Guild Wars 2

Ashen, wish I could give a plus 1000 to your post

I prepurchased HoT but that doesn’t mean that I agree with what Anet is doing to those non HoT players that bought the original game.

Repackaging and reselling what a customer already paid for is cowardly.

- Dungeon rewards nuked( was only bad for the economy once the expansion showed up)
- Fractal rewards nuked for those who can’t get fractals mastery(only provided through expansion)
- Non HoT players can’t access guild boons( guild boons were part of the core game)

Anet, I am disgusted by your cowardly attempts to coerce players to buy HoT. There are many people who payed 60 dollars for the core game and you repay them by gutting key features out of the game. You are punishing customers for not being repeat customers. Why not let HoT stand on its own merits????

The old system didn’t require you to spend personal loot and gold. If you are a small guild with this system, each member has to take a much greater loot hit than if you are in a big guild. It is a terrible system and really discourages being in a small guild.

Old system was massively unfair and more hostile to small guilds than the new one???? I think you got that backwards. Check some of the recent threads about this. I see a lot of smaller guilds complaining about the new system not the old system.

Anet is employing cynical business practices and the op is calling them on it. I think the op has a point. People actually paid for the core game before Anet decided to make it f2p. Now Anet is gutting content out of the core game. It is punishment for those who decided not to buy their expansion.

First, they nuke dungeon loot. Second, fractal loot isn’t as good unless you have fractal mastery, and now guild boons are not available to core-game only players. It is really pathetic on the part of Anet to coerce players to buy HoT. Guild halls are great and all but they have turned guilds into a gigantic gold and material sink. Seems like very cynical decisions by the developers.

Too much Nintendo in this expansion.

These mini-games should be optional. Why put mastery points on these things?

Don’t like the trend towards platforming in this game. Hopefully the next expansion won’t depend so much on platforming skills.

I am still disappointed that players activities in the game(besides guild missions) do not earn any favor in the game. I wish there was some way that those who donate towards the guild hall got some recognition. Perhaps a donations leaderboard inside the guild hall. The old system players didn’t have to give up there personal loot to further the guild so I think they should get rewarded in some way.

I see this “entitled” argument a lot. I think that the core game catered to players of different skill levels. If you had a lot of skill you probably enjoyed high level fractals, some of the dungeons, jumping puzzles, and competitive pvp. If you weren’t particularly skilled you probably enjoyed openworld pve (running world bosses, exploring maps, silverwastes etc..) With the new expansion, the openworld pve has a much higher skill requirement. I think there is a certain population of the players that feel they have been left out in the cold. Perhaps there could have been a couple of maps on par with silverwastes skill level added to this expansion for those players. I see a sense of entitlement on both sides of the argument. The less skilled think that the expansions should offer them something. The highly skilled think the expansions should be all about them.

Thank you for the info : )

Does this healing bonus only apply within central Tyria?

Are they gonna have permanent locations or do they move around?

yeah, it would be nice if they had special icons for those merchants.

In my opinion, they should have just made more complete classes than doing these specializations. After all, the specializations are nothing more than alternate playstyles.

Snarf, wouldn’t your mommy let you live in the basement? She wouldn’t give you any money for HoT either? Is that why you are so angry???

See how silly it is to throw out baseless accusations at people. Your like a toddler throwing a tantrum.

Just a thought from an elite spec whiner… The other side of the debate seems to know a thing or two about whining as well. I am sorry that your self-deluded dream of being a special snowflake was ruined by this reduction of hero points, but you still have raids, adventure leaderboards, and pvp tournaments to consider yourselves elite. For a cooperative mmo there sure are a lot of people who want to turn everything into a competition.

Well, I guess in a true compromise neither side ends up getting exactly what they wanted. I do want to thank Anet for at least extending an olive branch to those players with concerns. I really appreciate some of the marvelous work that went into this expansion and was really only concerned with the unfairness of the 400 hero point requirement. 250 is still overpriced in my opinion but a compromise is a compromise. Thank you Anet for listening to your customers on both sides of the issue.

It will be worth every penny if they will fix the elite specialization character progression hoax. 400 hero points for 1 traitline, a few utilities, and 1 weapon for a specialization that is no better than you original profession is NOT character progression.

If they leave the elite spec system as it is right now…… Not worth the money

There have been threads before on this topic. The majority seems to like armor skins much more than outfits. I don’t care for outfits that much either. I like the “mix and match” versatility of armor skins. Anet didn’t listen before and I doubt they will listen now. They already stated that there won’t be new armor skins in the gem shop. Two new armor sets for the expansion is disappointing.

“They found a unique way to continue character progression”

Mastery system = Character progression Love this system totally agree with you on this one

Elite specialization = alternate playstyle(not character progression) This is the aspect of the game so many players are up in arms over. 400 hero points for 1 traitline, a few utilities and 1 weapon for an alternate playstyle that is not better than the normal professions.

Yeah, I’ve been contributing materials already…. Like I said, it’s not the end of the world. I just found it kind of nice that adventuring helped out.

Pull your head out of the sand, Proto, and you might see the light.

I really love the new guild halls and all the options for customization I see. Really want to compliment the devs on the work that went into these. That being said there is one thing that troubles me about the new guild system. In the old system my character could do events on any map and earn influence for the guild. This mean that if I wasn’t able to do guild missions do to scheduling conflict I could still contribute to the guild. Now influence has been changed to favor. With the new favor system my exploits out in Tyria really don’t matter as far as helping the guild. Favor can only be earned by doing guild missions. I mean it’s not the end of the world but I always liked that I could do stuff to further the guild just by playing.

Mastery system = Character progression I love this system

Elite specialization = Alternate playstyle These specializations are NOT elite. They can’t be because of pvp balance and play to win issues. The word elite was just used to justify a hideous 400 hp requirement. These traits and utilities should cost no more than the regular traits and utilities. The elite spec is NOT character progression.. Heck, if you try to play it without full traits it is actually regression.

1 traitline, some utility skills, 1 weapon = 400 hero points…… No, that’s ridiculous

I noticed when you were spouting about reaper being better than necro, herald being better than rev….. How about Tempest? hmmmm….. Berzerker anyone? Dragonhunter? Notice you didn’t mention them.

Oh and by the way, elite specializations don’t offer any character progression. You don’t get any better. It only offers an alternate playstyle. Heck, if you play the elite without having all the traits your character actually regresses.

Actually , Captain, I followed all the presentations Anet made about Heart of Thorns prior to release and not once did they mention a 400 hero point cost for the elite specialization.

They give you a weapon and new class mechanic but they are not elite compared to the regular professions. This is just an alternate playstyle. It shouldn’t cost more.

Amon I wish I could give you a +1000 for your post. That is exactly how I feel.

They are just called “elite”. There is nothing elite about them. They are on par with any other profession. This isn’t character progression at all. Using the word “elite” gives the illusion that you are working for something that will better you character. These elite traitlines and utilities should cost the same as normal traitlines and utilities.

If they were gonna kill off npc’s why couldn’t it have been from destiny’s edge 2.0? Oh, I guess we had to care about the death.

The mastery system is progression and I love that system.

Elite specs are not improvements over your previous profession. This is not character progression. These specs only offer alternate playstyles. There is nothing “elite” about them. This is fake progression. Tagging on the word elite to justify 400 hero points just isn’t thoughtful design.

Actually the simplest solution would be to make elite traitlines and utilities cost the same as normal traitlines and utilities. After all, there is nothing elite about these specs as they are on par with the normal professions.

“Please leave this game and never return”

I hope this isn’t the outcome of the elite spec system. This one aspect of the expansion has completely turned off a lot of players. I hope they don’t leave and never return. I hope Anet fixes this. Why would anyone want the population to go down for this game. I am hoping that there are expansions in the future with enough of a customer base to support it.

The mastery system, raids, legendary journey, new achievement points, new maps….. This is the endgame.

Elite specs being overpriced at 400 hero points when they are not even elite. This is not endgame but it could be the end of the game for many. Hopefully Anet will fix this and the game I love will flourish.

These specs may be called elite but they are not. They are on par with existing professions. Why are they overcharging on the amount of hero points needed to unlock traits and utilities? This is fake progression. Elite traitlines and utilities should cost the same as any other traitline and utility wheel.

The mastery system is the true character progression and I love that system. You actually improve over what your character was at the beginning of HoT.

I guarantee you that one of their biggest selling points was not that the elite would cost 400 hero points. That little nugget of information was missing from all there presentations prior to release of the game. I wonder how many HoT prepurchases they would have lost had they informed their consumers.

Going from hero point to hero point while ignoring everything else just so you can eventually enjoy playing the elite spec is grind. Now as I want 7 of the elites I get to do that 7 times…… GREAT!!!!! YAHOO!!!!! WHAT FUN!!!!!!!!! CAN I HAVE MORE PLEASE??

“They are elite after all”

No, No, No!!!!!! There is nothing elite about these specializations. It’s all an illusion to make you think you think you are progressing. These specs are nothing more than alternate playstyles. They are not even a full profession.

“it’s called elite specialization and shouldn’t be unlockable in a day”

Yes, it is called “elite”. That is the problem. There is nothing elite about these specializations. Because of pvp balance issues and pay to win concerns these specializations are no more powerful than the regular professions. So if these specs are on par with normal profession then their trait lines and utility costs should be the same as normal traits and utilities. There also shouldn’t be one huge upgrade wheel. There should be an elite trait line wheel and an elite utility wheel.

Elite is just an illusion. Fake progression is insulting.

I agree with you totally. The combat is challenging and that is great. However, the hero point system sucks….. I was so sad when they did away with the profession book trainers and skill points.

Elite specs are not like a new class…. The revenant is a new class.. Elite specs are 1 trait line, a few utilities and 1 weapon….. Hardly a new class…. and hardly deserving of 400 freaking hero points….. should be just another trait line you purchase costing the same as other trait lines…… “elite” is not a good description for these specializations.

I go into a restaurant to have a meal. Before I can get throught the door, the hostess asks me to prepurchase my meal. I’ve eaten here before and thought their stuff was amazing so I go ahead and give them some money. After I sit down at a table, a waitress comes over with a dirty plate and utensils. She says, " The plate and utensils are the ones you used the last time you were here. We recently have changed to new plates and utensils but if you want to use those to enjoy the contents of your meal you will have to sweep and mop the kitchen and wash the plate and utensils you previously used." I told the waitress that this was unreasonable and that I wanted to enjoy the contents of my meal on the new plate and utensils. She shakes her head and says, “I will never understand the sense of entitlement some of these customers have.”

Oh wonderful!! Do you truly mean I only have to spend 8 hours ignoring all content except hero challenges to unlock an elite spec…… That will be so great because since it is an elite it will be so much better than my normal profession…… right?? I mean it is an “elite”…. so it will be worth all that time right?? So to sum it all up. I want to make 7 of my alts to be elite specs… That would mean 56 hours of ignoring content just to play the new specs…. What is elite about these specs???? They are on par with regular professions. This fake character progression is really idiotic.

To semi-quote Judge Judy one more time “Anet, don’t pee on our leg and tell us it’s raining”. Elite specs are NOT character progression. In fact, if you try to equip the elite without the full trait line you are actually getting worse. With the elite fully traited you break even with your former profession. How is that progress? All the elites do is give you an alternate playstyle… Elite traits and utilities should cost the same as normal traits and utilities and be bought the same way with separate upgrade wheels not one big monstrous upgrade wheel cluttered with skins.

I agree the new areas are really cool…… I would love to experience them with the elites…. I am not asking for them to be automatically unlocked. I am asking that the elite traitline and the elite utility cost the same as a normal profession traitline and normal profession utility. The points should also not have to be bought off of one huge upgrade wheel. Elite traitline should have its own upgrade wheel and the elite utilities should have their own upgrade wheel. This is only fair seeing that “elite” specs are not elite in comparison with regular professions.