Guild Wars 2

I’d like to start by saying, Thanks, Anet, I’m very happy with the maps and content in HoT thus far. I love flying around on my glider, and handling all sorts of new challenges. I’m a big fan of the exalted faction, and they seem very cool. Guild halls and the new ability to have multiple guild chats at the same time is a huge QoL feature, as is the consume all on items like Essence of Luck. The new WvW borderland maps are very interesting, and are going to change things up a bunch, as well as the new Shield generators look like something that could alter the dynamics of how players take objectives. There are a ton of things in the new Expansion pack that I’m super excited about.

I do have 2 points of contention however, to add to the ongoing discussion of the Heart of Thorns Expansion Pack

1. I feel like I need to gain a TON of exp to get anywhere with the story, half a million for the first step of each, more for every step beyond that. Just doing the first step of each of the HoT masteries takes 2 Million experience points, which feels like a bit much. Additionally, I can’t even use the Writs of Experience on my level 80 character to speed that process along. I understand that it is supposed to be an account wide thing, that should take a while to complete, but this feels a bit excessive. I spent 5 hours today playing, and completed 1 Mastery, and while it was rewarding to glide around the jungle, I’m dreading having to complete longer ones. I see skill points that I want to complete that are on the other side of poisonous vines, and I think to my self, “Oh, I need 4 Million Exp to get that skill point.” which is not a great experience to have. In short, I really like the idea of the Masteries, and the rewards are great, but the reality of having to gain 16 Million Exp in order to beat 1 type of enemy is unpleasant. Many veteran players have gained more than this much experience already, but all it counts for is spirit shards. I would love to see a way to complete the content of HoT without having to resort to doing an event loop over and over until you have the requisite amount of experience earned. At least with the Pact Tyrian Masteries you have the ability to complete Dungeons and Fractals to boost your progression. Please, give us a way to progress the masteries without having to stay explicitly in the HoT maps.

[Off-topic spoiler removed by mod]