Guild Wars 2

I still sometimes run D/D with my Tempest, so that at least still works. Tempest has more options for close quarters, though.

It definitely upped the ante compared to old zones. However, I think they’ve done a lot in recent months to correct for a lot of that. Personally, I don’t want new zones to all be cruisers like the starting levels, but they don’t have to be batkitten crazy, either. At some point, if you’re just trying to stay alive in a zone, you don’t really get to ‘explore’ as much.

Gaaroth.2567:

Like Andulias said, pick up what you like do to. Set your goals and work towards them.
Fractal (new) backpack? Complete the raid? One of the new legendaries? Map/mastery completion? PvP? WvW?
Try something, look into it the set,ready,go!

Again, the point of the question is I’m asking you what you find interesting. Why are people talking to me like I signed up for counseling?

Andulias.9516:

I never understood questions such as this one. Nobody but you knows what you find fun and what – not, nobody but you can know if you are burnt out or not. Considering you have 9 alts I reckon you are fully aware of all your options (sPVP, running metas, fractals, raids etc) and only you can find out which you find fun, so what is your question again?

Just try things out, mate Or better yet, take a break and return when Anet released more content. If any game promotes such a playstyle, it’s GW2.

Thanks for the reply – I suppose it’s just a difference of opinion, personality, or whatever. I sort of see the question like a bunch of us frequent the same restaurant, and I casually ask, what’s new, what tastes good, etc?

It’s not really meant to be a consequential or existential question. Of course I know I’m a little burnt out, and of course I know that I am the creator of my own happiness. I’m just asking anyone if they’ve found any part of the game especially fun i.e. the new WvW map, chasing after all the masteries, doing the story, etc.

I recently filled out all my elite specs on all nine of my characters (one of each). Other than finishing the story at least once, what should I tackle next? I’m not sure if I’m lost, or just burnt out. Feels like some of my enthusiasm evaporated.

Using LFG is sound advice. LFG is your friend. Guilds are also your friend.

I mostly solo myself as well, and it’s just a sad fact that after the zerg rush, you really need to travel with at least one other person to make it work smoothly. Depending on the profession, you may even want more.

Whether it was accidental or intentional, finding new ways to provide progression, new ways to design maps, etc., without changing the way at least some people play was optimistic.

If you need more people, hit me up if nobody else. If I’m on, we can do it together.

It’s just a game, in the end. If you don’t feel like playing, you shouldn’t.

As far as the amount of content goes, I’ll take a good amount of great, over a great amount of good. Personally, I don’t need every expansion to be a campaign, in fact, I’d almost prefer each expansion to offer different things.

Just taking GW1 as an example, I played all of the expansions, and by Elona I was just like why bother? I mean really? I’m playing the same guys, largely the same spells, largely the same way, and it’s just new scenery. Largely the same old mechanics, the same basic plotline. (Stuff’s going down, who you gonna call?) It gets so stale after the third time.

purchasing it no, pre-purchasing it, maybe.

I think once a bunch of people buy into it, they really have the freedom to do what they want, and make you put up with it. I think if you don’t trust that you and Anet are on the same page, then you need to wait until it comes out, before buying it.

If I think about it, it seems rather obvious, although I totally admit I got bit by it too. They dropped the title and I was already like, “shut up, and take my money!”

I dunno, it sounds like the two guys who left for Amazon got recruited out, and people in general start looking for new challenges after 3-5 years. They were working on GW2 for about what 5 years before release? It’s been 3 years since then? I think a certain level of turn-over is to be expected, even in a healthy company. Not saying I disagree, but I don’t see the sky falling, either.

Personally, I think the game’s a little too good to go offline; there’s enough people who want to play, and their system is dynamic enough, that they should be able to keep the old content alive as long as people want to play.

Test.8734:

• GW2 became free to play, and we know that no MMORPG went free to play when its previous business model was being a success. This is a big hint that GW2 wasn’t being that successful as Buy to Play.

I don’t know if five and a half million subscriptions was enough to make buy to play work for them, but it’s hard to argue that those kind of numbers weren’t successful on at least some level. As far as I know, WoW is the only other MMO to ever get numbers that high.

I don’t really get the point of loot drops at this stage, anyway – this is supposed to be a continuation for level 80 characters, and at this point, most people probably already have exotic or ascended gear. What do you want to do with a greenie, besides sell it on AH for pennies, or salvage it?

When they first announced specializations and elite specializations, Tabula Rasa immediately came to mind. Perhaps it’s just me, but I never got the impression that elites were supposed to be more powerful than the standard profession; it’s more like a profession tree (with currently two levels).

I think it’s totally reasonable. If you choose to start off as a lightly armored, swift attacks guy, you can grow into a sniper, or a ninja, but not both.

in retrospect, they’re probably kicking themselves over naming them ‘elite’ specs. They were never going to be more powerful than the other specs. If there was ever any doubt about that, the three beta weekend events dispelled that.

+1. I’ve been loving the music, and the art!

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Only one tiny complaint.

……Jumps off from high spot in Tyria. Hits Glide…..

Other than that, it’s great.

I have a feeling we’ll never see that in the original maps – not only would it probably take a lot of work to implement, but it might ruin the playability of certain quests and puzzles…

yeah, the new maps have a more dynamic feel to them.

Personally, I’m just happy that they took a chance and made an expansion that wasn’t simply more of the same. I think that they could have gone have easily gone the safe route and reopened up Cantha, Elona, etc, and just cranked out Map-centered expansions like very every year.

They did that before with GW1 and they didn’t like it -each game they wanted to do new things that they couldn’t do with the existing engine – that’s one of the main reasons they killed the last expansion, cut Eye of the North, and went onto develop GW2 in the first place.

I think it was risky, I certainly didn’t like the Elite Specializations issue. I have to hand it to them for trying new things; and when I think that when they already give out content like the living story for free, I can take the expansion in good faith, even though the map content is relatively smaller.

At some point these guys all need to eat somehow.

wasichu.7524:

I remember when the first guild wars Nightfall expansion came out we got a whole new continent to explore and quest (ELONA) which had 4 regions with multiple sub-regions.
We got new PVP environments, (2) new classes to play and race. A true expansion.

For the cost of the vastness of guildwars 2 we bought HoT. Which included one new class, no new race, for PVP there is supposed to be the new Battle of Champion’s Dusk don’t know much about it if that’s live for all to play yet or not.

In guild wars 1 Maguuma was huge with places like bloodstone fen and reed bog, we only got 3 sub-regions in maguuma, are more regions to unlock in soon weeks to come?

I just feel shortchanged

Depends on whether the expansion is in mechanics, or content. I was around for all of GW1, and each expansion was mostly content.

If you REALLY want to get technical, the only expansion for GW1 was Eye of the North – Factions and Nightfall were technically separate games that used the same engine with minor improvements. A little bit of hair-splitting, since the accounts could all be linked, but hey.

Harper.4173:

There is very, very little content in the new expansion – and it forces you to stretch it out even more to make it appear as if there was more content.

Compare the amount of content in HoT to the full game – remember you paid full price for both.

Now leave aside the map size – some might argue the new maps are more content rich – concentrate on the other things.

HoT brings fewer new skins, fewer events, fewer instances, fewer story instances, fewer new enemies, fewer mechanics – fewer everything than the core game did on release.
I wouldn’t even be upset if they at least did 60-80% of what we had on Core release – but this is absurd.

And no – core Tyria masteries are not content – they are features – you can’t take old content and present it as new.

Comparing the HoT expansion to something like a WoW expansion might be a little unfair. It may seem pricey for what you get, compared to a WoW expansion, but you also should remember we’re not paying a monthly fee. In the end, development does cost money.

The literature prior to release definitely didn’t imply that the zone you get dropped into would be more like ruins of orr, vs a starter zone. That being said, I do like the new zones.

I think the first zone really mirrors the storyline in that when you first drop into it, it’s kind of chaotic. It’s definitely not a friendly zone; it has a little bit of a learning curve. It also gets a lot better once you can glide, updraft, and use the mushrooms. Much easier!

The alcoholics like myself have it a little easier I think, grinding out those masteries. If you mess around the first two zones with 9 different toons, you will get those masteries pretty quickly.

That’s just virtual vs physical rewards. My entire job revolves around things that would go away once the computers are turned off. I still work hard and i still need to get paid.

all right, moment of lameness, I admit.

When I was a kid, I used to watch these movies or television shows where the Dad spends his free time puffing on a pipe, and building a ship in a bottle in his study. I used to think, “That’s so stupid, why would he waste his time doing something like that?”

Now that I’m a working professional, and a father and husband myself, I totally understand what that ship in a bottle is all about. Sometimes I think that GW2 is my ship in a bottle. Anybody else feel the same way?

Tollz.4152:

Divine Flavor.2016:

Laraley.7695:

Divine Flavor.2016:

No need to be rude, I agree. However, a couple of hours a night every night, plus all weekend long – that’s 10 hours a week + say a good eight per saturday and sunday? So that’s 26 hours a week?

I would say that might be the average for a young person with no other obligations outside of work. It’s really not the average at all for people at most other stages of their lives.

It does not take that long.

While you say game shouldn’t adjust to people you describe, it also shouldn’t adjust to people who have no time to play yet want to have everything in the game.

No, I would say grinding out 400HP would take a fairly long time, especially if you have multiple alts, and especially if you missed most of the Zerg-Train on opening weekend.

On Saturday, you could ride along with the mob, jump into any HP, and chances are that there would already be people there fighting the champ, or ready to start. By Sunday evening, that train had already left the first two zones. The problem is fairly binary – you either have the people to grind the masteries and do the champs with you, and it’s largely a breeze, or you don’t, in which case you have nothing.

This morning I logged in to play a few HPs and I probably spent 10-15 minutes just gathering a few guys to do the champ. No worries – but 40 times of herding cats, be it guildies or pugs? That’s not fun, that’s just drudgery.

‘It does not take that long’ is your judgement, based on your commitments and your availability – it’s not a statement of truth.

These are all straw-man arguments. Nobody said the game should adjust to one individual or group. What I personally said was that the 400 points was a hard left, an obvious grind, and ran counter to nine years of Guild Wars 1 & 2, and Arena Net’s manifesto. It also was very much NOT what was presented before or after pre-purchase. A lot of people said the same thing.

I play 10-15 hours a week, not as much as some, but certainly a dedicated amount and about as much as anyone spends on a hobby, on average. I most certainly don’t have ‘no time to play’. I most certainly never asked for, nor do I, ‘want everything.’

I don’t think laraley meant it in this way, I understand your stance and I largely agree, if the system was set out as a lower cap from the beginning things might have been in a better place and also people that cannot get groups together may have a harder time, that said you can solo these champion mobs it just takes some effort.

I personally have a commander tag and was able to gather people en masse which I know is different but I helped as many as I could in the process of getting my own because I could rally people and time and time again I also saw the community say “hey guys lets group up on me and grab this point” or “im here at this really hard point anyone wanna jump in my party and get it?” even in the barren maps sunday evening when I was returning with the masteries to get the points I couldn’t and Anet just announced they are actually fixing an issue that caused the players to be scattered across different instances so that should also be addressed soon.

The problem we now have is that a portion of the player base put a lot more effort into doing stuff and then that time was essentially taken away because it was felt that the cap was too high.

Thanks for taking the time to be write something so thoughtful. I don’t want to sound dismissive, but I have to say though, it was just one weekend, is that really a whole of time ‘wasted’? They got to be King of the Mountain for a few days, they had fun, and if they didn’t, they should have stopped. It’s opening weekend, we’re all experienced with MMOs, we all know things can and will change.

Tollz.4152:

MrH.2591:

Celtic Lady.3729:

It just seems like getting upset about the changes because a person has gotten their spec is very, very petty.

When all a person has is superiority in a video game they react poorly when that’s taken away from them.

I understand you do not agree with myself or others in my position but it is not about superiority. It is not “I completed it super fast” or “I got there why can’t you” it is that Anet set out a goal in their game that indeed did take a lot of time and a fair bit of effort. When that time and effort is then made null by simply making it easier or faster than mine and anyone else’s time was spent on something that others are now getting for less. I don’t want to feel superior I am actually just upset, the same way that yourself or anyone else that is embracing this change was upset that it took that long in the first place.

Please be constructive and actually contribute to the topic not just getting on your high horse to call people out.

I can understand that, but I mean that’s always been the case with MMOs, with WoW in particular. Every expansion, every reworking of the trees… Can someone give me back all the hours I put into GW1? I marched a toon for every class through all four expansions, for what, exactly?

All glory’s fleeting. I have ‘Chosen’ as a title, a bunch of legacy skins, and that’s pretty much it. In the end I realized it’s a game, it’s not a degree from Harvard. If i wanted to put time into something that will last, then I shouldn’t put it into a game. That’s personally my experience.

Kittens, if you want to talk about taking stuff away, how about all the free levels that are being thrown about? My first five or 6 80s were definitely all done by hand. The last two, were probably half done just sitting in Divinity’s Reach, eating up Scrolls and Tomes. The last one after the big traits reworking. Pretty easy to level now, when you don’t have to put points into the power or precision lines.

Laraley.7695:

Divine Flavor.2016:

No need to be rude, I agree. However, a couple of hours a night every night, plus all weekend long – that’s 10 hours a week + say a good eight per saturday and sunday? So that’s 26 hours a week?

I would say that might be the average for a young person with no other obligations outside of work. It’s really not the average at all for people at most other stages of their lives.

It does not take that long.

While you say game shouldn’t adjust to people you describe, it also shouldn’t adjust to people who have no time to play yet want to have everything in the game.

No, I would say grinding out 400HP would take a fairly long time, especially if you have multiple alts, and especially if you missed most of the Zerg-Train on opening weekend.

On Saturday, you could ride along with the mob, jump into any HP, and chances are that there would already be people there fighting the champ, or ready to start. By Sunday evening, that train had already left the first two zones. The problem is fairly binary – you either have the people to grind the masteries and do the champs with you, and it’s largely a breeze, or you don’t, in which case you have nothing.

This morning I logged in to play a few HPs and I probably spent 10-15 minutes just gathering a few guys to do the champ. No worries – but 40 times of herding cats, be it guildies or pugs? That’s not fun, that’s just drudgery.

‘It does not take that long’ is your judgement, based on your commitments and your availability – it’s not a statement of truth.

These are all straw-man arguments. Nobody said the game should adjust to one individual or group. What I personally said was that the 400 points was a hard left, an obvious grind, and ran counter to nine years of Guild Wars 1 & 2, and Arena Net’s manifesto. It also was very much NOT what was presented before or after pre-purchase. A lot of people said the same thing.

I play 10-15 hours a week, not as much as some, but certainly a dedicated amount and about as much as anyone spends on a hobby, on average. I most certainly don’t have ‘no time to play’. I most certainly never asked for, nor do I, ‘want everything.’

No need to be rude, I agree. However, a couple of hours a night every night, plus all weekend long – that’s 10 hours a week + say a good eight per saturday and sunday? So that’s 26 hours a week?

I would say that might be the average for a young person with no other obligations outside of work. It’s really not the average at all for people at most other stages of their lives.

ChrizZcE.5981:

Divine Flavor.2016:

Somehow, I don’t think this one’s got the legs that the Elite Spec issue had.

If we cry loud enough then Anet will change it.

Lead on, and we’ll see what happens.

Thelgar.7214:

The reduction from 400 to 250 is a good call.

That being said, having unlocked two of the Elite specs fully, how much I’m looking forward to the joy of seeing 150 Hero Points sitting useless in my character screens cannot be overstated.

Yeah, but for a few days, you were King of the Mountain, man.

Somehow, I don’t think this one’s got the legs that the Elite Spec issue had.

CuteLilKittenHugz.2064:

Lynce.9560:

250 points is still a bit much if you consider alts, manageable for 1-2 characters, more than that and is still too daunting. ..

That’s exactly what I just posted on the thread Gaile started.

People are just so happy that they got a piece of cake, they haven’t noticed it really amounts to nothing more than a few crumbs of “compromise”.

I’ll take it, compromise is not a dirty word. Ultimately, it’s their game and they made it and they can do what they want with it. I happen to like the game very much, and I’m glad they considered our very different opinions enough to steer their ship more in our direction.

To be able to finish out the game as a Tempest or a Daredevil as opposed to an Ele or Rogue is a very good thing.

Thank you, Colin! You are a true gentleman and a scholar! I can definitely live with 250.

Bryzy.2719:

I’m actually pretty shocked Anet haven’t replied to this. Just days into the release of a major expansion you’d think they’d be pretty hot on the communication front for such a huge issue.

Colin did reply on Sunday, I believe. I believe he acknowledged that we raised a few interesting points. Nothing promised, other than they would discuss it internally.

I’m too lazy to go look for it, I’m sure you can see it in the Dev forum.

Test.8734:

Nike.2631:

Really. You think the folks whose livelihoods depend on the game and have been working towards this release for about two years now didn’t think about it?

Yep.

Just like they didn’t predict the massive outcry when they announced the price of the expansion.

Or when they announced the new “gold to gem” conversion system.

Or any of the other times when they had to take back a decision they had made because of a massive community outcry that they didn’t properly predict.

You can claim that ArenaNet is perfect and thinks everything through correctly and perfectly. This mess with the specialization points show otherwise.

If anything, this is a sign of how poorly they are doing. People are complaining because the specializations are locked behind a grind wall. The grind wall exists because ArenaNet is trying to artificially inflate the duration of HoT. They are artifically trying to inflate the duration of HoT because the expansion has very little content. HoT has very little content because ArenaNet couldn’t make more, even after all this time working on the expansion without adding new content to the core game. ArenaNet couldn’t make more content because they are extremely ineffective at making things.

And that explains why they are doing so poorly. We know that:

• ArenaNet had basically to make server merges with the megaserver thing, due to how empty the maps were.

• ArenaNet itself had said that, if they did it right, the Living World would mean they wouldn’t make an expansion. Here we are with an expansion, hinting that no, they didn’t do the Living World right.

• We also know the GW2 earnings during the Living World and, accordingly, it didn’t stop falling. Not only the LW didn’t raise the earnings like expansions do, it didn’t even prevent them from falling.

• GW2 became free to play, and we know that no MMORPG went free to play when its previous business model was being a success.

• NCSoft, which completely owns ArenaNet, has distanced itself from GW2. We have been told that it’s ArenaNet who’s publishing GW2 now, instead of NCSoft; the lack of advertisement about HoT is a very clear sign of how few resources ArenaNet has as far as publishing goes when compared to NCSoft itself.

• HoT has been released in a hurry, with many promised features that aren’t actually here but have been postponed for “later” (legendary weapons – they didn’t release even the three they had mentioned earlier -, raids, the new squad system, etc…).

• Lots of important people have left ArenaNet this year. Chris Whiteside, Eric Flannum, Jon Peters, Kristen Perry… Many of those have left in the last few months.

If they really did think so thoughtfully about things, they wouldn’t be in the middle of all those issues.

With the current mess about the specialization grind being just one more mess among many.

That’s a real shame, to lose good people. Personally, I’d rather put up some bones each month, than see the game go out, or drop down in quality. If I could pay 15 bucks a month for WoW, for like years, it’s not hard to shell out at least a few bones each month for gw2. I do tend to buy stuff from the online store – but I don’t know how much of that actually makes up for not having a monthly.

Eponet.4829:

Farzo.8410:

Send your gold and other valuable items to Farzo.8410

Thanks,

Why in the world would someone send their things to someone that clearly hates them instead of one of the many others who they resonate with?

They’re all leaving too?

Kanebrake.6192:

Why are you apologizing for others? Those of us who made statements critical of HoT had reasons for doing so. It’s not your place to apologize for anyone else.

I had to scratch my head a little over this, as well. Certainly comments like “Anet sucks” is purely emotional and just venting. However, I’ve seen a lot more comments where people were passionate, but remained considerate, articulated themselves, and didn’t resort to name-calling.

Certainly, they put in a lot of work, and it shows in the beauty of the maps, the intensity of the storyline, and a bunch of other things. Some things however, just aren’t working for a lot of people, and there’s nothing wrong with voicing your disapproval of it.

I understand the gesture, but I think most people have behaved themselves fairly well, all things considered.

I also just want to say that I’ve loved the game in almost every other respect, and I’ve enjoyed playing it with everyone the past several years now. In a thread discussing elite specs I didn’t feel it was necessary to say this, but some people seem to think that voicing a strong and rational opinion is whining, and rebutting arguments means people are out for blood.

For the life of me, I cannot fathom why people are saying, “Relax, it’s called Elite for a reason.” If I stick an “ELITE” sticker on my derriere, would you kiss that too?

It’s not more powerful than other specializations, and it’s not really something you can show off – you can dance around as a Daredevil with 60 points or 400 into it. Unless you show them your wicked evasion moves, who’s going to know the difference? Maybe you’ll know, but patting yourself on the back for completing a grind-fest that others won’t do is kind of silly, IMHO.

My take on Elite Specializations is they were labeled as such, because they do more to change your character’s behavior than the regular ones do. It was like breathing new life into a class that you already had put the work into. After we pre-paid, we find out that the shoveling we need to do to actually play that class is nearly the same as grinding out a new class. What’s the point of that? Will this be true in the future as well?

Taarak.7562:

I’m very disappointed with the criticism. I’m sorry, but to be brutally honest, it sounds like a bunch of millennial whining. They’re not getting their trophy after playing a whole weekend…

Nah, if anything, we’re Generation X whiners, who are too old and too time-committed to do non-sensical grinds. Yeah this is an MMO, but this is an MMO that promised to remove the grind.

Tell me, what’s the point of locking elite specializations under 400 points? Are they more powerful than other specs? After playing them for three weekends, I can safely say no. Is it to make it a trophy? Perhaps, but why take something many people expected to be more readily available, and at the last minute lock it behind a big grind-wall?

Is it to space content out? You’re never going to stop the devoted from burning through content it took two years to design and make. Even now, there are people who already maxed and elite spec, and there are people who got to Mordremoth. In three days!

The point is, there are people who did it, and they’re the ones who like to talk trash to the other people who help fund the game. However, I guarantee you the people with less time spend just as much money or more on the game, and there’s a lot more of us. I got no problem with a climbing a small mountain, just let me know it before I buy into it.

Like I said, it’s a matter of degree – 400 HP is to keep the relatively small amount of guys who already had 200 HP in the bank, from their 100% map reveals, from being fully loaded before the weekend was out. For the rest of us who play casually, that is a kitten big number, especially when you have an alt for every class.

If HP were like Masteries, I’d have no problem with that. 400×1 is way better than 400×9. I mean what’s the problem? If I played one as as Ele, and got another as a Druid, does it really matter? Far less I think, than running with the Zerg train all weekend long, and then laughing at the people who had real lives.

I paid out money in advance, based on my love of the game and the trust I put in the company that makes it. They traded on that trust when they asked us to fork over dollars in advance, based only on their press material. Those dollars helped them make the game.

No one should assume we were all just going to buy the game anyway; we could have easily waited until game day to see how it played out.

After a bunch of us committed, then all of the bad news starts rolling out; the game is going free (which I personally don’t mind), the older players get a free slot (which I haven’t received yet), the mind-screw that was the auto-builder. Now 400 group bosses x 9, just so I can actually have elite specializations?

Even if I was willing to farm HPs until Spring, is this seriously what we can expect for all future elite specializations? Does anyone honestly expect us to farm 400 HP for every new spec? It’s crazy; it will suck all the fun out of having this system. 400 points? If it’s going to be as much work as creating a new 80, then why didn’t they just make tempest, reaper, etc. new classes? At least that sets up some kind of rational expectation.

I trusted the company enough to pay in advance; I paid to be their beta-tester for three weekends. What makes this situation so funny is, the time I was play-testing daredevil’s evasion upgrades, I never realized that would be the only time I’d ever get to try them.

When you take money up front, you have a certain moral obligation to deliver on what you said you would. You can’t punt and say well, I didn’t expressly promise I WOULDN’T do this. Whatever happened to good faith?

I just don’t see how they will be able to get away with asking players to pre-purchase anything they make, ever again.

The thing I don’t like is, Colin’s big defense was that it’d only cost 60 HP to get into the elite spec, and at worst, 40 hero challenges to get fully loaded.

The 60 HP is to just to let you handle the new weapon and get the new weapon skills. You arguably need an extra 15, as one other poster said, just to get what I would consider a baseline reaper, tempest, etc. I mean, seriously – what’s a tempest without the F1 overloads? An elementalist with a warhorn.

40 challenges spread out across most of the maps, with mastery gates in between them – that’s a little disingenuous.

I prefer to play solo, and join in on whatever events I run into. One thing I’ve noticed is that most of your Mastery XP will come from events – and those events will require more people. I don’t see the events scaling down to one person killing mobs and stocking up rally points by him/herself.

The storyline you can probably solo – I haven’t had much difficulty getting from breadcrumb to breadcrumb.

Getting hero points for your elite specialization – for that you will definitely need a couple of people, at least. You’ll also need a level or two in Gliding Mastery just to reach some of them. Each hero challenge is a group event against a champion mob – you won’t be soloing those, that’s for sure.

Well, they certainly fixed the story-gating issue fast enough. I don’t think they’re convinced yet about the points issue, or if they ever will be.

There’s no need to be an apologist. They’re not Frankenstein’s Monster, and we’re not going to swarm Anet offices with torches. It’s either this, or give HoT a bad metacritic score.

Osu.6307:

Test.8734:

Go to the metacritic site and give HoT a low score

No reason to get nasty. Hero points are really the only thing that I think is screwed up. I’m going stick with lobbying for now. Let’s hope anet fixes this almost as fast as they fixed perma-quickness rangers.

I disagree – it’s first and foremost a product, and we’re first and foremost consumers. The idea that we’re a community of equals or that deliberating something will ‘force’ or ‘encourage’ change is naive.

The only way to vote in this situation is with our feet. In this case, a bad metacritic score is reasonable. If only I could, metacritic appears to be down. Is it because of a swarm of angry users?

To me, the problem is not one of principle, but one of severity. Let’s face it, if it was only 100 – 150 points, nobody would be complaining that much about it.

What gripes me is that when all this started happening, Colin throws up chafe saying, “Oh, but it only costs 60 HP to buy into the elite spec”, and, “Oh, but you get 10 points per challenge, so you only need to do 40 challenges”.

Yes it’s true, you only need 60 points to wield the weapon and be called the name, but he doesn’t tell you that you need at least another 15 points just to get the base minor trait that actually supports your new class? Is daredevil viable without the endurance boost? Is tempest viable or fun without the F1-overloads? Are you a necromancer without reaper shroud?

I feel like I bought a sandwich, and I’m getting charged for two slices of bread (truly a degenerate sandwich), and now I have to pay extra just to put something in it. I understand my tempest not getting access to shouts (utility skills) right away, but paying in, and not even getting the F1 skills, what makes you a tempest, is silly.

None of the other specializations work that way – your first points into the line buy your base skill. This is why on the elite spec, it has ANOTHER little polygon, this one with a warhorn, or whatever, inside. You’re paying 60HP just to wield a warhorn/greatsword/torch/whatever.

That’s silly, and is probably the least expected thing.

Similarly, 40 challenges is one thing, 40 challenges covering most of the maps, and blocked by multiple mastery gates, is another thing entirely. I saw a ton of people this weekend running all over the old world, just to pick up HPs. If that doesn’t demonstrate something is wrong with the numbers, nothing will.

If I remember correctly, players who bought the original game early on were getting an additional slot if they bought HoT. To date, I haven’t seen an additional slot. I still have 11.

i want a cookie, now.

In player vs player, ‘heroes’ is spelled ‘hereos’.

Amazingly enough, ‘trebuchet’ is spelled correctly.