The most disappointing news is that there wasn't any mention of dungeons at all. Most expansions release new dungeons. It makes me wonder if GW2 is just going to abandon any future dungeon development.
Not only that, but the new "region" seems like it's going to be really small. Will it be one zone with 3 biome layers? Or will it be several zones with 3 biome layers? If you look on the map, each region contains 4 or 5 zones within each region.
They didn't talk about dungeons and very little about the open world zones, that is true.
That doesn't mean there wont be dungeons though, even though I would guess they only adds one or 2 (with 4 paths). It is of course possible that they wont make one but it would surprise me a lot.
As for the numbers of new zones, we can only guess. From the vids there seems to be one town or city and the empty space for Maguma is pretty big right now, add up that each zone will be vertical as well (below the djungle, under the trees and up in the trees).
It is impossible to know ho large the new content will be just yet. It is hardly the size of GW Factions or Nightfall but it could still be large. We will just have to wait and see for that one.
I have waited a long time for Guildhalls and guild Vs guild PvP.
Isn't the only difference there is a guild leader board in addition to the old leader boards for Spvp? For example If your team is all in the same guild it gets ranked on the guild leader boards?
No, that's not the only difference. This is a new type of PvP where the point of the game is to kil the guild lord of the other guild. That was how GvG was in GW1. It plays very differently to what we have now. Then obviously you have guild ranks whch are focused around people who are organised and not just some random PvP PUGs.
A lot of people are excited for GvG as it was one of the most complex PvP experience in an MMO/online game. Anyone with less than 6-10 months of GvG experience was considered completely useless because of the high learning curve that PvP mode had. I don't think GW2 will have such a steep learning curve as they are far fewere abilities and combinations in GW2.
GvG was a huge jump from random arenas in GW1. ArenaNet felt that GvG was too complicated and that there was nothing in GW1 that can prepare people for it. So in the early years of development of GW2, ArenaNet saw WvWvW as a nice intro to the cruel world of what they called "structured" PvP. Sadly structured PvP in GW2 lacks the depth of GW1. At least it is very easy to pick up.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
From the limited info we've gotten, the expansion looks to be pretty solid. Very excited about the AA system and class specializations. Hopefully, both systems are very deep. My only gripe would be the account-wide AA. SWTOR did this and it never really made sense to me since it took a lot of options away from alt progression. Then again, SWTOR's legacy system wasn't very deep. If AN makes this one deep and complex enough, it could work. Also like the fact that two-handed axes and a flying/gliding option were hinted at. And last, but not least, I'm interested in finding out more about the new class and what that entails.
The most disappointing news is that there wasn't any mention of dungeons at all. Most expansions release new dungeons. It makes me wonder if GW2 is just going to abandon any future dungeon development.
Not only that, but the new "region" seems like it's going to be really small. Will it be one zone with 3 biome layers? Or will it be several zones with 3 biome layers? If you look on the map, each region contains 4 or 5 zones within each region.
They didn't talk about dungeons and very little about the open world zones, that is true.
That doesn't mean there wont be dungeons though, even though I would guess they only adds one or 2 (with 4 paths). It is of course possible that they wont make one but it would surprise me a lot.
As for the numbers of new zones, we can only guess. From the vids there seems to be one town or city and the empty space for Maguma is pretty big right now, add up that each zone will be vertical as well (below the djungle, under the trees and up in the trees).
It is impossible to know ho large the new content will be just yet. It is hardly the size of GW Factions or Nightfall but it could still be large. We will just have to wait and see for that one.
I have waited a long time for Guildhalls and guild Vs guild PvP.
Isn't the only difference there is a guild leader board in addition to the old leader boards for Spvp? For example If your team is all in the same guild it gets ranked on the guild leader boards?
No, that's not the only difference. This is a new type of PvP where the point of the game is to kil the guild lord of the other guild. That was how GvG was in GW1. It plays very differently to what we have now. Then obviously you have guild ranks whch are focused around people who are organised and not just some random PvP PUGs.
A lot of people are excited for GvG as it was one of the most complex PvP experience in an MMO/online game. Anyone with less than 6-10 months of GvG experience was considered completely useless because of the high learning curve that PvP mode had. I don't think GW2 will have such a steep learning curve as they are far fewere abilities and combinations in GW2.
GvG was a huge jump from random arenas in GW1. ArenaNet felt that GvG was too complicated and that there was nothing in GW1 that can prepare people for it. So in the early years of development of GW2, ArenaNet saw WvWvW as a nice intro to the cruel world of what they called "structured" PvP. Sadly structured PvP in GW2 lacks the depth of GW1. At least it is very easy to pick up.
If I'm not mistaken, Strongholds is another 5v5 spvp map that is not restricted to guilds only.
i loved every bit of it although i would have liked to have at least 2 extra weapon skill slots (not utility) on the action bar, one extra right hand skill and one extra off hand skill slot. Still loving it though.
Bit disappointed. I was hoping many more areas of the world similar to the way they did it with GW1. They call it content but I look at this expansion as a feature heavy expansion not content heavy. This new jungle region might be big but it is only one new region.
There's a bit of false information/misconception in this thread. These might have stemmed directly from the livestream, which I unfortunately could not watch, as I was working, but a look at the HoT page on the official GW2 website clears things up.
There were several posts stating that specializations would not bring new skills, only new weapons.
From the website:
"With profession specializations, you'll unlock a weapon previously unavailable to your profession, as well as new traits, skills, and mechanics - all of which will transform your profession into something new."
There was also a post that believed that "Guild PvP" would be limited to a guild leaderboard. In truth, there will be an entire new PvP mode added, which is described as being similar to the Guild Wars 1 GvG format - one of the best arena PvP modes in competitive gaming history.
I'm basically cautiously optimistic too. It's too early to fawn over, though there are some nice concepts and additions that we are hearing about. As for the usual suspects saying the usual things or being predictable in their posts here I just say, "meh". Since there is no release date, anyone with a lick of common sense will know that things can still be added, taken away, or tweaked. ANet has not disappointed me yet and I doubt they will with this expansion. Sure they could, but I doubt it.
There's a bit of false information/misconception in this thread. These might have stemmed directly from the livestream, which I unfortunately could not watch, as I was working, but a look at the HoT page on the official GW2 website clears things up.
There were several posts stating that specializations would not bring new skills, only new weapons.
From the website:
"With profession specializations, you'll unlock a weapon previously unavailable to your profession, as well as new traits, skills, and mechanics - all of which will transform your profession into something new."
There was also a post that believed that "Guild PvP" would be limited to a guild leaderboard. In truth, there will be an entire new PvP mode added, which is described as being similar to the Guild Wars 1 GvG format - one of the best arena PvP modes in competitive gaming history.
Ok cool there will be new traits and skills for the specializations. We just don't have the details on how many specialization, traits or skills. It appears to be 1 specialization per profession. As far as the Stronghold map, it does not appear to be limited to guilds. It appears to be just another game mode, 5v5 with a guild leader board.
From the site -
"Gather supply to hire soldiers. Battle for control of heroes. Man the trebuchet to defend your stronghold, and storm the enemy gates to defeat the guild lord! Use our new guild team feature to team up and battle to the top of the leaderboards. Stronghold offers an entirely new way to play competitive PvP in Guild Wars 2"
Originally posted by flizzer Bit disappointed. I was hoping many more areas of the world similar to the way they did it with GW1. They call it content but I look at this expansion as a feature heavy expansion not content heavy. This new jungle region might be big but it is only one new region.
To be honest, that may be for the best. There is a major difference in how Guild Wars 1 and Guild Wars 2 function that really affects the degree to which content is viable.
In Guild Wars 1, a CRPG, the heavily instanced, 4-8 member party format meant that, for each mode to function, it only required that number of players to do so. Henchmen made easy content possible without the need for other players, and the initial release of heroes made content much more viable with only H+H (Heroes and Henchmen) or one other player and their heroes. Eventually, with the 7 Hero patch, nearly all content was essentially made viable, if lonely, with no other players.
For an MMO to function, the amount of viable content must scale to the amount of players able and willing to play said content. In most MMOs, this is addressed by level gating - rendering past content essentially obsolete to make way for new content.
In Guild Wars 2, on the other hand, ALL content is endgame viable. All of it. This means that every content addition expands the amount of content being played at all times.
So why does this matter? Population spread. The nature of Guild Wars 2 is a unique one in the MMO space. It has the distinct advantage of having more viable content than any other game on the market, thanks to its downscaling feature, but it also suffers from a greatly increased vulnerability to population spread - moreso than any other MMO.
This means that large amounts of new content could actually be detrimental to the game's health, not beneficial, and I'd much prefer that they focus on quality (and greatly improving older zones while slowly adding new ones), than major map expansions.
Ok cool there will be new traits and skills for the specializations. We just don't have the details on how many specialization, traits or skills. It appears to be 1 specialization per profession. As far as the Stronghold map, it does not appear to be limited to guilds. It appears to be just another game mode, 5v5 with a guild leader board.
From the site -
"Gather supply to hire soldiers. Battle for control of heroes. Man the trebuchet to defend your stronghold, and storm the enemy gates to defeat the guild lord! Use our new guild team feature to team up and battle to the top of the leaderboards. Stronghold offers an entirely new way to play competitive PvP in Guild Wars 2"
And why is it necessary that this mode be restricted only to guilds? For a competitive arena GvG scene to thrive, the game only needs a solid competitive combat setup that encourages teamwork (which the game already has), a mode with enough depth to support the GvG scene (which this new mode, on paper, provides), and incentives that track and reward (with prize money or otherwise) a guild's placement in the overall competitive scene of the game.
Every one of these criteria already exists or will exist with the expansion. And no, there is not a need to segregate guilds to their own game mode for this to occur. Random groups will not be able to compete on the same level as a coordinated, established guild team. This is common sense, and it's readily observable in any competitive format.
It does seem like a LITE expansion. Lots of BLING. For a game that's been out for awhile you think it would have been better.
It's an expansion, not a totally new game. WoD just released and it brought some more levels (not to original), more zones, dungeons, and Garrisons. My Paladin didn't get another weapon even, and he will always be a pally. I love WoD, but I didn't expect a brand new game from Blizzard. Like I said before, this is all speculation and saying it is "lite expansion" is just a guess.
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
Since the release of daily logins that is all i ever do - login and logout. Obviously i am hyped but i have a feeling they won't release it for at least 3 months or more.
Heart of Thorns is the saving grace for me to return but..
I went ahead and bought 5 copies of the Digital Heroic Edition for gifts! Heck, birthday cards are $4.95 a piece anymore, and I would much rather give a game for $10 than a useless card you throw away. Even if the expansion is a total flop (which I know it won't be), some of my friends or relatives will be having fun with the original version.
It does seem like a LITE expansion. Lots of BLING. For a game that's been out for awhile you think it would have been better.
It's an expansion, not a totally new game. WoD just released and it brought some more levels (not to original), more zones, dungeons, and Garrisons. My Paladin didn't get another weapon even, and he will always be a pally. I love WoD, but I didn't expect a brand new game from Blizzard. Like I said before, this is all speculation and saying it is "lite expansion" is just a guess.
WoD was probably their most shallow expansion to date, but their previous expansions added a lot of content. There's no denying it. Each expansion had around 5+ new zones, filled with quests, new mobs, new gear, new game mechanics, new class, new races and starter zones, new pvp maps, new mounts, new dungeons, new raids, new crafting recipes, new achievements, new stories. I could go on, but you get the point.
GW2's HoT seems like less content than even WoD. One region, which could be up to 5 zones. One class, masteries, specializations, new WvW map, new pvp mode, new events and world bosses... That doesn't seem like a lot at all. I'm sure there'll be new achievements and stories, but even then, it's not much.
Originally posted by Arthasm 6.1 patch for Wow brings like 20x more than this expansion for GW2. Not trusting them long time ago, but I'd wait and I'd like to see new expansion.
And you pay $15 a month for 7-9 months inbetween content patches, whereas you pay $50 in 3 years to pay for an content patch for GW2. Its hot hard to spot the true value.
Sandbox means open world, non-linear gaming PERIOD!
Subscription Gaming, especially MMO gaming is a Cash grab bigger then the most P2W cash shop!
Bring Back Exploration and lengthy progression times. RPG's have always been about the Journey not the destination!!!
The only way I'll ever play this game again if they remove level downscaling.
I mean if I am max level and can do 2000 dmg per hit - let me do that much damage to a level 1 mob - don't downscale me and make me do like 18 damage.
The whole scaling down thing = no thanks for me.
There is nothing worse to me than making my character WEAKER just because I entered a lower level zone - F that.
Let me kill 300 things with a single swipe - I've earned it
Downscaling was one the things I really enjoyed with the game, it means not content is ever trivialized. And why do you need to see big numbers? And why do you want to go to lower levels to kill stuff anyway? In normal Games say like WoW, you get zero XP and zero Loot from killing lower level mobs so there's no point in doing it, unless you actually need to kill stuff for no reason to stroke your epeen then you're reasons are flawed and silly.
Sandbox means open world, non-linear gaming PERIOD!
Subscription Gaming, especially MMO gaming is a Cash grab bigger then the most P2W cash shop!
Bring Back Exploration and lengthy progression times. RPG's have always been about the Journey not the destination!!!
The only way I'll ever play this game again if they remove level downscaling.
I mean if I am max level and can do 2000 dmg per hit - let me do that much damage to a level 1 mob - don't downscale me and make me do like 18 damage.
The whole scaling down thing = no thanks for me.
There is nothing worse to me than making my character WEAKER just because I entered a lower level zone - F that.
Let me kill 300 things with a single swipe - I've earned it
Downscaling is actually the BEST thing about GW2. It makes all zones relevant even after you'd technically moved on from them. I applaud this idea. I'm amazed there are actually MMO gamers that would be against something like this.
The only way I'll ever play this game again if they remove level downscaling.
I mean if I am max level and can do 2000 dmg per hit - let me do that much damage to a level 1 mob - don't downscale me and make me do like 18 damage.
The whole scaling down thing = no thanks for me.
There is nothing worse to me than making my character WEAKER just because I entered a lower level zone - F that.
Let me kill 300 things with a single swipe - I've earned it
Amen to that....
to the disappointed folks for other reasons though.... the small updates you enjoyed every couple of weeks, do you think it spoiled you all?
Not all of the updates are every 2 weeks though. Sometimes there's a month or longer between waits.
I wouldn't consider it being spoiled at all, especially considering the type of content that GW2 players get.
Over the years, they have gotten story updates, weapons & armor, achievement rewards, new PvP maps (also EotM), crafting recipes, and QoL patches such as the Feature Packs, events, bosses, and other things. It just wasn't enough though. People wanted a new class, new race, new skills/utilities, new zones, etc.
It's a trade off really, more frequent updates that is spread out over time, compared to one big content patch that takes anywhere from 3-6 months in other MMO's. When compared to WoW's "Timeless Isle patch", i would gladly prefer GW2's more frequent updates. WoW players had to wait 18 months until WoD, from the time their Timeless Isle content update was released. lol.
GW2 is such a breath of fresh air to me for MMO's. I actually enjoy running around questing and doing world events, and zones are not irrelevant and worthless so the whole game is still fun wherever you go.
As much as I love wildstar it shows the insane downside of zone leveling. The low end zones are a wasteland cause everyones at endgame and theres no reason to come to lowbie zones.
The expansion looks good, although the only gripe I have is it better be HUGE content wise cause its taken them 2.5 years just to announce the bloody thing and knowing ANET we won't even get it till Q4 2015 at which point it will be THREE YEARS till there first expansion which IMO is way way way way to long.
My only other gripe is that all these "new features" are things that don't take 2.5 years to make/put out. This is stuff that comes out with content patches and updates in other MMO's, and not almost 3 years later -_-
Originally posted by TokkenIt does seem like a LITE expansion. Lots of BLING. For a game that's been out for awhile you think it would have been better.
It's an expansion, not a totally new game. WoD just released and it brought some more levels (not to original), more zones, dungeons, and Garrisons. My Paladin didn't get another weapon even, and he will always be a pally. I love WoD, but I didn't expect a brand new game from Blizzard. Like I said before, this is all speculation and saying it is "lite expansion" is just a guess.
WoD was probably their most shallow expansion to date, but their previous expansions added a lot of content. There's no denying it. Each expansion had around 5+ new zones, filled with quests, new mobs, new gear, new game mechanics, new class, new races and starter zones, new pvp maps, new mounts, new dungeons, new raids, new crafting recipes, new achievements, new stories. I could go on, but you get the point.
GW2's HoT seems like less content than even WoD. One region, which could be up to 5 zones. One class, masteries, specializations, new WvW map, new pvp mode, new events and world bosses... That doesn't seem like a lot at all. I'm sure there'll be new achievements and stories, but even then, it's not much.
If you wanna compare WoW expansions and HoT please do it right. Let me write HoT and WoW expansion contents again.
HoT: One region with 3 dimension and multiple zones filled with new dynamic events, news mobs, new world bosses, one new class, mastery system(which is a whole end game mechanic), specializations, new weapon types, new WvW map, new pvp map, GvG, guild halls, gliders, new and more challenging group contents(dungeons, world bosses, events and more), new crafting recipes(new legendaries), new achievements, new stories and a whole new elder dragon.
WoW Expansion: 5+ new zones, filled with quests, new mobs, new gear, new game mechanics, new class OR new races and starter zones, new pvp maps, new mounts, new dungeons, new raids, new crafting recipes, new achievements, new stories.
Yeah I think I get the point. If you wanna compare them please be objective.
Downscaling is actually the BEST thing about GW2. It makes all zones relevant even after you'd technically moved on from them. I applaud this idea. I'm amazed there are actually MMO gamers that would be against something like this.
Amen.
Downscaling is one of the best concepts to hit the MMO market, and is a welcome addition to any game. It makes a game more than just another crappy themepark - it becomes a retroactive sandbox.
Guess I'll be the special flower then....I hate this announcement with every last fiber of my being. Oh, no, it's not because it's an expansion. I didn't want an expansion, I just wanted them to stop screwing up the Living Story so badly, but I knew it was inevitable. But that's not why I hate it so much.
No, what really grinds my gears is that it's an expansion composed of everything that the devs claimed to be against, and worse, it's an expansion composed of content that has been "promised content" for over two years and was supposed to be put into the game FOR FREE. But nope, they bundled it all up in a nice pretty bow and they're selling it to us for the price of a traditional MMO expansion. For over three years, they sold this game on the rhetoric that it would be different. An "MMO revolution". And then, one by one, they started abandoning their promises. This, to me, is the last nail in the coffin. Guild Wars 2 has officially surrendered. They no longer care if they're different or not, they just care about your money, and they'll do whatever they have to in order to get it.
The idea of "Mastery" is a concept stolen wholesale from games like Diablo 3, STO, etc. It's basically like increasing the level cap to allow for more grinding, but without actually upping the levels, so it "fools" you into thinking that you're no longer grinding. Similarly, specializations are basically their way of granting existing classes access to old and new weapons. It's nothing new or different, it's a strategic copy/pasta from the book of every other MMO on the market.
But the true rage-inducing part of this update is that it places several bits of previously promised content behind a pay wall, content that was allegedly to be given to us for free (and I only say "allegedly" because the devs were very carefully never to actually utter the word "free", they only heavily implied it). That was supposed to be the Guild Wars 2 difference, remember? That they'd release all of the traditional expansion stuff to us over the course of the year, abandoning the old expansion system in favor of one which kept updates flowing out on a consistent basis. But look at them now!
The precursor scavenger hunt promised to us in November of 2012? Now buried deep in the Mastery system, which locks it behind a pay wall.
Guild halls? Only available in the new zone, which sticks it behind a pay wall.
New classes? Pay wall.
New weapons, zones, etc? Pay wall. And just watch, they'll eventually announce new legendaries exclusive to this expansion, too, I guarantee it.
More PvP modes and WvW zones? PAY WALL.
I'm looking down the list of promises this expansion makes, and I recognize more than half of this expansion is content that has been promised for over two years. A lot of it was supposedly going to be added "naturally". And now they're asking me to pay them for the privilege of it. No thanks.
Go ahead, tell me I'm wrong for hating this, or that I'm old and bitter, or whatever you want. I know my opinion is a minority one here and I'm gonna get a bunch of flak for daring to have an opinion other than "yay, we get to pay for all that free stuff they promised us! 10/10 ANet best devs in history o/". But seriously, I give up. This game will never be the "revolution" it claimed to be. The devs don't even care any more if they're unique or not. And if they don't care, why should I? Though, I guess I can't be entirely mad at them, so much as myself. I got fooled, I bought into the hype of what GW2 was going to be, I defended this game from the critics who said they'd eventually cave and become just like every other MMO....and now I'm the one with the egg on my face for my troubles.
I don't expect anyone to understand this, but if I just wanted another generic MMO, I would've played something else. There are dozens of traditional MMOs out there that I could've played instead. If this were an expansion from anyone else, it wouldn't be that big of a deal because I expect this sort of nonsense from everyone else. But I bought GW2 because of their bold vision, and their pledge to buck the trends and blaze their own trail in the MMO world. Heck, I remember them being so confident in their expectations of this game that they once boasted that if they did this game right, they might never have to make a GW3, much less an expansion.
If this makes you happy, then I'm glad for you. At least someone else will get to enjoy this game. But as for me....GW2, I want a divorce. >_>
Bro you are extremely naive and you also seems to be lost on what devs say and what you "hear". This is a paid expansion with lots of features. The only thing that might be shady is that it didnt continue the trend of gw1 - expansion that can be played separately. Everything else is just your naive imagination and hopes mixed with lack of common sense. This was expected since day 1 of the game.
I think I actually spent way more time reading and theorycrafting about MMOs than playing them
Downscaling is actually the BEST thing about GW2. It makes all zones relevant even after you'd technically moved on from them. I applaud this idea. I'm amazed there are actually MMO gamers that would be against something like this.
Amen.
Downscaling is one of the best concepts to hit the MMO market, and is a welcome addition to any game. It makes a game more than just another crappy themepark - it becomes a retroactive sandbox.
Also agree. I consider this one of the huge plusses of GW2. I loved Caldeon Forest so much I remember spending more time in that area than would be considered appropriate if it was a traditionally leveled zone.
The only way I'll ever play this game again if they remove level downscaling.
I mean if I am max level and can do 2000 dmg per hit - let me do that much damage to a level 1 mob - don't downscale me and make me do like 18 damage.
The whole scaling down thing = no thanks for me.
There is nothing worse to me than making my character WEAKER just because I entered a lower level zone - F that.
Let me kill 300 things with a single swipe - I've earned it
Downscaling was one the things I really enjoyed with the game, it means not content is ever trivialized. And why do you need to see big numbers? And why do you want to go to lower levels to kill stuff anyway? In normal Games say like WoW, you get zero XP and zero Loot from killing lower level mobs so there's no point in doing it, unless you actually need to kill stuff for no reason to stroke your epeen then you're reasons are flawed and silly.
Sure, content is not trivialized, but who wants to repeat events over and over. How often do you really want to go back to an area where you have done the content. I think this is an inherent problem with themeparks. How many times do you ride a ride before it become boring. It is like being locked in at Disney, having ridden all of the rides a few times and having to wait for a new one.
James T. Kirk: All she's got isn't good enough! What else ya got?
Comments
No, that's not the only difference. This is a new type of PvP where the point of the game is to kil the guild lord of the other guild. That was how GvG was in GW1. It plays very differently to what we have now. Then obviously you have guild ranks whch are focused around people who are organised and not just some random PvP PUGs.
A lot of people are excited for GvG as it was one of the most complex PvP experience in an MMO/online game. Anyone with less than 6-10 months of GvG experience was considered completely useless because of the high learning curve that PvP mode had. I don't think GW2 will have such a steep learning curve as they are far fewere abilities and combinations in GW2.
GvG was a huge jump from random arenas in GW1. ArenaNet felt that GvG was too complicated and that there was nothing in GW1 that can prepare people for it. So in the early years of development of GW2, ArenaNet saw WvWvW as a nice intro to the cruel world of what they called "structured" PvP. Sadly structured PvP in GW2 lacks the depth of GW1. At least it is very easy to pick up.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
If I'm not mistaken, Strongholds is another 5v5 spvp map that is not restricted to guilds only.
i loved every bit of it although i would have liked to have at least 2 extra weapon skill slots (not utility) on the action bar, one extra right hand skill and one extra off hand skill slot. Still loving it though.
Also, Necromancer with greatsword, *drools*
There's a bit of false information/misconception in this thread. These might have stemmed directly from the livestream, which I unfortunately could not watch, as I was working, but a look at the HoT page on the official GW2 website clears things up.
There were several posts stating that specializations would not bring new skills, only new weapons.
From the website:
"With profession specializations, you'll unlock a weapon previously unavailable to your profession, as well as new traits, skills, and mechanics - all of which will transform your profession into something new."
There was also a post that believed that "Guild PvP" would be limited to a guild leaderboard. In truth, there will be an entire new PvP mode added, which is described as being similar to the Guild Wars 1 GvG format - one of the best arena PvP modes in competitive gaming history.
I'm basically cautiously optimistic too. It's too early to fawn over, though there are some nice concepts and additions that we are hearing about. As for the usual suspects saying the usual things or being predictable in their posts here I just say, "meh". Since there is no release date, anyone with a lick of common sense will know that things can still be added, taken away, or tweaked. ANet has not disappointed me yet and I doubt they will with this expansion. Sure they could, but I doubt it.
"If I offended you, you needed it" -Corey Taylor
Ok cool there will be new traits and skills for the specializations. We just don't have the details on how many specialization, traits or skills. It appears to be 1 specialization per profession. As far as the Stronghold map, it does not appear to be limited to guilds. It appears to be just another game mode, 5v5 with a guild leader board.
From the site -
"Gather supply to hire soldiers. Battle for control of heroes. Man the trebuchet to defend your stronghold, and storm the enemy gates to defeat the guild lord! Use our new guild team feature to team up and battle to the top of the leaderboards. Stronghold offers an entirely new way to play competitive PvP in Guild Wars 2"
To be honest, that may be for the best. There is a major difference in how Guild Wars 1 and Guild Wars 2 function that really affects the degree to which content is viable.
In Guild Wars 1, a CRPG, the heavily instanced, 4-8 member party format meant that, for each mode to function, it only required that number of players to do so. Henchmen made easy content possible without the need for other players, and the initial release of heroes made content much more viable with only H+H (Heroes and Henchmen) or one other player and their heroes. Eventually, with the 7 Hero patch, nearly all content was essentially made viable, if lonely, with no other players.
For an MMO to function, the amount of viable content must scale to the amount of players able and willing to play said content. In most MMOs, this is addressed by level gating - rendering past content essentially obsolete to make way for new content.
In Guild Wars 2, on the other hand, ALL content is endgame viable. All of it. This means that every content addition expands the amount of content being played at all times.
So why does this matter? Population spread. The nature of Guild Wars 2 is a unique one in the MMO space. It has the distinct advantage of having more viable content than any other game on the market, thanks to its downscaling feature, but it also suffers from a greatly increased vulnerability to population spread - moreso than any other MMO.
This means that large amounts of new content could actually be detrimental to the game's health, not beneficial, and I'd much prefer that they focus on quality (and greatly improving older zones while slowly adding new ones), than major map expansions.
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Originally posted by bcbully
And why is it necessary that this mode be restricted only to guilds? For a competitive arena GvG scene to thrive, the game only needs a solid competitive combat setup that encourages teamwork (which the game already has), a mode with enough depth to support the GvG scene (which this new mode, on paper, provides), and incentives that track and reward (with prize money or otherwise) a guild's placement in the overall competitive scene of the game.
Every one of these criteria already exists or will exist with the expansion. And no, there is not a need to segregate guilds to their own game mode for this to occur. Random groups will not be able to compete on the same level as a coordinated, established guild team. This is common sense, and it's readily observable in any competitive format.
It does seem like a LITE expansion. Lots of BLING. For a game that's been out for awhile you think it would have been better.
Proud MMORPG.com member since March 2004! Make PvE GREAT Again!
It's an expansion, not a totally new game. WoD just released and it brought some more levels (not to original), more zones, dungeons, and Garrisons. My Paladin didn't get another weapon even, and he will always be a pally. I love WoD, but I didn't expect a brand new game from Blizzard. Like I said before, this is all speculation and saying it is "lite expansion" is just a guess.
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
Since the release of daily logins that is all i ever do - login and logout. Obviously i am hyped but i have a feeling they won't release it for at least 3 months or more.
Heart of Thorns is the saving grace for me to return but..
I went ahead and bought 5 copies of the Digital Heroic Edition for gifts! Heck, birthday cards are $4.95 a piece anymore, and I would much rather give a game for $10 than a useless card you throw away. Even if the expansion is a total flop (which I know it won't be), some of my friends or relatives will be having fun with the original version.
http://buy.guildwars2.com/store/gw2/en_US/html/pbPage.buyguildwars2
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
WoD was probably their most shallow expansion to date, but their previous expansions added a lot of content. There's no denying it. Each expansion had around 5+ new zones, filled with quests, new mobs, new gear, new game mechanics, new class, new races and starter zones, new pvp maps, new mounts, new dungeons, new raids, new crafting recipes, new achievements, new stories. I could go on, but you get the point.
GW2's HoT seems like less content than even WoD. One region, which could be up to 5 zones. One class, masteries, specializations, new WvW map, new pvp mode, new events and world bosses... That doesn't seem like a lot at all. I'm sure there'll be new achievements and stories, but even then, it's not much.
And you pay $15 a month for 7-9 months inbetween content patches, whereas you pay $50 in 3 years to pay for an content patch for GW2. Its hot hard to spot the true value.
Sandbox means open world, non-linear gaming PERIOD!
Subscription Gaming, especially MMO gaming is a Cash grab bigger then the most P2W cash shop!
Bring Back Exploration and lengthy progression times. RPG's have always been about the Journey not the destination!!!
Amen to that....
to the disappointed folks for other reasons though.... the small updates you enjoyed every couple of weeks, do you think it spoiled you all?
Downscaling was one the things I really enjoyed with the game, it means not content is ever trivialized. And why do you need to see big numbers? And why do you want to go to lower levels to kill stuff anyway? In normal Games say like WoW, you get zero XP and zero Loot from killing lower level mobs so there's no point in doing it, unless you actually need to kill stuff for no reason to stroke your epeen then you're reasons are flawed and silly.
Sandbox means open world, non-linear gaming PERIOD!
Subscription Gaming, especially MMO gaming is a Cash grab bigger then the most P2W cash shop!
Bring Back Exploration and lengthy progression times. RPG's have always been about the Journey not the destination!!!
Downscaling is actually the BEST thing about GW2. It makes all zones relevant even after you'd technically moved on from them. I applaud this idea. I'm amazed there are actually MMO gamers that would be against something like this.
Not all of the updates are every 2 weeks though. Sometimes there's a month or longer between waits.
I wouldn't consider it being spoiled at all, especially considering the type of content that GW2 players get.
Over the years, they have gotten story updates, weapons & armor, achievement rewards, new PvP maps (also EotM), crafting recipes, and QoL patches such as the Feature Packs, events, bosses, and other things. It just wasn't enough though. People wanted a new class, new race, new skills/utilities, new zones, etc.
It's a trade off really, more frequent updates that is spread out over time, compared to one big content patch that takes anywhere from 3-6 months in other MMO's. When compared to WoW's "Timeless Isle patch", i would gladly prefer GW2's more frequent updates. WoW players had to wait 18 months until WoD, from the time their Timeless Isle content update was released. lol.
I'm actually really impressed and excited for it.
GW2 is such a breath of fresh air to me for MMO's. I actually enjoy running around questing and doing world events, and zones are not irrelevant and worthless so the whole game is still fun wherever you go.
As much as I love wildstar it shows the insane downside of zone leveling. The low end zones are a wasteland cause everyones at endgame and theres no reason to come to lowbie zones.
The expansion looks good, although the only gripe I have is it better be HUGE content wise cause its taken them 2.5 years just to announce the bloody thing and knowing ANET we won't even get it till Q4 2015 at which point it will be THREE YEARS till there first expansion which IMO is way way way way to long.
My only other gripe is that all these "new features" are things that don't take 2.5 years to make/put out. This is stuff that comes out with content patches and updates in other MMO's, and not almost 3 years later -_-
If you wanna compare WoW expansions and HoT please do it right. Let me write HoT and WoW expansion contents again.
HoT: One region with 3 dimension and multiple zones filled with new dynamic events, news mobs, new world bosses, one new class, mastery system(which is a whole end game mechanic), specializations, new weapon types, new WvW map, new pvp map, GvG, guild halls, gliders, new and more challenging group contents(dungeons, world bosses, events and more), new crafting recipes(new legendaries), new achievements, new stories and a whole new elder dragon.
WoW Expansion: 5+ new zones, filled with quests, new mobs, new gear, new game mechanics, new class OR new races and starter zones, new pvp maps, new mounts, new dungeons, new raids, new crafting recipes, new achievements, new stories.
Yeah I think I get the point. If you wanna compare them please be objective.
Amen.
Downscaling is one of the best concepts to hit the MMO market, and is a welcome addition to any game. It makes a game more than just another crappy themepark - it becomes a retroactive sandbox.
Bro you are extremely naive and you also seems to be lost on what devs say and what you "hear". This is a paid expansion with lots of features. The only thing that might be shady is that it didnt continue the trend of gw1 - expansion that can be played separately. Everything else is just your naive imagination and hopes mixed with lack of common sense. This was expected since day 1 of the game.
I think I actually spent way more time reading and theorycrafting about MMOs than playing them
Also agree. I consider this one of the huge plusses of GW2. I loved Caldeon Forest so much I remember spending more time in that area than would be considered appropriate if it was a traditionally leveled zone.
Sure, content is not trivialized, but who wants to repeat events over and over. How often do you really want to go back to an area where you have done the content. I think this is an inherent problem with themeparks. How many times do you ride a ride before it become boring. It is like being locked in at Disney, having ridden all of the rides a few times and having to wait for a new one.
James T. Kirk: All she's got isn't good enough! What else ya got?