Guild Wars 2

Hi guys!

So, I stopped playing GW2 in february, and now, with this new expansion, I was wondering if it would be worth to buy it and start playing again. I only played for 5 months, and got a thief and ranger to lvl 80(but im still a noob =p).

Im a little bit worried, because I saw a lot of people saying that raids(which was something I was really looking forward to) are killing the game, making it too much “grindy”(even though i dont care too much about grinding).

So, what do you guys think?

If you enjoyed the game back then, you will enjoy it now, there are lots of new stuff to do and raids are one of them, but good luck finding a decent group without a premade

People on the forum are usually more negative than the average gamer. HoT is a lot of fun, especially for the first 20-30 hours (It get’s a little tedious after you start going trying to gear up to raid and do harder content, but still fun). It’s well worth the $50.

Just be warned. The jungle is confusing and challenging, if you are into that you’ll have a blast, but if you’re expecting difficulty on the same level as central Tyria you will be frustrated.

There are definitely a lot of negative posts on the forums, but the game itself is full of people.

Raids are challenging because they (for now anyway) require a good group composition, and coordination. Having Ascended gear is highly recommended, which takes forever to craft even if you have all the materials. But, they did make Fractals more approachable, and therefore it should be easier to acquire ascended gear from chests. There are 4 dailies for Fractals, +1 more if you unlock the mastery for it. The rewards so far ended up not being as great as ANet intended, so they are working on making them better.

There are so many new things in HoT. I find that the majority of those that have been complaining, are upset over time-gated content. In other words, there are certain materials that the game only lets you craft once per day, forcing people to wait even if they have all the necessary materials. I myself am not bothered by this. Most people who don’t seem to have a specific goal in mind, and instead just play the game and acquire things as they go, seem to be having a much better time.

I created a thread for people to share what they like so far about the new HoT expansion. There is a lot of good feedback. You should read some of the responses, and if you feel like some of those things would interest you, then you have your answer. Just be careful about the questions pertaining to spoilers. I asked everyone to hide their story responses, but there might be some left visible: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Who-else-is-enjoying-HoT/first#post5812829

I would ask yourself why you left in the first place, and if you could see yourself leaving for the same reasons in HoT. I also would say don’t get it JUST for the Raids. Find a handful of things that you are interested in.

Haven’t bought it yet but friends and guild members are already fed up of it.

I quit for the first time because I was bored

I wouldn’t recommend GW2 to others with the way it is right now. Maybe if things change. Maybe if WvW gets some attention. Maybe if proofs of heroics aren’t soulbound. Maybe if we get some decent updates. Maybe if Anet get onto fixing all the legendary collection bugs. Maybe… but until then, nope, don’t recommend it.

its worth the 50 dollars, but are better games for the same or less price. If you only want an MMO, i supose its a good choice.

To explain why im writing that:

- Grindy.
- Too litle content added.
- Terrible pvp balance.
- Lack of proper communication and fast response.
- WvW going backward.
- Unrewarding dungeons.
- Easy mode fractals.
- Hot maps losing population fast.

The pros are the new raids, gliding, 4 good maps, improved story, revenant and elite specs.

I am having loads of fun with HoT and core Tyria. I do not regret my spending the money for the ultimate version of the expansion. I know that there are at least 8 others that came back to the game and most of those also bought the ultimate version and none are regretting it at all. They play pretty much every day in both HoT and core areas.

I have not reached the end of core nor HoT, I am just playing and having fun and doing whatever pops up.
I have never grinded in the game and never will. I am just playing and gathering everything I need without trying.

If you quit before because you were bored I am not sure if you will not be bored with any part of the game, new or otherwise.

Pandabro.8743:

People on the forum are usually more negative than the average gamer. HoT is a lot of fun, especially for the first 20-30 hours (It get’s a little tedious after you start going trying to gear up to raid and do harder content, but still fun). It’s well worth the $50.

Just be warned. The jungle is confusing and challenging, if you are into that you’ll have a blast, but if you’re expecting difficulty on the same level as central Tyria you will be frustrated.

I would have put that the other way. HoT is a really bad and boring salad of multilayered, confusing deathtrap maps at first, but it gets step by step better if you gain masteries.

Torolan.5816:

Pandabro.8743:

People on the forum are usually more negative than the average gamer. HoT is a lot of fun, especially for the first 20-30 hours (It get’s a little tedious after you start going trying to gear up to raid and do harder content, but still fun). It’s well worth the $50.

Just be warned. The jungle is confusing and challenging, if you are into that you’ll have a blast, but if you’re expecting difficulty on the same level as central Tyria you will be frustrated.

I would have put that the other way. HoT is a really bad and boring salad of multilayered, confusing deathtrap maps at first, but it gets step by step better if you gain masteries.

And it’s not like forum is filled with complains since day1 launch of GW2, I mean if a player just read the forum for information they would think GW2 is one of the worst game ever made.

HoT is terrible right now, maybe check back next year, if they ever decide to fix this mess.

Torolan.5816:

Pandabro.8743:

People on the forum are usually more negative than the average gamer. HoT is a lot of fun, especially for the first 20-30 hours (It get’s a little tedious after you start going trying to gear up to raid and do harder content, but still fun). It’s well worth the $50.

Just be warned. The jungle is confusing and challenging, if you are into that you’ll have a blast, but if you’re expecting difficulty on the same level as central Tyria you will be frustrated.

I would have put that the other way. HoT is a really bad and boring salad of multilayered, confusing deathtrap maps at first, but it gets step by step better if you gain masteries.

That’s your opinion. You’re welcome to it but I know plenty of people who enjoy it throughly.

Its not worth the price. With the amount of great games this season, it doesn’t compare for the price. Now if you can find it for 25, your getting a closer value of worth.

Good for you and them. I can rest easy, knowing that I tried my best to enjoy HoT and, after weeks, came to the conclusion that while it is not a total bomb and has many good ideas, it is content I plan to do until I have the masteries and recipes(I am a collector of some sorts) and then never set foot into it again. I would buy the basic edition again, but not hand over 100 €.

Starting from scratch you got 4.8 mill xp to get to lvl 80 then you will be needing 86,000,000 xp to max out your mastery tracks.

DieHarD.3649:

Hi guys!

So, I stopped playing GW2 in february, and now, with this new expansion, I was wondering if it would be worth to buy it and start playing again. I only played for 5 months, and got a thief and ranger to lvl 80(but im still a noob =p).

Im a little bit worried, because I saw a lot of people saying that raids(which was something I was really looking forward to) are killing the game, making it too much “grindy”(even though i dont care too much about grinding).

So, what do you guys think?

Honestly if you are a casual type player then I wouldn’t recommend HoT unless you really want to try out the new elite specs and like the mastery type system which is a bit more of a horizontal progression system. The HoT area and zones are not meant for the casual player – no matter what anybody says. Raids require you to be decently geared and know your character, so if that interests you might want to be prepared to invest some time in game gearing up and prepping and finding a good group\guild before you jump into it.

If you really like a challenge though and are willing to deal with lots of grinding you may enjoy HoT content.

Just keep in mind that in order to fully unlock your elite spec you will be forced to do some HoT content, but once you’ve unlocked your elite you can go back to the core game.

To simplify it as best as possible.

If you enjoy grinding: Yes it’s worth coming back.
If you want to enjoy the game at your own pace like you have been able to the last 3 years without the need to grind for countless hours to make any sort of progression or get any involvement with the core content being raids: No, not worth coming back.

If you don’t like spending hours grinding and crafting for ascended, then the expansion isn’t for you. Without Ascended, the playerbase will exclude you from the core content being raids.

DieHarD.3649:

Hi guys!

So, I stopped playing GW2 in february, and now, with this new expansion, I was wondering if it would be worth to buy it and start playing again. I only played for 5 months, and got a thief and ranger to lvl 80(but im still a noob =p).

Im a little bit worried, because I saw a lot of people saying that raids(which was something I was really looking forward to) are killing the game, making it too much “grindy”(even though i dont care too much about grinding).

So, what do you guys think?

HOT has made the game far more grindy in general. If you want to do the raid you will have to find a guild to do it with as pugs are highly unlikely to be able to complete it. Your thief is entirely useless and won’t be wanted in raids. Your ranger will have to get druid and be outfitted correctly to get a spot in raids.

eldrin.6471:

Starting from scratch you got 4.8 mill xp to get to lvl 80 then you will be needing 86,000,000 xp to max out your mastery tracks.

Jesus! I knew the curve was high, but never thought to calculate it all. Thought it was bad enough the jump from 80 to T1 Mastery was 1m.

Vissarion.6509:

If you enjoyed the game back then, you will enjoy it now

I kinda disagree with this. If you enjoyed it back then, HoT is nothing like that. It’s a completely different feel to the game now. I enjoyed the “old game”, but not digging the new stuff so much.

If you like farming in CS and or SW b/c HoT zones are mazes and have kittenty rewards then I would say no. If you are a vet, you are probably sick of CS/SW by now so yea.

I own HoT but I don’t play HoT zones. Low rewards, zones that require a 150 person/well coordinated raid group to complete, zones that are also on timer so if you miss getting in at the start…there is ZERO reason to even bother, and a whole lotta useless faction junk I do not want….like minstrels. Who the heck thought that was a good idea when + heal is completely worthless? Jokes on me I guess.

Great expans….I mean over priced DLC for sure.

Just do this man; go to your bank with a female human character -> wardrobe -> click on medium armor -> type in Ley -> click on that set to view. Then go to gem store and view all the new outfits that come out in a separate panel. Tell me, which skin did they spend 5 minutes on and which they put lots of effort into? Medium Ley line set looks like it is an old asset where they threw on steaming dragon poop; this is a reward for playing the game. Then look at the arbiter, lysa, and other skins: these have 10x the detail to that ley set; these cost gems/real life money. Why give nice things for free when you can charge money for them?

It is clear where Anet is going here; total conversion to Korean F2P style where all the best stuff is for real life money and game mechanics are nerfed to ‘encourage’ you to spend money or face grinds from hell. If you like pay to save lots of time MMOs like this then sure, come check it out. But if not, wait for other titles to release and skip GW2 entirely.

They really do need to get rid of the Wildstar/NCsoft elements that have taken over decision making; they have straight ruined what I considered the best MMO out there with pure greed.

To be quite honest with you i would say no, save your money. The PvE maps are deserted more or less with the exception of the last map where you can do an event every two hours. WvW is pretty much broken with the introduction of the new maps. I can´s say anything about the raids.

I think it safe to say, Guild Wars 2 is my favorite MMO to date. I’ve played it longer than any other MMO to include that one which shall remain nameless. I play GW2 every day.

But the answer is no.

Not right now. Maybe in the future when ANet stops pretending to be Mythic with these nonsense decisions and nerfs. But as of today? No. I would not recommend any new player, or any returning player, invest time or income in the game.

And I really hate writing that.

DieHarD.3649:

Hi guys!

So, I stopped playing GW2 in february, and now, with this new expansion, I was wondering if it would be worth to buy it and start playing again. I only played for 5 months, and got a thief and ranger to lvl 80(but im still a noob =p).

Im a little bit worried, because I saw a lot of people saying that raids(which was something I was really looking forward to) are killing the game, making it too much “grindy”(even though i dont care too much about grinding).

So, what do you guys think?

If you liked GW2 before, there’s a lot of cool stuff now: gliding, mushroom jumping, beautiful new maps, challenging new foes, new meta events. Some things have changed (sometimes for the worse, but in my opinion, mostly for the better).

I remember when I first played GW2 in beta, I had a hard time getting into it, because it was so unlike GW1, which I loved — I was hoping for a refreshed version of the original. Once I accepted that it was a very different kind of game, I grew to enjoy it far more than I ever did GW1. I’m finding HoT to require a similar change of viewpoint — if I play it like GW2/core, I can’t get into it; if I approach it like it’s a new style of play, I end up having a lot of fun.

tl;dr I love it; others liked GW2-original better; your mileage will vary.

Sicarius.4639:

eldrin.6471:

Starting from scratch you got 4.8 mill xp to get to lvl 80 then you will be needing 86,000,000 xp to max out your mastery tracks.

Jesus! I knew the curve was high, but never thought to calculate it all. Thought it was bad enough the jump from 80 to T1 Mastery was 1m.

It’s not. At the rate a lvl 80 character aquires experience, 4.8mil is just short of 20 level-ups. 1-80 just takes considerably longer to gain those 4.8mil because for a large part of that journey you’ll get a lot less experience.

Check the wiki page on experience for the detailed breakdown.

Btw, if you check the mastery track pages on the wiki, gaining any of the t1 masteries requires exactly as much experience as two “level-ups” at level 80.

It’s quite simple.

If you were bored before due to tedious world events, the positives such as a few interesting game mechanics in masteries won’t change that. Raid is mediocre so far, rewards are bad.

The story is a big improvement, albeit short.

Hi DieHarD.
I have a thief too. I took a very long break from GW2, but came back for HoT.
The thief can become a Daredevil in this expansion, and Daredevil is really fun to play. I love it.

Animism.6849:

It’s quite simple.

If you were bored before due to tedious world events, the positives such as a few interesting game mechanics in masteries won’t change that. Raid is mediocre so far, rewards are bad.

The story is a big improvement, albeit short.

That’s because they couldn’t space it out every two weeks like intended but give it to us in one lump of an expansion.

DieHarD.3649:

Hi guys!

So, I stopped playing GW2 in february, and now, with this new expansion, I was wondering if it would be worth to buy it and start playing again. I only played for 5 months, and got a thief and ranger to lvl 80(but im still a noob =p).

Im a little bit worried, because I saw a lot of people saying that raids(which was something I was really looking forward to) are killing the game, making it too much “grindy”(even though i dont care too much about grinding).

So, what do you guys think?

it’s more than just the raids that are grindy, pretty much everything u need/want is time gated. If you have multiple characters, you will need to re-farm hero points to unlock each of the elite tree. But you are PvE-focused, then it’s all good for you, as Anet pretty much cater to that crowd now.

As much as I loved playing GW2, I found the expansion to be an act of frustration. I’m what some folks call “a casual scrub” and generally ran the core maps solo. These new maps are significantly harder, with very few WP’s. If you have a group of friends you run with, or are a pretty decent player, then you should be fine in the new maps.

I’m on the verge of taking a break after just the first couple of maps. Barely reached the third and never saw the last one. Too many days of logging in and not being able to find folks to run with and not skilled enough to run solo.

Watch this video. Worth watching the hole thing. It sums it up. I was actually surprise on how much so. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbN0F64idNw

They need to revive their core games rewards… (dungeons, Fractals)

And stop trying to make us buy gems and convert them for gold..

Also they need to stop making ascended crafting harder

No… dosent matter.. It’s like he describe on the video. the game is stale & boring. Deprive of everything what makes an exiting mmo an mmo. I cant wait to drop this game for another mmo that merits my money.

sephiroth.4217:

To simplify it as best as possible.

If you enjoy grinding: Yes it’s worth coming back.
If you want to enjoy the game at your own pace like you have been able to the last 3 years without the need to grind for countless hours to make any sort of progression or get any involvement with the core content being raids: No, not worth coming back.

If you don’t like spending hours grinding and crafting for ascended, then the expansion isn’t for you. Without Ascended, the playerbase will exclude you from the core content being raids.

Wait, you mean I can’t enjoy the game at my own pace?!?! Weird… because I have been. Guess I’m having badwrongfun….

No. It is not worth coming back. I used to recommend the game to friends but not anymore.

As others have said, everything since HoT’s launch has been MASSIVE timegates and/or lots of grind. Coupled with the past couple of patches and the recent WvW leaks, the future of GW2 looks bleak. Most certainly a completely and utterly different game than at launch in 2012.

Morfedel.4165:

Wait, you mean I can’t enjoy the game at my own pace?!?! Weird… because I have been. Guess I’m having badwrongfun….
[/quote]
your the 1% that enjoys to be fed everyday 3x times a day, watered down oatmeal.
bon appetit!