Guild Wars 2

Just caught myself thinking that with all the detail and thoughtfulness of a new zone, something is missing. None of the atmosphere and experience of “completion”. I think everyone who cries about the need for full addon want exactly this. Why not use the renown hearts? It’s a great idea. There is no some global goalas like it was in the beginning. Maybe new completionist for season 2? Just do not understand why the developers refuse interesting ideas that were announced even before the release. For example, where is these animated conversations, like in personal story. I think they would be very welcome.

None of the level 80 areas have hearts.

Danikat.8537:

None of the level 80 areas have hearts.

And it is not good. It’s time to add them.

Because Hearts are there so that people know where to go and what to do (they were not supposed to be in the game at all from the start) and as such putting them in lvl 80 areas doesn’t make much sense, since people should know what to do at that point.

lordkrall.7241:

Because Hearts are there so that people know where to go and what to do (they were not supposed to be in the game at all from the start) and as such putting them in lvl 80 areas doesn’t make much sense, since people should know what to do at that point.

Do you think that dozens of people loitering around and standing afk while reading wikipedia – it’s better?
If we disclose the question, people who do not know what to do – this is exactly the problem that, according to the developers, they do not know how to fight. To solve it added timers for bosses, LS pointers (aka heralds), letters showing where to go, a wealth of information on the site etc. Is it reasonable to refuse one of the best tools to deal with this “disorientation” which game has?

MeGaZlo.9516:

And it is not good. It’s time to add them.

Why is it not good?
This might not be easy to notice, but it’s not only the lvl80 zones not having hearts. As the level of the zone increases, hearts become continuously more sparse.

This is intentional. They were added later in the dev process as a way to help newcomers ease into the game because they have points to “tick off” on the map.

But ultimately, GW2’s questing is event-based, and events become more and more prevalent as hearts decrease in number. Capping off at lvl80 zones where everything is event-based and there’s no hearts at all any more.

How about DEs then?

You know, like chains, that alter the balance in an area. Not just single events.
I thought this game was all about that, especially the level 80 zones. Like Orr.

This game is trying hard to remove all content, that set it apart from other games in the first place.

Kaiyanwan.8521:

How about DEs than? …. Like Orr

It’s a shame because I actually liked the concept of Orr. What killed it were the constant bugs that hampered certain DEs so you couldn’t really achieve the endgame in Straights of Devastation. By the time they were fixed, the place became a ghost town and to add further to it, Living World started up which drew people away.

Personally, I would like to see them take a map if a little bit bigger than Dry Top and try to recreate experiences like those on Orr again.

Kaiyanwan.8521:

How about DEs than?

You know, like chains, that alter the balance in an area. Not just single events.
I thought this game was all about that, especially the level 80 zones. Like Orr.

Yeah, I miss those, too.

Especially the branching ones where the failure or success of one mission led to different follow-ups. Those are amazing, and pretty common in the launch zones but virtually inexistent in latter stuff.

Southsun Cove has very limited branching in the attack/defend events for the settlements. But it’s not chained properly, so yeah.

I hope Dry Top gets chains as the zone expands. Really do. Chains are the really amazing part of events in Gw2.

A renown heart is someone who permanently needs help with something.
Like a farmer who needs help to tend to his fields.
They are what you could consider “allies” that need help.
All current lvl 80 areas except dry top are spawning pools for dragon minions and are too hostile for many allies to live in at all. That’s why they have no renown hearts, there’s nobody always.
For dry top, Prosperity hates strangers and thus can’t be the home for renown hearts.
The zephyrites just crashed there and will probably be cleared up in a few story steps and therefore they aren’t permanent enough to get renown hearts.
There are no other permanent residents of dry top.

I was thinking about hearts the other day and how I miss them, and wondering why there weren’t any in the new zone.

Then I realized there were some reasons not to do it that way.

A heart can’t be replayed. Once you do all the things you need to do to complete the heart, all you can do there is sell to the heart person or buy the few things they have.

The way the first new area of the larger zone works, it’s replayable, and kinda serves the same purpose. I like the scaling mechanic too, in principle (without getting into details about how and why it scales and what you get when it does).

People mentioned DEs and chained DEs, and doesn’kitten‘kinda’ work that way, to some extent? I mean, you can (and people have) just about set your watch by the available activities, no? I’m starting to learn where to start looking for things at different times, and finding I can get quite a few things done in the hour cycle.

But I do miss the hearts, much the same way I miss the old way of telling stories, in sort of a comic book frame where I’m talking to people. It would be nice to bring that back if for no other reason than to mix it up. It does make the personal story feel more personal too.

The only reason I can think of to put the heart in is a one time mechanism to ‘teach’ the new area, letting NPCs explain what all the threats are in the area, help you find the DEs and such, and completing them (and knocking off mob types and maybe bring some sand back) help complete the heart? And the heart could have ‘some’ rewards on them like an old school heart? I’m not sure what it would be.

Hearts also often times have fun, non-combat goofy mechanic things to do that are often a fun break from killing, feeding chickens, repairing a town, finding things to feed cows. I think they did a decent job of mixing some of that in, with kites and a few escorts?

Yeah, definitely some mixed emotions about hearts. But I can see why they aren’t there.

This is a tradition areas. Not yet required for map completion. So lets see what Maguuma has in store for the future when the area opens up. Those that AFK are missing out.

The fact that the hearts is a tool for “acclimatization” of new players is understandable. However, why do not they have a place to be? This is quite unusual, interesting, new. It’s good idea. It can be Improved. Redesigned. Anything is better than just to push it away. I’m more impressed by the original concept of completionist than permanent opportunities to farm something.
Actually there is no completion tracker at all. It’s sad. I hope the situation will change in future patches.
By the way, nobody miss the animated dialogues?

adding quests would be good, shame most players are to caught up in prejudice that they can’t think of evolved quests.
i dunno if anyone wants to hear my solution that could be used throughout the entire game, it’s a fun way to add quests but you need to be open minded and not judge so fast without even experiencing it.

I wish we had more heart quests. It always gives me multiple ways to complete the same goal, and I like having that range of choices. Plus it feels part of the completion of a zone.

Some heart quests have a bit of a repetition in them, but all in all it just gives us more to do in an explorable. I wish they continued that trend in new zones.

MeGaZlo.9516:

This is quite unusual, interesting, new. It’s good idea. It can be Improved. Redesigned.

Eh, no. Hearts is the old idea. Events is the new one. The hearts are in the lower level areas and then phase out exactly because if it were a full-on-level-1-forward switch a newcomer might get confused if they expect quest-story-driven zones.

Hearts are there for the totally casual players. The hearts tell people what to do if they can’t find out for themselves. You can do a lot of little things, of your choice, at any time, with any number of players, to fill a heart and open up rewards. Hearts are only done once and offer no repeated content or extended interest in the area. Repeatable content comes from events that can be done with or without hearts.

The Zephyrite favor is a more complex heart system. You get favor by completing events and it gets wiped after an hour. This makes the game play more intensive and keeps repeatable interest in the events. Casuals can still get the zephyrite favor but they just have to put in a bit more effort. Nothing could ever be less challenging than the old heart system.

What many people don’t get is that actual quests (even though heart quests are a mediocre example) create a personal atmosphere.

No real quests in the area just means, that all NPCs are totally useless (except the miner guy you have to find at the end).
They miss personality and a reason to exist, and so does the area in the end.

Right now, I do not know the name of a single NPC at Dry Top, do you?
This game misses immersion. A lot.

Hearts are great early on but at level 80, you can cruise past them and once they are done they hold NO value to you. I know events repeat and can be tiring overtime but they add longevity as you can do them X amount of times and they will always be there.

Carighan.6758:

I hope Dry Top gets chains as the zone expands. Really do. Chains are the really amazing part of events in Gw2.

I’m curious whether it will expand at all or we’ll just get the next zone over. Dry Top in Guild Wars 1 was small.

Heart quests are training wheels for MMO players who are stuck in the mindset that you need a quest list to progress. =P

“Right now, I do not know the name of a single NPC at Dry Top, do you? "

I can’t name any NPCs in Brisban Wildlands either, can you? The NPCs are still all there doing the right sort of events though; the guy lost in the sandstorm, the Hylek on his hill, the Zephyrites in the wreckage. Events are important, not hearts.

At first, i didn’t like heart tasks, but lately i actually think they are a good content filler. They can be used for all kinds of things, such as Karma Vendors and Background Lore.

Kaiyanwan.8521:

What many people don’t get is that actual quests (even though heart quests are a mediocre example) create a personal atmosphere…

This and also they are good at bringing players together.
If I were to make a heart quest today the “quest giver” would have several hearts to complete based on what’s going on around them. Sandstorm? Devourers. Champ up? Bring it down. Nearby Events? Go help. No Sandstorm? Prepare for sandstorm.

The idea is that these guys don’t have to be one quest wonders. They don’t even have to stay in one place. For casual players like me hearts are a way for me to make sure that I experience the full zone. Also give me something new to spend karma on.

Because this is way more fun than hearts ever were.

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Right now, I do not know the name of a single NPC at Dry Top, do you?
This game misses immersion. A lot.

Amoxtli
Nochtli
Riot Alice
Serene
Lucent (who has a former name he gave up when he became a Zephyrite, though I can’t recall what it was now).
Haze
Gigor

I can’t remember the name of a single renown heart NPC, though. Renown hearts felt like a mechanic to encourage players to do everything, but Dry Top feels much more organic and natural to me. I feel much more immersed exploring Dry Top and looking for events to help with than I do running around starting zones going from renown heart to renown heart.

Also, I really didn’t like the 1-on-1 voiced dialog sections. It was jarring to go from a standard 3rd-person perspective to a sudden 1-on-1 conversation with a painted backdrop. I would love for my character to be voice acted again, but I would want it to happen in-game, or in a true cutscene, not with those unnatural backdropped perspectives.