Guild Wars 2

I’ve been away from the game a long time and I’ve tried returning this past week. It seems that WvW is a completely different creature now. There seems to be a dearth of small group roaming, battles, and general WvW activity. What gives?

I have yet to purchase HoT – and not sure if it is worth the price tag or not (I’m sincerely torn here). Is it just a matter of time before WvW is alive, again? Does HoT really offer something in the way of value for someone who is mostly interested in WvW?

As to your last question no not really.

Wait for the revamp. Which will happen sometime in the next thousand years. I know, too trusting of me.

HoT destroyed WvW and it is very doubtful that the devs will be able to fix it. Fixing requires some sort of competence in the game mode you are working on. But all the anet devs care about is PvE grinding and crappy Esports. WvW is beyong their abilities, as the current situation has proven so clearly.

The only reason to buy HoT for WvW is access to an Elite spec and some things in the Guild Hall.

Edit: Also access to the Elite Revenants #2 Hammer spam.

• 1. You are correct in that WvW is a totally different creature for the following reasons in regards to your statement “been away from the game a long time”:

- Stability nerf
- Buffs/power creep to all classes
- Condition re-work/tweaks
- Profession overhaul/‘balance’ changes resulting in pirate ship meta
- Post-HoT aka Desert(ed) Borderlands map including the plethora of cheese PvE minded mechanics
- The re-packaging & re-selling of existing guild upgrades (primarily +5 supply function) locking it behind the new Guild Halls which require an ungodly amount of gold & grind to re-acquire

…All of which inevitably chiseled away at skillful, fun, smart play in WvW be it roaming, zerging etc.

• 2. If you are torn on whether or not to buy HoT I suggest doing some research but from a personal perspective HoT grants access to elite specs, of which Guardian for example… is now Dragonhunter and their F1-F3 abilities are vastly superior to their core versions. The F3 shield as a further example – instead of a mere Aegis I can now block all incoming attacks in a cone shape in front of me for X seconds.

To me, a lot of the elite specs in HoT are much more advantageous to use in a WvW setting than their core versions.

• 3. We have been fed the same old, recycled fake promises regarding “improving WvW” by devs for ages but I am sure the WvW community are still hoping for better days when things will be lively again. HoT was definitely the final nail in the coffin for many avid WvWers/commanders/guild leaders alike so it’s going to take ANet devs an immense innovative miracle to mend all the hurt they’ve implemented into the game.

• 4. Yes and no, as mentioned previously there are the elite specs a WvWer might find more valuable picking up to compete with the current meta/play-style going on.

ANet has not detailed anything specific regarding HoT required for WvW other than access to Guild Halls for all the things you can use in WvW, though someone else in the guild could just as easily supply those things.

Something of value for WvWers who buy HoT in the possible future could be a WvW mastery track; I think ANet did mention auto-loot not working in WvW is intended? Either way, it doesn’t work. And it’s much needed. So they should implement a WvW mastery track.

I honestly wouldn’t get any hopes up. It’s ANet. We all know WvW is the red-headed stepchild of the game modes. There’s your honest answers as best as I could.

Thanks for the input. This bums me out to a degree. The WvW in this game is what I loved so much. I think I’ll do some more research and possibly look into alternatives as well.

If it’s WvW you’re interested in, do not buy HoT. The game mode is in its death throes and Anet has given no tangible indication that they are going to act.

And even if they do act, do you really think they can bring it back from death? The same people who put it in the state it’s in now? Not a chance.

Don’t waste your money.

Another thing that should be mentioned is that when if you buy HoT, you’re voting with your wallet. They absolutely suck when it comes to interpreting metrics. So if they see people are buying HoT, they’ll assume it’s good and come out with more of the same. If their sales numbers are drastically low, they should be able to figure out that means that people aren’t happy with their product. Well… hopefully. Knowing Anet, they could very well just assume it means people want more LS stuff, especially in WvW, because “If you’re into WvW, you’re really into PvE” rather than the reality of “If you’re into WvW, you’re forced to grind in PvE or be dead broke.”

As it stands, I can’t honestly recommend coming back to WvW, or GW2 in general. And I certainly don’t recommend giving Anet any money. They’ve said they plan on releasing some sort of big WvW update “soon”. But….. we’ve heard that for years. They really need to pick a new lie, because that one’s lost even the novelty value it had. If they do end up releasing some sort of big update, expect it to steer directly into the HOT trainwreck and finish WvW off for good. It’s just downright pathetic at this point.

As Lord Kuru said, Don’t waste your money.

Op never mentioned server / tier – people who have remained have also moved up. T1 na prime queues or near nearly queues EBG. Some have ventured out to the BLs as well. Can’t speak for lower tiers or non NA-prime.

You do not need HOT though. I enjoy pve as well as wvw so it was worth it to me… One thing to watch is gliding. Friday’s twitch appeared to show gliding in a non-hot map. If that makes it to wvw (speculation only) – gliding is HOT…..

As long as the WvW is in this state i would not return to this game. Maybe wait until the great WvW overhaul is realeased an have a look on it (if we have luck in 4-6 Month ).

You can play WvW without HoT, so just look for your self if it is woth returning, i would say no it isnt, if you are in WvW.

For PvE it is a massive Grindfest and sPvP can be fun but gets boring fast.

Lord Kuru.3685:

If it’s WvW you’re interested in, do not buy HoT. The game mode is in its death throes and Anet has given no tangible indication that they are going to act.

And even if they do act, do you really think they can bring it back from death? The same people who put it in the state it’s in now? Not a chance.

Don’t waste your money.

+1
Game full of emptiness….

WvW is in a bad way for sure but you don’t need HoT to play it. So, hold off buying HoT untill they either fix or kill WvW and make your decision then. I regret buying HoT. I don’t think it’s expansive enough to warrant a £30 price tag. £10 less, then possibly.

To use your analogy:

It still has a pulse, but is on life support. Unless some major surgery is performed it will fade away on it’s own. Honestly though pulling the plug at this point would be a kindness.

HTH

The new elite specs are powerful and fun to play. T1 is a lot of fun right now especially if you like skirmish. Everything else is pretty much the same or worse than a couple years ago. Is HoT worth the entry price, yes if you like PvE. Yes if you like PvP. Maybe if you play mainly WvW.

I am believe WvW is aging its population out so it will likely never be better than it was/is. As we lose players to other games and time in general, not enough new players are coming back. If you want to enjoy some large scale battles and a relatively active T1 scene do it now because in 12 months WvW will likely be empty most of the day even in T1. That is pure speculation though.

It really depends what server you are on to be able to say WvW is dead. T1 has action almost all the time. There is about 2 hours per day it is quiet, that’s it. As for Hot, well it’s a toss up. The new areas are cool but some what hard to do by yourself. Hope this helps you.

StrykerMagnus.4120:

I’ve been away from the game a long time and I’ve tried returning this past week. It seems that WvW is a completely different creature now. There seems to be a dearth of small group roaming, battles, and general WvW activity. What gives?

I have yet to purchase HoT – and not sure if it is worth the price tag or not (I’m sincerely torn here). Is it just a matter of time before WvW is alive, again? Does HoT really offer something in the way of value for someone who is mostly interested in WvW?

No major WvW changes until later of 2016:
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/state-of-the-game-update-q1-2016/

By then most WvW population will be gone.

Save your money and go play another MMO, this one doesnt care enough about this game mode.

I’m currently on YB.

It sounds like it is nearly unanimous. HoT gets a resounding “Meh” and WvW is not as good as it used to be. WvW used to be so much fun! These new borderlands…wtf?!?!