It is simple to identify the players who have spent the majority of the last few weeks playing the new content if you visit the Guild Wars 2 zones that came before the release of the Heart of Thorns expansion. They are the ones who, out of habit, leap off cliffs, completely expecting their hang gliders—which are unique to Heart of Thorns—to carry them over expansive vistas and onto glory. But they don't; instead, they plummet below with a loud thump.
That's kind of how the Heart of Thorns expansion is. When conditions aren't quite right, it's a lot of fun, but it kind of falls flat on its face, with progressively empty spaces and the appearance of horizontal advancement that doesn't seem to finish.Reaver in the jungle
As you begin the tale of the expansion at level 80, you'll notice certain upgrades right away if you've been away from Guild Wars 2 since its 2012 release. The awkward cutscenes in which speaking characters squared up as if they were going to fight in Street Fighter are no more; instead, your character addresses his or her group of friends and family in the typical third-person perspective. It's a good addition because it creates a narrative experience that is pleasantly similar to an action game in the third person. Developer ArenaNet's storytelling abilities have been refined over the past three years, as the new story eschews the lighthearted plot of the original in favor of a darker one. where the majority of the leafy Sylvari race, who are ruled by the dragon Mordremoth, reside. The lore becomes tense as a result, and it even affects the Sylvari player characters. Although the idea is intriguing and generally well-thought-out, there are moments when it seems hurried and leaves a lot of unresolved issues in its wake.The stunning set that these scenes are set on certainly helps. Heart of Thorns' action is spread across four zones in the Maguuma Jungle, and the visuals are so gorgeous that I had to take at least thirty minutes to just soak in the surroundings. periods. The in-house composers Lena Chappelle and Maclaine Diemer demonstrate here that they're more than capable of continuing where original composer Jeremy Soule left off, further enhancing the artistry. When combined, they provide the ideal background for the new zones' verticality. From the middle tangles and the forest floor to the high canopy, where the allied fleet's remains lie in ruins after an attack by Mordremoth following the last living narrative update before the expansion, action is taking place everywhere. It's an ambitious concept, but it doesn't take long to see how it conflicts with current navigation techniques.
You can run, but initially, you can't glide.
Fortunately, new techniques have emerged for traversing long stretches, and the Mastery system is one of them. It provides an incentive to return to locations later on by replacing the conventional leveling bar with one that concentrates on leveling specific skills like mushroom jumping, hang gliding, and learning the languages of Maguuma's indigenous races. While it's fun to chat with frogs and jump on mushrooms, the glider reigns supreme in this regard. It's a clever method to introduce a flying form of transportation without falling into the flying mount content-skipping traps. Your glider combines convenience and strategy, so you have to be strategic about where you utilize it.
The issue with Masteries is that gathering the experience points required to completely unlock them can occasionally be tedious. Traditional missions are absent from the new zones; instead, the majority of Mastery XP is obtained from the multiple dynamic event chains that are playing out in each area. These are challenging events, full of charging and swarming monsters that frequently prevent solo play—something that wasn't an issue when Heart of Thorns was first released and there were lots of groups. After only two weeks, though, I already frequently find myself on maps with hardly anything happening. With these swarms, I am alone. Occasionally, a notification appears inviting me to join a more active map (with extra experience points, of course), but strangely, it's almost as empty at times.
I don't think it's a problem with the expansion; I think it's probably more related to an issue with how the game determines when it needs additional instances of a map. Ultimately, one may always locate active groups using the Group Finder (I'm concerned about the other maps' appearance in a few weeks if they're still looking this bad so soon after debut (they've probably filled their map instance to capacity). It's particularly concerning because, in the lack of any new five-man dungeons (although new 10-man raids will be released later this year), this is what passes for fresh group PvE content.
Even worse, no hint advancing into specific story tasks requires you to possess any particular mastery. You can concentrate on leveling whatever one you want, sure, but on two or three occasions I realized that by unlocking a mastery that I would have already finished with the experience points I was putting into another one, I could have jumped directly into the next story objective. The only thing left to do is grind additional daily events after that.
Citizens of the second-class
I discovered that switching up the Mastery leveling between my Warrior and Ranger characters was a simple method to ease the discomfort. Mastery points are fantastic since they apply to the entire account, which makes leveling alts much less unpleasant. Since each class in Heart of Thorns has new "elite specializations" that unlock new weapons and alternate playstyles, leveling alts is really very appealing. The drawback? The only way to unlock them is to use hero points to finish every skill in the base class. As in the example of the Guardian's transformation into a longbow-wielding Dragonhunter with traps that are maybe more powerful than a Ranger's, the novelty of their designs usually makes them worthwhile to try. But when it comes to the Warrior's dull Berserker specialization, which looks to be good for little more than the odd damage boost, it falls flat miserably.
However, what if you wish to start a class from scratch? This is where the adaptable new Revenant enters the picture. Drawing on the abilities of four legendary figures from Tyria's past, it can quickly transition between a tanking, healing, or damage-dealing emphasis. It's an eye-catching class with lots of animations, such as pounding down a hammer to pave a stone path, but in the few hours I spent playing it at about level 35 (after a boost), I also found that it didn't feel all that different from other classes. I was surprised that I liked this. It implies that the class is not the hottest item of the moment that rapidly oversaturates the populace, but rather merely another potent choice.
After two weeks, I could never watch it in action since there were never enough people playing it.
Heart of Thorns' features are completed with a variety of group activities, including a fun new "Stronghold" level that draws inspiration from MOBAs. Two weeks in, there were never enough players for me to really witness the action on the vast and stunning new world-versus-world arena known as the Desert Borderlands, which awards strong benefits for maintaining a hold. (I hope, or suspect, that this is just a result of everyone continuing to work on the essential Maguuma stuff.) The grand new guild halls are also a much-needed social enhancement, although smaller guilds find it too expensive to fully utilize their associated features, such as the new Scribe trade skill.Advantages
vertical investigationFun yet brief tale
elite areas of expertise
Cons
Uncertainty in the Mastery development
A growing number of blank maps
The Decision
The gameplay that has made Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns so popular over the years has admirably evolved in an era where far too many MMORPGs stick to the same concept. It falters in its seemingly flexible mastery progression, which is actually more rigid than it appears, and in its emphasis on large groups and dynamic events, which doesn't often mesh well with empty terrain. With an engaging tale, a novel class, generally appealing elite specializations and a fresh vertical focus on exploration, it manages to overcome these drawbacks rather well.
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