As for that. The word challenging is always subjective. GW2 is not a hardcore challenging game. So do not expect HoT to be any different. The content will be doable by most players so if you find the current game unchallenging, you likely will find HoT unchallenging too.
Except that HoT is explicitly said to include ‘challenging group content’. Although Anet has not yet revealed what that is exactly (i.e. it might dungeons or world bosses or fractals or something new entirely) and of course it remains to be seen how challenging it is exactly. What we do know however is that the Wyvern is not what they call ‘challenging group content’.
Rifle is stupid and doesn’t fit. They’re not Rangers.
What do rifles have to do with Rangers?
WTF is the point of max ranging when you’re agile/stealthy.
Doesn’t being at max range allow you to stealth even better? Do you have any idea how stealthy real-life snipers can be?
A GS works better than a rifle if they gave it slow dmg with heavy stealth options. Mace obtains its damage off the sheer force of impact and requires NO precision which is uncharacteristic of thief.
How exactly does the GS work as a stealthy weapon? I don’t see it. And why doesn’t the ‘no precision’ thing of maces also apply to the GS? A GS is not a precision weapon.
STAFF requires both agility AND precision and was used in GW1 for Shadow Arts. At end of GW1 they released a scythe with a melee Staff skin and melee staff has already been verified in HoT. There’s no doubting the staff
I can see the staff working at some point in time. But now we already have the Revenant’s melee staff and we have the thief-like character in the trailer who is holding a rifle.
Don’t quote me on this but I think they said anyone can access their guild’s guild hall, but guild leaders/officers will need HoT to create one and do certain things with it.
Or I could just be terribly confused… What’s the difference between elite specializations and core specializations?
The differences are the following:
1) Core specializations are available to everyone, elite specializations are only available to those with the expansion.
2) You can either use 3 core specializations or 2 core specializations and 1 elite specialization. This doesn’t matter yet but it will when Anet introduces more elite specializations at some point in time after HoT.
3) Using an elite specialization changes your profession name (and also profession icon I think), while using a core specialization does not.
4) Using an elite specialization gives access to an additional weapon and additional healing/utility/elite skills, a core specialization does not.
5) Elite specializations somewhat change a profession’s profession mechanic, a core specialization does not.
If Guardian can be Ranger without pet, Ranger can be Ranger without pet too.
Exactly, yet it looks like Ranger will continue to be saddled with pets. >.<
You guys do know that it is impossible for the ranger to ever be pet-less right? It’s the ranger’s class mechanic. All kinds of weapons skills, traits (including minor traits) and utility, healing and elite skills interact with your pet or depend on having a pet. The most you will ever get from an elite spec is a somewhat changed pet mechanic. If you want to play a pet-less ranger you will have to play a different profession and hope that profession gains an elite spec which makes it sort-of ranger-like (as has now happened with the Guardian).
Its been a few years, and the Pact has left. Something must’ve changed in Orr for them to leave it.
How do you know they left Orr? Their main force may be in the Maguuma area but I’m not sure if they have left Orr completely.
I know Teq’s power-up was canon, but again, he’s a world boss. If we try to fit him into the lore, we’ve killed him twice so far, apparently. Assuming he does die when we beat him. But if he can come back repeatedly, what’s stopping his master from doing so? Yet another reason to wonder about Orr.
But why do you assume Tequatl dies? Some world bosses are actually destroyed (the Shatterer for example if I recall correctly), while Tequatl just falls into the water (I think). We have actual confirmation from Anet on Zhaitan being gone for good but I can see a case to be made for Tequatl to just retreat when weakened enough and then trying again later when it has regained it’s strength.
The aim is for people with HoT and people without HoT to be equally competitive, those with HoT will have more options (because of the Revenant and because of elite specializations) but they will not have a higher level cap or access to a higher gear tier.
And yes, we know that the personal story happened before the start of the living story.
As for Tequatl: Yes, his increase in power is canon. This was explicitly stated by Anet. We have no idea what was behind it however. That, combined with the explorable version of Arah, makes it clear that the Risen are still quite active post-Zhaitan. That said, the update to Tequatl was a year and a half ago. So what happened since then is anyone’s guess. Also: I’m not sure if Tequatl is actually killed when he is defeated.
It still matters for leveling though. It gives a sense of progression. Furthermore, grandmaster traits are meant to be more ‘build defining’ than other traits.
You’re far from the first to make a thread about this exact topic. Anet has stated that elite specializations are meant to be equal to normal specializations (although it will no doubt take multiple balance updates after HoT to achieve that). They might seem like upgrades because they are new and shiny and because they give access to more skills and change your profession mechanics but all of that does not neccesarily make them stronger.
Although it might seem like it is always better to take an elite specialization, doing so means you can only take 2 core specializations instead of 3. Besides, take the reaper for example. Taking the reaper as a specializations means that your death shroud skills have all become melee and your fears also apply chill. Neither of those things are always benefical.
What Knighthonor means is that there seems to be a thematic link between a legend, one or two weapons and a trait line. You don’t have to use these three together but they do somewhat fit together.
yup, lets just remember that says ventari staff skills, not baseline revenant.
Wait is there a different set of skills for staff?
…..there’s at least two other legends to be channeled. what do you think?
Except that weapon skills are independt of legend.
has anet said this?
Yes.
that is incredibly disappointing.
It’s their entire point though. They are a reverse-elementalist (i.e. instead of switching weapon skills in combat, they switch healing/utility/elite skills in combat).
The same guy who datamined Ventari a long time ago also datamined Glint and Shiro. Besides, both in the HoT trailer and in the recent beta Rytlock was seen channeling a dragon. You can doubt all you want but the evidence shows you are probably wrong.
As many people as there might be complaining about GW2 on the forums, I think there a lot more people playing and enjoying the game. Besides, what people want from GW2 is so diverse and often times even conflicting that it is impossible to meet the demands of all people who are dissatisfied. No game can please everybody.
To answer your question: No, HoT will probably not be the end. Looking at sales figures makes it seem like GW2 is doing quite well financially. Furthermore, Anet already gave us a glimps into the future they have planned. Specifically they have stated that the mastery system and elite specializations which are both introduced in HoT provide a blueprint through which future character development will be added. Thus Anet themselves at least think that there will more GW2 after HoT.
Anyways, staff went to ranger, so neither war nor thief is getting it.
Again, that is speculation. Anet has never confirmed that two elite specializations can not get the same weapon. Although I do think it is unlikely that the thief and warrior will get a staff with this expansion.
That clearly shows the spear will give 5 skills, not 3. So the spear will be a 2-handed weapon. Besides, I’m pretty sure Anet already confirmed that the underwater weapons will not be coming to land in HoT. At least Anet confirmed that no new weapon types will be coming with HoT.
In any case, I wouldn’t count on Glint being spear/shield. In fact, considering what has been datamined there might not be a complete set of weapons per legend. We’ll see.
There are, I think, only two rune types that trigger off class skills, those being Trooper and Trapper. Most professions can’t take advantage of those.
Granted, they make new runes that specifically help out Revenants, but that’s only a possibility.
It was implied that more such rune sets were in development. Especially since elite specs will give existing skill types to more professions and since several of the currently existing skills without skill type will be given a type.
Edit: As far as I know the Revenant skills do not have a skill type so no runes will interact with them.
I leveled a female human Guardian in the hopes of having a viable healer.
Hoping for a viable healer is in vain. Neither Guardians nor Revenants will ever be able to fill that role. Sure, they might do support, including some healing (but mainly knockbacks, blinds, boons and so on) but GW2 is not and will not be a game where pure support characters have a place. That is how Anet designed the entire combat system and I don’t see that changing.
Called it… So there you go. Revenant, a specialization and a weapon. Same as any other reveal. Even had a feeling it was staff because it was just updated. No more silly debate:
It’s not even an elite specialization. Not the same as any other reveal. It’s just a single normal specialization with a support weapon that matches the traits, like Greatsword and Strength for warrior. We don’t even get the name for this specialization.
Except the traits for the elite specializations were revealed at the stream so maybe that is what will happen tomorrow. Then again we might have to wait for the next beta. We’ll see.
Now wait a sec, is it 100% confirm that You MUST be in Ventari to use staff on Revenant?
I don’t think it’s confirmed at all, actually.
The reverse in fact. The staff is just one of the weapon options of the Revenant and Ventari is just one of the legendary stance options of the Revenant. Although they fit together thematically, you in no way have to use them together.
Some time ago I saw a suggestion for making hearts into adventures i.e. making them repeatable and giving them leaderboards. I think that would be a decent way to go without taking too much resources to develop.
Why place the Dominion of the Winds there at all then? Are the Tengu simply there for background fluff? I think they were all set to be a playable race and Anet pulled back, like Bungie to sell back to us at a later date.
I worry though that with Southsun Cove, Kessex Hills, and Calendon already cleared, how could their home city work now as a starting point?
It’s a known fact that Tengu were considered as a playable race at one point in the development of the game, yes. However, we don’t know how far the development of them was. It might be that the entire idea was permanently shelved. But, like you, I still hope that one day the Tengu will be added as a playable race.
Well, now that I have brushed up my lore of the Maguuma region, and with all these whispers of the Mursaat. I wonder if Anet has the daring to make them the next playable race? Then save the Tengu for the Cantha expac.
It’s not impossible, though I think it’s unlikely. At least HoT won’t introduce a new race and Anet said that, at least in the near future, they won’t consider adding a new race because they think the work that a new race costs is not worth the benefits.
And if Tengu are added I’m not sure if they are added with Cantha. There are no Tengu left in Cantha. And considering their problems with Primordus I can see Anet adding their city at least with the xpac which deals with the Depths of Tyria.
Diovid To answer your first statement…
…That’s because Prophecies was never written with the Charr winning in mind. The author used them as an early antagonist to fuel the back story of Ascalon and little more. In fact, the author intended Ascalon to win the war by the time of Nightfall, with the Charr fading off the Tyrian stage. Due to the vague and indeterminate writings on the Charr(or lack thereof) after Proph, future writers(EotN and on) used those gaps in the writing to resurrect the Charr into something they were never supposed to be…i.e. good guys. The reason this topic always becomes personal is because of that narrative disconnect. Ascalon was the birthplace of most Guild Wars characters, which were all human and which all knew the Charr would burn you alive if you let them.
So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that there is a bit of consternation at having a new author come in and not only wipe your nation off the map with a few flicks of his pen, but also hand it to the very creatures who razed your homeland and burned alive your fellow countrymen(and women) by the thousands.
I know the history (I lived it). Maybe it is because I always saw Ascalon as a lost cause that I don’t feel the same. I disagree that Charr were re-written as good guys. They were re-written as being round characters with intelligence, culture and their own point of view instead of as just being mindless beasts. At the same time the human story was re-written as being their side of the story. Neither group is presented as being good guys. If anything both groups are written as being morally grey and I like it that way.
I wouldn’t count on any renown hearts being in HoT. There aren’t any in Orr, nor in Dry Top and the Silverwastes. Originally the game wasn’t supposed to have renown hearts at all, only events. However many players were lost without them, so for new players they added them. However in high level areas they are not needed because by then players are used to events.
There are several non combat aplications of professions (maybe not warriors, though, since well… they are warriors)
Well… I wouldn’t be so sure about that. I mean I can see warriors working in construction or working as miners, lumberjacks, armorsmiths, weaponsmiths, bouncers, guards, gladiators, treasure hunters, bounty hunters and so on. They might also be quite proficient at various sports ranging from athletics to mountain climbing to wrestling.
Between new WvWvW maps, new sPvP game mode, new PvE Zones, Elite Specializations, [insert “Challenging Group Content” here], and QoL improvements such as Conditions and Trait reworks, HoT provides enough new content for my tastes, at least.
Then again, if it doesn’t suit you, don’t buy it. You’re entitled to your opinion.
In all fairness though the WvW map, the PvP mode and the QoL updates are all not part of HoT.
To me the combination of elite specializations, the revenant, masteries, adventures, new maps and new story is more than enough to get me on board.
Anet has yet to reveal what the ‘challenging group content’ is that they announced for HoT. It might be dungeons/fractals (or something different that suits your needs).
That said, if it’s not your game then it’s not your game. Not every game can appeal to everyone.
If the animators can’t pull it off, that’s one thing. But saying it can’t be done because ‘centaurs can’t do that!’ is not a valid excuse.
I imagine that it’s not that it can’t be done but that it would be a lot of work and then still look kinda awkward. It’s a costs/benefits thing (as is everything of course).
Guys. In this game we pretend to be cows in order to train cows to fight predators. We swim while wearing heavy plate armor. We will soon be gliding — through the jungle! No need to watch out for that tree.
I don’t think centaur thieves doing death blossoms is too much of a stretch.
Now. Do you? Really?
It’s not about the lore/immersion, it’s about the animations/programming/artwork needed to make all skins, skill animations, emotes, jumping, swimming and so on work on a non-bipedal creature.
I can see mounts as masteries work. If and only if they work only in specific areas. So they work like the mushrooms in the jungle. You walk around an area and when you meet a specific mountable animal you press ‘F’ and you mount that animal. You can then walk around on that animal and use it to overcome some barriers that are present in the area. When leaving the pre-defined area or when the time is up you automatically dismount.
Well, they said that they want to drop elite specializations into the game before the expansion comes. Probably to gather feedback, so do assume that the expansion will atleast come one month after the elite specializations.
No, they said they will drop core specializations into the game before the expansion, not elite specializations.
