So, I have been playing since launch, but didn’t play any of the Betas of HoT, and here is how I feel about the expansion so far.
HOLY CRAP! It’s like discovering the game all over again, I’m loving it.
The Verdant Brink is awesome, so chaotic and interesting. Gliding is a joy, masteies, the new elite specs (even if I only have it 1/3 unlocked so far on my Dragonhunter), I have nearly no complaints. I ran around with a friend for almost 4 hours, and few things match the joy of him calling out that he needs help, and me jumping off some high ledge or tree to glide over to him, drop into the middle of a group of nasties, and just start going at them. Or to just run wildly into an unexplored region of the map, just throw caution to the wind and jump off into an abyss, glide around and find some mastery point I didn’t know existed. The verticality of the new areas are just mind blowing and incredible and give such a feeling of exploration.
The feeling of discovery when you get a new mastery point, or more hero points is just like when you gained your first levels. It’s awesome.
I know there are lots of complaints out there, but for me, this was everything I wanted and more. My only slight worry is that because you only gain mastery xp in central Tyria when you’re level 80 is that it will make leveling alts unappealing. But other than that, it’s amazing.
Thanks for reading, and now feel free to call me a fanboy and say my experience is invalid, I’ll be busy having fun in the trees.