Guild Wars 2

Hey there.
So I know, right off the bat, there are going to be plenty of people out there saying I’m just “complaining” and whatever, so I’ll try to address some of the possible arguments in this post.
As I’m navigating my way through the jungle, trying to grind out those masteries and get my elite spec, I realized that about four hours had past and I just barely got mastery 1, and not even a heal skill for my elite spec.
Soloing this new content has proven very difficult, many deaths have resulted, but that may be because I’ve only been a causal player. On and off. Right now I’m playing with almost full exotic gear, and I think maybe 2 ascended pieces. Which for a new player, returning player, or other casual players should be fine. You could do most of the content before (aside from higher fractals) without ascended gear.
Now there are some tricky mechanics to these new mobs, and I’ll definitely admit I applaud ANET for all they’ve done. But it gets to the point where it’s no longer rewarding. I’m grinding only for the sake of grinding, getting lost in this massive map (which again, good job, honestly. It’s very impressive), and dying a lot. And almost all the hero challenges are impossible to do solo.
Now, I know some obvious complaints about what I just said after picking through some of the forums.
“Things can’t just be handed to you. Play the game like ANET intended”
“Find a group. A lot of the content is duo-able”
“It’s supposed to be challenging. ACCEPT THE CHALLENGE”
Okay, fair points. Here’s my problem with all of that:
For casual/returning players, we don’t know anybody to duo with! That already makes the game a little more intimidating. It’s not easy to find a group, but it definitely is possible.
The content is supposed to be challenging yes, but not every aspect at that difficulty. Maybe once we have our elite specs it’ll be easier to deal with some of this, but the developers make us work extra hard for that. Which I understand that, but then make the first map at least a little easier until we get adjusted! And the Hero points should be challenging, still solo-able, but challenging. And even the events should have their challenging mechanics (based on the # of ppl). But not the normal trash encounters too. With so many things happening at once all the time in the jungle, it’s hard to not get caught and die. And there aren’t many waypoints around to tp back to. Especially without those masteries.

I really want to enjoy the game, and I’m going to keep trying. But ANET, please, could you ease up a little bit on us? 1st zone should give us a bit of a handicap. I’m not sure I know of any great solutions, but I’ve thought of some ideas for what their worth.

Lower mob mechanics (there shouldn’t be trash mobs, like the frogs, with teleport, stealth, poison, etc.) If they’re going to be that tricky, either reduce the # of them, or give me some hero points!

Maybe introduce a group finder for this content? If it really is intended to be this challenging, then it’s designed for group play. Which I guess I’m okay with, but at least make grouping more accessible. This makes it more obvious to those just entering the zone that group-play is highly encouraged.

Change the way elite specs works. Either reduce the # of points we need to unlock each piece, or at least couple the weapon prof with the first trait and give us the heal skill! those are two very important aspects. I mean I can’t really even use my elite spekittenil most of the tree is unlocked because I’d be sacrificing an entire trait line! Without some skills, that’s just not worth it.

Anyways, you can all commence to make fun of me now for complaining about HoT, but I just had to put my opinion out there and see if anyone else cares about the newbies and returning players.

the problem about finding a group aswell is so much of the maps require masteries to easily navigate, if you dont have the masteries and others do you get left behind in the dirt. Or if you kitten up and miss a jump/glide you get left behind or you get lost and seperated….

I have had no problems looking at a map, seeing where a commander tag is and heading there. What stops you from doing so?

Pretty Pixie.8603:

I have had no problems looking at a map, seeing where a commander tag is and heading there. What stops you from doing so?

Not seeing any com tags at all?

I may get yelled at as well……

But gw isn’t gw anymore. We have to many people now who are these awesome epic elite people who quit other mmos because of problems, then came here demanding things in this game which were the reasons they quit the other games to begin with.

Open world pve in my opinion is supposed to be a fairly easy casual experience. It’s not anymore, it’s become difficult for a regular solo player to hop on and enjoy. People wanted hard content, they have raids, and fractals, but needed more. They kinda took the casual relaxed players out.

The regular Joe working 40 hours a week, and who does things outside of gw2 took a massive slap in the face with this expansion

What does MMO mean?

Omne.4603:

What does MMO mean?

No where in the definition of MMO does it state that that people have to play together. It merely means that alot of people are on at the same time. It is their narrow minded folks that assume that it means ‘must play with other people’.

Avlaen.7241:

the problem about finding a group aswell is so much of the maps require masteries to easily navigate, if you dont have the masteries and others do you get left behind in the dirt. Or if you kitten up and miss a jump/glide you get left behind or you get lost and seperated….

Yes, it’s this aspect of HoT that makes it suck, the PvE element of the Xpac is essentially anti-social. To be more accurate, it’s the introduction of this aspect post level 80 that sucks. If for example the aspect had been present say post level 20 then many PvE peeps would have gone, ‘Mmmm, maybe it’s simpler to just play Aion’.

I like GW2 because it’s a casual game that is interesting and varied enough to continue playing. I grind at work, I work very hard at work. I stopped playing Aion because it became work, and I will stop playing GW2 for the same reason.

Sylent.3165:

Open world pve in my opinion is supposed to be a fairly easy casual experience. It’s not anymore, it’s become difficult for a regular solo player to hop on and enjoy. People wanted hard content, they have raids, and fractals, but needed more. They kinda took the casual relaxed players out.

But the content isn’t hard. It’s only hard if you play alone. With a big group it’s really easy.

That’s the reason once again why open world can’t be truly challenging. Mostly because the scaling system is not working perfectly. Doing open world content alone vs with 2 players is already a huge change and makes the content much easier.

Currently I would say the new open-world content is balanced around 5-man groups to be still a kittenallenging (for the average player). But zerging is still super powerfull and solo-ing is really bad.

What anet has to do: Either change the scaling system (a lot of work probably) or seperate solo and “group content” a bit more.

IMO a really great design fault we have in the expansions are the Adventures. They are unavailable most of the time and to activate this “SOLO-content” you have to do a series of GROUP-events. I mean think about it! Who had this idea? … Well, I actually like the idea of the Adventures being instanced but why are they “locked” and unplayable most of the time like that?

All together I would say it would have been much better if the maps were generally design for solo play but with some events that are aimed at bigger groups. Make “Solo Adventures” available all the time and add “Group Adventures” that require a event chain first.

Simply: Make the hard content instanced or optional in the open world.

Question, are you wearing zerker gear?

I also can’t really grasp what is so bad. I’ve been able to solo the new content just fine so far.

My biggest problem is the hero points of a champion with 5 min timer to defeat it. It can’t be solo and no one comes when you are in a low population map. I play at sea hour. So I feel the solution for me at this time is to join an active guild and find the people in the same time zoom to play, which is a different problem.

Me and a random Mesmer teamed up and downed that skill challenge. And you know what? It was fun, challenging, and felt rewarding in the end.

As a zerker guardian I’ve definitely run into trouble against the new mobs. They’re easy to handle in a group, but they’re quite dangerous to take on alone, because with some of them, it only takes one mistake, and you’re toast. Honestly it feels really good to take on a group of Mordrem Guard by myself and come out alive, knowing that I had to decide a plan of attack first, and execute it near-flawlessly, but it’s pretty brutal at times, especially compared to having just one more person with you.

I like the challenges presented by the new mobs, but I feel they’re not as balanced as they could be. They’re too easy to steamroll when you’re not alone, and they’re too easy to get steamrolled by if you’re not fortunate enough to have other humans nearby. Still, I think they’re not too bad. Rough on zerkers though, that’s for sure.

I been focus on Halloween stuff, but I remember from the betas, my friend and I, we did not do half bad on the content. The only problem came from gear not our own, so we were not set up how were used too, but we had a easy time doing story part 1 compare to our first couple times, lol.

I find HoT no different than soloing WvW. You have to know your limitations, I have been soloing all day and have no issues. The terrain however is more challenging than the mobs.

Pretty Pixie.8603:

I have had no problems looking at a map, seeing where a commander tag is and heading there. What stops you from doing so?

What an absurd comment. None of those silly people running around with their comm tag on have any more of a clue than the next guy in this NEW content.

Vyshan.2345:

HoT isn’t really the death of solo play… it’s a bit closer to the death of guild wars 2 entirely o.O

LOL, so true. XD

I’ll have to join in with you OP, even if it means being called casual or being told to L2P.

The content just seems a bit over tuned to me. I’m trying to do this on my Mesmer who is in the same predicament. Full exotics with a few Ascended pieces, I’m runed up right and everything, yet I am struggling so much in these new maps.

If I get hit by anything, I’m pretty much dead instantly. I mean shoot, one hit from those baby raptors and I lose half my life. And I feel like I am doing less damage now than before, as before I remember hitting mobs for thousands of damage, now I’m only doing hundreds, yet they are hitting me harder than anything else.

I play at night, and there isn’t much players around during my time when I do get to play, so a lot of it is spent doing everything solo. I mean, I have got like maybe 2 or 3 hero challenges, cause I could commune with them. But otherwise, forget getting my elite specialization now. I don’t stand a chance even attempting these new hero challenges.

It just feels like they tuned this content for group/zerg play only. I am struggling to enjoy it, but when you are constantly dying to what should be an easy fight, it is hard to have any fun.

Mea.5491:

Vyshan.2345:

HoT isn’t really the death of solo play… it’s a bit closer to the death of guild wars 2 entirely o.O

LOL, so true. XD

I really hate to believe that. But some of the new features are really that bad that could push this game going downhill.

I agree with the OP here. So far, I’m making some slow progress in the first zone of the expansion. I’m enjoying the game in small bites, but I’m dying A LOT and progress feels slow. The rest of the game from 1-80 didn’t feel like this. Something feels different now. Something feels wrong.

Now, granted, I’m a filthy casual player that’s barely touched group play and only has exotic gear plus a few ascendeds…but that’s how I play. I like solo play. I like exploration. I like collecting. I like a LITTLE grinding, but not a ton.

I think I’d enjoy the expansion more if it were just re-tuned a bit. I don’t play in the open world expecting to need fast reflexes and no mistakes. That’s why I don’t bother with a lot of group play. I like to play it casually. So far, it feels like this expansion doesn’t have a good place for me…and that’s disappointing. If the open-world enemies were re-tuned so that I don’t lose half my health the second I engage an enemy, I think I’d have a lot more fun with the game. =/

Personally, I’m hoping that things just aren’t balanced yet and things aren’t yet working as intended.

I’ve been playing solo I’m approximately MR 21 doing fine.

I assumed it was a given that Guild Wars 2 was born with the concept of doing everything together with everyone, wherever you see anyone do anything?

Totally against the selfish way we are brought up in the so-called real world, but there you go.

Won’t hurt to advertise in map chat in Lion’s Arch before you Han Solo.
Use the LFG. Word your request well, and clearly. You will have people coming to you.

That being said, I now turn to ArenaNet:
Please allow 10-man or 20-man parties for the Heart of Thorns.

Ideally, grouping should be open to anyone, but some people prefer to have people of their own level and upwards in an area. Please consider enabling skill level filtering as an option as well. Open/Levelled groups.

This is unpleasant, and will lead to elitism, but it will negate the embarrassment of having to ask and/or being asked to leave.

Increase the players’ health pool in Heart of Thorns, if not decrease the health pool of the trash mobs (if you are not going to decrease their damage, but then you are fully instating Berserker as the only non-pointless gear set, again). Or make a sort of ‘starter area’ where people get a taster of what is coming, without dying too often to learn.

The increment in health could come via a series of quests/tasks whereby players are awarded either items, or better yet, a status that unlocks 40-60% more health valid only within Heart of Thorns. Bug-trap here, coders beware.

All this is leading to: make a prequel set of preparatory stages for Heart of Thorns.
Or enable 40/50-man zerging XD

The casual player. Heart of Thorns was not made for the casual player. It was made for the top-tier player, with the full kit and caboodle at top level, and like-built army. I sensed this from comparing Anet’s announcements and my gameplay, and know my place.

It is the reason why I did not, and will not buy the Heart of Thorns until I am fully capable of taking care of myself outside it.

Sorry, Anet.

I am very tempted thanks to what I have seen in WvW, but it’s a long way away. And after reading this post, even longer.

I have to say, I have been very frustrated with HoT so far. I go out of my way to reach some really hard to find Hero Challenges, and then find that it spawns Champ mobs with ads, completely impossible for me to solo. Yay. I could wait there hours without anyone coming by to help. I advertise in chat, but nobody even replies. Working as intended, I’m sure.

I like when casual groups form to take on content, but HoT maps have way too much going on all over the place, so the populations get way spread out. It’s like the same problems Silverwastes and Dry Top had, which we told them about, only even worse because the maps are larger and harder to navigate. They require WAY too much player coordination and investment than open world maps EVER should.

Open world maps should be CASUAL, they should be about “bring what you’ve got, and it will work fine.” If you show up alone, then 95% of the content on the map should be soloable. If you show up with 50+ people, then at least 40% of the content should scale up to make that an interesting challenge. Anywhere in between should work fine too.

Now let me be clear, I do not want to solo. I do not drive other players away or run from them. I just don’t want to have to bring people with me as I go, I want the number of players who are there to be enough, whatever that number may be. Ideally there will always be people around who want to do the same activity, but in practical experience this is almost never the case.

I’ve been having some fun with HoT so far, the maps are interesting and beautiful and I’m still entertained with the exploration elements, but I’m consistently frustrated by trying to actually do anything. I’m still only tier 3, even though I have the mastery points to be like tier 10 or so, just because leveling is way too stingy and worthwhile events are way too few and far between.

not the death of soloing….but certainly more difficult.
had no problem soloing to explore or get from event to event on the first map…..but you’d want at least one other player w/ you to do the events. duoing thedefend events is actually pretty easy….3 make the champs go down fast. have no idea what happens with larger scaling…..

granted i was a zerker minion master necro (which is quite tanky once you build up enough jagged horrors…that +toughness per minion trait is amazing)…and a soldier guardian…..so some tankiness/sustain makes things a bit easier.

Some enemies just seem rather silly. Champions that go invisible and one shot you, snipers that leave fire everywhere, mushrooms that will mob you to death and explode as if it was their purpose in life, etc. I like the content, but solo wise, its overtuned.

A lot of hero points have champions, and those champions either life steal, can one shot, or just have so much health and damage that the time limit is too short… Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve soloed a few… But its clear this was not meant with solo in mind.

Edit: Plus, I should not need a seperate set of gear just for open world map completion, etc. What do you expect me to do, craft a third set of ascended for my main?

OP I understand your points and don’t think you are complaining. I enjoy a lot of solo play as well in this game. Don’t let your current exp frustrate you to the point of quitting.

1. Deaths – I had many in SW after launch. I have being doing that area since Jan. and rarely had that many. Yesterday, same content with no issues. So why did I die 4 times at VW after launch release? had to be Arenanet changes. all I can confirm is I have less HP than I did on Thurs. pre-launch.
In VB, i’ve been playing alone and in groups. It is actually getting better but still dying. And we are not the only ones. My guildie was in VB before me and that was the constant feedback – dead, dead again, oh my gosh what has happened to my Mesmer, dead again.

2. Mastery – During beta, many people complained about how quickly mastery bar was moving. So I am assuming Arenanet has slowed that down. Remember, this applies to the account so what do you do when you have all unlocked?
I assumed it would take time just like zone leveling so I am fine with the current pace.

3. Content-locked – Not being able to complete things until you get the mastery is both frustrating and interesting. I did not like it in beta. I wanted to see us get the basic movement features at once (gliding, mushrooms, etc.). But it is what it is. I am just playing now and trying not to look at the mastery exp bar.

My personal experience so far has just been in open world. I have not thought once that my solo play is hindered. It feels more like when I first played the game. I am lost most of the time (seriously, I have no idea how to get to places), dying again and having to step up my combat style (e.g. more situational awareness and decision-making). For me, this has been exciting and what I wanted because the game feels fresh and new. But for others, maybe not so much.

I hope you continue on and start to find a sweet spot. I love good lore, stories, exploration and action – so far HOT open world is delivering on that.

Just hit MR23 been solo the whole time.

Just hit MR23 been solo the whole time.

That is truly excellent. For you. It has kitten-all to do with anyone else, and is not helpful to the discussion.

Ohoni.6057:

Just hit MR23 been solo the whole time.

That is truly excellent. For you. It has kitten-all to do with anyone else, and is not helpful to the discussion.

Maybe it shows that other people just need to get good.

Maybe it shows that other people just need to get good.

Nope, that has nothing to do with anything.

Exciton.8942:

Mea.5491:

Vyshan.2345:

HoT isn’t really the death of solo play… it’s a bit closer to the death of guild wars 2 entirely o.O

LOL, so true. XD

I really hate to believe that. But some of the new features are really that bad that could push this game going downhill.

I will respectfully disagree.

The art is amazing… I’ve spent several hours just running around, fighting as little as possible, just to look at stuff.

It’s not the same gameplay, no question.

It is playable, solo, for most of the content.

There is some which, ABSOLUTELY, you are not even going to scratch without a group, if not several groups.

I love the new mechanics. WvW I think is great; I tagged up and cleared our BL earlier in the day. There are long runs, and the guards are harder – soloing a tower may be a thing of the past – but I"m ok with that.

There’s still huge amounts of very playable solo content. I’ve no concerns in that regard – and that’s from a PUG player in a small guild who has scarcely started to pick up ascended gear, much less “end game” gear. I literally see years of very enjoyable play here, and potentially art and content quality that will draw new players. Nope, no “death of Anet” visible here. They just need to market it.

Same thought came into my mind the moment I entered the jugle.
kittenmit, I can’t fap, eat a sandwitch and play GW2 in the same time, game got hard…

I am a casual player, my first character hit 80 hours before HOT was released and my gear is mostly lvl 70+ greens with some yellow here and there. I don’t really find HOT content too challenging. Yes, its not solo-able (which is not an issue to be hones,t as there are always people around), and the jungle is a huge disorienting maze, but so far the gameplay is quite interesting. This is truly a massive online experience for me, where players need to cooperate in order to succeed.

I used to have mates who played the game with me, but Arena Nets game design (specifically the in-your-face micro-transactions) made them all leave for greener pastures, like Final Fantasy. It’s OK though, I’m sure I’ll be able to figure something out, I reckon I’m going to start by typing “/map”…

Some people are reporting “there are always people around.” Other people are reporting “it’s really hard to find people around when you want to do stuff,” and the frequency of those two positions seems to determine whether people feel it’s working or not.

Does this just come down to dumb luck, with people in the former group stumbling into positive situations, or is there some genuine disparity between player availability? I really wish that it were easier to focus maps and find specific maps rather than lucking into a map with a good population that is interested in doing the things you want to do.

I really wish people would stop discounting others negative experiences just because theirs has been positive.

Omne.4603:

What does MMO mean?

Massively Multiplayer Online game.

The “Massively Multiplayer” simply refers to the sheer number of people able to play the game, simultaneously.

It doesn’t suggest how they should play it.

As opposed to a single-player (or a small group) game only being capable of allowing one player (or a small group of players) to play the same game, at the same time.

It isn’t intended to imply that all, or even some, of those players have to play together, on the same side, as a group.

…and in fact, in older multiplayer games, the two, or four, people who played them together were very often playing against (not with) each other.

Of course, people can play MMOs together, on the same team and that can be great.

However, it shouldn’t be obligatory, just to experience the content and that was never what the term was invented to imply.

If it has become that way, in some games, that is mostly due to logistics and/or player requests.

It is not due to the developers trying to adhere to some made-up definition of “MMO”.

I died a bunch of times and had a good laugh about it though
But seriously, the best part is that achievement point in a cave that is surrounded by poison. First time I went there I stopped because I knew something is off about it, it’s too obvious. I had about 3 random players running along with me and they just casualy walked into it one by one. Warrior tried to pop zerker stance and endure pain but not even invulnerabilities will make you immune to that poison, hilarious

I love HoT so far !

Event scaling seem to be abit messed up atm, they need some adjustment, as solo seems to spawn too much mobs to handle.

I really wish people would stop discounting others negative experiences just because theirs has been positive.

Definitely. People’s negative stories are real. Someone else having a positive story does not negate their negative one, it just means that sometimes things happen differently.

Sylent.3165:

But gw isn’t gw anymore. We have to many people now who are these awesome epic elite people who quit other mmos because of problems, then came here demanding things in this game which were the reasons they quit the other games to begin with.

^This

More so in forum debate. New players are arguing points and they don’t even understand what attracted players to the Guild Wars franchise in the first place or have any semblance of understanding in regards to the core philosophy.

Go and play other games guys, cry as much as you want and then come back and see how awesome GW2 still is. There are issues yes, but the complainement here is unreal and impertinant.

If they add something to the game, that requires cooperation – I’m totally for it!
PreHoT content is more of a single-player for many players on the same map.

Just started on HOT content myself, it does seem tougher then Tyria but still reasonable for solo players. Glad I"m running gear with toughness/vitality on it though – I think people still running a bunch of berzerker gear is a problem and/or not adjusting your build for survivability.

Personally I’m tired of MMOs where most of the content is incredibly easy and the rest is more about grinding gear/xp then any sort of real difficulty. Likewise, I don’t think that HOT content should be considered “leveling” content difficulty wise.

mulzi.8273:

Omne.4603:

What does MMO mean?

No where in the definition of MMO does it state that that people have to play together. It merely means that alot of people are on at the same time. It is their narrow minded folks that assume that it means ‘must play with other people’.

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

mulzi.8273:

Omne.4603:

What does MMO mean?

No where in the definition of MMO does it state that that people have to play together. It merely means that alot of people are on at the same time. It is their narrow minded folks that assume that it means ‘must play with other people’.

Amaya.1483:

Go and play other games guys, cry as much as you want and then come back and see how awesome GW2 still is. There are issues yes, but the complainement here is unreal and impertinant.

I don’t want another game .. i simply go and play in old Tyra. But its sad to have
payed for the new expansion and already knowing that will mostly simply ignore it