Guild Wars 2

I have a couple of questions about the impact of HoT on the GW2 base game.

1. Will owners of the GW2 base game (as well as free players) be able to continue playing for free without the HoT Expansion?

2. Will the HoT expansion change the level 1-79 experience from the GW2 base game (as it exists today)?

I know a lot of changes are taking place for Level 80 characters. I also know that there have been changes to skills and such for characters Level 1-79, but the general gameplay remains largely unchanged for Level 1-79. I’m just wondering if that will remain true through the HoT expansion.

Any answers are greatly appreciated.

1. Yes you can play for free and you even get some benefit in being able to play the new PvP map and the new WvW map.

2. HoT shouldn’t change your experience pre level 80.

1) Absolutely.

2) It depends on what you mean by level 1-79 experience. If you mean widesweeping changes to leveling mechanics, traits and so forth similar to the NPE, then no, not likely. However, there will be map reward changes when HoT launches. Completing events in most maps will reward you with crafting materials from a per-map preset rotating list. The exception to this new rewards system are the racial starter zones. Anet have stated this is to retain the feel of the early level experience for new players. Beyond that, there shouldn’t be any changes to the level 1-79 experience.

Tapioca.9062:

1) Absolutely.

2) It depends on what you mean by level 1-79 experience. If you mean widesweeping changes to leveling mechanics, traits and so forth similar to the NPE, then no, not likely. However, there will be map reward changes when HoT launches. Completing events in most maps will reward you with crafting materials from a per-map preset rotating list. The exception to this new rewards system are the racial starter zones. Anet have stated this is to retain the feel of the early level experience for new players. Beyond that, there shouldn’t be any changes to the level 1-79 experience.

Good point. Completely forgot about map rewards.

Will the new map rewards be available to those who have not purchased HoT, or even the core game?

I’m not saying they won’t, but I’ve not seen any information one way or the other.

My understanding was it would be a universal feature, just shipping with the expac. I don’t have a source, but I imagine it is something easier to give to all rather than exclude and updating core rewards whilst excluding core map only players seems a bit harsh.

Thanks for the responses. Very helpful.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Will the new map rewards be available to those who have not purchased HoT, or even the core game?

I’m not saying they won’t, but I’ve not seen any information one way or the other.

They were available in all the core maps during the last BWE, it also seems rather unlikely that they would bother with a system that changes the rewards from events based on Expansion owning.