Guild Wars 2

Has anyone while traveling/questing on HOT feels like if you are playing an MMORPG version of Dark Souls II? Lol

Someyimes, it feels that way, full of mobs, tight corridors, etc?

In Demon’s Souls/Dark Souls/Bloodborn you lose most of your progress if you die (unless you found the shortcut), and you lose all your souls – the only currency. If you would do that in GW2 the whining would be even greater.

HoT maps feel very unwelcoming, like someone really doesn’t want me to go there. And I am happy to oblige and stay in central Tyria. Lol.

Granrey.8920:

Has anyone while traveling/questing on HOT feels like if you are playing an MMORPG version of Dark Souls II?

Well the biggest difference is HoT is quite easy.

I honestly can’t understand all the whinning about the open-world part of HoT. Of course it is a little bit more difficult then core tyria. But the biggest difference here is that it is nearly impossible to get killed in core tyria, even if you do stupid things, and in HoT you need to avoid the stupid things, like using white gear or facetanking zergs of enemies.

HoT has its own problems like empty meta maps and so on. But traveling the open world is none of them.

Sometimes, it feels that way, full of mobs, tight corridors, etc?

You mean a game with environmental diversity where you can actually use your class abilities?

In Demon’s Souls/Dark Souls/Bloodborn you lose most of your progress if you die (unless you found the shortcut), and you lose all your souls – the only currency. If you would do that in GW2 the whining would be even greater.

Meh, losing your souls at least in Dark Souls 1 was no big. Dark Souls 2 on the other hand had soul memory.

HoT maps feel very unwelcoming, like someone really doesn’t want me to go there.

Well it is run by a dragon who actively declared war on the rest of Tyria. Enemy territory shouldn’t feel welcoming.

No I haven’t had that feeling in the new maps. Bloodborne had moments where I wondered if maybe I just suck at games whereas in HoT it was more of “hmm I should try to do this better” or “I need to tweak things a bit”. I mean in the beginning of the xpac I did switch up my Ele’s build a bit to be a bit more resilient, but now I am back to being totally damage focused and it’s fine. The map still feel dangerous but I generally can run around on y own without much of an issue (Tangled Depths is probably hardest in this respect). I just feel like Bloodborne’s difficulty is way higher than HoT’s.

Agemnon.4608:

Well it is run by a dragon who actively declared war on the rest of Tyria. Enemy territory shouldn’t feel welcoming.

And I killed it. Twice! Yet nothing changed at all.

Agemnon.4608:

HoT maps feel very unwelcoming, like someone really doesn’t want me to go there.

Well it is run by a dragon who actively declared war on the rest of Tyria. Enemy territory shouldn’t feel welcoming.

But who knew Mordy was so disciplined? Everything happens right on schedule, and not a minute sooner.

I thought he was the dragon of Plants and Minds, not Plants and Clock Timers… -_-

Rauderi.8706:

Agemnon.4608:

HoT maps feel very unwelcoming, like someone really doesn’t want me to go there.

Well it is run by a dragon who actively declared war on the rest of Tyria. Enemy territory shouldn’t feel welcoming.

But who knew Mordy was so disciplined? Everything happens right on schedule, and not a minute sooner.

I thought he was the dragon of Plants and Minds, not Plants and Clock Timers… -_-

Maybe he just has access to some really organized minds?

Jahroots.6791:

HoT maps feel very unwelcoming, like someone really doesn’t want me to go there. And I am happy to oblige and stay in central Tyria. Lol.

In HoT you can longer run around in gear that is 20 levels below you and not die. You actually have to have a good set of armour on.

Once you run around a map a few times you soon find out the fast paths to certain areas and where you can go to avoid certain mobs.

Sird.4536:

Jahroots.6791:

HoT maps feel very unwelcoming, like someone really doesn’t want me to go there. And I am happy to oblige and stay in central Tyria. Lol.

In HoT you can longer run around in gear that is 20 levels below you and not die. You actually have to have a good set of armour on.

Once you run around a map a few times you soon find out the fast paths to certain areas and where you can go to avoid certain mobs.

Of course, since there’s nothing you can usefully DO solo-wise then that ability (taking mob-avoidong routes) is kind of pointless, when you spend 95% of your time looking for maps with enough people on them to actually get anything done or else if you’re lucky on maps with enough people following the tram-line zone meta.

HOT has little to no useful purpose to ‘exploration’, you’ll see most of it during the metas.

Kraggy.4169:

HOT has little to no useful purpose to ‘exploration’, you’ll see most of it during the metas.

HOT actively discourages exploration. What was GW2’s original joy is crushed under the thorny weight of Mordremoth. ;_;

Rauderi.8706:

Kraggy.4169:

HOT has little to no useful purpose to ‘exploration’, you’ll see most of it during the metas.

HOT actively discourages exploration. What was GW2’s original joy is crushed under the thorny weight of Mordremoth. ;_;

I disagree with that, been having a lot of fun exploring the maps and finding all kinds of random places and things. Heck I didn’t even know about the Mastery Points from the strongboxes in zones until I randomly found one in Verdant Brink. Sure you can’t just wander and not pay attention to your surroundings… but then if you aren’t paying attention to what is around you I’m not sure how much exploring you really are doing.

Dragon Stand is probably the hardest to explore, but even then you can do that if you want. Just much more limited on time.

Jahroots.6791:

HoT maps feel very unwelcoming, like someone really doesn’t want me to go there. And I am happy to oblige and stay in central Tyria. Lol.

Well you are behind enemy lines in their territory.

Jahroots.6791:

Agemnon.4608:

Well it is run by a dragon who actively declared war on the rest of Tyria. Enemy territory shouldn’t feel welcoming.

And I killed it. Twice! Yet nothing changed at all.

That’s because gameplay time isn’t linear. When we’re in the open world we’re canonically in a time before we killed the dragon. It also justified level scaling well since if you’re in Queensdale you’re in a different part of the timeline than Dragon’s Stand. If you’re in Queensdale Zhaitan is alive and kicking still.

But who knew Mordy was so disciplined? Everything happens right on schedule, and not a minute sooner.
I thought he was the dragon of Plants and Minds, not Plants and Clock Timers… -_-

I don’t like fixed times for events I think Silverwaste has a better model. But that’s game mechanics not story. For example autotargetting is there for our convenience but also because the PC’s aim and technique is just that good. It’s best to integrate story and gameplay but sometimes it isn’t possible.

ProtoGunner.4953:

In Demon’s Souls/Dark Souls/Bloodborn you lose most of your progress if you die (unless you found the shortcut), and you lose all your souls – the only currency. If you would do that in GW2 the whining would be even greater.

.
In this particular case I’m not whining. I like gw2 for not dead penalties.

I’m referring to the feeling that you don’t when your next dead is gonna be or if there is a mob behind that wall, etc.

On the first map (verdant), there is one ruin building in which there is a quest to protect two archeologists. For some reason you need to find these idiots (lol in a funny way) is a quest itself as they are separate all the time lol. this place that looks like a labyrinth and hidden mobs.

I like the chills lol

Granrey.8920:

Has anyone while traveling/questing on HOT feels like if you are playing an MMORPG version of Dark Souls II? Lol

Someyimes, it feels that way, full of mobs, tight corridors, etc?

I was getting the souls vibe today while I was rushing through part of the HOT story on an alt. As in the souls series, once I’ve played through, I begin to run past and try to avoid enemies instead of fight every single one. Just the way the HOT maps are designed to be so convoluted, layered, and filled with mobs to slow you down, really makes it a challenge sometimes to rush from point to point. It just brought back memories of choosing the fastest route to get what I wanted in a souls game, like rushing to join darkwraiths at lvl 12 or something.

When HoT first came outand i was new to the jungle it felt dangerous now days it feels about as dangerous as feeding cows in Queensdale. My most recent character i took into the jungle at level 73 or something by the time i was 76 i had enough HP to be able to unlock my elite as soon as i hit level 80. Events give a ton of exp as do adventures it was a great way to finish of the last 10 or so levels and fairly easy .

I feel like HoT maps just confuse your brain ):

Some mobs hit too hard, true, also the stupid sniper trails on the floor which hit for around 6-7k per 2 second is far too much and you even can’t see it in bigger zergs. Don’t know why they made some enemies so horribly hard hitting.

But usually you can get along pretty easily. I think especially Auric Basin is easy to navigate, parts of TD are pretty tough, especially he mushrooms. But then again, it’s okay to have a bit more challenging content. After being in HOT for several weeks coming back to Central Tyria is like a pony farm. Ridiculously easy, no challenge at all, hence boring.

ProtoGunner.4953:

Some mobs hit too hard, true, also the stupid sniper trails on the floor which hit for around 6-7k per 2 second is far too much and you even can’t see it in bigger zergs. Don’t know why they made some enemies so horribly hard hitting.

But usually you can get along pretty easily. I think especially Auric Basin is easy to navigate, parts of TD are pretty tough, especially he mushrooms. But then again, it’s okay to have a bit more challenging content. After being in HOT for several weeks coming back to Central Tyria is like a pony farm. Ridiculously easy, no challenge at all, hence boring.

They produced “hard” content in the most unimaginative way. They simply boosted the dmg of enemy NPCs and if you ask the hardcore players they’d probably tell you they are already breezing through said monsters with full zerk gear.. So, back to square 1 wouldnt you say?

PS: What matters is what Arenanet thinks. Is this new pseudo-hard content-lite more or less profitable than the original GW2 design? Like we established already time will tell

Rauderi.8706:

Kraggy.4169:

HOT has little to no useful purpose to ‘exploration’, you’ll see most of it during the metas.

HOT actively discourages exploration. What was GW2’s original joy is crushed under the thorny weight of Mordremoth. ;_;

I think the problem is that certain areas in maps are gated behind meta progression. Take Auric Basin, I can’t explore AB unless the map is t4 and that is a bad idea. DS has the same problem so in order to explore I need to find a t4 AB or find a map that is doing the events and enough so that it will reach t4.

Rauderi.8706:

Kraggy.4169:

HOT has little to no useful purpose to ‘exploration’, you’ll see most of it during the metas.

HOT actively discourages exploration. What was GW2’s original joy is crushed under the thorny weight of Mordremoth. ;_;

I think that’s a bit harsh for maps besides Dragon’s Stand, but i see where you’re coming from. Central Tyria plays more like Skyrim with lots of hidden stuff, random events and activities that keep things varied and fun. The content you find is the reward.
HoT is way too structured, Mastery Points, Strong Boxes and HP’s aren’t exploration in the same sense, they’re material rewards for following a map marker or achievement, not more activites like mini dungeons, new events or jumping puzzles.
And then there’s “zee” events, on a strict timer and never changing. Yeah fun the first couple of times but get’s repetitive fast. Nothing like the random stuff in Tyria where you’re never sure which events you’ll get or when.

And the whole Dark Souls thing? Yeah a bit actually. It’s far easier and more forgiving but it’s the same deal where mobs are hard until you learn their moves. but if you start underestimating them they’ll mess you up, and i love that.
Especially the frogs, i like fighting against the patrolling pairs at the start of AB and recently got my ele and thief there. At first i beat them rather easily because i took them seriously, second time around i underestimated the hell out of ’em and got creamed.

Mobs are seriously my favorite part of HoT PvE. Love’em.

Kraggy.4169:

HOT has little to no useful purpose to ‘exploration’, you’ll see most of it during the metas.

I don’t know about you but finding hidden things (and treasure) at places away of the main path is one of the most rewarding forms of exploration. I think there are 11 (or more) treasure chests hidden around TD alone, in hard to reach places, or guarded by mobs, event chains etc

HoT has a lot of things for explorers

Sird.4536:

Rauderi.8706:

Kraggy.4169:

HOT has little to no useful purpose to ‘exploration’, you’ll see most of it during the metas.

HOT actively discourages exploration. What was GW2’s original joy is crushed under the thorny weight of Mordremoth. ;_;

I think the problem is that certain areas in maps are gated behind meta progression. Take Auric Basin, I can’t explore AB unless the map is t4 and that is a bad idea. DS has the same problem so in order to explore I need to find a t4 AB or find a map that is doing the events and enough so that it will reach t4.

You can explore 90% of AB without needing to do events. Only a few POI’s are locked behind an event chain. You can explore maybe ~70% of DS without needing to do events. This is everything up to the blighting towers.

Why don’t you want to do the events? And why do you need to do them that fast? You will eventually get your 100% map, guys. Don’t be that impatient.