Spirit shards?

Spirit shards?

in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns

Posted by: Larathia.5284

Larathia.5284

I’m asking out of pure curiosity at this point, as I’ve never been able to tell if this is a bug or not.

When you aren’t working on a mastery in core Tyria, exp goes toward your next ‘level’, ie your next spirit shard.

I’ve got all the non-raid masteries in HoT, and I can’t unlock the raid masteries because frankly that would apparently require I work the day shift. So the whole little raid tree’s been locked to me, but I’ve got all the others, and the only time I’m learning a new mastery is when there’s a new LW story out.

Never any spirit shards in HoT. Am I supposed to get them, when I’m not working on masteries? Do I only get them if, like my core Tyria set, I’ve got ALL of them, raid masteries included? Have I been getting them regularly all along and just never noticed because the little exp meter at the bottom of my screen doesn’t move?

Spirit shards?

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Posted by: Ayrilana.1396

Ayrilana.1396

To get spirit shard on core maps from leveling, you need to have all core masteries completed.

To get spirit shards on all HoT maps, you need to have all Maguuma masteries completed which includes LS and raids. Doing the escort in W3 is usually the easiest way to unlock the raid mastery line.

Spirit shards?

in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns

Posted by: Larathia.5284

Larathia.5284

Hm. Thank you! It seems odd to have it that way, since we’re always told PvE players ’don’t need’ raids. So I always considered that branch optional since it starts out locked.

I’ll see how many mastery points I have left after the last S3 ep comes out, then, and once that’s done I’ll …honestly probably have to pay someone to take me through that escort thing given how raiders feel about their raid wings. But at least it’ll be done after that.

Spirit shards?

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Posted by: Ayrilana.1396

Ayrilana.1396

Hm. Thank you! It seems odd to have it that way, since we’re always told PvE players ’don’t need’ raids. So I always considered that branch optional since it starts out locked.

I’ll see how many mastery points I have left after the last S3 ep comes out, then, and once that’s done I’ll …honestly probably have to pay someone to take me through that escort thing given how raiders feel about their raid wings. But at least it’ll be done after that.

A lot of training runs do that one so you could get through it without having to pay for it. The most difficult part about it is to avoid stationary red circles.

Spirit shards?

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Posted by: Illconceived Was Na.9781

Illconceived Was Na.9781

Hm. Thank you! It seems odd to have it that way, since we’re always told PvE players ’don’t need’ raids. So I always considered that branch optional since it starts out locked.

I’ll see how many mastery points I have left after the last S3 ep comes out, then, and once that’s done I’ll …honestly probably have to pay someone to take me through that escort thing given how raiders feel about their raid wings. But at least it’ll be done after that.

There are lots of other ways of earning spirit shards, so it shouldn’t be an issue for the vast majority of players. The spirit shard-from-xp system wasn’t added until months after HoT; it was the least ANet could have done in response to players complaining that XP should have some value.

John Smith: “you should kill monsters, because killing monsters is awesome.”

Spirit shards?

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Posted by: infrequentia.3465

infrequentia.3465

Hm. Thank you! It seems odd to have it that way, since we’re always told PvE players ’don’t need’ raids. So I always considered that branch optional since it starts out locked.

I’ll see how many mastery points I have left after the last S3 ep comes out, then, and once that’s done I’ll …honestly probably have to pay someone to take me through that escort thing given how raiders feel about their raid wings. But at least it’ll be done after that.

There are lots of other ways of earning spirit shards, so it shouldn’t be an issue for the vast majority of players. The spirit shard-from-xp system wasn’t added until months after HoT; it was the least ANet could have done in response to players complaining that XP should have some value.

the complaining was also because players already got spirit shards/skill points for leveling before HoT , when people suddenly couldn’t is what made them complain.

“If at first you don’t succeed, destroy all the evidence that you tried.”

Spirit shards?

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Posted by: Illconceived Was Na.9781

Illconceived Was Na.9781

the complaining was also because players already got spirit shards/skill points for leveling before HoT , when people suddenly couldn’t is what made them complain.

Except that’s not quite what happened. Prior to the specialization system, there were no spirit shards and no way of obtaining skill points other than XP and skill challenges.

When the system was introduced (long before HoT), they divided skill points into hero points (for learning skills) and spirit shards (for use as a currency). At the same time, they added lots and lots of methods for gaining shards, independent of XP. Before HoT, I was acquiring spirit shards at roughly the same rate as I did before specializations.

So people might have expressed themselves as complaining about a change due to HoT or due to receiving shards from xp, but that was inaccurate. What is accurate, no matter than point of view, was that XP became valueless after masteries were maxed (something that few were able to do for months after HoT).

Specializations were added in June 2015, at which point: XP after L80 had no value. HoT launched in October 2015, at which point XP was used to level masteries. It wasn’t until July 2016 that spirit shards were first made available for those who maxed masteries.

People complained about the lack of meaning for post-mastery XP. Some people asked for spirit shards; some asked for something (anything) else, because they knew they were already gaining lots of spirit shards from other sources. Lots of people don’t realize just how many, because we don’t get them in inventory usually — it drops into our wall automatically.

So, the short story was that people were upset about the lack of value for XP and ANet offered us the least valuable existing reward, a spirit shard, which was pretty close to what we used to get. But, that’s still above and beyond the amount of shards we already get from other sources. It’s never been that useful of a reward, except for a tiny fraction of players who managed to spend all their shards (I have tried to do so and I’ve never made a dent; the number keeps growing for me).

John Smith: “you should kill monsters, because killing monsters is awesome.”

Spirit shards?

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Posted by: Linken.6345

Linken.6345

Yes you got skill points every level up after 80 and used those like you use spirit shards now