Guild Wars 2

Oh no, we have to play the game to get rewards. Who thought this was a good idea? For kittens sake, there is so much self-entitled QQ in this thread it’s unbelievable.

Alukah.2063:

Sometimes I think people would’ve cried less if they said you need 40 “jungle points” instead of hero points.

Take notes for the next expansion.

well they would still complain becouse you would have to do the whole jungle to unlock the specialization. what people want is a reasonable amount of work to get the new traits and skills and to have more than just one option to get them all. would the traits and skills cost about 200 heropoints or less, many here wouldnt complain much, if it was 60 points for traits, like the rest of the lines cost, there would hardly be anyone complaining, if some still do complain, well that was an amount that was to be expected.
those playing wvw would be happy if they get more than one scroll per lvlup and knew how many those were and how they work. do they work account-wide? or are they per character? if its one per lvl and they work per character you need 200 lvls just for one elite, if you have got more than one char you want an elite with you need a long time untill you can finish them. what also would work, is if the elites are unlocked in wvw, the builds are already seperated, so that could work aswell.

Hates the grind but probably works at Maccy D’s full time

wow its far worst than I thought. I thought it was 200 for all skills and traits, and rest of the 200 for items.

but I barely had anything. Only have 1 skill from 170 HP. wow….

33 levels after level 80 isn’t that much. I enjoy the idea of playing to achieve more content for my game!

Sorel.4870:

It’s not a grind if it’s not repetitive content. So, if you like open world PvE, do the different hero challenges in Maguuma. If WvW is your thing, you can earn hero points there as well. And if you play pvp, you have every spec unlocked anyway.

It is a grind though, as, to be able to unlock the full spec, you need to grind masteries by repetitive content so you can actually reach 60% of the new heropoint locations. Great design…not.

My fears are, different form your fears. My fears are, that my ranger wont be able to use a bow anymore, because playing it as a non-druid would be blasphemy.

My fears are, that anyone without elite spec will not be accepted generally.

My fears are, that playing anything but elite spec will be bad and that elite spec will be unreasonably op.

But I sincerely hope, that it is not the case and I will still be able to play necromancer as a mage, not greatsword wielding warrior, that I will still be able to play ranger as a hunter, not treehugger and that guardian will still be able being protector with shield, not new marksman replacement.

Preposterous, right?

DoctorDing.5890:

Gotta love a comedy rage quit.
Of course, he won’t really quit. He’ll play the expansion, accumulate the points and pretend he’s hating it.

I had plans to unlock every spec in my eleven characters. After hearing that cost 400 hp per character? No longer: I’ll stick to my new main.

This mostly will affect me in WvW, where probably I’ll not be able to swich between classes to fill demanded roles to my guild due lacking the specializations.

Remembers me a bit when WvW levels were character bound: no reason to leave your main. Here happens the same: the grind x spec is so strong (and impossible in PvP -due lack of “hero tomes”-) that if you aren’t a focused PvE player trying to unlock specs is just a waste of time in joyless, tedious tasks.

That’s weird, I unlocked it just now upon logging in cuz I got 60 Hero Points from core game. I think unlocking and completing the Elite is very different and I feel that it should take time and dedication to accomplish a complete Elite spec. I have 14 characters and I ain’t scured. =)

That’s why it’s called an “elite” specialization. You have to work to get it. Did you guys think you would start HoT with almost everything already unlocked? The point is that you’re leveling your character through the game.
“We have to play-through the whole Maguuma on all our characters, rush the map as fast as possible, just to unlock kittenable elite spec.”
No, you don’t have to. The game is fully playable with the usual specs, and you can unlock elite specs as you play the HoT campaign… Really, people need to stop with this instant gratification mindset – the point of a game is that you don’t have everything handed over to you on a plate within the first 5 minutes.

It’s not a grind unless you make it into a grind. Play the game and have fun. Your character will progress with or without you putting your nose to the grindstone.

Hello there. As I’m sure A-net is presently being bombarded with complaints about this already (and no doubt trying to make sure everything runs relatively smoothly these first few days) I’ll attempt to keep this fairly brief. This post is about why I feel the heavy hero point cost is harmful to myself and possibly many other people playing through the expansion.

Now, as I understood it, the primary selling points of the expansion were:
-Elite Specializations
-New content in the form of new maps, story, raids, etc.

I (and I imagined many others) was greatly looking forward to exploring this new content while testing the different builds offered by the elite specializations, learning their strengths, finding new ways to employ these new skills against new enemies, you get the idea. Instead, what I find is that I’ll likely have to clear most of HoT’s maps before I have access to the full elite spec- and that’s just for one character. Instead of enjoying the expansion at my own pace for the challenge and adventure of it, I’ll have this constant reminder that a full spec is blocked off to me until I progress. In addition, I’ll have to repeat this for every single alt I decide to roll if I ever want to use their new specializations. The expansion stops being a new space for me to play in, and instead becomes a grind or a chore I feel obligated to get done with.

I have one other, minor grievance about this- or rather, in how it was presented to us beforehand. There was a dev post claiming that you could begin using the elite specs with as little as 60 points- this, to me, seems a little dishonest. Yes, you can UNLOCK the elite spec for 60 points, but all that gets you is the base mechanic, a new weapon, and the ability to use skills you don’t actually have any of yet. Very few people are, I’d expect, going to be eager to discard a full trait line for so little until they get through the HoT maps.

That said, I expect no quick response- if any- as devs are no doubt busy with more urgent launch business. I will offer, as a last positive note, that aside from this problem the expansion looks rather promising.

People saying, “You can play the game with normal specialization, it’s fine, you’ll get it after you do everything, once, it’ll just take longer”.
This is like buying a brand spanking new car and then someone tells you:

“Wait, you have to learn how to drive this old crappy machine you’ve been driving for years while earning stamps for every checkpoint you drive past, but don’t worry, you get 10 stamps per checkpoint, oh , but every checkpoint requires you to have learned a new language, so you can talk to the cashier.”

But everyone their own i guess.

Aomine.5012:

Mo Mo.1947:

If you’ve been playing the game for a while your main characters should be good to go to unlock all the new trait lines. Yeah it won’t be too fun farming hero points, but that’s why you should just not farm hero points and play your alts as much as you enjoy them.

If your main character(s) don’t have enough points right away you’re pretty new to the game. The elite specs are for enhancing your fully developed level 80. Spend a little more time fleshing out your characters and you’ll be running that elite spec in no time.

Did you even log in and try it yourself?

With 210 points (ALL THE POINTS YOU CAN GET FROM TYRIA), you’d only able to unlock to ADAPT TRAIT for your specialization.

It’s totally unusable before you acquire all 400.

No it isn’t. I had 213 and I’m playing dragon hunter in the new $%&#@ vertical zone right now. You don’t need all traits to play it, the traits just improve it.

dont like don’t play, you’re part of a vocal minority.

you’ve probably already packed tons of hero points from doing dungeons/fractals/wvw non-stop, by the time you map complete verdant brink you’ll have everything unlocked and still many points remaining

Terimac.5871:

Gankez.2731:

eh kitten it im just gonna uninstall.. waste of money lol

hahaha do you want everything for free? Jeez, such trust fond baby.

I spent 50 dollars on this

Take heart in the fact this seems to be a big issue atm OP, I’ve lost count of these threads with the same complaint.

I’m not an altoholic, don’t have that luxury of time, but I get the complaint and heres hoping Anet will address it in the future. Giving it’s a gameplay style they have always encouraged I’d be surprised if they don’t offer an alternative once the release hype has worn off.

There should at least be a way to reset hero-points!

GreyWraith.8394:

Aomine.5012:

Mo Mo.1947:

If you’ve been playing the game for a while your main characters should be good to go to unlock all the new trait lines. Yeah it won’t be too fun farming hero points, but that’s why you should just not farm hero points and play your alts as much as you enjoy them.

If your main character(s) don’t have enough points right away you’re pretty new to the game. The elite specs are for enhancing your fully developed level 80. Spend a little more time fleshing out your characters and you’ll be running that elite spec in no time.

Did you even log in and try it yourself?

With 210 points (ALL THE POINTS YOU CAN GET FROM TYRIA), you’d only able to unlock to ADAPT TRAIT for your specialization.

It’s totally unusable before you acquire all 400.

No it isn’t. I had 213 and I’m playing dragon hunter in the new $%&#@ vertical zone right now. You don’t need all traits to play it, the traits just improve it.

depends on the elite, thief and engineer get very little from the basic unlocks

Rikkado.7321:

This is like buying a brand spanking new car and then someone tells you:

“Wait, you have to learn how to drive this old crappy machine you’ve been driving for years while earning stamps for every checkpoint you drive past,

No, it’s not like buying a car at all. It’s like buying a derelict plot of land off your neighbour. It’s a blank space into which you can extend your current garden. If you want the garden, you have to create it.

Or, if you want a much more pertinent analogy, it’s a bit like buying the original GW2, or any other similar game. You get a bunch of empty character slots in which you can create a level 1 character with one rubbish weapon and one bag. When you bought the that original game did you expect to be able to insta-create lvl 80 toons with max bags, max weapons and all the skills available? AT the start, you don’t get to disintegrate the mobs in Queensdale with your Huge Blazing Sword of Doom. You get to scratch them to death them with your Insignificant Dagger of Bluntness.

And, yes, I get that if you have loads of alts that there will be some level of repetition but, you know, that what alts are!

The intent of the game designers is obvious. You are meant to fairly easily reach the first rung of the elite ladder and then spend a bunch of time and effort making your way up it. That’s the game. No likee, no playee.

DoctorDing.5890:

Rikkado.7321:

This is like buying a brand spanking new car and then someone tells you:

“Wait, you have to learn how to drive this old crappy machine you’ve been driving for years while earning stamps for every checkpoint you drive past,

No, it’s not like buying a car at all. It’s like buying a derelict plot of land off your neighbour. It’s a blank space into which you can extend your current garden. If you want the garden, you have to create it.

Or, if you want a much more pertinent analogy, it’s a bit like buying the original GW2, or any other similar game. You get a bunch of empty character slots in which you can create a level 1 character with one rubbish weapon and one bag. When you bought the that original game did you expect to be able to insta-create lvl 80 toons with max bags, max weapons and all the skills available? AT the start, you don’t get to disintegrate the mobs in Queensdale with your Huge Blazing Sword of Doom. You get to scratch them to death them with your Insignificant Dagger of Bluntness.

And, yes, I get that if you have loads of alts that there will be some level of repetition but, you know, that what alts are!

The intent of the game designers is obvious. You are meant to fairly easily reach the first rung of the elite ladder and then spend a bunch of time and effort making your way up it. That’s the game. No likee, no playee.

except gw2 wasnt supposed to be extending the level cap, but thats basically how this plays out due to mastery reqs

problem is your best bet is not to play the elites, until you finish the content. Usually the way they design content is such that the best way to make a new job stronger is to play the content appropriate for that job to get stronger. instead you play a different job, and by the time you are done, you dont really have much to play that job with.

essentially it doesnt play out the way you said, it plays out where you play your strong job until you beat the game, then you can play the elite, too bad you already rocked the game

this is the poorest design I’ve ever encountered in an mmo. If the design intent was to annoy the crap out of players then mission accomplished.

I’ll finish my ranger because I’m halfway there, then do Revenant and I’ll leave the rest to sit there.

I will not invest anymore $ on gems/gold for the three other 80s I have until this is changed.

Glov.5342:

dont like don’t play, you’re part of a vocal minority.

you’ve probably already packed tons of hero points from doing dungeons/fractals/wvw non-stop, by the time you map complete verdant brink you’ll have everything unlocked and still many points remaining

Since when could players acquire Hero points from dungeon/fractals ?!?!? And u do realise that hero points is not account wide; players have to grind hero points on each of their toon? It’s a grindy process.

Onlysaneman.9612:

In addition, I’ll have to repeat this for every single alt I decide to roll if I ever want to use their new specializations.

My 14-character altoholic can relate. Please make them account-bound after first unlock!

Gankez.2731:

the issue is we shouldnt have to “work for it” who enjoys grinding? its a pain in the kitten for no reason

If exploring the new maps (and that’s all you really need to do) is grinding to you, you’re probably just not enjoying the game anymore. Maybe play something else?

RedDeadFred.1256:

Gankez.2731:

the issue is we shouldnt have to “work for it” who enjoys grinding? its a pain in the kitten for no reason

If exploring the new maps (and that’s all you really need to do) is grinding to you, you’re probably just not enjoying the game anymore. Maybe play something else?

you need more than exploration, you need to level masteries.

Strange, I do not remember getting all my base skills and talents unlocked as soon as I started a new level 2 character. In my memory, I had to play the game for some time in order to progress to level 80 and unlock everything.

Why should it be different here ? Getting the required 400 HP is like going up from level 2 to 80. Just like it, some will try to do it as fast as possible and some will take their time. Don’t forget that GW2 is about enjoying the way !

Well, in my opinion, it is even better this way. FIRST you have to play through HoT openworld using the spec you are used to at the moment. THEN you will have plenty of time to replay it using your elite spec. The first phase will give you a correct base for comparing the experience with and without.

BTW, the way it is done right now looks quite neat and well thought. The required amount is enough that full map explorers will not get it outright from start, and it is an incentive into thoroughly exploring HoT maps (unless you prefer to grind early HPs). All in all, it looks a bit like the previous way of unlocking talents before specs were redone earlier this year, except that now it is much more feasible.

It strongly dislikes the new way of thinking these days that supposes everything should be handed down for free.

Gonna be quite a hefty grind for Herald. I guess I don’t need any of the other ones THAT badly…

Black Box.9312:

Gonna be quite a hefty grind for Herald. I guess I don’t need any of the other ones THAT badly…

at least for revenant all the gameplay is new, while you are playing it

I might start a Herald just to get the shield skin for my Guard .

It sucks but I have zero compassion for people who bought the expansion this early or even worse got sucked into the pre-purchase hype to now QQ.

Get grumpy all you want, it’s just a byproduct of ignorance and being gulliable to marketing.

I have to agree with the op!

DeceiverX.8361:

I’d love ~40 hour work weeks again. To put it simply, my free time to play usually hovers about fifteen hours per week, which is often spent doing things like… laundry and cooking. Some weekends I get to indulge more, but unfortunately this isn’t common.

And that’s it; when I have the time to entertain myself and indulge in playing video games, I don’t want to have to work in the game to get to the fun parts. If I wanted to work to get to the “fun parts” of things, I’d just spend all of the rest of the time I have working to retire sooner. And even further, I do like to do other things with my free time than dedicate myself to a single online game.

We are so on the same page but that’s irrelevant when it comes to gaming forums, especially this one.

There is a hardcore group of players here who clearly play GW2 for more hours a week than most of us work in RL and they tend to swarm on threads like this.

“But I play 30 hours plus a week…what the problem?”

Swagger.1459:

this is the poorest design I’ve ever encountered in an mmo. If the design intent was to annoy the crap out of players then mission accomplished.

I’ll finish my ranger because I’m halfway there, then do Revenant and I’ll leave the rest to sit there.

I will not invest anymore $ on gems/gold for the three other 80s I have until this is changed.

But isn’t that exactly why it is designed that way? To make you use your gems in order to acquire HPs?

So much for thinking this would be sensible and that the math would have made it possible… so much stuff is locked behind high-end masteries that it feels like I will never be Reaper/Harald/Druid by the end of the year… I think it is time to just play Halloween and forget the HoT area’s.

After a couple hours playing Hot I still haven’t found one hero point. I can of course see them on map and to their credit anet has given an above or below indicator but It’s a pain, and I don’t know if I can’t reach them because there’s mastery’s I need to unlock or some hidden nook to get into.

I mention my trouble because I assume I’m not the only person finding this system troublesome. On this toon I have full explore and didn’t think 200 points at 10 points a pop would be a biggie.

The trouble I’m having also makes me think of people who are instant leveling toons, only to find out that 400 points without online guides may just be a nuisance and not a fun way to simply get access to new abilities.

So I’m in the new expansion and playing my old spekittenil who knows when……

Well if I wasn’t happy before launch, I’m WAY less happy now. We can’t even decide if we want to prioritise traits or skills now? That’s pretty much the worst case scenario of how I thought this would go. Add to that the 25% stealth nerf of exp (and other rewards) in EotM and you’ve even made that grindy avenue less effective.

Don’t you understand that we want to play the new content … all of it. We want to explore the new zones (both in PvE and WvW), we want to unlock all the new masteries there is no need at all to enforce this hero challenge nonsense on us. Maybe if you gave us the choice to use our gained experience to unlock eSpecs or masteries that would be a thing, I’d be totally happy with that, with unlocking the new spec in the normal way … but this? No. The ball has been well and truly dropped.

There was no need to make people this unhappy, no need at all … please fix it.

I have only gotten 1 Hero point. I’ve found a few others but…

1 requires a mastery and I just got Gliding.
Another requires you to kill a champion mob. You’re not doing that solo.
I’m pretty sure I found another. But it’s so far above me, I have no idea how to get it.

So yeah. Things are looking tough right now. I’m going to wait and see if grinding WvW would get you Hero Points faster. But with all the Alts I have… I got the feeling this is going to be a long process.

Open your map ? I played for ~2h, 1 of which was just doing first story step, 1h in the actual map. Found 2 hero points as result of doing 2 events: 1 is following Laranthir (he eventually goes into the ruins where the hero point is => his event chain happens during day south of initial waypoint on a hill), one doing event to get vyvern eggs just west of the itzel village.

symke.3105:

Swagger.1459:

this is the poorest design I’ve ever encountered in an mmo. If the design intent was to annoy the crap out of players then mission accomplished.

I’ll finish my ranger because I’m halfway there, then do Revenant and I’ll leave the rest to sit there.

I will not invest anymore $ on gems/gold for the three other 80s I have until this is changed.

But isn’t that exactly why it is designed that way? To make you use your gems in order to acquire HPs?

Wait, can we use gems to get HPs??? Because my time is way more valuable than my money…

Well, it it was a breeze there’d be someone complaining about that after unlocking everything in a week. /shrugs. It’ll be cool to have something to work on gradually, adds some purpose to your game play. A little grind is a good thing.

Besides, there should be some guides popping up pretty soon though. Dulfy is usually on top of everything right quick.

Mostly it just hurts people with alts. Going through the same motions over and over again just to try out the elite spec will feel like a chore. I don’t have a problem doing this stuff the first time around, but I will probably skip a lot of content on my alts from now on.

Sounds like a bunch of people thought they would get instant awesomeness as soon as they started playing today. Everyone needs to just calm down, and take it easy. If there is something you don’t understand then ask for help. Or look up game notes for the xpac maybe before all the doom and gloom lol

I find how they are doing is annoying it makes me wish I got more before this game come out it’s annoying win you try to do a hero point alone >_> (I’m talking about new hero point the ones you can get 10 from) not only that in a empty map and the people who unlock there elite spec don’t care

I guess it pleases the people who ask for something harder for me I think it’s a waste of time if only we can buy hero points from the gem store I would use my real money for that overall the new maps look amazing the Glider is fun to use except unlocking my elite is making me unhappy and annoyed to a point I want to forget it

That’s just stupid, I bought the expansion wanna try new spec. but cannot play it because i have to grind first for 400 points, thanks really appreciated.

So, PvE is out to gain hero points any time soon since it is heavily gated with mastery grinds…my question is; is WvW faster? It won’t take much!

At this point, I think I am just going to sit in a darned corner and kill pigs to gain exp. Events I die over and over + give low exp so that’s not fun so maybe farming mobs is best if WvW is slow too.

They took our excess Skill Points and gave us Spirit Shards.

Solution:
Let us turn in Spirit Shards for Hero Points. Done, easy.

robotempire.2451:

symke.3105:

Swagger.1459:

this is the poorest design I’ve ever encountered in an mmo. If the design intent was to annoy the crap out of players then mission accomplished.

I’ll finish my ranger because I’m halfway there, then do Revenant and I’ll leave the rest to sit there.

I will not invest anymore $ on gems/gold for the three other 80s I have until this is changed.

But isn’t that exactly why it is designed that way? To make you use your gems in order to acquire HPs?

Wait, can we use gems to get HPs??? Because my time is way more valuable than my money…

If it is true that one can use gems to get HPs, this begins make a lot of sense in a way. Have not seen this but if true, it could be a gold mine for them in the Gem Store.

Terrible design, and even worse implementation. All the open world pvers that think working for something means leaving the content (wvw, spvp, fractals, dungeons) that you enjoy doing in order to unlock something that should be baseline in the expansion is absolute nonsense. I don’t play a game to work hard, that’s what I have a job for, I play to have fun.

Hilarious. Nobody would be QQing if they were actually leveling another 10 levels while they did the new pve content like in EVERY OTHER mmo. At least Anet’s way lets us keep our gear.