Guild Wars 2

The region is called ELONA, btw.

Not Elonia.

I think so? Although I found it weird they didn’t confirm it in game, just implied it with one line.

So why is it that the “boss fights” in this episode consist of walking backward doing pea shooter ranged attacks forever, because it’s just about the only tactical option?
What is with Anet? Why are they designing these things to be so boring?

I feel like they spend their money on graphics and storyline, but the gameplay is borderline worst in the RPG category. It disappoints me because I want to get hyped about the expansion, but then I think about how broken a lot of the gameplay I just went through was…

I don’t know if there’s a quick solution but you need to end up with 3 in a row so putting one in the middle of them ends it. Just keep messing around until you get it, unfortunately.

Zelanard.5806:

How do you have a hard time managing your inventory when you can empty it by clicking 4 times?…
1: Right click salvage kit.
2: Click “salvalge all xxx”.
3: Click on the inventory options.
4: Click on deposit all materials.
BAM! Your inventory is cleaned… It takes less than 10 seconds…

That certainly helps if you want to salvage. What if you want to sell to merchant? Or open 100 bags. And what if you don’t have any storage left for mats. There’s many things people might want to do with their loot, and you’ve boiled down to one circumstance where it works out.

Personally I’ve decided to never get one. If a new skin from BL goes for 50g, and one single legendary is 3000g… what the hell is the point of the grind item other than the grind. And I don’t even like grind, so it’s not much of an issue for me, I’ll just buy lots of stuff instead and enjoy it all the time.

The point of the AI assistant (i.e. a squire) could be to basically automate bag opening/selling/salvaging which is highly time consuming.

This service wouldn’t have to be free or instant… but more exist as a quality of life option for people that do the meta PVE, and have to do LOADS of inventory processing on their own.

It would work by allowing you to set the commands and parameters.

For example you could tell them to sell: all blue, or salvage: all green and yellow, open bags, etc.

You could also instruct them to use your money to buy something like a salvage kit, if you wanted to.

Basically, the squire should be able to cater to most of the little needs of high end players, that are not well catered to.

For cost I would say 1 gold for 24 hours for their service. High end players could all afford this, but it’s not “cheap” either.

It could for sure have a timer or something too, like 3 seconds to process an item… it’s not about speed, it’s about not having to do it.

Anyway that’s my idea to fix a major gripe. I doubt it happens, but just throwing it out there.

I can back to the game after years recently to try the expansion at a lower price.

I’m shocked to see that it’s almost as bad as I always thought the expansion might be (hence avoid it for so long.)

I’ll give the Specializations credit for being genuinely nice to have… however earning them for many alts is a joke. Run around getting them is a basically map completion challenge… and that used to be optional in Guild Wars 2.

Also I don’t find it has any challenge, unlike others. It’s the same zerg content of the living story. Meaning you either have people wrecking the content but reaping the rewards, or not enough people to do anything at all. It’s very awkward, unfortunately. It’s not as bad as Orr on release of the game… that was ridiculous. But it’s somewhere in the realm of a slightly worse Living Story map, except these maps were all made big and empty for the glider, while the glider is not actually very interesting in itself.

Metas are just metas. You want a gold farm… do it every day. It’s still a farm really, at the end of the day, they just sanctioned it.

The worst thing though, is story mode. I’m baffled they released this. Nothing works right with it, there are a million glitches and walk off this piece of scenery and get stuck moments, and unlike the ancient past of Guild Wars 1… there’s nothing to do in story mode. You remember when in Guild Wars 1 they had maps with hundreds of custom patrols of enemies, mini bosses, story moments, the works. Now you get literally the same mob of enemies every single time on a map through an entire expansion, no real patrols or paths, and basically no work was done to make these missions in comparison. And hey did you know the sniper lays down a path that does massive damage and is in almost every mob, because you might forget that this enemy does that? Don’t worry, you’ll remember, because it’s basically the only gameplay mechanic you encounter through the story, over and over and over.

/end of rant. Look I want Anet to do cool stuff, so criticism is one place they can look to. Maybe they have and are thinking of ways to really get things better next time. I sure hope so.

I decided to skip the expansion as soon as I heard $50 price and bizarre content structure. It did not sound like it was up my alley.

I’ll see what they do in a few years or whenever they can get another try at expansion out… that’s pretty much where I am because there’s not really anything I want to do in the game right now.

I could check in at holidays but even that isn’t going so well… Lunatic Inquisition disappeared. :p

IndigoSundown.5419:

Name an MMO that offers endgame without some form of content stretching.

GW1 expansions did it right adding whole new continents, full story to them, new starter zones, two new classes each, loads and loads of weapons and armor, lots of new skills easy to acquire as you progress, and new end game.

With GW2 they decided to break away from their ideas that were actually good, sadly.

I think it’s they just don’t know what they’re doing as a company. They don’t know what’s MOST important in their values. Is it WvW? Ongoing events? Expansions? PVP? Story and world depth? Guilds? Character building? Community? They try to cover this lack of plan with new currencies, new systems, rewards like dailies and log-ins, etc… but it’s still a lack of a true solid plan and I still don’t know what kind of gameplay I’m supposed to “count on” from them.

In short, seems like they aimed to serve too many masters and the end result was it’s not really panning out, so add more grind to keep people playing a wee bit longer. To me though that seems like a cycle of diminishing returns.

smekras.8203:

Sorry guys but you cannot expect a MMO to account for and adjust to 1-2 person guilds.

Dude there’s like 20,000 people in the world maybe that seriously “guild up” in these games.

The majority of their sales are just going to game players that pick up the game and want to access the features and have a good time.

Oh man. They take a knife and cut away the fun from this game, bit by bit.

It was the only Halloween thing I spent much time on.

This is why I freaked out way before release when Anet said there’s no story progression for revenant, and knew something was deeply amiss. Why would they add new things to the game without making it entertaining to acquire?

Seems that was the tip of the iceburg to the grind problems though.

At least I saw through what was happening and skipped it, but I’m sad a lot of people lost $50 and weren’t interested in grind.

I tried to warn people many times.

I told people the content was too little to trust in this expansion.

So Anet did something even sillier and put in gates, and grind everywhere to stretch it out.

Enjoy?

It’s not worth much of anything content-wise. It’s $50 fee for the people that sit around in LA buying outfits anyway, that Anet knows know will go for anything.

They’ve rolled some game updates into it to try and gate them behind it, but still… just turns me off.

I agree OP, I just don’t see how the same ol looping event system on just a few maps is going to keep people interested.

I suspect their post release trick is they’ll just keep announcing micro updates after it comes out, and people will log in for their new 10 minute mission every two weeks. Overall it just feels like the model is broken now. We’re not going to get another substantial adventure in the GW universe this way in my opinion.

Their new target audience runs the game on toasters and doesn’t need a good computer to stare at the latest gemstore nonsense.

At this point I don’t expect DX11 or 12, or 64bit.

I think it’s like this… that the “core” game basically no longer exists. Even expansions don’t really exist since by their own logic, when the second one comes out the first one won’t be sold.

They’re selling the game as a service, as one package. So people will always get much much more for free if they’re buying the game later now.

I guess Anet’s main argument on value is what time you get the content. So if you want the HoT content this year… they’re saying it’s worth it for you to pay them $50 for that access. If you don’t really want that since it’s basically a Living Story charge, then I’m not sure what else they have to sweeten the pot. Doesn’t seem like anything at this point.

Posted in another thread… but pretty sure what the new content model is you’re paying for the normal updates. Living story, feature updates, patches, and so on.

So if you think those things are worth getting ASAP then this is probably a good deal for you.

On the other hand if you thought they would expand the world to all over the place, and add a deep story, and dungeons and the old school stuff, might not be for you.

I think this is basically what has happened:

They’ve switched to selling Living Story.

That really is the whole plan if you think about it. That’s why HoT has low content and they’re saying you can’t get future updates without it.

The biggest problem is they weren’t just direct about what their plans mean.

You have to read between every line to realize this whole thing should be called Living Story Season 3 + Future Update Pass.

That’s what they’re really doing but they’ve made a mess presenting in a way that sounds a lot more ambitious than it is. Maybe they’re trying to market as something more spectacular sounding with this expansion label. But personally, my problem is still… LS has been punctually released but the majority of the releases are lackluster.

Well I’m certainly glad those who were only concerned about the lack of a slot got that. As well as the refund policy was sorted out in a more appropriate manner.

Unfortunately, I’m still left really really confused on Anet’s “vision” of where this game is going now. They say they’re ultra focused on getting the new players and will keep offering them free prior games… ok. What does that mean to everyone part of your current community? We can’t be new players again so it’s odd to say we’re like an afterthought.

As for what I’ve seen of HoT… the main story content is sounding like a couple more extensions of Dry Top and so forth… I’m a little confused what I’m paying $50 for. Yes you included some BIG feature updates, but they’re feature updates. It’s gameplay I’m worried about because I’m not buying games to idle in Lion’s Arch like some of your playerbase does. I’m concerned about where the level of new content is at, so I’ll have to wait to see what you’re truly doing there for kitten price tag.

Their silence speaks volumes. It’s been several days and they’ve basically gone into hiding.

Nobody personally dislikes anybody who works for Anet over this.

We’re mad about the business result.

Consumers are like a business partner in a way. We’re part of the process. For years we had a fantastic relationship… then one day… what is this? They want to get a 800% better deal for themselves and 800% worse for us? Maybe this business arrangement is coming to an end then. Of course via the magic of the internet and consumer backlash we probably use more swears to describe the situation… but that’s still what it really is.

I don’t think they knew what they were doing with this expansion at all. Just being honest… it doesn’t resemble a product that’s been in development quietly for a years… It seems like they decided “how fast can we put out a full expansion” if they started last fall or something. And you see a lot of the problems with that method, a lot of things just not thought out. I think they backed themselves into a corner for some reason.

Yes. It’s not just price or something, it’s the whole direction is shifting to ultra casuals, not even doing dungeons/raids, not caring that their “expansion” doesn’t seem to have lots of zones or an epic world-spanning feel.

Will we even get to face Mordremoth for $60? I’m guessing no, that’ll come 14 months later in an update where we just zerg him, right before they announce expansion 2. This model is just not working for all of us. It’s very famer/social game player centric, but getting away from being a game that passionate fans of gaming want.

Nobody said they owed people anything.

What we’re saying is we aren’t buying this deal, because it’s outrageous by every pricing standard of games.

Do you see a movie charging triple ticket price just because it’s an anticipated movie? No, because that’s price gouging and in most cases you’re not allowed to get away with it. If you want to help a company get away with it that’s your choice.

We know, and there isn’t enough content in HoT to justify paying that.

Sorean.5379:

I think they have said sometime ago that a single GW2 zone was the equivalent of a whole zone in GW1 or something like that.

GW1 is full of monster groups with their own patrolling pattern. So you don’t use space in the same way. “running across the map” doesn’t happen unless you have a running build and know what you’re doing. Otherwise it takes some time to play through a map. You also can’t zerg of course because party size is capped.

The real question is does GW2 make good enough use of it’s open world maps to place such importance on a single one or two in HoT? And from what I’ve already seen that’s pretty iffy. Everything is zergable, removing all semblance of challenge. World events all loop usually well under an hour, so there’s no feeling of progression or stability to the open world. I don’t see how they’re going to make having less maps than ever a selling point, when they haven’t even really made the basics of those maps compelling.

briggah.7910:

Channel.9402:

It’ll be a joke of the industry if this pre purchase cos them a huge loss of playerbase^^

Won’t be much a joke when the player base rises from all the new players that received a free copy of the core game ^^

They can’t access the new content till 80. Half of new accounts sold probably don’t even achieve that. Some success story.

As for what Anet is doing… let’s be honest they’re counting sales by the day and seeing if they can make this ugly plan work without changing anything.

Just think of this… if the majority of people that buy HoT are the noobs… and they never even make it to 80 to access it….

So much face palm.

One thing that bugs me is the people that don’t see the problem keep saying things like:

“We don’t know what’s in the expansion.”

Um… they covered that the last few months. Maybe do some googling? Sorry but expecting tons and tons of extra content to magically appear in it is pure wishful thinking.

“We should be paying MMO monthly fees anyway. Who cares about price?”

If you think that’s not stepping in it when talking to the original GW community… oh boy.

“People are entitled! Backlash is undignified!”

Right. Try ripping off any other community and you get the same.

“It’s fine that there’s no character slot and that for some reason new players get kitten savings and the playerbase gets no bonuses at all. I like spending money!”

Aren’t you special.

It’s the no zones and no endgame that really does it for me.

As someone who has played every Guild Wars… I still don’t understand how this is an expansion and why they aren’t trying to explain it to me.

Yet they go with a high price with those questions unanswered. It just doesn’t make sense.

MFoy.3284:

I’ve gotten over 4,300 hours of fun out of it.

Do you honestly think that’s the hours everyone put into the game? If it was, there would be no complaints. But it simply isn’t that way for most people. Most I get out of GW2 the last few years is occasionally checking an update for a day, then logging out again. I’m waiting for a real expansion, like they did with the continent sized royal servings in GW1.

I won’t pay $50 for something that’s no content, and mostly a fee to cover you grinders.

GW1 was just a great model for people that play games.

GW2 is more the model for people that want to pretend to be into games without actually having to deal with any gameplay to it.

Things change.

I’ll be on the look out for new blood in this type of game, personally. Someone to shake things up. The problem with any established company is their goal is money, money, money. When you combine that with entertainment though, it starts to strip away the nuance and delight.

" Using a more limited gem store"

I don’t see where that actually happens. They’ve been updating it constantly still even with no more game updates while they work on the expansion.

Infamous Darkness.3284:

Pricing Issue:
A value comparison of the base game to the expansion is bad it shows that while the BASE GAME has
28 PvE maps
5 WvW maps
2 PvP modes (team deathmatch and point capture)
8 (9 if you count fractals) dungeons with 25 paths (39 if you could each fractal as a path [this does not include the starting zone in fractals])
5 Trait lines per class
8 Crafting Professions

HEART OF THORNS
3 PvE maps (counting verdant brink as 3 maps giving them the benefit of the doubt)
0 WvW maps (the new borderlands maps are replacing the old ones so I don’t see how they can include that in the expansion)
1 PvP mode
0 Dungeons (at least that we know of so far)
1 New trait line per class
2 New guild halls
1 New crafting profession

Great summary. I still want an answer from Anet as to what the content model is we’re even paying for. Living Story is bundled in? We’re subsidizing content that doesn’t exist? Because it just doesn’t seem to be anything IN the expansion… which bugs me more than anything to then come out with a full $50 price.

From what we’ve seen it should be called pre-purchasing season 3 of Living Story.

I agree that it has nothing to do with expansion pack or new standalone games, so the portrayal of it and pricing has been all wrong.

The problem with HoT is Anet reached marketing scams overload.

Let’s take a look at how much they had going on here:

1. They actively encouraged people to buy the base game in preparation. That wasn’t necessary, so what the heck was that about?

2. Price is $50. Content they’ve declared to be in it is like a tenth the size of what we’d expect to be in the first full expansion. So what gives? Are they trying to charge for its updates now too? Leave me out of Living Story costs. It’s not worth it. I’ll play new GAMES not micro updates and cash shop outfits, thank you.

3. What in the heck is this bundling for? They bundled the core game with the expansion but you literally don’t even get to keep the extra copy if you own the game. You get nothing. Rockstar tried to do scam bundling on the steam sale by bundling some phony gamebux and keeping GTA V priced at $60. People were kittenED. You tried the same thing Anet. People are kittened. Way to learn. Forced bundles are messed up.

4. No character slot. Are you joking? You added a new class, it’s a new expansion, but we won’t even have a slot to play it until we log into your store and spend even more money after the fact. What is the point? It’s like you’re going out of your way to irritate.

5. Betas for pre-purchasers only. It’s a typical dirty sales tactic today, that might not have been too noticeable except that’s on top of all the other things they’re pulling.

When you combine all of that… I think you’ve really offended people. This deal is something EA “worst company in America” would pull, easily. I sure hope there’s some backpedaling or you’re leaving a lot of your longterm customers behind over this.

No we want value for money.

We want lots of great content to look forward in kitten expansion.

I can honestly say there’s just not enough in what they’re offering to look forward to this or pre-order at all.

Riiiiiiight.

The buyer’s remorse threads are going to be identical to what’s going on now. Just watch.

Drayos.8759:

u PAID the inital price of the game to play that game for 3 years without a single other required charge,

And? People are waiting for the next big expansion to put more money and time back in… problem is this is NOT a big expansion but is priced like one.

Running servers is not that expensive. WoW made a billion a year profit off that lie.

Anet is fine, the question is whether they want to be insanely greedy or not like WoW, and it’s looking that way. We’ll probably get every skimpy season of LS sold as an “expansion” for $50 a year from here on out, perhaps even two of these a year.

This might be the craziest rip off anyone’s ever pulled in game releases. I mean the whole point of “expansion” is it adds to a product… yet they’re forcibly reselling the whole game and forcing a bundle price.

I don’t know what they were thinking at Anet but this just a tough blow to the gaming community that looked up to them, and would never think they could act so coldly to us.

Sometimes there’s one moment where a game franchise and company reputation completely derails forever.

This is that moment I’m sad to say.

Guild Wars… we had some times. Back in the day.

The problem with Anet is they never look at anything from a player’s perspective.

We’ve always got to explain after the fact how they just screwed us over. It’s getting really old.

I’d rather not buy it if there’s no instanced content at all.

I mean if we go there… it’s not even Guild Wars anymore. It’s just some cash shop game that throws out a lot of updates for marketing’s sake… but all the gameplay will be gone.

The Armsmaster.

Can switch between 4 weapon sets, but instead of separate burst skills for each weapon like now, you get one single new set of burst skills for all of them that charge faster through use of multiple weapons.

It’s this year or they wouldn’t be promoting it so much. They’re not going to tell you more specifically than that when they don’t know.

I’m skeptical any class need more shouts (or banners for that matter.) Those aren’t interactive parts of the game, they’re just click and forget which does not encourage better gameplay.

Odyssey.2613:

Gibson.4036:

What does “high concept” even mean?

I’ve been wondering this too. A good sounding buzz word? Marketing BS.

That or they were high when they came up with the concept.

I’m still awaiting an explanation on how ‘Dragonhunter’ is supposed to be subtle.
What are you? A hunter. Hunter of what? Dragons. That’s like the opposite of subtle in my world.

They already explained and people just don’t pay attention I guess.

The point is it’s a slightly creepy/ultra pious kind of role, more akin to inquisitions and witch hunts IRL. There’s probably some lore within HoT… but to me Dragonhunter already makes sense if you think of how zealots generally think.

They would think they’re the only “real” people for the job, and assumedly look down on the other professions as rabble and not as capable at the task as they are, so they keep the title for themselves.