Guild Wars 2

1. try to explore an area solo —-> get killed over and over again by an endless stream of mobs

2. kill all the mobs and finally reach a new area —> can´t access area because you need to lvl masteries first (you can only lvl masteries by completing events)

3. stand around 30 minutes at waypoint until an event pops up —-> get to the event —-> can´t access the event because you need to lvl masteries first

4. do hero challenge instead —--> impossible to solo hero challenge and there is nobody there —-> die over and over again

Can the devs really not see how badly designed this expansion is?

ChrizZcE.5981:

2. kill all the mobs and finally reach a new area —> can´t access area because you need to lvl masteries first

Yes, for some areas on the maps you seem to need masteries. But i would say more then 90% of areas you can reach without any mastery. Yesterday (I had no mastery und no elite) I just walked through all the new maps to get a feeling of the size of the maps and I could reach the golden city and also the forth map where it seems the final battle will happen.

Of course it would be much easier and faster with some masteries, but it is possible without any mastery.

you can only lvl masteries by completing Events

Wrong. After my little walk through the maps I had my first mastery (gliding) completed, even without trying. You get “mastery-xp” for (nearly) everything you are doing.

My HoT experience of the new maps: They are great but really challenge and confuse my sense of orientation. I have maybe not seen much, but I totally like the maps.