Guild Wars 2

I want to make a HoT appreciation thread, largely because defending HoT in threads that decry it always seems a bit patronizing.

For me, HoT is definitely a welcome step up from core Tyria. I didn’t have to be an early adoper, min/maxer, or incessant guide-reader to participate fully in the maps – yet the threat of death and mission failure is still very real if I let (a very basic level of) situational awareness slip.

Moving forward, I’d like to see the dev team continue to introduce content at this Goldilocks “just right” level of challenge: good players can solo tough HPs and some links in the meta even chain, passable players can just play the map as designed with groups, and poor players have a chance to see just how inefficient they might have been playing through core Tyria. I see myself as a player that went from poor to passable, and it wasn’t a huge gap. Thanks to HoT for giving me a chance to make that improvement without needing to embarrass myself in a higher-tier fractal or bogging down others in instanced group content.

I’m with you on this one. I love both worlds, and there’s always something to do somewhere. And like you, it taught me some situational awareness, something you could basically ignore in core Tyria.

Agreed.

HoT is good. I returned to my elementalist after " finishing" the game last time out. To me the expansion was a very fresh experience. Possibility of death wasn’t very much a feature in old tyria and having to figure out the movements and abilties of the mobs to survive was very nice.

Story, Metas, Maps, Jp’s thumbs up all over.

I had to return to old world and get my masteries sorted, so I would like to add that I like Drytop and Silverwastes as well. They were not there when I played last.

I am a driven gamer and was happy to find lots of content to sink my teeth into and that it had more to it than to show up on time to win.

Doesn’t mean I hate the old world. This is a required step up. Good work.

Next expansion should take it another step up.

I started off hating the HoTness, no lie there, and there’s a legion of threads to support why. But I’ve grown into a comfortable acceptance of the Magus Falls region after I got my full suite of mobility options.
While I don’t excuse some of design decisions even now, I no longer resent having collections and checklists that urge me into the region. The word “enjoy” is definitely a stretch, but the jungle’s kept me busy. A C+ or 6.5/10, a passing grade, with reservations.

It’s a big step up in map design, which is encouraging, and it was all done in a short amount of time, so kudos just for that. With a dedicated team and two-ish years of development, and lots of player feedback about HoT, I have my fingers crossed that the devs will accommodate that feedback into a much better experience.

Love the challenge level. Almost perfect in my opinion. Not fond of tbe map design.

Apparently you don’t want customers to stay huh, “goldilocks” customers better throw more money at Anet then to compensate for the loss of casual customers.

Dante.1508:

Apparently you don’t want customers to stay huh, “goldilocks” customers better throw more money at Anet then to compensate for the loss of casual customers.

Except that my guild is filled with casual players who enjoy the game. So I’m not really sure what your point is.

The Mordrem, the Chak, the Mushrooms, the Saurians are all great and exciting foes.
The game has an excellent combat system but sadly it wasn’t shinning enough in core tyria. In Heart of Thorns we finally got the chance of using it to the fullest which is a huge plus.

I’ve said multiple times how much I like HoT maps and challenges. VB is the best map I’ve ever played in any MMO, and all the enemies have something to them that makes them unique, dangerous and fun to confront.