Guild Wars 2

The only times your nodes will not appear in a home instance, is when you happen to have a story mission going on in that particular instance.

Now that quite a few of us have really great home instances, and we gladly open up our home instances to guildmates and other in game friends, the normal party size is starting to get too limited. With all the connections I have made in game through home looting, and now that it takes close to 5 minutes to tap everything, it would be a big help if the party size could be expanded… Thanks.

Walker,

There are Tyrian and Maguuma Masteries. While you are in Tyria, your xp bar will be capped until you have Tyrian Mastery points to spend on a Tyrian Mastery line. And while you are in the Heart of Maguuma, your xp bar will be capped until you have Maguuma Mastery points to spend on a Heart of Thorns mastery line. And as Bunji said, once you have spent all your Tyrian Mastery points, you will earn spirit shards while in Tyria, and once you have spent all your Maguuma Mastery points, you will earn spirit shards while in Heart of Thorns maps.

I enjoy Fergusons Crossings, we have some great veteran commanders that are still leading, and although we are always linked up with bigger servers, the different playstyles of them are interesting. We have been linked to YB, NS and SBI alot lately.

Raine.1394:

Ayrilana.1396:

What’s the point of progression if it’s done passively?

It’s not done passively if done through XP. Progression will then occur through playing the game. Playing the game is never passive. Progression, and reward itself, should always come through playing the game. The benefit with using XP is that it allows the player to largely play the game their way and still progress along the horizontal scale.

I know “play it your way” sounds foreign to many ears, but it didn’t to the original developers of GW2.

Raine, if you read alot of my posts, I complain about MP collecting, and at various stages of the game, I have been happy with just 33 MPs, and then 69, and now after 2 years of on and off play, I am at 98. I will never get to 186 MPs, nor will I try, but thankfully, it appears that PoF will not have a gloat of MPs needed to progress through the maps. From the example of gameplay, there are some jumps you have to make in the story, which are frustrating for me too, but it’s not an obscene amount, and while progressing through the story, it unlocks the mount mastery. I don’t consider HoT fun, but I’m willing to meet anet halfway on PoF to be able to get out and explore again.

I pre-purchased PoF last night, because for me, it matches my assumption of what was “wrong” with HoT, and did not excessively add to it, which was a large cumbersome MP chase, that went in alot of different directions, and were under utilized, except for the one thing we all appreciated, the gliding. So PoF is supposed to go back to flatter and more wide spread maps with alot of exloring, that to me is awesome. Whether I would do it on foot or mount doesn’t matter….. but as I expected, they did have to come up with a mastery line for PoF, and will probably add another for LS4. See you all in Tyria and elsewhere

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

slashlizardy.9167:

How easy/difficult is it to move the guild hall? And if you move it, does it come with all the existing upgrades?

• Moving is as simple as mounting the new expedition.
• Wiki: " Upon claiming a new guild hall, your current upgrades are transferred to the new guild hall and the old guild hall becomes inaccessible."

Thank you

How easy/difficult is it to move the guild hall? And if you move it, does it come with all the existing upgrades?

Again, thanks, as I haven’t finished ley line gliding yet.

Arcadio, thank you for the answer, although that means there probably won’t be any gliding in CD….

From the title, what exactly is a HoT exclusive Mastery. I’m assuming it’s not gliding, as it can be done in core, but does that mean all the others are HoT exclusives?

Since new expac is coming out, and the last episode of LS2 is out, I decided to burn through them all as if it was one continuous story line. Got through eps 1 & 2 sunday and tried to finish up ep 3 before GoT, and killed the ice champion boss, but then I lost game connection. Tried the last mission one more time, and same thing happened. Is there a bug in the instance or were there some connection issues last night?

Phoebe Ascension.8437:

When do you receive the mail? Yesterday after purchase and visiting it in home instance, i got it after 10-15 min a mail. Today i got nothing. When 3x already in home instance, no mail at all. Anyone else with same isuse?

The first time I got it, was after I left the home instance map. I went back in later to let some guildees take advantage of home loot also, and requested mats from it. The second set of mats I received a day later.

Does higher Magic Find seem to have an effect on the drops?

Bigpapasmurf.5623:

Sirbeaumerdier.3740:

Jumpin Lumpix.6108:

So the moral is don’t complain about anything ever. Don’t let the devs know the shortcomings or features they need to improve, which is arguably the most valuable information they could gain from their player base. All because you say so and you don’t like complaining. Just think without complaining we would have no unions, worker Rights, civil rights or product safety and nothing would ever be improved and we’d never invent anything that improves our lives, because we wouldn’t want to complain, that’s the worst thing ever! Quick get the safe spaces ready, I can’t handle this.

Great logic, if u guys don’t have anything else to say other then to complain about me personally, then u shouldn’t post on the thread unless you’re adding to it.

As of now wvw is a dying game mode and needs help and suggestions, not bashing pvers who are the ones who keep the game afloat so you can enjoy wvw.

It is fine, even important, to report a problem/complain. However, not all issues are as important or even valid.

WvW can definitely use help and fresh blood, but not at all cost. If all the fresh blood care only for reward I say no thank you to your “help” since you are a danger to the game mode rather than a salvation (IMO).

^this. WvW was never about rewards (aside from tourneys, there were no big rewards).

Fresh blood is nice, however not if it is a hazard to the mode. Myself, I appreciate any valid, constructive idea, however if you want rewards, thats what the “reward” tracks are for. Every once in a while I will get an asc box (seems to be once every few weeks), however if you want more, then maybe WvW isn’t for you. This isn’t a bash at anyone, however more of a truth.

Its like a WvWer coming to PvE saying “There should be player vs player combat in PvE”, and I should be able to use a finisher on all NPC’s and monsters."

If thats why they are there and if thats what they want, thats cool, however the longer they stay there, the less happy they will be as its clearly not for them then.

More rewards is not what WvW needs, especially with the reward tracks and dailies/pip system.

Balance will help, however its not a fast fix so don’t hold your breath.

It’s not completely cut and dry as that. More people playing in WvW does help WvW overall, whether anyone whines about rewards or not. Just because someone is whining, does not mean you have to listen to it, I can tune out a whole lot, it’s one thing I am good at, lol. When more are here in WvW, yes some are lost and don’t know what to do, and some are heading straight to the most rewarding loot, but overall, we will pick up some players who will like it, engage with the other players, and help out to the best of their abilities. To those players, I will assist them at every opportunity.

Thanks. I wasn’t sure if it was just me or not. But I had been in WvW for hours on Saturday morning (US), and after being in for an hour, a guildee came on that wanted to learn. Took me awhile to go through the basics, lost my participation I gained, no biggie in the grand scheme of things. But after we had been on awhile longer, the other party member told me they just recieved +5 pips and wanted to know why, lol. I didn’t recieve the bonus at that time although I had been on the same maps with the other party member for close to 2 hrs now. On the next tick, I received the +5 bonus, but the other party member didnt…..

IndigoSundown.5419:

JesusChris.6082:

I disagree with newbihack. If you want a REALLY potent dose of toxicity, go to Eternal Battlegrounds in WvW and type that you’re a new player looking for help in Team chat… then wait for your eyes to bleed.

EDIT: Then again, I am on Maguuma, so that might explain some things…

Heh. I remember one time when a commander who spent considerable time explaining the ins and outs of WvW to a couple of new players. Of course, that was back when we were Ferguson’s Crossing, not … and Ferguson’s Crossing.

#AbleSentryRocks

I just did that 2 weeks ago, and of all things on Ferguson’s Crossing, LOL —- edit —- P.S. yes AbleSentry is a great WvW commander…

Offair.2563:

Don’t know what you guys doing to lose participation in a blink of an eye. I can keep it up just fine with my slackplay.

I usually don’t have a problem, but last night there was alot of connection issues and lag, and I wasn’t getting credit for most activities between 10:00pm est and 10:45. I had built up my participation from tier 6 and at one point it dropped to tier 2.

Bridget Morrigan.1752:

I played this system last night for several hours on a mostly dead map because of the login issues, and this is what I found.

• It is not that hard to get and maintain participation on a dead map, but if you encounter even small groups of enemies that kill you before you can do much, especially when you have to run a long way to find an objective you don’t own, you’ll decay in spite of being actively playing. If this system is designed to encourage participation rather than winning, it is missing the mark.

• The system encourages people to make dumb decisions, like killing an enemy NPC rather than focusing on objectives.

• Any prolonged siege is going to be hard on the members of the zerg. There will be pressure to disobey commanders in order to keep participation up.

• The timer for escorting yaks should at least equal the time it takes to escort the slowest yak on the longest path.

• Most importantly, if this was designed to reduce people afk-ing at spawn to run down their decay timer, it doesn’t work. When I got done playing at T6, I still had a long time to sit around and wait before that participation meter decayed enough for me to stop getting rewards. Maybe it was less time than before by one tick, I don’t know, but it hardly makes the issue go away.

This was my experience last night as well. On top of that, lag spikes and dc’s for half the zerg. At one point my participation fell low while the zerg was reorganizing, and I had to leave the zerg to go cap a close ruin. the lag then spiked up again, and instead of watching the ruin capture bar increase I was watching my timer drop and start losing participation.

HazyDaisy.4107:

I’m going to keep complaining about this, until it’s altered.

1) Ruin = Stand mindlessly albeit alertly in a circle as your timer may or may not be counting down, take 30 secs to cap said circle get 1 min extend on timer and participation.

2) Sentry = Get marked, but kill sentry (a guard) get extend on timer, cap circle and get more extend as well or let someone else cap, who cares.

3) Shrine = Delete 4 Jr baddies and 1 Sr baddie get NO extend unless you cap square before a zerg of enemies comes and rains on your parade.

There is a fundamental difficulty level between #1 and #3 yet they give the same extend time of 1 min, whereas #2 is a two for one deal because a sentry entails killing a guard and a cap event.

It makes no difference if you cap a sentry circle after you’ve killed a sentry guard because you’ve already gotten timer extend for killing the guard and it really makes no difference if you get run over by a zerg while trying to cap the sentry circle if you killed the sentry guard.

If you get run over at a ruin mid cap it’s irritating especially if your timer is counting down, but cest la vie, if however you get run over at a shrine after deleting npc opposition and waiting for cap you get nothing.

Not to mention if you’re fighting to hold back a decay timer and you successfully take a shrine, you’ll most likely loose a percentage of participation for PARTICIPATING!

Either make the extend timer different between shrines and ruins or halt the timer once you’ve killed the vet ember/element/static dude

The two for 1 deal for sentries, is probably there for zergs. When you’re in the middle or back of a zerg that rushes up to a sentry location on the way to a camp, the sentry is often dead before you can get a shot off, so this helps the late comers still get credit for capturing.

My experience last night was this: It took me just over 40 minutes to get to 100% T6 roaming, here and there a lost tier along the way to get there. I have been away on vacation and wanted to get the last 2 wood chests done, as I might not have much time to play in WvW the rest of the week. Toward the end of the night, got the outnumbered bonus, so stayed in for as long as I could. Kept taking camps, while the enemy zerg was occupied, but after about 20 mins of getting the outnumbered bonus, I got a connection error and that was the end of the nights pips

I would love it if ascended trinkets of the new stat combinations were available for trade with guild commendations — that might generate some interest in the veteran players to being interested in doing guild missions again.

IndigoSundown.5419:

The thing about story content in a quasi-action game is that it cannot generate appeal to both tails of the player skill curve. Tune it to below average skills and those average and above find it too easy. Tune it to above average skills and those average and below struggle. So, if the developer tunes it to average skills, they please the most people.

The problem with average tuning is, the highly skilled are still going to throw insults at the content like “faceroll,” while the least skilled are still going to struggle. There are solutions for both groups though. The highly skilled have raids and T100CM fractals to conquer, so they can then claim those are too easy. The least skilled can still do the story content, but they might, as the OP discusses, have to group. While finding it necessary to group to complete a story episode may be inconvenient, that is the result of needing to please the greatest number of players.

I believe myself to be in the low end of the average range as far as skill goes. I’m not one of those being defeated constantly in open world content. I’m also not sitting in melee on open world bosses bored because avoiding their attacks is a cakewalk. While there are certain story fights that I find annoying rather than fun, I’ve yet to find one I couldn’t complete.

Now, the annoying I could do without.

Show Spoiler

hide spoiler

Having once done the “defend the village” option in The Jungle Provides, I will on any other characters always do the “attack the Mordrem” option. Fighting the Staffmaster on a small platform and narrow pathways and having the flooring obscure the area of his AoE attacks was a fun killer.

I agree with all the above Indigo, and now I feel lucky that whenever I see a choice of defend or attack, I always go with attack. — For me the annoying story episode was the one in which you had to run and jump from Faolin. That one had no point whatsoever and didn’t add anything to the story.

Race should matter storywise. Although I appreciate anet’s attempt at providing an ascended weapon quest, I refused to do it. #1 I already had plenty enough ascended weapons, and #2, as I run a charr as my main, my toon felt that Treehead was the worst Pact Commander Tyria ever had, so I left the pieces of Caladbolg where it belonged… still lodged in his belly.

Cursed Shore

WvW Alpine Borderlands.

Silverwastes

Queensdale

Wayfarers Foothills

AliamRationem.5172:

I think you’re forgetting what it was like to encounter these enemies unprepared. It isn’t just the shadowleapers, although they are probably the best example: highly mobile, evasive enemies with potent ranged offensive capabilities. There are many enemies in HoT that are simply more dangerous than what you encounter in Orr.

I didn’t start playing GW2 until after HoT released, and I remember doing quite well in Orr with my first 80 (a dagger/pistol thief running a shadow arts build). I also remember entering the jungle for the first time and falling flat on my face.

Don’t get me wrong. I love HoT. If I had to list my top three favorite maps in the game there’s no question: 1. TD, 2. VB, 3. AB. I can’t get enough of maps like this! But it’s precisely because of those complex, layered maps and challenging combat that these maps are my favorites.

What does that say for people who dislike the combat and the layouts? Are they wrong? I’m not sure there’s much to be gained from trying to convince people that this is simply a natural progression as if it invalidates their preferences. It doesn’t. They like what they like just as I like what I like.

Well said, but I don’t have problems with the combat of HoT, my main issue is the platforming collection of Mastery points. I hate that we totally disagree on map design, where I can’t stand a map that I can’t see pass ugly green trees. The kind of map I prefer is gorgeous landscaped maps like a view that you would get looking down the Washington Mall from Lincoln’s Memorial. You have been the voice of reason constantly, and again I will state that my fervent hope for the next expac is for a design built for us all in mind.

Best of luck to you Sorca!

Puck.9612:

slashlizardy.9167:

Dawdler, that’s a good question, and not one I’ve thought of. How about when your tier participation drops from 6 down to 5, you get that little question box in the lower left about exiting WvW bonus, just like you get from map low pop speed bonus?

Ha! I just read the second line — even I get tired of winning, lol

Ugh no more pop ups please.
Also tier participation really only stays steady for zergs, when I’m roaming it fluctuates a lot.

Ok, so not really an issue then., better left untouched…..

Dawdler, that’s a good question, and not one I’ve thought of. How about when your tier participation drops from 6 down to 5, you get that little question box in the lower left about exiting WvW bonus, just like you get from map low pop speed bonus?

Ha! I just read the second line — even I get tired of winning, lol

One of my thoughts to limit it, would be to have WvW on a timer, and you can’t get back in for another 30 minutes. I was kinda wondering off hand, what others thought of the idea….

No, just offer a couple more than you would get for waiting out the cooldown, then it kicks you out of WvW.

Just like the map closing bonus award to speed, how about awarding a few bonus pips to leave WvW when ready to, instead of staying in WvW and waiting for the participation cool down? That way it frees up the qeue for other players….

It might have come down with tuesdays noon (est) update. The limited offerings are usually Tuesday to Tuesday….

Kir Sakar.3647:

I really don’t see the problem. I got into WvW around 6 months ago and gradually started to spend more and more of my time there (half zerg, half roaming at quiet hours). I am rank 225 and I play the WvW because I like it.

Now I get more rewards – great! The commanders and all the veterans that I have learned and still learn how-to-WvW from get some more rewards – I am very happy for them, they deserve it for their engagement!

I don’t what it is with some people that they always have to focus on the tiniest possibility of being treated unfairly. Sure, there may be a few players that have farmed ranks in EotM. So what? It is boring as kitten (presumably, I have never set a foot in there). And most importantly, it does not take away any reward from me.

This has been my experience too, I don’t feel like I have to have all the shinies right now, I am happy to keep playing and earn my time. I have been on a low tier server so did not earn tremendous ranks in WvW, and I hope that with the influx of new players we will be unlinked again and still have viable numbers.

Kaltyn of Torbins Deep.2946:

The entire problem is less the fact that there are AFK farmers than it is this was a bad design and a nonsensical non-response to player concerns. Players complained about the cost of leather, Anet responded with “Here, have a Leather farm!” And the players went, “This is dumb and boring. Here, Anet, we can create an even dumber, and more boring way to do this content than you can.” It was a proverbial middle finger. And the developers decided to respond with their own middle fingers, rather than addressing the 800 lbs gorilla in the room.

Yes, this is it exactly. You get the response you design for. I personally did not do it, as I did not need leather or gold that badly. But I foresaw both the players actions when the farm was created and the designers backlash.

Lite Ning Strike.5203:

Ok if that’s the path of choice show me where they said you would be required to do mini games that have nothing to do with the story or general game style play. My quote was from ArenaNet sir/ma’am.

And I also disagree with you. I enjoy the game and if I and others relay their displeasure with the path they chose, they will hopefully realize that’s not the way to go with the next expansion.

I will buy the next expansion on pre-order with the faith that they will take a different path. As far as I can see for the most part (other than Mastery’s) they have made adjustments by listening to the player base.

And I agree with you. But I will have to take a wait and see for the next expac, as the grind in HoT was not worth it for the rewards in my opinion.

IndigoSundown.5419:

This is the best and only way to find a map where there are a lot of people. The way the mega-server works is:

• Let’s say we start with a single copy of a given zone.
• The software creates a new version of the map when the first copy reaches a certain population level.
• This can go on as more players come to the zone.
• Usually, players will start to organize at least one of the map copies. They form (a) squad(s), and post in Looking for Group.
• Players begin joining the squad(s). If they are on a different map copy they use the Join In feature (right click on someone in the squad and choose Join in [zone name]). This moves them to the map copy which is being organized.
• The side effect of players moving to a different map is that there are now fewer players on the map they left. If there are two few, the mega-server software begins the map closure routine.
• If a given player is on a map where the closure announcement happens, and accepts, s/he will be moved to a different map. This will not in all likelihood be the crowded map, unless that map is the only option. The mega-server software will instead move hi/her to a different, less-full map copy. If enough people move out of that map via LFG/Join In (this is called taxi, or taxiing by players), that map copy will also start the closure process. You can also run into zone closure when a meta-event cycle ends, as people move on to something else.
• Map closures present the illusion that the zone is empty. What they actually means is that there are a lot of people in the zone, they’ve just moved to one or more map copies that is organized.

And that’s why taxiing is pretty much essential if you want to do map meta events in HoT. In core, it’s seldom necessary, as players tend not to taxi to do, say, the Fire Elemental. They will taxi for Tequatl The Sunless, or Triple Trouble.

That is a very good summary of the HoT map/ LFG process…

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

It just occurred to me that the node for crystalline ore is misnamed. They really are…
Obnoxious Pods.

hahahaha

Kaltyn of Torbins Deep.2946:

A couple of months ago, I was on a dead Dragon Stand map. I was running around hitting the few available pods and generally learning my new power reaper when someone popped up in map chat and said, “Can someone help me get to juvenile tigers? I really want one for my Ranger.” 3 other players popped up and said sure, and, even though I was at the end of one of the lanes, I joined the party and started heading back to meet them. Even though the group took the wrong path, I managed to meet up with them pretty quickly. And the 4 of us level 80’s escorted a level 15 or 20 Anet employee that was just getting back into the game after a hiatus all the way down the central path, across the connection to the northern path by the blighting tower entrance, and back up to the juvenile tigers.

When a low-level character can get on a so-called dead map and get an escort that literally smashed every mob in their way across half the map…the maps aren’t dead.

I think maybe this was posted in the wrong conversation…..

Lots of noxious pods —- however you can also trade the GH vendor GH commends for Crystalline Ore (1 for 1)

Ayrilana.1396:

slashlizardy.9167:

Ayrilana.1396:

slashlizardy.9167:

Actually there is forcing, when the xp gets to the max and you have no points to spend at the moment. An excess of 30 or so is not enuff for up to 186 points to spend. Considering that less than 20% of the material will be considered enjoyable by the players, and that the players will differ on what is enjoyable to them, so at best anet can provide 50% of quality material, then there should be a bonus of MP’s of about 94 points.

It’s more than enough buffer.

Did you make up that “fact” about 20% of players?

Excess mastery points should not be based on what players prefer to play as that defeats the purpose.

No it doesn’t, as long as they are doing enjoyable (to them, at least) content, they will stay engaged in the game. 20% of (enjoyable) content…. Or they could just take out MP collection itself, altogether…

Again, where are you getting this 20% from as it looks like you’re just making it up to support your argument.

Having so much of an excess of MP in the game makes it pointless and defeats the original purpose.

It does defeat the purpose, as it is not needed and is terrible game design. It starts to devolve the game into a niche game.

Ayrilana.1396:

slashlizardy.9167:

Actually there is forcing, when the xp gets to the max and you have no points to spend at the moment. An excess of 30 or so is not enuff for up to 186 points to spend. Considering that less than 20% of the material will be considered enjoyable by the players, and that the players will differ on what is enjoyable to them, so at best anet can provide 50% of quality material, then there should be a bonus of MP’s of about 94 points.

It’s more than enough buffer.

Did you make up that “fact” about 20% of players?

Excess mastery points should not be based on what players prefer to play as that defeats the purpose.

No it doesn’t, as long as they are doing enjoyable (to them, at least) content, they will stay engaged in the game. 20% of (enjoyable) content…. Or they could just take out MP collection itself, altogether…

Actually there is forcing, when the xp gets to the max and you have no points to spend at the moment. An excess of 30 or so is not enuff for up to 186 points to spend. Considering that less than 20% of the material will be considered enjoyable by the players, and that the players will differ on what is enjoyable to them, so at best anet can provide 50% of quality material, then there should be a bonus of MP’s of about 94 points.

Fallesafe.5932:

I started this game about five months ago, and decided that I wanted to play some of the higher level content. So I got all of my ascended armor and weapons and trinkets (even the underwater stuff), and filled them with the best infusions and upgrade components. It would be impossible for me to find any item for any slot that would constitute any sort of improvement over what I have. But now I’m finding myself seriously unmotivated to play, because there’s no point.

I find it crazy that, even if I worked up to fractal scale 100, and completed every raid, I wouldn’t get a single item that improved any of my stats. And when I watch some of the top guilds on YouTube, I see that they’re busy doing moron things like killing the same boss for the 200th time with five guys instead of ten… or running a stopwatch to see if they can finish the content a few seconds faster than before (i.e. boredom).

I get that this game is geared towards casual players. And I LOVE that because I work 75 hours/week, and don’t have tons of time. But I think ANet has made it too easy to hit a dead-end, and that some of your character’s potential should only be reachable by completing high level content. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of this game. But save me something to work for! You shouldn’t be able to max out your potential in the open world.

Take the time, and grind out the masteries of HoT, if you haven’t already. Autoloot and gliding make a big difference in QoL of the game.

GW2 is not about increasting stats, it is about skill swapping, so the next expac will have an additional elite spec to swap out skills. There was a recent nerf to skills so that when they add on the next elite spec, the players can see and feel a buff to abilities, and a reason to buy the expac, but without making the current level 80 enemies trivial. So no, we will not see higher stats.

Vayne.8563:

slashlizardy.9167:

Djinn.9245:

slashlizardy.9167:

AliamRationem.5172:

Djinn.9245:

AliamRationem.5172:

I didn’t play GW2 prior to HoT, and I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t have enjoyed it. But for me, HoT was a big hit! How do you reconcile that with some of the opinions on this forum?

Many (most?) of the threads complaining about HoT are from people who played GW2 before HoT like me. I really enjoyed GW2, it was the next MMO I was going to stay with long-term. When HoT was released, I was shocked. I HATED Verdant Brink. The entire experience there was horrible as I died and died – 50% of the time because I didn’t have the new Masteries. My solution was to get out of VB so I died my way across VB to Auric Basin. Auric Basin was better since it wasn’t so vertical, but many of the mobs were worse with more rapters, and adding so many more smokescales, arrowheads, etc. But while it was highly populated, AB is what saved me from quitting GW2. I eventually progressed into Tangled Depths and again was shocked: something worse than VB! I again died my way through TD in order to get to Dragon Stand. And of course there I was stymied as I couldn’t really do much of anything unless the Meta was active.

So HoT was almost a complete disaster for me. I left it after only progressing about 1/4 through the story and only returned because a couple Guildies came back and wanted to do the Story.

There’s another thread on the forums about Anet changing GW2 with extremes. HoT is a perfect example of that. If we had been introduced to the extreme vertical more gradually, and the expansion had more of a variety of maps, I would have liked it much better.

Meanwhile, TD and VB are my two favorite maps in the game by a longshot. So, you’re the developer: What do you do?

LS3 is probably a good indication of ANet’s answer to that question. It features more accessible events and a mix of vertical and flat maps. However, while I don’t mind the flat maps, I would be disappointed if the expansion didn’t feature at least a map or two that follow in the same vein as Tangled Depths and Verdant Brink. I particularly enjoyed exploring and learning these maps and I still return to them frequently.

Let’s hope the compromise is one we can both live with.

I agree I hope the next expac is one we can all live with and ENJOY!

This thread is about how HoT ruined the OP’s GW2 experience. I am relating how it ruined my experience also. If Anet hadn’t made HoT the way it is, our experiences might not have been ruined. And you would never know the difference.

I agree Djinn. If HoT had been more inclusive, instead of restrictive we wouldn’t be seeing the low sales we see now. When core was the only game for sale we had record sales, when HoT only was the game for sale, we had record lows….

Okay this is a conclusion that has no evidence to support it. We know that sales are down, but we also know that when games are older sales DO go down. So a year and a half after an expansion (particularly after a 9 month content draught) it’s likely that the game lost some players.

You’re making an assumption as to why the game lost those players, without even taking normal attrition into account.

Have you ever compared WoW subscriptions from when they launch their expansion to a year and a half after they’ve launched it.

You want to believe that enough people feel like you that you’re happy to draw the conclusion you drew. But there’s not only no way to prove that conclusion, but in fact,even if fewer people are playing specifically because of what you said, there’s still no way to say that other people haven’t come back to offset those people.

Game is doing less sales per quarter? True.

Normal for just about every single MMO a year and a half after an expansion? Also true.

Hard to say that your reason for displeasure is the reason that’s caused this.

Look at the game, its trying real hard now not be be a AAA game, its trying to be a niche game now, and because of that it will keep losing people and money.

Menadena.7482:

slashlizardy.9167:

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.

Yes, I have no problem with, oh, “earn 5 levels to get the new zone’s mastery”. What holds me up is “oh, also get (or have) 5 of these points which could be easy things or hard ones”.

Yes, and those 5 points have nothing to do with the xp you earned.

Djinn.9245:

slashlizardy.9167:

AliamRationem.5172:

Djinn.9245:

AliamRationem.5172:

I didn’t play GW2 prior to HoT, and I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t have enjoyed it. But for me, HoT was a big hit! How do you reconcile that with some of the opinions on this forum?

Many (most?) of the threads complaining about HoT are from people who played GW2 before HoT like me. I really enjoyed GW2, it was the next MMO I was going to stay with long-term. When HoT was released, I was shocked. I HATED Verdant Brink. The entire experience there was horrible as I died and died – 50% of the time because I didn’t have the new Masteries. My solution was to get out of VB so I died my way across VB to Auric Basin. Auric Basin was better since it wasn’t so vertical, but many of the mobs were worse with more rapters, and adding so many more smokescales, arrowheads, etc. But while it was highly populated, AB is what saved me from quitting GW2. I eventually progressed into Tangled Depths and again was shocked: something worse than VB! I again died my way through TD in order to get to Dragon Stand. And of course there I was stymied as I couldn’t really do much of anything unless the Meta was active.

So HoT was almost a complete disaster for me. I left it after only progressing about 1/4 through the story and only returned because a couple Guildies came back and wanted to do the Story.

There’s another thread on the forums about Anet changing GW2 with extremes. HoT is a perfect example of that. If we had been introduced to the extreme vertical more gradually, and the expansion had more of a variety of maps, I would have liked it much better.

Meanwhile, TD and VB are my two favorite maps in the game by a longshot. So, you’re the developer: What do you do?

LS3 is probably a good indication of ANet’s answer to that question. It features more accessible events and a mix of vertical and flat maps. However, while I don’t mind the flat maps, I would be disappointed if the expansion didn’t feature at least a map or two that follow in the same vein as Tangled Depths and Verdant Brink. I particularly enjoyed exploring and learning these maps and I still return to them frequently.

Let’s hope the compromise is one we can both live with.

I agree I hope the next expac is one we can all live with and ENJOY!

This thread is about how HoT ruined the OP’s GW2 experience. I am relating how it ruined my experience also. If Anet hadn’t made HoT the way it is, our experiences might not have been ruined. And you would never know the difference.

I agree Djinn. If HoT had been more inclusive, instead of restrictive we wouldn’t be seeing the low sales we see now. When core was the only game for sale we had record sales, when HoT only was the game for sale, we had record lows….

Anet cannot expect more than 60% of their design to be enjoyed, there will always be areas that went over poorly. And each player has a different design which will appeal to them. They will get what they want to get out of the game. To gate xp behind collections is a horrible idea. When that happens, the players in the whole history of gaming will resist and spend more effort to move or adjust the gate, it’s human nature. But when it is straight xp, you will see the players race to finish off the xp cap, as well they should, it is what is expected, it’s at the core of the social contract of “leveling”. To require anything else is to go against the whole history of rpgs.

AliamRationem.5172:

Djinn.9245:

AliamRationem.5172:

I didn’t play GW2 prior to HoT, and I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t have enjoyed it. But for me, HoT was a big hit! How do you reconcile that with some of the opinions on this forum?

Many (most?) of the threads complaining about HoT are from people who played GW2 before HoT like me. I really enjoyed GW2, it was the next MMO I was going to stay with long-term. When HoT was released, I was shocked. I HATED Verdant Brink. The entire experience there was horrible as I died and died – 50% of the time because I didn’t have the new Masteries. My solution was to get out of VB so I died my way across VB to Auric Basin. Auric Basin was better since it wasn’t so vertical, but many of the mobs were worse with more rapters, and adding so many more smokescales, arrowheads, etc. But while it was highly populated, AB is what saved me from quitting GW2. I eventually progressed into Tangled Depths and again was shocked: something worse than VB! I again died my way through TD in order to get to Dragon Stand. And of course there I was stymied as I couldn’t really do much of anything unless the Meta was active.

So HoT was almost a complete disaster for me. I left it after only progressing about 1/4 through the story and only returned because a couple Guildies came back and wanted to do the Story.

There’s another thread on the forums about Anet changing GW2 with extremes. HoT is a perfect example of that. If we had been introduced to the extreme vertical more gradually, and the expansion had more of a variety of maps, I would have liked it much better.

Meanwhile, TD and VB are my two favorite maps in the game by a longshot. So, you’re the developer: What do you do?

LS3 is probably a good indication of ANet’s answer to that question. It features more accessible events and a mix of vertical and flat maps. However, while I don’t mind the flat maps, I would be disappointed if the expansion didn’t feature at least a map or two that follow in the same vein as Tangled Depths and Verdant Brink. I particularly enjoyed exploring and learning these maps and I still return to them frequently.

Let’s hope the compromise is one we can both live with.

I agree I hope the next expac is one we can all live with and ENJOY!