Guild Wars 2

The very reason that I don’t take this OP seriously is that he didn’t come back to see the replies. Just show that he thinks he is the god of Keyboard.

Like most of ppl said here: Let’s wait, shall we?!

adormtil.1605:

First of all considering that a races in this game have their own zone, city and story we are not gonna have a new race in this game. Arenanet is not Blizzard who is the only company that has the resources to add a new class and a new race and a new area for it and new skills and new stories and another area besides that in one expansion. It sucks but when you are small you do small things.

Erm Anet did all this this in GW1 minus the race but with a massive new culture and new professions in Factions and Nightfall with big new storylines and a huge all new map etc.

I totally agree with the OP.

What we get now:
- 1 new pvp mode
- 1 new class
- 1 new zone
- 0 new race
- 1 new wvw map
- 1 new game mode (GvG)
- obtainable non rng precursors (basically a fix for something that is broken)
- possibly new legendaries
- specialization trees (in most games these come through free DLC too or are already in the game at launch)

What a normal expansion gives:
- 2 or more new classes
- a complete continent of new zones
- 1 or more new races
- 5+ new dungeons
- several new pvp/rvr maps
- several new game modes
- several raids
- a huge amount of new skins accessible through game
- a huge amount of new skills

Conclusion:
To me, this so-called expansion seems a tidbit small for being called an expansion. For one a lot of the content that is being offered through it was promised at launch or in the months after launch to be added with normal (free) patches: guild halls, precursor hunt, GvG mode. The remainder is nearly negligible.

I know a lot of people are delighted with this announcement, but in truth those people just see content that should have been in the game a long time ago and for free. By now (my speculation is) the players have been spooned with irritating and bad patches so long, they crave for real content, and even a meagre release like this one will trigger their desire.

TLDR: Rip-off seems the better word over expansion.

^ Again, you seem to have all the details. Enlighten me.

Why do people keep saying 1 zone? Like wtf…

Jesus christ, it’s like everyone who whines here knows every aspect of what HoT is. Like i know there will be whiners, there always are and there always will be, but at least wait until you’ve tried it and then make a judgment call.

How about you be smart about your incessant complaining and AT LEAST WAIT FOR THE kitten THING TO RELEASE FIRST?

Just MAYBE use some progressive thought? Oh wait, whiners will always whine. God some people can never be pleased.

Exroyal.9053:

Jesus christ, it’s like everyone who whines here knows every aspect of what HoT is. Like i know there will be whiners, there always are and there always will be, but at least wait until you’ve tried it and then make a judgment call.

They keep complaining but they’ll buy it day-1 and then swoon over every feature. They don’t have a clue about what HoT will be but the act as if they played it in every nook and cranny. People will be people, and “nice job, thanks ANet” will scorch their mouth.

We have a clue. They presented it. A spvp map is called “huge feature”. It tells all about the scale of this DLC.

Man some ppl must be sleeping with Anet Devs to have all that information. (Sarcasm)

Can we at least wait until they tell us what will be in the expansion before crying about what isn’t there. Its was the announcement of the trailer, not an complete presentation of the expansion. Maybe you are right, but for now WE DON’T KNOW.

And keep in mind that they don’t NEED to do the exact same things as other mmo. Maybe they are not gonna give us new race or new dungeon but give a bunch of other stuff really cool. We don’t know, lets find out.

EotN was an expansion, no? No new playable races. No new playable professions. No new PvP content.
That was an acceptable expansion pack. Because it was an expansion pack. All your crying about it not being an expansion pack are wrong. Factions and Nightfall were STAND ALONE games. You didn’t need Prophecies to play it. They were not expansion packs.

We don’t know how many magumma maps we’ll get. We don’t know how deep profession specializations are. We don’t know which new challenges and group challenges we’ll get. We have absolutely no idea, and no information, to know if we are getting less content than traditional expansions. It’s absolutely impossible to measure at this point.

We do know, however, that we will get challenging solo content and challenging group content. We just don’t know if it’ll be dungeons, raids, world events or something entirely different. We do know that masteries replace the traditional level cap increase and new gear tiers, but we have no idea which one of either offers more. We do know that profession specializations unlock skills, traits, weapons and even change profession mechanics. We have no idea how comparable that is with skill additions from other expansions.

Sirendor.1394:

What a normal expansion gives:
- 2 or more new classes

We get one complete profession and 1 specialization for each of the other ones, probably one spec for the new profession too. That’s more than 2 classes ^^

- a complete continent of new zones

Only game that added one full continent was GW1, and they did it with their standalone campaigns, their expansion (EotN) was hardly a new complete continent.

Even if the area of the Maguuma looks small, remember that it will be on 3 levels (vertical maps) so where exactly is your reasoning to say we will get one zone is beyond me.

- 1 or more new races

No need for races actually if the other races get more story to play with. I never got why people want new races in expansions (GW1 never released new races btw)

- 5+ new dungeons
- several new pvp/rvr maps
- several new game modes
- several raids
- a huge amount of new skins accessible through game
- a huge amount of new skills

And you know how many of those will be in the expansion? Oh right, you don’t, you are just trolling, shame on me falling for it.

inb4 what they revealed so far is only half of the actual new content

…one can dream

Can’t compare something that is not actually there. Please, show us where you got the information that there’s no new dungeons, no templates, or how big or how many maps there are, and that you can only get all those features unless you pay.

I really doubt they’d be able to get away with sealing certain profession advancements in PvP, WvW and the like as people already pointed out.

Also, just because we literally gotten most things for free, doesn’t mean that they should be free. Hell, there are loads of games out there that charge big money for all that stuff that Guild Wars 2 has gotten out over the last few years. Do you think they should give everything free? How is that even realistic?

One could say that Guild Wars EOTN wasn’t big either, with no new profession no new race and all that. Doesn’t mean anything.

For those saying Anet isn’t Blizzard, remember that Anet is NCSoft. I’m pretty sure if they wanted, NCSoft would have the money to hire a few devs to add new races.

I just think they weighed the cost and the potential earnings and thought they could sell their expansion without going to the trouble of adding a new race.

Kuju.2153:

Johje Holan.4607:

It is pretty small from what they’ve shown so far though.

I still can’t see how somebody can derive that without them detailing the zones, and us (or somebody streaming) how big they really are. We don’t know how many class specializations, if there are or are not new weapons. We don’t know the scope of guild halls or the details of new challenging group content, and so on and so forth. You guys are just impatient and little crazy if I may say so.

Past performance is not indicative of future results. But it gives you a pretty good idea…

Plus, everyone is saying we don’t know everything that’s in it yet. Well I simply said “from what they’ve shown so far”. Sounds like most people are expecting it to be more than what they’ve shown so far. But if it isn’t then I think its pretty small. Especially for 2 1/2 – 3 years worth of work.

The PvE in GW2 can be blown through so it would have to be a lot of that map uncovered to be “a lot” of content.

Also honestly it depends on the price.

Not one new zone, one new region Ascalon is a region. Kryta is a region. Frostgorge Sound is a zone.

Heart of Maguuma is confirmed to be a region not zone. It is also confirmed that the entire region is divided into three levels vertically and is far more complex than any map currently in the game.

Also, Guild Wars 1 maps were simple. There was a lot to look at, sure, but the map itself was very simple to create. Guild Wars 2, due to the introduction of jumping and greatly increased use of the Z axis, is vastly more complex. I would say that Lion’s Arch in GW2 is probably of comparable work to all of Kryta in GW1.

We do not know the scope of Heart of Thorns yet.

Johje Holan.4607:

Past performance is not indicative of future results. But it gives you a pretty good idea…

What previous expansion, though. Unless we’re going to say it’s merely living story + whatever they have shown. And even that is a stretch. I think we should compare it to Eye of the North if anything then.

Plus, everyone is saying we don’t know everything that’s in it yet. Well I simply said “from what they’ve shown so far”. Sounds like most people are expecting it to be more than what they’ve shown so far. But if it isn’t then I think its pretty small. Especially for 2 1/2 – 3 years worth of work.

The PvE in GW2 can be blown through so it would have to be a lot of that map uncovered to be “a lot” of content.

We don’t know how long they worked on it. Really. But for what they have shown, I think alot of it is merely naming the different subjects, while leaving out some of the big details

But from what I see it’s basically PvE / Masteries / New profession / PvP / WvW on the release page

PvE entails:

• Tackle challenging group content.
• Explore new open world jungle maps.
• Experience new events and storylines.
• Test your mettle in new boss battles.

I’m really wondering what they mean with “challenging group content”
And how that is different from new events, and new boss battles (I’m thinking Tequatl/Vinewrath/triple wurm) As those are named seperately.

Also honestly it depends on the price.

Always true

“Too small to be an Expansion”

You do not even know how much content is going to be in the expansion beyond the features.

How big are the new zones? How big is the Maguuma Jungle area in total and how many zones will we get? How extensive is the Mastery and Specialiazation systems? What are these new boss events like and how big are they? How much is there to Stronghold and what does it involve? How big is the new borderlands map and how many new objectives are there? How much will the expansion cost and will there be more free content added later only for HoT owner to enjoy?

If you answer any of the above questions with anything other than ‘I don’t know yet’ you are either dellusional, lying or trolling. We simply don’t know how much content we will get or how much it will cost. So any comparison to what is an expansion and what will we be getting for the price we pay, really is pointless at this moment in time.

Also, apart from you, who cares if Anet’s definition of an expansion pack doesn’t meet your definition? It’s their creation, so they can label it however they kitten well please. If you are not going to buy it because the content definition is wrong (IYO), then you have bigger problems to deal with than whether the new content is worth the price.

Providing the content deserves the price tag it is completely irrelevant what they call it. Whether they call it DLC, Expansion Pack, New Campaign, Extra Paid Content, or whatever, it really doesn’t matter. All that is important is, is the content worth its price? And we won’t know that until we get more information (i.e: more details on the content AND the price).

Personally, I am very exited by the new expansion and am very confident it will be worth the price they put on it. So far, excluding any gem purchases I have made, GW2 core game has been worth several times what I paid for it. I do not see the new expansion being any different. But of course I will, like everyone here should, reserve my final judgement for when I know more.

jeezlaweez.6810:

The very reason that I don’t take this OP seriously is that he didn’t come back to see the replies. Just show that he thinks he is the god of Keyboard.

Like most of ppl said here: Let’s wait, shall we?!

Oh I am reading sir….

In the coming weeks there will be details. These details will be based around these major features.

MAJOR features means that these features are the biggest things that the expansion will offer. This means (though subjective) that bigger or equal things that could have been a major feature will not be put in.

You call one PvP mode, one new WvW map, one new profession , one new region, and a couple new skills an expansion? Yes lore will be added , but when playing with people in-game it feels like no one gives a crap about lore. They just want that loot.

I call this a mini expansion or rather DLC and if you don’t buy it you will be left behind.

So IMHO these major features are small and are not worthy to be called an expansion. Really does feel like Reaper of Souls for Diablo 3. A big fix to the core game, but only a few actual features.

Probably is going to have some ridiculous price tag as well.

Let’s clarify , I will buy this, because it feels like I won’t have a choice if I want to have fun. Let’s face it games are for fun and that’s it.

Blaeys.3102:

We do not know the scope of Heart of Thorns yet.

Actually we do know the scope. Colin gave a speech in front of a crowd about it.

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

Blaeys.3102:

We do not know the scope of Heart of Thorns yet.

Actually we do know the scope. Colin gave a speech in front of a crowd about it.

How many zones did he say they were releasing? How big are they? How many new skills/elites/etc? I must have missed those parts.

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

What is being given(based on what colin calls major features) in this expansion is somewhat similar to what we have been getting in feature updates and very small.

One new profession. NO new race. No new dungeons.(we got fractals for free!) Another region comprised of at least 3 maps(southsun cove, silverwastes, dry top, all free.)

Specializations( only one weapon added to each profession and not giving universal weapon usage amongst all professions.)

Guild Halls, should have been in the game at launch. Stronghold , same thing.

CORE GW1 was released with so many of these features plus TEMPLATES!

I say expansion is too big of a word for this.

I would rather call this
" If you don’t buy it you will be left behind." I will buy it of course but it just doesn’t feel right to call this small DLC that could have been free an expansion.

Apparently the sales in China did not make any profit for Anet to keep the dream alive.

Really feels like I am paying for a fix. A reason why I didn’t buy Diablo 3 expansion.

Wait lets call it Paid Living Story

I know! That’s what I said. It feels like extra content one would expect to see as an option to buy in the gem store.

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

Blaeys.3102:

We do not know the scope of Heart of Thorns yet.

Actually we do know the scope. Colin gave a speech in front of a crowd about it.

Colin gave us a taste of the new major features.

We know nothing beyond that we will have a new region, with lots of verticiality that was split into 3 biomes. A new specialization system. A new mastery system. A new wvw map. A new heavy class. And a new tpvp game mode. (And precursor scavanger hunts / new legendaries)

We don’t know the real meat about any of it. We have a very high level view of what we’ll be getting. They’ll be drilling down in the coming weeks.

I’d say people that are claiming its “not enough” or “too small” are jumping the gun just a little bit, considering they have essentially no detail.

Edit: And Guild Halls. Forgot that one.

As much as I would like to see a new race, the issue right now is, how would that new race fit in with the personal story of the other races? Obviously it’ll get the first 2 chapters of personal story entirely to itself, but after that, the races interact with each other to take down Zhaitan, who has already been defeated. It would probably require some changes to the existing storylines to include the new race in the mix. Then there’s also the 5 race leaders coming together to fight against Mordremoth; if a new race is introduced later on, how would that fit in?

By comparison, adding a new class is easier, lore-wise. You could argue that, since Rytlock was in the mists, he was able to go back in time to before Zhaitan was defeated, train someone in the ways of the Revenant, then go back to the Maguuma jungle. New players will then learn the ways of the Revenant through this trainer.

Normal expansions have dungeons, raids and zones because that is how you grind for the new gear. Most of the zones are empty, there is almost an variation at all and the dungeons/raids are nothing but to generate grind so people will keep playing the game.

Before asking Anet to introduce the following, you have to FIRST introduce a suggestion to Anet so they can start with gear treadmill. If you don’t start with that, your suggestions doesn’t make sense.

Heart of Throns is to GW2 as EotN was to Prophecies.

Please stop complaining that this is not like Factions.

Sirendor.1394:

What a normal expansion gives:
- 2 or more new classes
- a complete continent of new zones
- 1 or more new races
- 5+ new dungeons
- several new pvp/rvr maps
- several new game modes
- several raids
- a huge amount of new skins accessible through game
- a huge amount of new skills

Has any expansion ever given all of that?

Sirendor.1394:

I totally agree with the OP.

What we get now:
- 1 new pvp mode
- 1 new class
- 1 new zone
- 0 new race
- 1 new wvw map
- 1 new game mode (GvG)
- obtainable non rng precursors (basically a fix for something that is broken)
- possibly new legendaries
- specialization trees (in most games these come through free DLC too or are already in the game at launch)

What a normal expansion gives:
- 2 or more new classes
- a complete continent of new zones
- 1 or more new races
- 5+ new dungeons
- several new pvp/rvr maps
- several new game modes
- several raids
- a huge amount of new skins accessible through game
- a huge amount of new skills

Conclusion:
To me, this so-called expansion seems a tidbit small for being called an expansion. For one a lot of the content that is being offered through it was promised at launch or in the months after launch to be added with normal (free) patches: guild halls, precursor hunt, GvG mode. The remainder is nearly negligible.

I know a lot of people are delighted with this announcement, but in truth those people just see content that should have been in the game a long time ago and for free. By now (my speculation is) the players have been spooned with irritating and bad patches so long, they crave for real content, and even a meagre release like this one will trigger their desire.

TLDR: Rip-off seems the better word over expansion.

dont be so greed

It’s all in the execution.

Profession Specialization could mean…. Grind a lot and at the end of the grind you get 5 new skills. Or it could effectively mean 9 new classes (but these are essentially tweaks of old classes).

Heart of Maguuma could be only one huge map, or it could be a whole region (4 maps * 3 biomes == twelve maps).

The Pvp and WvW stuffs are hugely needed.

Sirendor.1394:

What we get now:
- 1 new pvp mode
- 1 new class, with at least 80 skills, if its designed the same as all the other professions (this included all the animations that have to go with said skills). This isn’t including the Revenant’s profession specialization.
- 1 new Area with anywhere from 3 to 6 zones. (conservative estimate)
- 0 new race
- 1 new wvw map
- 1 new game mode (GvG), complete with half a dozen maps for this game mode.
- obtainable non rng precursors (basically a fix for something that is broken)
- confirmed new legendaries
- specialization trees – Which includes at a minimum 1 new weapon, which makes 5 weapon skills for each profession (45 total)[plus 1 new burst skill for warrior], and we know about 4 other new skills (healing/utility/elite: 36 total)[not including skill chains]. This is addition to new profession mechanics, which are usually f1-f4 skills (number could vary). To be safe, that’s 82 new skills, which is a huge amount for any MMO, including all the animations that have to go with said skills.
- New Weapon/Armor skins – At least 5 new armor sets for each weight (90 skins total), at least 5 new weapon skins for each weapon (95 new skins), as well as a new legendary weapon of each type (19 more), making for 204 new skins, and I’m being very conservative here with that estimate.
- New travel mechanics – Hey, at least GW2 makes good use of the Z axis, unlike almost every other MMO.

What a normal expansion gives:
- 2 or more new classes (actually, usually only one, unless the class system isn’t very complex, like AA or FFXIV)
- a complete continent of new zones (Actually, a few areas with a few zones, usually never anywhere near as large as the original map)
- 1 or more new races (usually one, unless its an MMO with two sides, then its two. Usually, MMO’s with cosmetic races [like this one] don’t bother adding a race with every expansion because it doesn’t affect gameplay, at all)
- 5+ new dungeons (usually less than five, more are added later for free as the expansion gets older)
- several new pvp/rvr maps (between 2-5)
- several new game modes (usually only one)
- several raids (usually one, with others being added later for free as the expansion gets older)
- a huge amount of new skins accessible through game
- a huge amount of new skills (normally less than 100, including the new class skills)

Conclusion:
What conclusion can I possibly draw from the lack of information so far?!?

TLDR: Heart of Thorns looks like the exact size that most expansions should be.

Fixed it for you.

Sirendor.1394:

I totally agree with the OP.

What we get now:
- 1 new pvp mode
- 1 new class
- 1 new zone
- 0 new race
- 1 new wvw map
- 1 new game mode (GvG)
- obtainable non rng precursors (basically a fix for something that is broken)
- possibly new legendaries
- specialization trees (in most games these come through free DLC too or are already in the game at launch)

What a normal expansion gives:
- 2 or more new classes
- a complete continent of new zones
- 1 or more new races
- 5+ new dungeons
- several new pvp/rvr maps
- several new game modes
- several raids
- a huge amount of new skins accessible through game
- a huge amount of new skills

Conclusion:
To me, this so-called expansion seems a tidbit small for being called an expansion. For one a lot of the content that is being offered through it was promised at launch or in the months after launch to be added with normal (free) patches: guild halls, precursor hunt, GvG mode. The remainder is nearly negligible.

I know a lot of people are delighted with this announcement, but in truth those people just see content that should have been in the game a long time ago and for free. By now (my speculation is) the players have been spooned with irritating and bad patches so long, they crave for real content, and even a meagre release like this one will trigger their desire.

TLDR: Rip-off seems the better word over expansion.

I agree with you and op as well. It feels more like a feature pack. Maybe they are not making money in China and realize that they can charge good money for their feature….

Also, a lot of player have been screaming for expansion. This is also a way to shut them up as well by calling this a expansion.

In true, I am very happy that they are doing expansion. It is just almost all of these things listed are things they promise to give us in their FREE living story. I haven’t seen much new idea that wasn’t promise to be in their FREE living story. Now they are making us pay for it…

If their expansion isn’t great. I am sure a lot of people will complain up a storm since we are paying with our hard earn money once again.

Well, if unsure, don’t throw money at the screen really.

Gilgamesh.1025:

In true, I am very happy that they are doing expansion. It is just almost all of these things listed are things they promise to give us in their FREE living story. I haven’t seen much new idea that wasn’t promise to be in their FREE living story. Now they are making us pay for it…

If their expansion isn’t great. I am sure a lot of people will complain up a storm since we are paying with our hard earn money once again.

Only they didn’t actually promise they would give us ANY of this in their FREE living story. Nice try though

Iason Evan.3806:

If everyone can still play WvW when those Borderlands maps are active, then why put them in the conference yesterday as part of the x-pac?

They had to, if they didnt it would cause a riot.

What has WvW really received since launch? Not a lot.
We asked about new maps, they said they are working on it, months go by, they then say it’s more complex, more months go by, it’s now coming soon. WvW has been fobbed off more than anything!

So imagine after 40 Living Story updates in the last 2 years as well as 2 feature updates for PvE, they now announce a new expansion but dont mention a thing about WvW. It would signify that what is currently in WvW is all we’ll get. Some players would leave straight away, others would play for a bit before asking themselves why bother, and the rest wait for another game to come out to play.

But even then what did we get, 1 new map and plans to change defense?! Still WvW is getting the scraps from the bottom of the barrel which the rats wouldnt even eat!

Definitely getting a lot of new skills.

From a single specialization of each current profession alone, we are going to get 1 weapon (2 skills minimum, three 2-handers confirmed already for bare minimum of 25 new weapon skills, thieves have a 5-skill minimum thanks to dual-wield skills), 1 new heal (8) new utilities (either a new category per profession, which come in groups of 4 or a new skill to each category, for 5, 6 on Mesmers, minimum 32), and a new Elite (8). That’s guaranteed 76 skills without accounting for Revenant skills or any weapons that are not off-hand only outside of Ranger Staff, Engineer Hammer, and Necromancer Greatsword (as those three have been confirmed)

Revenant, not including weapon skills, will have at least 3 Healing skills (probably 4), 20 utility skills, and 3 elite skills, plus specialization skills (minimum 8 ) for a minimum of 34 skills not including their normal weapon skills.

So, 110+ new skills, not including base Revenant weapon skills.

Their AI consultant made a tweet ~3 months ago he has been working on something with Anet for past 6 months. So it’s about 9 now. I can add maybe 3 more months preparation work before he was hired. An year. This time-frame really fits what they have shown. And when they release it it will be close to the 3rd anniversary. Just lol.

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

What is being given(based on what colin calls major features) in this expansion is somewhat similar to what we have been getting in feature updates and very small.

One new profession. NO new race. No new dungeons.(we got fractals for free!) Another region comprised of at least 3 maps(southsun cove, silverwastes, dry top, all free.)

Specializations( only one weapon added to each profession and not giving universal weapon usage amongst all professions.)

Guild Halls, should have been in the game at launch. Stronghold , same thing.

CORE GW1 was released with so many of these features plus TEMPLATES!

I say expansion is too big of a word for this.

I would rather call this
" If you don’t buy it you will be left behind." I will buy it of course but it just doesn’t feel right to call this small DLC that could have been free an expansion.

Apparently the sales in China did not make any profit for Anet to keep the dream alive.

Really feels like I am paying for a fix. A reason why I didn’t buy Diablo 3 expansion.

Wait lets call it Paid Living Story

You presume everything that we’ve been told is everything we’re getting.

But I agree. If this is all, then it’s a bit little.

first look at this:
http://i.imgur.com/hblHbGt.jpg
now you can complain about a small map………

Vix.6730:

Obtena.7952:

It’s a little premature to claim it’s a small expansion without seeing the content.

Colin has already stated in the Pax announcement we are getting one region comprised of three layers. Playable content wise, the release will be small. But as another poster said we are paying for a fix.

Region =/= Map

Regions are things like Kryta, Shiverpeaks, Ascalon

Kryta has 4 maps, 6 if you include the entirety of LA and Divinity’s Reach

Shiverpeaks has 5 maps, 6 if you include hoelbrek

Ascalon has 6 maps, 7 if you include Black Citadel

So it is safe to assume this new region will have 4-6 maps….along with 3 different levels for each. I would lean a bit more heavily toward 4 because of the verticality.

Then we’ll also probably get a new city hub with the Mursaat, the Golden City

Yeah…region does not mean map for sure. Granted, I do not believe that HoT will have many more areas then a normal region (5-6) but I also don’t believe that there will only be one.

Sirendor.1394:

I totally agree with the OP.

What we get now:
- 1 new pvp mode
- 1 new class
- 1 new zone
- 0 new race
- 1 new wvw map
- 1 new game mode (GvG)
- obtainable non rng precursors (basically a fix for something that is broken)
- possibly new legendaries
- specialization trees (in most games these come through free DLC too or are already in the game at launch)

What a normal expansion gives:
- 2 or more new classes
- a complete continent of new zones
- 1 or more new races
- 5+ new dungeons
- several new pvp/rvr maps
- several new game modes
- several raids
- a huge amount of new skins accessible through game
- a huge amount of new skills

Conclusion:
To me, this so-called expansion seems a tidbit small for being called an expansion. For one a lot of the content that is being offered through it was promised at launch or in the months after launch to be added with normal (free) patches: guild halls, precursor hunt, GvG mode. The remainder is nearly negligible.

I know a lot of people are delighted with this announcement, but in truth those people just see content that should have been in the game a long time ago and for free. By now (my speculation is) the players have been spooned with irritating and bad patches so long, they crave for real content, and even a meagre release like this one will trigger their desire.

TLDR: Rip-off seems the better word over expansion.

Eye of the North – the only GW expansion we have ever seen:
no new classes
no new playable races
phew new maps but nothing close to the size of continent
maps had terrible textures
a little new skills
some new armor sets

the thing you have listed are mostly what earlier FULL CAMPAIGN which was pretty much standalone gave.

I dunno maybe its what WoW defines as “expantion” but lets not forget that wow is made by a huge team and all this manpower is payed by the cash they have from monthly fee

lets not be to kitteny about it and lets not forget that we have great game developped by very small studio and this expansion gives us more than previous expansions in previous games of that studio

i really dont get what people expect from HoT

-new race
a new race would mean a new town, a new personal story segment and an overhaul for every armorpiece in the game (at least for tengu or kodan). and what you get for this? a new experience in personal story till level 20 and a few race elites. nothing else would change. but a new profession and the new specialization add so much more for the whole gameplay with much lesser effort.
and for the people that like to compare gw1 and gw2, gw1 had ONE kittening race

-regions/maps
you complain about numbers and not about content. it doesnt matter if a gw1 expansion had 10 more maps, what matters is the content of it. you can have one big map with 3 levels and still more content than 10 maps somewhere else. and no its not a new continent and its logical because there are things to be done here first.

-mastery
masteries are a clever way to add contentblockers (and hell contentblockers are necessary for mmo players or you will have a week after release the same complains about not to know what to do as after release from gw2). its not the stupid “your equip is to bad” kind of blocker, its a kind of blocker that fits in the story and char development.

-wvw
yeah they could add 10 maps with the same boring mechanics and people would praise it (and it would be advertised much better). but no, they add one new map and overhaul the existing ones with new mechanics to change the often boring and repetitive gameplay. thats the best what they could do

-skills
you get one new class, at least 8 new specialisations, maybe new weapons for existing classes, skills from mastery. when you do the math you will be close for 100 new skills for sure.

-pvp
yeah sure, they add a new mode and support it with only one map for sure. some people really just WANNA hate

everything they do with this expansion were wishes of the players. but you keep complaining about to late, to less, and not adding really everything what was wished. hell your lifes must be so miserable and dark when you cant even see now the light, when you are unable to be happy about good things and unable to ignore some minor bad things, i really feel sorry for you guys.

Sirendor.1394:

What a normal expansion gives:
- 2 or more new classes
- a complete continent of new zones
- 1 or more new races
- 5+ new dungeons
- several new pvp/rvr maps
- several new game modes
- several raids
- a huge amount of new skins accessible through game
- a huge amount of new skills

-It has not been normal for an expansion to give more than 1 class, if any at all. Rift is the only exception with their subclasses.
-True. But we do not know how many zones HoT will include at this point nor the scale. We only know how many biomes.
-This is pretty rare in MMO’s to get new playable races. Only mainstream MMO I am aware of that have added new races is WoW (5 total. 2 for each faction and 1 neutral over 5 expansions). SWTOR added one to their store so that doesn’t really count in my book, and FFARR is adding one soon, although it just looks like a slight rework of an existing one.
-Depends on the MMO. Rift and WoW have added a decent number at each expansion launch, but the later included some rehash over the last few years.
-Not common to see pvp maps added for an expansion. Only one MMO that has done much with that that I am aware of (WoW but none added in WoD)
-Not really something I have seen much of personally to consider it normal for an expansion requirement.
-1 raid at launch seems to be the norm, with more added in patches released as ‘tiers’.
-Very true, but we haven’t received enough information to know what the scope of the new skins will be.
-Aside from Rift, many MMO’s seem to be going in the entirely opposite direction and pruning skills way down for expansions, or reworking what is already there instead.

I think far too many people are jumping the gun and getting worked up before knowing much of anything.
ANet has only shown us the roots of the tree so to speak. Wait until they show us the trunk, branches, and leaves before chopping it down and deciding to make mulch.

A few notes:

Instanced raids seem to go entirely against Anet’s philosophy so counting them as ‘missing’ seems kind of specious. Especially since we don’t even know there won’t be any (but there probably won’t because they’re against Arenanet’s philosophy)

A fair number of skills are being added, specialties come with new skills.

Lord Trejgon.2809:

Eye of the North – the only GW expansion we have ever seen:
no new classes
no new playable races
phew new maps but nothing close to the size of continent
maps had terrible textures
a little new skills
some new armor sets

Only expansion? What GW have you been playing? Factions and Nightfall were expansions bro.

butch.8136:

^ Again, you seem to have all the details. Enlighten me.

Why do people keep saying 1 zone? Like wtf…

1) All the features they listed on HoT release page > the big ones. If any of the things I listed would be added, they would have listed those as a major feature.

2) Some uncertainty as to the size of the zone is there, yet they said 1 zone.

Exroyal.9053:

Jesus christ, it’s like everyone who whines here knows every aspect of what HoT is. Like i know there will be whiners, there always are and there always will be, but at least wait until you’ve tried it and then make a judgment call.

Totally AGREE!!! Just seeing these complaint threads makes me think like they already played the Beta of the xpac =.=.

I and many out there like the things announced and don;t feel entitled.