HoT Impressions - Honest thoughts
Good:
Difficulty, it’s still not overly difficult unless you refuse to adjust and are still running around in Zerker.
Elite Specs, this is the only area I’m happy to see a difficulty nerf, not that difficult is the right word I would say the grind because it was the sheer amount of time it would take per Elite that was the problem.
New Gear, Love the new stats, not really sure how to get a bunch of it but meh non the less the gear is a great addition.
Average:
Maps, I say average for maps because some maps are great while others are underwhelming. I absolutely love VB but because of how well done it is, everything after is just meh.
Storyline, the story itself is good but I found it far to short,now when I say it’s to short I don’t mean it should be hidden behind time gates I mean there should be more chapters, just a personal opinion.
Mastery XP, I’m impartial, I have what I need and have no desire to go any further. I play WvW most of he time so there is no need.
Bad:
NO RAIDS, this was a huge selling point and I feel Anet pulled another bait and switch, I’m very disappointed because as a WvW player I was looking forward to Raids being my gateway between the two modes and am honestly not sure if I will make it till they are released.
WvW changes, they are terrible, you took away anything player driven and made an already frustrating game mode an abomination. Word of advice start listening and communicating with your WvW community.
The new WvW maps, Wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy to much going on and way to big, there is simply no need for all the extra junk, all you have done it create more lag.
Bugs, it was to be expected but none the less they fall into the bad.
Dragon Stand, this zone gets its own comment, fix it, this is a pretty major issue that needs to be addressed sooner rather then later.
Bored already, with no desire to play the new maps any more then I need to, having my story complete that took less then a day (only a couple hours actually), and being disgusted with what you did to the mode that I love, I find myself running around EB but only logging in only for my daily rewards really. Mid Nov for raids, not sure if I will make it because of the boredom factor, even longer until WvW receives it’s serious attention (that is if you actually follow through with this for once).
Conclusion:
The Average and Bad outweigh the Good, some of the average leans more towards good but still it doesn’t cross the line into good for the reasons mentioned. Xpac content being held back is never a good idea I understand not releasing stuff before its ready but that is all on you guys for announcing an unrealistic release date. Finally, you have no concept of what your WvW community wants and need to stop “fixing” without communicating because you are not making anything better you are successfully making it worse.
Hopefully I can stick around a couple more weeks while waiting for raids, as it is right now I have very little desire to even bother logging in.
Difficulty – While its great to have a good challenge in the game the current state of Meguuma Jungle maps is spinning out of control. Hero Points require at least 3 or more people usually depending on the situation and professions present. Mobs are so densely packed and hit so hard that its a huge undertaking even making it to the next Waypoint on a map so you can continue exploring without having to start over back across the zone. The fact there are silver and gold category enemies free roaming in packs…I get you want players to group up, but forcing it like this isn’t a good idea in my opinion.
It’s not that it’s difficult, it’s that it’s cheap. Mobs can KB and stun on a much faster recharge than any player skill. That’s not hard, it’s just annoying to deal with because you have to take pot-shots now and again. That and the story’s final fight is really obnoxiously long for what you’re trying to do while fighting.
Pretty as it might be and fun to glide, HoT is not recommended for roamers.
I would have liked to be able to survive on my own if I avoid big bunches of enemies but I keep not making it to the next waypoint and have to start over again.
So off to WvW. After a few days of seeing nothing and no one in home borderland I can only assume that WvW died after the launch of HoT. Taking camps and sentries means nothing now. Anytime there are enemies they are in big numbers taking the main keeps and are uninterested in anything else. One person has no practical impact now.
The rest of the WvW crowd have retreated to the familiar Eternal Battleground (Zerg vs. Zerg Mode). I mentioned to wife I am wondering what other games are out there and she fell her chair; she had never heard me say that since I started GW so many years ago.
My main character is a melee ranger (so much fun) and, as luck would have it, his specialization became a Druid! Why would I ever need to go through all the work to become a bad GW1 monk without DPS?
So far one thumb down for HoT. Maybe in a few months HoT and WvW will get rebalanced. (I know, I know, I sound like Marvin the Depressed Android. That guy is brilliant, my favorite robot of all time.)
Exploring in Heart of Thorns. It’s like when you visit the Louvre without guide and chased by a pack of rabid dogs . Alone or in group , you will not be able to enjoy much.
Exploring in Heart of Thorns. It’s like when you visit the Louvre without guide and chased by a pack of rabid dogs . Alone or in group , you will not be able to enjoy much.
I’ve actually had the most fun in HoT while doing things out of a party. When I’m grouped, there’s some guy talking to me, I have to respond. He wants to go do things that are usually out of the way, and the immersion is completely lost.
While in solo play, it’s one huge squirrel fest, while being chased by rabid dogs. Everything feels more like an adventure when you’re moving at your own pace and you just happen to run into other players that want to take down a champ. Even dying to the various mobs in HoT was a list of interesting experiences.
“Oh wow, he really did that.”
“I’m dead, I am so dead.”
“At least I scratched him…”
“No way.”
“What the kitten?”
“Bullkitten!”
“HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!?”
After some of the things I’ve seen, I think I would have preferred the rabid dogs, heh.
My best description of HoT is: Relentless.
I want to joke and say some times it’s only Mostly Relentless, but I’m not sure that’s true.
Some times that’s good. I roam. I’m always playing solo. But there are times that it would be nice to just relax, explore and do some low key material…
Unfortunately, after hitting on the formula in Dry Top, and perfecting it in Silver Wastes, I can see why it’s hard to not follow the proven formula of a repetitive, map-wide event that cycles between a two main phases separated by some form of chest chasing. With this, there can be no rest.
A bit sad.
When I’m in the mood, it’s fantastic, but it is relentless.
Exploring in Heart of Thorns. It’s like when you visit the Louvre without guide and chased by a pack of rabid dogs . Alone or in group , you will not be able to enjoy much.
lol This pretty much describes it for me, too. On most of the previous maps in the game, I feel like I could really take my time and enjoy looking around, checking out the artwork, leisurely getting my map items, doing the DEs I like and skipping the ones I don’t, etc.
HoT maps feel very different. I spend a lot of time killing (or dying) and just trying to survive or running desperately where I want to go to get something I need for map completion. I do a lot more dodging events and overall feel less relaxed. There are less waypoints than on most other maps, and the ones that are there are so often contested, that I feel like a lot of things require a long, annoying slog to get to them.
On most of the previous maps in the game, I feel like I could really take my time and enjoy looking around, checking out the artwork, leisurely getting my map items, doing the DEs I like and skipping the ones I don’t, etc.
I too would like to take a moment to slow down and take in the scenery. This isn’t possible as frequently in the new maps as you need to be on guard nearly on the time.
I’m not finding the new areas hard per say (zerk reaper is pretty awesome! pocket raptors go poof! :P ), but yes, relentless is a good word for it. Sometimes it’s great, but other times I’d just like to relax a bit and take in the scenery. I think the zones could have benefited from more varied difficulty and some places with sparser mob population, just to give a bit of a breather.
story not short its ongoing just tossing that out there.
When I’m in the mood, it’s fantastic, but it is relentless.
This sums it up very well and that’s my biggest disappointment. I would love to get the chance to really take in the beauty (because the maps are completely gorgeous, no question) but I feel that I can’t. It’s all guarded by that pack of rabid dogs running loose at the Louvre. I get a few seconds break to breathe and take it in before worrying about the next attack.
I am hoping – really, really hoping – that we can get some new maps in the upcoming living story that are as visually stunning, but more laid back. Compare Silver Wastes or Orr to Frostgorge – all are end game zones, but have a different feel and pace. It’s nice to have choices.
I mentioned in another similar thread that this is what you get when trying to take an ordinary persistent PvE zone and make a zone wide meta like the “Defence of Lion’s Arch” and mix them together. As a temporary map/zone wide meta, the Living Story was excellent, but we can all see the progression of map wide events in a permanent PvE zone starting with the sand storm and chests in Dry Top This is polished in Silver Wastes, as a map wide meta with a short break. This is the foundation for HoT. HoT is the map wide meta ascended.
Someone mentioned that HoT seemed like it was a living story season made into an expansion. Maybe that was its origins. Hard to say as that’s just speculation; but it’s certainly not as enjoyable all the time as the rest of the PvE zones.
This zone wide meta also changes the scale of the world. In its classical MMO style, Tyria, with its tiny micro-environments made the world seem huge and diverse. These HoT zones are gorgeous, dense and so far well designed. Yet, by doing this, the zones feel limited in scope even though they have more actual things going on, and when people blast through the map content (which I’m trying not to….) they feel – “meh, what was that?” when they are done.
Years (decades!) fRPGs and MMOs going back to EverQuest and beyond have taught us this. It’s sad that these lessons in history have been lost or ignored.
(edited by Zamfir.8462)
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Without making a list and going into much detail…
The Good is that it’s FUN. It’s a fun game if you don’t pick it apart and take it for what it is. I’ve gotten more hours out of it already than several other games I’ve paid $50 for. I love the music, the story was short but decent, nice to do a little something else with my main. Lovely maps. Love the new mechanics and Adventures. For as much as I’ve griped about things, it’s properly priced.
The Bad is the time investment and not enough down-time / non-meta maps mixed in with the metas. I work hard, I spend time with my family but I’ve also been burning the candle at both ends playing HoT while player populations are high and people are working out the mechanics (did DS with a guild that was doing it first time, etc, the fun stuff before assigned roles/actions turn the event into a routine). I’ve been trying to get the hours-long-sessions out of the way (the event lines) so that I just have stuff like a mastery point or two and the Adventures left. Stuff that I can just log in, play, and log out with. The sheer amount of time required to do the events or have maps cycle through to get to the start of event chains in order to get mastery points is OK for one map. Maybe two. But all four? If it’s going to be four, then at least give us some non-meta maps to have fun in without the maps being all stressed out about some meta or the other. Same with the XP grind. Provide different opportunities/maps to XP grind the Masteries with. Oh, and they just threw the elite specs in without really giving them a proper introduction into the game lore. I believe that’s been mentioned elsewhere on the forum.
But… for the price it is what it is. If we paid a monthly sub then I would not be thrilled.
P.S. I do wish people would stop complaining about the difficulty. It’s an expansion and that assumes that you’ve played the preceding content and learned the necessary skills. You just need to apply them differently with the new encounters. I recall people complaining when Factions came out as well. I’m sure everyone will quiet down soon enough though. I hope they don’t nerf things too much in the meantime. If something’s bugged, that’s another story.
(edited by Lysander Freeman.4186)
Years (decades!) fRPGs and MMOs going back to EverQuest and beyond have taught us this. It’s sad that these lessons in history have been lost or ignored.
I dont know if its that I have grown up and lost my sense of adventure, but I remember how much fun it was playing old-school mmos like EverQuest. I had no clue what I was doing, the games was ACTUALLY hard, but it was fun as hell to just explore and see what happened. Sometimes you’d play for a whole gaming session, and not accomplish anything, but you explored new areas and learned something.
I dunno, maybe the target audience now wants it this way. Log in and get to work. Waypoint to an event and start grinding.
And dont get me started on the difficulty. Even if the entire game was scaled up to HoT difficulty, GW2 would still be one of the most solo-friendly MMOs.