Guild Wars 2

Some of the good parts to me:
The auto upgrading of objectives is pretty cool. The new sentry player ID is pretty cool too. Enjoyed trying out the new class and look forward to playing it more.

The bad parts:
The need to get 400 more WvW levels or PvE a bunch to unlock content that we paid for is really strange and annoying. After nearly 2k hours just on my thief, I am ready to try a new build. Sucks that I have to play another 100+ hours (I roam so WvW levels don’t come quick) to get the next specialty. Hopefully I am missing something here.

The BL maps to me are a disaster. Too much PvE, way too much running and they are too complex in their layouts. Almost everything about them is why EotM is a WvW failure and ended up being a farm map. I will give it another try but after a couple hours I just couldn’t stand to be on that map any longer.

Early Verdict:
Given the added playing time wall for getting Elites that a player has to pay for, I would not buy this upgrade had I to do it all over again and would not recommend it to a friend. The new class is slick but not $50 slick. The new Elites, well I don’t know since I am hundreds of hours away from being able to play them.

My opinion can and hopefully will change but the new content is hardly worth the relatively steep expansion entry price. I do hope others get more enjoyment out of their purchase than I have so far.

I don’t mean to be “That Guy” or play the “Devils Advocate”, But…

Just because you pay for a game, doesn’t mean there will not be work needed to be done in order for you to unlock something, to gain access to something.

I know that the 400 Hero Points can seem overwhelming, but like most, I believe people are blowing it way out of proportion, and if you REALLY want it, you’ll step out of your comfort zone of “Give it to me for nothing, because I bought it…” and work towards it.

I don’t know, maybe I’m just the type of guy that prefers to have to put honest work and effort into something, so when I get it or complete the objective, it feels nice, like I achieved something, you know?

When you buy a game, you don’t start at max level. Leveling is actually a part of what you payed for. Same with this expansion. We will have clearly enough time to enjoy our max level/max masteries/max hero points characters before the next expansion!

The server I’m on has been dead since it launched so haven’t got to play much yet…. Looks cool tho. Hope to see some allies soon or maybe roll the dice on another transfer and cross my fingers.

first time i ever entered the old borderlands …i was thinking so much running around like an id.ot….
to day i spent 10 min on the new map ..and i was kitten this ..im going EB…lol

seems to me gametime spend running just gone up 25 %…

bought HoT 2 days ago after just a week orso being back after 1.5 year break since I saw a Engi with hammer
crafted ascended hammer for my engi
then read up about some stuff, that hammer s gonna be sitting in my bags for quite a while xd

Silverkey.2078:

When you buy a game, you don’t start at max level. Leveling is actually a part of what you payed for. Same with this expansion. We will have clearly enough time to enjoy our max level/max masteries/max hero points characters before the next expansion!

Thing is when you buy an expansion you already have played the game X number of hours and played these expanded classes in their current form for a massive amount of time. Locking class expansions (not new classes) behind grind walls is the exact opposite of what ANet games used to be about. I am all for leveling a new class and even earning my elites but sticking them behind hundreds of hours of gameplay (WvW gameplay anyway) borders on ludicrous.

Getting a new class all the way to 80 takes way less time than unlocking a single elite.

Straegen.2938:

Silverkey.2078:

When you buy a game, you don’t start at max level. Leveling is actually a part of what you payed for. Same with this expansion. We will have clearly enough time to enjoy our max level/max masteries/max hero points characters before the next expansion!

Thing is when you buy an expansion you already have played the game X number of hours and played these expanded classes in their current form for a massive amount of time. Locking class expansions (not new classes) behind grind walls is the exact opposite of what ANet games used to be about. I am all for leveling a new class and even earning my elites but sticking them behind hundreds of hours of gameplay (WvW gameplay anyway) borders on ludicrous.

Getting a new class all the way to 80 takes way less time than unlocking a single elite.

Well other MMO’s xpacs usually raise the level cap so you still have to grind levels and also grind for new gear on top of that since they also always introduce a new set of gear stats that are better. At least most of the MMO’s I played in the past have done this. I actually hopped into the WvW map but wanted to do some of the new story so only spent 5 minutes in the new map and got to say I might just turn into a PVE’er for a bit because it has me hooked LOL

Also I totally understand everyone.. Not everyone has the freedom like I do right now to pretty much game for as long as I want. There is just so much to do right now that I’m not even sure what I want to concentrate one..

I also setup a twitch and will be streaming random stuff on and off most of the time I play so if you guys are ever bored at work/school check me out

http://www.twitch.tv/briggah

briggah.7910:

Well other MMO’s xpacs usually raise the level cap so you still have to grind levels and also grind for new gear on top of that since they also always introduce a new set of gear stats that are better. At least most of the MMO’s I played in the past have done this. I actually hopped into the WvW map but wanted to do some of the new story so only spent 5 minutes in the new map and got to say I might just turn into a PVE’er for a bit because it has me hooked LOL

Having played my fair share of MMOs dating back to MUDs (closing in on 50 y/o) I can say I don’t remember any expansion pack of any MMO that added on hundreds of hours of game grind per class to open up all the abilities of that class. We aren’t talking about an extra 20 hours of game play per class. If you want to unlock all the elites you would be talking about thousands of hours in this game. THOUSANDS.

Also that new tier of gear in games like WoW doesn’t prevent a player from accessing their full skills and class abilities. A player could easily log 200 hours in WvW to unlock an elite and not even like the way it plays.

Straegen.2938:

briggah.7910:

Well other MMO’s xpacs usually raise the level cap so you still have to grind levels and also grind for new gear on top of that since they also always introduce a new set of gear stats that are better. At least most of the MMO’s I played in the past have done this. I actually hopped into the WvW map but wanted to do some of the new story so only spent 5 minutes in the new map and got to say I might just turn into a PVE’er for a bit because it has me hooked LOL

Having played my fair share of MMOs dating back to MUDs (closing in on 50 y/o) I can say I don’t remember any expansion pack of any MMO that added on hundreds of hours of game grind per class to open up all the abilities of that class. We aren’t talking about an extra 20 hours of game play per class. If you want to unlock all the elites you would be talking about thousands of hours in this game. THOUSANDS.

Also that new tier of gear in games like WoW doesn’t prevent a player from accessing their full skills and class abilities. A player could easily log 200 hours in WvW to unlock an elite and not even like the way it plays.

I hear ya. About 15 mins after HoT I saw a reaper running around.. Now I guess he has to grind to unlock stuff but some people are already on these new one. WoW to me was nothing but endless grinds but I only played it for about a year before I got bored of it.

Also sorry can’t pm since I’m on punishment but I’m kind of new to this twitch stuff and been getting some lag so I had to restart stream. WvW is empty like I thought so right now I’m just running around in the jungle.

Worst bit about having to go into pve to unlock stuff is my ele build isn’t suited to pve at all, so now I’m faced with making another armor set and trinkets just so I can go and be bored in some pve rat maze with JP’s (URGH I HATE JPs). Which isn’t going to happen.

Those maguuma mobs are fine for heavies, but hit like trucks on my squishy light armor toons.

Faced with either sticking to one class and getting elite sometime before Xmas or playing my usual rotation and never unlocking the elite skills on them, it’s not really that appealing to play at all.

Early look at the BL maps tell me they are way too big with way too much running – if you get killed and have to respawn that run gets real boring real fast, especially after the 10th thief pairing jump you on your way back.

30 minutes in the new BL and I ran for cover in EB.

I feel server merges coming if they can ever solve the map cap problem – originally wvw was supposed to cater for 100+ a side, we’re at about 60 or so.

I’m sure I’ll appreciate the new elite if I ever face the grind, but for now it’s more GW for me and less (if any) gw2.

Didn’t they say at one point that everyone would get the new elite and skills- now it’s behind a massive grind and pay wall, as none HoT players don’t get elites either…

briggah.7910:

I hear ya. About 15 mins after HoT I saw a reaper running around.. Now I guess he has to grind to unlock stuff but some people are already on these new one. WoW to me was nothing but endless grinds but I only played it for about a year before I got bored of it.

Players that were achievement hunters on one class and used those tomes when they gave HPs will get their elite mastery immediately. Poor kittens like me that played all eight classes at various times or are just starting out are just screwed into doing a lot of grinding if we want to get an elite. I expected some leveling to get these new abilities but not hundreds/thousands of hours worth. Makes me wonder why I came back much less spent $50 for a bunch of content I probably won’t get to.

Straegen.2938:

briggah.7910:

I hear ya. About 15 mins after HoT I saw a reaper running around.. Now I guess he has to grind to unlock stuff but some people are already on these new one. WoW to me was nothing but endless grinds but I only played it for about a year before I got bored of it.

Players that were achievement hunters on one class and used those tomes when they gave HPs will get their elite mastery immediately. Poor kittens like me that played all eight classes at various times or are just starting out are just screwed into doing a lot of grinding if we want to get an elite. I expected some leveling to get these new abilities but not hundreds/thousands of hours worth. Makes me wonder why I came back much less spent $50 for a bunch of content I probably won’t get to.

Someone in another thread already stated they have a fully unlocked dragonhunter.. Now I thought anet didn’t want things unlocked on the first day and I took that as it would still take pve’ers some time to actually unlock stuff..

Doesn’t look to be the case though so I totally agree that something should be done for the people that mainly play WvW. I’m in same boat as the rest of you guys. I only have 1 toon out of 10 that has 100% map and is caught up on the story. 2nd highest is 71% but the rest are between 2% – 10%.

briggah.7910:

Someone in another thread already stated they have a fully unlocked dragonhunter.. Now I thought anet didn’t want things unlocked on the first day and I took that as it would still take pve’ers some time to actually unlock stuff..

Doesn’t look to be the case though so I totally agree that something should be done for the people that mainly play WvW. I’m in same boat as the rest of you guys. I only have 1 toon out of 10 that has 100% map and is caught up on the story. 2nd highest is 71% but the rest are between 2% – 10%.

No the just didn’t want WvW players to be able to with WEXP. They told people to go farm hero points and most people did. Those are the people with the elits already. Also it only takes 60 to start to play the elite and 400 for everything unlocked. Could just have unlocked dragon hunter (60 points).

New wvw map = Edge of the mist 2 ,a pve map… tnx anet…
i want back the old Borders!!!!

Its very frustrating for wvw exclusive players like myself. Those who have the map completion have a lot less work to fully unlock their specialization and lets not forget you have to do this per character >.>

You all missing the point this game supposed to have provided you more fun enjoyment then any other mmo, dont be lazy to grind a lil bit for you characters it will be rewarded something great, same thing happening in real life you have to work to earn real money to spend food clothing etc etc,,,,just join a group or guild and youll finish all achievements very fast.

swellercross.3974:

You all missing the point this game supposed to have provided you more fun enjoyment then any other mmo, dont be lazy to grind a lil bit for you characters it will be rewarded something great, same thing happening in real life you have to work to earn real money to spend food clothing etc etc,,,,just join a group or guild and youll finish all achievements very fast.

But it’s my money and “I want it NOW”.

swellercross.3974:

You all missing the point this game supposed to have provided you more fun enjoyment then any other mmo, dont be lazy to grind a lil bit for you characters it will be rewarded something great, same thing happening in real life you have to work to earn real money to spend food clothing etc etc,,,,just join a group or guild and youll finish all achievements very fast.

I think “lil bit” of grinding is the issue here. Some grinding, OK. This much grinding (as in thousands of hours to unlock the elites) is way too much.

As for comparing this to real life. If I wanted another job, it would pay me and not the other way around.

i had allready 200 something points on my main char, wich has map completion and almost every point on the new maps, and it was not enough to unlock the elite spec… so.. i have to GRIND! with EVERY SINGLE ONE of my chars. not a little bit.. i have to grind a kittening lot to unlock only one char-spec. and of corse i have to grind PVE to get it as fast as possible… i just imagine making 400 ranks for EACH of my 9 chars in WvW and i can spend my next three years in WvW and dont reach it… what a kittening joke!

ah, and the new maps are aweful, running around 50% of the time is just kittened up…

cheerz

The maps are so gigantic and there’s so much empty space that exists for reasons I can’t understand. There’s cliffs everywhere so getting anywhere is a major chore and there’s a bunch of strange gimmicks like stealth canyons that have me shaking my head. It really is EotM 2.0 bigger, badder, and more annoying.

It took about 10 min for me to even see a friendly player and even longer to spot an enemy player. We basically were in map chat completely lost running around aimlessly and trying not to fall off cliffs. Eventually we managed to tag up and collect enough people to make a party.

it was not much fun at all. The only good thing is that scenery is nice so you have things to look at while you bumble around.

So HP are a pain in the rear in HoT land. Got to one that I was really happy about, and because I didn’t have some frog mastery I couldn’t get the point.

If I can get there I should be able to get the point.

I suspect the new bl maps will soon be desolate and empty and eb will be filled to the brim with players that actually don´t feel like running for hours and hours back and forth on a huge map. I spent about 15 mins on the new bl and was utterly bored, with so many pve elements and basically no enemies in sight.
Eb, the map that i actually liked the least will probably be the map i will spend most of my wvw time on soon. Pffft.

Maybe the maps are currently empty because: Guilds grinding to get arena/hall; players grinding up elite points; players levelling up the new class?

Unless they are all doing it whilst marked as offline, not the above.

Well it is not better on the top servers either, borderlands are empty, and people are on eb, noone want to bother with the new map.

Also about the heropoints. Here is the thing, most of us do not only play one character, we play several. I for example run 4 different clases frequently and i have to gain those points for each class, as in going out and doing all those hero points over and over and over and over again. Then i have the other classes that i play when i feel like it, and well tbh i dont think i can be kitten d, so guess they will just sit there.

I don’t mind to put effort in to it, i don’t even mind that it will take some time, but this just feels like when you are grinding noteriety in other mmo’s. It just takes to long

I think the big maps would be fun in evenly matched, packed servers. But that’s not the case for most of the matchups.. (instead there should be a compact version of the map for low tiers)

I’m disappointed with the guard stack changes, before I wouldn’t mind fighting an NPC to get buffs but now I recoil at the sight of worthless PVE’ing in WvW. It doesn’t help that the time that went to leveling those things in WvW feels wasted now that they’re gone.

The nerf to the +-condi food hasn’t really done anything, the issue has always been about specific classes and builds (Mesmers are #1 cancer out there where condies matter, small group battles)

It’s also disappointing that the Mastery system was inspired by WvW, but so little went back to improve WvW leveling. I’d love to at least see reward tracks like in sPvP.

The auto-upgrading is neat but it should depend on incoming doylaks ALOT more so offpeak roamers can actually mean something, otherwise structures can just sit and upgrade themselves without opposition.

I play all 8 (now rev too) just to understand the enemy. I had 200+ HP on all my chars waiting for elite specs. After getting half-way elites, unlocking some weak traits and few skills, they all still rubbish. Thing is, I am not going to replace any of my normal builds with these half-finished weaker specs for months. Basically, yes I have “unlocked” the elite specs but in reality they all remain unplayable until I grind through all the extra HP. Which will take very long time. VERY. VERY. LONG…