Guild Wars 2

Empty maps here today and yesterday. I moved from verdant brink which I can explore mostly solo to the next map; Auric Basin and not a soul about both days.

I am finding I just cant do what I need to do with no one else on the map.

I went to tangled depths and I saw one person. That was nice.

Hi Swift

I love your idea! My favourite maps are the Sylvari starter map and the Timberline falls map, so beautiful them both. I just love roaming and gathering materials and doing the little hearts.

I also love getting a wee reward for map completion (I mean its like a present, and I love presents!)

I was not so keen on the new maps, they are so dangerous and unpleasant to move around in, they could be wonderful to explore too if they were calmer.

I really really hope a developer reads your post. Thanks for suggesting it. I think I must be a bit of an explorer gamer and I know my husband is too.

Swift.1930:

I love finding and seeing new places in Guild Wars, and as the expansion seemed a little dry on maps for me, I came up with this idea. It’s completely open to discussion, of course; I’m hoping it’s something that gains momentum and catches developer attention, because – as someone pointed out to me – I’m something of an explorer gamer, and I know that other Guild Wars1 and 2 fans are as well.

Some of us love running around Guild Wars maps. We love exploring the land and the layout and encountering little villages and rivers and waterfalls. So I’d like to put it to you guys – what would you think about Anet putting out a long series of explorable “flat maps”?

The so-called “flat maps” are maps that most of us look upon fondly if we’ve followed Guild Wars all the way through from Prophecies to Heart of Thorns. They contain exploration, land layout, and (well, in Guild Wars 1) collectible skills. It’s fine that HoT maps were developed and contain countless events, but some of us would also like to journey and adventure through picturesque places. We’re invested in the world, the lore, and the land.

So although I don’t know exactly how often developers frequent the forums, here’s what I’d like to suggest: a release of exploration maps. They don’t need to contain many (or any, at first) events. They don’t have to contain skill points/hero challenges. They don’t need to be lined with waypoints (the more challenging the adventure, the more interesting it could be). They don’t even have to contain points of interest! (Although they would contribute to lore very nicely.) They just need to contain mobs, villages/towns, NPCs, and landscape. It would make the world bigger and more open!

To clarify: I don’t mean maps that are purely for exploration. I mean maps that we can explore now that Anet can always use later on if they need room for Living World events or updates. For instance, perhaps we would be able to explore a new map, say… tomorrow, and it was fresh and peaceful (uneventful in more than one sense of the word), and then in a living world update in a few months that same map temporarily accommodates a war zone meta chain. Or something like that. That actually adds a second layer of exploration. (Like pre-searing and post-searing maps in Guild Wars 1.)

I’m happy to expand on this as much as required. I, for one, have a very strong, unquenched wanderlust that was fueled by Guild Wars 1 and has not yet been quenched. In fact, I’d like to actually see at least some of the old Guild Wars 1 maps added for exploration. We already have part of the terrain, and some was locked away by lore (Cantha), but there’s still plenty of space we could revisit. Augury Rock, Eye of the North, Ruins of Surmia, Kessex Peak, Talus Chute, and more… so many beautiful maps that we could explore!

The true essence of exploration is taking in the sights of previously untraversed places – or revisiting ancient places in a new game. There doesn’t have to be a physical or tangible reward for exploration.

Do you love exploring in Guild Wars? Please, contribute and query to your heart’s content. =)

Swift

Wow!! Thanks for the information Runiir! This is the best news ever!! I am off to play that last mission on my characters, Im going to be busy quite a while! Yay!

I agree with OP that the developers should have advertised that the content would be challenging. It sure misled a lot of us casuals.

I feel really silly because I actually went on a couple of betas and the last one saw me in the jungle testing the advanced classes.

I totally disregarded the difficulty of the game play as I was so focused on trying to get to grips with the different class specializations.

I totally didn’t expect the problems I have had since release.

I am pretty sure there will be a lot of adjustments to be made to the expansion yet though and that eventually I will be able to return and complete my tasks more easily

NB.
I never group if I don’t have to, I have 99% completed my personal story on at least ten characters and never done the final story just because I hate the stress of playing in a group.

I really feel bad for op and his wife, that’s a lot of money to spend on something they cannot enjoy. I hope you are able to get your money back.

I too am not enjoying the expansion but I still love my GW2 vanilla game and I definitely couldn’t bear to leave just now especially as I enjoy the silly season of Halloween so much.

I feel sure that Anet will adjust much about this expansion though as they do need all player types to fill those new maps. Not just the ‘die hard’ types. So I’m going to wait and see.

2 out of 10

I am enjoying the revenant I am leveling.

I am not enjoying any time spent in the expansion maps, other than some of the gliding which I haven’t managed to get very far in.

I play solo and I am having a terrible time trying to progress. I am giving up for now.

Specializations

Were they fun?

Interesting but not so much fun as I would have liked. I tried two. The Druid and the Tempest. I guess I might like the staff skills of the druid if I play in a dungeon and want to do a lot of healing but for pve I cant see myself utilizing the staff much. The tempest was ok. I did enjoy using the overcharge ability but not so much the war-horn.

Did they Change how you play your profession in a meaningful way?

Not really but too early for me to judge.

Creatures

How is the difficulty of the new hostile mobs, and are they fun and exciting?

Just reskinned versions of other baddies. They were ok.

World

With the Opening of two new outposts, we are adding in a bunch of new events. Are they fun?

For me no. I miss the heart events, its more orderly and predictable. I find this new way of doing story and events too confusing and unpleasant. I never enjoyed dry top or silver-wastes events. I like to finish an objective, complete a map and move on. This whole thing of staying on one map and repeating the cycle over and over feels very frustrating and pointless. It also doesnt feel like GW2 but a different game. I would think the new maps and stories should merge seemlessly with the original map and worlds so we can explore to gain world map completion using the new maps too. But they are outside of everything as this expansion appears to be too.

Do the new events bring you more into the world?

Not for the time I played which was about 2 hours.

Are the new events challenging, meaningful, and interesting?

Not really, I was confused running around and wondering what everyone was doing. I joined in with a few battles but didn’t experience anything exciting or meaningful, from reading other posts I am wondering did I do my exploring in a time between events? I felt confused and displaced, even after getting around the whole map in the dark (day night cycle I don’t like, I mean who works/runs around at night? I prefer to do my world exploration in daylight as I would in rl)

Mastery System

How is the progression?

I didn’t understand or get to progress any masteries. I had points but didn’t get to use them which I found weird, maybe a bug? I was unable to make progress or spend my points.

Do you want to learn as many masteries over time to overcome challenges later in the future?

Id like to try to.

I tried the Druid, I used the staff and long bow. It was nice to meet our new pets and to try out the new heals, I really hope the ranger will become more welcome in dungeons after this.
I also tried the Tempest, I liked the Overcharge abilities but didn’t warm too much to the warhorn and scepter combinations but generally I am glad to see new weapons and new abilities.
About the area, I really really dislike the change in direction from the hearts and exploration of the vanilla game to those weird awkward maps and that Mordrem story with Destiny’s Edge. For me personally I don’t like silverwastes or dry top and was really disappointed to see the expansion is going to be more of the same. Having a glider doesn’t make up for the ‘meh’ of those maps.
But I dont regret prepurchasing because Im going to have a lot of fun learning the new weapons and skills. Hope we get new hairstyles too!

I’m not at all good at understanding the mechanics of gameplay but I did have a wee go with my revenant tonight.
She was heavy and slow. Quite cute in the armour though. I felt she sure didn’t make much impression on the baddies even though I swapped to try the staff (pretty animations) and then the axe and mace. It took her ages to kill a bird! Poor bird, death by boredom.
For me I would love to try the revenant learning one skill at a time then I can see the best ways to use them and combine them. Like from the beginning instead of starting at level 80.
It was nice and interesting though to try out this new class.