Guild Wars 2

Anything to not lock down collection of Mastery Points would be a big improvement. You still have to earn the xp, but Mastery Points in and of themselves is a HoT mess. I used to spend money on this game, but as long as all we have is this HoT mess, I will not be spending any money on it.

Number 1 will always be an issue, otherwise players will gripe after spending the money on a full priced expac, asking how come I’m not doing any more damage with an “Elite Spec” over a standard. The recent nerf, in my opinion, is to create some space for the new elites to shine while not breaking the game experience with all the current level 80 content.

Ha! We’ve already got mobile phone games,. anet calls them “adventures”

FrizzFreston.5290:

I just read that as less leather is being generated by farming the bottom area and more by farming the top. Because players farm more on the bottom area they are generating less leather than they could by farming on the mountain.

Ofcourse prices still get influenced by both farms but its not decreasing as much as in could if players were farming more effienciently. Then again, its obvious that the engineer farm isnt going for efficiency and instead for the most passive way of generating loot.

Yes, that is what’s happening. I haven’t done it yet, as I don’t feel like I really need gold enough right now to participate in the turrent farm on one monitor and netflix and chill on the other…

What are the chances that mounts are coming in the next expac, and if so, what’s the likelihood they will be available in all the maps (except few instances), just like gliding is?

AliamRationem.5172:

Vayne.8563:

And on topic, the mastery system is something I quite like as well, and I don’t think it needs much changing going forward.

I’m fine with the mastery system, but it’s not perfect. They could have avoided a lot of trouble if they had made different choices.

Basic gliding, updrafts, and bounce mushrooms are critical to navigation in HoT. They should have ensured that you receive these masteries BEFORE entering Verdant Brink for the first time.

Itzel poison lore. I hate this skill. It serves literally no purpose beyond gating content. Poor design.

Mastery points from adventures. I don’t necessarily mind gaining mastery points from these mini-games, but the games themselves I find utterly unappealing. I would have appreciated more alternatives. Too many points were locked behind these games.

I also wouldn’t have linked the post-cap experience reward (spirit shards) to the mastery system. It seems to me that gaining points that do absolutely nothing for the player is a situation to be avoided.

I really don’t think any of these choices would have killed the mastery system for those who currently enjoy it, but I think it would have made a difference to those who dislike the current system. A QoL upgrade, if you will.

Yea a QoL upgrade would be appreciated. Maybe even turn in 5 spirit shards for a Mastery Point, to allow progression again…

It may just boil down to the fact that I just play for fun now. I have all I really want in the game. 11 Legendaries and about to finish a 12th. And I just solely play for fun now. I don’t have to do anything that isn’t fun…

The mastery collection is terrible, see you and I like different things about HoT, and that’s okay. Of all the JP’s, HP’s, MP’s, events, only about 20% of them will I consider great, and so will you, and they might be different to each of us. So there is no way they can design them to appeal to all. But to design a system that locks a player into doing the 30% -40% that doesn’t appeal to them, in order to get xp, that is terrible game design.

Gliding and autoloot is what made HoT bearable, and I don’t know what anet can do to top them.

Djinn.9245:

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

To me, it sounds a bit like cutting one’s nose off to spite one’s face. Or, perhaps, throwing the baby out with the bath water.

Assuming that you’re responding to Ashen, I have to say that I agree with him. Even if it turns out that I like some parts of an expansion, I’m not going to give Anet that satisfaction of knowing that I (and hopefully whoever has the same opinion) will just purchase an expansion sight-unseen. I don’t trust Anet anymore. If I end up liking parts of an expansion I might buy it after release or I might wait for it to be on sale depending on the like / dislike ratio.

I pre-purchased HoT because I loved GW2 prior to it and assumed the expansion would be more of what I loved. I won’t make the mistake of “assuming” again.

I agree Djinn — I prepurchased 4 copies of HoT assuming it would be at least as half as good as Core, 2 for me and 2 for guildees. There is no way I will trust Anet to put together a good expansion to core, that will encourage me to prepurchase even 1 copy.

I havent participated in this, but I don’t see a problem with this. If they want to turrent farm in Lake Doric on one monitor and netflix and chill on the other, seems okay with me…

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

slashlizardy.9167:

Whats current max now…. 186?

OP is discussing the total unlocks available, not how many mastery points you can spend to date.

I understand, I was just tacking on a side question….

Whats current max now…. 186?

Carighan.6758:

I am not sure I actually see the problem with this.

Mindless grinds aren’t inherently bad for your MMORPG. People need these activities. They allow you to relax, browse something, watch a video or (most importantly) focus on chatting. They shouldn’t be the mainstay of your game but they definitely got their place.

Well said!

I’ve got a few spare mezzies, maybe we can start a port guild and cover more JPs….

IndigoSundown.5419:

Niriel.5490:

To be honest, I don’t really understand everybody complaining about masteries being locked behind certain activities. You bought Heart of Thorns knowing that it would be this way, so if you don’t like doing adventures / jumping puzzles / whatever else, you should either have accepted and consented that you won’t have every mastery unlocked, or shouldn’t have purchased the expansion at all. And in case you didn’t actually read through what kind of features will HoT have, then, well…

• Official mastery feature description
• The first reveal of the mastery system

Notice that this latter article (which is referenced at the bottom of the official feature description) was created in February 2015, more than half a year before the release of HoT.
Quoting from the article (highlighting done by me):

‘To train a specific Mastery track, you must first unlock it by spending Mastery points. Mastery points are awarded for completing various pieces of game content. Things like completing a chapter in your personal story, completing certain achievements, reaching hard-to-find locations, overcoming challenging encounters, excelling at adventures found within the Heart of Maguuma, or earning 100% completion for a map will award Mastery points. Each Mastery point can be earned once per account, so while Mastery points allow you to unlock Mastery tracks, they are also an indicator of how much of the game you’ve experienced.’

While adventures are certainly mentioned, it is difficult to determine from those blogs just what adventures were going to be. I expected instanced content more like delves in ESO than mini-games in which the build I put thought and effort into being supplanted by something else.

Yes that too, when I see the word adventures, I’m thinking more of a mini-dungeon, than I am thinking of mobile phone games.

No I dont see how it’s remotely related….

Niriel.5490:

slashlizardy.9167:

Niriel.5490:

hugely mistaken way of thinking.

No personal attacks are needed in the forums

That was not my intention, I apologize if you perceived it that way. I was trying to point out that different people have different goals, incentives and ways of evaluating themselves or others.

I, for example, am interested in PvE almost exclusively (though I join WvW for a few hours every once in a while), and I think I’ve only ever played “PvP” for the Wintersday snowball stuff achievement. However if they ever introduced masteries unlockable by playing PvP, I would probably have a drive to actually step out of my comfort zone and try it out. Others have stated – even in this thread – that such a thing would make them uncomfortable as they would feel as if they are being forced to play PvP.

Okay, I get you now. However I am almost exclusively internally focused and if there were masteries that I would be forced to play in pvp, I would simply refuse to do them. I cannot be externally compelled to do something, it’s just not in my nature.

phys.7689:

slashlizardy.9167:

Niriel.5490:

Niriel.5490:

they are also an indicator of how much of the game you’ve experienced

I quoted this part specifically to show that it doesn’t make sense for people to be able to unlock all masteries from doing only a single aspect of the game.

Besides, who looks at other peoples toons to compare themself too. I know I dont, I’m only interested in what I have accomplished.

its not about comparing oneself to others, its about having incentives for achieving milestones in the expansion.

why should you get every ability from hot, without achieving a lot of HoT goals?

lets be clear here, if you just want to ecperience hot, you dont need every mastery, hate adventures? dont get adrenal mushrooms, itzel leadership, exalted purification, exalted gathering, nuhoch alchemy, which adds up to about 75 points.

since they have a total of 190 and they only use 137, you really dont have to do a large portion of them, unless you just like completing everything, in which case, why are you upset?

I’m not upset, I do what I want, when I want, how I want. I’m fine with the 70 MP’s i’ve accumulated and spent. But locking it behind gaining the MP’s to begin with, was the wrong way to earn masteries. That’s all I’m saying…

Niriel.5490:

hugely mistaken way of thinking.

No personal attacks are needed in the forums

Niriel.5490:

Niriel.5490:

they are also an indicator of how much of the game you’ve experienced

I quoted this part specifically to show that it doesn’t make sense for people to be able to unlock all masteries from doing only a single aspect of the game.

Besides, who looks at other peoples toons to compare themself too. I know I dont, I’m only interested in what I have accomplished.

Niriel.5490:

Niriel.5490:

they are also an indicator of how much of the game you’ve experienced

I quoted this part specifically to show that it doesn’t make sense for people to be able to unlock all masteries from doing only a single aspect of the game.

Just like you can keep earning AP’s, you could’ve just keep earning MP’s, even though you have all the tracks completed., but they poorly chose not to go that route.

Yes, but there should have been an onerous amount of Mastery Points so you can get them however u wanted, if they were going to introducte MP’s, otherwise just make it a straight xp thing.

Rauderi.8706:

I’ll admit I’m more of a soloer, but I doubt I’d still be in the game if I didn’t have guildmates or consistent people to do dungeons, etc with. I tend to be focused on my dailies and other personal goals first, but once I’m done with those, I make myself available.

Pretty much my game play. I will add that my guildmates are in a friendly first guild, so we have few structured events, as in guild mission times and preferred nights for dungeons and fractals. So I can solo first, and join in with friendly guildmates when I’m in the mood to group up.

Trinnitty.8256:

Sly.9518:

Astralporing.1957:

Oh kitten. Did the watchwork pick debacle teach them nothing?

The Unbound magic ones don’t make a liquid gold profit…..

With rng luck you could gain gold easily from https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Magic-Warped_Bundle

Yup — and this is why anet got me to buy a full set infinite UM tools and shared inventory slots

DeanBB.4268:

Last night was one of my “short nights” in GW, which means the basic dailies, harvest GH and Home, then if I have time do dailies on the other 4 accounts, and maybe something more fun.

So I bought the new tools, did the above mentioned harvesting plus a few nodes on the way to the daily JP, and gathered a few nodes in WvW. Just that netted me about 400 UM. Since I don’t always have time to venture into the newer maps, for me that’s a pretty sweet deal.

It will also change the way I think about some things. Passing near a copper node? Heck yeah I’ll swing over and get it now!

Yes, me too. I have had the ww pick for years and slowly watched the value of sprox fall off. Last night after home looting, I sold the few sprox I had, and noticed a little uptick in the selling price, I guess with less supply the demand is bringing it back up. That was a nice bonus…. So I am happy these are available and I will gladly put my ww pick on ice, grab only the sprox I need from my home generator, and start tapping all the nodes I normally pass by because I don’t need more than 2K copper ingots….

Thanks anet!

It all boils down to that the effort is real, while the rewards are virtual pixels. There is less effort I am willing to expend on a virtual reward, unless it is both fun and entertaining, if I can lose myself in the moment, all the better.

Yes, I just finished another round of world completing, and I bump into vets doing the same thing.

I would like anet to scrap all the things they use HoT masteries for, and make them achieves for those who are completionists, and just make it a straight-line approach to xp leveling.

serow.6524:

I prefer leveling the mastery system using generic EXP and not Mastery Points. It’s infinitely more understandable and allows me to play however/wherever I prefer.

This is how it should have been done….

My take on the whole issue is raiders waited 2 years for the legendary armor, and they are supremely ugly armors, so they had to give them a bit more of a bonus. I’m not too worried about rune swapping and the likely market effect, nor the effect of sigils in the marketplace if legendary weapons were adjusted to have the sigil swapping as well. Would it be nice, surely, but not enough to worry about.

Halandir.3609:

Djinn.9245:

What most people who defend HoT maps think is that if you’re not there to do the Meta, you’re doing it wrong. Of course they think that everything besides the Meta is solo-able also, so you won’t get much sympathy if you’re trying to find people to do non-Meta stuff.
…

Pretty much sums up my HoT experience.
With HoT I felt the games direction changed from a utopic “Play your way” to a much more regular “Play this way or get out of the way.”

Grinding “content” that annoys me for hours to have fun is simply to yesterdecade for me.
A lot of people seem to like the change which is fine – They could though, have found the exact same style/focus in so many other games!

As is my experience as well. Too much effort for the same old rewards….

Not everyone solos it. Usually I have guildees that have tried it solo 2 or 3 times, then ask for help, and we try to explain what they are missing in the encounter, and that we can carry them through, but if they mess up in the gliding phase, that they need to patiently wait out in the penalty box and they will still get Mordy kill credit.

LS2 is Living Story 2, and to run through it, you would have to use gems to pick it up. It is recommended as it better prepares you for what will follow, but it is not necessary. LS3 is Living Story 3 and because it has been out for a while, that too will need to be purchased off the gemstore, as you will have the last episode coming to you in the next few months. HoT is Heart of Thorns storyline, and to begin the process of unlocking masteries, you will need to play through episode 1 of it. HoT storyline, should come with the purchase you already have.

Most of the advice above is excellent, the only thing I can add is to look for a casual guild to help you along.

Actually the problem is having to convince those that get put in the penalty box, to stay so they will get credit for helping to kill Mordy. I spend more effort begging them to stay in the penalty box than the effort it takes to kill off Mordy…

Yes the penalty box is a horrible idea and I have no idea how it passed through testing or quality control, if there was any….

Dashingsteel.3410:

Actually, remove the mastery points and let experience bar fill up…… That way you get to enjoy whatever content you want to play in a given zone.

^ This would be a big improvement!

Midnight.7526:

Personally I find the Legendary armor skins to be repulsive.

As do I, so now I’m glad I didn’t spend too much of my life raiding….

I only do what I want to, and my main which completed all Tyrian masteries is at 70, my farming alts are sitting at 1. I could have spent a few more mastery points from the xp I get from guild hall node farming, but when I get close to completing a track, I just change to other tracks.

Shortage. In my opinion you are confusing boredom with gear progression. I am sure you have a preferred playstyle and you have equipped all your toons with the ascended gear to match. We won’t be seeing higher stats in the expacs, but instead we will see mastery “skills” for use in applicable situations. You have to collect the mastery points first before you can xp train in them. So maybe you might want to take a break for a bit. Step back, relax a bit, and return when you have the desire to begin again and grind to collect and finish the masteries….

If they were just straight mastery levels, I imagine more players would complete them, but since they are gated behind point collecting, that explains such the low point values in masteries

I have thought of this too, if only, to show events for toons that have completed that map.

DeanBB.4268:

“Veterans who could care less about a lot of things that seem important to us forum regulars: 65-130”

I’m in that lazy/distracted/disinterested category, but I think I’m more like 40 points. Eh, I’ll get to it… someday.

I think this matches where I am. I killed Mordy, but haven’t returned to HoT as I don’t enjoy it. I’m sitting at 70 now, but since I don’t look at other players toons, I’m not sure if that is low or high. The only thing I look for is if it has a health bar, if it does then I can kill it.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

slashlizardy.9167:

There were 3 opportunities to “beta” test HoT over a course of 3-4 months. The first opportunity was a four hour window, and was sent to the most active players at the time, of which I was one. Then there was the RNG item that was fell most often in Silverwastes. Lastly close to drop date of HoT was preview weekend. I do not know what Anet plans to do this time.

I don’t remember any ‘4-hour window and sent to active players’, but there was a random drawing from those subscribed to the Newsletter, in addition to pre-purchase, and the RNG-drop.

Ah, ok then it was from the newsletter then…

Three months for ep6, and 3 months for the debut of expac 2, if that is the case, times again right about the timing of Mad King’s Festival, which is my favorite in-game festival. I honestly hope anet waits to debut it after festival season. In addition, I would prefer some outside beta testing, as in-house testers will have seen numerous iterations of expac2 and will no longer be looking at it as first time players, like we would be.

phys.7689:

Labjax.2465:

Dashingsteel.3410:

I agree partially that HoT is designed to be more challenging but I feel that is in regards to the enemies you face and some of the semi-platforming elements. I do not believe that Anet intended navigation to be more difficult.

The great majority of maps in core gw2 have navigation that is clear cut. The only maps in gw2 that aren’t are the grove, rata sum, and the black citadel. The reason they aren’t is that they are mutli-tiered just like the HoT maps.

This IS a problem of the minimap not being compatible with multitiered maps.

Why even offer a revealed map and minimap if you intend for your players to memorize and learn the map?? I don’t think Anet intended to change the game in this kind of direction.

I am not talking about an undiscovered map. I am talking about a map that has been fully explored and revealed already.

I think I see what you’re saying and I’m inclined to believe it. That they did not anticipate the issues of a multi-layered map in their mini-map design.

i think that yall have a point, but yall missed the real meaning.
some maps are not designed to be easy to navigate via map, theyvare designed to be consistent with themselves.

rata sum, is in fact designed to be extremely convient, IF you know rata sum well. its very poorly designed if you dont.

black citadelnis supposed to be designed by a race who places powerful and agressive designs over ease of use. char dont particularly feel things should be easy.

verdant brink is not supposed to be a designed area, its a natural jungle thrown asunder by a crazy dragon tree natural disaster.

and yes exploration has way more depth in hot than in other areas. there is way more hidden things, and its easy to get lost. part of the difficulty in hot is that knowing the map is a huuge advantage. i dont think thatbis unintentional.

but a side effect of making these complex areas, is that the map is not the best tool for navigating it.

but that is a lesser consideration than the map itself achieving its goals.

really you guys dont like the concept of verdant brink and tangled depths, verdant brink is supposed to be a wild lands, and tangled depths is labrynth like.

which is fine, while having a few maps like this is a good variety.
because its all packaged in one expansion, people feel like the expansion was a waste for them, if they have this opinion.

good news is i dont think the next expansion is about a similar thing. it most likely will focus on having a lot of stuff spread out, and the travel is about doing it faster and getting new places, over unlocking the secrets of a small complicated area.

That is good news. Where have you heard that the expac 2 maps are going to be more pleasurable for exploration?

Oath, send a request in map chat or in lfg — to request looking for a guild. A great casual guild will help you get started till you find what you most want to get out of HoT

There were 3 opportunities to “beta” test HoT over a course of 3-4 months. The first opportunity was a four hour window, and was sent to the most active players at the time, of which I was one. Then there was the RNG item that was fell most often in Silverwastes. Lastly close to drop date of HoT was preview weekend. I do not know what Anet plans to do this time.

Hopefully there is enough for all to enjoy, and maybe an overdose of mastery points, so we only have to do the things we enjoy to complete the tracks.