Guild Wars 2

I most definitely have concerns over the issue of environment variety in the upcoming expansion. One of the great parts of the waypoint system in GW2 is that it allows you to jump all over the existing map and the varieties in eco-systems help to break up the monotony and we seldom give credit to the designers because it’s such a subtle thing.

With this expansion, we see some jungle and desert themes which look absolutely incredible. I don’t want to take anything away from how amazing everything looks. I had quite a few jaw drops watching the trailers.

In the long term though, the environment variety is a major concern for me especially since I am an explorer at heart in the Bartle System.

I wasn’t concerned at first with the title “Heart of Thorns” because I remember “Eye of the North” gave the impression that it was all going to be snow and tundra and that turned out to be a non-issue as the expansion covered a bunch of different regions in Tyria.

Is HoT going to be covering as many regions albeit with less maps?

How much time am I going to want to spend in a jungle or desert setting?

Are old maps getting face lifts and having content added to them so that they are just as chock full of content as these few, new maps?

For now it seems like there are four environments: 1) the maguuma waste, 2) the jungle floor, 3) the roots, 4) the canopy. Those all seem pretty distinct to me.

I think there is a slight chance we get to the area that was the Alcazia Jungle in Guild Wars 1. Otherwise, I think that the four environments mentioned above are it.

Diovid.9506:

For now it seems like there are four environments: 1) the maguuma waste, 2) the jungle floor, 3) the roots, 4) the canopy. Those all seem pretty distinct to me.

No those are all the jungle. What you’re saying is like saying if you go up a mountain top in the norn area it’s another environment versus being ground level on the same map.

Environments mean more than that, they mean you have entered a whole new aesthetic.

But it does seem that HoT has ONE actual environment. Jungle.

Diovid.9506:

For now it seems like there are four environments: 1) the maguuma waste, 2) the jungle floor, 3) the roots, 4) the canopy. Those all seem pretty distinct to me.

I think there is a slight chance we get to the area that was the Alcazia Jungle in Guild Wars 1. Otherwise, I think that the four environments mentioned above are it.

I get that. I probably used a poor choice of wording. I meant like climates. Tundra, Chapparal, Desert etc. We have four environments but they are all jungle.

It is always welcome to get an icy map, a fiery map, a desert map, a coastal map and so on and so forth. It may not seem like it, but it’s a big deal for the long term. That kind of variety helps to break up the monotony of staring at the same environments over and over. I get that they aid they want us to keep playing the old maps. That’s why I asked if they were adding new stuff to do in them.

If they want us to keep playing the old maps, what’s the impetus to do so? They keep mentioning that they are adding only a few maps with tons of stuff to do in them instead of adding a lot of maps with nothing. Well why not add a decent amount of maps with climate variety all over the world of Tyria with the same amount of content in them as the maps already in the game? It seems to me that adding a bunch of stuff to do in a few maps will make the old maps feel light on content by contrast. I guess if we can glide and play the old maps in new ways it will be great. We have heard nothing on this front though and it concerns me.

TurtleofPower.5641:

Diovid.9506:

For now it seems like there are four environments: 1) the maguuma waste, 2) the jungle floor, 3) the roots, 4) the canopy. Those all seem pretty distinct to me.

No those are all the jungle. What you’re saying is like saying if you go up a mountain top in the norn area it’s another environment versus being ground level on the same map.

Environments mean more than that, they mean you have entered a whole new aesthetic.

But it does seem that HoT has ONE actual environment. Jungle.

The norn area example is terrible. There the ground level and the mountain level look exactly the same. This is definetely not the case for the jungle in HoT where the roots for example are completely different from the jungle floor.

And even if you count the canopy, floor and roots as one environment, there is still the wastes which by any account is different from the jungle.

if we get dinosaurs we also need a volcano and meteorites dynamics, like love letters from destroyer guys
…hawaii anyone?

I’ve never been happy about having to go to different maps to get different seasons. I understand why it is that way, I just wish there was some in-zone climate change other than occasional snow golems sprinkling down mounds of snow. Dynamic weather influenced by the time of year would be so lovely. I’d think it might be a bit accelerated, though, like the day/night cycle, so people get more chances to see all the offerings.

There was a horribad game many years ago, Dark and Light, that flopped badly for many solid reasons. But one of its hyped features was dynamic weather. Snow fields expanded in winter (and offered snowboarding), wind swept across the land with the trees tossing in it, rain moved in bands, etc.

I can see some Shiverpeaks areas never losing their snow, and tropical jungles staying tropical. Yet surely there could be some dynamism? Maybe in the expansion after HoT, or in GW3

“There’s only 1 map, that’s terrible and lame!”

“Oh wait, there’s clearly more than one?”

“Umm… umm… (light goes on) I’ve got it!”

“there’s only one environment, that’s terrible and lame!”

It’s kind of amazing how quickly one talking point is dropped and the next one solidifies.

Windsagio.1340:

“There’s only 1 map, that’s terrible and lame!”

“Oh wait, there’s clearly more than one?”

“Umm… umm… (light goes on) I’ve got it!”

“there’s only one environment, that’s terrible and lame!”

It’s kind of amazing how quickly one talking point is dropped and the next one solidifies.

Except I stated I used the wrong word. I should have used climate instead of environment. It was the same argument except the person that responded to me didn’t get what I meant because I used the wrong word at first. I fixed it though so you can happily drop the snarky attitude

Iason Evan.3806:

Windsagio.1340:

“There’s only 1 map, that’s terrible and lame!”

“Oh wait, there’s clearly more than one?”

“Umm… umm… (light goes on) I’ve got it!”

“there’s only one environment, that’s terrible and lame!”

It’s kind of amazing how quickly one talking point is dropped and the next one solidifies.

Except I stated I used the wrong word. I should have used climate instead of environment. It was the same argument except the person that responded to me didn’t get what I meant because I used the wrong word at first. I fixed it though so you can happily drop the snarky attitude

If it were easy to drop the snarky attitude I would have done it long ago :S

as far as we know we’re only covering jungle ground with the expansion.

it’s what makes sense story-wise too. but hey, if we finish the mordremoth campaign in this expansion, season 3 could start off kicking us in the opposite direction rather fast.

I would not be forgiving if they made jungle some small part of this expansion and “hey we got cool new ice maps, burned lands maps etc”. The jungle is a perfect hit. It’s wild, it’s lush, it has many opportunities for verticality and dangers unseen before. Jungle rocks and if they make whole x-pac based in jungle i will hate them for only 100% of it being jungle and not 110%!;)