Guild Wars 2

Myself and a few friends have come to realize that most of the stuff coming with HoT that we care about, is actually coming with this patch and not the expansion.

I’m mostly a PvE player. So.. looking at what we’re getting and most likely to get:

-Guardians getting base specs buffed, they’re going to have insane amounts of damage mods if the stuff they talked about before goes live. Mace > sword now; wowie that meta shakeup. DH dosnt matter, it has absolutely no place in instanced PvE.
-Thief is getting base specs buffed. Their weapon is widely believed to be a 1200r rifle which means its going to be tied to an elite spec thats only useful in PvP/WvW.
-Ele is getted moved around some. I’m hopeful new aurasharing/might build might bring s/x builds more up to par with what staff is now. Hoping summon weapons are rebalanced and not just made worthless. Maybe the sword will replace scepter but.. overall you know you’ll always want 1-2 of these even after changes go through. I highly doubt whatever elite spec they’re getting is going to make them even more of a PvE powerhouse.
-Warrior is getted core stuff moved around to make them more interesting to play, but you know you’ll always want 1 for banners. Even if ea/ps become less or more important, you’ll always want 1. I highly doubt we’ll be getting a torch/pistol or whatever that somehow replaces gs or axe setups.

Thats basically the meta right there.

Rangers/Engis are fine replacements if you got a good/willing player, so we might see some surprises there unless A.net totally tars something up. I can make stuff up for what I want a Druid to be (shapeshifting/powersharing with your pet plz) or a power hammer for an Engi, but… considering A.nets focus I feel fairly confident they’re going to be PvP elite specs.

Mesmers and Necros are litterally the ONLY interest I have in HoT atm. They both range from ‘bad lots of the time’ to ‘bad all of the time’ and even if the proposed stuff dosnt make them ‘meta’, its likely to make them fun/challenging and up to par with Ranger/Engis atm. Is that enough to make HoT worth the hype? Lets look at what else we’re getting.

WvW is getting a new map. Finally. I like WvW, even if I dont actively participate in it much. I think its one of the main driving forces thats kept people involved in this game. However, I like performing well. Bad rewards aside, I’m not spending 20-30$ every few months to transfer servers just be apart of a decent WvW guild as a casual WvW’r. Because of that reason, I’ve lost all personal interest in doing WvW at all. So while I’m happy they’re getting a new map, myself and most of my gaming friends could care less about this.

sPvP. .So.. this is actually the worst for me. The new battleground, and I call it that as a WoW throwback sorry. I think of arena as competitive, and battlegrounds as casual PvP. So when sPvP came out here, all I saw was Arathi Basin in lots of maps. Nothing else. This new battleground, I cant stand it, I wont go into the specifics. Which.. is fine, people like/dislike lots of things. Its not my cup of tea. But what bothers me, is that such a weirdly specialized kind of battleground, is the only new type added in 3 years. I wouldnt mind this as much if we had 4-5 game types we could queue up for in the world separately. And the fact that its vaguely modded after a MOBA!? This map isnt even up to snuff of a casual MOBA like Awesomenauts, and the main reason that game isnt super competitive is because of how casual it is! It then bothers me they make tournies with cash rewards funded by gemstore purchases by people wanting to support a game they love, and said tournie viewers arent even as high as player created dungie tournies with no cash reward.

Speaking of PvE, what are we getting? Well.. we get some more Silverwaste zones. Which is fine if you have no friends and just want to zerg around for money, I definitely think this kind of thing is an improvement over typical zones. Especially for a lvl 80 zone. But instead of committing to a statement of new instanced content we’re getting ‘challenging group content’. The vagueness and dodgy’ statements makes most people think its likely to be more inclusion open world event type of things. Teq, tri-Wurms, Silverwaste boss, Marianette, heck.. if you have a very lose definition of ‘group’ Rox & Brahm might be your group in the continued personal story :P because half of that stuff is more challenging than the open world encounters.
We’re getting ‘guild halls’ which.. sounds cool I guess? But honestly.. if all the content we’re getting dosnt even require friends let alone a guild of friends, I also kinda.. dont care about this either.

What about the Revenant!? Well.. lets see.. so far.. we know only of the vast amounts of PvP/WvW specs it has, that it cant switch utility skills, and cant weapon swap. So we’re banking on the power spec and elite spec not being completely garbage, whatever the 1 power weapon they’re getting not being complete garbage, and hopefully whatever utility skill layout they fix to our bars being useful all over the place. :S Thats a lot of banking on for me. I think everyone will make one, obviously, its new! Its shiney! Heck, I have a couple sets of full ascended on my Necro but I rarely play the thing. Most people I know that have given the Rev even a quick look are very unimpressed and lost a lot of hype that the remaining stuff to be revealed will cure their concerns.

Ive also heard the phrase ‘PvP expansion’ thrown around a few times. Most of the balance changes to stuff I care about and play, are actually coming before HoT, and I’m left wondering if maybe that terminology isnt that far fetched after all. What do you guys think? More excited about Spec/LA patch than HoT? Or maybe this kind of post would be better received by the reddit crowd :_:

If they are going to do this as they have said, I have to agree kind of. Most of the content being released in the patch seems very interesting to me. Though there is also that maybe they are doing that so they have more time to add things to expansion that they have not revealed yet. I assume (or hope) that they do give some more info into what they’re doing more with the expansion at E3. I’ve seen a lot of people are flustered that all it seems their getting is some new maps across all games types and guild halls with some other minor stuff. The rest of the stuff (I think, if i read correctly) is coming in the patch. Which I kind of agree, is a bit lack luster for an expansion and do hope they have more in mind.

No single update, or patch (including feature patches), is going to surpass the quantity and quality of content HoT will add to the game. I’m not trying to be offensive but assuming or believing otherwise is just ridiculous.

I don’t know everything that’s going to be included in HoT but I can pretty much guarantee that it will be more impressive to all facets of the game than a patch.

Besides that, if this is one of those posts attempting to justify reason for not paying 50 bucks (assuming the cost will not be 10 bucks like other extremely reasonable people I’ve seen comment on the subject) for added content to a game you’ve been playing or could have been paying for nearly 3 years with no mandatory fees is unjust.

Anyone who supports GW2 will be buying HoT as we know it’s A) a feature rich expansion to a game we love and b) going to support and allow continued development into that game we love.

Why don’t you PvE type folks at least wait until Anet covers the challenging content, which they haven’t talked about yet, before deciding there’s nothing else for you in the expansion.

Vayne.8563:

Why don’t you PvE type folks at least wait until Anet covers the challenging content, which they haven’t talked about yet, before deciding there’s nothing else for you in the expansion.

Wait. Soon.™ We’ve been doing that for three years now.

More info “when it’s ready”.

Another post from another hater. Where is the recycle bin?

Cbomb.4310:

Myself and a few friends have come to realize that most of the stuff coming with HoT that we care about, is actually coming with this patch and not the expansion.

Depends on what you’re interested in. I’m looking forward to the story myself and some new PvE content.

Better than HoT? no….

A completely awesome, attempt to breath some life back into the game, Yes!

Personally I can’t wait, as I am currently bored to tears.

You left out the Masteries. I’m really looking forward to that! And all the new content in the new maps, etc. =)

DieselFueled.3257:

No single update, or patch (including feature patches), is going to surpass the quantity and quality of content HoT will add to the game. I’m not trying to be offensive but assuming or believing otherwise is just ridiculous.

why? For a PvE player like myself I think I made my points pretty well.

Besides that, if this is one of those posts attempting to justify reason for not paying 50 bucks (assuming the cost will not be 10 bucks like other extremely reasonable people I’ve seen comment on the subject) for added content to a game you’ve been playing or could have been paying for nearly 3 years with no mandatory fees is unjust.

Its not, never said it was.

Though the datamined price models were interesting. Think there were 3?
Prolly be the standard 30-40$ for an expansion but I wonder if the 50-60$ version will have anything worth owning or just a pile of killstreak boosters and black lion keys. lol

Cbomb.4310:

DieselFueled.3257:

No single update, or patch (including feature patches), is going to surpass the quantity and quality of content HoT will add to the game. I’m not trying to be offensive but assuming or believing otherwise is just ridiculous.

why? For a PvE player like myself I think I made my points pretty well.

Besides that, if this is one of those posts attempting to justify reason for not paying 50 bucks (assuming the cost will not be 10 bucks like other extremely reasonable people I’ve seen comment on the subject) for added content to a game you’ve been playing or could have been paying for nearly 3 years with no mandatory fees is unjust.

Its not, never said it was.

Though the datamined price models were interesting. Think there were 3?
Prolly be the standard 30-40$ for an expansion but I wonder if the 50-60$ version will have anything worth owning or just a pile of killstreak boosters and black lion keys. lol

LS Season 2 will have less content than HoT. I’m going to out on a limb and say HoT will have more content than all of the living story and feature packs have provided thus far. Further to that, I think out of all 3 groups of players PVE will be getting the most content.

CodeHavoc.7926:

Wait. Soon.™ We’ve been doing that for three years now.

Wow, that’s impressive that you’ve been waiting for longer than the game has even been out!

You seem to be making a lot of claims about certain things that they either haven’t released _any information about or they have released very little so far.

I think you should wait a little bit before you give up. There’s still a lot for them to go over, and you left out a lot of stuff they mentioned in your original post, so it almost sounds like you’re hoping the expansion is bad.

Cbomb.4310:

Speaking of PvE, what are we getting? Well.. we get some more Silverwaste zones. Which is fine if you have no friends and just want to zerg around for money,

[SNIP]

You have no idea what is in any zone except for the small amount we have seen in the Beta’s. Way to make snap, unsubstantiated statements.

And the comment about having no friends and zerging around is also baseless and rude. Statements like this make me take anything you say afterward and beforehand as worthless.

Try and be constructive and maybe you will get better responses.

OP you should totally give up. After as soon as you give up the game will die. Or you can be more rational and just wait a long like everybody else is doing until Arena net decides to release information.

TL;DR: I pretty much agree with OP based on what we have seen. Anet seems to enjoy empowering the bear-bow rangers and WvWers—which is fine—but ultimately the non-casual/hardcore community will get the least out of this expansion.

DieselFueled.3257:

No single update, or patch (including feature patches), is going to surpass the quantity and quality of content HoT will add to the game. I’m not trying to be offensive but assuming or believing otherwise is just ridiculous.

That sounds fine in theory because most expansions in other games are rich in content. However, what we have seen so far is not impressive. I new class that is ridiculously limited skill-wise, and a new type of grind called masteries (which in other MMOs are not fun as the amount of work usually requires you to stop enjoying the fun stuff). But the real problem lies in something else you said:

DieselFueled.3257:

I don’t know everything that’s going to be included in HoT but I can pretty much guarantee that it will be more impressive to all facets of the game than a patch.

Here lies the real problem. You make a claim of grandeur without any basis or evidence. At least OP had evidence. I’m a PvE player but have dabbled in all facets of this game. All I see is sPvP getting a new map, which the new strat is rush the lord—fun—and new specs that will change up the game. The biggest change of pace is the new specs and most of those are coming out in the spec update!

WvW is getting a new map, which will hopefully change up some of the monotony but WvW zergs will also be running new and exciting builds and fostering interest through variety! Oh right…thats in the spec update too…

Now for my area of the game—PvE. It is unquestionable where most of the HoT content will be focused. Majority of everything released is going to be PvE. (I use majority as the largest percentage so don’t assume I’m saying 99%). So far this is what we know: New world maps, Guild halls, Elite specs, mastery, and a new class. New world maps are great…well I mean except southsun, and drytop was fun until silverwastes offered more money. Guild halls could be nice but do you really consider this legitimate and fun content? Its more QoL than fun and provides a convenience over LA…possibly. Elite specs, so far, seem to be more relevant to WvW/sPvP players and to PvE players that suck at the game and run bear/bow. (wait till you see all the dumb Dragon hunters KBing everything you are trying to hit). Though, I am looking forward to what the necro could potentially offer but through the spec update, literally every other class is higher on my priority list. Then there’s the revenant. This dude will probably be fun for the first few weeks but it is ultimately (pending the unreleased spec trees) the most limited class in the game. No weapon or utility swap? I think I’ll end up playing my other 12 80s more following the weeks after release.

Now here is what we don’t know. There has been no mention AT ALL of dungeons. Dungeons are by far the only thing I care about in this game because it allows me to play with my friends without having other nerds and bad players interfere. It is the only game play where it is me, my friends, and my guild. Now I know because they haven’t mentioned it does not mean there won’t be one or two but lets look at the historical data. Remember the big AC patch a while back? Dungeon crew members got fired over that. Have they replaced them? Well we haven’t really seen any improvements to dungeons except for fractals but even then the rewards were messed up. Over the past few months (and really the last year) majority of all updates were world bosses, and living story. It is apparent that dungeons are not a focus of anet. So should I take your word that this expansions content will be impressive and rich? I don’t think I will after weighing these things. I think there will be more content but I do not think that it will be impressive.

P.S. I will be buying the expansion as a last ditch show of trust to Anet but if what I see is just a more complex silverwaste I will be moving on.

P.S.S. I don’t usually post on the forums because of the apparent fanboy vocal minority that posts on the forums.

Not only am I not worried about this game but it now also leaves me indifferent. This expansion can go only 2 ways it’ll boost the player base or it will kill it. We are so divided that there will be no middle ground here Anet will cash in or burn. Personally i’m buying it but with indifference even with a success if the next expansion is in Tyria again I’m out, I have no intention in killing dragons for the next 12 years.