Guild Wars 2

LiewKW.6410:

I just bought HoT a month ago. About the massive number of achievements which grant mastery points in Dragon Stand, is there a way for me to obtain them? The problem is most of the time, there’s not enough people there doing the map’s meta.

Use a timer site, like gw2timer.com. Get to the zone ten minutes before Dragonstand is up and join a squad. Also you can use LFG tool to find a squad to an active map.

There are always people doing this map when it starts. Always meaning all the time. In every time slot. Always.

I complete dragon stand several times a week at all different times and I’ve never not been able to find a map.

Don’t just show up on the map randomly. Use timers and looking for group tool to find an active server. Profit.

AliamRationem.5172:

Eponet.4829:

And Verdant Brink Night fails whenever you don’t bring a small army of people to it, because the map never reaches the same numbers as the other HOT maps.

VB is definitely the toughest meta to complete, but it isn’t because the map never has the numbers. How could you possibly know that? As far as I know, there is no means by which players may determine how many other players are present on a map. The best indicator we have is when a map is full, but the only method we have of observing that is via LFG – and we still don’t know what that number is.

The problem with the VB meta is that it doesn’t start when the bosses spawn and killing the bosses does not guarantee a T4 win. The meta is the entire night cycle. So here’s the problem with that…

This morning I logged in to VB to grab the shard of Caladbolg for the latest current event. It so happened that I logged in right as the night cycle started and a few players were asking in map chat if this was a meta map. I responded that LFG had no meta map in progress, but if they wanted to we could begin to organize one.

So I threw up my mentor tag (I don’t have commander) and explained that I’d need 2 or 3 others at my location to maintain the camp and that others should spread out and claim camps, tag up, and move on if more than 4 or 5 players were already present at a camp.

A few others followed my lead, but throughout the cycle players kept popping into map chat to complain that the map was dead. The map is dead! Nobody is doing the meta!

How could they know that? In this case, there were several groups actively participating in the meta. And when the boss cycle came it turned out there were quite a lot of players present on the map. In fact, we completed all of the bosses with several minutes to spare. Unfortunately, because players were convinced they were on a dead map, they didn’t do enough prior to the bosses to get a T4 win.

Obviously, part of that is players not understanding how the VB meta works. And part of that is the VB meta itself. I think in this case I could agree that it would be a lot easier to win VB if killing the 5 bosses were all that was required to score a T4 win. Players are much too quick to look for others to do all the work and will not participate otherwise. Megaserver and the LFG mini-game aren’t helping the situation here, even if it works adequately (for those who know) on all of the other HoT maps.

This is exactly the problem. You don’t need a million people for T4 meta. You need a bunch of people who understand how the meta gets done. You can’t zerg this meta. Zerging it is guaranteed failure.

So those that don’t understand pop into the map and leave. Or wait for the night bosses and do nothing before it.

The problem, in part, is the game does a kitten poor job of explaining what needs to be done.

As I’ve said before, many times, if people have trouble with HOT maps and they need a tutorial or some help getting around, they can message me in game. I’d be happy to help them, assuming they’re on a US server.

HOT comes not after core. It comes after Living Story Season 2 which is much much harder, story wise, than the core game. Living Story Season 2 ramped up the difficulty. However, due to it being a separate purchase, and not even required, (lots of people skip story), not everyone does that content. So they go from doing math grade 1 to math grade 3 and wonder why it’s so hard.

It’s hard because you’ve skipped part of the game.

Play dungeons and fractals before you go into the jungle, that will get your eye in more toward dodging, moving while casting and using terrain to fight. Line of sighting and pulling are important skills to have in HoT. It’s doable…if you know how to do it.

The real point to me is that this thread is called hot is unsoloable, which is very very different from saying I can’t solo HoT. That’s a very different statement.

You need to have knowledge of your class and some small degree of skill (yes, small) to solo HoT. Again not every hero point, but to get around solo and to get to where people are doing things. And it’s not intuitive, it takes time to learn.

There are always people that will start a book find it not interesting and close it before the first chapter, but some books are fantastic if you stay with them. Many people have felt that about HOT. The more you play it the better you get.

Generally I’ve found the people who like it least aren’t people who can’t play it. They’re people who can’t play it but don’t want to because all they want to do is get their mastery points so they can play the game, rather than playing the game to get their mastery points.

HoT has entertaining and complex event chains. It has interesting dynamics. It has maps that make you think and not everyone is going to like that. That why AB is so good for most people. It’s less twisted.

But why shouldn’t this game have a couple of zones that are more complex?

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Vayne.8563:

I’m really not sure what this total aversion to taxiing is.

Eh, to be fair, I don’t like to taxi, either. I prefer to warp into a zone, do whatever I came to do (whether goal-oriented or without any specific ideas), and move on. At launch and for months afterward, we could do that. However, that hasn’t been mathematically realistic since probably late 2013.

Once a Zone is full enough for the meta (or world boss etc)…
-> It attracts taxi-using players.
-> It reaches the soft cap.
-> New players entering the zone are dropped in new instances.
-> The taxi-using among them move to the first map, which becomes hard capped.
-> Players who don’t taxi are extremely like to end up in seemingly-empty zones.

So regardless of whether we prefer LFG or prefer to find our events more organically, in this game, it’s an essential tool. Those who use it will be playing a different sort of game than those who don’t, which is why we end up having some of these “there’s no one there” | “yes, there are people there” conversations.

There’s a difference between not preferring something and total aversion.

There have been people on these forums who refuse to use LFG and say that the situation we have isn’t good enough, and then complain they can’t do content. To me, that’s like shooting yourself in the foot. The solution exists, and while it’s not necessarily optimal, it’s not the end of the world either.

Some people don’t use timers, as well, thinking it breaks their immersion to leave the game, or look at a website.

battledrone.8315:

Ayrilana.1396:

battledrone.8315:

Ayrilana.1396:

battledrone.8315:

Ashen.2907:

Djinn.9245:

I don’t understand why the same group of people in this thread and other difficulty threads insist over and over that HoT is not actually difficult and that it is solo-able.

Those of us who have trouble know whether we are able to solo the content and know whether or not we are having difficulty with it. BY DEFINITION if players are finding it difficult, it IS IN FACT difficult for those players. No amount of saying that it isn’t actually difficult will change how WE experience it.

Because all too often those claiming that it is not soloable claim to be speaking for “casual” players as a group rather than just themselves.

I dont doubt that some (casual) players cannot solo in HoT, but I also know for a fact that others can.

If someone says, “I cannot solo in HoT,” my inclination is to try to help them.

When someone says that casuals (of which I am one) cannot solo in HoT, I contest their position because they are making claims about me, my friends, and untold numbers of other people that they do not know. If one chooses to claim to speak for me, expect me to respond if the claims are inaccurate.

the fact, that you can, and will solo HoT makes you hardcore
if it was casual, you can bet , that more people would have liked it
HoT hurt this game , it polarized the playerbase, and caused many of the vets to leave
dont believe me? look at the numbers
“but its to be expected as the game gets older”..yea..but some older games have more players
they can still save it..new races, new level cap, new classes
but they have to work on the bread&butter content to do it

So the new definition of casual is that it’s someone who cannot solo HoT? Gotcha.

youre welcome , next time just use a dictionary instead
semantics is one thing, but it is hard to fight reality in the long term, yes?
and reality only points in one direction, despite your attempts to muddy the waters

My post was actually sarcastic. Just because someone can solo HoT doesn’t mean that they’re casual. You can argue it’s all semantics but you’re missing the term in a way to defend your argument that there’s something inherently wrong with the HoT maps as they’re not solo friendly.

HoT has the convenience of a korean F2P grinder coupled with the obscurity of bigfoot
compared to the rest of tyria, it was almost like a new game
many of us didnt want a new game..we just wanted more like queensdale
a good mmo has a little of everything, but they need a ton of players to pay for it all
more players=more money= more content
that is the simple formula for WoWs success
and dont tell me to get back to WoW, after thousands of hours im simply burned out on that

It was 80 at launch and we had level 80 zones at launch. Cursed Shore has been in the game at launch since level 80. We’ve never had a level cap increase. We’ve always had level 80 zones.

IndigoSundown.5419:

Vayne.8563:

It’s like Orr. I never soloed a temple but I never grouped for one either.

Yeah, well, I’ve never had to taxi to do a temple, either.

Right, there’s no way to know if a Temple is up at all. You have to stand around and wait. Hope the event is up. If it’s not up wait for it to come up. You can’t accurately track a temple either.

You think that’s better somehow?

You want to do the Silverwastes without waiting 40 minutes, jump into LFG. You think you’re going to get triple trouble without taxiing in somewhere. Taxis have been in the game for years.

I’m really not sure what this total aversion to taxiing is.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Djinn.9245:

I don’t understand why the same group of people in this thread and other difficulty threads insist over and over that HoT is not actually difficult and that it is solo-able.

Those of us who have trouble know whether we are able to solo the content and know whether or not we are having difficulty with it. BY DEFINITION if players are finding it difficult, it IS IN FACT difficult for those players. No amount of saying that it isn’t actually difficult will change how WE experience it.

Because that’s not what everyone is saying. Or at least, it’s not what I’ve been saying.

I found it more difficult originally. I couldn’t move 5 steps without dying on a squish and even tankier toons had trouble.

However, while some concluded that meant HoT was too difficult to solo, I concluded it meant I needed to up my game. Which I did, letting go of some of my favorite builds/tactics.

I don’t think it’s fair to say that a game can’t evolve to the point where old builds won’t work as well. I think it is fair for new zones to present new challenges, even as they present new opportunities.

This is what I’m seeing in this thread.

Player 1: Hot can’t be soloed.
Player 2: I can solo HoT.
Player 1: HoT can’t be soloed without meta builds.
Player 2: I solo HoT without meta builds.
Player 1: HoT can’t be soloed by casuals.

The bar keeps moving because people would rather defend their inability to play the content, rather than find a way to get good at or beat the content.

There are too many people, not just a few, that say HoT can be soloed. It doesn’t mean you can solo every single hero point, because you probably can’t. But then I can’t solo a Temple in Orr either.

There are ways to get stuff done in HOT if you’re will to adapt. If you’re not willing to adapt, obviously you will not be able to solo it.

But I remember a similar reaction to Eye of the North when it first came out. Before Eye of the North, the “open world” in Guild Wars 1 was relatively easy. Then Eye of the North came out and raptor groups that patrolled wrecked people. Ceratodon’s blew them up. It was a slaughter…for some people.

Some people learned how to cope and beat the area, and those people said it’s not that hard. That’s what I did. Other people avoided playing it because it was too hard.

The problem here is that the difficulty between the open world prior to HOT and HOT, if you haven’t played Living Story Season 2, or Fractals or Dungeons, is a big big step up and some people weren’t ready for it.

But saying I can’t solo it because I refuse to change my build to something that works, doesn’t to me feel like a valid argument. HoT is soloable if you’re willing to learn your profession and figure out how to beat it.

It represents a challenge for people who like challenge. It was exactly the kind of thing I was looking for.

I can’t help but think that casual is code for I can’t accomplish something. I have a guild full of casuals and most of them can make there way around HOT solo. Well not truly solo since there are people there.

But they’ve learned how to use LFG, which anyone can do. They’ve learned to use timer sites. They’ve learned to follow tags, or just find other players and hang with them.

It’s like Orr. I never soloed a temple but I never grouped for one either.

Fancypants.9705:

OP – do you actually play this game.. or log in once a week, fail a meta, and consider it not doable? Playing during NA, i beat the TD, AA, and DS metas randomly for a week straight. Didn’t fail any of those 1 time. All in all I believe AA was beaten 7 times, TD 4 times, DS 3 times. I wasn’t even trying to complete these I just happened to log on and find people forming in LFG….

I agree with you. Part of the problem is some people don’t really know to use LFG. It’s not organic. It’s not something they grew up with soloing. If you solo, why look at LFG? It’s a mindset thing.

But you can use LFG to taxi to a map doing the meta, and then leave the group and still complete metas.

battledrone.8315:

Ashen.2907:

Djinn.9245:

I don’t understand why the same group of people in this thread and other difficulty threads insist over and over that HoT is not actually difficult and that it is solo-able.

Those of us who have trouble know whether we are able to solo the content and know whether or not we are having difficulty with it. BY DEFINITION if players are finding it difficult, it IS IN FACT difficult for those players. No amount of saying that it isn’t actually difficult will change how WE experience it.

Because all too often those claiming that it is not soloable claim to be speaking for “casual” players as a group rather than just themselves.

I dont doubt that some (casual) players cannot solo in HoT, but I also know for a fact that others can.

If someone says, “I cannot solo in HoT,” my inclination is to try to help them.

When someone says that casuals (of which I am one) cannot solo in HoT, I contest their position because they are making claims about me, my friends, and untold numbers of other people that they do not know. If one chooses to claim to speak for me, expect me to respond if the claims are inaccurate.

the fact, that you can, and will solo HoT makes you hardcore
if it was casual, you can bet , that more people would have liked it
HoT hurt this game , it polarized the playerbase, and caused many of the vets to leave
dont believe me? look at the numbers
“but its to be expected as the game gets older”..yea..but some older games have more players
they can still save it..new races, new level cap, new classes
but they have to work on the bread&butter content to do it

They put in a new level cap, they’ll have a war on their hands. You think that’ll save the game? I"m guessing you haven’t seen the popular reaction to that.

You have no real evidence why HOT didn’t do as well as expected, except your own perception of it’s difficulty.

There were other issues besides difficulty that could have weighed in a lot more, including launch problems with character slots, the way timers and LFG work and the lack of tutorial for using them, and mostly the PR and word of mouth by angry people who didn’t like the grind. No one can say definitively there would be more people if HOT were easier.

Amaimon.7823:

SlippyCheeze.5483:

Amaimon.7823:

that anet doesn’t have any kind of testing group we’ve known for years. The game would look very different if they had like a testing realm (or something)

https://www.arena.net/ — no current job openings in the QA department, but they have one. Perhaps you would like to restart your thesis?

I stand corrected:
that anet doesn’t have any kind of testing group that shows up at work we’ve known for years. The game would look very different if they had like a testing realm (or something)

You have no idea about this. Here’s some food for thought.

http://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-2415-the-ridiculous-tedious-world-video-game-testing.html?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=NV&utm_campaign=NV

Edit: It’s all about budget and release schedules not about a preconceived idea about how buggy something is/should be.

jpicard.3806:

Have read a lot on forums, not only here, there are some like you that think it is just fine, others that is horrible, still others like me it is horrible with certain classes only. As said had no problem defending in story line village of frogs on trees with revenant and guardian, impossible to finish with mesmer and elementalist so far. Par of problem being majority of helping NPCs are dead and impossible to ress.

But it does not matter what you or me think, feel, … everyone can’t be happy, have learned this long ago. But Arenanet earnings will show if they did right or wrong with HOT. :-)

I can see why you’d think HoT was hard to solo on an ele, but a mesmer? Mesmers are great in HoT, for me anyway. Those who know how to play their professions will, even eles can play hot. You do have to know your profession.

Mesmer is my the second profession I took all the way through HoT and the first profession I had to complete every zone.

There are probably some adventures that do need adjustment, but let’s not just complain about adventures altogether. I did On Wings of Gold today and it was relatively easy. I did the salvage pit.

If you pick the absolute hardest or worst adventure to use as an example, it shouldn’t surprise you if people don’t take you a seriously as they might. Because you’re picking the worst example, people will believe, rightly or wrongly, that you’re trying to deceive.

There are problems with a number of adventures, but lumping them all together this way doesn’t really help anyone. For one thing, I believe only a handful of adventures need to be fixed, out of all of them. Those adventures should be singled out, rather than a post that talks about all aventures, then uses the worst or one of the worst as an example.

It starts by identifying which adventures are the culprits. For example, a lot of them are all but impossible for people living in other countries and I don’t consider that fair. I’m not sure I’ll even get silver on some of them let alone gold.

That said, at this point it becomes a completionist thing. Even in Australia, I had enough mastery points to max out every HOT mastery before the new zones even came out, without getting gold on several adventures and silver on at least a couple.

If you count the adventures virtually anyone can do, the problems with the remaining ones seem a lot less serious. They don’t block progress except on that adventure which is meaningless except as a form of completion.

I’d like to see adventures fixed so that they’re fair to everyone, even Australians, But I don’t come here, post the worst example and try to tell people adventures need to be fixed, because I don’t believe it’s helpful.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Other.1037:

At least you can get in H&M to be disappointed in it, I can’t even see the instance node to get into it despite having the chapter active and I’ve checked multiple youtubes of people doing it so I know I’m in the right spot

You are aware it’s not in Dragon’s Stand, but in Dragon’s Stand (Heart of Thorns), yes? You have to speak to the NPC at the entrance to Dragon’s Stand to enter the special area/map.

No offense if you are aware, of course. Good luck.

The name of the NPC is Agent Zrii, she’s a little asuran so she’s easy to miss.

IndigoSundown.5419:

Vayne.8563:

IndigoSundown.5419:

Vayne.8563:

IndigoSundown.5419:

Vayne.8563:

Stevieboy.4192:

Just like to say again, open maps should be open and explorable not gated.
Stick as many jump puzzles and (insert whatever here) behind gates as much as you want if it doesn’t affect MAP COMPLETION or gaining a Ranger/ Druid whatever pet..
Can I complete so and so jump puzzle?
Probably not as I don’t like them and don’t have the patience or time to spend hours on them for a chest full of crap.
I already have to jump through hoops ( literally in some cases) for even the basic achievements in the game.
(Don’t get me started on the Lions Arch Karka shooting)
Yeah, wait for night time for a door to open then do a jump puzzle and it’s in the bag…
Of course you have six hours to waste on the one thing..
Isn’t this supposed to be fun?
Explorable should be just that. I had no time limits or needed a massive amount of players to get around Queensdale or any of the other core maps.
Why now?

I was in Orr today with a new guildie, who was trying to complete Cursed Shore. The temple of Grenth was under risen control and one of the hero points he couldn’t commune with because it was surrounded by poison. Tried laying down a healing spring for him, but he still couldn’t commune.

Until the temple was taken, he couldn’t commune with that point no matter what we did and the temple event wasn’t up.

We had to wait for the temple event to get up. I popped a tag, I got people there, and we finally took back the temple. Then he was able to get that hero point (not the one in the temple of grenth but the one on the north side of the same island).

This game has always had stuff gated by events. It’s just been so long most people don’t remember.

If this comes up again, you can commune at that HC even if the poison field is up if you move all the way up against the back wall. That puts you just out of the poison field. You’d have to wait for the poison to run its course because the damage ticks are what breaks the commune. Haven’t tried it in a while, but it worked last summer, so unless ANet increased the size of the effect … At least it would be worth a shot.

If you want an example of a core HC that cannot be gotten if a temple is in the Risen’s hands, you’d be better to use the Melandru HC on the plain just north of the Grenth Temple. If that briar effect is up … well, I haven’t found a way around it, anyway.

There is no back wall. This is in the open in the middle of a field. There’s no back wall, no way out of the poison field and we spent 15 minutes trying to do it.

There is only one Grenth Statue HC in Cursed Shore. It’s in the Temple of Silence.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Statue_of_Grenth_

Are you sure you aren’t talking about the Melandru Statue which procs bleed and cripple rather than poison?

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Graven_Cay

I didn’t say the grenth statue. I’m talking about the hero point on the north of the island. But that shrine isn’t actually taken over until you take the temple. You have to take the temple to control the shrine. Before that, it’s just out in the middle of a field of poison and there’s no way to get it. I know because I was there earlier today.

You take the temple, and you can then commune with that hero point.

There are two Hero Points on the northern part of Graven Cay. One is Harbinger Torch, which is not in any kind of damaging field unless someone standing near it gets targeted by the Risen catapults. That one is easily dealt with by getting the catapult to target you a bit away from it, dodging, then running over and communing, for which there is ample time while the catapult reloads.

The other is the statue of Melandru, which is in a vine/creeper field if the Melandru Temple is not in Pact control. That field causes bleeds and cripple, not poison. That one can be gained via stealth, according to both Khisanth and the Wiki.

So, are you talking some other island? Mistook bleed for poison? There’s only one Grenth statue — which is the one that produces a poison field — in Cursed Shore and that’s in the Cathedral of Silence.

It has a green cloud around it, not vines. I know the vines you’re talking about and they weren’t present, but a green cloud was. Regardless, the facts are the same.

Until we took the temple, which we had to wait for and needed people for, we couldn’t get that hero point. Whether it’s poison, bleeding, cripple, or gangrene doesn’t actually change the point of what I’m saying.

That hero point was locked behind an event I had to wait for and I couldn’t solo.

Saana Kivisilta.5327:

Thaanks for the tips everyone. I’ll then just have to wait the cooldown of “Head of the Snake” until DS meta gets more players back and I propably need to adjust my timing too to see when other timezones are active.

If you’re on a US server, hit me up in game. I’ll show you how to get into an active dragon stand map. It’s still done, every time it comes up. You don’t have to wait for Head of the Snake. I have done dragon stand several times since it’s release.

Sephas.8793:

Vayne.8563:

You can’t open the bladed glove boxes and salvage them for ectos?

This is what I do, and I make sure to pick the light armor items so I get cloth when I salvage them.

Cloth over leather? That seems an odd choice.

On topic: It seems some people can find this map done more often and some people can’t seem to. One thing is certain.

The map does a terrible job of letting people know what they should be doing.

If you’re doing story you need to get gliding to at least updraft, mushroom jumping, exalted to the first one, but before you move on to tangled depths I highly recommend getting nuhoch wallows unlocked. It makes that zone much much easier.

Beyond that poison is good to unlock as well.

When you say you got all the mastery points are you including achievements and lock boxes?

Stevieboy.4192:

For me it depends on what time you play.
I’m in the UK and most of the T4’s I have been involved with are at the weekends at stupid o’clock in the morning.
Even then there have been less and less in the last few months as new content comes out and players have moved to newer maps.
Unless you are in a big guild who could organise a T4 map it could be a lost cause.
(unless you WvW or Pvp apparently, which I don’t…)
Map chat usually goes something like this…
Map T4?
Need help with Vamp HP, golem, frog HP, etc…
Luckily I got my T4’s in when people weren’t just there to gather mats and run mobs into me…
As an aside, I have 160 odd bladed glove boxes knocking around I can’t do anything with…

You can’t open the bladed glove boxes and salvage them for ectos?

Stevieboy.4192:

Ayrilana.1396:

Stevieboy.4192:

The only time I have noticed a populated DS map is when the daily is there.
A lot of the masteries in DS are gated behind map progression.
I believe an achievement relies on meta completion too.
In fact more than one…

I find it populated every time at map reset. If I happen to not end up on a populated one, there’s usually one on LFG.

I guess it depends on where you live and what time zone you are in.
I live in the UK and DS is pretty much dead all the time, even when using LFG.
Staying up till four in the morning (my time) to complete a couple of masteries doesn’t really work for me.

Then you’re not using LFG AND a Timer site. Because I live in Australia and I’ve pretty much done DS at every single time slot and I’m telling you there’s always a full map. Look at the timer, every 2 hours all day long, get there ten minutes early, get into a squad before the old map closes and you can do it.

This isn’t some sort of guess on my part. It’s something I’ve done dozens of times.

Stevieboy.4192:

I’m stuck on this too as learning a completely alien set of movement skills in two seconds flat before I get Instagibbed by tendrils seems beyond my skillset…
Oh well fun for the first part anyway..
Also if I have to look it up on Facetube it’s not really playing is it?

The crystals are very very similar to the crystals in Dry Top. The first one jumps you high. The second one zooms you forward. And the third one is a ground targeted teleport that you zoom to.

Since Dry Top has all those crystals, and they do the same stuff, you can go to Dry Top learn all about them and then figure out that these new versions are exactly the same.

There’s also an adventure in AB which uses the same crystals exactly as that story.

Now, if you didn’t do Dry Top, you skipped a zone and jumped right to HOT and you missed that learning, in which case you would have to look it up online.

See there are two ways a game can be. It can lead you around by the nose and spoonfeed you everything, or it can encourage you to explore and figure stuff out.

That means that sometimes, you’ll feel you don’t know what you need to know because this game isn’t linear. Still Dry Top was out long before HoT.

You had plenty of time to figure out what the crystals do without looking up a video.

IndigoSundown.5419:

Vayne.8563:

IndigoSundown.5419:

Vayne.8563:

Stevieboy.4192:

Just like to say again, open maps should be open and explorable not gated.
Stick as many jump puzzles and (insert whatever here) behind gates as much as you want if it doesn’t affect MAP COMPLETION or gaining a Ranger/ Druid whatever pet..
Can I complete so and so jump puzzle?
Probably not as I don’t like them and don’t have the patience or time to spend hours on them for a chest full of crap.
I already have to jump through hoops ( literally in some cases) for even the basic achievements in the game.
(Don’t get me started on the Lions Arch Karka shooting)
Yeah, wait for night time for a door to open then do a jump puzzle and it’s in the bag…
Of course you have six hours to waste on the one thing..
Isn’t this supposed to be fun?
Explorable should be just that. I had no time limits or needed a massive amount of players to get around Queensdale or any of the other core maps.
Why now?

I was in Orr today with a new guildie, who was trying to complete Cursed Shore. The temple of Grenth was under risen control and one of the hero points he couldn’t commune with because it was surrounded by poison. Tried laying down a healing spring for him, but he still couldn’t commune.

Until the temple was taken, he couldn’t commune with that point no matter what we did and the temple event wasn’t up.

We had to wait for the temple event to get up. I popped a tag, I got people there, and we finally took back the temple. Then he was able to get that hero point (not the one in the temple of grenth but the one on the north side of the same island).

This game has always had stuff gated by events. It’s just been so long most people don’t remember.

If this comes up again, you can commune at that HC even if the poison field is up if you move all the way up against the back wall. That puts you just out of the poison field. You’d have to wait for the poison to run its course because the damage ticks are what breaks the commune. Haven’t tried it in a while, but it worked last summer, so unless ANet increased the size of the effect … At least it would be worth a shot.

If you want an example of a core HC that cannot be gotten if a temple is in the Risen’s hands, you’d be better to use the Melandru HC on the plain just north of the Grenth Temple. If that briar effect is up … well, I haven’t found a way around it, anyway.

There is no back wall. This is in the open in the middle of a field. There’s no back wall, no way out of the poison field and we spent 15 minutes trying to do it.

There is only one Grenth Statue HC in Cursed Shore. It’s in the Temple of Silence.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Statue_of_Grenth_

Are you sure you aren’t talking about the Melandru Statue which procs bleed and cripple rather than poison?

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Graven_Cay

I didn’t say the grenth statue. I’m talking about the hero point on the north of the island. But that shrine isn’t actually taken over until you take the temple. You have to take the temple to control the shrine. Before that, it’s just out in the middle of a field of poison and there’s no way to get it. I know because I was there earlier today.

You take the temple, and you can then commune with that hero point.

IndigoSundown.5419:

Vayne.8563:

Stevieboy.4192:

Just like to say again, open maps should be open and explorable not gated.
Stick as many jump puzzles and (insert whatever here) behind gates as much as you want if it doesn’t affect MAP COMPLETION or gaining a Ranger/ Druid whatever pet..
Can I complete so and so jump puzzle?
Probably not as I don’t like them and don’t have the patience or time to spend hours on them for a chest full of crap.
I already have to jump through hoops ( literally in some cases) for even the basic achievements in the game.
(Don’t get me started on the Lions Arch Karka shooting)
Yeah, wait for night time for a door to open then do a jump puzzle and it’s in the bag…
Of course you have six hours to waste on the one thing..
Isn’t this supposed to be fun?
Explorable should be just that. I had no time limits or needed a massive amount of players to get around Queensdale or any of the other core maps.
Why now?

I was in Orr today with a new guildie, who was trying to complete Cursed Shore. The temple of Grenth was under risen control and one of the hero points he couldn’t commune with because it was surrounded by poison. Tried laying down a healing spring for him, but he still couldn’t commune.

Until the temple was taken, he couldn’t commune with that point no matter what we did and the temple event wasn’t up.

We had to wait for the temple event to get up. I popped a tag, I got people there, and we finally took back the temple. Then he was able to get that hero point (not the one in the temple of grenth but the one on the north side of the same island).

This game has always had stuff gated by events. It’s just been so long most people don’t remember.

If this comes up again, you can commune at that HC even if the poison field is up if you move all the way up against the back wall. That puts you just out of the poison field. You’d have to wait for the poison to run its course because the damage ticks are what breaks the commune. Haven’t tried it in a while, but it worked last summer, so unless ANet increased the size of the effect … At least it would be worth a shot.

If you want an example of a core HC that cannot be gotten if a temple is in the Risen’s hands, you’d be better to use the Melandru HC on the plain just north of the Grenth Temple. If that briar effect is up … well, I haven’t found a way around it, anyway.

There is no back wall. This is in the open in the middle of a field. There’s no back wall, no way out of the poison field and we spent 15 minutes trying to do it.

Stevieboy.4192:

Just like to say again, open maps should be open and explorable not gated.
Stick as many jump puzzles and (insert whatever here) behind gates as much as you want if it doesn’t affect MAP COMPLETION or gaining a Ranger/ Druid whatever pet..
Can I complete so and so jump puzzle?
Probably not as I don’t like them and don’t have the patience or time to spend hours on them for a chest full of crap.
I already have to jump through hoops ( literally in some cases) for even the basic achievements in the game.
(Don’t get me started on the Lions Arch Karka shooting)
Yeah, wait for night time for a door to open then do a jump puzzle and it’s in the bag…
Of course you have six hours to waste on the one thing..
Isn’t this supposed to be fun?
Explorable should be just that. I had no time limits or needed a massive amount of players to get around Queensdale or any of the other core maps.
Why now?

I was in Orr today with a new guildie, who was trying to complete Cursed Shore. The temple of Grenth was under risen control and one of the hero points he couldn’t commune with because it was surrounded by poison. Tried laying down a healing spring for him, but he still couldn’t commune.

Until the temple was taken, he couldn’t commune with that point no matter what we did and the temple event wasn’t up.

We had to wait for the temple event to get up. I popped a tag, I got people there, and we finally took back the temple. Then he was able to get that hero point (not the one in the temple of grenth but the one on the north side of the same island).

This game has always had stuff gated by events. It’s just been so long most people don’t remember.

IndigoSundown.5419:

1. There’s a bit more for the solo player to do in HoT after the 4/2016 revision and the LWS3 zones are more solo friendly (if solo to you means running around alone plus anonymously joining others for group events).
2. Graphics seem the same to me as before, though I have a system and connection that rarely struggled before, and does not struggle now.
3. No skills have been added since the Elite Specs dropped with HoT. That said, the Elite specs added with HoT are still the rage in competitive modes and instanced PvE metas. The (few) balance patches since HoT launched have taken some builds out of favor (Reaper in raids) and changed functionality in other builds (engineer flamethrower is now more of a Viper’s build than a Berserker one).

Good summary with one very slight addendum. There have been some limited skills added, just not profession skills.

For example, there’s a new downed skill earned through the living story and there are flying skills usable in one specific zone. Aside from that, I agree with this assessment.

Daddicus.6128:

Vayne.8563:

You mean you can’t get onto a populated map and map while they’re doing the meta? It’s 100% possible.

He’s specifically asked about the mastery points.

But most of the mastery points in that zone,. virtually all of them, come from doing the events that are up during the meta, and those events are up no other time.

What I’m saying is true for map completion and it’s true for getting mastery points.

In fact, some of the mastery point from achievements on that map are only attainable by completing the meta.

I’ve always loved Canach, but he’s been really entertaining even since the beginning of HoT when we meet him in the prologue of the story.

Taimi: Oh yeah, Canach helped too.
Canach: Yes, I…helped. And I thought the first born were full of themselves.

Really entertaining stuff.

Daddicus.6128:

Vayne, that doesn’t work at all. He wants MAPPING, not meta. Even if he taxis into a map that’s doing the meta, he still won’t be able to get the zone mapped, because all those people will be doing the meta.

The zone is dead, except for the meta itself.

OP, the only way to solve your problem is to find a team to go there with you. LFG would work, although you might have a long wait. Probably the best way is to find a guild to join, even temporarily.

I got so frustrated with it that I gave up on ever attaining anything close to all the masteries. I’ve had to force myself to shut down all desire to ever complete the HoT mastery tracks. That way, I don’t feel as bad about it, since it’s impossible for someone my age and time commitment level.

You mean you can’t get onto a populated map and map while they’re doing the meta? It’s 100% possible.

But you also get a good portion of the map from doing the meta, with 20 or so minutes left at the end to finish up the other stuff.

Getting to a populated map that’s doing the meta is a valid way to follow along and get everything you need.

It works because I’ve done it.

Edit: In fact, the ONLY way to map that zone is to get into the meta, since 4 hero points, and a vista and several POIs are only available once you’ve cleared the meta.

Dragonstand is the only map in the game that requires the use of a timer and looking for group. Dragonstand maps are always populated at the start of the cycle, but when the maps fill up, the maps you get on have no one, because there’s no real point in being there. Participate in the meta you’ll get all the openness you need.

As a side note, many things in this game are greatly improved by use of a timer site and the LFG tool.

I can’t tell you the number of times people have posted here saying this zone is dead, or this meta isn’t done any more, only to have a bunch of people come in and say they do the meta all the time.

The problem is none of this is explained in game very well.

The timer site I use is GW2timer.com Just find out when dragon stand is starting, and get to a map 10 minutes earlier. Find a commander tag, and join that squad.

When the map closes, everyone will be killed and moved to a new map. Make sure you get on the map with the commander. Then do what you need to do.

I know it’s clunky but it works.

Edit: The LFG tool can be accessed by pressing Y and going to the second icon down. Click on open world and dragon stand to look on the maps currently active. Good luck!

Metas don’t always have to succeed. The fact that people think they do is a problem. Every event ideally should have at least a small chance to fail. In core Tyria that doesn’t happen so people get to end game stuff and think it should always succeed. Even on full maps you can lose something like Tarir by one side killing the octovine instead of waiting. A full map of TD can fail by Nuhoch Lane not stomping mushrooms fast enough. A DS full map can fail if one side can’t keep the blighting pods down.

There are enough people to do every meta. More people have to learn to organize those people. I’ve done it a few times, so I know it can be done. I’ve done it on maps where people have said there aren’t enough people to do the meta.

It often starts with a post to LFG.

If you’re a causal player and you choose not to achievement hunt, and you choose not to complete collections, and you’re not farming for skins, the problem really isn’t Anet’s. The problem is you expect, as a casual player, to be entertained.

The only way a casual player can really be entertained by an MMO is to pick goals and go for them. Because no one can really make enough content to satisfy, even if they didn’t make raids.

I’m not a raider. I don’t PvP. I do run fractals (which are a hell of a lot better than dungeons in my opinion anyway).

Also dungeons aren’t dead. If you put your own LFG in the dungeon LFG it’ll fill. I know because I’ve done it.

Healix.5819:

Vayne.8563:

Imagine how hard it would be to get someone to start the game three, four expansions down the road, if the buy in price is 300.

But it is like that, they’re just not telling people up front. New players still need to buy each individual season. Since HoT isn’t actually required, their 1 box model could simply include the latest expansion and the core game, moving HoT to the gem store and further increasing the hidden cost. On their current track, it’ll eventually become very expensive to buy the full package, far more than selling every expansion separately because the gem store has fixed prices.

New people don’t need to buy each individual season. Most people in my guild who own the expansion haven’t bought seasons. That’s at least true for Season 2, anyway.

People who owned the game who are following it, those people should have been logging in to unlock episodes anyway by now.

The truth is I don’t particularly think the policy is very good, but that’s the policy. However, since there’s no level cap and no tier of gear you have to work through it’s very different from other games.

I mean how you play something like WoW with 60 level character if you only buy an expansion for 80-85 level characters?

Just so you know, the original is not free. That is the game you bought is NOT the free version. There are a boatload of limitations on the free version. You can’t send anything to anyone. Your access to the trading post, both buying and selling is extremely limited. You only get 2 character slots. You can’t talk in map chat. Playing the unrestricted game is very different from playing the free game.

Anet has to compete with other MMOs and most of them are doing the same thing. Imagine how hard it would be to get someone to start the game three, four expansions down the road, if the buy in price is 300.

For two years of WoW, you’d be paying for the game and $15 a month. This game doesn’t charge for a monthly fee. I’ve personally gotten my money’s worth for the $60 I spent originally, even having bought it for me and my wife.

So 3 years later, they come out with an expansion and ask for another $50?

One of the best deals out there for an MMO that doesn’t have a pay to win cash shop. That’s my take on it.

Flax was used to upgrade guild halls. There was a huge rush to do this fast. Most of the guilds have finished that and no longer need flax, so the demand is much lower.

I haven’t noticed any change in silver doubloons myself. You probably don’t have enough of a sample to draw any definite conclusions.

You may have to wait till after reset. That’s my best guess anyway.

Astralporing.1957:

Vayne.8563:

Astralporing.1957:

Vayne.8563:

Power necros have a few advantages like killing mobs that die faster faster, because they don’t have to ramp up the conditions.

Yeah. thus the “outside open world” mention. It’s good at clearing trash, but not so good at everything bigger.

I don’t agree. I do fine at other stuff. It’s not so good against raid bosses. Works fine in dungeons. Seems to do okay in Fractals so far. It’s working for me anyway.

Sure. It’s “viable”. Doesn’t mean it is good, however.

There are always people who want THE most efficient solution to everything and those people won’t be happy until their profession or what they want to play is the best. I strongly suspect that’s a minority of the playerbase.

If it kills stuff fast enough so I don’t notice, then it IS good. Saying that someone can kill something 1 second faster doesn’t make it bad.

If you’re on a US server, I can help you get through the last story. I’ve done it dozens of times now. Just hit me up in game.

Astralporing.1957:

Vayne.8563:

Power necros have a few advantages like killing mobs that die faster faster, because they don’t have to ramp up the conditions.

Yeah. thus the “outside open world” mention. It’s good at clearing trash, but not so good at everything bigger.

I don’t agree. I do fine at other stuff. It’s not so good against raid bosses. Works fine in dungeons. Seems to do okay in Fractals so far. It’s working for me anyway.

If you guys were depending on one single skill, then that skill is indeed OP. It’s always been that way.

A profession isn’t one skill. If it is, it’s time to change the skill. My opinion of course.

Astralporing.1957:

Vayne.8563:

I don’t know. My guardian does far more damage with a greatsword and so does my necro. Anywhere in the game. No matter what my rotation was, it does more.

True, and gs guard at least is okay now. Not sure why anyone would want to use gs on reaper anywhere outside open world though (well, outside of cool factor, of course).

Vayne.8563:

My ranger is doing more damage

Depends on build. The nerf to sharpened edges was really big.

Still, i wouldn’t call that patch “good for raid”. Most of the good things were for builds that won’t be used on raids anyway – while most of the bad things affected the raiders more than casuals.

I think if you’re stacking in pretty much anything, greatsword stacks up pretty well now. So if I’m running dungeons, which I sometimes do, and we stack in a corner, greatsword every time my reaper shroud is on cooldown until I can use it again.

Yes, I do have a power necro. I also have a condition necro.

Power necros have a few advantages like killing mobs that die faster faster, because they don’t have to ramp up the conditions.

I don’t know. My guardian does far more damage with a greatsword and so does my necro. Anywhere in the game. No matter what my rotation was, it does more. My ranger is doing more damage, and my engineer is certainly better off than he was, all without changing anything.

My experience doesn’t bear out your comments.

Time to try some new tactics. There are usually advantages and disadvantages to all balance patches. This one sounds like it’s disadvantaged you.

I was on the diving goggles all the way on top of Not So Secret. I don’t have a lot of trouble doing the puzzle, but the goggles are problematical for me, so I’ve been keeping a mesmer there for guildies who need the diving goggles.

You have to step off the platform onto a smaller platform. It’s a blind step. I was being so carefully just edging forward. Double tapped, dodged right past it and died.

Man I was kittened.

Note to self. Before doing edging difficult jumps, disable double tap to dodge.

If you have to range, duel pistols are much better than shortbow on a thief.

Seems like they have it about four times a year….as a guess anyway.

Gratz! That’s the worst of it…until the last instance. Good luck!

I did AB yesterday and got every hero point on the map. Not sure why people say it’s dead, because it’s not. It’s just more in line with the other HOT maps, which also aren’t dead.

The best solution is map chat (link a waypoint and directions), pop a tag of some sort, or use LFG to get to a more populated map.

Alternately you can post your own LFG, which also can work.

However, I haven’t had to do much besides post in map chat most of the time.

If they’re trolling I report them. There’s no reason for a keg there at all, so placement is irrelevant. That stuff is put there specifically to annoy other players. And while you can click on the wood, I’m not sure I want people who specifically are out to annoy me playing the game.

Obviously you can’t stop all of them, but something this blatant deserves a report.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Is that what most companies do? I don’t know, as I’ve never purchased an expansion, except for Guild Wars which were full Campaigns and, I guess, full price. Well, there was EotN; I don’t really remember what I paid for it. I think it was 10 dollars less.

What do other no-subscription companies that offer free content updates charge for their expansions? What do subscription companies charge for their expansions?

Since the HoT expansion cost less than the Core Guild Wars 2 game, why is it labeled as paying ‘full price’ twice?

Should ArenaNet charge less for the expansions, a once-every-two-years-or-so expense, and charge more for Gem Store items all the time?

Guild Wars 1 didn’t actually give expansions away for free, as such, however, the price of the games over time went down so much new players were paying much cheaper prices anyway.

I mean if you bought stuff when it first came out, you were paying over $150 bucks for four games, when you could later buy the trilogy for a third of that price.