Guild Wars 2

Ball ache, it was fun at first but the hero point gating is terrible. The map designs aren’t fluid and it’s so kitten hard to find points I’m trying to get to. Add to that having to switch to necro because my thief just gets kitten d by all the mobs and you get a pretty disappointed customer. I compared it earlier to a dog being given a brain toy with a treat inside but it’s like one piece of kibble for lots of effort. 3/10. Also when you get to a hero point challenge good luck trying to solo it.

I’ll let you know, most of the content is currently gated.

.1 for making an expansion.
0 for the fun. i want to WvW not EoTM, RIP WvW

0.5/10.0
I didn’t want to give it a 0 out of 10 simply because I am sure there was something I liked about it.
Sure can’t remember what that was though

Knighthonor.4061:

How would you rate the HoT Fun Factor?
10 being the most fun
and 0 being the least fun.

10/10 – because I have a lot of fun in the HoT maps.

people who did the same dungeons for 2 years now have a complains about grinding 2 days from realise and someone dissapointed that he unlocks 1/6 of elite spec in few hours. personaly i enjoy expansion alot and i very like the fact that it’s not rushed and i have probably 3-4 hours a week to play. i feel sorry for anet that the users dont apretiate the work they done, literally the best free game. makes me sad people. you just don’t know what you want and will never get it

for me i’ts 10/10

If they make the specialization cost under 100 HP I would rate this expansion 10/10

3/10

I bought GW2 because I liked the idea of being rewarded for exploration. HoT punishes exploration by making me grind events in order to explore.

So far all I’ve done is play PvP, WvW and unlock waypoints for my rev. I’m not taking a step in to the maguuma jungle until I’ve unlocked all of my elite spec.

On that basis: 9/10.

Scrapper, Herald and Druid are very fun specs to play with.

If I’m surrounded by a group of players: 8

If I somehow lose that group of players: 3

I’d love to give it a 9, but there are some things bringing it down to more like a 6:

- Daunting task of tracking down enough hero points to unlock elite

- Related to the above, map completion is a lot less fun because of hero points. Instead of wandering around and doing it all with the mindset of a solo explorer, I wander around with the mindset of a solo explorer until I hit a battle-based hero point or a mastery-locked hero point, at which point I have to approach it with the mindset of a fateful gambler (it’s luck as to whether anyone is nearby or interested in helping) and a skipping record, respectively (goodbye momentum, go unlock another mastery or three and then you can spend another hour tracking down the location of this hero point in its far away, hidden area).

For example, a couple hours ago, I was traversing Verdant Brink with the mindset of an explorer. It took me some time to find it, but I hunted down a hero point with some clever gliding and found my way into a nook in the canyon wall, where some froggie dude was standing by it. Froggy Dude was all like, “You are not worthy!” And the hero point was blocked by a mastery that wants me to use Noctiplwejiojfwof Hole Traveling (I don’t remember the actual name) to get to the hero point (which is level two, at least, of Nocwoifjwoiafj mastery). Only I didn’t need the burrow/hole to get to it. I got there my own way with some clever gliding.

But doing things my own way is a no-no there. Not allowed.

One would think that a system that blocks you off would do it thoroughly, making it so you can’t even get in the vicinity of your goal with the required skill, but I guess not. What I experienced earlier is like being taunted.

It gives me no pleasure to say that these kind of moments seriously detract from one of the things that makes GW2 fun for me (the experience of exploring a map).

9/10

The mastery leveling is too fast I think. Thou many people whine about it being too slow, lol! I hoped leveling masteries would be more challenge. But for some casual players it seems very hard.

2/10

- horrible maze maps…..
…..that feel artificially convoluted……
…..prevent any fluid gameplay……
…..make the game feel like a platformer (I HATE PLATFORMERS)
- disappointingly little actual content (that’s why they had to gate everything)
- being forced into certain content -> no mastery xp in wvw, no mastery xp from crafting, no tyria mastery in maguuma…etc. = can’t play the game the way I’d like to without losing progress anymore
- generally a lot less convenient and accessible than the base game
- no love for pvpers
- no love for solo players

+ amazing art style
+ (would) enjoy the new elite specs (if they were not gated behind tedious mastery grind and horrid hero challenges [vampire, frogsofdoom….etc.])

3/10 ………..

7/10

Would give more but really not enjoying the grindyness of spamming skill 1 on staff guardian in cursed shore just to level up tyria masteries. I think there should be more productive ways, like, for example, allow us to level our masteries in all 3 game modes (PvE, WvW, PvP), not just strictly PvE.

I really want to level my masteries EOTM (with a reduction in xp towards masteries here, being as there are so many events) so I can find levelling masteries more enjoyable.

I’ve managed to grind through 4 levels of pact commander in Cursed Shore, but it’s soooo boring. I want to get on with other things already, like gliding more in Maguuma, getting maguuma mastery points, and EOTM. Grinding, I guess, is the price you have to pay for unlocking neat content.

When I get bored of cursed shore event farming on my guardian, I’m in maguuma, and it’s really fun using gliding. I wish we could glide over all of tyria too :-( seems such a waste to have such an amazing feature in only a few areas of the world.

9.9/10 definitely have been having tonnes of fun and im only on the 2nd new map, so much to see and do that actually feels worth seeing and doing.
for me personally the masteries are taking a long time but the reason why is actually a really good thing, ive spent so much time exploring the maps as opposed to doing things that gain much more xp just because it is actually fun to do so.

I just like it all, so much stuff happening every, so many map details, so many cool fun gliding puzzles… super cool tough monsters… new collections interesting too.

I think it is super fun.

10/10

0/10
It’s really not fun.
It’s a chore, to be honest

I would say I’m sitting at about a 7-8/10. I would probably bump that up another point or two if Masteries didn’t require quite so much experience and some of the new Hero Challenges were a little less impossible to solo. I would be fine with the Hero Challenges requiring groups if the ones I’m thinking of weren’t in rather difficult and obscure places with very little traffic . . .

Fun factor: 1/10

Main problem is that VB is empty, I know from Beta Weekends that the zone isn’t really playable/enjoyable as solo (initially at least), so what do you do? It’s frustrating that the product you paid for is essentially completely gated by numbers (a factor you have no real control over).

I do like the new WvW maps but again they are empty or feel so.

Like no expansion I have ever seen, tbh. Doesn’t feel like an expansion at all, the game feels smaller! ‘Gates of Thorns’ is a more accurate title for this expansion.

Update: Day 4.

Fun factor: 6/10

After an initial two days of empty VB the last two nights have had playability.
Also failed to understand you could equip your Elite Spec Weapon from the off, but only in HoT Maps (and I believe PvP).

Got six masteries but only two utilised due to gating on ExP.

Still, looking not bad at all now.

1/10

Gate grind gate grind wall grind map grind event grind gate wall grind.

2/10
I would elaborate, but i just don’t feel like re-stating what is already being said.

10/10 grouping
8/10 solo

The issues with solo is whether or not I die constantly. The grind actually really fun because it’s all so much open world and group play. And I don’t care that it’s a grind. It’s not gating me to death and it’s NOT Blizzard Entertainment’s god awful Gear-Gating crap that makes you hate them and yourself for ever giving them the time of day.

6/10 – disappointing, but not straight-out horrible.

Positive: The story isn’t bad at all, and the rewards for doing it isn’t the worst I’ve seen. There’s a lot that could have been better, but so far it’s solid. Also a pluss for making it more challenging.

Negative/game-breakers: The grinding aspect of the game. A lot of content is unplayable unless you grind for countless hours in order to unlock masteries. Also a huge minus for making a lot of the content hard to solo.

2/10 at best.

At this point I have to grind (masteries) in order to grind (hero points) in order to enjoy a spec I should be playing while I play the new content which I have to grind (more masteries) just to continue because anet gated the personal story based on the masteries. With the clusterkitten maps, and mandatory group content (many hero points spawn champion mobs in a zone designed to be harder than any other zone) it’s become a complete joke and far deviated from what GW2 advertised itself to be. Disappointed doesn’t even scratch the surface of how I feel about this expansion.

Lesson learned from me as well. This is the last time I trust anet with my money.

0/10
I was waiting to play the new areas with the elite specs, not to grind them to get the elite. Simple as that.

Scenery: 10

Story: 9

Masteries : 8 (although basic gliding and mushroom jumping should have been taught by a tutorial NPC at the very beginning).

Mobs: 5 (too many frustrating mobs vs challenging mobs)

Elite spec gated behind content that requires group play: 0

Content 10/10
Added content difficulties 10/10
Masteries being account based 10/10
Gliding/vertical usage 11/10
Guild Hall 10/10
Unlocking elite specializations 1/10
Hero points being gated by masteries 0/10
WvW borderlands – Can’t comment, have not played because I’ve been busy trying to unlock just 1 elite spec

I’m having fun in HoT, I really am. I love the added content difficulties, no more just auto attacking to win boss fights. I absolutely love gliding and wish this is the start of future content to the eventual full flight & mounts.

I just wish I could have fun with the new elite specs I wanted to play. As-is I’m playing this content on my same ‘ol same ’ol characters that I’ve played for the past 3 years. I’m not even halfway through unlocking my main character, and while I’m having fun with him, I don’t see myself doing this elite spec unlock more than once or twice.

So to sum it up, love the expansion, love the ideas and creativity in it. But really dislike elite specs gating. There’s no reason I shouldn’t be able to play the new expansion with new elite specs, that would’ve given me the incentives to play them all because they’re different builds. Halfway through unlocking Reaper I can’t even play it because it’s kitten with such limited build options and skills.

Playing the Revenant – 10
Playing the new zone – N/A

I’m not there yet. I’m one of those crazy people that chose to level a new character the old fashioned way.

If you don’t grind your hero points now, you’ll never get a group to do them later….

If you don’t grind your tattered bat wings now, you won’t be able to afford to buy them later….

3am to 10pm today, I didn’t play the whole thing straight, but almost.

I grinded about 150 ToT bags, and got nothing… spent the rest of the time trying to find groups for the challenges with champions guarding them… my revs heal is unlocked… and that’s all I have to show for the effort….

The Living Story’s story-line is the expansion’s only saving grace, if I knew I’d have to grind 200+ hours just to unlock the elite specs on my alts, I’d have never bought it.

By time I can play my Herald, there won’t be anything left to do.

1/10

0/10 Not playing HoT at all.

GuzziHero.2467:

8 / 10.

Would be 9 if Elite wasn’t grindy.

Sums it up for me. People seem all over the place with their ratings tho.

If only people had some sense of exploration left other than the follow-commander-press-1-mass-loot mentality everyone’s been exposed to for the last 2 years, the criticism would look way different I think.

Ice.5162:

GuzziHero.2467:

8 / 10.

Would be 9 if Elite wasn’t grindy.

Sums it up for me. People seem all over the place with their ratings tho.

If only people had some sense of exploration left other than the follow-commander-press-1-mass-loot mentality everyone’s been exposed to for the last 2 years, the criticism would look way different I think.

gl getting hp solo

Nexterror.7180:

Ice.5162:

GuzziHero.2467:

8 / 10.

Would be 9 if Elite wasn’t grindy.

Sums it up for me. People seem all over the place with their ratings tho.

If only people had some sense of exploration left other than the follow-commander-press-1-mass-loot mentality everyone’s been exposed to for the last 2 years, the criticism would look way different I think.

gl getting hp solo

I don’t hope to, it’s not meant to be solo’d.

Although I do not have HoT, it still has an impact on my gw2 “experience”.

They removed most (if not all) guild upgrades from the core game and put them into the guild hall which is only acquirable for HoT owners.

No HoT expansion = no guildhall = no upgrades = no WvW claiming.
Thank you Arenanet.

subzero/10

10/10, been having a blast. If you open a thread like this in offical forum you know what you will get dude.

Offical forum is known for its toxicness.

Ice.5162:

Nexterror.7180:

Ice.5162:

GuzziHero.2467:

8 / 10.

Would be 9 if Elite wasn’t grindy.

Sums it up for me. People seem all over the place with their ratings tho.

If only people had some sense of exploration left other than the follow-commander-press-1-mass-loot mentality everyone’s been exposed to for the last 2 years, the criticism would look way different I think.

gl getting hp solo

I don’t hope to, it’s not meant to be solo’d.

“follow-commander-press-1-mass-loot mentality " is one major thing people are actually arguing. Most people happy with HoT follow that mentality, since its the only effective way to play the new maps (unless just discovering waypoints etc).

Unknown.2796:

Although I do not have HoT, it still has an impact on my gw2 “experience”.

They removed most (if not all) guild upgrades from the core game and put them into the guild hall which is only acquirable for HoT owners.

No HoT expansion = no guildhall = no upgrades = no WvW claiming.
Thank you Arenanet.

subzero/10

Dude you can enter Guild hall even you don’t have expansion

Maze/jump puzzle maps, gates and grinds. If you don’t enjoy jump puzzles and dry top type of maps this exp is not for you.

Its not for me, 2/10

Story is awesome. Love, love, love my glider; miss it in Central Tyria. The open world is pretty good, lots of good ambiance and scenery. The XP grind to get masteries is OK from a Zelda perspective of working to open up the world with one very noticable exception.

The big problem is the elite specialization grind. I started out with a Revenant because I fell in love with the Herald. I gave up after roadblock after roadblock. Went to my Guardian main and had more fun with Dragonhunter being more of a sidequest thing.

If I take out elite specilization grind, then I’m about 8/10.

9/10. But going down fast as my game launcher doesnt work atm.

10/10 smooth as butter launch

8/10.

Overall the story is quite nice and a good bump up from the original storyline and LS and the new mechanics they used as well.

Maps are very pretty in design, but can be a bit of a nightmare to get around and map out/explore. I find it particularly draining since it requires a lot of effort to find out what you need to do to get to some places. Not that its bad, just a lot different than launch map exploration.

Enemies are a challenge. Not that its a bad thing particularly. But no amount of Mordrem Wolf training kept me prepared for some of this stuff. :P But with the density of enemies + abnormal map layouts. It can add to the exhausting feeling I get trying to get to stuff on the maps. This could be a issue with mostly roaming around solo. But if that is the problem. Then I’d see it as a huge issue in the long run. :/

Events are ok. I like that there is a lot of them at any given time. But I do fear that people being spread out so much on any given map. The scaling should work a bit better imo. A lot of events, especially the chain ones, want at least 5 people around. And a lot of times I seem to find myself alone doing an event that I find myself not being able to complete. The big map meta events are ok for now. Will probably work a lot better once everyone has learned how they work though.

Mastery and HP. You get a lot of Mastery points by general play and exploration in the Jungle. Can’t complain there. The XP is a bit meh, but I guess I needed to use up all those boosters at some point. But it is a startling difference than leveling exp 1- 80.

HP wise, from what I’ve founds theres quite a few that require groups and or masteries to get to. Not that I don’t mind it. But with the sheer importance it is for some people to gather these to unlock their specialization that they want to play it seems a bit too much. I don’t really have much to say on the area, other than I can totally see why some players would be upset about this. Gladly I have no interest in using Tempest anytime soon.

From the perspective of a mostly solo player. I worry how the maps will change over time. Its early now, people are new to the content and everyone is trying to complete stuff. But I fear it will become quite hard later to do a lot of stuff once people go back to their normal daily grinds. But thats always something that can be addressed if it happens.

HipposWild.7185:

2 the game is gorgeous but playing it without a big group is a horrible experience.

Totally agree.

It’s time for Anet to think about NPC companions.

0

I’ve played this game for almost 4000 hours. I’ve played every aspect of this game other than Eotm, and enjoyed most of it, but this expansion has removed every ounce of fun from the game. It’s like they have no clue what the people who play this game want. The main attraction to this game from the very start was NO GRIND. They locked all the new content behind a difficult to navigate map that needs gate locked skills to complete. Then they remove fights from wvw by adding ludacrisly large maps and WAYYYYY TO MUCH PVE. I just cannot comprehend WTF ANET was thinking when they made any of the changes. It is like they are completely unaware of who plays this game.

This "Expansion" is why you NEVER, EVER, Pre-order a game.

Solid 7, loving it! Awesome stuff, and no complaints about the rate of progression (it’s going FASTER than I expected). I already have 6 masteries unlocked just exploring in the HoT zones. Hardly any events and definitely no zone completions.

4/10 I could provide my reasons but I don’t have the mastery for that yet.

It ranges widely from off-the-charts to hatred and rage.
Which, if i’m being honest, is how i actually like it.

I liek that we have to learn the maps. I didn’t like that a lot of hero points are gated behind mastery… but then it occurred to me that that will make training alts a whole bunch easier. It’s only hard because it’s my first time through, i’m playing an entirely new class, and i lack all the resources from the rest of Tyria (which my other toons mostly have, and in spades)

Overall i think i’d rate the content at 9/10.

As it stands 4/10.

If they removed the experience requirement for masteries then it would be 8/10 easily.