Guild Wars 2

Recently purchased HoT to test the pve side, and I’ve made it to nearly 100% of the first map. So far I’ve had good and bad experiences which seem simple to fix since the solution is already in the game just in different forms.

1. Big isn’t always scary. From the first time I saw the giant wurms come out and start spitting mobs I thought, “uhh hell no”. That was, until I attacked it and saw how quickly it would die. Even the one event towards mellaggan’s Valor spawns a “champion” which although can be quite lethal in melee, ends up requiring only a good ranged player to kite. Making these kinds of encounters challenging without simply increasing health/damage ratio’s is obviously possible, as some encounters do this very well. Would feel a little more stimulating to see a monstrous sized enemy actually put a dent in someone.

2. Major events not contesting waypoints. Main one I’ve noticed so far is the legendary wyvern where if you die you just respawn at the center wp, glide down to the chopper and re-enter the fight. Its been done before, contest nearby waypoints to prevent this but also tie in to #1 to make the fight evolve more so players are encouraged more to rally allies.

3. Not all of the jungle is smart. Seems odd for some mobs to just be wandering in the open, I mean some mobs are actually difficult to learn and when they get mixed and matched it makes it that much more enjoyable. Some mobs however are far simpler than that and you can just run by or at them without any care. For example, what kinda tigers just graze in the open? Make em a little more dangerous and ambush people with a spike leap from some bushes. Could quadruple their agro range and rather than straight charging you they locate a nearby “ambush” spot to pounce on you if you get closer. Same for wyverns (smaller), they seem a little too easy to defeat. Worst is probably the baby raptors that just roam and get 1 shotted in groups.

4. Lastly, I see at night the events shift towards defense but in general exploration could the jungle get a little more fearful at night? Things like making snare traps that lead to an ambush from mis-guided bandits trying to score loot from the airship crashes, or increasing the attack/movement speed of certain creatures, or even patrolling mordrem hunting groups that are absolute terror to attack alone (elites and on mounts). I know some may say the jungle has enough troubles but I havn’t seen a game make night time really dangerous in a long time and so far, it seems like the aim of these maps (atleast the first one).

Overall I enjoy the new map and await to explore the 2nd one soon (trying to 100% before I move to the next). These are just the few issues I see on the first map. As for the core game, it really could take a lesson or 10 from these maps.

Apparently you don’t frequent the forums much. There are plenty of people out there who think HoT is too hard to this day. Anet needs to create a balance between those who wanted skilled content and those you want a stroll in the park. No one is going to be 100% happy with every decision. Most of what you say ruins the jungle for you I don’t care about at all.

As for the size thing, that’s an Anet hall mark. In Guild Wars 1, when we fought the titans, it wasn’t the biggest titans that you had to watch out for it was the tiny sparks that did the most damage. Bigger doesn’t always mean more dangerous….a small squid can be more dangerous than a basking shark, for example.

Size doesn’t always have to matter.

You might have enjoyed the maps more had you purchased at launch. Due to popular demand, the difficulty was scaled back. Many find the maps more enjoyable now.

Good luck on your further adventures in Heart of Thorns.

1 – Why should the biggest enemies be the toughest to deal with? Great, you thought the fights were easy, what do you want? Not all fights need to be extremely challenging, and what class you play does make a difference. Especially considering the ease of fighting everything outside of the HoT maps I really don’t understand why this is something that bothered you….

2 – I disagree. The waypoints during the night that remain uncontested should stay that way. During the night you have a limited time to kill multiple bosses in different parts of the map. Without an organized group going after each boss at the same time (which is hard enough to find) you have to rely on bursting down the bosses as fast as possible and hope you kill them fast enough to finish the meta before daybreak in the game. That’s hard enough right now as it is with people being allowed to WP back to the central waypoints if you don’t have an organized group, but if you forced them to waypoint back to one of the two entrances on the map then it would become downright impossible considering the wasted time by players making their way back to the boss fight.

3 – Tigers are there mostly for scenery and making the maps more believable, same as the warthogs. They aren’t designed to be mobs that are supposed to give you a challenge. That is what all of the mordrem and other jungle creatures are for. If you want to fight enemies that “ambush” you then go fight the itzel/coztic bladedancers before you have the stealth detection mastery. They are more annoying than anything else, but they will try to ambush your character.

4 – Why? Different people enjoy different playstyles. While its obvious you enjoy going out alone and fighting groups of difficult mobs, there are plenty of other players that enjoy the defense aspect that comes with the night in VB. But again, unless you had a coordinated group building up the camps during the day, defending them at night with just a few people becomes incredibly difficult, there’s no reason to funnel even more people out of the camps so they can go exploring when they could just as well do that during the daytime in the map.

Its great that you think these maps are easy, because there are a ton of people who complain about them being too difficult. But really it just sounds like you are looking for something to complain about.

NinjaEd.3946:

2. Major events not contesting waypoints. Main one I’ve noticed so far is the legendary wyvern where if you die you just respawn at the center wp, glide down to the chopper and re-enter the fight. Its been done before, contest nearby waypoints to prevent this but also tie in to #1 to make the fight evolve more so players are encouraged more to rally allies.

I’m gonna have to say, “No, thanks!” to this suggestion. While I revive where I can in that event, the Wyvern lays down huge fire patches. There are people who just aren’t going to get revived in those. Since I see large numbers down in those patches every time I do the event, I have to believe that absent the ability to return we’d see all the defeated folks lying there the whole event. This is not fun for them, and can lead to chat fights. If they have an option to take a couple of minutes and return, at least there’s no excuse for just laying there.

While I am greatly in favor of events like these that require movement, thought and skill use (as compared, say, to the old Shatnerer, who never looked to his right), I think it would be a mistake to expect a high level of play in persistent world events. That sort of thing is fine in instanced content.

NinjaEd.3946:

Worst is probably the baby raptors that just roam and get 1 shotted in groups.

Heh, you’d be surprised at how many people this is the opposite for.

NinjaEd.3946:

mis-guided bandits trying to score loot from the airship crashes

Actually are there any non-mordrem enemies in VB? Not sure how bandits would end up in the jungle if the only way in is via pact-controlled airships but I do like the idea.

NinjaEd.3946:

1. Big isn’t always scary.

I get a far greater fright from Pocket Raptors if I don’t see them coming than I do from large bosses! I know what point you’re trying to make, however,

NinjaEd.3946:

2. Major events not contesting waypoints. Main one I’ve noticed so far is the legendary wyvern where if you die you just respawn at the center wp, glide down to the chopper and re-enter the fight. Its been done before, contest nearby waypoints to prevent this but also tie in to #1 to make the fight evolve more so players are encouraged more to rally allies.

This is something I’ve always thought could have been used to drive up player skill. If people fear that dying will mean a really long run back, maybe they will be further incentivized to run defensive builds, use a mix of defensive and offensive armour, or just play better.

NinjaEd.3946:

Make em a little more dangerous and ambush people with a spike leap from some bushes.

That would be a very cool thing, and a bit of a throw-back to GW1 where mobs just used to appear out of the ground. You get it here and there in GW2 when spiders drops from the ceiling of a cave, but it’s underused.

NinjaEd.3946:

4. Lastly, I see at night the events shift towards defense but in general exploration could the jungle get a little more fearful at night? Things like making snare traps that lead to an ambush from mis-guided bandits trying to score loot from the airship crashes, or increasing the attack/movement speed of certain creatures, or even patrolling mordrem hunting groups that are absolute terror to attack alone (elites and on mounts). I know some may say the jungle has enough troubles but I havn’t seen a game make night time really dangerous in a long time and so far, it seems like the aim of these maps (atleast the first one).

I like this. The first few times I played in HoT at night I was a bit rattled, but you get over it quickly. The only place I’ve ever consistently felt nervous and on-edge was the Tower of Nightmares. Without a doubt the most genius piece of (temporary) content ArenaNet have dropped into Guild Wars 2. I don’t want to feel scared all the time, but that’s where the night and day cycle could come into it’s own.

General Health.9678:

Actually are there any non-mordrem enemies in VB? Not sure how bandits would end up in the jungle if the only way in is via pact-controlled airships but I do like the idea.

They would spill out of the raid area, looking to scavenge airship loot, of course.

For clarification, may I ask what class you are playing? From lurking around the forums, I’ve learned that the class you bring into HoT really can mean the difference between a struggle and a walk in the park.

General Health.9678:

Actually are there any non-mordrem enemies in VB? Not sure how bandits would end up in the jungle if the only way in is via pact-controlled airships but I do like the idea.

Tigers, boars, moas, raptors, raptor hatchlings, pocket raptors, and even the Coztic and Shrooms are not part of the Mordrem army. We also see Mordrem versions of Coztics and Shrooms (e.g., Coztic Shadowleaper v. Mordrem Shadowleaper), but I don’t believe that happens before AB. I could be wrong about the where, but there are definitely Mordrem versions (probably corrupted, like the dragons seem to do in general) and non-Mordrem versions.

I’m also not sure about bandits due to the difficulty in getting there, but there could be Pact deserters out to do the same things suggested.

I think the OP belong to a group of people that haven’t voiced so much their opinion in the forums yet, who actually don’t have fear to die, learn and try again, and who can enjoy more dangerous environments in the game.

I think right now the jungle is a little bit more easy that it should be, but I wouldn’t reccomend making the jungle so much harder, because there is another group of people who really seem unable to overcome it. I also hope they don’t make it easier either.

Right now, Maguuma’s Heart seems to be in a good spot, not so hard, not so easy.

I do like the idea of the tiger ambushers, though. It would be wonderful.

Ardid.7203:

I think the OP belong to a group of people that haven’t voiced so much their opinion in the forums yet, who actually don’t have fear to die, learn and try again, and who can enjoy more dangerous environments in the game.

I think right now the jungle is a little bit more easy that it should be, but I wouldn’t reccomend making the jungle so much harder, because there is another group of people who really seem unable to overcome it. I also hope they don’t make it easier either.

Right now, Maguuma’s Heart seems to be in a good spot, not so hard, not so easy.

I do like the idea of the tiger ambushers, though. It would be wonderful.

For you and others, of course. For me and others, no, it is not easy one bit. Classes, builds, and general play styles really factor into how “easy” or “hard” the HoT maps are for people. I still haven’t had time to get any “good” classes to level 80, so I’m kind of cursed with a terrible struggle in HoT.

The mention of baby raptors got me thinking: when they’re waiting for a player they just stand around… doing nothing. They don’t graze, they don’t wander. They just …stand still. It’s unnatural. Some critters seem to wander about at least, feigning some kind of life, but the baby raptors I’ve seen – apart from the hoarde in AB which roams around – seem to just stand like dummies until you get close enough. Wish they’d at least move around a little, pecking for worms or something.

IndigoSundown.5419:

Tigers, boars, moas, raptors,

Yeah I thought of tigers after I’d posted. I meant non-animal mobs but I wasn’t clear and didn’t update my post.

I thought of Pact deserters but I’m thinking there’s almost zero chance of there being any, they’re all so kitten noble. Unless there was a group with their own agenda embedded within the Pact fleet like the Consortium or an Asuran group who were really there to study the dragon and the corruption, not to fight it necessarily.

Moyayuki.3619:

For clarification, may I ask what class you are playing? From lurking around the forums, I’ve learned that the class you bring into HoT really can mean the difference between a struggle and a walk in the park.

Just made some random daredevil spec, main thief so I know the class itself really well but as far as daredevil goes its mostly just a shot in the dark. Needless to say it works far better than I expected and I’m having little trouble adapting to all this new content, just wanting it go a step further is all.

As for previous posts, I’ve only explored map 1, barely touched the 2nd one. I’m not against all of HoT, as the title says “so far”, its just from exploring verdant brink this is what I’ve come to that there is some heavy content areas that bring a good challenge and some others that are just filling space with mediocre events and mobs. I know not every inch and corner can be filled with the best but it feels like a lot of it is missing.

I read the post, but the only comment that came to mind was this:

It’s late and now stuck in my head, thanks op.

It’s fun and game until you could not find an active map because of the whole timer thingy

NinjaEd.3946:

Moyayuki.3619:

For clarification, may I ask what class you are playing? From lurking around the forums, I’ve learned that the class you bring into HoT really can mean the difference between a struggle and a walk in the park.

Just made some random daredevil spec, main thief so I know the class itself really well but as far as daredevil goes its mostly just a shot in the dark. Needless to say it works far better than I expected and I’m having little trouble adapting to all this new content, just wanting it go a step further is all.

As for previous posts, I’ve only explored map 1, barely touched the 2nd one. I’m not against all of HoT, as the title says “so far”, its just from exploring verdant brink this is what I’ve come to that there is some heavy content areas that bring a good challenge and some others that are just filling space with mediocre events and mobs. I know not every inch and corner can be filled with the best but it feels like a lot of it is missing.

Most of the map spots in the HoT areas are bland until the meta hit that specific part of the map, most of the map is used at some part of the meta chain events.

As far as exploration, Verdant Brink is my least favorite area, both in visuals and nature of the events. The day progression feels disconnected to the night phase even if some chains are fun. Night defending phase is just boring to play, enough said. The bosses at the night phase and so far apart and from what you did during the day and defense that I have no idea what was the whole deal was.

Initially I hated Tangled Depths, but after learning the map and how things worked it’s by far my favorite and probably the most challenging map of the expansion. It also has the most varied and unique visuals in the game.

Auric Basin is beautiful but a bit bland to explore, good boss fights make up for it. I also like the Adventures here, but by saying this some people who hate adventures with all their beings might want to kill me…

And I dislike that Dragon’s Stand is completely tied to the meta event, if you cannot taxi into a map progressing it you might as well just quit since there is literally nothing to do around. Doing the meta can vary from fun to frustrating depending on the squads present.