Guild Wars 2

ArenaNet: I Just want to say I really don’t like Masteries. They provide core play mechanics to the maps we encounter right away making the first thing a player does when they come into HoT is to grind for masterys. In principle this goes against the philosophy behind GW2. Perhaps at the map entry point where players come in in the release version they will not feel like grind, but where we are coming into the first map in BWE#3 the need for gliding tier #1 gliding is a requirement right away to enjoy the map because the map was designed for gliding.

You’re free to disagree, the bottom line is as a long time player of this I’m not having fun. As a game developer I would want to know this. Having studied game design I am very forgiving when it comes to design, play mechanic balancing. I wouldn’t go so far as to call Masteries garbage, it works but it brings Gw2 a lot closer to traditional MMOs. It adds grind, removes fun and again just goes against what the original team behind GW2 had opened it would be and that’s very sad.

Based on what’s been seen and played so far I believe wholeheartedly GW2 HoT will be at least as bugged at launch as the core game was in 2012 if not more. I guess that means NCSoft is cracking the whip and forcing your team to ship the game before it’s really ready. I do hope this assessment is incorrect.

I think masteries are absolutely necessary especially for a game that is different in the MMO Genre with no new levels and gear stats. Masteries are a system that can easily be expanded on for future expansions and also become progression, not grind, as most masteries aren’t required for you to play the game (except for gliding) however as you play you unlock more areas and more content. Maybe I don’t know as much as I have no history in game design or anything like that, but I personally think without masteries/progression Gw2 would suffer

Man, seems like everyone online is a game developer.

Honestly it seems like the mastery tracks are pretty easy to fill up, especially if you do events like the wyvern (seriously, if you succeed at that, you gain a TON of experience). Admittedly it can feel a bit grindy (especially since we’re only seeing a fraction of the available content), but with 3 more maps incoming besides verdant brink, the feeling of grind should feel much less so when you have the other maps available. I also have noticed that the testing area isn’t actually our introduction into the heart of the maguuma. It’s the area we see in the story introduction (which, i don’t know if it’s by accident, but i found the waypoint on the map and couldn’t teleport to it). So maybe the initial area that we dive into will give us the necessary experience to obtain atleast the gliding mastery.

I’m optimistic. The story area didn’t seem to need masteries of any sort (though it’s way too small to accurately judge and it’s in story mode, so the masteries wouldn’t be required regardless), so i think things will be okay.

I do agree with kevoros that masteries are the way to go, but perhaps a good compromise would be having the initial gliding track and the bouncing shrooms tracks be of a lower experience value to get us on the road faster, with other experience tracks taking a little more experience. I dunno, just a suggestion.

Speaking of masteries…
Currently, for balance and variety in the game, racial skills have been weakened to the point of almost always being avoided. I understand that they do not want only Asura or Norn or any other race to become too common compared to others. To avoid this and allow racial skills to be fun and useful I have a proposal. As HoT introduces quests for skills such as gliding as well as precursors for legendaries, why not create quest lines allowing learning the racial skills of other races. For instance, an Asuran character could do quests to help the Charr and as his favor increases with them, they progressively teach the Asuran their own racial skills. This will allow a rebalancing through questing while having pre-known skills from your own race. This is similar to what many loved in GW1 when all could learn Raven transformation or pain inverter. It would also allow the developers to create re-skins if they wish for new appearances of across species transformation. If they do not wish to add too much work into this, an aura equivalent could also be tested. I just recently found out from my brother as I write this that Wooden Potatoes had a similar suggestion.
Thank you for your time and enjoy the great gaming!

Markesh.7540:

Speaking of masteries…
Currently, for balance and variety in the game, racial skills have been weakened to the point of almost always being avoided. I understand that they do not want only Asura or Norn or any other race to become too common compared to others. To avoid this and allow racial skills to be fun and useful I have a proposal. As HoT introduces quests for skills such as gliding as well as precursors for legendaries, why not create quest lines allowing learning the racial skills of other races. For instance, an Asuran character could do quests to help the Charr and as his favor increases with them, they progressively teach the Asuran their own racial skills. This will allow a rebalancing through questing while having pre-known skills from your own race. This is similar to what many loved in GW1 when all could learn Raven transformation or pain inverter. It would also allow the developers to create re-skins if they wish for new appearances of across species transformation. If they do not wish to add too much work into this, an aura equivalent could also be tested. I just recently found out from my brother as I write this that Wooden Potatoes had a similar suggestion.
Thank you for your time and enjoy the great gaming!

This is a fantastic idea. Possibly just a mastery track for each race which, once completed, unlocks that race’s racial skills for all of your level 80 characters. Would be a relatively easy way for Anet to increase the amount of end game progression and would allow racial skills to be balanced to be meaningful without forcing players into particular race/profession combos. It’s pure upside.

masteries points seem to have been removed/disabled in BWE#3. i ran into a few in BWE#2. some which required gliding

i cant remember what those mastery points done. the mastery UI was very confusing for me in BWE#2. kept saying i had all these points but didnt know how to use them

Edds.7681:

masteries points seem to have been removed/disabled in BWE#3. i ran into a few in BWE#2. some which required gliding

i cant remember what those mastery points done. the mastery UI was very confusing for me in BWE#2. kept saying i had all these points but didnt know how to use them

That’s a good point. I just think enough points should be earned on the first story mission to unlock gliding tier 1 at the point you enter the map.

SamTheGuardian.2938:

That’s a good point. I just think enough points should be earned on the first story mission to unlock gliding tier 1 at the point you enter the map.

That’s very different feedback from not liking Masteries at all.

i quite like masteries, the only bit i dont like is that it takes the full length of time to unlock them in the betas when we dont have a lot of content to work with to level them up

Masteries are absolutely my favorite thing about the expansion so far. The story might replace it, but I haven’t seen enough of it to know yet.

I like masteries.

I don’t like having to grind boring dynamic events to level them up in Heart of Thorns.

SamTheGuardian.2938:

Edds.7681:

masteries points seem to have been removed/disabled in BWE#3. i ran into a few in BWE#2. some which required gliding

i cant remember what those mastery points done. the mastery UI was very confusing for me in BWE#2. kept saying i had all these points but didnt know how to use them

That’s a good point. I just think enough points should be earned on the first story mission to unlock gliding tier 1 at the point you enter the map.

I don’t mind them generally, but very much agree with this. I logged out after doing the story yesterday, because I just couldn’t be bothered with grinding the glider again.

I really like masteries, it’s like new small portions of content get unlocked over time. It’s not like: here you get all there is at once, enjoy a few days/weeks but rather something which controlls the pacing.

I’m quite confident that I won’t join the speedrun-mentality in unlocking everything as fast as possible. I see it more like my take on legendary-crafting: let it happen while I’m playing the game. Over time new things will get unlocked so my experience will stay fresh over a LONG time.

I don’t see any real reason for locking up essential and needed abilities behind grinding. If there is a need for a progression and earning abilities through grinding it should be for things in the game that is optional.

I hope that the starting area will have enough content to unlock gliding, mushroom jumping and the other things that is needed to continuing to play the game without being forced into grinding events.

It has enough to unlock gliding within a couple hours and thats at a leisurely pace

I don’t see any real reason for locking up essential and needed abilities behind grinding.

Again the misusage of the term grinding. How is it grinding if you can unlock it by any activity that rewards xp. And in case you didn’t know: the fastest way of gaining xp is by doing a variety of different things.

Marcus Greythorne what is your definition of grinding?

For me grinding means repeating for example the same events over and over in order to gain enough experience so I can unlock the abilities needed to fully explore the new areas.

I have only seen events in the betas. I don’t know if there will be other content than those events. I don’t know how far the story is going to take us when it comes to gaining experience. What I know is that it is going to take a lot of experience to unlock gliding, mushroom jumping and unlock secret locations. If I have to repeat the same events over and over in order to gain enough experience for necessary abilities needed to explore new area I consider that grinding. I hope there will be other ways than doing events.

If you have information about other content in HoT than the events I kindly ask you to share.

I’m pretty sure you get your exp for gliding in the first few story instances which won’t require any gliding.

The real concern for me with masteries is that ArenaNet say they can use masteries as a system to build on over time. <— That’s a red flag when it comes to ArenaNet’s design. They implement a ton of new systems but barely ever expand upon them or even fix the ones that they did implement. Many lie broken or were never improved upon.

There are broken collections. Guild Merits and Guild missions and influence are all being scrapped. Heck, there are guild bounties that are still totally broken. The achievement system rewards have never been expanded upon.

I say these things because there is precedent when it comes to this stuff. They have proven time and again that they will put something in the game, leave it broken, and move on to the next thing. I see no reason for masteries to do anything other than follow suit by being a cool feature that never gets refined.

Zenith.7301:

I like masteries.

I don’t like having to grind boring dynamic events to level them up in Heart of Thorns.

Same here. Had to do so much grinding to get the Gliding. But once I got it, I was in absolute love with it. But dear god did it take a while to get. :/

Iason Evan.3806:

The real concern for me with masteries is that ArenaNet say they can use masteries as a system to build on over time. <— That’s a red flag when it comes to ArenaNet’s design. They implement a ton of new systems but barely ever expand upon them or even fix the ones that they did implement. Many lie broken or were never improved upon.

There are broken collections. Guild Merits and Guild missions and influence are all being scrapped. Heck, there are guild bounties that are still totally broken. The achievement system rewards have never been expanded upon.

I say these things because there is precedent when it comes to this stuff. They have proven time and again that they will put something in the game, leave it broken, and move on to the next thing. I see no reason for masteries to do anything other than follow suit by being a cool feature that never gets refined.

Yeah, this worries me too. They introduce something, and rather than fixing the flaws with it and developing it to full potential, they just declare it unworthy of the time investment and move on to something new. Rinse and repeat.

It may not be a big problem right now, but this is slowly becoming a game full of half finished and crippled systems.

I’m enjoying masteries and have basic gliding and bouncing mushrooms unlocked without any feel of grinding, just playing the maps, exploring and doing some events. It does seem the mastery points (the ones on the maps) are disabled or something, which would have been really nice to just get a little more of a boost.

I do really like that masteries are account-wide. I think they’ll be a great way to keep progressing without grinding.

The chain dynamic events in BWEs are fun even if I repeat them, in my opinion. Then exploring the map during the night, especially area with no player, is exciting. It doesn’t feel grindy, honestly. Although I see anet do it so events are repeatable, but not to the point that people have to grind the events. Remember that it is important to encourage players to repeat open world content since anet expect new players and such.

Maybe the impression of being forced to grind event is because there are only two chain events during each of the BWE? Or maybe if you are open to the idea of playing all classes, you might also try all the classes in the jungle (that worked for me at least)

Oh and I think adventures also give you exp, too, right?

However, what I’m worried is, since the exp bar is not flat like in core game, that there will be a lack sense of progression as your mastery leve is higher, thus have to earn more exp. In my experience unlocking stealth gliding after speed mushroom in BWE 2 was sooooooo loooong and there was nothing in between. But again, that might change until more events are available.

So I think I’m quiet sure it’s BWE limitation causing pseudo-grin, because to me opening the first two mastery aspects of both gliding and Itzel felt really natural (as in out of my consciousness that I had leveled up those mastery aspects) as I progress through the map.

My only real issue with the mastery system is how bland the core content’s masteries are.

And that we can’t glide in core Tyria…

Based on what I’ve seen, just playing around the early map will give you the basics of gliding and mushroom. It didn’t seem too fast or too slow. Seems fine to me.

Tunnel vision much?

You don’t have to farm dynamic events at all. Just do variety of things. Dynamic events are just one of many activities to do.

The mastery concept isn’t bad but running around the first map without gliding and jumping mushrooms is a huge pain. At least after a few days of normal playing, we will have that.

My only issue with Masteries is that you have to do part of the story to unlock it otherwise it’s alright

I’m fine with Masteries as they are. I think one thing they will do is act as a gate so that people can’t get in the first map, race through all the other maps and then declare themselves done and the expansion completed. If you read what’s in them they hint that you can’t get to other maps until you get high enough in several mastery lines. One is needed to get through poisonous areas and another is needed to find passage ways to places further out. I think that people are going to have to stay in the first and maybe the second map for a while until they get several Masteries progressed far enough.

While I appreciate some new form of progression, I still think the XP grind setup is the wrong approach.

For gliding, we should have a quest-line (yes, a more traditional sort of quest-line) where we decide we need to have a reliable way to maneuver through the jungle, then search for surviving pact engineers that have experience in air-to-ground combat training.
As we move to unlock updraft usage, we should go out to take readings regarding updrafts in various areas, then test incremental prototypes until enough data is available for a full upgrade.
Other facets could be advanced simply by continued glider usage, some (such as lean techniques) could require learning them from a specific instructor, etc.

Likewise, the bouncing mushrooms could just throw you off in a random/fatal direction until you meet with an Itzel master who can coach you on how to approach them.

Just something to give advancing the different masteries more substance than “Kill stuff, click button”.

I don’t mind mastery, i just don’t agree with requiring exp to unlock them.

wish they work more like achievement that you are given a set of objective to fullfill. while it is true that this exp method allows a more open world experience, it does make the game very disorienting as to what player should be doing. it just feel so complicated cause you end up trying to figure out what is the best way to farm exp then really enjoying the map.

Do people even know what “grinding” means? Gosh people got so kittening spoiled with this game…

If they provide you with MULTIPLE ways to gain MEANINGFUL progress, IT IS NOT GRINDING.

The kitten do you want, for them to change how the game works every week? OF COURSE there will be repetition, repetition is INEVITABLE

Seriously, from the old WoW days killing mobs in a certain area over and over and over again for mats, was considered grinding, today? Apparently everything you do is grinding. Jesus

Ice.5162:

Do people even know what “grinding” means? Gosh people got so kittening spoiled with this game…

If they provide you with MULTIPLE ways to gain MEANINGFUL progress, IT IS NOT GRINDING.

The kitten do you want, for them to change how the game works every week? OF COURSE there will be repetition, repetition is INEVITABLE

Seriously, from the old WoW days killing mobs in a certain area over and over and over again for mats, was considered grinding, today? Apparently everything you do is grinding. Jesus

Well, as it’s an mmo and people expect to play it for thousands hours, some repetition is justifiable.
What I don’t like is the reason for that repetitivity: if it’s just for skins, or other cosmetic, it’s ok.
when it’s required to do something in order to unlock something else, it’s bad.
Legendaries is ok to grind, because it’s mostly about skin. Agony resistance or masteries is less ok, because prevent me from doing a part of the game.
Especially if you consider that you have to craft ascended and you cannot earn it by drop or gold, as it’s very inefficient.

however, it’s also a matter of how much repetition is required: if it’s a pleasant, short one is welcome. If it’s long, boring, brainless and mandatory…it becomes a grind.

@Flimsa: we currently have one quarter of Verdant Brink unlocked. A small part of one map. We will get four maps. All of them count towards the Maaguma mastery track.

Also don’t forget adventures, world bosses, jumping puzzles, story missions

Personally I also had great fun in playing those few events we have now multiple times.

So no, I don’t count doing events (some of them multiple times) to grinding. I call it playing the game. If you don’t enjoy playing the game, don’t play it then. What good are rewards when you don’t enjoy using them?

Ajja.4583:

I don’t see any real reason for locking up essential and needed abilities behind grinding. If there is a need for a progression and earning abilities through grinding it should be for things in the game that is optional.

I hope that the starting area will have enough content to unlock gliding, mushroom jumping and the other things that is needed to continuing to play the game without being forced into grinding events.

People love to use the word grinding, but in reality I could have had 3 of the key abilities unlocked in a couple of hours of play, which really isn’t that onorous. Nor is it really grind because I can do different tasks to level those. For example, story missions, adventures, grinding mobs, or dynamic events…even gathering.

Playing the game isn’t really grinding. It’s playing the game. Stuff has always been gated, in every MMO including this one. Weapon swap didn’t unlock at level one when this game launched. You had to level to unlock it.

It’s just a progression system, and it’s not that onerous. However, the higher level things probably are. If you need those to raid, that would be a much larger problem.

Ice.5162:

Do people even know what “grinding” means? Gosh people got so kittening spoiled with this game…

If they provide you with MULTIPLE ways to gain MEANINGFUL progress, IT IS NOT GRINDING.

The kitten do you want, for them to change how the game works every week? OF COURSE there will be repetition, repetition is INEVITABLE

Seriously, from the old WoW days killing mobs in a certain area over and over and over again for mats, was considered grinding, today? Apparently everything you do is grinding. Jesus

In my book grinding is repeating content just for the extrinsic reward (such as xp or gear) instead of the intrinsic reward (e.g. fun/challenge), whether that means repeating one specific type of content or repeating different types of content. Though repeating a variety of things tends to give more of an intrinsic reward and thus tends to be less grindy than repeating one specific type of content.

Each Mastery does take a lot of exp to max out, but the first row is the most needed to get around and needs the least exp. Just make sure you use the most exp boosts you can. Banners, food, nourishments, boosters, fireworks (plus 10% exp on any gameplay exp earned) and bonfires are the things I can think of offhand. I was using most of these and got 3 lines maxed on 2 Masteries this weekend.

Really, they had to put in something to keep people from seeing the whole expansion in only a few minutes. Most games put in new, higher levels to restrict players from accessing the whole expansion the first day. This game is using an non leveling char progression instead.

RyuDragnier.9476:

Zenith.7301:

I like masteries.

I don’t like having to grind boring dynamic events to level them up in Heart of Thorns.

Same here. Had to do so much grinding to get the Gliding. But once I got it, I was in absolute love with it. But dear god did it take a while to get. :/

Can’t that be a good thing, though? Isn’t that feeling of finally unlocking a mastery after working on it for so long something precious that should be savored?

In addition, the first time a player goes through HoT they will have nothing. the second time you push an alt through, maybe you’ll have gliding, mushrooms, and a bunch of other things, then again for the third alt you’ll have more, and each time you’ll get to experience HoT slightly differently, with more unlocks. I got this during that last BWE. I decided to play through the story mission, which I skipped at BWE2. The first time I had to walk everywhere…but the second time I did it…then I could glide down the hill after Braham…and that felt good.

The key word is progression. Masteries are a once-only thing, and there is no sense in making this type of progression so easy to unlock that you’re done in a day. You will only ever get that little boost of joy when you unlock bouncing mushrooms once per account. I think it should feel like it was a little bit of an achievement to unlock it.

Diovid.9506:

In my book grinding is repeating content just for the extrinsic reward (such as xp or gear) instead of the intrinsic reward (e.g. fun/challenge), whether that means repeating one specific type of content or repeating different types of content. Though repeating a variety of things tends to give more of an intrinsic reward and thus tends to be less grindy than repeating one specific type of content.

It is possible to play through the game for the stories (personal, open world, or otherwise) without doing it solely for the XP for masteries.

It is also possible to enjoy grind.

Just saying.

Kevan.8912:

Ice.5162:

Do people even know what “grinding” means? Gosh people got so kittening spoiled with this game…

If they provide you with MULTIPLE ways to gain MEANINGFUL progress, IT IS NOT GRINDING.

The kitten do you want, for them to change how the game works every week? OF COURSE there will be repetition, repetition is INEVITABLE

Seriously, from the old WoW days killing mobs in a certain area over and over and over again for mats, was considered grinding, today? Apparently everything you do is grinding. Jesus

Well, as it’s an mmo and people expect to play it for thousands hours, some repetition is justifiable.
What I don’t like is the reason for that repetitivity: if it’s just for skins, or other cosmetic, it’s ok.
when it’s required to do something in order to unlock something else, it’s bad.
Legendaries is ok to grind, because it’s mostly about skin. Agony resistance or masteries is less ok, because prevent me from doing a part of the game.
Especially if you consider that you have to craft ascended and you cannot earn it by drop or gold, as it’s very inefficient.

however, it’s also a matter of how much repetition is required: if it’s a pleasant, short one is welcome. If it’s long, boring, brainless and mandatory…it becomes a grind.

It’s not substantially different than a game requiring you to gain X levels before you’re allowed to reach the endgame content. Depending on how you play and how the game is set up it might take weeks to finish leveling. The Mastery system is essentially leveling by another name. You gain abilities as you progress your Masteries similar to becoming stronger by leveling. The main difference is that the Masteries from one area don’t carry over to another as levels do. It allows the char to get stronger without altering gameplay in the rest of the game. It’s an interesting answer to the problem of how to allow people to progress their chars without ruining gameplay in the non expansion maps.

I knew people would hate it but I LOVE that you have to go a bit without gliding. Take a look around and appreciate the game around you. You would skip it all just going to objectives without them and thats fine but first time through it shouldnt kill you to hoof it. You appreciate the masteries more once you get them as well.

As for expanding progression for end game they are great. You see them as “Grindy” because you want the benefits right now. However you will get them simply by working towards other objectives in EVERYTHING you do. So just set other goals and you will notice progression over time.

Sarie.1630:

Diovid.9506:

In my book grinding is repeating content just for the extrinsic reward (such as xp or gear) instead of the intrinsic reward (e.g. fun/challenge), whether that means repeating one specific type of content or repeating different types of content. Though repeating a variety of things tends to give more of an intrinsic reward and thus tends to be less grindy than repeating one specific type of content.

It is possible to play through the game for the stories (personal, open world, or otherwise) without doing it solely for the XP for masteries.

It is also possible to enjoy grind.

Just saying.

Nothing I said contradicts the fact that you can play through the game without doing it solely for Mastery XP.

I disagree on the point that it is possible to enjoy grind however. Once you enjoy something it is no longer a grind (at least according to my definition which I gave in my previous post).

Vayne.8563:

Ajja.4583:

I don’t see any real reason for locking up essential and needed abilities behind grinding. If there is a need for a progression and earning abilities through grinding it should be for things in the game that is optional.

I hope that the starting area will have enough content to unlock gliding, mushroom jumping and the other things that is needed to continuing to play the game without being forced into grinding events.

People love to use the word grinding, but in reality I could have had 3 of the key abilities unlocked in a couple of hours of play, which really isn’t that onorous. Nor is it really grind because I can do different tasks to level those. For example, story missions, adventures, grinding mobs, or dynamic events…even gathering.

Playing the game isn’t really grinding. It’s playing the game. Stuff has always been gated, in every MMO including this one. Weapon swap didn’t unlock at level one when this game launched. You had to level to unlock it.

It’s just a progression system, and it’s not that onerous. However, the higher level things probably are. If you need those to raid, that would be a much larger problem.

You seem to have more information and thank you for sharing. I have only seen the content from the betas and first stress test. If I can unlock mastery abilities without running events in Hot I will be very happy.

I have not experienced GW2 to be grindy when it comes to leveling a character. Optional content has in some cases been very grindy but I can choose to not go for it. I did not have to run events or world bosses in order to progress and play the game. GW2 has managed to keep the grinding away from playing the game. Hopefully it will not change with HoT. I really dislike running events in a huge group of player and the thought of repeating those events over and over feels very onerous.

Ajja.4583:

Vayne.8563:

Ajja.4583:

I don’t see any real reason for locking up essential and needed abilities behind grinding. If there is a need for a progression and earning abilities through grinding it should be for things in the game that is optional.

I hope that the starting area will have enough content to unlock gliding, mushroom jumping and the other things that is needed to continuing to play the game without being forced into grinding events.

People love to use the word grinding, but in reality I could have had 3 of the key abilities unlocked in a couple of hours of play, which really isn’t that onorous. Nor is it really grind because I can do different tasks to level those. For example, story missions, adventures, grinding mobs, or dynamic events…even gathering.

Playing the game isn’t really grinding. It’s playing the game. Stuff has always been gated, in every MMO including this one. Weapon swap didn’t unlock at level one when this game launched. You had to level to unlock it.

It’s just a progression system, and it’s not that onerous. However, the higher level things probably are. If you need those to raid, that would be a much larger problem.

You seem to have more information and thank you for sharing. I have only seen the content from the betas and first stress test. If I can unlock mastery abilities without running events in Hot I will be very happy.

I have not experienced GW2 to be grindy when it comes to leveling a character. Optional content has in some cases been very grindy but I can choose to not go for it. I did not have to run events or world bosses in order to progress and play the game. GW2 has managed to keep the grinding away from playing the game. Hopefully it will not change with HoT. I really dislike running events in a huge group of player and the thought of repeating those events over and over feels very onerous.

The Masteries progress only in their areas. Tyrian Masteries only in vanilla maps. Maguuma Masteries only on the new maps. It’s going to be crowded on the new maps for awhile. If you dislike crowds you could always work on the Tyrian Masteries first till people move on to the next maps.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

The Masteries progress only in their areas. Tyrian Masteries only in vanilla maps. Maguuma Masteries only on the new maps. It’s going to be crowded on the new maps for awhile. If you dislike crowds you could always work on the Tyrian Masteries first till people move on to the next maps.

I know that’s what I plan to do. Most of my characters that are going for elite specs will need to gather more Hero Points, and I’m saving that for when I can earn Tyrian masteries at the same time.

Palador.2170:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

The Masteries progress only in their areas. Tyrian Masteries only in vanilla maps. Maguuma Masteries only on the new maps. It’s going to be crowded on the new maps for awhile. If you dislike crowds you could always work on the Tyrian Masteries first till people move on to the next maps.

I know that’s what I plan to do. Most of my characters that are going for elite specs will need to gather more Hero Points, and I’m saving that for when I can earn Tyrian masteries at the same time.

Just run through the hot story on every alt, instead of doing crowded events. I ran four alts through the single story instance in the beta and almost had my gliding unlocked by the time I was done. Do a couple of events on top of that, or a raid when they come out, or adventures, or just kill stuff, and you’ll have it.

Vayne.8563:

Just run through the hot story on every alt, instead of doing crowded events. I ran four alts through the single story instance in the beta and almost had my gliding unlocked by the time I was done. Do a couple of events on top of that, or a raid when they come out, or adventures, or just kill stuff, and you’ll have it.

And the zones where I can use them will still be crowded (and likely buggy). I see no reason to hurry to unlock them when I’ve got plenty of stuff in Pact Tyria to do.

Vayne.8563:

Palador.2170:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

The Masteries progress only in their areas. Tyrian Masteries only in vanilla maps. Maguuma Masteries only on the new maps. It’s going to be crowded on the new maps for awhile. If you dislike crowds you could always work on the Tyrian Masteries first till people move on to the next maps.

I know that’s what I plan to do. Most of my characters that are going for elite specs will need to gather more Hero Points, and I’m saving that for when I can earn Tyrian masteries at the same time.

Just run through the hot story on every alt, instead of doing crowded events. I ran four alts through the single story instance in the beta and almost had my gliding unlocked by the time I was done. Do a couple of events on top of that, or a raid when they come out, or adventures, or just kill stuff, and you’ll have it.

Probably a very good idea. I will have 9 level 80s that I’ll be wanting to play in there and get the maps opened up for each. Might as well get all that exp going towards first line Masteries where it will show the most progress, since each Mastery requires an increasing amount of exp for each successive line.

Sarie.1630:

RyuDragnier.9476:

Zenith.7301:

I like masteries.

I don’t like having to grind boring dynamic events to level them up in Heart of Thorns.

Same here. Had to do so much grinding to get the Gliding. But once I got it, I was in absolute love with it. But dear god did it take a while to get. :/

Can’t that be a good thing, though? Isn’t that feeling of finally unlocking a mastery after working on it for so long something precious that should be savored?

I only had a problem with the ‘grind’ because we had such a small amount of the map available. If we had more, it probably wouldn’t have bothered me. We’re also not including into the mix the experience from story quests, which would probably boost the exp bar massively for the masteries.

also don’t forget raids