Has been incredibly enjoyable
I don’t even know where to start talking about it.
Story: I just made it to Chapter 14 and every story instance so far has had me craving to know what happens next. I can confidently say that the story has been far more engaging than the original personal story and really digs into the Guild Wars roots it seemed to have strayed away from. There’s far more focus on the Lore and the fantastical world they’ve built upon, resulting in far more compelling characters that have much greater depth. Not to mention each instance has had interesting game-play mechanics relating to the masteries needed for the mission.
Music: Is absolutely phenomenal! After the first hour or so, I plugged in my headphones, turned my effects way down, the music to max and have just been blown away time and time again. The music really captures the mood and feel of each location.
I also want to throw out there, in this section, that much of the voice acting seems to be very well done (Canach and the asura player character are among my favorites so far).
The Jungle/Art: The jungle is gorgeous. The first time I made it to the golden city of Tarir, I immediately turned off my UI and started taking screenshots as I got lost exploring the place. The hylek villages, the underground cave systems, the lost cities, the creatures; the aesthetic of each is clearly definable and I really don’t know what more you could ask for from a fantasy world jungle. It is a little rough on the framerate in places though :P
Extra: I love the interaction of the skritt with the exalted.
The throwback to GW1 golemns was incredibly nostalgic.
Criticisms:
The only thing that has really detracted from the overall experience was when multiple masteries started to be required for a single story piece (updraft to bouncing mushrooms and then the jump to rank4 poisons). And this is currently being addressed because the devs seem to agree.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Change-to-HoT-Story-Gating
I am personally pretty ok with the set up for elite specs. I like that it takes time to unlock them and that they grow with the player, but it is possible that at least the baseline traits could be unlocked sooner. I am having a great time on my asura engineer, but with the content being a bit more challenging than normal, I have simply found it more effective to stay on specs where I have access to all my traits.
But besides that, I am having a great time and can’t wait to see more of what’s to come.
Thanks to all those working hard over at Anet!