Guild Wars 2

Hello GW2 community. I’ve been browsing around and wondering if I should purchase HoT to see if Gw2 has improved since its initial launch. I was very hyped and excited when it came out August 2012, but after 2 months of play, I could not find a playstyle I enjoyed. The lack of clear defined roles left me feeling just another dps, which I hate, because I love support roles.

Now HoT has come out and i’m wondering if the situation has improved or is still the same? I have done some research and the 2 things that appeal to me the most is the new profession and raiding for its challenge factor.

So I would like to ask those who have already bought the expansion, are you happy with your purchase or do you find it lack luster? Also for those who went above and beyond to buy the 100$ pack, did you find that a valuable purchase or was it something you could of just done without?

I would be a casual player and I think the 4,000 gems would save me time from having to grind gold to get decent gear. Thanks for reading my post.

i’d wait to see if they change the godawful “masteries” which are holding the story and specializations hostage.

if they don’t allow you to play the story and specializations without grinding millions upon millions of mind-numbing xp then i’d whole heartedly not recommend buying it.

Bought it a couple of hours ago and i am totally regretting it. Feels like a massive rip off considering what you are getting.

Don’t do it. or wait till it is $15~

One $50 fee after three years of no monthly sub … your call.

Liewec.2896:

i’d wait to see if they change the godawful “masteries” which are holding the story and specializations hostage.

if they don’t allow you to play the story and specializations without grinding millions upon millions of mind-numbing xp then i’d whole heartedly not recommend buying it.

Well i’m not really interested in the new map or the story or the mastery system. I understand that people have been playing this game 3+ years and are interested in getting their new toys, only to held back by a time-wall and especially after shelling out hard cash.

I’m only really interested in if the new Revenant is fun and Raiding, which I haven’t heard anyone talk about since the launch of HoT.

I’d have to say at this point, save your money, i regret the purchase

If I had a do over I’d w8 till they fix the elite hero point grind. I didn’t even play today because I’m so turned off by the fact that I can’t use elite until most of the hots maps are done one time. For me, I’m simply not able to enjoy the experience right now so what’s the point.

Short answer: no.
Complex answer: maybe.

As it is now, it’s nothing but a grind fest with gating after gating after gating. You can’t even play the new spec without beating most all of HoT’s maps. Wait and see if anet gets their kitten together, as it is right now I feel like a complete and utter idiot for putting my trust in them and buying Ultimate $100 version. At this point I wouldn’t even buy the basic $50 one. Never again. I like GW2, but HoT is anything but fun. I understand how opinions work, but unless people have a fetish for grind and a hatred for actual content, I’d be really suspicious of people who have rave reviews about this.

If you want to play HoT specifically for immediate access to your elite specialization, don’t. If you’re interested in it for the other 95% of the content, it’s a nice grab. You are locked out of a lot of objectives immediately until you level in the new content and get mastery points. What most of the forum goers here won’t tell you because they’re too busy crying about elite specializations is the content is actually a lot of fun if you just take the time to experience it.

There are tons of events and only a little grind is necessary to unlock more content. Group up, get kitten done, unlock masteries, and see more and more of HoT. Soon enough you’ll be focusing on specific collections and new legendaries.

I think what Anet was going for in this expansion was edging players to do a little bit of everything and slowly get where you’re going. If you don’t have a lot of time and want to get somewhere fast, which seems to be the issue with a lot of people, then I’d wait a few weeks and see if Anet removes a few gates (they’ve already removed the 14th chapter story gate). Otherwise if you want to see the new content now, explore and unlock areas little by little, then there is no reason not to get the expansion.

Positives: A crap ton of new content.

Negatives: You won’t get anywhere fast. You’ll be hopping between zones often as you unlock masteries to uncover new areas you didn’t have access to before. And if you just want to play your elite specialization, good luck. Also, gg altaholics.

I see a site called cdkeys.com with the HoT expansion standard for $35. Says they deliver a key. Another site had a similar low price, but the fine print says “European Version Only”. Are these some sort of scam, or legit? G searches also show deluxe version for $75. Also, I don’t see that they say I need to wait 72 hours on a credit card purchase like ANet does.

I’m on pause here thinking about whether I want to purchase to just run a Reverent Alt. I was never psyched about the diefest that I got into with the last two areas they opened up, even with Exotic crafted gear. Both DT and SW seemed like you had to be in a zerg to have any fun, or just stay alive, like I’m saying, with Exotic gear. Anyway, I’m saying that I might spend $35 to Alt some Revs in the other areas, but so far the new content seems less and less interesting.

Thoughts on scams and content?
- ww

Doombeldore.5074:

Bought it a couple of hours ago and i am totally regretting it. Feels like a massive rip off considering what you are getting.

Probably because you get very little for your money out of the gate.

windyweather.1238:

I see a site called cdkeys.com with the HoT expansion standard for $35. Says they deliver a key. Another site had a similar low price, but the fine print says “European Version Only”. Are these some sort of scam, or legit? G searches also show deluxe version for $75. Also, I don’t see that they say I need to wait 72 hours on a credit card purchase like ANet does.

I’m on pause here thinking about whether I want to purchase to just run a Reverent Alt. I was never psyched about the diefest that I got into with the last two areas they opened up, even with Exotic crafted gear. Both DT and SW seemed like you had to be in a zerg to have any fun, or just stay alive, like I’m saying, with Exotic gear. Anyway, I’m saying that I might spend $35 to Alt some Revs in the other areas, but so far the new content seems less and less interesting.

Thoughts on scams and content?
- ww

As far as discount keys from shady sites you already have your answer in the question. If you have to ask that in a forum it’s your brain’s warning flag going no, no , no.

No. I at least went 2-3 months in Warlords of Draenor before I got frustrated or ran out of things to do.. not 30 minutes.

If it is not on the authorized retailers list, then do not purchase it from there. They’re cracking down kitten fake keys and banning accounts.

As far as it’s worth it, no. Not at all. At least not yet. Wasted $50 IMHO. Wish I’d waited. We’ll see if I keep playing the game in general since all support for the base game has been dropped into the future as well.

DeceiverX.8361:

If it is not on the authorized retailers list, then do not purchase it from there. They’re cracking down kitten fake keys and banning accounts.
.

Thanks for the great tip. I did a G search for GW2 Authorized and can see the correct ones. No sales there btw.
-ww

After reading the comments here, it seems like 50% of the people on the forums dislike HoT.

Although no one really answered my questions.

1. Is the Reaver fun to play?
2. Is Raiding fun to play?

Reaper is the reason I bought the expansion. Most fun I’ve had in a while when playing it during the BWE events. Unfortunately I cannot play it live as I will never have the hero points unlocked in the foreseeable future due to the time constraints on my gameplay and the time I do have in-game being very sporadic and usually short in duration.

Raids are not yet released. A lot of the features of HoT have not been included at launch.

I am a long time Guild Wars player. I have been playing since the first beta events for GW1.

My advice would be wait and see if they fix the god awful junk that is Heart of Thorns. Scaling sucks, mastery sucks, the level gating is horrid.

I am sorry to say that the fun is over. They’ve sucked the life out of what used to be a fun game. Whoever thought up the multi-level maps need to be put out of our misery.

I am having a blast. Great time with the expansion and Halloween!!! Love the new stuff.

I’m having a total blast in the new maps with my guildies. I’m very happy with my purchase.

However, you left due to not liking some of the core game design. They have introduced more delineated roles now — Druids to heal, eg — but it’s still not a trinity sort of assigned role and only applies to the most advanced content. So while I’m all for people buying and trying for themselves, you might want to wait, watch videos, see more objective reviews than what you get from people frustrated by something and venting on the forums.

Also, you can still play in the core game, including doing the Halloween event this week and next week, so you might get a feel for the current state of things other than the new professions and maps. Try it out, see if anything hooks you enough to want to buy the expansion. If not, you’ve saved some money and made a decision based on your own opinion rather than on the fulsome praise or deep castigation by others.

Save your money until they fix HoT. There is a lot of gated content and you have to invest much time to unlock it.

I think it’s a great expansion with this caveat-no “instant gratification” elite specs, as you will have to invest some play time to obtain those. If you like your Necromancer (for the Reaper) no big deal, just play the new game normally. It’s a sort of conundrum for ANet, because the other side of the coin is making every Elite spec easily available and then having people complaining about having “nothing to do”-which will happen soon anyway.

You’ll only find people complaining on the forums. The people that are enjoying it are to busy having fun to come on and post you a lengthy answer of why the xpa is so awesome.

Personally I only logged on just to give ANet a thx because I appreciate what they’ve created.

You should definitely get it, for the Story alone.

I’m pretty sure map completion is going to take the same amount of time with or without the elite spec.

The people who complain about running out of content are completionists, and they got an amazing treadmill to use. Why is there something wrong with doing the content with the new elite spec? The people who want to do it all are going to to it anyways.

Everyone else is just forced into a crappy situation. I don’t understand why people are supporting this. Using the same logic as people supporting the gated content, WvW maps should be required for map completion, again. I mean if you want to get your reward, you need to camp WvW to capture that keep now, and work for it, right?

It’s pointless and stupid to gate the elite specs like this. Everything else is whatever (though the HP champions need a tone down baseline for solo play and way better scaling to make group training way more punishing while also rewarding and promoting smaller group adventures with close friends.

SoPP.7034:

You’ll only find people complaining on the forums. The people that are enjoying it are to busy having fun to come on and post you a lengthy answer of why the xpa is so awesome.

Personally I only logged on just to give ANet a thx because I appreciate what they’ve created.

You should definitely get it, for the Story alone.

These are his words from b4 expansion release

Wait till HoT releases, wait for feedback about the release and then (assuming you still want to buy it) wait till the bugs are not so game breaking (which they will be, given the current state and one month to go).

After all of that then buy HoT, that’s the best thing to do at this point.

Save your money, this has to be the worst expansion of any game.

DeceiverX.8361:

I’m pretty sure map completion is going to take the same amount of time with or without the elite spec.

The people who complain about running out of content are completionists, and they got an amazing treadmill to use. Why is there something wrong with doing the content with the new elite spec? The people who want to do it all are going to to it anyways.

Everyone else is just forced into a crappy situation. I don’t understand why people are supporting this. Using the same logic as people supporting the gated content, WvW maps should be required for map completion, again. I mean if you want to get your reward, you need to camp WvW to capture that keep now, and work for it, right?

It’s pointless and stupid to gate the elite specs like this. Everything else is whatever (though the HP champions need a tone down baseline for solo play and way better scaling to make group training way more punishing while also rewarding and promoting smaller group adventures with close friends.

Because the people who say the rest of us are just crying, whining are actually nervous about any time gate being taken away. They’re afraid if anet caves on elites it means they’ll get rid of every grind. They see this argument as some sort of sign that the grind fest they love will eventually be destroyed, and as such are not willing to compromise at all on this one issue.

Considering the game was developed and sold on the principle of “no grind”, and ANet has been extremely vocal about this philosophy, why are they playing this game and why are they advocating for these changes when the “no grind” mentality was working so well?

Probably not if you don’t like grinding.

Also, I see a ton of people complaining in the new maps too, not just forum.

DeceiverX.8361:

Considering the game was developed and sold on the principle of “no grind”, and ANet has been extremely vocal about this philosophy, why are they playing this game and why are they advocating for these changes when the “no grind” mentality was working so well?

because we’re now getting wow transfers since WoD has been out for awhile.

I’m not going to say if the expansion is good or bad, I’ve made my opinion known in other threads.

What I will say is that there is a chance of incoming changes due to the reaction to the expansion. Save your money until you know what, if any, changes are being made. THEN you’ll be better able to judge if the expansion is right for you or not.

No. Big fail this year.

leftyboy.9358:

These are his words from b4 expansion release

Your words now I take it. I mean after all if you haven’t purchased yet, your either convincing yourself why you made a good decision to wait, or realising you made a mistake to wait.

In any event you misinterpreted the context of my previous post. Which was based on the the BWE3. This isn’t a BWE, it’s now been released. I don’t see any of the problems I saw from the BWE3 hence the turn around.

And FYI this is why ANet tend to be vague with details. Be specific and people like yourself will be all over it to suit your own needs.