Guild Wars 2

Ok, so i wanna ask those who beat it or at least done majority of it:

Is it packed with enough content to justify the “expansion” title, or am i looking at something far smaller then expected?

ZeftheWicked.3076:

How beefy is it?

I am having fun. Not rushing, just seeing everything and playing and still have not gotten out of the first map. Lots to see and do.

What exactly do you mean by someone beating the expansion? This is a MMO, you can’t beat the game like you can with other genres.

I think he means the story. Honestly I have never understood rushing thru a game and I have been playing online games since the BBS (bulletin board system) days.

So far, it’s 4 new big maps of endgame content with event cycles each, together with extra incentive to play the game in general (the mastery system). There are also the guild halls, new Borderlands maps (although I’m not sure if they’ve been released yet as I haven’t played WvW yet) and the elite specializations.
I’m sure I’m missing some things and some parts are larger than they seem (masteries for example), but the point of the expansion is not what is released initially, but primarily the promise of what is yet to come. With HoT you get access to the coming content updates as well, like the raids that have yet to be activated.
I don’t know all the things that will still be on their way, but nonetheless, like said above, I’m having fun and I’ve roamed all the maps so far and gotten a guild hall with 3 friends :P

Ok well if you mean the story I have done all of it and I really enjoyed it. It’s like a season’s worth of story on that side. Additionally, if you don’t have HoT you won’t be able to access the subsequent living story seasons so if it’s something you really care about you have to also take that into account.

Of course the expansion isn’t just story it’s everything else which came with it as well, which honestly is a ton of stuff. So yes imo it is a real legit expansion and I don’t regret a single penny I’ve spent on it.

I don’t mean the story. Least not just the story. I mean the sizes of maps, the amount of masteries to unlock, new rewards (whatever they are to work towards to in xpansion etc).

Btw about maps i heard “4 big maps”. 4 maps with 3 biomes each, or is each biome considered a full map?

lmao, remember those of us saying this “expansion” was not worth the full asking price?

All of you were like, they havent released all the info yet, there’s also living story, the maps are big with 3 levels, etc etc.

Do you think it’s still worth it?

ZeftheWicked.3076:

I don’t mean the story. Least not just the story. I mean the sizes of maps, the amount of masteries to unlock, new rewards (whatever they are to work towards to in xpansion etc).

Btw about maps i heard “4 big maps”. 4 maps with 3 biomes each, or is each biome considered a full map?

Not all the maps have 3 biomes each, but I hear they are all substantial and gorgeous maps with lots to do. Whether or not 4 maps is enough content for the price point comes down to opinion though and the same goes for whether or not the size of one biome would be considered enough content to constitute being a single map on its own.

its a fair chunck of content if you enjoy the base game there is litterally no reason not to get the expainsion, people can agrue over the content but at the end of the day id say its fair, and remeber this is GW2 so i dont doubt we have some living world on the way

they made an expansion but forgot to add loot-you know the reason you might want to stay and explore the maps. after spending hours in the jungle it is more than a little frustrating to go back to dr and see all the old gloves and coats that dropped as loot.

when you go in you fight..fight…fight…and fight ! but nothing drops-nothing unique to these areas. you would think you would be picking up unique armors and weapons along the way to advance the lore and immerse the players…but not here. what you get are the same blues and greens that you would find in any open world area.

however, there are a ton of new ingredients and baubles to clutter up your inventory! but there is nothing in the way of new armor/weapons -you know the things players actually want. how you make an expansion that is based on fighting constantly and give no reward for the fighting is beyond me.

the expansion is beefy if you have never played the game before but veterans will quickly find boredom and little replay value here.

No jungle themed weapons and armor? Whoa way to get me motivated a-net.

To be fair, the story is really short.

Biomes are essentially different floors within a map rather than seperate maps. But they do have thier own name in brackets under the map name.

Verdant Brink has 3 Biomes.

The primary surface floor (landfall biome) where all the waypoints are located. There are several chasms which you can fall into so this biome does not fill the entire map with ‘walkable’ space, although as you have gliding, the majority of the floor is ‘playable’ space.

The underground floor (abyss biome) is found at the bottom of the chasms. It contains a surface of moving roots which kill you on contact, and seems to have little actual ‘ground’ to play on. There are a load of updrafts down here though, so gliding through the abyss is an option, and I’ve seen bosses wondering around on the roots during the night phase so I’m guessing there is a way to survive down there.

The upper level floor (canopy biome) is a series of islands of land (tops of trees) where there are a series of boss battles during the night phase. This biome can only be accessed at night.

Auric Basin ‘sort of’ has 3 Biomes (I think)

Once again there is the primary surface floor (Jungle Floor Biome). Pretty much everything takes place on this part of the map.

The Underground floor (Exalted Trials Biome) is an area that is largely used for a stroy instance.

The upper level floor (Jungle Treetop) has a different name on the map, but I’ve not yet found a way up there.

Tangled Depths has 4 biomes.

The upper level (jungle floor biome) is where you enter the map. The floor covers the majority of the map, but you cannot easily navigate around due to mountains trees etc the black the path. The majority of waypoints and safe-ish zones are on this level.

The surface level (undergrowth biome) is an under ground area that connects some of the jungle floor areas to each other, and also connects down into the hive tunnels.

The underground level (hive tunnels biome) is the main route to travel between the various parts of the map and the location of 4 ‘lanes’ that are used in the meta.

The depths level (flooded tunnels biome) is the deepest area, and is another way of moving around the map, and connects most of the northern parts of the map. There are only a few ways in and out, and you need to use a special ‘light’ to make it through the piranas. Not a lot happens down here, but it’ll probably be a good place to farm experience simply because the mobs provide bonus experience having survived longer.

Basically, to travel around the map you’ll go Jungle Floor → Undergrowth → Jungle Floor to get between some places, and Jungle Floor → Undergrowth → Hive Tunnels → Undergrowth → Jungle Floor to get to others.

Dragon’s Stand is basically a world boss map, with a long meta even chain that leads to the final fight. It doesn’t use biomes.

Buy Some Apples.6390:

lmao, remember those of us saying this “expansion” was not worth the full asking price?

All of you were like, they havent released all the info yet, there’s also living story, the maps are big with 3 levels, etc etc.

Do you think it’s still worth it?

Yep, I sure do. I’m a ton of fun in the expansion and there’s still tons left for me to do. Plus still have raids to look forward to. I don’t regret the money I spent on it one iota.

ZeftheWicked.3076:

No jungle themed weapons and armor? Whoa way to get me motivated a-net.

There are makeshift(?) weapons that drop and I’ve seen two armors for sale at vendors. You should be able to see them in your wardrobe, bladed and ley line (from memory, so I could be wrong on the names). Plus the Revenant armor from collections and individual pieces for the other professions.

The story is short? I am ten chapters in with no ending close.

Maps feel huge, even if they’re not actually that big. Haven’t even been in the last one yet, someone said it was time gated.

I think WoodenPotatoes said it pretty well in his latest video:

https://youtu.be/IyMzhDIetHc?t=16m38s

To summarize he basically says that he’s been playing for long hours for four days and he still has a whole list of things that he hasn’t done that he still wants to do. These are not small things either like minor achievements or collections, these are big features that were added.

IMO I don’t believe there is an MMO out there that has as much relevant content as HoT does. As a semi-casual player (who works full time) I cannot foresee myself running out of stuff to do for over a year and that’s not including the fact that raids will be coming soon and I will want to run those.

There’s a fair amount. I’m still working on the first map. I’ve ventured into the next one to grab a couple of waypoints and do a guild hall capture, but there’s still a lot left to do. Then I have to unlock everything on my other level 80s.

ZeftheWicked.3076:

I don’t mean the story. Least not just the story. I mean the sizes of maps, the amount of masteries to unlock, new rewards (whatever they are to work towards to in xpansion etc).

Btw about maps i heard “4 big maps”. 4 maps with 3 biomes each, or is each biome considered a full map?

They are bigger maps. It feels overwhelming at first but you’ll get used to it, they are definitely bigger then your average PvE map.

Is it worth it, well I have been playing quite a lot since last Friday and I haven’t done my story. Have unlocked my elite spec (400 points, 2 hours later it became 250 Ha!). Got 6/14 for my Elite weapon Skin. First few masteries of my Tyria masteries. And a few in the Jungle masteries.

Got 100% on Verdant Brink.

Keep in mind that I haven’t played efficiently at all, just running around willy nilly. It took me all afternoon on Monday getting 150 hero points just running around without any direction.

You can probably finish it under a month if you do things like the CoF farm. Then just use it as you use SW for farming. If you are into achievements and collections you have quite some work to do. Some require fully trained masteries, which again you could farm out if you want. Plus you need some of the currencies.

Haven’t done Fractals or any of the adventures, but these have some work. But I know people who have finished it and just farm it now. I also dedicated one afternoon to Halloween to get the meta achievements.
Haven’t touched WvW and only played three matches of PvP.

And I have neglected collecting for my guild hall.

All in all the expansion will probably take me a good few months before I have enjoyed everything to the fullest. Talking about my Specialization Collection and collected enough of the new currencies to buy the things I want.

It’s a lot. The maps are all very intricately designed (both aesthetically & mechanically) and just learning their ins and outs will take a lot of playtime.

Was worth the full price of the expansion for Tangled Depths alone.

But then dragon’s strand sucks and the whole map consists of 3 linear paths.

If you average it out they make two normal decent maps.

Selkirk.4218:

they made an expansion but forgot to add loot-you know the reason you might want to stay and explore the maps. after spending hours in the jungle it is more than a little frustrating to go back to dr and see all the old gloves and coats that dropped as loot.

when you go in you fight..fight…fight…and fight ! but nothing drops-nothing unique to these areas. you would think you would be picking up unique armors and weapons along the way to advance the lore and immerse the players…but not here. what you get are the same blues and greens that you would find in any open world area.

however, there are a ton of new ingredients and baubles to clutter up your inventory! but there is nothing in the way of new armor/weapons -you know the things players actually want. how you make an expansion that is based on fighting constantly and give no reward for the fighting is beyond me.

the expansion is beefy if you have never played the game before but veterans will quickly find boredom and little replay value here.

This is not true, I have played very little in verdant brink and only in that map but I have found collection parts for the new revenant armor (the mistward one you have saw on revenants in beta) and bladed armor chests (containing pieces of a totally new armor for all armor classes) so far. Not bad for a no- loot expansion!

ZeftheWicked.3076:

I don’t mean the story. Least not just the story. I mean the sizes of maps, the amount of masteries to unlock, new rewards (whatever they are to work towards to in xpansion etc).

Btw about maps i heard “4 big maps”. 4 maps with 3 biomes each, or is each biome considered a full map?

Not all of the maps play heavily into the 3 biome thing necessarily, but yes the maps are huge. They are much, much larger than normal maps and have more content relatively to boot. They dwarf silverwastes/dry top, for example.

Buy Some Apples.6390:

lmao, remember those of us saying this “expansion” was not worth the full asking price?

All of you were like, they havent released all the info yet, there’s also living story, the maps are big with 3 levels, etc etc.

Do you think it’s still worth it?

Yes it’s easily worth it in my opinion, but that’s up to individuals.

In addition to what we get now, we get living world and raids in the future. I’d say it’s worth it from what we have right now, and I’d say most people agree with that, but add on the content we’ll get in the future? If anyone is legitly a fan of gw2, I don’t see how you can avoid buying it.

Tobias.8632:

Was worth the full price of the expansion for Tangled Depths alone.

But then dragon’s strand sucks and the whole map consists of 3 linear paths.

If you average it out they make two normal decent maps.

I feel like dragonstand is there to cater to the people who liked doing SW. Don’t get me wrong, i love the map, but the meta there seems a little… unenticing

i agree 100% on tangled, though, and gliding around the canopy of verdant brink is just AMAZING (if a little difficult at daytime)

I’m still only on the first Map and having fun, I still haven’t finished it and still have a hard time trying to navigate it, tricky. It will take time to lean these maps, I only wish Anet would design Dungeon maps like this!!