Guild Wars 2

I have seen a lot of negative threads on this forum and I think that’s because a lot of people who enjoy the expansion is busy actually playing the game instead of ranting here. Anyway, I figure I want to do a little positive thread.

The things I like the most are the new maps. They are everything I have been looking forward to since I first bought this game 3 years ago. After I played the vanilla gw2 for a year or two, I always had thought in my mind "it would be nice if maps have more details and vertical details. And today I finally see it come into fruition. I really love the new maps. The details feels right, the complexity feels right, even the scale feels right. I decided to do a blind map exploration by myself for 2 days and it actually felt enjoyable. I lost the sense of direction, I found random majestic places, falling into random pit and faced millions of chaks. The sense of exploration is real and it has been so much fun. I felt like I really have to thank the map designers.

As of hero points and class unlocking, those things seemed unnerving at first but once I got lv2 gliders and mushroom jumping, things drastically became more flexible. I don’t quite understand the frustration behind it. I think if people spend time trying to explore hero points instead of fixating on the ones they see but can’t get them, they will realize that there are just enough soloable Hp to unlock all skills. I unlocked all my traits and skills after maybe 20 hours of gameplay. Granted, I have base 200 points from central tyria. The level of difficulty feels right. It’s hard but it’s not as binary as the old maps where you either win everything half asleep or can’t win anything. The events are scattered and dispersed. I don’t feel the need to follow zergs and I can have my own adventure. So second appreciation for that.

Haven’t had time to check the story yet. But I am loving the expansion so far

I came here to show appreciation, as well! Feel sorta bad for the devs with all this negativity. I’m not talking about people sharing opinions, ‘cause that’s fine. It’s the people who are really nasty about it. We’re supposed to be this awesome, friendly community. What happened? Is it just the forums that are bad?

Awesomeness in no particular order:

- Love my Daredevil. Thank you times 100 for this spec! Started HoT with 58 hp, and had to hunt down some points to unlock the spec and get my staff. Gave me incentive to hunt down 15 more hp so I could finally use it. I have one whole trait unlocked, and I spent hours just whacking things with my staff. Had a blast. (LOVE the new animations, btw) I’ll fill the rest of the spec out eventually. I kind of like that I’m progressing slowly through the trait line, because it forces me to really learn the spec instead of breezing through it. Reminds me of the first character I made, leveling the character from the ground up. And I feel like I’m really earning it. (Maybe we got spoiled a bit with the insta-80s and fully mastered elites in beta…it’s hard to start from scratch after that) Once I’ve had my fill of Daredevil, I’ll give Dragonhunter and Druid a try.

- Maps are breathtaking. Seriously, I am blown away. I had high expectations, and they exceeded them. A few times I wandered into a glen or cave full of light and color and just had to stop and take it in. I got blissfully lost a few times and will likely do so again…and again. Navigation is frustrating without gliding, but it’s an easy skill to learn, so it wasn’t much of a problem. Once gliding opens up the third dimension of the map, it feels completely different. I am really looking forward to fully mastering the navigation skills. Speaking of…

- Masteries are brilliant. Experience is valuable again! I am so unbelievably excited about this! There is tons of future potential here, and I can’t wait to see what else is added in the years to come. Great way to keep things progressing without raising the level cap. And I really like that we can choose what to prioritize. People focusing on the numbers are just wrecking it for themselves. Wish the halloween stuff contributed to tyria masteries, though!

- Revenant is my second favorite character. Class design is unique and fun, and the animations are great. Not sure what else to say other than <3<3<3.

Action Camera: Yessss!! ’Nuff said.

I haven’t gotten too far into the story, yet, but I’ve heard good things.

Only complaint: There is too much to do! (not really a complaint, but seriously, I am overwhelmed. )

I’m also loving the expansion. It has given renewed interest and goals in playing. The amount of voice acting that was invested is staggering. The action camera is probably the biggest pleasant surprise.

Best thread going right now. I have to admit, when I first figured out it was gonna take some time to unlock my daredevil I was pretty disappointed. Simply because I love the idea of that elite spec so much I just wanted to use him right away. But then I remembered that this is an adventure game, and a multiplayer one at that. So I CHOSE to just ENJOY the experience and enjoy hooking up with other players to thrash the mordrem. The world that they have put together is nothing short of wondrous and incredibly fun (and tuff as heel) If you can, just enjoy the ride. The elite spec will come. And you know what else is 100% true, stuff that you just…get….gets old quick.
I can’t wait to get a fully traited Daredevil, but I’m gonna have a kittenload of fun getting there.
Thanks Anet, the quality and just the amount of content you have put together for Heart of thorns is astounding and incredibly fun.
Count me as a fully satisfied customer : )

I’m trying to get through the story before the expiration on spoilers runs out so my brain is not really thinking of anything else like specializations.

I’m at a point where I need to level up the first Exulted mastery to continue but last night I had a real “wow” moment thinking of how far everything has come from vanilla GW2.

I’m really digging the atmosphere. It chilling to make your way to the lower level of the jungle and see the sea of endless writhing vines (especially when you don’t have updrafts yet). Yeah bluh bluh the entire bottom can’t be walked on bluh. But there’s something really horrifying about it.

Also the cutscenes! I’m so glad that the ability to show, really SHOW, instead of just tell and sometimes observe now exists. I know it was there for Living World 2 but seeing the whole…scene, hell MANY scenes, play out and told in such a cinematic way complete with facial expressions and seeing the fear just brought it all home. I just had to sit for a few minutes and be thankful because that experience would have never existed in vanilla.

I also think the Masteries concept in general is just brilliant. Actual honest progression in the new areas while still keeping all things pretty equal in the old.