What's changed in 2 1/2 years?

What's changed in 2 1/2 years?

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Posted by: Lankybrit.4598

Lankybrit.4598

Hi,

I played back in 2014, and am just about to come back to the game.

What’s changed in 2 1/2 years? I have two level 80 characters and lots of others, and I remember doing the world bosses on my level 80s. Is that still a thing?

Also, I’m considering getting Heart of Thorns, but am a pretty casual player. Do you think it’s worth it?

Thanks in advance.

My Life in Tyria: http://lankygw2blog.blogspot.com/
Updated every Monday

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Posted by: Inculpatus cedo.9234

Inculpatus cedo.9234

I think it is worth purchasing Heart of Thorns…for Masteries, Elite Specialization, access to Living World Season Three, access to the new maps, etc.

You can peruse the ‘Releases’ pages (link above) and Game Release Notes (front page of forum) for information about what has changed/been added.

Welcome return, and good luck.

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Posted by: notebene.3190

notebene.3190

I stopped playing shortly after HoT came out, and complained a little bit about it, and found it kinda difficult at the time.

I don’t know if it has changed a lot in that time or I have, but I picked it up again about a month ago (after being away about 15 months) and I’ve been having a really good time, for what it’s worth!

I’ve played through the story, did all the maps (still have a few things to get in the last map), and participated a half dozen times in each map’s meta (except AB, I do that one once a day now, I really enjoy being a North-Gater and using the armor!) I need to spend some more in Tangled to learn what I’m supposed to be doing with that meta so I can be a better team player, as well as the last map. The times I’ve done it, I’ve just kinda followed people around.

I’ve played through the 3 Living Story S3 steps areas and mapped it all out. Those were really good. They each come with a little half-map and these neat ‘infinite hearts’, which is a great mechanic. I still want to go back and spend some time there picking out some things to save up for to buy.

I still spend a lot of time in the old world, knocking out some WBs each day with various characters. It helps build up Tyria mastery. I’m also slowly picking away at achievements to pick up some more mastery points.

I’ve gotten quite a bit of the HoT and Tyria mastery done as well.

Also working on bring up a new Revenant (sp?), she’s getting close to 60. I have an insta-80 booster, but I wanted to level her up the old fashion way. It’s been a lot of fun. I think I might use that 80 booster on a character of a class I already have, possibly to focus on one of the advanced classes. Maybe a second Elementalist, my main, as I’ve always been quite fond of my staff build with her. Working on hitting some hero points in HoT for my Ranger so I can explore that elite class.

It’s been a really good time so far. Little sad I waited so long to start playing again.

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Posted by: Lankybrit.4598

Lankybrit.4598

Thanks both of you. Haven’t picked it up yet.

As for changes, boy, dailies have changed.

I started trying to get events done in Diessa Plateau and got 2/4 done. So only 1/6 of the daily completed last night.

I guess when I spend more time and know where all the events spawn and everything, it will be easier. There are tons of WvW and PvP ones, but I don’t do either of those. I guess I’m stuff with doing 3/4 PVE ones. I didn’t have time to try and get on any World Bosses, but will do that soon.

Also, the login reward is really good. A couple of Mystic Coins for the first one. I’ll check the wiki for what I get beyond that.

And I need to check out what happened to my personal Guild. I guess there’s no more Influence, right?

If I think of more questions I’ll add them to this thread. Thanks again.

My Life in Tyria: http://lankygw2blog.blogspot.com/
Updated every Monday

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Posted by: Nayaru.4716

Nayaru.4716

Hey Lankybrit! I’m a shortandskinny brit! Pretty much same as you I quit early 2014 and just came back a couple of weeks ago. For your daily problem there, it can be 50/50ish on getting the event completer done quickly, even if you know where events are, can get a bad draw of them spawning for when you appear there – it’s the one of the dailies I’d rather not bother with, because of that!

In these last few weeks that I’ve played… things that are notably different that I can think of:

-If you ever used the player-made ‘immersive combat mod’ all those years ago, guild wars has its own version now (big deal for me!)
-Right click your salvage kit when salvaging – You can salvage everything in one go now!
-Dungeon token rewards are much better: More tokens in general per run and a box containing your choice of token every 8 explorable runs. (also I don’t know if story modes got nerfed or classes got buffed but I solo’d AC story the other day without breaking a sweat, I’m essentially a re-newb, I don’t really know how I did this if the answer was “I’m more skilled than 2/3 years ago” seriously it was so easy o.o.)
-If you had mystic coins left, hold on to them, they’ve suddenly become high demand without a reliable source for acquiring them.
-Boss defiance: Doesn’t have stacks anymore – it seems to be a bar that depletes when CC is used on it, bar goes down and then CC works till bar fills. Doesn’t seem to make a massive difference for PvE really except I’m finding dungeon bosses tend to be fought a little more as designed (at least in the pugs I’ve been in) rather than “yank into corner, stack within hitbox, spin to win”.
-World bosses are pretty much the same as they were, maybe with a few little changes, but I think they are the same for me as when I quit. (/wiki et <for the event timer)
-Some consumable items can be right clicked for a “Consume all” option.
-Check out the collections part of your achievements tab – there’s lots of stuff to be acquired from all over the game through that, I’m still a bit overwhelmed by that panel personally, will get to it eventually, lol.
-Fractals of the mist is much more structured than it was, no randomness and properly tiered.
-100% world exploration toons – They’ll be under 100% now so there’ll be a few maps with things to get, you’ll get another map reward for those which will usually include a transmutation charge or a black lion key:
1-Plains of ashford: Exit from the black citadel and the two hearts you’re looking for are both north of you (cows and then skritt), there’s also a waypoint near the bottom of the map by a guild mission but I think that would have been there long before you quit.
2-Caledon forest: Exit from the grove and the heart you’re looking for will be north and then west near the start.
3-Brisban wildlands: POI in the very far southwest of the map, also a WP near the northwest edge.
4-Any other missing POI’s are probably going to be in LA.

Hmmm I can’t actually think of any more core game notables right now. I think I’ve assimilated most of them already so they’re the norm in my head.

HoT though, if you were as in love with gw2 as I was before I quit (didn’t want to quit) then HoT will just go and reimagine that love like a wrecking ball. For the £35 or whatever it was, (I don’t think the higher priced versions are worth the price unless you’re a gem buyer anyway), is definitely a crapton for your quids. The HoT story is epic (I just finished my first toons one yesterday and I can’t help but feel that anet writers did a lot of quite solid jabs at the player community, but that’s just speculation, but I don’t see how else they could make those jabs and get away with it! XD). The new maps are gi-bloody-normous AND have the added dimension of up and down, It sometimes feels like they’re as tall as they are wide or long. HoT mobs are more challenging than central Tyria, like, you do have to pay attention, they will wreck you. I’ve just got myself into the latest living story maps and it seems like there’s some whole other blooming madness of adventurings happening there too. If I wasn’t so excited I’d probably be overwhelmed!

Your guild question: I have a personal guild but it’s no longer actually useful except for the extra storage space really. It would take a long time to figure out the new guild mechanics, and then implementing solo… yeuch. I’d say there’s no shame in pugging your self into a guild with a hall and all the fancy new things (which reminded me I’ve been forgetting to mine the daily resources in my guilds hall), you can still goto guild halls without HoT! yay! You just can’t use half the features there.

Hope that’s helpful in some way !

(edited by Nayaru.4716)

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Posted by: Inculpatus cedo.9234

Inculpatus cedo.9234

As for characters that had 100%, and need to complete the added Hearts, PoIs, etc., the character will not earn map rewards, again. The character merely re-earns 100% on those maps and World completion. Though, a new feature in maps is Map Rewards, where you earn materials and other items for every 2 events, JPs, etc. completed.

Gliding and true Auto-loot (no interaction needed, at all) are just a couple of the more popular perks that come with Heart of Thorns, as well as easily acquired Ascended gear.

Again, good luck.

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Posted by: Nayaru.4716

Nayaru.4716

I’ve got 4 toons that were 100% world. I redid the maps that were 99% and I got rewards for them. Every single time. This is all in the last few weeks too so it’s not like it’s been so long I’ve forgotten! Keys or charges with about 40 of some material or another, and crap gear. What I didn’t get was a second set of exploration gifts which is to be expected.

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Posted by: Inculpatus cedo.9234

Inculpatus cedo.9234

Then, your client is bugged, or the game has bugged out. You do not, nor or you supposed to, receive rewards for completing maps that have had Waypoints, PoIs, etc. added.

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Posted by: Nayaru.4716

Nayaru.4716

Perhaps the thing is not clearing the maps for over two years since the poi/hearts/wp have been added. I remember at the time when I got the new WP in plains of ashford I didn’t get anything for it. Since there’s no returning player incentive, this will do it for me! Not that I needed any incentive haha!

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Posted by: Lankybrit.4598

Lankybrit.4598

Thanks everyone. I have about 68% of the map complete and will look at completing more. I did get the daily done yesterday, with the vista, mining, and jumping puzzle. I’m ignoring the 4 event one now.

I also got to do Shadow Behemoth, which was fun. Starting to make some gold again. It feels good.

Now to get back to leveling other characters and seeing what’s up with my other 80. I haven’t bought HoT yet, after seeing what some are saying about it on the HoT forum.

Cheers.

My Life in Tyria: http://lankygw2blog.blogspot.com/
Updated every Monday

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Posted by: Lankybrit.4598

Lankybrit.4598

I have a question.

I’m very confused about Skills. You know. The ones with the Circle, that you put points in to complete that circle. I just don’t understand them. Do they give passive bonuses, or do they provide skills that you have to add to your skill bar, or what? I had certain ones of them filled out on my Warrior, but others were blank, and I have a few hundred points to spend. I’m really confused by them.

Thanks.

My Life in Tyria: http://lankygw2blog.blogspot.com/
Updated every Monday

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Posted by: notebene.3190

notebene.3190

You want to use that in conjunction with the build tab, which is one tab above it. At different levels, you can gain access to being able to select 1-3 of the Specializations to have active at one time. You can change specializations at any time.

They are all passive, but are meant to compliment weapon choices, armor type choices, etc. As an example, I’m working on a Revenant for the first time, and wanted to mostly be a staff support healer type, so to compliment my choice of weapon and armor with lots of healing power, one of my specialization lines is Salvation, which has some abilities ‘specific’ to being triggered using a staff.

On that tab, you’ll select 1-3 specializations to activate (depending on your level), then you can active one of each of the 3 square specializations between each of the ‘given’ hexagon specs in that line, and it draws out a neat connecting line to help you see the path you selected.

It’s been awhile since I changed any of my characters, but I’m pretty sure there is no cost to changing them. I think there was once upon a time?

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Posted by: Lankybrit.4598

Lankybrit.4598

Thank. I kind of understand those. I’m talking about the noes you click on the left side, like Strength, Banners, Sigils etc. Do people max them all out, or is there some choice in what to put points in?

My Life in Tyria: http://lankygw2blog.blogspot.com/
Updated every Monday

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Posted by: notebene.3190

notebene.3190

Oh I see. It just depends on what kind of build you are going for, as far as priorities go? Eventually, ‘everything’ will be maxed out, assuming you do 100% map completion on a character, or some other combination of things to get you that many hero points. I suppose it’s possible to hit all the hero points in AB and then ‘not’ need 100% Tyria completion, or some such.

As far as what to do first, it just depends on your class and the build you are trying to achieve, really? I think with my Staff Elementalist, who is my main, I favored Signet Training over some of the other ones, though in WvW, I don’t think I use any Signets. But back when I was leveling her up, the method of progression was ‘really’ different back then. I also like the healing glyph and the elemental glyph in general PvE. It just depends on what you feel like doing.

There is not ‘wrong’ choice, you will eventually get to pick anything you want.

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Posted by: Lankybrit.4598

Lankybrit.4598

OK. Thanks a lot. I’m looking at my Rifle Warrior and Bow Ranger first (my 2 80s). I’ll have a closer look at what they all do and put points into them.

My Life in Tyria: http://lankygw2blog.blogspot.com/
Updated every Monday

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Posted by: Inculpatus cedo.9234

Inculpatus cedo.9234

If your characters are L80, you have enough Hero Points to fill out every ‘circle’, and must fill the ‘circles’ to advance to Elite Specializations. There is absolutely nothing to save Hero Points for before completing the Core Specializations.

Thus, click the last icon in each circle and spend your Hero Points (on the L80s).

Good luck.

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Posted by: Lankybrit.4598

Lankybrit.4598

What should I do with all my ‘stuff’?

Gosh, I have so much stuff in my bank. I was collecting, thinking I would use stuff, and I guess I never will. Should I just trash it. Things like XP boosters, Bloodstone Dust, all other types of boosters. I just have a bank full of stuff that I’m not using, and just taking up space. Also, all the stuff from the 3 Birthday mails on each of my characters!! If anything should have been 1 per account, it’s those

A question about Luck boosters too. That’s a permanent increase, right? Not an increase for an amount of time?

My Life in Tyria: http://lankygw2blog.blogspot.com/
Updated every Monday

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Posted by: notebene.3190

notebene.3190

There are things in the world you can create/obtain that will eat things like bloodstone dust, turning them into bags of items that you can salvage for mats to use or sell on the TP.

For all those ‘types’ of old boosters, you might be able to combine some of them into the multi

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Posted by: Lankybrit.4598

Lankybrit.4598

Gosh, I just looked up what is required to get things that will consume Bloodstone Dust. There’s no way I’m going to be doing that. I might as well just destroy it all.

Thanks for the tip on combining boosters. I’ll look into that.

My Life in Tyria: http://lankygw2blog.blogspot.com/
Updated every Monday

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Posted by: Inculpatus cedo.9234

Inculpatus cedo.9234

I don’t know if the Mystic Forge Recipe for Booster Multi-packs is still viable.

It was replaced with: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Enchanted_Reward_Boost

Herta (Bloodstone eater) isn’t very difficult to obtain if/when you purchase Heart of Thorns. https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Herta

Another tip: Open all your Champion/other loot containers on a ~L53 character and you will not only not receive Bloodstone Dust but much more valuable mats from gear you salvage.

Good luck.

(edited by Inculpatus cedo.9234)

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Posted by: Unreal Havoc.7590

Unreal Havoc.7590

Returning player also after a good few years.

Subscribed!

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Posted by: Lankybrit.4598

Lankybrit.4598

Returning player also after a good few years.

Subscribed!

I have a new blog post that describes what I’ve been up to since I returned.

You may be interested. Link is in my sig.

My Life in Tyria: http://lankygw2blog.blogspot.com/
Updated every Monday