Masteries were actually really interesting to chase. As promised, unlocking a new mastery opens up new possibilities to exploring or finishing a map.
5) The new outfits, armor, and collections are pretty kitten snazzy. To name a few, Lunatic’s Outfit and the Bladed Armor are awesome!
6) New awesome legendaries! We’ve seen three so far and I’m eager to see what they’ll do with one-handed swords, torches, and greatswords (totally not biased here). The way old precursors got new skins and the system to build precursors is definitely a step in the right direction.
7) GW2 takes a step away from ‘regular’ MMOs by not making the gear useless when a new expansion comes out. It’s nice to know that whatever gear you’ve worked hard towards to create and collect, it’s still useful, and not just going to be banked cause it looks cool, but sucks statwise.
8) on the same note, there’s no need to farm half a dozen maps to get to max level. Only to do it all again in two years. After all, level 80 is still the max… right?
9) Have you seen those new minis from the Rata Sum Fractal? NNNNGH. Awesome.
10) Gliders! Gliders! Gliiiiders! I’m already hoping they’ll be allowed in the rest of Tyria at some point.
11) Guild Halls! This all looks amazing…
With the enthusiasm about shiny new things out of the way, however, come the cons. And it’s not all sunshine.
The Cons of Heart of Thorns.
12) The maps, while good looking, are also something to really get used to. They’re not as clear-cut as other maps, and can be a challenge to explore. I’m a little OCD when it comes to finishing zones and it didn’t sit well with me having to leave a map before I had completely finished it, simply because I couldn’t fit myself through kitten in the ground somewhere.
13) As far as Elite specs go, however, the grass on the other side of the fence is always greener. I can’t help but feel slightly jealous when I see Necromancers being awesome.
14) Masteries turned out to be fairly grindy. While it worked well while still doing map completion, exploring, and story, at this point I’ve more or less hit a wall: finishing the first map will require me to gather another ~3 million experience, while I was doing map completion to get that experience in the first place… eh. I understand that it’s a fine thing to force us to take things slow and reward things over time, but doing the same event chains a few dozen times a la Silverwastes doesn’t really get me going. I can recite some of the conversations in Maguuma by now.
15) Yes, your ascended gear is still best-in-slot…. as long as you don’t have a new Elite spec that requires a completely new kit. Changing stats on Ascended gear is luckily a thing, but I’m still going to have to farm for new rings/accessorizes/back items. Mixed feelings.
16) While you no longer need to ‘level’, you still have to ‘level masteries’. Splitting hairs – you’re still going to end up having to get to mastery level 50+ to fully enjoy the end-game content. Mixed feelings once again.
17) As for Guild Halls, I can’t really comment – I haven’t unlocked one yet. My small guild was struggling to get enough firepower together to clear out the mobs. As I’ve heard conflicting claims regarding the numbers needed to do it, I’m either going to have to find 5 or 15 more players. Was a little discouraging to find out it’s not scaled.
18) The mobs in Maguuma aren’t hard, I suppose. They’re just balls to the walls annoying. I’m struggling against a fair few of mobs – not because they’re a challenge, but simply because they’ve got a set of annoying abilities. Makes me more and more inclined to skip mobs because fighting them isn’t fun – it’s just aggravating. Mordrem Snipers and the frogmen Bladedancers are good examples. Not hard to fight, but it’s just very annoying when you get downed out of nowhere again. Less than fun.
19) The currently final story mission is an incredible pain in the everything. Between bugs making Canach’s fight impossible to finish (fixable, of course), or the Caithe and Mordremoth fights being fairly infuriating between the constant damage, lack of safe zones, and endless stream of damage/reflects, it doesn’t make for a very fun encounter. I struggled less on my first solo attemps, but helping friends out has actually gotten something I’d rather not to, simply because the fights only help to make me want to break things. A wasted chance!
20) Waypoints: if you’re gonna add them, at least make them usable. Nobody likes contested Waypoints (exceptions made for masochists?).
I think that’s more or less it. Please don’t mistake my criticism as hating – I still think GW2 is one of the best MMOs out there at the time. These are just my two cents. I’m also well aware you simply can’t please everyone. If these things change, great! If not, no harm done. No reason to bring out the pitchforks and torches (Berserkers are allowed to, however).