Guild Wars 2

Hello folks !

I’m opening this thread to share a fear thought about next elite specs.

As you may now, we should get a new X-Pack soon™ which will come along with new elite specs to unlock. Currently, WvW players can unlock them by spending Proof of heroics on notarized scrolls of Heroics. It currently costs 250 proofs of heroics to fully unlock an elite spec.

Since HoT came some times ago, and the new skirmish rewards are now giving a significant amount of Proofs, I think unlocking the next set of elite specs is not too much of a worry for dedicated players (it costs 2250 PoH to unlock the nine of them).

Yet, I’m somehow afraid that, with that in mind, ANet comes with a way to make the unlocking more of a hassle, either by introducing a new currency, or by changing the conversion rate from 1 PoH = 1 Hero Point to something less profitable. It wouldn’t be the first time they do such things in ordre to “make the new content more desirable”.

So, my wish is ANet must not follow that road, and keep things as they currently are on the topic of unlocking elite specs with proofs of heroics.

Any thoughts on this ? Am I too anxious ?

tbh id like them to make it require more this time around. Esp if they can squise some lore in there as well idk after doing the hotmaps and all im sitting at 250 hero points and it would feel bad the moment the expac launched to get it in the first min.

…

Another one of these, “ANet is extorting us, by charging for a xpac, that we will ONLY use the new specs from”.

My mind can’t seem to wrap around the mentality people have nowadays, like, have you guys ever bought an expansion to a game before, or has it just been, one game, no new content?

The new elite specs will come with a new currency to unlock them, or won’t be unlockable using anything from wvw. Then 6 months in, when someone at Anet remembers there are still some wvw players left, something will be done.

Odokuro.5049:

…

Another one of these, “ANet is extorting us, by charging for a xpac, that we will ONLY use the new specs from”.

My mind can’t seem to wrap around the mentality people have nowadays, like, have you guys ever bought an expansion to a game before, or has it just been, one game, no new content?

You think Anet should make it difficult for that customer segment? Doesn’t sound like smart business to me.

People wanting access to a new spec they’ve bought without having to grind out in a game mode they have no interest in isn’t unreasonable. It’s not like we’re talking about skins here.

Besides, It was even easier back in the ol’ gw1 days.

ThomasC.1056:

Hello folks !

I’m opening this thread to share a fear thought about next elite specs.

As you may now, we should get a new X-Pack soon™ which will come along with new elite specs to unlock. Currently, WvW players can unlock them by spending Proof of heroics on notarized scrolls of Heroics. It currently costs 250 proofs of heroics to fully unlock an elite spec.

Since HoT came some times ago, and the new skirmish rewards are now giving a significant amount of Proofs, I think unlocking the next set of elite specs is not too much of a worry for dedicated players (it costs 2250 PoH to unlock the nine of them).

Yet, I’m somehow afraid that, with that in mind, ANet comes with a way to make the unlocking more of a hassle, either by introducing a new currency, or by changing the conversion rate from 1 PoH = 1 Hero Point to something less profitable. It wouldn’t be the first time they do such things in ordre to “make the new content more desirable”.

So, my wish is ANet must not follow that road, and keep things as they currently are on the topic of unlocking elite specs with proofs of heroics.

Any thoughts on this ? Am I too anxious ?

You’re worried that you might not be able to instantly unlock the new elite specs? Jesus, why is it so far out there for you to have to play the game after the expansion comes out in order to purchase the next expansions elite specs?

The LS maps that preceded HoT (Dry Top and Silverwastes) included Hero Challenges valued at 1 HP, the same as those in core GW2. What i find interesting is that the LS maps after HoT have no Hero Challenges. My guess at this point is that ANet will move away from Hero Challenges, and there will be a new method to unlock any Elite Specs that ship with XPac 2. If we look at ANet’s history, that would likely lead to Proofs bring yet another currency limited to a specific thing, and the introduction of a new currency for WvW-only players to get the new specs.

OriOri.8724:

ThomasC.1056:

Hello folks !

I’m opening this thread to share a fear thought about next elite specs.

As you may now, we should get a new X-Pack soon™ which will come along with new elite specs to unlock. Currently, WvW players can unlock them by spending Proof of heroics on notarized scrolls of Heroics. It currently costs 250 proofs of heroics to fully unlock an elite spec.

Since HoT came some times ago, and the new skirmish rewards are now giving a significant amount of Proofs, I think unlocking the next set of elite specs is not too much of a worry for dedicated players (it costs 2250 PoH to unlock the nine of them).

Yet, I’m somehow afraid that, with that in mind, ANet comes with a way to make the unlocking more of a hassle, either by introducing a new currency, or by changing the conversion rate from 1 PoH = 1 Hero Point to something less profitable. It wouldn’t be the first time they do such things in ordre to “make the new content more desirable”.

So, my wish is ANet must not follow that road, and keep things as they currently are on the topic of unlocking elite specs with proofs of heroics.

Any thoughts on this ? Am I too anxious ?

You’re worried that you might not be able to instantly unlock the new elite specs? Jesus, why is it so far out there for you to have to play the game after the expansion comes out in order to purchase the next expansions elite specs?

My worries are of course not that extreme !

When HoT came out, there was somehow a “collision” because new contents was to be enjoyed with old builds, and new elite-specs builds didn’t have that much new content to enjoy. I’m still mixed-feeling about all this, because in the next xpac, the excitation for new things will come from new PvE stuff and new skills/specs. The thing is : if you don’t have content to use the new skills, then what’s the purpose of them ? Then again, I’m over-exaggerating, because you can always do some old content, but …

That’s very different from other X-Packs of other games, which were more like the revenant introducing. I buy the X-Pack, I start the rev, and I can insta lvl 80 with tomes. What’s wrong with that ? In GW1, I bought Nightfall, and I ran a Paragon. Insta new stuff. Yet, elite specs should be somehow gated ? I’m not saying it’s bad. I’m just saying I’m perplex.

Specifically for the case of players not wanting to set foot in PvE, I think making a new currency would be stupid, because it’d time gate new stuff without other justification than hype reasons. Now, in my case, I’ll enjoy the PvE stuff, and unlock things at the pace they come.

Plan for the worst and be pleasantly surprised.

In my opinion they will introduce a new currency. Now I say this for a number of reasons:

• That is their trend with new areas is to have new currencies
• It creates a level field that prevents stock piling in advance of release for key currencies
• It reduces the potential that people can max out on day 1
• It doesn’t require players to have HoT if they sell them separately
• Look how they handled Tomes of Knowledge in HoT

Good hunting!

ThomasC.1056:

Hello folks !

I’m opening this thread to share a fear thought about next elite specs.

As you may now, we should get a new X-Pack soon™ which will come along with new elite specs to unlock. Currently, WvW players can unlock them by spending Proof of heroics on notarized scrolls of Heroics. It currently costs 250 proofs of heroics to fully unlock an elite spec.

Since HoT came some times ago, and the new skirmish rewards are now giving a significant amount of Proofs, I think unlocking the next set of elite specs is not too much of a worry for dedicated players (it costs 2250 PoH to unlock the nine of them).

Yet, I’m somehow afraid that, with that in mind, ANet comes with a way to make the unlocking more of a hassle, either by introducing a new currency, or by changing the conversion rate from 1 PoH = 1 Hero Point to something less profitable. It wouldn’t be the first time they do such things in ordre to “make the new content more desirable”.

So, my wish is ANet must not follow that road, and keep things as they currently are on the topic of unlocking elite specs with proofs of heroics.

Any thoughts on this ? Am I too anxious ?

Well lets say worst case scenario that you do have to do the new PvE content to unlock it like in HoT, even the HoT hero point challenges werent terrible and even two years on people still do HP trains. I know it would take a bit of time to have to do that 9 times over, but I ended up doing it for 5 characters and it took a period of 2ish weeks. Not that bad!

Having said that though when I look at the wording the Hero Points unlock in WvW, they unlock based on areas, so 1 to 1 ratio in the original content, 10 to 10 (still 1 to 1) in HoT. From my understanding too, it was HoT that was supposed to set the “standard” for all future expansions when it came to new “classes” elite specs. Which was why the expansion was so much about features and not a lot of pure content. Based on how the expansion was received, I think people are generally happy with the features in the game (guild halls, elite specs, masteries, LFG in PvE, PvP and WvW etc.) that they arent going to waste more time messing around with features and finally get down to delivering a big influx of new content. Which, in my humble opinion, is really what the game needs right now. We need new content to get hyped for, we need new armor, maps (WvW maps), mounts (leaked) etc.

Choppy.4183:

Odokuro.5049:

…

Another one of these, “ANet is extorting us, by charging for a xpac, that we will ONLY use the new specs from”.

My mind can’t seem to wrap around the mentality people have nowadays, like, have you guys ever bought an expansion to a game before, or has it just been, one game, no new content?

You think Anet should make it difficult for that customer segment? Doesn’t sound like smart business to me.

People wanting access to a new spec they’ve bought without having to grind out in a game mode they have no interest in isn’t unreasonable. It’s not like we’re talking about skins here.

Besides, It was even easier back in the ol’ gw1 days.

But this isn’t Guild Wars 1, and with the last Elite Spec, we had to grind out the Hero Points or Proofs of Heroics, either way, it’s an easy task to complete. Having things handed to you with no effort just because you, spent money, seems like a case of entitlement to me.

I don’t see where anything will change. There is no reason to really change it. It will most likely be 250 HPs just like the last one. If you remember they had a higher requirement and it did not sit well with the community. I think the current price of HPs is in a good place.

I think it will probably still be 250HPs.

But they could put some extra gating on unlocking them.

Exciton.8942:

I think it will probably still be 250HPs.

But they could put some extra gating on unlocking them.

I really hope that is not the case. Elite specs are a standard. Like any standard they need to be normalized so players know what to expect. There are lots of new things to look forward to with an expansion pack, but something a standardized as elite specs should stay the same. A new expansion pack shouldn’t be about gating core game mechanics and features for the sake of calling them new.

As they mentioned… Proofs will be used. As for cost, I see no reason for them not to cost the same. Make it 5K proofs and we’ll still have enough. But keep in mind, more proofs required, the more skill points they need to design in the open world. We won’t be seeing a rise of 2K…

Odokuro.5049:

Having things handed to you with no effort just because you, spent money, seems like a case of entitlement to me.

Help me to understand this point. Anet has made a game with separate modes that, as far as I’ve read and seen, are intended to be largely self contained (loot aside).

If someone buys an expansion with the sole purpose of accessing content designed for their preferred game mode, how do they have a sense of entitlement for preferring to not grind out in a different game mode?

Alternatively, what’s the argument for making people grind in unwanted areas to access content they’ve paid for?

I mean, I don’t personally care. But I don’t understand your perspective.

What I wonder…
Why not have rankups grant regional scrolls directly?

Unless the hero point requirements are an order of magnitude higher, the central tyria and HoT points already exist to max it out. Central tyria has either enough, or almost enough hero points to max out HoT.

Choppy.4183:

Odokuro.5049:

Having things handed to you with no effort just because you, spent money, seems like a case of entitlement to me.

Help me to understand this point. Anet has made a game with separate modes that, as far as I’ve read and seen, are intended to be largely self contained (loot aside).

If someone buys an expansion with the sole purpose of accessing content designed for their preferred game mode, how do they have a sense of entitlement for preferring to not grind out in a different game mode?

Alternatively, what’s the argument for making people grind in unwanted areas to access content they’ve paid for?

I mean, I don’t personally care. But I don’t understand your perspective.

I guess we’re both having trouble understanding each others perspectives. You don’t understand that WvW is not a, “Self contained” game mode nor will it ever, and people shouldn’t expect to not have to play the largest part of the game because they, “Don’t prefer to”, solely based on the reason they, spent money.

I would understand yours more, if say, Guild Wars 2 was solely a WvW game, where there was no other content, besides, a few massive maps where servers/factions of people competed with one another. Then yeah, paying for one thing, but needing to do X, Y, and Z would bother me too. But if the past few years have taught us anything, is that Guild Wars 2, is a PvE centric game, with two additional side-modes, for those wanting to compete versus other player controlled characters.

So again, IF this was solely a WvW game, and ANet made elite specs that where only unlockable via content that wasn’t seen as the, “Norm”, then yea, I would be right there with you, but, it isn’t, so people shouldn’t expect to not have to participate in content they aren’t knowledgeable on, or comfortable doing, just because they spent money.

@Odokuro
But gw has always been sold as a game with multiple game modes to serve different customers. It’s why, for example, you can buy the game and play nothing but pvp from day one, or you can never set foot in a fractal, etc.

That’s one of the USP’s of the game. People buy games to have fun… the foundation of the industry is in facilitating that impulse for money.

Let’s hope that new elite specs just add new play style and won’t force every player play new spec just to be competitive. They could boost vanilla specs too.

zealex.9410:

tbh id like them to make it require more this time around. Esp if they can squise some lore in there as well idk after doing the hotmaps and all im sitting at 250 hero points and it would feel bad the moment the expac launched to get it in the first min.

No, we don’t need them to artificially inflate the price of the new elite spec like they did the existing one relative to the core stuff. That’s an arms race that can’t end well.

If people have been diligent enough to rack up all those extra hero points, let them benefit rather than try to punish them.

OriOri.8724:

You’re worried that you might not be able to instantly unlock the new elite specs? Jesus, why is it so far out there for you to have to play the game after the expansion comes out in order to purchase the next expansions elite specs?

Some people, amazingly, want to play the new content with the new elite specs instead of for them. That was what people were expecting with HoT (because Anet kept the cost of the elite specs secret until literally days before launch), and that’s why they revolted after the cost became known and got Anet to back down a bit.