Guild Wars 2

Curious about how many hours of game play is the hot story line?
Just started LS2 and liking it so much better than personal story. Its taking me about 1 1/2 to 2 hours to do each episode. Looking forward to gliding….. almost want to skip ahead to get it but trying to be patient. I tried a google search but all I got was people complaining it was too short.
Thanks for the info

It’s a little hard to answer because you have some masteries to unlock along the way your 1st time through, gliding being one of them. This put the brakes on things for me, as I had to stop the story progression to level up a mastery before I could continue. Probably took me 10 -12 hours for the whole thing the first time.

The instanced story content is overall shorter than LS2, but not by much

One of the big things about HOT is that half the story isn’t really in instances. That is to say the story is a combination of instances AND what’s happening in the zones.

A lot of people see instances as the whole story, but it’s really not the case. As an example without spoilers, in the first story in HOT you meet a group of Sylvari, but their story is continued in the first quest chain you come across in VB, which is composed of 9 events.

Hot is far more than just the story though, raids alone are worth.

And you can’t do do the current Living World story without having the HoT expansion so in effect the current Living World story is also part of HoT so it’s not quite done yet.

It kind of depends, really
now, I think I can burn through it
but my first playthrough took almost a month. But then again, on my first playthrough I took the time to talk to everyone and find all the lore-y bits along the way trying not to miss anything

I’d recommend you finish Season 2 first, it’s a big step up from the vanilla personal story (subjective opinion here) and will prepare you for how and in what way arenanet deliver story content.

The first time through HoT will take a while due to story steps being locked behind masteries. This might seem overwhelming at first (it’s not that bad once you understand the new maps). Be prepare for some tough enemies if you are only used to vanilla Tyria npcs. Overall the HoT story itsself is about as long if not slightly longer than Season 2 (not counting achievements for both since those can take varying amounts of time).

That being said, I’m sure the first time you get to glide you’ll have a ton of fun (especially since it now also works in old Tyria). Try to enjoy yourself and follow the story outside the instanced area as well.

I was averaging about 4 hours when I was running my characters through.

If you have all of the masteries, probably 4 hours. If you don’t have any masteries maybe 6 to 8. You really only need updraft and bouncing mushrooms IIRC. Nuhock wallows (sp) might be helpful in one or 2 places i think but by no means are they required.

If you really enjoy farming then HOT is for you.

Anet tied some things you need to mastery skills, to do some of the story but alot of the HOT story lines are in the PvE areas.

For me personally HOT is alot of grind. For instance in VB land 100 rifle shots. Ive done this event a few times and it becomes a pain especially in a dead map.

Another great one is AB do the meta event 100 times.

I and many guild mates have had huge issues with 3 maps being mostly about the meta event. 3 of the 4 HOT maps are checking times of when the meta is coming on and getting into a good map.

The new maps with LS can be fun but another issue is they created a new type of currency for these maps. Then they do stuff like 100g for circus sword.

Or in the last map, many of us spent X amount of gold to scribe. (especially if you are in a smaller guild) Then say Logan Thackery picture for 50g.

HOT has alot of fun aspects but for me the farming garbage out weigh the garbage by way too much.

So if you like farming HOT has endless hours.

kdaddy.5431:

If you really enjoy farming then HOT is for you.

Anet tied some things you need to mastery skills, to do some of the story but alot of the HOT story lines are in the PvE areas.

For me personally HOT is alot of grind. For instance in VB land 100 rifle shots. Ive done this event a few times and it becomes a pain especially in a dead map.

Another great one is AB do the meta event 100 times.

I and many guild mates have had huge issues with 3 maps being mostly about the meta event. 3 of the 4 HOT maps are checking times of when the meta is coming on and getting into a good map.

The new maps with LS can be fun but another issue is they created a new type of currency for these maps. Then they do stuff like 100g for circus sword.

Or in the last map, many of us spent X amount of gold to scribe. (especially if you are in a smaller guild) Then say Logan Thackery picture for 50g.

HOT has alot of fun aspects but for me the farming garbage out weigh the garbage by way too much.

So if you like farming HOT has endless hours.

There have always been grindy achievements. So you point out two of the grindiest and use them as an example and completely ignore the rest of hot.

Tell me, what do you do in Timberline falls, or any other zone? You farm mats, you do events, maybe a jumping puzzle. All that exists in HoT, plus mini games if you like.

So you say nothing exists in HOT except for metas, but that’s not true any more than nothing exists in Queensdale except SB. It’s not true.

There’s plenty of stuff to do. In VB alone, there are 5 long event chains during the day, once in each outpost. They’re not just dynamic events, but they’re fun dynamic events.

By doing the events, you get crowbars and crowbars allow you to open chests constantly as you go which is loot.

It’s funny how the Silverwastes chest train is a good thing but VB has nothing to do but the meta.

TD is the same as VB. You can do events, get chak acid and open chests. I do it. I’ve done it. I find the event chains themselves fun. They’re well thought out. They tell a story. They’re more interesting than most event chains pre HoT.

Keep telling yourself there’s nothing but the meta.

There are other achievements too besides the ones you listed. There are scavenger hunt type things, for those who like those (which aren’t grindy). There’s the gliding achievement in AB which isn’t grindy. There’s the stealth chest achievement in TD which isn’t grindy. There are lockboxes to find, which arent’ grindy. And all those things also give you mastery points.

The fact is, you picked two really grindy achievements. Well, this game launched with shield killer and neither of the achievements you listed are grindier than that.

Something like getting the 100 runs of the Auric Basin meta, it’s in 4 parts. Every time you do 25 runs, you get achievement points. That doesn’t mean everyone is going to do 100 runs and grind them.

If you do a couple of runs a week, it’ll take less than year to get it,. which means many people now have it. You call a couple of runs a week of a profitable meta a grind? lol

I guess we shouldn’t talk to the people who do Teq every day, or who repeat Triple Trouble over and over again. Last time I saw you needed to use timers on those events too.

Maybe some people just enjoy the event.

kdaddy.5431:

If you really enjoy farming then HOT is for you.

Anet tied some things you need to mastery skills, to do some of the story but alot of the HOT story lines are in the PvE areas.

For me personally HOT is alot of grind. For instance in VB land 100 rifle shots. Ive done this event a few times and it becomes a pain especially in a dead map.

Another great one is AB do the meta event 100 times.

I and many guild mates have had huge issues with 3 maps being mostly about the meta event. 3 of the 4 HOT maps are checking times of when the meta is coming on and getting into a good map.

The new maps with LS can be fun but another issue is they created a new type of currency for these maps. Then they do stuff like 100g for circus sword.

Or in the last map, many of us spent X amount of gold to scribe. (especially if you are in a smaller guild) Then say Logan Thackery picture for 50g.

HOT has alot of fun aspects but for me the farming garbage out weigh the garbage by way too much.

So if you like farming HOT has endless hours.

There have always been grindy achievements. So you point out two of the grindiest and use them as an example and completely ignore the rest of hot.

Tell me, what do you do in Timberline falls, or any other zone? You farm mats, you do events, maybe a jumping puzzle. All that exists in HoT, plus mini games if you like.

So you say nothing exists in HOT except for metas, but that’s not true any more than nothing exists in Queensdale except SB. It’s not true.

There’s plenty of stuff to do. In VB alone, there are 5 long event chains during the day, once in each outpost. They’re not just dynamic events, but they’re fun dynamic events.

By doing the events, you get crowbars and crowbars allow you to open chests constantly as you go which is loot.

It’s funny how the Silverwastes chest train is a good thing but VB has nothing to do but the meta.

TD is the same as VB. You can do events, get chak acid and open chests. I do it. I’ve done it. I find the event chains themselves fun. They’re well thought out. They tell a story. They’re more interesting than most event chains pre HoT.

But people keep saying there’s nothing but the meta.

There are other achievements too besides the ones you listed. There are scavenger hunt type things, for those who like those (which aren’t grindy). There’s the gliding achievement in AB which isn’t grindy. There’s the stealth chest achievement in TD which isn’t grindy. There are lockboxes to find, which arent’ grindy. And all those things also give you mastery points.

The fact is, you picked two really grindy achievements. Well, this game launched with shield killer and neither of the achievements you listed are grindier than that.

Something like getting the 100 runs of the Auric Basin meta, it’s in 4 parts. Every time you do 25 runs, you get achievement points. That doesn’t mean everyone is going to do 100 runs and grind them.

If you do a couple of runs a week, it’ll take less than year to get it,. which means many people now have it. You call a couple of runs a week of a profitable meta a grind?

I guess we shouldn’t talk to the people who do Teq every day, or who repeat Triple Trouble over and over again. Last time I saw you needed to use timers on those events too.

Maybe some people just enjoy the event.

@ Vayne

What did i do in timberline falls? I explored, i watched npc/ did escort missions/ stopped pirates.

Everything you said like ohh there is gliding stuff, there are mini games, there are etc etc etc. Ummm yeah thats part of exploring and seeing what you can and cant do.

Also if you read my comment i wrote that if you like farming, that would mean doing the same events over and over again. I dont even know why you are upset and trying to make a point saying the exact same things i did. I know its because mine is negative and you are being positive but can you at least change the approach.

Also if you look at my history i play PvE but i have mostly played PvP and WvW. So i wasnt one to do X event 100 times. I completed Core GW2 map completion with 2 characters and 2 more around 50% +. That is with thousands of hours played.

It took me a few hours to get most of the HOT maps done simply because its 4 maps.

I like exploring threw things and taking my time. Core GW2 had next to no grind because there was so much for everyone. If you didnt want to explore you could farm, dont want to farm you could do dungeons, dont want to do dungeons you hunt champion bosses, dont want to train go to PvP, dont like being in a small group in PvP then you can join WvW. That was on release and they added guild missions and fractals later.

HOT for the masses has destroyed PvP and WvW. Anet has not touched old content from GW2 therefore dungeons have died as well.

If you like exploring guess what it might be tough since alot of content takes zergs like ogre lane or bottom AB needs help or need more for 3rd commander in DS.

Anet merge all of them together, boss hunting/ farming/ exploring/ meta events into 4 out of 4 maps.

I dont know how you can even argue this, right now as it stands. The only people still loving this game is PvE farmers and raid groups. Raids has found a nice place with in this community. People who like coming on to do stuff like boss runs, meta events and farm mats love the new stuff.

I mean thats a huge community, WoW has lived off the next tier of stuff you need to get.

The complaints you are seeing from me and threads like “New player, Sad player. Expansion ruined it” is that GW2 was not suppose to be like those other games.

When GW2 first came out it was unique and different from other MMOs. HOT has turned into a straight grind from Achievement Points, titles ( look im rich- or some crap) scribing, ( its alot easiar to level now and it still takes 2k gold if you actually make items to decorate your hall with) events and Guild halls.

Then you talk about TEQ and Tiple Trouble. Triple Trouble i can give needs some team work and some explaining. But nerfs destroyed the difficulty of TEQ as well as HOT power creep and how easilly everyone can get Ascended gear. So really core GW2 had 1 meta event which you need to look for a timer and HOT which has 4 maps, you need 3 timers.

If you want to say you enjoyed go ahead but dont try to tell someone like me who has thousands of hours played, 29k + AP and played GW2 on a PvP team for AG that the game hasnt taken a change of direction.

HOT is 800% more grindy then core GW2

Either way, folks, it’s completely unrelated to what the OP asks about.

They ask about Story. Grindiness of maps are irrelevant.

@kdaddy

I just feel you’re misrepresenting it, because I played the hot maps EXACTLY like I played Timberline falls. There was very very little different for me. A handful of hero points I couldn’t solo, but beyond that, I did everything the same. In fact, exploring was what made the hot maps so excellent for me.

@ Tanner Blackfeather, I’m not so sure it’s unrelated to what the OP is asking since so much of the story is in the zones themselves, rather than just story instances.

It definitely adds to the time it takes to “do the story”.

Took me about two days after it launched, having taken leave so I could do so. So maybe… 14 hours or so? It wasn’t that late in the day when I finished, I took suitable breaks and made my own meals and such along the way, so that seems a suitable ballpark. This included:

Issues with the final instance (now improved, although it’s not perfect)
Needing to grind out masteries along the way (obviously).
Not having foreknowledge of what to do or where to go (was deliberately avoiding forums and such until I went through the first time around to avoid spoilers).
Spending a bit of time doing map events rather than just blitzing through the story – but not a HUGE amount of time.
Spending more time than I liked lost in Tangled Depths because I didn’t want to use a waypoint (if you don’t want to waypoint back to the start of the map in Tangled Depths, sometimes it’s more efficient to guildhall to Tarir and come in from Auric Basin).

So that seems in line with Moonyeti’s predictions.

After that, I started going back and playing through more of the events on the world map. Events on the world map are definitely more tied to the story than in core Tyria… broadly speaking, you could say that the maps are telling the story of the Pact, while the instances are specific to the PC & co. Playing through the events does give you a better idea of the bigger picture, particularly if you consider that a particular event in a particular map is quite possibly occurring simultaneously with a particular story instance.

@ vayne

I can agree with that. The difference i was trying to point out was the vast amount of maps. I mean you talked about Timber Line falls and this is its own area but there is also many other maps you can explore.

To the point that when you finish map completion with 1 character and you say that was fun. Let me try on a necro this time, you might forget some things or find some things you missed before. Since Core GW2 had alot more stuff to do.

@Tanner Blackfeather.6509

I too would also like to point out some things. In core GW2 you can run straight threw your personal story and go to the end dungeon or you can go threw all the dungeons story lines which tells the story of DE.

Core GW2 has a ton of story if you choose to do so. The reason why the maps are a issue is because in HOT you need mastery points to do the story. IN GW2 core you needed to strong enough to finish the last dungeon in ORR do finish the personal story.

At no point in either can you just run threw the story without getting gear or leveling.

Its part of the ride along.

kdaddy.5431:

@ vayne

I can agree with that. The difference i was trying to point out was the vast amount of maps. I mean you talked about Timber Line falls and this is its own area but there is also many other maps you can explore.

To the point that when you finish map completion with 1 character and you say that was fun. Let me try on a necro this time, you might forget some things or find some things you missed before. Since Core GW2 had alot more stuff to do.

@Tanner Blackfeather.6509

I too would also like to point out some things. In core GW2 you can run straight threw your personal story and go to the end dungeon or you can go threw all the dungeons story lines which tells the story of DE.

Core GW2 has a ton of story if you choose to do so. The reason why the maps are a issue is because in HOT you need mastery points to do the story. IN GW2 core you needed to strong enough to finish the last dungeon in ORR do finish the personal story.

At no point in either can you just run threw the story without getting gear or leveling.

Its part of the ride along.

@Kdaddy

While I played the HoT maps like I did the Timberline Falls map, the HOT maps, for me, were more complex, not just in design and because they were part of the story and because I play for immersion they meant a lot more to me than a map like Timberline.

There are so many instances where the map added necessary detail to the story, down to the last map which is almost like a sister to the last story. But the exploration and the interesting tidbits in HoT maps gave me more reason to stay on them even on different characters than Timberline Falls ever did, and I’m not just talking about grinding.

Finding more and better ways to get around and do completion is almost a game unto itself in HoT. It’s not just finding far too many POIs.