Guild Wars 2

What do you play as a class, which enemies give you trouble and I assume KB = knock back?

They probably got tired of you dying on them all the time

But seriously – have you ever tried to rez someone in HoT while enemies are around? Pretty much suicide. And how would you like it to be rezzed and insta-downed again?

So I think getting you to a safe zone so that you might reconsider your build/tactics out of combat is a good option. GW2 core was easier … with HoT I think their solution is a good choice, though I only died once or twice with my soft armor/low life chars.

Star Ace.5207:

Stick with it-it’s not that hard. If anything, these obstacles will help improve your GW2 skills, at least if you pay attention to what’s downing you and how can you build to counteract said things.

Does anyone still remember when you actually had repair costs – made you be a bit more careful as well.

Now with the repair cost gone it’s “distance to travel if dead” that adds some incentive to staying alive.

Doam.8305:

Also block and blind!?

Are you telling me that you literally altered your builds to incorporate block and blind for one single mob!? No person in any MMO should ever have to alter a build for the sake a single PVE mob.

Um, no – I usually play WvW and bothj are quite helpful there and I found it makes for easy mass aggro in PvE as well. Especially so with a condition necro. Select the toughest, run around and collect as many as will follow you, all the while stack bleeding on the guy, if they are a bit shy drop blind well and stay in it – when enough have gathered hit signet and spread the love – continue kiting. After about 5 secs the affected 5 mobs are dead (bleeding and poison runs for over 6k damage/second), fire signet again, spread love again – once the vet or elite goes down F1 and 4 followed by 5 and then look where the next enemy group is.

I know that most PvE players just stack damage everywhere – armor, weapons, traits and skills – GW2 core is usually ok with that (unless you go fractal or dungeon unless you are in a very good group) – but with tactics and setup like that you neither survive PvP nor WvW for really long. And that is why none of my characters are 100% damage-only traited. And while a block is pure defensive – a reflect is not Depends on the class, though, what you have available.

Necro is a bit poor on blocks or reflects but a well timed fear will sometimes work wonders too – especially in some WvW/EoTM cases.

Edit: And – of course I do! When I am in a condition heavy environment I pack condi removal. When I am in an area where a lot of cc happens I pack stunbreakers that I’ll not use when in an area where cc is marginal. I also adjust my food depoending on where I am. NOT, I agree, for a single enemy – but block and blind (or reflects) have so many uses that I usually run one or more of those skills on my bar anyway.

The Colon of Jack.2158:

I can’t get anywhere with HoT. Every event, champion, veteran, etc, I end up dying. Changed everything about my warrior to toughness, vitality, and power (all survivability) , and I’m still dying. Unless I’m running around with a zerg, I can’t get anywhere, can’t level masteries, can’t get hero points, can’t progress in story mode. Magumma is handing me my butt and I’m not having fun. Saw someone suggest doing the Tyria masteries instead of Magumma. Thoughts?

Going full Soldier is not really a solution since you will prolong the fight (less damage) and that raises the chance of making a (mostly deadly) mistake. You might consider taking one or two pieces of Soldier’s as to not get one-shotted but don’t overdo it.

The trick is the positioning, the reading of enemies (they usually broadcast their special moves), awareness of little target symbols over your head and red circles on the ground, having your TRAITS set properly (more defense, shorter condition duration, etc.), blocking and stunbreakers and well timed dodges.

If you just put on Solderier’s and do a Rurik on them you’re still gonna go down fast.

Doam.8305:

Lastly condition builds get wrecked by raptors as I’ve seen it myself. You spread conditions and before they tick your dead then you rally then you die then you rally and then you die then those condi’s kill off another raptors and no more rally your dead for good. Actually quite the sight to see and this happens in a matter a seconds. This matters because play-style for PvP, Raids, and Dungeons is one thing but casual PVE world map content is another and a condi player is better off running or rather has to run and kite anyway so might as well run.

Um – no! Neither of my necros (one power, one condi) or my engi (condi) has problems with them. Block + blind are your friends. Check your bar. – you may be missing a few skills. Which class are you having problems with with a condi build?

Doam.8305:

A person exploring a map will probably and should indeed fight however it’s more than a week since launch and people have destinations, friends, and events there trying to make it too. There are no ground mounts the WP are spread much farther and yet the increased Mob density with tons of CC in addition to narrow corridors makes travel a complete burden.

Yup – biting the dust all by yourself can be a bit of a problem. But once you have the shrooms and gliding 2 you no longer walk – learn the maps and where the updrafts are. It still takes time (depoending which waypoints are contested) but it’s pretty safe as long as they do not include flying enemies as well …

Jong.5937:

HtFde.3856:

Arctarius.2649:

Celtic Lady.3729:

Kulvar.1239:

Celtic Lady.3729:

elikal.7356:

Some group of mini dinosaurs: dead.

I’m totally with you on this. I hate those pocket dinosaurs. You can’t hardly outrun them, either. They seem to be everywhere in Auric Basin.

1) Learn to dodge when they attack
2) Avoid them
3) Kill them

You’re not supposed to outrun them or tank them.
It’s what make them a threat. They’re not decorations.

You can easily use up your 2 dodges and still die, depending on the number on you at the time. Avoiding them is not always possible in some of the narrower passageways. Really, the easiest way for me to deal with them is to AOE them down.

Full on attack them.. They have like 2 hp each. Heal when your hp hits Hal or you will die, and do aoes. You sound like that person in the scary movies that just runs instead of punching the villain.

Haven’t played since Beta, have you? They HAD like 2 HP, they have quite a bit more today. Surviving a well + 2 damage marks from a full zerker power-necro …

Nah, they’re still dead easy to kill provided you stop to engage and don’t wait until you are at 10% health.

Depends a bit on the class if they get a go at you first – ever been to raptor lane? 5 groups one after another – easy to kite into a respawn if you’re not familiar with the location and an ele or thief with their low life pools is slightly disadvantaged compared to a necro or a warrior.

But – as has been written before – they seem far less aggressive all of a sudden.

Arctarius.2649:

Celtic Lady.3729:

Kulvar.1239:

Celtic Lady.3729:

elikal.7356:

Some group of mini dinosaurs: dead.

I’m totally with you on this. I hate those pocket dinosaurs. You can’t hardly outrun them, either. They seem to be everywhere in Auric Basin.

1) Learn to dodge when they attack
2) Avoid them
3) Kill them

You’re not supposed to outrun them or tank them.
It’s what make them a threat. They’re not decorations.

You can easily use up your 2 dodges and still die, depending on the number on you at the time. Avoiding them is not always possible in some of the narrower passageways. Really, the easiest way for me to deal with them is to AOE them down.

Full on attack them.. They have like 2 hp each. Heal when your hp hits Hal or you will die, and do aoes. You sound like that person in the scary movies that just runs instead of punching the villain.

Haven’t played since Beta, have you? They HAD like 2 HP, they have quite a bit more today. Surviving a well + 2 damage marks from a full zerker power-necro …

Destai.9603:

I’ve long felt that their games straddle the fine line between challenging and annoying. I cannot stand the obsessive snaring in this game. It ruins it for me. It’s bad enough we magically slow down when running for our lives, then we have to deal with infinite snaring and jerking around while running. It gets old, and quick. I really should have known it’d be a big pain in the kitten after what SW and DT were like.

Block, dodge, leap, cleanse, stealth, blink … even my Necro hardly ever get’s snared and that’s the lowest end in terms of mobility. Of course – if you want to hit R and then just steer by moving the mouse … well, I agree, that does not work. But it didn’t work in Orr either …

Rauderi.8706:

Jong.5937:

. Run and they will bring you down!

From range 1200!

Yeah, they’re a little bugged, actually. Fortunately, I have a hammer, and they splat pretty easily.

Rolling devils on the other hand…

Had one that must have been fathered bei an Aatxe – followed me across half the map, rolling, bumping, rolling. Against those blinds, stability, weakness and blocks work well. Even managed to survive a vet + its offspring solo. Same rule as for raptors: Bypass without aggro or fight – do NOT try to run unless you have a teleport, leap, blink, or whatever to gain a lot of distance fast.

Rauderi.8706:

And like EVERY SINGLE mob cripples, stuns and pushes me back.

Truth. It makes playing a melee character nearly impossible when the mob shove/KDs, runs halfway across the map, then runs back with charge/KD enabled. Cripple won’t work, because it either ignores it through breakbar or charges are speed-normalized anyway. It’s made playing my main very frustrating, where my confu-mesmer can waltz in and wreck shop with no problem.

Aw, my hammer sword/shield warrior isn’t having any problems with the normal/vet mobs either. Champs and up are different thing.

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

I had trouble with those pocket raptors too.. until recently, when they started ignoring me. Now I walk past them and they just shun me. I literally have to go amongst them and jump up and down to get their attention. Even then they’re only killing me half-heartedly, like they’re not really interesting in their work. What did I do to kitten them off?

The smell, mate, the smell … you’ve been in the jungle … for a week? … and how often did your char take a shower?

Morfedel.4165:

Ayrilana.1396:

You can access it during the day but it’s a pain to do.

Oh? How?

Know where the tameable Wyvern are? There’s a mushroom to jump to the begining. The Wyvern are accessible from the se point by running to where the Doc meta-event starts and using that mushroom and get onto the vine leading to the wyvern. TP blocked – you can updraft from where you entered the map there – long way though, especially if you get stuck in a pocket. Mesmer portal ftw.

Anowyyn.2304:

I just wanted to pop in and say I’ve been in VB solidly for the past 3 days. Today included, they’ve all been filled pretty well. I think once Saturday night and Sunday evening I went to a friends map because it was a bit slow. But there are still quite a few people out here doing the events.

You’re most likely having a bit of bad luck getting low population maps. I’m on my second clear with an alt, lots of folks are doing the same.

Verdant Brink seems to be doing fine … I usually get a more or less populated map there and even a smaller population can do the outpost events in time if you fire up your commandr and shout a lot in chat till you have like 10+ people to get the show rolling. My nemesis is Auric Basin and the final map (haven’t been much in the third map, yet) – I’d really like to see Tarir complete properly once ….

Wahaha.7938:

If there were few players on the map you would get a message saying so, and an offer to join a more populated map.

Last map I got moved from an empty final map to one just as empty. No event started – zilch. Dust everywhere. Did Aruic Basin, reconnected … on mentor runnign along. We did Tarir with 3 people on one gate and 5 on another. Pointless, really.

khesi.2786:

I’ve done all maps solo (without group hero challenges) on my guardian (in berserker gear). Those maps required more than autoattack and some dodges use Your reflects skills, interrupts learn mob mechanic and You’ll be fine in solo play.

Which means you either didn’t do the maps (beacuse you skipped 50%& of the HP challenges and thus have no map completition) or you did those with random join-ins, which means you didn’t play solo.

Either way – you’re supporting the OP.

evilunderling.9265:

Solo content is not meant to be a major part of the game, it’s just there to make being between guilds a little more bearable for people in that situation.

Uh-huh – that’s why it made about 90% of GW 2’s content and was advertised heavily by ANet …

LughLongArm.5460:

You are probably not using the mentioned cat.
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Juvenile_Tiger

Which makes sense as this pet is only available at the end of HOT personal story.

Ah, thanks for the info … something to keep in mind when doing the PS. What made me wonder was his phrasing “another cat” … but I gather it is not “another cat that” but “another cat. And that one …”

Thanks for clearing that up.

Lazze.9870:

Tiger is great. Another cat, with 100 % aoe fury uptime.

Hm … build is working great so far – when I went through my equiment I found I’d also put on a mix and match of things and didn’t even get the 6 rune bonus … strange … can’t remember why and when I started to switch stuff …

The one thing I don’t quite get … how is pet associated with fury uptime? I mean … yes … I get fury when I swap pets. But why does it matter what KIND of pet … I know I am missing something here … probably something important

Lazze.9870:

HtFde.3856:

As for pets I see you stack vulnerability with this … are any of the new HoT pets an option? haven’t looked them up yet but I know from my previous characters where I can finy a wyvern. A quick google didn’t give many results though … are there other pets beside the wyvern?

Tiger is great. Another cat, with 100 % aoe fury uptime.

Bristleback is great for the meta condi build.

So three new pets – wow. Gotta fire up the wiki to see where/how to get those. I have an idea where the bristleback might be – let’s see if I’m right.

Chronomancer done (yay, that’s 5 elite specs now with 2x reaper, 2x chronomancer and 1 dragonhunter) … now for some sweets shopping for when the trick or treat gangs appear and then time to see about that druid.

Guessing from the build it will require a couple of hours till ‘ll be comfortable with – getting the timing on the evasion skills right. Should have done PvP with the ranger … that’s where you learn that.

Ah – there is light at the end of the tunnel (hopefully not an oncoming train, though). Gonna finish my second chronomancer (only 30 points to go) and will then have a go at the mentioned options.

As for pets I see you stack vulnerability with this … are any of the new HoT pets an option? haven’t looked them up yet but I know from my previous characters where I can finy a wyvern. A quick google didn’t give many results though … are there other pets beside the wyvern?

LughLongArm.5460:

Keep the zerk gear, LG/GS. Change build to:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJARTjUqQLLWyCOsAXLG4EK/vHgD/fhFvh7htvDAA-TBBXgAAK/C1F0r+zjSQA-e

Still having hard time? Change the easy trinkets(don’t bother with back piece) to celec, its only laurels and some WvW badges.

With this setup, you are tanky enough to solo everything outside group only content like some hero challenges.

Good Luck.

Celec = celestial?

Interesting choice of traits there … gonan try this out. I just soloed a group event on my mesmer – never got belo 90% health during the 4 fights (recapture camp, 3 times defend) … it is so unbalanced class wise.

Cheers guys,

I’m a little bit clueless at the moment. Ranger was my first GW2 character (back in pre-order headstart times) and I remember well the times I had serious problems in Orr (as the only level 80 after a server transfer), Now those memories are back to haunt me …

The classic zerker LB/GS build I am running in WvW (and I use the ranger mainly in WvW nowadays) wasn’t workign too well when you want to do anything outside of just running through the maps. Mainly playing solo I found myself unable to defend even small camps or do escort missions. One sniper is enough to end your journey and those escort missions are long and the first mistake you make is also your last.

I tried a condition/trap based build next – only to see that traps are no longer throwable? Well, going SB/A+T was ok-ish – bit since my damage was more single target I lost my escort mission target because it took AGES to kill anything.

Can someone provide me with a build-idea how to play HoT and be actually useful? Even my condition damage seems … abysmally low compared to my PU mesmer or my condition necro.

Sirbeaumerdier.3740:

Don’t you dare touch snipers and blade dancers! That is the kind of monsters that prevent players from mindlessly buttonmashing their ways to victory. We NEED that kind of opponents. I too hate them but I want them in that game.

Nods – I quite understand that. But maybe make “normal” ones and have more powerful veteran versions so that a solo player doing an escort mission (which noone bothers to do anyway) has a chance instead of being insta-nuked when the mob that attacks the carrier has 2 of those + 2 normal melee mobs + 1 or 2 riders/mounts.

If you concentrate on the snipers, you’ll fail the event because the others will kill the carrier. If you try to defend the carrier and leave the snipers be until you have cleared out some of the melee mobs first it’s a matter of time until you get knocked down and then – as if the snipers waited for it – you’ll get dwo of those lines while you’re stunned, knocked down … then you’re in downstate, then you’re dead. 0% of preventing that – once you’re down, you’re dead.

I agree that they provide a challenge – but I think ANet is a little too generous with their spawn rate/number and the combinations of foes they apperar with when only one or two players are present. They should have a tamer version vor those situations and keep the killer version for groups > 3.

Kirnale.5914:

1. Circle around him. Also, you know when he shoots, by seeing him charging up. You could go back to distance to completely avoid damage or just dodge out of it. Always keep moving around if you are unsure.
2. I believe the mastery nuhoch 4 can counter this.
3. Go back to range, and spam left and right movements. That way, even without dodging, he won’t hit you.

To be honest, they were much stronger in BE2. They had a fast shot there that hit 8k+, instead of the line of death if my memory serves right.

Edit: As of mass snipers. Keep track of every one of them. Play it in a pvp style. Know their position, and adjust your position to it. And when they go stealth, they only move a little bit, and you should be prepared for a line of death

Nods, and then comes a cavalier or a mushroom from behind and knocks you down and you see all those nice lines converging on you, er your downed body … where is the next WP and where is the anvil …

Zalavaaris.5329:

Since you can’t buy the new ones the market won’t be affected. Maybe we can get away with just doing a bunch of fun events to build it. I really hope that’s the case.

Beeb …logical error … beeb

If these things were dead cheap to MAKE noone would ever BUY one from the TP and thus it WILL affect the market.

Menadena.7482:

Given that the new specializations do not (on average) give you an advantage over the average ‘classic’ 9 specializations can anyone explain to me why they are worth 250 HP?

Sure, I would love to try them but 250 is still steep. I could MAYBE see it if we got a fourth trait line, but as it is we have to give up one.

Depends on class and playstyle. I LOVE the reaper on my power Necro and in teamplay the Chronomancer really shines. Don’t (personally) see anything in the druid and Dragonhunter isn’t really what I could use the way I play my Guardian. Can’t say too much about the others … oh … Herold … it’s nice in group play for the Revenant.

Sykper.6583:

HtFde.3856:

Aenesthesia.1697:

Drivrius.6159:

I’m giving up, this is more like Dark Souls online then GW2, it’s a horrible experience to try and play this solo.

The shift in game style from the core game is like day and night, you go from a fun, solo casual, game to hardcore, group only in a second.

You go from a boring, mind-numbing 1 click autoattack fest to semi fun, active combat in which your enemies don’t all do the same attacks, and you have to take down the heavy hitters first.

And you’ve never played dark souls, it seems.

hint: if your character cannot survive a stun, then you are probably carrying the wrong gear?

Your hint isn’t quite helpful – even with full tough + vit gear you don’t stand a chance if things go wrong. There are TONS of mobs that kick you around and if you have a spawn with 3 of those you’ll run out of stunbreakers and dodges and as soon as you lie in the dirt for good you have 2 or 3 snipers fire their fiery line at you … dead.

It’s quite easy to avoid them in a group becvause they do not focus on the same player but when you play solo ALL enemies will lock target on YOU and 2 or 3 snipers + one stun/knockdown guy is a deadly combination – it’s not really a matter of the gear. When you get into one of those fights your gear only determines how fast you die.

Don’t just make this about gear, run different weapons, utilities, even traits. Prioritize survival before you start ramping up your personal damage.

In the instance of fighting 2-3 snipers, which can happen but not as often as typically Mordrem will only be in groups of 2+ at certain parts of the map otherwise they are all separated and its up to the player to ‘accidently’ aggro a bunch, Snipers start off either with their channeled snipe or they go into stealth. Good news is that either one of those has them sticking to the same spot. Either put up a block or dodge after…I say 2-3 seconds, you gotta get a rhythm for it.

Snipers blow up easily, they have only like 10k life for the normal ones, so if you can burst one down do so. If you can’t try to use terrain and LoS them. They have a single stunbreak they will use if they get CCed multiple times in succession. This will also kick you and they will roll back. They are one of the high priority targets that should die quickly in a skirmish.

Hope that helps!

It’s not about running the map – that’s the easy part. It’s about events – even ones not flagged as group events. And even when I was solo with just the Exalted to guide about 8 – 10 mobs spawned and gl. if you get a Vet Sniper – tons of damage and sure as hell more than 10k health Add 2 Cavaliers and there is only one way you can do this on most classes … RUN away. Not much fun, eh.

PU Mesmer and condi Necro on the other hand … muhahaha … bring on MOOOORE. whereas my Guardian, Ranger, … rez at next WP. It’s really quite dependant on what class you run in HoT. My condi Necro has a fun time – pick the toughest, run circles, apply condis … spread them. Collect loot … next group please. With the Guardian I’ve come to avoid any event (on map2, map 1 is ok) if there isn’t at least one other player so that I’m not the only target of interest whereas my PU Mesmer or condi Necro can at times easily solo group events. AoE condition + toughness/vit makes HoT a lot easier but not all classes have access to that – it’s going to be really interesting how my Engineer will fare because that’s a thing he is pretty good at.

Edit: If the first story chapter is any indication he’s going to have a blast

Kulvar.1239:

You always find people to do hero challenge champions… I’m one vista away from perfecting Verdant Brink and did it almost solo…

Bring friends, improve your build, improve your gear quality, balance offense and defense, adapt to your foes weaknesses, use control, read how foes move, dodge.

I always carry a range weapon to fight some of them.
Arrowhead are easy to deal with from range and you can dodge them too
small tip: they roll to you, dodge through them, not away from them.

When I first went to Orr (all those years ago) – it was easy to get all the skill challenges as well. When I decided to build a little Asura Army I loved my little warrior that I decided to do world completition with him as well. Orr was a nightmare – especially the first 2 zones because they were completely deserted.

Since we have no clue how the new maps will feel in half a year or so … allow me to draw my conclusions from my Orr experience and say I am not happy with group content HP challenges.

Aenesthesia.1697:

Drivrius.6159:

I’m giving up, this is more like Dark Souls online then GW2, it’s a horrible experience to try and play this solo.

The shift in game style from the core game is like day and night, you go from a fun, solo casual, game to hardcore, group only in a second.

You go from a boring, mind-numbing 1 click autoattack fest to semi fun, active combat in which your enemies don’t all do the same attacks, and you have to take down the heavy hitters first.

And you’ve never played dark souls, it seems.

hint: if your character cannot survive a stun, then you are probably carrying the wrong gear?

Your hint isn’t quite helpful – even with full tough + vit gear you don’t stand a chance if things go wrong. There are TONS of mobs that kick you around and if you have a spawn with 3 of those you’ll run out of stunbreakers and dodges and as soon as you lie in the dirt for good you have 2 or 3 snipers fire their fiery line at you … dead.

It’s quite easy to avoid them in a group becvause they do not focus on the same player but when you play solo ALL enemies will lock target on YOU and 2 or 3 snipers + one stun/knockdown guy is a deadly combination – it’s not really a matter of the gear. When you get into one of those fights your gear only determines how fast you die.

sirsquishy.8531:

HoT is soloable. I dont get why so many people are having issues with it. The only mobs you cannot outright solo are the Bosses and Champs. If you are a good player you can run around in berserk gear, if you are not then you can’kittens pretty simple.

I think those that are QQ’ing over this need to reflect on their class/build choices and go back to the drawing board to figure out what they are doing wrong.

And Champs being what waits at most HP challenges which is what you need to complete your “elite” spec … so you say it’s unplayable but then claim it is not. Funny

kanarek.8025:

HtFde.3856:

Sirbeaumerdier.3740:

I did my story solo on my glass ele. It is doable. You just have to be more careful of how you engage the enemy.

That’s only part of it, though. The traditional solo player wants to get his PERSONAL story done (check), explore and roam around (check, though difficult), harvest materials (check, more difficult than Tyria but very doable) – have a couple of events they can do solo or with a few people who happen to be at the same location (check, though difficulty depends a lot on your class and build – my condi necro and condi mesmer can even solo camp defense, my guardian …. struggles …) and map completition (oops, no check here because of the HP design).

Making the HP about 50% a group thing is (my opinion) a bad decision as it really goes against solo players – making the elite spec unlockable by HP and by making HP challenges the only source of HP was another very bad decision – never mind the actual amount you need.

They could, instead, have offered croup and solo adventures along with solo HP challenges. Solo play giving less HP than in group but enough to unlock your elite spec. This would also have made map completition possible.

Is it really big problem for you? It is group content. You can just do this 10 Hero Points events with some people. Right?

Sighs – before the nerf … have you ever tried to get the Baltgazar’s skill point in Orr? I had to wait for weeks to get it until people finally did the meta event (yay, to megaserver :/) We have no clue yet where people will go to in about half a year or so and it might get tough to find people for the HP then – allow me to see a bit further that the immediate now. And allow me to draw my conclusions from the fact how long it took ANet to react to a severly depopulated Orr – except Cursed Shore, that is.

Dremars.6849:

I am extremely and utterly disappointed by ArenaNet’s actions to reduce the hero point value from 400 to 250 so early into expansion.

First of all, I have to completely disagree that 400 HP was high at all. On launch day I started my Revenant with lvl30 scroll and 38 Tomes of Knowledge and leveled to 80 to get access to HoT content.

Stop right there!

Why – if levelling is so much fun and you feel you have achieved something – did you use a scroll and tomes to get to 80? Sound like a contradiction!

Well, maybe you did it because you felt that the old content was no longer that interesting and wanted to get at the new content fast. Understandable … but now … please allow us – those “us” that have a lot of alts – to peep behind the ovious and see that while it would be fun (and new, and challenging) to level the first char through HoT with 400 points it would become booooring if you did it on your 10th character.

And since there are no scrolls or tomes to bypass the HP need in HoT, we can’t do what you did and speed things up … we’d have to crawl our way through those 400 HP – again, and again, and again … doesn’t sound that much fun and challenging now, does it? So "we"’re very happy about the change (though some problems still persist) because “we” see now what you saw when you yourself bypassed the 1-80 levelling but what you didn’t see for the 1-400 HP levelling.

I feel sorry for you that it somehow spoiled your experience but I can tell you that the way it was before surely did spoil my experience.

Sirbeaumerdier.3740:

I did my story solo on my glass ele. It is doable. You just have to be more careful of how you engage the enemy.

That’s only part of it, though. The traditional solo player wants to get his PERSONAL story done (check), explore and roam around (check, though difficult), harvest materials (check, more difficult than Tyria but very doable) – have a couple of events they can do solo or with a few people who happen to be at the same location (check, though difficulty depends a lot on your class and build – my condi necro and condi mesmer can even solo camp defense, my guardian …. struggles …) and map completition (oops, no check here because of the HP design).

Making the HP about 50% a group thing is (my opinion) a bad decision as it really goes against solo players – making the elite spec unlockable by HP and by making HP challenges the only source of HP was another very bad decision – never mind the actual amount you need.

They could, instead, have offered croup and solo adventures along with solo HP challenges. Solo play giving less HP than in group but enough to unlock your elite spec. This would also have made map completition possible.

WeedyZeGreedy.8635:

Aytheist.9476:

Solo players cannot advance in the new content, and any decent publisher would disclose such a fundamental change prior to taking your money.

Replace your berserker gear then, you cannot solo dry top or SW either which were the initial zones

Depends a bit on what “to solo” means. For most solo players it means 100% map completition and what is needed for it. And that you can get in DT or SW “easily”. You cannot in HoT because of the way the HP are coded – i.e. about 50% of them are group content.

People sometimes mistake the aim of solo players to be able to handle every event solo – that is usually not the case.

Calcifire.1864:

I wonder how many of the people who dislike the mentor tag have a commander tag and just don’t want their purchase to be devalued?

Where the commander tags come from the mentor tags are not really of help. And the colour code is VERY nice to have in some organized group events like Tequatl, Wurm, etc.

It’s ok from my point of view … it takes a bit of grinding in PVE to get the tag and it can help people locate a mentor in need of assistance with a HP without the need to party up.

Hi,

I didn’t find anything about this after a quick search:

Was with my Revevant and a 3/4 unlocked and in-use Elite spec in Auric Basin.

Decided that the flame sword skin would be nice and tried to go the the EoTM Hall of Memories. Nothing much happened – after a few seconds a red text appeared onscreen: Failed to create instance – followed by some numbers.

I thought — well – maybe it is buggy in the new maps – opened the map, clicked on a waypoint in LA … nothing happened – got an error message “Lost connection to the login server …” – couldn’t use an in-area-waypoint either.

Quit – reloaded – same problem.

Quit-reloaded – no EoTM stone attempt, direct LA waypoint – same problem. Could not play one character after that (always the game login server message) – waited for 2..3 minutes, after this other characters could play.

Quit-reloaded. Went WvW via hotkey – worked. No Herald selected (because I didn’t have it unlocked when I last used the class in WvW). Portalled to LA from there to EoTM HoM. No problem. Re-Equipped Elite Spec, put on shield and hopped around the map – worked.

Since I did not have any problems hopping around the map when not with Herald spec I guess there is something when you wear a shield that might bring up a problem.

Had another strange thing in Norn starter territory as well: Hero form is not available underwater, so when I dived into it I had an empty form – I did Shiro/Mallyx combo for underwater – exited the water and … Shiro and Mallyx still present. No switchover to Shiro/Herald.

Makes things a bit clumsy when you fall into water and only have 1 slotted spec available. It’s also not quite good if you select a 2nd form underwater, exit, and have to assign the Herald spec again once you’re out of the water. Sometimes thare’s bad things lurking around the water which made you fall into it in the first place.

Edit: Just logged in – tried to enter HoM with shield equipeed: Worked

MrH.2591:

Behellagh.1468:

Ice.5162:

Bad decision, just bad. Sad when a company has to listen to a handful of whiners on forums.

The rest of the hero points won’t feel half as accomplished or important, if only for the map completion.

We live in an age of social media where a few upset people can spread falsehoods that can’t amplified by liked minds and soon those who don’t know better join in.

The result is in a few weeks the conversation will change to “HoT isn’t worth the cost because I unlocked everything to quickly”.

" A few ", that’s cute. Casual players are the majority in most MMOs, especially GW2 so you can bet your hide more people are for this change than against.

Nope – people like that like to think of qualified minorities (them) and unqualified majorities (the other 99,9%) and therefore only their point of view is valid and the rest can cough up the money and then go to a very warm place …

Behellagh.1468:

Ice.5162:

Bad decision, just bad. Sad when a company has to listen to a handful of whiners on forums.

The rest of the hero points won’t feel half as accomplished or important, if only for the map completion.

We live in an age of social media where a few upset people can spread falsehoods that can’t amplified by liked minds and soon those who don’t know better join in.

The result is in a few weeks the conversation will change to “HoT isn’t worth the cost because I unlocked everything to quickly”.

Giggles – yeah – we already have those die-hard-haven’t-seen-fresh-air-the-last-11-months types who have them unlocked. THOSE are the ones complaining most loudly because they feel less … über … now. For those the “worth the cost” thing is already over according to your … logic. Joe Sixpack will still have to do A LOT of work for those 250 points …

Galandil.9641:

RedBaron.6058:

Some never give up on grinding, others never give up on real life.

Epic.

Wrong though – eventually we all give up on real life … question is … does heaven or hell offer computer games?

Osu.6307:

250 points is fair. As soon as this change goes live, everyone’s main character(s) will max out and they can play the new content with the elite spec, like so many of us have wanted. It also means even our alts with 5% map completion can power through VB and AB in a couple hours if they are just going for hero points because the HoT masteries will be leveled up by then. To be fair, it’s not the first 50 hero points that are the problem. It’s the LAST 50.

Which main character? When we’re in need of more frontline I go guardian or shout warrior. Need more dps – I’ll bring my necro. More healing – here comes my ele. Wanna do some roaming – out comes my thief or mesmer. The ranger is a tad dusty as is my engineer.

As for “leftover points” – never built superior siege with all available skill points, did you …

Anowyyn.2304:

I’m rather sad that they’ve reduced it already. It’s only a few days into the expansion. A thread with a lot of responses in it does not mean it’s a majority by any stretch. Those that weren’t busy complaining on the forums were actually playing the game and have our elite specialization maxed out already (I was well over halfway before HoT).

That’s an assumption. I assume that ANet made that decison based on the feedback they got AND actual play data.

joric.1042:

250 HP is reasonable.

The amount is – in my oppinion – immaterial. It’s the way are are gathered – that method still sucks. I’d have much preferred to have a flat XP curve that would give you a HP once the bar is filled and have the HP challenges (just like in the pre-HoT game) be a means of speeding HP acquisition up and a means for map completitionists.

Copestetic.5174:

Tommyknocker.6089:

According to the wiki in base Tyria:

“There are 214 points available if you have the Krait Obelisk Shard in your home instance”

This means you still have to do some of the jungle to unlock your specialization. Sorry but I see no problem with this AT ALL.

My Warrior and Guardian both had over 200 HP’s left prior to HoT ( World Completion ). It’s pathetic that to max out an ELITE specialization I have to do what? 5 Hero Challenges? lol

ArenaNet, you need to stop caving in.

Oh my, poor you – had you played WvW and spent a ton of your points for Superior Siege you would now be where all those not 100% completers are … I really like your altruistic attitude. ^^

Nemesis.2019:

it’s really bad, grind my XP to get updraft and realize oh snap the Vamp hero challenge boss is very hard, you need at least 5 players to help ya, don’t bother soloing this game, HoT and GW2 is night and day if you are solo player..

Well – seriously … you throw the word grind about but getting the first few mastery levels is not a grind. Do personal story (on more than one char if you can) – do a few events, do a bit of exploring and … yay, unlocked. If you call that grind I wonder how you ever managed to get to level 80.

Not all HP are truly bad but, yes, I still think that the HP should not be group events. As for the night and day … well – I came back afet a year break and stumbled into the Silverwastes. Took me a day or two to adjust myself to not be constantly eating dust. Learn the mechanics, win. I’m at Rata Novus now with three characters … the first was tough – after I learned what each monster did and how it did that it was easy mode + quite a bit of running away when I knew I couldn’t do this. But that is no different from being the only player in Orr when Melandru kicks in …

jheryn.8390:

Sytherek.7689:

jheryn.8390:

HtFde.3856:

And it doesn’t seem strange to you that they create a completely new machanism for HoT – one they completely forgot to mention while they touted out other things aloud?

[SNIP]

There – if they had done that I bet there’d be a lot less complaints – because it would have been with what GW 2 is instead creating a new, alien-feeling mechanism.

No, it doesn’t seem strange at all. There are a lot of things in HoT that are new. In fact, I WANT there to be new things. It is what keeps the game interesting.

As far as complaints. No there would not have been a lot less complaints. Look at any content that has been released. There has been nothing but a huge amount of complaints. No matter what Anet does, there are a ton of complaints. If people had not been complaining about this it would have been something else.

Completely untrue. As you can find easily in this thread, people praise many aspects of this (and other) releases. One very specific item (albeit a major one) has very many players unhappy.

I wouldn’t be here looking for a “fix” if I didn’t love the game.

What is untrue? That there are a lot of people complaining?

You are right that there are people actually praising “many things”. I’m one of them. The problem I am seeing is that even much of the praise is conditional. "I love HoT but…

I think it is obvious to anyone that the complaints much outweigh the praise. You might have one specific item you want fixed, but there are many more complaining about a lot more things.

Also, many of these people posting are not offering constructive opinions and criticism, but rants ranging from boo-hooing to hateful and harsh.

Actually I’m gonna post an “atta boys, BUT …” thing once the forums are a bit less stressed.

But if I serve you a really well done meal with a really nice wine and hammer a nail into your foot while you eat it … I doubt you’re going to comment on the food.

The way I see it there are actually only two main complaints overall:

(1) Why does it take ages to play my “elite” spec and why is it so much work to unlock it and why only through ONE means (two actually, if you count the WvW option in)

(2) Why is everything gated and in some cases double gated?

I guess we’ll see more complaints once a lot of players have finally unlocked the elite traits and comment on THOSE.

The “It’s not solo friendly” is – from my point of view – a result of (1) and (2).

One Prarie Outpost.4860:

HtFde.3856:

One Prarie Outpost.4860:

I know, I know. You get your drivers license and expect a car. Get a job and expect 3 weeks vacation and a huge salary. Well, you can’t buy Masteries with gems or gold – you have to earn it. I believe the elite professions are called ELITE for a reason. Otherwise they would be called EASIES.

Um – like the “Elite” that is doing super-challenging CoF runs at the moment? If THAT is the Elite, I’m proud not to be part of it.

I was unaware that CoF was listed as Elite content… you have something that states it is, yes?

Misread your post – my bad.

Taking a look at the “elite” traits though … they’re more like alternates (in some cases I tried during beta weekends) and not really “elite”.

I mean … yes, it would make sense to get something epic you have to climb a mountain. But then it wouldn’t make sense if it would turn all content into easy mode. So the “elite” specs are not really elite and not really worth climbing mountains for.

What irks me is that they created a new mechanism just for HoT instead of using the existing one … you “level up”, you get a hero point and if you want those HPs faster you can try a 10 HP challenge. Instead participating for hours in the events doesn’t get you ONE step closer to a HP – surprisingly it DOES so for WvW players … does this make sense? Well, maybe I’m too old to understand that …

One Prarie Outpost.4860:

HtFde.3856:

One Prarie Outpost.4860:

And to point to the mantra that you “can play how you want” – that was for the CORE game – which you still can – play how you want. This is an expansion pack, not core game.

Are you guessing or do you have written evidence that ANet decided to deviate from that philosophy in the expansion? I think I read pretty much all offical statements but I cannot recall they invalidated this philosophy for HoT.

(A) NPE was revoked
(B) Unless something is officially revoked it is safe to assume that was before will be now

Well … not so safe, it seems ^^

The invalidated this statement with the New Player Experience which changed the way the core game was released.
Do you have written evidence that they intended the new expansion to be soloable?

One Prarie Outpost.4860:

I know, I know. You get your drivers license and expect a car. Get a job and expect 3 weeks vacation and a huge salary. Well, you can’t buy Masteries with gems or gold – you have to earn it. I believe the elite professions are called ELITE for a reason. Otherwise they would be called EASIES.

Um – like the “Elite” that is doing super-challenging CoF runs at the moment? If THAT is the Elite, I’m proud not to be part of it.