Guild Wars 2

GW1 is the most solo friendly MMO I’ve ever played due to the henchmen-heroes, you can even run through some of the the elite missions after you finish.

In GW2 it was not the same, but most of the open world is still soloable, most the meta are quite easy with enough ppl. The dungeons don’t even provide you better gear, just different skins. Even the Ascended sets only provide slightly higher stats and they don’t just drop in elite dungeons. Overall, GW2 is a very casual friendly game as well. So the whole player base is mostly formed of casual players. Of course when HoT came out, they don’t like a lot of it. Sure most of the open world is still soloable, but you need to be much more careful, even normal mobs could kill you in secs if not careful, a lot of players don’t want to explore the world like that. Right now HoT is new, but after a while, people will move into new content, it would be a problem for the rest to get the HP/meta done. I don’t get why so many players say “It’s a MMO group up”

Before WOW, most of the MMO are 90%+ groups content, which is why they were all niche game. WOW made 50-60% of the open world soloable and became a huge success. Now even WOW has past its prime because people got tired of its group content, people demand quicker, easier games without a settled timer. I don’t think HoT is going to the right direction.

It’s not really hardcore in an absolute sense.

But the player base GW2 has cultivated over the years is very casual. So even small amounts of hardcore is too hardcore. Unfortunately with HoT, the game has suddenly shifted and it’s a lot more than “small amounts.” Hence the large amount of dissatisfaction with HoT.

Lord Kuru.3685:

It’s not really hardcore in an absolute sense.

But the player base GW2 has cultivated over the years is very casual. So even small amounts of hardcore is too hardcore. Unfortunately with HoT, the game has suddenly shifted and it’s a lot more than “small amounts.” Hence the large amount of dissatisfaction with HoT.

No it isn’t, even HoT isn’t hardcore other than the TD Meta, but some people’s argument is not understandable.

Sometimes, it feels like GW2 is using a goal of each major content addition or expansion(now) steadily becoming more challenging. If it continues, I can’t imagine that more and more casual/relaxed playstyle gamers won’t reach a “wall,” if you will, at which the challenge has become more than they’re looking for.

Since the game was heavily marketed to casual/relaxed players, the continued raising of the bar on difficulty will slowly weed out more and more of the original playerbase (and also new players that liked the more casual approach of the core game.)

Maybe this will work out for them, but I’m worried that what it will actually do is whittle the playerbase down to a more niche and less sustainable number.

TD meta is a pushover compared to raids. and when did the people that played this game since launch ask for this crap? Anet decided to screw over there own player base to draw in a few raiders from wow.

eldrin.6471:

TD meta is a pushover compared to raids. and when did the people that played this game since launch ask for this crap? Anet decided to screw over there own player base to draw in a few raiders from wow.

Raids are designed to be challenging because it’s instance-based, I don’t have too much problem with it. Chak Gerent, on the other hand, is a meta event for open world.

HOT being harder is a big improvement IMO, the PVE in the base game was ridiculously easy. The real issue is the grindiness that’s creeping in.

scerevisiae.1972:

HOT being harder is a big improvement IMO, the PVE in the base game was ridiculously easy. The real issue is the grindiness that’s creeping in.

It’s supposed to be easy.

The bottom line is that Core GW2 is for scrubs … ANYONE can play it. That made everyone think they were good at the game, especially with a certain group of people telling them that using zerkers armor made them ‘good players’. Now something comes out that makes those people fail, they don’t believe it’s because they are bad since they are so pro at Core GW2. They just think it’s the game being too hard.

Anet goal for GW2 is Esport. Be prepare for PvE to suffer because of this like already do with balance every thing for PvP.

http://fortune.com/2015/11/24/areanet-investing-in-esports/?xid=soc_socialflow_twitter_FORTUNE

Obtena.7952:

The bottom line is that Core GW2 is for scrubs … ANYONE can play it. That made everyone think they were good at the game, especially with a certain group of people telling them that using zerkers armor made them ‘good players’. Now something comes out that makes those people fail, they don’t believe it’s because they are bad since they are so pro at Core GW2. They just think it’s the game being too hard.

Of course, this is a game, people pay to enjoy and relax, not to spend every effort to achieve something.

I’m not a hard core player. While I play a good number of hours per week, I’m also a senior citizen and the days when I had the reflexes for twitch gaming are in the past.

I find Fractals to be a lot more ‘hard core’ than HoT. I’ve played all the new metas successfully including TD. I would not nerf it one bit.

Raids though – I know that ArenaNet is trying to expand the market for the game. I’m not sure this is going to work. It may end up creating two incompatible groups of players in the game causing the community to become less friendly.

scerevisiae.1972:

HOT being harder is a big improvement IMO, the PVE in the base game was ridiculously easy. The real issue is the grindiness that’s creeping in.

na the grind is fine im at mastery lvl 163. but the problem with thinking just about yourself is that the game dies.

Im not sure that many think gw2 has become hardcore. Some, yes, but my feeling is that this is more about people beeing afraid/sceptical to where gw2 is going.
Is this raiding and more challenging sones the future, or maybe just an experiment? No-one knows, maybe even Anet dont know just now, I think they are waiting and checking numbers. HoT isnt really that bad, but a lot of little things point in a direction where a lot of players who like to relax with a nicelooking “easymode” fantasygame doesnt want to go.

Glass Hand.7306:

I’m not a hard core player. While I play a good number of hours per week, I’m also a senior citizen and the days when I had the reflexes for twitch gaming are in the past.

I find Fractals to be a lot more ‘hard core’ than HoT. I’ve played all the new metas successfully including TD. I would not nerf it one bit.

Raids though – I know that ArenaNet is trying to expand the market for the game. I’m not sure this is going to work. It may end up creating two incompatible groups of players in the game causing the community to become less friendly.

Fractals are instanced-content, it’s meant to be hardcore, but Open World setting is different. I don’t oppose raid as well.

Well I guess Anet will know when it comes to financial support from their community.

Usually the hardcore high invested players spend in the gem store, these players being so invested are more likely to turn a blind eye to things that might annoy them about the game (“I’ve already come so far, can’t turn around now” attitude). As long as those players continue to get their wallets out, HoT will be a success. It really depends how many of this type of player exist.

Obtena.7952:

The bottom line is that Core GW2 is for scrubs … ANYONE can play it. That made everyone think they were good at the game, especially with a certain group of people telling them that using zerkers armor made them ‘good players’. Now something comes out that makes those people fail, they don’t believe it’s because they are bad since they are so pro at Core GW2. They just think it’s the game being too hard.

Some posts are so stupid, they nearly cause physical pain whilst reading.
Please give us a PSA like “baboon typing” or something before your next post.

GW1 wasn’t an MMO, it was an online co-op RPG. GW1 wasn’t actually meant to be played solo, but they made it an option and it was originally rather hard to do due to the (occasionally) lower level henchmen and lack of control. Heroes, manual control and positioning flags made it much easier, but even then, if you didn’t optimize or use the tools available, it could seem impossible at times. With an optimized team however, it could also become trivial (c-space-afk vanquishing).

GW2 was heavily nerfed during the original beta. Enemies in the starter zones could easily 1 shot you with their special attacks, such as a moa’s peck or an ettin’s smash, and they experimented with dodging and avoiding AoEs, which you can now see in HoT. To appeal to those unaccustomed to action games however, they nerfed everything and later did so again with the NPE to remove conditions. Since launch, they’ve slowly increased the difficulty with every major content patch (karka, toxic, aether, etc) to raise it back up.

The difficulty is the consequence of not having vertical progression. All MMOs raise the difficulty, but new gear is a direct counter to it. GW2 instead relies on player skill, which also means that the game is less accessible. HoT will likely get nerfed eventually. Although it only takes like 20 good players to successfully complete VB or AB, like all old content, it will eventually die out.

Healix.5819:

GW1 wasn’t an MMO, it was an online co-op RPG. GW1 wasn’t actually meant to be played solo, but they made it an option and it was originally rather hard to do due to the (occasionally) lower level henchmen and lack of control. Heroes, manual control and positioning flags made it much easier, but even then, if you didn’t optimize or use the tools available, it could seem impossible at times. With an optimized team however, it could also become trivial (c-space-afk vanquishing).

GW2 was heavily nerfed during the original beta. Enemies in the starter zones could easily 1 shot you with their special attacks, such as a moa’s peck or an ettin’s smash, and they experimented with dodging and avoiding AoEs, which you can now see in HoT. To appeal to those unaccustomed to action games however, they nerfed everything and later did so again with the NPE to remove conditions. Since launch, they’ve slowly increased the difficulty with every major content patch (karka, toxic, aether, etc) to raise it back up.

The difficulty is the consequence of not having vertical progression. All MMOs raise the difficulty, but new gear is a direct counter to it. GW2 instead relies on player skill, which also means that the game is less accessible. HoT will likely get nerfed eventually. Although it only takes like 20 good players to successfully complete VB or AB, like all old content, it will eventually die out.

It was nerfed because people don’t want hardcore content everywhere.

All MMOs raises the difficulty of the dungeon-raid content, not necessarily the open world content.

scerevisiae.1972:

HOT being harder is a big improvement IMO, the PVE in the base game was ridiculously easy. The real issue is the grindiness that’s creeping in.

Apart from the TD meta I agree with that, before HOT the grindiness could be ignored, now its far more prevalent.

Glass Hand.7306:

I’m not a hard core player. While I play a good number of hours per week, I’m also a senior citizen and the days when I had the reflexes for twitch gaming are in the past.

I find Fractals to be a lot more ‘hard core’ than HoT. I’ve played all the new metas successfully including TD. I would not nerf it one bit.

Raids though – I know that ArenaNet is trying to expand the market for the game. I’m not sure this is going to work. It may end up creating two incompatible groups of players in the game causing the community to become less friendly.

You’ve succeeded at TD? I’m genuinely impressed. You’re the first person I’ve seen since release who has said that they’ve personally succeeded the TD meta. I’ve been in quite a lot myself (full maps, commanders, everything), but have never seen it even get halfway. Or heard about it succeeding at all (until now).

Some part of me always knew that people have managed it, but seriously this is the first time I’ve seen it said. So congrats!

Now I’m off into the corner to sob a little bit.

GW2 initially made a lot of sales based off the grindless MMO design and play how you want.

It was breakthrough for MMO to cater to casuals.

Players enjoy the game, found it too casual and demanded harder content, splitting the community from casuals to elitists.

The casuals want to play the game they want to enjoy it, the elitists want to finish the content in the best possible scenarios which causes confrontations over builds and various things between the 2 different play styles.

Before HoT there were many quotes from people saying that the Elitist should be shoved into a corner somewhere where they can’t bother the rest of the community. Now they have raids. The rest of us can raid, but it was mostly designed for the “Hardcore” community. Personally I won’t ever raid due to not being able to finish a CoF p1 run without my partner needing help with something, also I have never crafted ascended, ever. 3 years ago Exotics was highest entry level to anything, when ascended was released, it was supposed to be just a boost for those players who wanted to have that extra stat bonus but it wasn’t meant in any way, shape or form to replace exotic entry level.

The game is changing drastically and both sides of the community asked for this change.

Slowpokeking.8720:

Obtena.7952:

The bottom line is that Core GW2 is for scrubs … ANYONE can play it. That made everyone think they were good at the game, especially with a certain group of people telling them that using zerkers armor made them ‘good players’. Now something comes out that makes those people fail, they don’t believe it’s because they are bad since they are so pro at Core GW2. They just think it’s the game being too hard.

Of course, this is a game, people pay to enjoy and relax, not to spend every effort to achieve something.

It still is and they still can, so what is your point?

Obtena.7952:

Slowpokeking.8720:

Obtena.7952:

The bottom line is that Core GW2 is for scrubs … ANYONE can play it. That made everyone think they were good at the game, especially with a certain group of people telling them that using zerkers armor made them ‘good players’. Now something comes out that makes those people fail, they don’t believe it’s because they are bad since they are so pro at Core GW2. They just think it’s the game being too hard.

Of course, this is a game, people pay to enjoy and relax, not to spend every effort to achieve something.

It still is and they still can, so what is your point?

But it’s not that casual friendly anymore.
I don’t oppose challenging content, but it should be settled in the instance dungeons like the raids rather than the open world.

The only part that you can claim is not casual friendly is the part that Anet implied wasn’t going to be from the outset: HoT. Much of this game is still as scrub-friendly as you can get. If you’re upset that HoT isn’t casual-friendly, you shouldn’t have bought it and if you didn’t buy it, then what are you complaining about? Anet has been catering to the casual community for 3 years now.

From where I sit, complaining that an expansion with challenging content for people that desired that increased challenge is not casual friendly because the challenging content exists in the open world comes off selfish and immature. We were told from the outset the intent of this expansion. If you want scrubby open world content, you already HAVE it. Furthermore, Anet added to that for three years.

I can’t think of a single reason why challenging content should it be shuttered away from Open World in dungeons, etc…

Anet did suggest/hint before HoT launch that guilds would matter a lot more, so need to give them credit for that. That said, it is a lot less solo friendly.

Me, I vote with my feet. ATM I don’t even login for dailies There are many other games out there, including some 8 year old games that are more fun than GW2 is atm. Maybe they will fix it, maybe they won’t. I will certainly check in gain if they promise some solo-friendly changes but otherwise I will go elsewhere, as will may fairly game-company friendly credit card. They are a for-profit company. They know how much I spend. They can bring me back or not, as they see fit.

Happy about HoT? No, absolutely not. Sad about losing a game I used to enjoy? Yes.

A huge factor in the draw of the game (pre-HoT) was that it was casual.

Someone with a job and family could log in despite having limited free time and feel like they accomplished something (do some map completion, do some dungeons, kill a few foes in WvW while following the zerg).

Someone who has a lot more free time to play may think the game was “easy” because of this, but that was precisely the point.

But with HoT and the new grind associated to all aspects of it, the casuals don’t feel like they’re accomplishing anything when they do have time to log in.

Anet has basically turned their backs on their main customer base. So the question is, will this “new” version of GW2 get enough “serious” players to replace all the casuals who quit?

Unlikely.

Celtic Lady.3729:

Obtena.7952:

Much of this game is still as scrub-friendly as you can get.

Hey, anyone got a fire extinguisher for this pointlessly inflammatory comment?

Thx.

That’s about as truthful as it gets … there is so little content in GW2 core open world that requires anyone to actually think about what they are doing or what build they use. I get why Anet did it and I get why Anet made HoT the way they did.

The fact is that without that challenging content, the game just gets boring, even for casual players. It just becomes a more mature version of some game for young children. The only bright spots for challenging are the instanced team stuff. That’s a very sad amount content that appeals to anyone wanting more than to be able to play while watching Netflix.

The fact remains that if you still want that casual experience, it’s still all there and lots of it. I think the reality is that casuals are complaining that HoT is too hard for them because they are bored with core because they know it’s too easy. So they just want more of the same easy content to watch Netflix through, just newer.

Obtena.7952:

Celtic Lady.3729:

Obtena.7952:

Much of this game is still as scrub-friendly as you can get.

Hey, anyone got a fire extinguisher for this pointlessly inflammatory comment?

Thx.

That’s about as truthful as it gets … there is so little content in GW2 core open world that requires anyone to actually think about what they are doing or what build they use. I get why Anet did it and I get why Anet made HoT the way they did.

The fact is that without that challenging content, the game just gets boring, even for casual players. It just becomes a more mature version of some game for young children. The only bright spots for challenging are the instanced team stuff. That’s a very sad amount content that appeals to anyone wanting more than to be able to play while watching Netflix.

The fact remains that if you still want that casual experience, it’s still all there and lots of it. I think the reality is that casuals are complaining that HoT is too hard for them because they are bored with core because they know it’s too easy. So they just want more of the same easy content to watch Netflix through, just newer.

Perhaps the core stuff was too easy, but with HoT, they shifted too far towards the “hard”/time consuming content. The grind now is real. Raids are inaccessible for casuals.

Is someone going to enjoy grinding for mats the entire time they do have free time to play? Casuals leave and the game is dead because it’s not hardcore enough for more serious gamers.

Lord Kuru.3685:

But with HoT and the new grind associated to all aspects of it, the casuals don’t feel like they’re accomplishing anything when they do have time to log in.

That’s the core of it for me: with the time I can devote to the game, I don’t feel like I’m making any progress.

And, stepping back, it feels like the reason I am not making progress is that they have added a whole lot of grind and arbitrary content gates to keep me from moving quickly.

I’m an old time gamer. I’ve seen this before. This feels just like devs dribbling out content because they can’t afford to make more content. One thing that is a red flag for this for me? The fact that they are very few new skins in the game. I was willing to live with outfits in the gem store for the last 8 months with the hope/thought that they were making lots of cool new gear (non-outfits, real gear) in HoT. But that actually isn’t the case. New skins is not all that I look for but I think the lack of new skins is very
symptomatic of the whole issue.

Glass Hand.7306:

Raids though – I know that ArenaNet is trying to expand the market for the game. I’m not sure this is going to work. It may end up creating two incompatible groups of players in the game causing the community to become less friendly.

You are correct, as can be seen by a couple of posts above.

Obtena.7952:

The only part that you can claim is not casual friendly is the part that Anet implied wasn’t going to be from the outset: HoT. Much of this game is still as scrub-friendly as you can get. If you’re upset that HoT isn’t casual-friendly, you shouldn’t have bought it and if you didn’t buy it, then what are you complaining about? Anet has been catering to the casual community for 3 years now.

From where I sit, complaining that an expansion with challenging content for people that desired that increased challenge is not casual friendly because the challenging content exists in the open world comes off selfish and immature. We were told from the outset the intent of this expansion. If you want scrubby open world content, you already HAVE it. Furthermore, Anet added to that for three years.

I can’t think of a single reason why challenging content should it be shuttered away from Open World in dungeons, etc…

Because that provides you an option to avoid it.

Lord Kuru.3685:

Anet has basically turned their backs on their main customer base. So the question is, will this “new” version of GW2 get enough “serious” players to replace all the casuals who quit?

Unlikely.

I agree 100%.

Lord Kuru.3685:

Anet has basically turned their backs on their main customer base. So the question is, will this “new” version of GW2 get enough “serious” players to replace all the casuals who quit?

Unlikely.

Also agree. I guess will see over time.

Lord Kuru.3685:

Obtena.7952:

Celtic Lady.3729:

Obtena.7952:

Much of this game is still as scrub-friendly as you can get.

Hey, anyone got a fire extinguisher for this pointlessly inflammatory comment?

Thx.

That’s about as truthful as it gets … there is so little content in GW2 core open world that requires anyone to actually think about what they are doing or what build they use. I get why Anet did it and I get why Anet made HoT the way they did.

The fact is that without that challenging content, the game just gets boring, even for casual players. It just becomes a more mature version of some game for young children. The only bright spots for challenging are the instanced team stuff. That’s a very sad amount content that appeals to anyone wanting more than to be able to play while watching Netflix.

The fact remains that if you still want that casual experience, it’s still all there and lots of it. I think the reality is that casuals are complaining that HoT is too hard for them because they are bored with core because they know it’s too easy. So they just want more of the same easy content to watch Netflix through, just newer.

Perhaps the core stuff was too easy, but with HoT, they shifted too far towards the “hard”/time consuming content. The grind now is real. Raids are inaccessible for casuals.

Is someone going to enjoy grinding for mats the entire time they do have free time to play? Casuals leave and the game is dead because it’s not hardcore enough for more serious gamers.

I’m not going to address the ‘grind’ argument because I don’t think that’s related to hard or easy. Anet has a guideline for that and from what I see, they are still pretty close to their goal there.

The reality is that how hard HoT is a relative thing, just like how easy Core GW2 is. I think it’s good the game is offering different levels of difficulties to players. I think it’s stupid that people complain about it as it’s an option and we were informed before HoT was released by Anet that it would be harder than core.

Slowpokeking.8720:

Obtena.7952:

I can’t think of a single reason why challenging content should it be shuttered away from Open World in dungeons, etc…

Because that provides you an option to avoid it.

Anet gave people that option by informing them HoT would be more difficult and those people have the choice to not purchase HoT. These complaints just sound like buyer’s remorse.

Obtena.7952:

I think the reality is that casuals are complaining that HoT is too hard for them because they are bored with core because they know it’s too easy. So they just want more of the same easy content to watch Netflix through, just newer.

Yes, casual players also wanted new content after a content drought of almost a year, congratulations for your groundbreaking insight.

qbalrog.8017:

Anet did suggest/hint before HoT launch that guilds would matter a lot more, so need to give them credit for that. That said, it is a lot less solo friendly.

Me, I vote with my feet. ATM I don’t even login for dailies There are many other games out there, including some 8 year old games that are more fun than GW2 is atm. Maybe they will fix it, maybe they won’t. I will certainly check in gain if they promise some solo-friendly changes but otherwise I will go elsewhere, as will may fairly game-company friendly credit card. They are a for-profit company. They know how much I spend. They can bring me back or not, as they see fit.

Happy about HoT? No, absolutely not. Sad about losing a game I used to enjoy? Yes.

For everyone person who votes with their feet, another will come back to the game for the new challenging content. However the content really isn’t as hard as most people make it out to be.

I offered in another thread to help show people how to get through the new content solo. Not one single person took me up on it.

I guess people would rather complain.

Vayne.8563:

qbalrog.8017:

Anet did suggest/hint before HoT launch that guilds would matter a lot more, so need to give them credit for that. That said, it is a lot less solo friendly.

Me, I vote with my feet. ATM I don’t even login for dailies There are many other games out there, including some 8 year old games that are more fun than GW2 is atm. Maybe they will fix it, maybe they won’t. I will certainly check in gain if they promise some solo-friendly changes but otherwise I will go elsewhere, as will may fairly game-company friendly credit card. They are a for-profit company. They know how much I spend. They can bring me back or not, as they see fit.

Happy about HoT? No, absolutely not. Sad about losing a game I used to enjoy? Yes.

For everyone person who votes with their feet, another will come back to the game for the new challenging content. However the content really isn’t as hard as most people make it out to be.

I offered in another thread to help show people how to get through the new content solo. Not one single person took me up on it.

I guess people would rather complain.

It’s mostly a GAME, people don’t want to spend so much effort on how to deal with the trash mobs on the way in open world.

Vayne.8563:

qbalrog.8017:

Anet did suggest/hint before HoT launch that guilds would matter a lot more, so need to give them credit for that. That said, it is a lot less solo friendly.

Me, I vote with my feet. ATM I don’t even login for dailies There are many other games out there, including some 8 year old games that are more fun than GW2 is atm. Maybe they will fix it, maybe they won’t. I will certainly check in gain if they promise some solo-friendly changes but otherwise I will go elsewhere, as will may fairly game-company friendly credit card. They are a for-profit company. They know how much I spend. They can bring me back or not, as they see fit.

Happy about HoT? No, absolutely not. Sad about losing a game I used to enjoy? Yes.

For everyone person who votes with their feet, another will come back to the game for the new challenging content. However the content really isn’t as hard as most people make it out to be.

I offered in another thread to help show people how to get through the new content solo. Not one single person took me up on it.

I guess people would rather complain.

I would have if it wasn’t for the fact you are on american servers.

Slowpokeking.8720:

Vayne.8563:

qbalrog.8017:

Anet did suggest/hint before HoT launch that guilds would matter a lot more, so need to give them credit for that. That said, it is a lot less solo friendly.

Me, I vote with my feet. ATM I don’t even login for dailies There are many other games out there, including some 8 year old games that are more fun than GW2 is atm. Maybe they will fix it, maybe they won’t. I will certainly check in gain if they promise some solo-friendly changes but otherwise I will go elsewhere, as will may fairly game-company friendly credit card. They are a for-profit company. They know how much I spend. They can bring me back or not, as they see fit.

Happy about HoT? No, absolutely not. Sad about losing a game I used to enjoy? Yes.

For everyone person who votes with their feet, another will come back to the game for the new challenging content. However the content really isn’t as hard as most people make it out to be.

I offered in another thread to help show people how to get through the new content solo. Not one single person took me up on it.

I guess people would rather complain.

It’s mostly a GAME, people don’t want to spend so much effort on how to deal with the trash mobs on the way in open world.

omg, so much this. I dread certain areas because it’s not just a patch of something I need to be careful about, like some smokescales or pocket raptors, but because it’s dozens of regular mobs seemingly placed just to make exploring a nightmare.

My concerns with the expansion

-vertical maps and making platforming skills mandatory (adventures)

-When gw2 first came out, you could progress your character by doing anything in the pve and wvw maps as well. Over time Anet has taken this freedom away. They have dictated the content you must play(hero points, mastery points) if you are going to progress your character. I wish they would backtrack and let experience be the end all and be all of character progression. This method guarantees a play your way concept.

-the new guild hall system is a cynical gold and materials sink that strips players of their hard earned loot. The influence system was much better. With the influence system, you could earn influence for you guild by doing stuff in the game. Now unless you are actually doing a guild mission or giving up your loot what you do in the game doesn’t help the guild at all.

-the last concern with expansion is the gutting of core content and repackaging it in the expansion

-

Nope, HoT maps aren’t solo friendly. What do you want Anet to do about it? “Hardcore” players have asked for harder content for two years or so. To nerf the content now would be letting down the players who wanted harder content and were also promised it by Anet. The very people who bought HoT because harder content was promised.

Should Anet make more casual friendly content then? They have already catered for casuals for 3 years now but sure, why not. When they have the time.

Honestly though, I wouldn’t say the actual content on the maps is hard aside from maybe King of the jungle in TD. Some or most of the content just isn’t soloable. Joining or creating a guild (maybe just for casual players?) isn’t a bad idea.

I wouldn’t say it’s ‘hardcore’, but it sure as hell ain’t casual friendly like the core game was. That’s for sure.

This game has changed into something i nether asked for nor want and as someone who has spent a fortune on gems the best way for me to let anet know what i think of what they have done to my hobby is to withdraw all financial support.And if they no longer need me and my money im sure there are other games out there be happy to have us.

I wouldn’t say “Hardcore” many aspects of the game are still very casual friendly.

There are some tough area’s and event’s, and some area’s that the casual player will be excluded from for ever (Raids), which is not really fair as we all paid the same price for the game, and we should all be able to experience all aspects of the content we paid for, regardless of how good or bad player we are.

Personally, I don’t like jumping puzzles, but I can persevere with them and get there eventually.

What I don’t like at all is the stupid mini-games, I hate them with a vengeance, I’m rubbish at them, and you are forced to do them because they are tied into mastery points.

If I wanted that sort of rubbish I would have bought “Super Mario Brothers ©” or whatever.

Maris.3164:

Nope, HoT maps aren’t solo friendly. What do you want Anet to do about it? “Hardcore” players have asked for harder content for two years or so. To nerf the content now would be letting down the players who wanted harder content and were also promised it by Anet. The very people who bought HoT because harder content was promised.

Should Anet make more casual friendly content then? They have already catered for casuals for 3 years now but sure, why not. When they have the time.

Honestly though, I wouldn’t say the actual content on the maps is hard aside from maybe King of the jungle in TD. Some or most of the content just isn’t soloable. Joining or creating a guild (maybe just for casual players?) isn’t a bad idea.

Hmm, its almost like when you cater to one kind of demographic that that demographic grows larger. Then you switch it up, charge people full price for an expansion that is suddenly tailored for the minority of players, and act surprised that people are kittened?

They released an expansion that went directly against what they’ve been building up over the years and hyped their game to be before it even came out. It’s stupid to say “well, you got yours now we hardcore player tiny minority deserve to get ours”, because the hardcore crowd doesnt pay the bills.
If all the “casual” players would up and leave, and just the “hardcore” players would stick around, i can promise you GW2 will be shut down before Q3 2016.

Its not the raids or there difficulty i have a problem with,its the fact they have locked legendary armor behind them.I have all the ascended armor and legendary weapons il ever want and maxed out the mastery’s.But the one thing i was looking forward to il never get because its locked behind raids.And i like a lot of other players wont do raids.
it cost me 250g to join an organized guild team to get the first raid boss done for the 2 mastery tracks locked behind that.
Give them the challenge they want.But if its challenge they want,why do they need exclusive access to legendary armor.Whats wrong with a title to show how great they are.

Obtena.7952:

The bottom line is that Core GW2 is for scrubs … ANYONE can play it. That made everyone think they were good at the game, especially with a certain group of people telling them that using zerkers armor made them ‘good players’. Now something comes out that makes those people fail, they don’t believe it’s because they are bad since they are so pro at Core GW2. They just think it’s the game being too hard.

Your use of the derogatory word scrubs clearly identifies the type of player you are, I can see why you’re happy with HOT it allows you to sneer at those who aren’t as skilled as you like to think you are.

Terrahero.9358:

If all the “casual” players would up and leave, and just the “hardcore” players would stick around, i can promise you GW2 will be shut down before Q3 2016.

But there is a big problem with this “casual” players – they do not exist. At least not in the unified meaning you mentioned. There are lot of players out there who consider themself “casuals”, thats true. But everyone of them have a different point when he or she is saying that the content is too hard for them.

So how easy shall the game become? Dungeon-Niveau? Open-World aka go in zerg and press 1 – Niveau? There will always be a part of the so called “casuals” which will complain about the difficulty and there will also be always a part of “casuals” who are bored by the easy-way-contend and will leave because of that.

So pleasing this “casuals” is really hard to do. For example I (and lots of my friends) also consider us as casuals, but get bored fast by the Open-World-Content of the core game. Because it was stupidly easy. Therefore the difficulty of HoT is a lot more of my taste.

So to find the right balance to please the majority is hard. Is it core-GW2? HoT? Somewhere in between? No idea. You need a huge amount of information to answer that, and only Anet has that information.

The game at launch was fine as is, as far as difficulty is concerned. It catered to a specific public, it got that public. Then it started to change the base game play. MMO history has shown that this may not as bright an idea as the marketing people think. It’s bound to upset the existing player base. Looks around at forum posts Quod erat demonstrandum.