Guild Wars 2

My feelings on tying doing LS3 to entering zones are pretty clear. It is a bad idea. They are doing an even worse one though because both of those are tied to masteries (that is how you get the pts for the next one and they are in order).

Say in a future zone they let you in without doing the story. You can train up the mastery anywhere in HOT/LS3, yes. If you have not done the previous zone you can not get the mastery points though. Even if you have some spare points (like not maxing everything) you can not get the relevant mastery until you get the mastery for the previous zone. To add to the pain, with these being almost “throw-away zones” the previous zone is easier when there are other people there and they probably will go to the new zone eventually (how many people are in Bloodstone Fen now).

Basically, you have to play LS3 at roughly the same time and rate as everyone else. No coming in late or lingering over a zone.

Is it just me that is annoyed at the direction they are taking? It is a one-size-may-fit-all approach.

Great, another eergh.. I have to play the game to get my rewards

I hope you realized that the LS3 masteries are actually tied to the LS3 maps? nowhere else in the world do you use the thermal launchers. nowhere else in the world can you wield spiritually imbued flames.

Not only are the masteries limited to the zones they’re actually used in, it would make ZERO sense to unlock these masteries ANYWHERE ELSE

That one size fit all thing will bottleneck the flow of the map and it will be dead. However all MMO’s aside Gw2 have a fix for it and it’s either the hamster wheel meaning that people will continue to get stronger so less people or needed for old content or GW1 Hench/Hero/Merc system of giving the players NPC’s to handle the content once everyone has left. These new maps bottleneck things more so than any of the previous ones by locking themselves through story. In HoT you can run and explore all the way to DS on the first day these new maps are blocked off you have to play through them to unlock the next one. Shared currency(Unbound) and zone wide buffs are not enough to keep these zones active. They will never be F2P zones because you need HoT right now to access them and after the season is over they’ll be in the cash shop like S2.

Also that’s silly in all aspects to believe these masteries will be locked to the zones. There is no precedent set for this while there is one for mushrooms, gliding, and basically the masteries not tied to a race or physical substance.

So no I their not tied to the maps their tied to what makes sense for instance their are no chak so no chak acid but of course chak will return and thus that mastery will be used again. The flame and bloodstone are iffy since you need bloodstone and kodan torches but the thermal vents will no doubt return as they along with gliding and shrooms are already present in newer maps.

Amaimon.7823:

Great, another eergh.. I have to play the game to get my rewards

I hope you realized that the LS3 masteries are actually tied to the LS3 maps? nowhere else in the world do you use the thermal launchers. nowhere else in the world can you wield spiritually imbued flames.

Not only are the masteries limited to the zones they’re actually used in, it would make ZERO sense to unlock these masteries ANYWHERE ELSE

Have you actually looked at what masteries are used in the maps? Thermal tubes are learned in Ember Bay. They are used both there and in Bitterfrost. The core masteries are used everywhere. My point though is that they are LINEAR and require previous ones. Say they do open up zones without doing the story ….. unless you have the mastery from the previous chapter you are not getting the current mastery no matter how much you may need it (even if you had no intention of going to the previous zone you still need that mastery).

Menadena.7482:

Amaimon.7823:

Great, another eergh.. I have to play the game to get my rewards

I hope you realized that the LS3 masteries are actually tied to the LS3 maps? nowhere else in the world do you use the thermal launchers. nowhere else in the world can you wield spiritually imbued flames.

Not only are the masteries limited to the zones they’re actually used in, it would make ZERO sense to unlock these masteries ANYWHERE ELSE

Have you actually looked at what masteries are used in the maps? Thermal tubes are learned in Ember Bay. They are used both there and in Bitterfrost. The core masteries are used everywhere. My point though is that they are LINEAR and require previous ones. Say they do open up zones without doing the story ….. unless you have the mastery from the previous chapter you are not getting the current mastery no matter how much you may need it (even if you had no intention of going to the previous zone you still need that mastery).

Other than the first mastery for the first episode, none of them have been required. There’s nothing wrong with linear progression and the XP needed is very reasonable.

Menadena.7482:

Amaimon.7823:

Great, another eergh.. I have to play the game to get my rewards

I hope you realized that the LS3 masteries are actually tied to the LS3 maps? nowhere else in the world do you use the thermal launchers. nowhere else in the world can you wield spiritually imbued flames.

Not only are the masteries limited to the zones they’re actually used in, it would make ZERO sense to unlock these masteries ANYWHERE ELSE

Have you actually looked at what masteries are used in the maps? Thermal tubes are learned in Ember Bay. They are used both there and in Bitterfrost. The core masteries are used everywhere. My point though is that they are LINEAR and require previous ones. Say they do open up zones without doing the story ….. unless you have the mastery from the previous chapter you are not getting the current mastery no matter how much you may need it (even if you had no intention of going to the previous zone you still need that mastery).

I still fail to see your point. You say want access to stage 3 and their mechanics, completely neglecting stage 1 of the story and their mechanics? Boy you must be new to gaming. A normal player will go through the contend in sequence, be ause thats how the story works, thats how ANY story in ANY game works. No one plays mario world 5 and then world 2 and then world 4. Unless you have masteries of act 1 you wont get the masteries of act 2, and retrospectivally act 3.
But seriously, what is the problem? . . if you played the game normally, you wouldve had the thermal tube mastery before going to act 3

You can go to the zone, unlock the mastery and then go to another zone to train it, whether the zone is dead or not, not that any of them are so dead you can’t play them (I know this because I play them).

But since you only need to enter a zone to unlock the mastery and it can even be trained in VB or AB, I’m not really sure what the OP’s problem is.

I don’t understand the ‘core masteries are used everywhere’ statement. Core Tyria Masteries? I don’t use Fractal Masteries anywhere but Fractals. ‘Core’ Hot Masteries? I’ve yet to see any Exalted, Itzel, etc. Masteries good anywhere but ‘core’ HoT maps.

I’m confused.

I don’t think one must gather all or even most Mastery Points from a previous Living World Story map to enter or navigate or play the content of successive map(s). I, for one, have a surplus of HoT Mastery Points. Nor do I really use Thermal Tubes in Bitterfrost. Swimming or gliding works for me. /shrug

Sure, it would be more fun if most masteries were useful everywhere. But as noted, Fractal masteries are only useful in fractlals, plus gliding isn’t useful in a lot of instanced content, legendary mastery has no value for folks who don’t want legendaries, etc. And sure, I realize that some masteries are barely-disguised gating of features.

Still, I’m not bothered because I only have to do it once per account. Plus: I’ve found an easy work-around:

• Acquire all the easy mastery points (usually an extra 1-2 in the new zones).
• Save “daily” chests from the Episode 3 zones.

When there’s a new mastery line introduced, I start it, pop a few chests, spend the saved points, and I’m done.

I didnt bother to learn the thermal tube mastery in the prior zone but had no problem getting around in the most recent map. Am I missing something?

Ashen.2907:

I didnt bother to learn the thermal tube mastery in the prior zone but had no problem getting around in the most recent map. Am I missing something?

It’s fun to use; it’s not required (especially if you have mesmer friends for completing the map).

Ashen.2907:

I didnt bother to learn the thermal tube mastery in the prior zone but had no problem getting around in the most recent map. Am I missing something?

You do not need a mastery to get around in the current zone (although there are mushrooms, updrafts, and thermal tubes). The mastery in ep 3 is for using the flame.

Menadena.7482:

Ashen.2907:

I didnt bother to learn the thermal tube mastery in the prior zone but had no problem getting around in the most recent map. Am I missing something?

You do not need a mastery to get around in the current zone (although there are mushrooms, updrafts, and thermal tubes). The mastery in ep 3 is for using the flame.

…which is not actually required, since I completed EP3 story prior to unlocking thermal tubes, let alone anything else. Just FWIW.