Guild Wars 2

Hello, thinking about coming back after a long break where I just grew very bitter about the game; won’t get into it but after a lengthy battle with getting rid of Lavasoft on my PC and lots of googling, I finally have the game reinstalling. Just wanted to ask what’s new to do and pick up, and if I’m too far behind to really bother playing at all. I think I quit at around the time the HoT preorder drama was a big deal?

I main a ranger, she’s rocking the Ascended Zerker Shortbow, full zerker ascended trinkets, and exotic zerk armor with a zerk GS.

After finishing my Shortbow I really didn’t want to level up crafting for ascended armor and the idea of farming it just killed my enjoyment of the game, so I quit. I used to really like fractals and dungeons, so yeah. How vital is HoT, as I’m pretty eh about dropping 50$ for it at the moment? I’m not too hot on the idea of using a staff, so do I have to go Druid to keep up or is core Ranger still viable? Anything new or new maps or whatever since I left that I could go and see?

Thanks in advance for help.

HoT is pretty vital. A lot of the endgame activity take place in Maguuma, which is the HoT area. That includes raids. Raids right now are the “be all, end all” endgame content. Nobody runs dungeons anymore and high level fractals are rarely pugged. Bloodstone fen is a new area and it is in Maguuma as well.

I would say core ranger is still viable, as most people specced into druid are still running zerk gear with longbow/GS anyways for most pve content. Raids are the only time where rangers actually have to throw dps out the window and go ham on healing power druid.

You can still do fractals, dungeons and the older maps without HoT. However eventually you will fun out of things to do. 4 new zones, 2 story arcs, and 1 raid will keep you busy once you get it. (if you decide to, i would wait for another sale).

As far as druid is concerned. While the general opinion is that its a required aspect of the ranger due to how many damage buffs the trait line has, you do not have to use staff and be a dedicated healer. You can still use bows and damage gear. Just pop into celestial avatar once it fills up, spam a few heals from that onto your party to activate Grace of the Land, drop out of CA and go back to dpsing.

The new maps are .. different. Some I like, others I hate. The vertical expansiveness of the zones is really awing. They seem like a pain at first but once you get a few masteries like mushroom jumping and the higher tiers of flying they become pretty enjoyable (except for tangled depths). The spot that symbolizes Heart of Thorns to me is Lost City of Tarir.

Btw your gear is more than fine.

Anet had 50% off HoT a couple of months ago for the beginning of LS3. They will probably repeat it for the HoT anniversary or the holidays so keep a look out.