Guild Wars 2

I get the feeling that the new region will be smaller than any of the existing ones based on this interview. When directly asked how big the new region is, we get a spiel on how much depth there will be over size.

I think all we know for certain is that there will be maps, plural. Right? I sure hope so...

Also I’m not so big on the whole verticality thing. I think it’ll be fun for one of the maps, but not all of them. It tends to make areas very confusing for me having multiple layers as it is, and I’d rather see a nice big new region with several varied landscapes than one or two maps x 3 layers of the same map.

So, anyone care to speculate on how many/how big the new maps will be? I’d be disappointed with less than three, and three is already very small given that one of them will be a city of some sort, especially considering this expac is going to cost around $45. I’m mostly into RPGs for the exploration (hence my concern), so I really hope HoT is worthy of being called an expansion and doesn’t turn out to be glorified dlc.

Severino.3604:

I think all we know for certain is that there will be maps, plural. Right? I sure hope so…

Yes.

So, anyone care to speculate on how many/how big the new maps will be?

I’m convinced there will be at least 3. However, beyond that I can’t really say.

and three is already very small given that one of them will be a city of some sort

I’m not so sure we will actually get a city as a seperate zone. Although that golden city is a possible candidate.

I’m mostly into RPGs for the exploration (hence my concern), so I really hope HoT is worthy of being called an expansion and doesn’t turn out to be glorified dlc.

Note that they are aiming for zones which are not only much more vertical than other maps (and thus bigger per square foot) but also more content dense and replayable.

However, I get where you’re coming from. I hope Anet will pleasently suprise us with the number of areas / the size of areas. Specifically I hope we will not only get zones to the south of Verdant Brink but also zones to the north of Verdant Brink, The Silverwastes and Brisban Wildlands. We’ll have to wait and see though.

How do we know the expansion will cost $45? Have you an official source? I’ve not seen any…

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

How do we know the expansion will cost $45? Have you an official source? I’ve not seen any…

He’s speculating. It’s a reasonable speculation as well. Everything I’ve heard on the expansion so far doesn’t point to a $60.00 value. $30-45.00 sounds a lot more reasonable.

From what we’re hearing is sounds like we’re going to get 3-4 new maps. I imagine each will have its own Meta-Event chain, currency, and set of armor obtainable through collection. Then we will likely a Mordremoth Story likely the same length as two LS Seasons. We’re getting a new class and likely a city or two in Maguuma with a couple of new NPC races.

We’re getting a new PvP mode and map as well as either updates of overhauls of the WvW Borderlands.

Beyond that, they’ve said shockingly little. The Mastery System and Specializations seem like extensions of the WvW/PvP reward system into PvE mixed with the collection system implemented with Luminescent Gear. They’re overhauling some things that they broke in the NPE and doing some general improvements but to me this all seems like QoL that companies are supposed to do. It’s been a while since they’ve made any QoL updates.

So yeah, to me $45.00 sounds like a fair number.

I share your concerns. I won’t go into how I think choosing one climate type is a mistake due to lack of variety because I have gone into that a lot before.

While that is my main concern, I am also concerned about how many new sets of armor and weapons we get as well as glider skins. If we are paying for this new content, we should get a lot of new sets included in that purchase price as rewards for all of that content they say we are getting. If I have to get all my glider, weapon and armor skins on the gem shop, that’s double dipping and I am not a fan of that nor will I do it. This is supposed to be a fully featured, paid for x-pac. I expect to be getting a healthy amount of rewards to go with my purchase.

If there is a Fractal Mastery system, I would hope that means we are getting a few new Fractals as well. If the x-pac is only offering a new system to go along with old Fractals, I could see that being a letdown.

We already know that the new borderlanads map and new Stronghold PvP format are available to all players regardless of if they purchased the x-pac or not. Stronghold is supposed to share its queue with Conquest. The new Borderlands map is going to be in a rotation with the already available Alpine Borderland map.

If the x-pac is a new profession, 3 new maps in a single climate region, and specializations, I can’t see wanting to pay more than $30 for it.

I definitely would rather have all masteries focused on horizontal progression(skins)instead of vertical progression (EX: You have to have 5 points in that particular mastery to kill this creature in front of you <—that’s no different than Fractals, except in Fractals you can do low level ones without AR which is the gating mechanism there).

This is the first x-pac in the history of the franchise(I have multiple accounts for both games)that I am thinking about waiting until it comes out and gets reviewed instead of pre-ordering.

I am an explorer as well and I would rather have a traditional “Tyrian” x-pac replete with multiple climate types, dungeons, mini games, new armor, weapons, etc. etc.

I agree with the OP. While the idea of Colin may be cool for 1-2 maps sometimes I just want a huge, vast area like a desert where you almost can get lost. The kind of scale of large areas and monumental awe you feel with it only achieved WoW for me.

To a certain extent areas like Lornar’s Pass in GW2, but since draw distance and general size of the instances are ridiculously small – compared to the whole continents of other games – everything feels a bit tiny and negligible. So, in my opinion, they should include maps with a lot of vertical scale, which is a cool idea, but also maps with vast areas and huge mountains etc.

ProtoGunner.4953:

I agree with the OP. While the idea of Colin may be cool for 1-2 maps sometimes I just want a huge, vast area like a desert where you almost can get lost. The kind of scale of large areas and monumental awe you feel with it only achieved WoW for me.

To a certain extent areas like Lornar’s Pass in GW2, but since draw distance and general size of the instances are ridiculously small – compared to the whole continents of other games – everything feels a bit tiny and negligible. So, in my opinion, they should include maps with a lot of vertical scale, which is a cool idea, but also maps with vast areas and huge mountains etc.

Ever played Vanguard: Saga of Heroes? That mmorpg had a huge game world and you could really get lost in there.

I don’t mind that they chose one climate type, as long as they get around to adding others in future expacs. Like Diovid said, they might add zones to the Maguuma wastes for some variety, but somehow I doubt we’ll get them in HoT, maybe in a living story update.

Regarding cities, I guess having an entire city zone would be too much given that Rata Sum is right there and is quite large. Maybe one map will be 50/50 city and land?

I’d like some vast maps too, but I think gw2 maps strike a great balance between size and content density. A lot of MMOs have big open areas that feel empty and are nothing but scenery (mostly to make mounts useful). That said, i would like to see some larger zones full of interesting landmarks, hidden areas, mini dungeons etc for me to really spend some time exploring. Maguuma could do that. I wouldn’t mind exploring a huge jungle for a while.

As for price, it don’t mind what they charge as long as the value is there. I like the game enough that this is an instant preorder, as long its not crazy expensive for the content.

I’d imagine it would have to be big, not only horizontally, but vertically as well. I think they understand they cant pull out the ex pack and the map is basically Drytop but with higher verticality. As far as the price they never had the curtsey to even hint on a price for one reason. Rage and Backlash. The last thing they need is the community in an uproar before the thing even drops.

I’d say 3 zones is a safe bet. Currently in game Ascalon, Shiverpeak, Maguuma are all about 6 as well (not including racial cities) and Orr 3. Since ANet said they wanted to have fewer but more content dense maps I’d say 3 (1 is too few, we know at least there is going to be 2 i.e. verdant brink and whatever map they want to put above Rata Sum, and 1 more for good measure). If we’re lucky maybe 4, and perhaps 1 or 2 more for Season 3.