…That Auric Basin, the second map you go through in HoT, is easier to complete (all PoIs, WPs, HPs, and Vistas) than Verdant Brink, the first map. I was able to get into an HP train in AB so that really helped, but the rest of the map items weren’t too difficult for me to complete, just took some time and maneuvering. VB, however, I am still struggling with to this day. The upper canopy really makes it difficult to fully complete, as it isn’t necessarily accessible all the time. And there are way more updraft gliding bits that are essential to reaching everything. Not to mention the places flooded with poison (I still need to earn Itzel Poison Mastery).
Does anyone else find this ironic? Assuming that you also find AB easier than VB. Otherwise, what do you think of VB vs AB, if your experience is different?
Server: Dragonbrand
Guild: Moonlit Renegades (Moon)
Highest-Level Toon: Markus Emmerich, 80 Human Scrapper
I find VB far easier. There aren’t any poison areas. I can get to anywhere in the canopy at any time thanks to updrafts (start at Faren’s and go up past golem hp to start) and advanced gliding. No section of the map is locked behind an event — in AB you cannot enter the city during Octovine or get up to the northern ledge poi unless the north tower events are completed. The only two hp I cannot solo are the vampire/guano and the frogs at Treacherous Path, but a callout in Map generally gets a few people there quickly enough.
I used VB to complete for each of the nine elite weapons and have completed it a few times since just helping others do so. I have completed the other maps at most twice each.
I’m not saying AB is ultra hard in comparison, though. It’s just not as guaranteed you can do it at any time that you want regardless of meta status.
I find VB far easier. There aren’t any poison areas. I can get to anywhere in the canopy at any time thanks to updrafts (start at Faren’s and go up past golem hp to start) and advanced gliding. No section of the map is locked behind an event — in AB you cannot enter the city during Octovine or get up to the northern ledge poi unless the north tower events are completed. The only two hp I cannot solo are the vampire/guano and the frogs at Treacherous Path, but a callout in Map generally gets a few people there quickly enough.
I used VB to complete for each of the nine elite weapons and have completed it a few times since just helping others do so. I have completed the other maps at most twice each.
I’m not saying AB is ultra hard in comparison, though. It’s just not as guaranteed you can do it at any time that you want regardless of meta status.
The other day I had gone to some parts I hadn’t been to in VB by gliding from Faren’s, but it was incredibly difficult/obnoxious for me. Sometimes I’d miss an updraft, or not be able to see where I was supposed to go next to reach a Vista or other point of interest. I guess I just find VB far more complicated than it should be, being the first map of HoT that every HoT player encounters. AB has far less vertical maneuvering/less gliding. I guess my luck with accessing Tarir was good every time I went into AB in the afternoon.
Server: Dragonbrand
Guild: Moonlit Renegades (Moon)
Highest-Level Toon: Markus Emmerich, 80 Human Scrapper
I see you are NA. If you want me to lead you to the right spots to get up, I’ll be happy to. There’s only one canopy vista, easily reached from Mellagan’s, and from it you can get to all the canopy pois in stages. You may have to glide a long time but you’ll never be straining to get to an updraft in time.
If you want to try on your own, here’s how: Go to Mellagan’s wp. Run to the cliff edge, angling to the right, to jump up the heap of green rocks and ship debris at the edge. There is an updraft there. Jump in that and turn to go towards the main wreck with the rotating fans, you can reach the updraft there by this method without having to do a finicky little JP with frogs shooting you.
That boosts you up enough to get onto the big curve of the wreck. You run up that and along the wing rib to get to the vista. Turn left, you’ll see the next poi atop the place where the group boss fight is. Glide over there and use the mushroom to get up. Then you can glide northeast to more updrafts and canopy pois. The only thing you can’t reach in daylight is the top of the patriarch’s platform, but there is a slightly tricky to get on vine you can use to get up in the passages under it to collect the poi there.
All of that takes a lot longer to type than to do.
Everyone has favorites among the maps. In some ways, Dragon’s Stand is the easiest, since there’s time to complete it after finishing the meta.
What I wish is that ANet had included a transition zone, between Silverwastes and VB, without a meta, without important gifts requiring zone completion. That would give people a chance to figure out how to get around the different levels, learn gliding without also worrying about dealing with the new foes.
Put another way, I don’t think that VB is ‘hard’ so much as it is the zone that requires learning the most new techniques to navigate.
John Smith: “you should kill monsters, because killing monsters is awesome.”
…That Auric Basin, the second map you go through in HoT, is easier to complete (all PoIs, WPs, HPs, and Vistas) than Verdant Brink, the first map. I was able to get into an HP train in AB so that really helped, but the rest of the map items weren’t too difficult for me to complete, just took some time and maneuvering. VB, however, I am still struggling with to this day. The upper canopy really makes it difficult to fully complete, as it isn’t necessarily accessible all the time. And there are way more updraft gliding bits that are essential to reaching everything. Not to mention the places flooded with poison (I still need to earn Itzel Poison Mastery).
Does anyone else find this ironic? Assuming that you also find AB easier than VB. Otherwise, what do you think of VB vs AB, if your experience is different?
I completely agree with you and am in the exact same situation. The one MP in the poison area – I followed the Dulfy video to try to get it but keep dying anyway. And when I finally was able to get to the triple Mordrem boss, no one seems to do it anymore.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
Everyone has favorites among the maps. In some ways, Dragon’s Stand is the easiest, since there’s time to complete it after finishing the meta.
What I wish is that ANet had included a transition zone, between Silverwastes and VB, without a meta, without important gifts requiring zone completion. That would give people a chance to figure out how to get around the different levels, learn gliding without also worrying about dealing with the new foes.
Put another way, I don’t think that VB is ‘hard’ so much as it is the zone that requires learning the most new techniques to navigate.
Yeah, this is more or less what I was trying to get at. It seems to require a lot of things to get absolutely everything. Even Silverwastes, which comes right before VB, doesn’t require the same amount of “tricks” to explore as VB does. I think my general complaint about HoT is that there wasn’t much of a good transition between core Tyria and HoT. Sure, HoT gets less frustrating with time and practice, but it still was jarring for a long time in the beginning.
Server: Dragonbrand
Guild: Moonlit Renegades (Moon)
Highest-Level Toon: Markus Emmerich, 80 Human Scrapper
…That Auric Basin, the second map you go through in HoT, is easier to complete (all PoIs, WPs, HPs, and Vistas) than Verdant Brink, the first map. I was able to get into an HP train in AB so that really helped, but the rest of the map items weren’t too difficult for me to complete, just took some time and maneuvering. VB, however, I am still struggling with to this day. The upper canopy really makes it difficult to fully complete, as it isn’t necessarily accessible all the time. And there are way more updraft gliding bits that are essential to reaching everything. Not to mention the places flooded with poison (I still need to earn Itzel Poison Mastery).
Does anyone else find this ironic? Assuming that you also find AB easier than VB. Otherwise, what do you think of VB vs AB, if your experience is different?
I completely agree with you and am in the exact same situation. The one MP in the poison area – I followed the Dulfy video to try to get it but keep dying anyway. And when I finally was able to get to the triple Mordrem boss, no one seems to do it anymore.
I also am really wanting to get into that little corner of the map. Sure, MPs are not needed to finish the maps, but it nevertheless is still an obstacle blocked by a Mastery. I found far fewer obstacles in AB, even though AB has Masteries such as Nuhoch Wallows that are important for finishing that map. But somehow I got Wallows without too much difficulty. Don’t remember how I did it. But I still don’t have Itzel Poison, and as my interest in playing HoT/LWS3 stuff dwindles, the less likely it’s getting that I will earn it anytime soon.
Server: Dragonbrand
Guild: Moonlit Renegades (Moon)
Highest-Level Toon: Markus Emmerich, 80 Human Scrapper
I seem to recall getting that MP behind the poison (I stand corrected on my earlier comment about there being no poison in VB, there is that one tiny patch) by hopping around the edges, or gliding down from somewhere. I’m pretty sure I got it before I got poison mastery.
If nothing else you could teleport to a friend who is standing on the mastery point, I think.
I seem to recall getting that MP behind the poison (I stand corrected on my earlier comment about there being no poison in VB, there is that one tiny patch) by hopping around the edges, or gliding down from somewhere. I’m pretty sure I got it before I got poison mastery.
If nothing else you could teleport to a friend who is standing on the mastery point, I think.
I think the one time I attempted it, the mushrooms murdered me. The poison sure didn’t help matters.
Server: Dragonbrand
Guild: Moonlit Renegades (Moon)
Highest-Level Toon: Markus Emmerich, 80 Human Scrapper
— in AB you cannot enter the city during Octovine or get up to the northern ledge poi unless the north tower events are completed.
Just as a Point Of Interest (pun intended) You can actually get to the Northern Ledges POI without the event being complete, if you ascend the clifftops and treebranches close to the North Western Waypoint (where you enter the map initially) you can get high enough to glide to the POI. I’m not even sure that you need Lean Techniques to get there as I’ve only done it since I maxed the Gliding Mastery (LWS3 has left a lot of the pre-events in AB a bit desolate)
The way up is not far from where you “Meet up with your friends” just East of the waypoint for the HoT Story, if anyone on NA wants a hand to get there feel free to whisper me, I’m on most days
The canopy in VB is always accessible to anyone with access to updrafts (bounce mushrooms are also recommended). You just haven’t learned your way around yet. The HP challenges themselves are far more difficult in AB. Most of them are champions where VB has only 3 champions out of 11 total HPs. AB HP champions are also a little tougher on average.
Explore a little more in maps like VB and especially TD before you make your final judgment. You might be surprised.
I find VB far easier. There aren’t any poison areas. I can get to anywhere in the canopy at any time thanks to updrafts (start at Faren’s and go up past golem hp to start) and advanced gliding. No section of the map is locked behind an event — in AB you cannot enter the city during Octovine or get up to the northern ledge poi unless the north tower events are completed. The only two hp I cannot solo are the vampire/guano and the frogs at Treacherous Path, but a callout in Map generally gets a few people there quickly enough.
I used VB to complete for each of the nine elite weapons and have completed it a few times since just helping others do so. I have completed the other maps at most twice each.
I’m not saying AB is ultra hard in comparison, though. It’s just not as guaranteed you can do it at any time that you want regardless of meta status.
The other day I had gone to some parts I hadn’t been to in VB by gliding from Faren’s, but it was incredibly difficult/obnoxious for me. Sometimes I’d miss an updraft, or not be able to see where I was supposed to go next to reach a Vista or other point of interest. I guess I just find VB far more complicated than it should be, being the first map of HoT that every HoT player encounters. AB has far less vertical maneuvering/less gliding. I guess my luck with accessing Tarir was good every time I went into AB in the afternoon.
There are other paths besides Faren’s Flyer (go to the top and glide across to the vine heading northward and from there to an updraft chain above the canopy).
You can take the updraft near Mellagan’s Valor WP to get on top of the crashed airship there. Run across and up onto the fins at the far end of the airship to find a vista. From there you can glide down to a wooden platform. At the far end of this platform is a bounce mushroom up to the platform where you fight the 3 amigos. An updraft next to this platform will lift you above the cloud cover.
You can also start from shrouded ruins WP, heading west up the stairway to the top of the plateau. Take the bounce mushroom up and find the large vine on the far side of the plateau. Follow the vine until you reach a large island suspended by vines with adolescent wyverns on it. Take the center path through this island to a bounce mushroom on the far side. This will take you to the bottom of the JP above pact encampment waypoint (just above the wyvern matriarch platform), from which you can take updrafts to various objectives including the guano HP.
Just give it a little time and do some real exploring on these maps. The more convoluted they look, the easier they are to navigate once you figure them out. Did you know you can hit every single WP in TD in <10 minutes using only Nuhoch wallows, bounce mushrooms, and updrafts (7 MPs total)? It’s not as bad as it first appears.
The canopy in VB is always accessible to anyone with access to updrafts (bounce mushrooms are also recommended). You just haven’t learned your way around yet. The HP challenges themselves are far more difficult in AB. Most of them are champions where VB has only 3 champions out of 11 total HPs. AB HP champions are also a little tougher on average.
Explore a little more in maps like VB and especially TD before you make your final judgment. You might be surprised.
I have done all of the maps in HoTand I still think VB is a more difficult map to traverse than AB in general.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
The canopy in VB is always accessible to anyone with access to updrafts (bounce mushrooms are also recommended). You just haven’t learned your way around yet. The HP challenges themselves are far more difficult in AB. Most of them are champions where VB has only 3 champions out of 11 total HPs. AB HP champions are also a little tougher on average.
Explore a little more in maps like VB and especially TD before you make your final judgment. You might be surprised.
I have done all of the maps in HoTand I still think VB is a more difficult map to traverse than AB in general.
That’s what we call subjective information, or “opinion” if you prefer. It’s subject to interpretation and preference. As opposed to objective information, like the number of HPs that spawn champions in each zone.
You may personally have more difficulty navigating VB, but as I said that would be because you aren’t as familiar with the layout as you are with AB. If completing HPs is your goal, however, VB is objectively the easier zone (provided you don’t have an HP train, which would obviate the need for this discussion). A player with the requisite skills can far more easily complete more of the HP challenges in VB than they can in AB.
I had 100% map completion on TD long before I knew my way around it. I’m not surprised maps like TD and to a lesser extent VB still give players trouble after they complete them. I think that was partially the point: to present a true exploration challenge. And they succeeded beautifully in that!
Basically you progress to make the game easier. When you come in with no masteries, VB is a lot harder, but if you go back to VB with maxed masteries, say, do map compleition on an alt, it becomes a literal cakewalk.
Also you don’t need poison mastery at all. Just look at where you land. And I find the AB hero points harder.
For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards,
for there you have been and there you will long to return.
— in AB you cannot enter the city during Octovine or get up to the northern ledge poi unless the north tower events are completed.
Just as a Point Of Interest (pun intended) You can actually get to the Northern Ledges POI without the event being complete, if you ascend the clifftops and treebranches close to the North Western Waypoint (where you enter the map initially) you can get high enough to glide to the POI. I’m not even sure that you need Lean Techniques to get there as I’ve only done it since I maxed the Gliding Mastery (LWS3 has left a lot of the pre-events in AB a bit desolate)
The way up is not far from where you “Meet up with your friends” just East of the waypoint for the HoT Story, if anyone on NA wants a hand to get there feel free to whisper me, I’m on most days
Oh thanks! I’ll have to try that either if I am alt-completing the map or helping a friend do so. Not that doing events to advance the meta is a bad idea, but sometimes you simply don’t have the time needed.
Basically you progress to make the game easier. When you come in with no masteries, VB is a lot harder, but if you go back to VB with maxed masteries, say, do map compleition on an alt, it becomes a literal cakewalk.
Also you don’t need poison mastery at all. Just look at where you land. And I find the AB hero points harder.
Even with Masteries I still find VB more difficult to navigate than AB.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
— in AB you cannot enter the city during Octovine or get up to the northern ledge poi unless the north tower events are completed.
Just as a Point Of Interest (pun intended) You can actually get to the Northern Ledges POI without the event being complete, if you ascend the clifftops and treebranches close to the North Western Waypoint (where you enter the map initially) you can get high enough to glide to the POI. I’m not even sure that you need Lean Techniques to get there as I’ve only done it since I maxed the Gliding Mastery (LWS3 has left a lot of the pre-events in AB a bit desolate)
The way up is not far from where you “Meet up with your friends” just East of the waypoint for the HoT Story, if anyone on NA wants a hand to get there feel free to whisper me, I’m on most days
Oh thanks! I’ll have to try that either if I am alt-completing the map or helping a friend do so. Not that doing events to advance the meta is a bad idea, but sometimes you simply don’t have the time needed.
Alt completing was how I found it, as I was doing so during the week Bloodstone Fen was released and the events at North are in no way soloable, at least by me
Now I just need to find a reliable way to get to the cave in South, though for some reason that event seems to still get done most of the time Many more alts to go lol
Basically you progress to make the game easier. When you come in with no masteries, VB is a lot harder, but if you go back to VB with maxed masteries, say, do map compleition on an alt, it becomes a literal cakewalk.
Also you don’t need poison mastery at all. Just look at where you land. And I find the AB hero points harder.
Even with Masteries I still find VB more difficult to navigate than AB.
AB has a bunch of smokescales, bristlebacks, and rolling devils as such blocking key paths. It also has annoying HPs like Balthazar though I suppose you don’t need to beat it to get it.
VB doesn’t have much of any of those threats. The worst of VB is bascially the frog thief HP which got nerfed and the vampire beast one mainly because there’s a chance most people can’t even get up there to help. I guess the entire area of north of Faren’s Flyer really sucks.
For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards,
for there you have been and there you will long to return.
Everyone has favorites among the maps. In some ways, Dragon’s Stand is the easiest, since there’s time to complete it after finishing the meta.
What I wish is that ANet had included a transition zone, between Silverwastes and VB, without a meta, without important gifts requiring zone completion. That would give people a chance to figure out how to get around the different levels, learn gliding without also worrying about dealing with the new foes.
Put another way, I don’t think that VB is ‘hard’ so much as it is the zone that requires learning the most new techniques to navigate.
Yeah, this is more or less what I was trying to get at. It seems to require a lot of things to get absolutely everything. Even Silverwastes, which comes right before VB, doesn’t require the same amount of “tricks” to explore as VB does. I think my general complaint about HoT is that there wasn’t much of a good transition between core Tyria and HoT. Sure, HoT gets less frustrating with time and practice, but it still was jarring for a long time in the beginning.
VB is really easy to get through… once you have the right masteries unlocked and once you know where/how to go. That’s the two tricks, once you have them it’s a breeze. I can get anywhere, any time, now.
However, I had to find out – someone showed me one way to get into the canopy during the daylight hours, and I found a second on my own. After that, I simply needed updrafts, bouncing mushrooms, and maybe bouncing mushrooms (and even that may not be necessary); lean techniques helps too and may be necessary for parts of it.
That being said, AB doesn’t have the canopy issue VB has, and much of it is landbound, without being as convoluted as TD is, so much of AB is more easily accessible – minus a few points
The canopy in VB is always accessible to anyone with access to updrafts (bounce mushrooms are also recommended). You just haven’t learned your way around yet. The HP challenges themselves are far more difficult in AB. Most of them are champions where VB has only 3 champions out of 11 total HPs. AB HP champions are also a little tougher on average.
Explore a little more in maps like VB and especially TD before you make your final judgment. You might be surprised.
I have done all of the maps in HoTand I still think VB is a more difficult map to traverse than AB in general.
That’s what we call subjective information, or “opinion” if you prefer. It’s subject to interpretation and preference. As opposed to objective information, like the number of HPs that spawn champions in each zone.
You may personally have more difficulty navigating VB, but as I said that would be because you aren’t as familiar with the layout as you are with AB. If completing HPs is your goal, however, VB is objectively the easier zone (provided you don’t have an HP train, which would obviate the need for this discussion). A player with the requisite skills can far more easily complete more of the HP challenges in VB than they can in AB.
I had 100% map completion on TD long before I knew my way around it. I’m not surprised maps like TD and to a lesser extent VB still give players trouble after they complete them. I think that was partially the point: to present a true exploration challenge. And they succeeded beautifully in that!
Yep, the OP was opinion and I am expressing that I have the same opinion. The OP didn’t talk about Champions being an issue – that seems to be YOUR opinion. Apparently mobs are what you see as difficult while the OP is talking about navigation via Masteries and gliding skill. I can see why you disagree with the OP but that is a difference between your opinion and his.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
The canopy in VB is always accessible to anyone with access to updrafts (bounce mushrooms are also recommended). You just haven’t learned your way around yet. The HP challenges themselves are far more difficult in AB. Most of them are champions where VB has only 3 champions out of 11 total HPs. AB HP champions are also a little tougher on average.
Explore a little more in maps like VB and especially TD before you make your final judgment. You might be surprised.
I have done all of the maps in HoTand I still think VB is a more difficult map to traverse than AB in general.
That’s what we call subjective information, or “opinion” if you prefer. It’s subject to interpretation and preference. As opposed to objective information, like the number of HPs that spawn champions in each zone.
You may personally have more difficulty navigating VB, but as I said that would be because you aren’t as familiar with the layout as you are with AB. If completing HPs is your goal, however, VB is objectively the easier zone (provided you don’t have an HP train, which would obviate the need for this discussion). A player with the requisite skills can far more easily complete more of the HP challenges in VB than they can in AB.
I had 100% map completion on TD long before I knew my way around it. I’m not surprised maps like TD and to a lesser extent VB still give players trouble after they complete them. I think that was partially the point: to present a true exploration challenge. And they succeeded beautifully in that!
Yep, the OP was opinion and I am expressing that I have the same opinion. The OP didn’t talk about Champions being an issue – that seems to be YOUR opinion. Apparently mobs are what you see as difficult while the OP is talking about navigation via Masteries and gliding skill. I can see why you disagree with the OP but that is a difference between your opinion and his.
I’m going to guess the difference is unlimited gliding. VB becomes a pleasure when unlimited gliding is unlocked. Before that it’s a puzzle.
If you like puzzles, you might like it. If you don’t like puzzles it’ll be painful.
The canopy in VB is always accessible to anyone with access to updrafts (bounce mushrooms are also recommended). You just haven’t learned your way around yet. The HP challenges themselves are far more difficult in AB. Most of them are champions where VB has only 3 champions out of 11 total HPs. AB HP champions are also a little tougher on average.
Explore a little more in maps like VB and especially TD before you make your final judgment. You might be surprised.
I have done all of the maps in HoTand I still think VB is a more difficult map to traverse than AB in general.
That’s what we call subjective information, or “opinion” if you prefer. It’s subject to interpretation and preference. As opposed to objective information, like the number of HPs that spawn champions in each zone.
You may personally have more difficulty navigating VB, but as I said that would be because you aren’t as familiar with the layout as you are with AB. If completing HPs is your goal, however, VB is objectively the easier zone (provided you don’t have an HP train, which would obviate the need for this discussion). A player with the requisite skills can far more easily complete more of the HP challenges in VB than they can in AB.
I had 100% map completion on TD long before I knew my way around it. I’m not surprised maps like TD and to a lesser extent VB still give players trouble after they complete them. I think that was partially the point: to present a true exploration challenge. And they succeeded beautifully in that!
Yep, the OP was opinion and I am expressing that I have the same opinion. The OP didn’t talk about Champions being an issue – that seems to be YOUR opinion. Apparently mobs are what you see as difficult while the OP is talking about navigation via Masteries and gliding skill. I can see why you disagree with the OP but that is a difference between your opinion and his.
I’m going to guess the difference is unlimited gliding. VB becomes a pleasure when unlimited gliding is unlocked. Before that it’s a puzzle.
If you like puzzles, you might like it. If you don’t like puzzles it’ll be painful.
I actually have unlimited gliding now. It helps but doesn’t make VB easier than AB. And since VB is the “intro” map, I still agree with the OP.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
The canopy in VB is always accessible to anyone with access to updrafts (bounce mushrooms are also recommended). You just haven’t learned your way around yet. The HP challenges themselves are far more difficult in AB. Most of them are champions where VB has only 3 champions out of 11 total HPs. AB HP champions are also a little tougher on average.
Explore a little more in maps like VB and especially TD before you make your final judgment. You might be surprised.
I have done all of the maps in HoTand I still think VB is a more difficult map to traverse than AB in general.
That’s what we call subjective information, or “opinion” if you prefer. It’s subject to interpretation and preference. As opposed to objective information, like the number of HPs that spawn champions in each zone.
You may personally have more difficulty navigating VB, but as I said that would be because you aren’t as familiar with the layout as you are with AB. If completing HPs is your goal, however, VB is objectively the easier zone (provided you don’t have an HP train, which would obviate the need for this discussion). A player with the requisite skills can far more easily complete more of the HP challenges in VB than they can in AB.
I had 100% map completion on TD long before I knew my way around it. I’m not surprised maps like TD and to a lesser extent VB still give players trouble after they complete them. I think that was partially the point: to present a true exploration challenge. And they succeeded beautifully in that!
Yep, the OP was opinion and I am expressing that I have the same opinion. The OP didn’t talk about Champions being an issue – that seems to be YOUR opinion. Apparently mobs are what you see as difficult while the OP is talking about navigation via Masteries and gliding skill. I can see why you disagree with the OP but that is a difference between your opinion and his.
I’m going to guess the difference is unlimited gliding. VB becomes a pleasure when unlimited gliding is unlocked. Before that it’s a puzzle.
If you like puzzles, you might like it. If you don’t like puzzles it’ll be painful.
Certainly advanced gliding is one of those obvious QoL improvements that nearly everyone is going to unlock. But the key to VB is finding the routes into the canopy.
If you know those routes well, then you know that you don’t need advanced gliding at all. The objectives are in easy reach of one or more of these routes.
I always feel bad for those guys you see in map chat asking when the choppers will arrive to take them up into the canopy. I have to show them the way!
The canopy in VB is always accessible to anyone with access to updrafts (bounce mushrooms are also recommended). You just haven’t learned your way around yet. The HP challenges themselves are far more difficult in AB. Most of them are champions where VB has only 3 champions out of 11 total HPs. AB HP champions are also a little tougher on average.
Explore a little more in maps like VB and especially TD before you make your final judgment. You might be surprised.
I have done all of the maps in HoTand I still think VB is a more difficult map to traverse than AB in general.
That’s what we call subjective information, or “opinion” if you prefer. It’s subject to interpretation and preference. As opposed to objective information, like the number of HPs that spawn champions in each zone.
You may personally have more difficulty navigating VB, but as I said that would be because you aren’t as familiar with the layout as you are with AB. If completing HPs is your goal, however, VB is objectively the easier zone (provided you don’t have an HP train, which would obviate the need for this discussion). A player with the requisite skills can far more easily complete more of the HP challenges in VB than they can in AB.
I had 100% map completion on TD long before I knew my way around it. I’m not surprised maps like TD and to a lesser extent VB still give players trouble after they complete them. I think that was partially the point: to present a true exploration challenge. And they succeeded beautifully in that!
Yep, the OP was opinion and I am expressing that I have the same opinion. The OP didn’t talk about Champions being an issue – that seems to be YOUR opinion. Apparently mobs are what you see as difficult while the OP is talking about navigation via Masteries and gliding skill. I can see why you disagree with the OP but that is a difference between your opinion and his.
I’m going to guess the difference is unlimited gliding. VB becomes a pleasure when unlimited gliding is unlocked. Before that it’s a puzzle.
If you like puzzles, you might like it. If you don’t like puzzles it’ll be painful.
Certainly advanced gliding is one of those obvious QoL improvements that nearly everyone is going to unlock. But the key to VB is finding the routes into the canopy.
If you know those routes well, then you know that you don’t need advanced gliding at all. The objectives are in easy reach of one or more of these routes.
I always feel bad for those guys you see in map chat asking when the choppers will arrive to take them up into the canopy. I have to show them the way!
I’m pretty sure I know all the ways to get to the canopy, but even without that, at any time in VB, just staying up there and getting from anywhere to anywhere is very very nice.
Sometimes I just glide around up in the canopy for no reason at all, except it’s beautiful up there.
