Guild Wars 2

This is killing the game for me.

I don’t enjoy my time in the jungle, its stressful, it’s on the clock, I just want to explore the place, but to do that I need to level my masteries first.

BUT I can’t play fractals and level them, because for some illogical reason its impossible to level the Maguuma outside of it.

Now that I completed the central tyria masteries, every single event, dungeon, fractal, became pretty much pointless, the exp has no value whatsover, the gold is gone, and karma, is karma even used for anything new? *

Regular masteries can be lvled anywhere in central tyria. And its not hard to level maguuma masteries at all. Dragons stand is pretty great for XP.

Odin of Ark.4860:

Regular masteries can be lvled anywhere in central tyria. And its not hard to level maguuma masteries at all. Dragons stand is pretty great for XP.

A lot of people would like to level Maguuma masteries outside of the jungle maps because they’d like more variety while leveling than the 4 maps provide.

I don’t mind being stuck in the jungle so much as running out of mastery points. Quite a few of them are locked behind mini adventures and achievements, which sucks. I miss being able to level up by just doing the activities I enjoy most.

My theory is that most people don’t really enjoy playing the new maps, but they need to do so in order to level the masteries and experience any sense of progression in the game they just paid $50 for.

Celtus.8456:

My theory is that most people don’t really enjoy playing the new maps, but they need to do so in order to level the masteries and experience any sense of progression in the game they just paid $50 for.

That’s the feeling I get. ANET wants metrics showing that there are a lot of people doing HoT content. But they realized that players wouldn’t choose to do that, so they designed the mastery system to lock mechanical benefits behind it so that people would play it. Thus giving ANET the metrics they want.

So, ArenaNet spent time and resources designing content, that they knew, beforehand, no one would play? So, in order to waste more resources, they designed, again, more content they knew, beforehand, many would complain about? This is your take on it?

Seems a bit strange to me, to do all that work they knew, beforehand, would be wasted. Hmm.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

So, ArenaNet spent time and resources designing content, that they knew, beforehand, no one would play? So, in order to waste more resources, they designed, again, more content they knew, beforehand, many would complain about? This is your take on it?

Seems a bit strange to me, to do all that work they knew, beforehand, would be wasted. Hmm.

More likely is that they did most of the work before they became worried* that the content couldn’t hold players interest on its own merits. By the time they became worried it was too late to make serious changes to ease their worries.

Maybe internal testing sparked the worries. Maybe a change of staff at ANET or NCSoft brought in people who were worried.

*This theory doesn’t require ANETs worries to be correct.

Wolfeng.3784:

This is killing the game for me.

I don’t enjoy my time in the jungle, its stressful, it’s on the clock, I just want to explore the place, but to do that I need to level my masteries first.

BUT I can’t play fractals and level them, because for some illogical reason its impossible to level the Maguuma outside of it.

Now that I completed the central tyria masteries, every single event, dungeon, fractal, became pretty much pointless, the exp has no value whatsover, the gold is gone, and karma, is karma even used for anything new? *

Do an HP run and you’ll find that your mastery bar fills up really quickly. I haven’t done any meaningful HoT content beyond 5 separate HP runs and I already have all the necessary ones for exploring the first few maps. I have gliding 2, itzel 1, nuhoch 1 and exalted 1 with gliding 3 basically full after i get a few more vista views/exploration exp. I’ve now actually almost run out of mastery points in HoT and will probably need to do the story simply so that on my next HP run the exp doesn’t get wasted.

Wolfeng.3784:

TI don’t enjoy my time in the jungle, its stressful, it’s on the clock, I just want to explore the place, but to do that I need to level my masteries first.

What level masteries are you on? With just two points (basic gliding and mushroom jumping) you can already explore the vast majority of the new maps just fine, the rest really is just bonus and niche use. My secondary account actually hasn’t done next to nothing in the new maps yet (3 mastery points spent total, 2 on HoT and 1 on fractals), and still I’ve walked into Tarir just fine to join in the claiming of our guild hall, as well as help a guildie with some hero point champs on the second map.

If you’re relatively new to the jungle and the meta event chains, forget about those chains and the meta timers. Explore the maps whichever way is open to you (depending on map status as much as masteries), try to uncover points, but don’t stress over it if you don’t find access to that poi or vista above or below you. Join events if they cross your way, but leave them if they seem to be above your head.

Once you have aquainted yourself with the maps, that’s the point at which you might want to start to worry about the meta events and try to familiarize yourself with the different event chains, outpost chains in VB, pillar chains in AB, lane chains in TD. When you’re finally at the point where you are familiar with both maps and event chains, that’s the point where you can start worrying about achievements and optimizing resource gain (both materials and currencies). You’ll most likely have gained a good amount of mastery experience and mastery points by then, too, making it easier for you to do those events and achievements.

It’s a new world for all of us, and each of us has to learn their way around. Learning does take every person out of their comfort zone, one more, the other less, but don’t let that hold you off. Accept that you’ll have to learn your way around the new content to comfortably do stuff like 100% exploration, successful meta event participation, or even personal story, and don’t stress yourself over the finer details until you feel you’re past your learning phase. Just because others have gone ahead of you on the learning curve doesn’t mean you have to optimize your gameplay the way they do. Learn the content, and you’ll find that the masteries are the least of your worries.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

So, ArenaNet spent time and resources designing content, that they knew, beforehand, no one would play? So, in order to waste more resources, they designed, again, more content they knew, beforehand, many would complain about? This is your take on it?

Seems a bit strange to me, to do all that work they knew, beforehand, would be wasted. Hmm.

Not at all .. they designed HOT for the vocal minority that say they want 1990s group-or-die over world content then implemented Masteries in such a way everyone else who doesn’t particularly care for that type of game has to endure it or give up and they know most won’t give up due to their addiction.

Kraggy.4169:

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

So, ArenaNet spent time and resources designing content, that they knew, beforehand, no one would play? So, in order to waste more resources, they designed, again, more content they knew, beforehand, many would complain about? This is your take on it?

Seems a bit strange to me, to do all that work they knew, beforehand, would be wasted. Hmm.

Not at all .. they designed HOT for the vocal minority that say they want 1990s group-or-die over world content then implemented Masteries in such a way everyone else who doesn’t particularly care for that type of game has to endure it or give up and they know most won’t give up due to their addiction.

Have you played those games back in the 90s? I have … and believe me, HoT is nothing like those games. I doesn’t even come up to most of today’s “harder” games in that respect.

But you’re right in one aspect: it does give off faint vibes of the exploration and discovery we had to do in games back in the 80s and 90s, which may in fact be why I enjoy HoT so much. Finally a game where the focus is on getting to know my way around the new content rather than just grabbing a guide and going off to farm the latest shiny.

Celtic Lady.3729:

Odin of Ark.4860:

Regular masteries can be lvled anywhere in central tyria. And its not hard to level maguuma masteries at all. Dragons stand is pretty great for XP.

A lot of people would like to level Maguuma masteries outside of the jungle maps because they’d like more variety while leveling than the 4 maps provide.

You mean a lot of people would like to level Maguuma masteries by farming CoF just like they did for Pact Masteries.

Kraggy.4169:

Not at all .. they designed HOT for the vocal minority that say they want 1990s group-or-die over world content then implemented Masteries in such a way everyone else who doesn’t particularly care for that type of game has to endure it or give up and they know most won’t give up due to their addiction.

I have to disagree with that. I’ve already solo’ed a few of the champion HPs. Some of them I’ve failed to do solo because the build I enjoy playing is a bad matchup for the champion’s abilities. But other than that “group or die” is only true for the first couple hours while you’re still not used to the new abilities and behaviour of the enemy AI.

I’m not quite sure what you are geting at. Gaining exp in the HoT maps is dead easy when you do the event chains. Last Night I did de AB pillars events all the way to saving the city. Sure, took some time (2h) but that was fun.
But the effect on my lvl 3 Exhalted mastery was that I went from 50% complete to about 90% complete. That is about 700k exp., which is sufficient for any 1st tier mastery point.
The rest is for vanity.

This is why you should’ve farmed spiders while you had the chance!

Faab.8049:

I’m not quite sure what you are geting at. Gaining exp in the HoT maps is dead easy when you do the event chains. Last Night I did de AB pillars events all the way to saving the city. Sure, took some time (2h) but that was fun.
But the effect on my lvl 3 Exhalted mastery was that I went from 50% complete to about 90% complete. That is about 700k exp., which is sufficient for any 1st tier mastery point.
The rest is for vanity.

Wow, I just said the maps are stressful, are on the clock, how boring it is to always follow the same stupid chain of events.

And you are telling me how easy it is to just waste 2h with an event chain? Just like most people on this thread?

It’s simply amazing how people just accept whatever this company throws at them, bah forget it, talking in the forums is a waste of time. It’s not like Anet even cares anyway.

@Wolfeng.
I’m responding to your topic title, about being unable to level masteries. Your opening post included this: “I don’t enjoy my time in the jungle, its stressful, it’s on the clock, I just want to explore the place, but to do that I need to level my masteries first.” (emphasis mine).
I’ve written that in a 2 hour playthrough of a single meta event chain on a single map (happens to be AB, could be VB as well) netted me more exp than the first level of mastery for gliding or bouncing requires. While playing the game. focus on doing events/story/gathering etc..
See my number as a metric for the amount of exp you gain for playing the game in HoT.
For any exploration you need at most lvl 2 gliding for updrafts and lvl mushrooms. Thats it. That is 2million exp, so in about 6 hours of HoT game time you can have those leveled up and you can access nearly everything. Thats a week of playing and hour a day, which I consider casual. And most of the exp you gain from simply playing while exploring, discovering new area’s and getting vista’s.

I havent said anything about your other complaints. I can actually emphasise with some of them. I’m dissapointed as well in what HoT brought to the table, to name a few.
- Laggy performace in HoT (Original works smooth)
- Complete lack of new armours
- Reward system is weird and not satisfactiory
- Huge number of HP required for elite professions (even after the reduction)

So please don’t overreact to my response. I was simply pointing out that you complain about not being able to explore and needed masteries. I present you with a metric to see how much time you would need to spend to be able to get the masteries for exploration.
Ideal? no. But it is as Anet made it, so you can either simply go with it, or off course not bother with it.

Mastery points should automatically be opened up with experience period. There is no reason to lock this up behind annoying content people don’t enjoy, seriously why can’t I open them doing what I have fun doing, what do they have against people actually having fun and being rewarded? Anet has completely bailed on trying to make the game about the players playing to enjoy it and for no reason other than trying to stretch out the value of the content. Hell it already takes millions of experience to even plug a point in and the overkill of the DM makes it grueling enough.
I’m hoping they take a long hard look at how absolutely painful this system is and how overall unrewarding the game is becoming to play. Sure it may generate cash in the short term but it will also alienate a lot of people who will leave when they find something else they enjoy playing. They’re lucky that the market is dry right now but it won’t stay that way forever and many may jump ship due to their current path, I know I’m already planning to beta test some games because I frankly hate this new greedier, stingier development path they are on. To be honest it is now starting to feel more and more like a job than a relaxing pastime which is why I gave up on WoW. I thought the expansion would be full of lore and story like GW2 of old and that the lands would be vibrant and active not dead and empty 1 month in due to stupid timed metas and locked and gated everything.

Like I’ve always said monetization is important but there needs to be a balance and things are completely out of balance right now, proof is in the bundle system, scribing and their overall design for crafting and the complete neutering of rewards.

As if, this is the only time gate they installed. There are dozens of these gates making their tiny expac seem so much larger.

Wolfeng.3784:

This is killing the game for me.

I don’t enjoy my time in the jungle, its stressful, it’s on the clock, I just want to explore the place, but to do that I need to level my masteries first.

BUT I can’t play fractals and level them, because for some illogical reason its impossible to level the Maguuma outside of it.

Now that I completed the central tyria masteries, every single event, dungeon, fractal, became pretty much pointless, the exp has no value whatsover, the gold is gone, and karma, is karma even used for anything new? *

I just wandered in the jungle, sometimes following events, sometimes following my nose…and I ended up with enough XP and mastery points to explore. I would prefer if gliding was unlocked from the start, because the jungle is intolerably dull without it.

I am still finding it hard to navigate — looking at the map often doesn’t help me get from A to B. Still, the more I visit, the easier it gets. I’m starting to learn the locations of updrafts (now that I have that unlocked) and tunnels (ditto).

Celtus.8456:

My theory is that most people don’t really enjoy playing the new maps, but they need to do so in order to level the masteries and experience any sense of progression in the game they just paid $50 for.

Your theory is flawed, as most people in my guild enjoy the new maps.

Wolfeng.3784:

This is killing the game for me.

I don’t enjoy my time in the jungle, its stressful, it’s on the clock, I just want to explore the place, but to do that I need to level my masteries first.

BUT I can’t play fractals and level them, because for some illogical reason its impossible to level the Maguuma outside of it.

Now that I completed the central tyria masteries, every single event, dungeon, fractal, became pretty much pointless, the exp has no value whatsover, the gold is gone, and karma, is karma even used for anything new? *

As long as the corrupt, sucking pit of the CoH xp-o-rama exists NOTHING new is ever going to be tied to earning Tyria MXP. And for every person about to leap out and defend it, you know perfectly well they’d shut the servers down before allowing something similar to go on in WvW or the new zones. See spider and bacon patches.

Crap like that is why we can’t have nice things.

tluv.5821:

Celtus.8456:

My theory is that most people don’t really enjoy playing the new maps, but they need to do so in order to level the masteries and experience any sense of progression in the game they just paid $50 for.

Your theory is flawed, as most people in my guild enjoy the new maps.

But that’s just one guild.

Kraggy.4169:

Not at all .. they designed HOT for the vocal minority that say they want 1990s group-or-die over world content then implemented Masteries in such a way everyone else who doesn’t particularly care for that type of game has to endure it or give up and they know most won’t give up due to their addiction.

Since we’re speculating… I think you’re close, but not quite.

I think they heard a lot of people clamoring for more challenging content, saw people getting bored, and said yeah, let’s add more group content (especially since SW did so well, which is true).

I also think (from the really early HoT ads that I saw) that the original vision was not so much “force people to group up” but “give people an increased feeling of power in an unstable world.” I remember seeing some of the ads about hero challenges and masteries early on, and imagining a thing where you’d slowly build up your power and then go challenge some mob who was near impossible to beat without the power build up. I was imagining techniques for taking down specific mobs that were more like a puzzle than point, shoot, and DODGEDOGEDOGE.

What we got (which isn’t too surprising, given that it’s an MMO, not a fantasy in my head) is a bunch of systems tied together in ways that pressure you to do stuff you don’t want to do (ex: mastery points and adventures, elite specs and champ HPs, etc.). And a very hapdash system of power increase that does very little in terms of increasing your actual power (mostly just gives you a big ’ol bag of tricks, like some kind of magician).

My take is that what happened overall was… there was the game vision and then there was the MMO standardization reality. Had the vision been brought to life in its own space, free of MMO tropes, it might have looked more like what I imagined. But due to the whole “carrot on stick” on-the-rails mass appeal that most MMOs fall prey in a big way because of the desire for more green pieces of paper, they ended up with the husk of a wonderful vision. What remained is a pretty cool experience on the whole, but doesn’t really feel like the adventure RPG vision that I got from the ads.

Who knows though. Maybe my vision was just wack.

Odin of Ark.4860:

Regular masteries can be lvled anywhere in central tyria. And its not hard to level maguuma masteries at all. Dragons stand is pretty great for XP.

Its great until the game crashes without warning.

For no discernible reason.

And on the off chance you had a group lined up so that you can cover for Anet, hopefully it doesn’t crash near the end. You only have so much time to get the chest, and then burn through your machetes, which will be eaten into if the shard decides it is now full.

And doing the same set of objectives over and over again kind of sounds like a grind. Especially if it’s just to unlock masteries so that you can do all of the content.

Celtic Lady.3729:

tluv.5821:

Celtus.8456:

My theory is that most people don’t really enjoy playing the new maps, but they need to do so in order to level the masteries and experience any sense of progression in the game they just paid $50 for.

Your theory is flawed, as most people in my guild enjoy the new maps.

But that’s just one guild.

Two guilds then because most people in my guild, and it’s a casual guild, are enjoying the new maps as well. With one or two notable exceptions we have a guild full of casuals who have fun playing the new maps.

And I promise you we can’t be the only two guilds enjoying it.

You don’t need HoT masteries anywhere outside of HoT content.

runeblade.7514:

You don’t need HoT masteries anywhere outside of HoT content.

And because of it I need to level them in those maps? Did you even read the kitten post when I say that exp is now pointless outside of HoT maps? Because I already completed the central tyria ones?

No? Go read it again then.

Wolfeng.3784:

runeblade.7514:

You don’t need HoT masteries anywhere outside of HoT content.

And because of it I need to level them in those maps?

Yes. You level the relevant masteries doing the content that requires them.

Vayne.8563:

Celtic Lady.3729:

tluv.5821:

Celtus.8456:

My theory is that most people don’t really enjoy playing the new maps, but they need to do so in order to level the masteries and experience any sense of progression in the game they just paid $50 for.

Your theory is flawed, as most people in my guild enjoy the new maps.

But that’s just one guild.

Two guilds then because most people in my guild, and it’s a casual guild, are enjoying the new maps as well. With one or two notable exceptions we have a guild full of casuals who have fun playing the new maps.

And I promise you we can’t be the only two guilds enjoying it.

Point is, implying that 1 or 2 guilds is representative of the entire game’s population is just as flawed a theory as the one being criticized.

No one’s arguing that only 1 guild likes HoT.

I hoped to at least get all the masteries before I got burnt out, but it looks like that’s not happening. Jumping back and forth, trying to catch metas (which I’m not fond of in the first place) that are actually making progress has just killed the appeal. At least with the core masteries I could get decent XP killing stuff in Orr/Silverwastes. Maguuma, however, has just become a slog…

The problem is that in core gw2 there are these sweet “exp rest spots” away from doing events. Just when you’re about had it doing events, something new that gives decent exp and is not a grind pops up – like crafting, personal story instance, exploring new map etc.

In maguuma because of tiny amount of exp you’re given…for just about anything you do there, these things don’t serve their role too well, and 98% of exp is doing event chains and hoping for a good map (with lots of ppl that do them). That’s why it feel grindy.

i don’t get why i can’t just level masteries with leveling up, i have no use for XP post lvl 80 so use it for masteries.
i don’t much care about the story, the map completion should not even be part of masteries.
it’s not even masteries, it’s more a bonus while completing stuff but at the same time useless if you don’t like doing them.

seriously, i don’t even get why i can’t use my glider outside HoT, i mastered the basics so i should be able to use it……

Jahroots.6791:

I don’t mind being stuck in the jungle so much as running out of mastery points. Quite a few of them are locked behind mini adventures and achievements, which sucks. I miss being able to level up by just doing the activities I enjoy most.

This use to be the heart of what the game was about. I hope one day the Anet will make an effort to return there.
At the moment it feels like they’re all about making things ‘harder’ for players, and giving limited opportunity to play the game how a player wants and yet still progress their character in a meaningful way.
Basically, and broadly speaking, the game’s fundamentals are no longer what they were advertised to be, which is sad, because it was that original ideal that made the game such a success.

Wolfeng.3784:

runeblade.7514:

You don’t need HoT masteries anywhere outside of HoT content.

And because of it I need to level them in those maps? Did you even read the kitten post when I say that exp is now pointless outside of HoT maps? Because I already completed the central tyria ones?

No? Go read it again then.

I don’t see anywhere in your post invalidates the fact that you don’t need HoT masteries anywhere outside of HoT content.

Maybe you should read your post. Specifically the title. Since I was answering your question.

Odin of Ark.4860:

Regular masteries can be lvled anywhere in central tyria. And its not hard to level maguuma masteries at all. Dragons stand is pretty great for XP.

For me, it’s a double-edged sword. XP flies… when you’re apart of the zerg and well, DS is nothing but a haven for Zerg-oriented players. I myself love it, the LFGTool being a godsend for this map in particular has made my success rates skyrocket. But then there’s the problem of exploring and some maps just aren’t very cohesive. TD is all over the place and people don’t really do Dynamic Event trains so much anymore since the meta will occur anyways. Haven’t done AB much if at all so out of all of them DS is my go-to right now.

But you are right, once you get with a bunch of people all striving for the same end-map then ya, it is a smooth ride.

maddoctor.2738:

Wolfeng.3784:

runeblade.7514:

You don’t need HoT masteries anywhere outside of HoT content.

And because of it I need to level them in those maps?

Yes. You level the relevant masteries doing the content that requires them.

The Pact is in HoT infact the entirety of HoT revolves around the Pact so if relevancy was important why can’t a person level Pact mastery while doing official Pact business while in HoT maps!? You are the Pact commander after all.

Exp is exp and relevant of not it matters little as people don’t want the removal of the gates for themselves but rather they see these gates as the future death of this game. Been in enough MMO’s to know the casuals are the lifeblood of any game and once there chased off the game withers and dies. The option of choice would fix many problems with this game as anyone who thinks the HoT maps were difficult could train masteries and have the mushroom and gliding skills to really kitten up the place at the start and thus easing there controls. Out of all the problems with HoT and the complaints giving people the choice to grind exp for masteries where they please wouldn’t only remove some of the constant complaints we see but would lead to a more enjoyable game.

Kraggy.4169:

Not at all .. they designed HOT for the vocal minority that say they want 1990s group-or-die over world content then implemented Masteries in such a way everyone else who doesn’t particularly care for that type of game has to endure it or give up and they know most won’t give up due to their addiction.

Speak for yourself. I’m quite happen to not log in and watch forums for when they come to their senses… Even with most players logging in, I bet their gem store purchases have dropped.

qbalrog.8017:

Even with most players logging in, I bet their gem store purchases have dropped.

Maybe they have. Maybe that’s why new outfits are 2850 gems. To make up for the lost revenue by having to sell less but get the same amount of profit.

Odin of Ark.4860:

Regular masteries can be lvled anywhere in central tyria. And its not hard to level maguuma masteries at all. Dragons stand is pretty great for XP.

Did you read his post? He CAN’T GET THERE because he’s been gated out. For crying out loud, read before you post something so stupid.

Rasimir.6239:

What level masteries are you on? With just two points (basic gliding and mushroom jumping) you can already explore the vast majority of the new maps just fine, the rest really is just bonus and niche use.

I’ve got those two, but I’m currently mastery-gated in AB. Get your facts straight before posting.

i’m mastery gated at raid. exp are wasted as long as i haven’t completed the raid.

azizul.8469:

i’m mastery gated at raid. exp are wasted as long as i haven’t completed the raid.

You have to complete the whole raid to open that mastery line?

Celtic Lady.3729:

azizul.8469:

i’m mastery gated at raid. exp are wasted as long as i haven’t completed the raid.

You have to complete the whole raid to open that mastery line?

nah, i mean beat the first boss.

I’m not ready for raids, but I’m tempted to find/start a group just to unlock that track. I don’t like it sitting there… mocking me with it’s lockedness.

Daddicus.6128:

Odin of Ark.4860:

Regular masteries can be lvled anywhere in central tyria. And its not hard to level maguuma masteries at all. Dragons stand is pretty great for XP.

Did you read his post? He CAN’T GET THERE because he’s been gated out. For crying out loud, read before you post something so stupid.

It takes 6 mastery points to get Updraft Use and Nuhoch Wallows. If someone’s unable to achieve that, I have no sympathy whatsoever.

Vlad Morbius.1759:

There is no reason to lock this up behind annoying content people don’t enjoy, seriously why can’t I open them doing what I have fun doing, what do they have against people actually having fun and being rewarded?

I have fun afk’ing in LA chatting to friends. I should totally get everything I want simply by doing that.

On a more serious note, masteries are account bound. The required levels can be gotten very easily with almost no effort. The higher level masteries are not required but are helpful when doing certain parts of the content. If masteries were soul bound then I would agree with you.

Wolfeng.3784:

Now that I completed the central tyria masteries, every single event, dungeon, fractal, became pretty much pointless, the exp has no value whatsover, the gold is gone, and karma, is karma even used for anything new? *

So you went out of your way to farm the masteries as quickly as you can and are now complaining that any further farming you do is pointless?

Karma is used for the pact vendors that travel around giving you access to older recipes that at one point were completely unavailable.

Acosn.7861:

Odin of Ark.4860:

Regular masteries can be lvled anywhere in central tyria. And its not hard to level maguuma masteries at all. Dragons stand is pretty great for XP.

Its great until the game crashes without warning.

For no discernible reason.

And on the off chance you had a group lined up so that you can cover for Anet, hopefully it doesn’t crash near the end. You only have so much time to get the chest, and then burn through your machetes, which will be eaten into if the shard decides it is now full.

And doing the same set of objectives over and over again kind of sounds like a grind. Especially if it’s just to unlock masteries so that you can do all of the content.

Stop trying to munge different issues together. Server stability/performance issues whether they are real or imagined should be treated separately to design complaints whether they are justified or not.

I had a lot of stability issues when HoT launches that has disappeared once I started using the 64-bit client. For some people this doesn’t work and in fact makes things worse. That’s something for the server & networks team to handle. Not something for the game designers to handle.

Doam.8305:

Been in enough MMO’s to know the casuals are the lifeblood of any game and once there chased off the game withers and dies.

None of these people complaining are actually casuals. If you’ve already maxed out central tyria masteries from your farming, you are not a casual. I have actual casual player friends who would run around with a full mastery bar for days despite having other mastery tracks with no exp in it as well as enough free mastery points to get that mastery simply because they didn’t care enough about it to notice. For them their mastery bar is just another thing to work on while they do content.

Doam.8305:

maddoctor.2738:

Wolfeng.3784:

runeblade.7514:

You don’t need HoT masteries anywhere outside of HoT content.

And because of it I need to level them in those maps?

Yes. You level the relevant masteries doing the content that requires them.

The Pact is in HoT infact the entirety of HoT revolves around the Pact so if relevancy was important why can’t a person level Pact mastery while doing official Pact business while in HoT maps!? You are the Pact commander after all.

Relevant for the zone you play in not lorewise. There are no bouncing mushrooms in central tyria nor you can glide. HoT masteries are leveled in HoT maps because that’s where they are used.