Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns

 PC
  • Publisher: NCSOFT
  • Release Date: Oct 23, 2015
User Score
7.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 981 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 670 out of 981
  2. Mixed: 72 out of 981
  3. Negative: 239 out of 981
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  1. Hepaista
    Nov 11, 2015
    0
    so much hype all year long for this? cant even finish the storyline without grinding for hours I loved gw2, but they lied to us. they said no grind we have never had to grind more...
  2. CalScott
    Nov 11, 2015
    0
    Visually this expansion is amazing but practically it is one of the worst things I have ever had the displeasure of playing. The enemies are powered to the point that if you walk ANYWHERE alone you will die. Skill points often takes team of 4+ people to do now. Missions are just constantly the same "go here and speak to him" or "defend this". The meta events have NO explanation and theVisually this expansion is amazing but practically it is one of the worst things I have ever had the displeasure of playing. The enemies are powered to the point that if you walk ANYWHERE alone you will die. Skill points often takes team of 4+ people to do now. Missions are just constantly the same "go here and speak to him" or "defend this". The meta events have NO explanation and the game gives you no grasp on what you should be doing. World bosses are no longer proper world bosses and are just regular events. I was hoping for an epic Tequatl like boss and I am very disappointed

    The ONLY good addition to the game is the Revenant which is the most fun class I have played in any MMO. Period. WoWs classes pale in comparison. However the Revenant class isn't good enough to warrant the £39 price tag as I have found myself resenting Guild Wars and Anet for providing me with such **** I have played HoT for around 15 hours and I hate it. Everything about it, is without a doubt, the worst part of Guild Wars 2.

    Also, with the addition of HoT they changed the WvW maps to be overly complicated, janky and buggy. HoT has ruined Guild Wars single handed. Thanks ANet for absolutely **** nothing!    … Expand
  3. Heimlich
    Nov 11, 2015
    7
    Update concerning WvW in GW2:Heart of Thorns

    My original review of GW2:HoT was mostly about the new features that were included. A few more weeks experience have revealed some severe flaws in the form of what is not included. 1. WvW is now an unholy mess. Existing features have been made far less accessible than they were. New features for WvW players are effectively unavailable due    Update concerning WvW in GW2:Heart of Thorns

    My original review of GW2:HoT was mostly about the new features that were included. A few more weeks experience have revealed some severe flaws in the form of what is not included.

    1. WvW is now an unholy mess. Existing features have been made far less accessible than they were. New features for WvW players are effectively unavailable due to cost and bugs. The game developer does not seem to understand how bad WvW is. It is very bad. If you used to WvW and took a break, do not come back right now.

    2. Legendary Armor is not in the game yet and will not be accessible until at least after ArenaNet introduces the first 3 wings of their first raid.

    Open-world PvE is still pretty good, but major problems in WvW and an uncertain timeline for the availability of new Legendary equipment detract from the experience.

    Original review (score 9) below:
    Heart of Thorns adds a good amount of area to explore, a new class, new specializations on each of the 9 classes.

    Many of the changes revitalize existing content (Fractals are radically improved and WvW finally has a new map). Guild Halls and improved missions are a worthy addition to focus a group on playing together.

    The new content has launched with relatively few bugs and I'm overall impressed. New options for armor and weapons (both in appearance and in attributes) are a welcome addition.

    Much of the new content does require some playtime to access, either from experience levels, in-game-wealth, or prerequisite activities, but the cost is not excessive.

    In a month players will have discovered optimal routes to access content and veteran players will be able to guide new players who need some extra help. I didn't expect to be able to complete the entire expansion on the first day. I don't know why people seem to have expected that.    … Expand
  4. TNFox
    Nov 11, 2015
    10
    The greatest tragedy of these 'reviews' is the abuse of the word grind. If you are actually here for information that'll tip you to buy or abstain, go elsewhere. We got subreddits openly admitting in their submissions that they are part of a troll/hate group to affect the result of the metacritic scale just because.

    If you have not played gw2, try it out. It's free. If you're returning    The greatest tragedy of these 'reviews' is the abuse of the word grind. If you are actually here for information that'll tip you to buy or abstain, go elsewhere. We got subreddits openly admitting in their submissions that they are part of a troll/hate group to affect the result of the metacritic scale just because.

    If you have not played gw2, try it out. It's free. If you're returning and wondering if you should invest in the expac, get info from players in the game. Its one of the most helpful and mature communities so ask their experiences and if their values align with yours. Base your decision on who says what, not just what is being said.    … Expand
  5. olia_bn
    Nov 11, 2015
    4
    What may seem like new content is just content stretched out by more grind in-between, which actually seems to be ANets new methodology: artificial content by grind. Sad and quite frankly, not really worth the money.
  6. lostinstereo
    Nov 6, 2015
    10
    I've played Guild Wars 2 since release and the game has never failed to keep me captivated and immersed. The story, the characters, the combat system, the crafting system, everything. HoT only expands on all of these and enhances many of the core games strengths while introducing new systems like the mastery system. Mastery is in my opinion one of the best post level cap progressionI've played Guild Wars 2 since release and the game has never failed to keep me captivated and immersed. The story, the characters, the combat system, the crafting system, everything. HoT only expands on all of these and enhances many of the core games strengths while introducing new systems like the mastery system. Mastery is in my opinion one of the best post level cap progression systems in an MMO to date and it can be expanded indefinitely. The Revenant is an extremely interesting class and as far as balance issues go, it is to be expected but is otherwise minimal compared to other MMO expansion launches. I think GW2 can only go up from here, HoT has captured my heart like Guild Wars Prophecies did in 2005 and GW2 in 2012.… Expand
  7. Ozimandeus
    Nov 6, 2015
    10
    The best MMORPG created, has just got a whole lot bigger and a whole lot better!! The elegant mastery system provides a new outlet for experience in PVE. The introduction of Guild Halls gives a focal point for guilds to work together on. PvP has been overhauled and made into an eSport. WvWvW is still unparalleled in this genre. Very simply put, this is as good as MMORPGs get.
  8. RanmaKei
    Nov 6, 2015
    1
    Great game, lots of fun. Expansion seems to push for more micro transactions in game. Not really a big deal since technically you don't need to purchase any of that stuff. Guild improvements were made, but progress from before the expansion is lost and some of the guild stuff isn't working or disabled. You can no longer progress your guilds on guild members individual participation. YouGreat game, lots of fun. Expansion seems to push for more micro transactions in game. Not really a big deal since technically you don't need to purchase any of that stuff. Guild improvements were made, but progress from before the expansion is lost and some of the guild stuff isn't working or disabled. You can no longer progress your guilds on guild members individual participation. You must have decent sized guild parties to complete guilds missions in order to level up guilds. Requiring everyone in the guild to be online and working at the same time. Discourages small guilds that don't have lots of members. I lost some progress after the expansion and influence since the expansion rolled out. Not sure what happened there.

    From what I hear there is still a few other things not finished yet in the game. Release was premature.

    Expansion needs to be finished. I would wait until they get things worked out.    … Expand
  9. Northstrider
    Nov 5, 2015
    6
    The first addon for Guild Wars 2 is something that I personally dont see as an actual expansion more like a DLC. There are some points that I would like the mentoin that are make me feel like the addon is a half hearted project.

    1. The Environment The Maguuma jungle is a pretty nice view. The first map cleary shows that the pact assault has failed for obvious reasons. The landscape    The first addon for Guild Wars 2 is something that I personally dont see as an actual expansion more like a DLC. There are some points that I would like the mentoin that are make me feel like the addon is a half hearted project.

    1. The Environment
    The Maguuma jungle is a pretty nice view. The first map cleary shows that the pact assault has failed for obvious reasons. The landscape itself is also designed like the rest of the game: if you wouldn't have your world map you probably would never find your way through it. In this case it's just perfect for a jungle. even though you have your world map you still have to experiment arround to find your way to the multiple layered maps accessable by several masteries. The following maps were also pretty much alike you are in a rampant grown jungle covered in vines everywhere.

    2. The Revenant
    One of the more intresting additions is the new class: the Revenant. This class is a great example how to break the typical berserker meta build style because if you are gonna play him like that you will probably learn pretty fast that other classes can do it better so the class was designed to match into other builds like condition damage or being tanky as hell. The abilities are pretty much fun but the effects are for my taste ways over the top compared to the other classes probably for marketing purposes.

    3. The new class specializations
    The new specializations are a refreshing experience to the entire game yet are they confusing as well. The new class icons displayed at the group members portrait doesn't rly explain what the character is playing. Anyways, the new abilities for all classes bring in some new opportunities to play more classes on pure berserker builds such as the Guardian Dragon Hunter spec which is kinda sad because of that the berserker is still being the superior build for beating each kind of content. I don't wanna review this point any further because it's about your own experience how you like to play the game so i leave this point to you.

    4. The mastery system
    Mike O'brien's words about Guild Wars 2 were against the typical MMO grind wall. But the new mastery system did the exact opposite of it. Days after days of pointless event grinding is your daily routine in this addon to unlock new mastery perks to get deeper into the content. For me it feels like a massive artifical stretching feature to hide the lack of overall content in this addon. The Tyria mastery does the same thing except the current existing farming methods to skip this grind to get into the masteries such as the pre-cursor collections within a acceptable time window. Overall I personally wish that the Maguuma mastery should be also avaiable in the vanilla game to make it more fun to grind them. Else I actually don't like that system because it does nothing better than farming in Orr does.

    5. The Pre-Cursor Collections
    In Guild Wars 2 it's called "A legendary journey". For me it plays like "A legendary waste of time for a part of something bigger". I started heading to unlock the collections to finish my first legendary item, the Sunrise. But after I saw the first tier of requirements I was thinking already "Nope. Take my gold, I'm out of this". Participating in tons of events that doesn't even make sense for the theme of the weapons I ways seeing a giant grindwall behind this "journey". I mean I am doing this to obtain a simple exoctic item which is only 1 / 4 of the actual legendary weapon and still you have to deal with it longer than gathering the other 3 components. Again this feature is a massive time killer to stretch the game's lack of content.

    6. The Story
    I don't want to spoiler anything so I leave this point with saying: I've never waited that long for one of the biggest disappointments I've ever had. The entire Story is devided into 16 missions which sometimes are just "WTF". So many artifical emotions and bad designed mechanics are showing that the developers were running out of money or the game was partially made in China's mass production on cost of the quality. The final battle against Mordremoth was kinda fun on it's own but honestly, the designer team failed once again. The explaination of the boss design in the story is a bad excuse to the actual statement "We lack time and money so you have to deal with that."

    As conclusion I cannot say that this game is gonna be the Game of the Year at all. The addons seems to me to be a simple money-grabbing low-budged addon because there are so many unused opportunities in the game: Why not creating actual big trees that can be climbed step by step by unlocking mastery, where are the true dragons? I just saw vines and wyverns but no single dragon. Also the meta event boss in Dragon's Stand is not a dragon, it's a giant ugly worm. Why did you enter the jungle through a small door in the silver wastes? Why didnt you be a part of the assault and had a live experience how your ship was just getting destroyed? Not satisfied.    … Expand
  10. Gothic90
    Nov 4, 2015
    8
    It's a good expansion. The world stays relevant, people who do not buy it can still play (they arguably get a somewhat short end of the stick due to dungeon reward nerf, but definitely not hit as hard as players of many other MMOs, who can only play irrelevant content after an expansion hits). Mastery may be a bit grindy but opens up layer by layer and I kinda like this design. I neverIt's a good expansion. The world stays relevant, people who do not buy it can still play (they arguably get a somewhat short end of the stick due to dungeon reward nerf, but definitely not hit as hard as players of many other MMOs, who can only play irrelevant content after an expansion hits). Mastery may be a bit grindy but opens up layer by layer and I kinda like this design. I never expected much story from MMOs, but HoT's story is not a bad one, certainly much better than Kormir or Trahearne's story.

    Overall, a lot of good content and good designs. It's not perfect but still a good one.

    Still, a bit unhappy that WvW gets a pretty short end of the stick.    … Expand
  11. wyrmbud
    Nov 4, 2015
    1
    I am giving Heart of Thorns an unfavorable review for quite a few reasons. The first is that the game is miscalculating your progress in the expansion. Players are documented as randomly losing all progress in the expansion. This makes the game unplayable. The second is that I was promised raid content when I paid for the expansion. There are no raids now, the beta is an utterI am giving Heart of Thorns an unfavorable review for quite a few reasons. The first is that the game is miscalculating your progress in the expansion. Players are documented as randomly losing all progress in the expansion. This makes the game unplayable. The second is that I was promised raid content when I paid for the expansion. There are no raids now, the beta is an utter disaster and there will not be raids any time soon. This sort of outright stupidity on the part of Anet deserves legal action. I paid for a service I was promised and it was absolutely not delivered. WvW is broken and has been forever. Pvp is broken. (I used to very much enjoy both). Anet very clearly pushed way too hard to get this product out by deadline. Total garbage.… Expand
  12. Krombopulos
    Nov 3, 2015
    0
    All these new features that you have UNLOCK in order to play with, even though you already bought the game and some (even a minimum) of them have to be farmed for, in order to be able to use. But let's not be negative Nellies and try to farm instead. Oh wait! All events now take a ridiculous amount of time in order to be completed, requiring you to have no life whatsoever, in order toAll these new features that you have UNLOCK in order to play with, even though you already bought the game and some (even a minimum) of them have to be farmed for, in order to be able to use. But let's not be negative Nellies and try to farm instead. Oh wait! All events now take a ridiculous amount of time in order to be completed, requiring you to have no life whatsoever, in order to complete them. Oh, also 9 out of 10 events require you to have a party and a certain mastery (for which you have to farm in order to get - with a party lets not forget, which makes the whole thing a ridiculous paradox). You can now, no longer enjoy the game casually at your own pace and pleasure, but have to unavoidably rely on at least 2-3 other people in order to enjoy something that you paid 50$ for. I sincerely hope Anet dispatches these horrible gamewrecking additions to a once great game ! Till then I'm finding something else to play !… Expand
  13. maiker
    Nov 3, 2015
    10
    I created an account just to give this expansion a score of 10. I'm a staunch supporter of this game and this expansion for a long time, and it's become abundantly clear that this expansion (and the update to the base game that came with it) is well coded, and the developers don't need to fix it. The game is incredibly stable and never crashes often enough to make getting anythingI created an account just to give this expansion a score of 10. I'm a staunch supporter of this game and this expansion for a long time, and it's become abundantly clear that this expansion (and the update to the base game that came with it) is well coded, and the developers don't need to fix it. The game is incredibly stable and never crashes often enough to make getting anything meaningful done impossible. The entire mid-to-end game revolves around competing map-wide events and long instances, both of which you will never lose all progress within when you never crash. This. Game. Will. Not. Never. Crash. It is widespread and is not a hardware issue; I'm running with an i7 4790k, 16GB RAM and GTX 970 SLI. It is a user issue and the user is broken. It's been almost a month now, and progress has been made or hinted towards with this massive game. This game can be played. It deserves a ten.… Expand
  14. brokendust
    Nov 3, 2015
    0
    I created an account just to give this expansion a score of 0. I was a staunch supporter of this game and this expansion for a long time, but it's become abundantly clear that this expansion (and the update to the base game that came with it) is poorly coded, and the developers have no clue how to fix it. The game is incredibly unstable and crashes often enough to make getting anythingI created an account just to give this expansion a score of 0. I was a staunch supporter of this game and this expansion for a long time, but it's become abundantly clear that this expansion (and the update to the base game that came with it) is poorly coded, and the developers have no clue how to fix it. The game is incredibly unstable and crashes often enough to make getting anything meaningful done impossible. The entire mid-to-end game revolves around competing map-wide events and long instances, both of which you will lose all progress within when you inevitably crash. This. Game. Will. Not. Stop. Crashing. It is widespread and is not a hardware issue; I'm running with an i7 4790k, 16GB RAM and GTX 970 SLI. It is a client issue and the client is broken. It's been almost a month now, and no progress has been made or hinted towards with this massive flaw. This game cannot be played. It deserves a zero.… Expand
  15. please
    Nov 2, 2015
    10
    Finally a good excuse to return. Story started off strong but ended kinda weak but not enough to take away from all the improvements made. Having a blast and have put in around 30+ hours so far,
  16. Gamergonemad2
    Nov 2, 2015
    10
    Exceeded my expectations!! Launch was near perfect and exploring the new content is fun, engaging and a challenge!! I even like the mastery system although at first I did find it all overwhelming. Once I got the hang of it even the verticality is a hoot! Even dying can be fun when your glider ends before you reach land. LOL. I especially like knowing there are places, events etc that IExceeded my expectations!! Launch was near perfect and exploring the new content is fun, engaging and a challenge!! I even like the mastery system although at first I did find it all overwhelming. Once I got the hang of it even the verticality is a hoot! Even dying can be fun when your glider ends before you reach land. LOL. I especially like knowing there are places, events etc that I can return to once I have the specific mastery. .Guess I like knowing there is a future instead of done and forgotten. Looking forward to years of game-play!… Expand
  17. Grathorius
    Nov 2, 2015
    8
    I'd give it an 8.5 if I could

    A lot of things were done right in the expansion. Many systems were overhauled for the better, and the amount of content is great for the price. Yes, servers have had some instabilities lately, but its been smoother than almost every other MMO expansion launch ever. There is a fair amount of "grind" despite being advertised as "Grind-less" and I won't    I'd give it an 8.5 if I could

    A lot of things were done right in the expansion. Many systems were overhauled for the better, and the amount of content is great for the price.

    Yes, servers have had some instabilities lately, but its been smoother than almost every other MMO expansion launch ever.

    There is a fair amount of "grind" despite being advertised as "Grind-less" and I won't sugarcoat it. You will do a lot of things over and over again. What is important is that the combat is fun and engaging, the events are dynamic, and the rewards (although this is debatable) feel enticing.

    If you play 24/7 and min/max the gains, you WILL run out of things to do, but for the average player, things are in a good place.

    Some systems, such as squad UI, Raids, PvP leagues and new legendary weapons are still to come (For Free!) and will only add to what has been a very pleasant expansion    … Expand
  18. Giusyone
    Nov 2, 2015
    10
    No subcripiton fee, great graphic, animation and sound, WvsW, awesome story improved even more in this expansion.. make this game and expansion a real jewe !
  19. gugliam
    Nov 2, 2015
    10
    Anet did it again, wonderfull place to play in a beautifull environment.
    The best mmo get one of the best expansion you may ever desire.
    The revenant is simple a perfect class for who want to play diffferent role.
    Great value for a mmo without a subscription.
  20. 83November
    Nov 2, 2015
    10
    Solid expansion, And still more to come! Shame about the trolls.... If you are new to GW2 HoT is amazing value! Anet is doing a great job of offering content for free and will hopefully balance in the right places. Remember it is still early days, we don't even have raids yet.
  21. maximillian1
    Nov 1, 2015
    10
    A perfect expansion for one of the best mmo atm, if not the best.
    The jungle is full of life and dangers, mastery are long term achievements to complete that help to have always something to do in game.
    Graphics and sound are beautifull and immersive. elite specs are nice addition to help player play in a different role. I would give 9 ,but since most haters, and other mmo players (who    A perfect expansion for one of the best mmo atm, if not the best.
    The jungle is full of life and dangers, mastery are long term achievements to complete that help to have always something to do in game.
    Graphics and sound are beautifull and immersive.
    elite specs are nice addition to help player play in a different role.
    I would give 9 ,but since most haters, and other mmo players (who rosik) gave 0 ...
    I'll give it 10 !    … Expand
  22. Kylonas
    Nov 1, 2015
    10
    New Maps, a lot of new content, gliding, Guild Halls etc. It's huge!
    I finished the story yesterday and now I have still at least 90% new things to explore.
    The Masteries bring in a rewarding and challenging new playstyle.
    And NO it's not grinding when you don't do the same things over an over again. And in HoT you can be in one map for hours not doing one thing twice.
  23. SacredJefe
    Nov 1, 2015
    7
    Heart of Thorns is a welcome addition to an MMO which has only received minor permanent content updates in its three years since release. There's a lot of new content to discover and beat including four new maps, world events, WvW updates, character specializations and more. While it's been enjoyable to explore all of this new content for the first time, the mechanics by which one mustHeart of Thorns is a welcome addition to an MMO which has only received minor permanent content updates in its three years since release. There's a lot of new content to discover and beat including four new maps, world events, WvW updates, character specializations and more. While it's been enjoyable to explore all of this new content for the first time, the mechanics by which one must get through the expansion (and the new story mode) is a bit convoluted and arbitrarily gated to slow people down from finishing it all.

    For example, you cannot complete the new story missions in HoT without first grinding out a few of the new Masteries, essentially a new way to level certain abilities for players already at the highest level in the game (80). This may seem trivial to those who play the game daily and for hours on length, but it is much more frustrating for gamers who cannot dedicate daily time to Guild Wars 2. I've been slowly enjoying the story since the expansion released but, after getting through the first eight or so missions, I've been stuck from completing the next one until I grind two masteries in the Nuhoch branch. For me, the story was a bigger seller than the new PvE zones so I was disappointed the developers are forcing me to play content I don't particularly enjoy in order to progress with content that I DO enjoy.

    Again, this will bother some people not at all and others much more. Also, it should be understood that a lot of the content in HoT is geared towards players being in groups, sometimes very large ones at that. Solitary and "lone-wolf" type players might find themselves struggling with the new content due to its difficulty and design for group-play rather than solo. I wish ANet had explained this a little better pre-release, but it is what it is. Just know that if you like going about the game mostly on your own, you may find scarce enjoyment in the expansion but plenty of frustration. If you're a group player, you'll like have a good time.    … Expand
  24. Okasama3
    Nov 1, 2015
    8
    It's a nice touch to the original, they surley refined what did wrong in the past but thgere ar estill some issues, at least ANet looks forward to solving them and with our help this might be yet another MMO of the Year for Guild Wars 2
  25. Neuxe
    Oct 31, 2015
    8
    Heart of Thorns adds a whole lot of new End Game content, a completely new storyline, and a whole lot of more features. The content is mostly recommended for players who already have a max level character, and it can be hard for new players to understand the story, as it is recommended to play the Living World Season 2 first. While the expansion has a lot of great content, there are someHeart of Thorns adds a whole lot of new End Game content, a completely new storyline, and a whole lot of more features. The content is mostly recommended for players who already have a max level character, and it can be hard for new players to understand the story, as it is recommended to play the Living World Season 2 first. While the expansion has a lot of great content, there are some flaws, and the story could have been done better.… Expand
  26. SoulstitchMMO
    Oct 31, 2015
    1
    Grind. Absolute grind. Very limited story given the illusion of meat, by having to grind between story. Because they didn't give you levels you had to go through, they invented Mastery systems which they use to gate content until you develop certain masteries. Then they added Elite Specializations to every class, that force you to do 10 times the work for .01 times the reward. Each traitGrind. Absolute grind. Very limited story given the illusion of meat, by having to grind between story. Because they didn't give you levels you had to go through, they invented Mastery systems which they use to gate content until you develop certain masteries. Then they added Elite Specializations to every class, that force you to do 10 times the work for .01 times the reward. Each trait cost 10 hero points (and it's been lowered to that, used to cost significantly more).

    Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns is the biggest waste of money I've ever spent on an expansion. The only reason I didn't give it a 0, is because I love the Revenant Elite, and if I ever unlock it I'm sure I'll enjoy the game more, but do not buy this expansion until they reverse their ridiculous Elite System.    … Expand
  27. PlasmaPunch
    Oct 31, 2015
    9
    Heart of Thorns is easily one of the best expansions I've played for an MMO, perhaps the best. Even as a pretty tough critic it's hard to find problems in Guild Wars 2's first expansion. The joy of: gliding around, completing fun events, exploring a wonderfully crafted world or being apart of an organized meta event. I've not even experienced all of the content available to me yet, there'sHeart of Thorns is easily one of the best expansions I've played for an MMO, perhaps the best. Even as a pretty tough critic it's hard to find problems in Guild Wars 2's first expansion. The joy of: gliding around, completing fun events, exploring a wonderfully crafted world or being apart of an organized meta event. I've not even experienced all of the content available to me yet, there's simply too much to have experienced it so early after release. I've thoroughly enjoyed the story this time around as well, a lot less poorly crafted dialogue and what felt like generic questing for tidbits of story this time around, instead the story focuses more on exploring the jungle for the first time, looking for your potentially dead friends in the wilderness as the army you built up from the first game slowly catches up behind you. Fractals, a revamped high-level dungeon alternative was also made much better this expansion, for those looking for that experience - it's very difficult, requires some solid play and is overall very fun.

    That said on release this expansion was unstable, the only bad part about the expansion in my opinion. The game is crashing after about 2-3 hours of gameplay, which obviously is a problem when the setup time for a meta event usually crosses over into that time, and you lose all of your progress. I've wasted at least 8-10 hours of gameplay due to this and it's a huge influence on my rating.

    Though the crashing has been frustrating, and it's confirmed to be a widespread problem - I'd still suggest this expansion to anybody who's played the original Guild Wars 2 and enjoyed it, and anyone that's been interested into Guild Wars 2 should try out the F2P and think about buying this later. It's been a mostly great experience so far, and honestly the best MMO experience I've had.    … Expand
  28. jamesday5
    Oct 31, 2015
    10
    My god - this expansion is addictive. It took the innovative vent system (an answer to boring questions) and made it 100x more epic. Crazy events with lots of other people. The music is STUNNING, the visuals and environment design, breathtaking - i'm hooked.
  29. gamer99
    Oct 30, 2015
    10
    This is a really great game for people who want to have fun in mmorpg and an expansion that tries to lvl up the efforts the first game were put in. The Guild halls are great, once again people are logging on and talking in guild chat and donating goods to the guild. The maps are great with fun events such as the funny Lord Faren event. The story is alright, nice twits or one of the racesThis is a really great game for people who want to have fun in mmorpg and an expansion that tries to lvl up the efforts the first game were put in. The Guild halls are great, once again people are logging on and talking in guild chat and donating goods to the guild. The maps are great with fun events such as the funny Lord Faren event. The story is alright, nice twits or one of the races and the hero challenges are well challenging which themselves fell like a mini game that sucks you in for hours.… Expand
  30. kyochievo
    Oct 30, 2015
    0
    I'd played 3500 hours of gameplay and here is my short review.
    This expansion killed off gw2 core pve endgame game-play like dungeons,fractals ect , dot believe me ? check lfg system.
    No new dungeons and fractal maps. Want to play the new exp story mode? than you have to level up yours mastery to progress oh wait there diminishing returns. Want to get Hero points ? good luck soloing    I'd played 3500 hours of gameplay and here is my short review.
    This expansion killed off gw2 core pve endgame game-play like dungeons,fractals ect , dot believe me ? check lfg system.
    No new dungeons and fractal maps.
    Want to play the new exp story mode? than you have to level up yours mastery to progress oh wait there
    diminishing returns.
    Want to get Hero points ? good luck soloing champs to earn it after 3 months when less player doing maps.
    Unnecessarily nerfs class like rev , ranger , nercro ect .
    So much more to say about this expansion so just read others reviews.    … Expand
  31. amavash88
    Oct 30, 2015
    5
    I have always loved GW2. and the old GW games too. However, recently, I am getting sick and tired of their nonstop crashes, "Send error report" crashes, etc.

    I am being told it is my PC. I am running an octa-core PC 2.6GhZ processor, 2x 3GB VRAM Graphics card (GTX 780), and 32GB RAM. I do not understand how I am out of memory and crashing? This has been happening since the release of    I have always loved GW2. and the old GW games too. However, recently, I am getting sick and tired of their nonstop crashes, "Send error report" crashes, etc.

    I am being told it is my PC. I am running an octa-core PC 2.6GhZ processor, 2x 3GB VRAM Graphics card (GTX 780), and 32GB RAM. I do not understand how I am out of memory and crashing?

    This has been happening since the release of the expansion. I have never had any crash since beta of the core game. I am very much disappointed that Arena Net has not worked on this. It should have been worked on during their various stress tests they had. Every patch they release, every fix they release, seems to be making this more and more often, rather than reducing the crashes or removing them completely.

    I hope to see Arena Net address these issues. It is annoying to keep crashing on major events.    … Expand
  32. badtzor
    Oct 30, 2015
    10
    ArenaNet's expansion to Guild Wars 2 is amazing! They've listened to the community and gave us what we had asked for. Progress in the expansion is smooth, you're not actually making your character "stronger" but making them more capable. The masteries are account wide so you only need to invest time into them once. Almost one week into the expansion and I haven't even completed the firstArenaNet's expansion to Guild Wars 2 is amazing! They've listened to the community and gave us what we had asked for. Progress in the expansion is smooth, you're not actually making your character "stronger" but making them more capable. The masteries are account wide so you only need to invest time into them once. Almost one week into the expansion and I haven't even completed the first zone yet! I've invested $50 into the original Guild Wars 2 and got over 8000+ hours of gameplay. What a deal!

    The expansion is worth well the cost of about $60. I wouldn't pay over $150 for it though, even if it did mean getting a lot of hours out of the game.    … Expand
  33. mathisveryfun
    Oct 30, 2015
    10
    This is an amazing expansion. I feel like a new player all over again with the excitement and confusion. The people crying now just wanted to unlock everything the instant the expansion went live.
  34. Leppi
    Oct 30, 2015
    0
    I really can't imagine where all these positive reviews come from.

    First off this isn't even an "expansion". If you hear Guild Wars Expansion you think Factions or Nightfall or even Eye of the North with new continents, big areas to explore and new foes to beat. They used to be around 25-35 bucks depending on your currency and featured nice and thoughtout storys with interesting    I really can't imagine where all these positive reviews come from.

    First off this isn't even an "expansion". If you hear Guild Wars Expansion you think Factions or Nightfall or even Eye of the North with new continents, big areas to explore and new foes to beat.
    They used to be around 25-35 bucks depending on your currency and featured nice and thoughtout storys with interesting charakters and gorgeous places to explore.

    This is not that at all. All this is is the next chapter of the living story, continued just like they ended. A truckload of boring and annoying farmheavy Metaevents and alltogether rather uninspired Content.
    Tons of reused foes and assets and really nothing refreshing.
    This is sadly anything but that. You can basically beat the "Story" in about ~4 hours and you keep getting interrupted by annoying grinds just so you can level up some gimicky skill so you can progress.

    Anything ANet said about this "expansion" was a lie. The verticallity is more of an annoyance and it doesn't really have the depth they claimed it would have.
    They said you don't need to grind new levels before you can experience the content?
    Well you don't level further than lvl80 but you need to level up your mastery in EXACTLY THE SAME WAY just to get to use some gimmicky feature so you can advance.

    The story is hella predictable and feels incredibly rushed. They were even too lazy to make a final fight vs an actual dragon so they just pulled some reasons for it out of their ass, rushed half the story while they just stomped any potential they build up in the first few missions into the ground and provide you with one of the most bugged final missions I have come accross in any Guild Wars game so far.

    If you are new and are only playing GW2 because it is now free to play, enjoy the base game, there is nothing incredibly interesting or important to find here. I really can't recommend this thing to anyone.

    If you are a diehard Guild Wars fan and you desperately want this I would still suggest to you that you do wait as long as possible for the price to drop, the state this is in it's really not worth a nearly full priced release. Maybe if they continue the living story properly in this or if they add some actual content other than annoying metaevents it might get better but so far nothing in this justifys the pricetag it has.    … Expand
  35. kkay
    Oct 30, 2015
    9
    Guys. I want to reply to everyone saying that the content of Heart of Stone is a grindfest: Its not. Its just not for people wanting to reach everything in 2 hours. ( Blinkin to the WoW ). Well. Im off to playing some more. Team up, learn the jungle, stop crying, the plot is great, the exp curve is great, and the necessity of teaming up with others is straight up lovable. :)
  36. jaymayxd
    Oct 30, 2015
    8
    Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns is by far an improvement on the "end game" of the original release. Focusing solely on the post-80 experience a lot of the systems added cater for those looking to further progress their characters (and accounts). The game also offers those alt-aholics a new class to play with, adding a 3rd heavy armour profession to the game and completing the round up of 9Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns is by far an improvement on the "end game" of the original release. Focusing solely on the post-80 experience a lot of the systems added cater for those looking to further progress their characters (and accounts). The game also offers those alt-aholics a new class to play with, adding a 3rd heavy armour profession to the game and completing the round up of 9 professions.

    The game is great and the systems add that deeper level of progressions. There are even a lot of quality of life improvements for those veteren players, and those just coming into the game will find a more streamlined version of GW2.

    Masteries are great, they offer goal for post level 80 and meaningful upgrades that allow you to traverse the jungle better, harvest new materials and glide. Although there is some element of a vertical clime in the experience required to level each mastery as well as additional points, the upgrades do feeling meaningful (most of them anyway.) Gliding in the game is smooth and fun. You will find it hard to go back to the core game world and not jump to your death, assuming your glider is going to save you.

    The new elite specializations for all of the professions have sparked a lot of debate. Some people love the new skills and weapons their professions have acquired. However, there are those that are a little disappointed, but hey, you really can't please everyone. ANet have done a great job in making each elite feel somewhat different from the base capabilities of a profession and have reinvigorated some of the more underused professions.

    The game, however, is not without fault. The four maps added are vast and multi-level and full of dynamic events. Having said that, finding some of these dynamic events can be a little difficult just coming into the maps. There is little explanation or guidance and the in game world map does little to fully explain what level the events are taking place on or the routes to get to the events. T

    The story of Heart of Thorns is the most well told story GW2 has so far offered its player base. But, very short. Only prolonged by the need for certain mastery levels of the jungle. Having said that, ArenaNet should be providing the players with the free living world stories.

    Overall, a great first expansion for an already great game. Now, for the dust to settle and the updates to roll in.    … Expand
  37. daman558
    Oct 30, 2015
    10
    Arena net's first crack at an expansion for gw2 is well worth the time. Let's make this short and sweet. If you enjoyed gw2 then this automatically for you. I've read most of these negative reviews and though there are a couple valid points, most of them are drivel. They are expecting gw2 hot to deliver in areas that are impractical. Repetitive content and grinding is apart of every mmo.Arena net's first crack at an expansion for gw2 is well worth the time. Let's make this short and sweet. If you enjoyed gw2 then this automatically for you. I've read most of these negative reviews and though there are a couple valid points, most of them are drivel. They are expecting gw2 hot to deliver in areas that are impractical. Repetitive content and grinding is apart of every mmo. The new mastery system works as an account wide horizontal leveling system quite well. The new story is definitely the best yet ( coming from someone who avoided most story missions up til this point for various reasons, but has been following along intently with the new missions). Changes to guilds, new maps and meta events are on point and then some. My only two gripes are A) the expansion took so long to come out B) Professions as of now seem a bit broken to straight up lopsided in spvp, which will be fixed in the upcoming balance releases i'm sure. Other than that, you can expect a bigger and badder gw2 in pretty much every way. We still have yet to experience raiding, but ive heard good things and also that they announced they will be adding 2 more raids in the near future. This will be raiding gw2 style however, not some pre-conceived way that some other mmo's do it. All in all, though I don't think its a "perfect game" or earth shattering even, i'm giving this review a 10 to balance out the stale and biased reviews of people giving 0-2 for no reason.… Expand
  38. Shootsey
    Oct 29, 2015
    1
    Disregard the good ratings on the website. It's just fans who want to increase the population of their game for the sake of making it Slightly when it comes to doing events. Save your money and don't waste your time on this grindy and hellish expansion. Play it free.
  39. TacticalLamp
    Oct 29, 2015
    2
    GW2 used to be a really fantastic game with an incredible variety of options and things to do.With the release of HoT that variety has shrunk to mindless killing of mobs and farming of events to gather experience to complete masteries. Other than exploring new zones, elite specialization, and other ridiculous amounts of farming ( because the expansion really botched the economy as aGW2 used to be a really fantastic game with an incredible variety of options and things to do.With the release of HoT that variety has shrunk to mindless killing of mobs and farming of events to gather experience to complete masteries. Other than exploring new zones, elite specialization, and other ridiculous amounts of farming ( because the expansion really botched the economy as a whole), the only thing to do at the moment is bash your face against your keyboard as you tag mobs to participate in events because often it is too difficult to farm mobs on your own as the new mechanics of random mobs disable your character into oblivion. When raids release there will be one more option for things to do fortunately, but with the way arenanet changed crafting and the economy, crafting the needed gear is MUCH more difficult than it was previously. Somewhere in the past several years developers have confused "difficult" for "time consuming" and it is a crime. Difficult content is wonderful. Time consuming content breeds resentment. Many things need to change as this game went from a really fantastic well rounded game to a grind gated, treadmill-like, tread up a giant mountain of broken dreams.… Expand
  40. PeskyJNixon
    Oct 29, 2015
    10
    Something uniquely wonderful happened when my favorite game released an expansion: I wasn't disappointed. I wasn't let down. There has been no invalidation of all of the equipment and items I have spent the past three years acquiring; instead I was just plain given a great new addition to the environment I have loved playing in and a couple of horizontal progression systems that allow meSomething uniquely wonderful happened when my favorite game released an expansion: I wasn't disappointed. I wasn't let down. There has been no invalidation of all of the equipment and items I have spent the past three years acquiring; instead I was just plain given a great new addition to the environment I have loved playing in and a couple of horizontal progression systems that allow me to set long term goals for the next couple years.

    GW2 Heart of Thorns opens a significant amount of new content - from a base mechanics level they have opened a new engaging profession called the Revenant that relies on legendary characters from Guild Wars past to provide core mechanics to your character - this makes the profession remarkably versatile: supporting your group of glass cannon compatriots? Channel the spirit of the pacifist centaur and notable father of the game's most unique class - the plant humanoid Sylvari. Are you all about spreading disease and dissent wherever you go? Call the spirit of a demonic gorilla and watch your enemies shrivel and die. With six different heroic options each with their own set of corresponding skills this profession is wonderfully unique but unlike new professions often added in other MMO's - not overcharged. And if that’s not your thing there are eight new specializations for all the existing professions out there.

    Horizontal Progression means everything you've earned prior to this game is still as useful as it was before. Sure if the only equipment that you chose to use was heavy damage without anything else you may end up running into a problem as some of the new enemies only take damage from conditions, but you can hack away at everything just like you used to do. The introduction of a mastery system means new experiences through unlocking skills that help you traverse the new world using gliders trampoline mushrooms and air gusts.

    This is a delivery for old fans of the game and an opportunity for new people to discover a game that still looks fresher than anything else in the MMO market today.

    NOTE: I’ve found that many disgruntled folks have decided to downvote this game based on not being given all of the new mechanics right out of the gate to such a degree that Arena.Net actually simplified the unlock process. I’m kind of shocked at the level of childishness but I guess perhaps these will be the same people that downvote the game afterwards because there’s nothing else to do. I suggest you ignore them and just enjoy the remarkable game that’s in front of you.    … Expand
  41. Huddi
    Oct 29, 2015
    9
    Story: 10/10 - Great story that beats the one of the core game by far, especially in cutscenes.

    Open World: 10/10 - Beautiful and layered maps, including PvE, WvW and sPvP. New Profession Abilities: 9/10 - Main issue here is balancing, especially for Revenant (op to make people like). Accessibility: 9/10 - This score was reevaluated after ArenaNet listened to the voice of the    Story: 10/10 - Great story that beats the one of the core game by far, especially in cutscenes.

    Open World: 10/10 - Beautiful and layered maps, including PvE, WvW and sPvP.

    New Profession Abilities: 9/10 - Main issue here is balancing, especially for Revenant (op to make people like).

    Accessibility: 9/10 - This score was reevaluated after ArenaNet listened to the voice of the community, including my own one. Thank you. (Before the adaptations, it would have taken ages to unlock new specs for all professions)

    Repeatability of Content: 9/10 - This score was reevaluated. While I previously felt forced to repeat content, after ArenaNet's decision to make the story more accessible, it feels more like a free choice. I am strongly in favor of the changes.

    Server and bug management: 9/10 - There have been close to no downtimes. There were some bugs, but this is to be expected. One point was deducted for bugs in instances of the main story line, which led me to spend quite some hours achieving absolutely nothing.

    > My current evaluation: 9.3/10

    > All in all, this has been a great experience so far. The launch was very smooth from a technical perspective. In terms of philosophy, the expectations of the community and of the developers were not aligned. ArenaNet decided to listen to the feedback of the playerbase, for which I am very thankful. Whether you are a fan of large-scale or small-scale PvP, organized group content in PvE or simply a farmer or explorer - Heart of Thorns provides it.

    > Still to determine: New skins, raids, cash shop.    … Expand
  42. eien_kiseki
    Oct 28, 2015
    6
    1st day impression: 8 - the new maps were interesting to explore if a little frustrating due to the height, flying, and jumping puzzle-like parts that made it hard to navigate.
    2nd - 3rd day: 7 - i realized how much of a grind the mastery system is, i can't get enough points to max my elite spec and the new maps were frustrating and not rewarding.
    4th day: 6 - new fractal merchant was    1st day impression: 8 - the new maps were interesting to explore if a little frustrating due to the height, flying, and jumping puzzle-like parts that made it hard to navigate.
    2nd - 3rd day: 7 - i realized how much of a grind the mastery system is, i can't get enough points to max my elite spec and the new maps were frustrating and not rewarding.
    4th day: 6 - new fractal merchant was disabled so i couldn't work on increasing my AR to do higher scale fractal. On top of that every time i found a organized map for doing events, there would be a patch requiring me to restart and lose my map. *sigh*

    Overall my progressively worsening experience with HoT launch. Fascination turned into annoyance and frustration.    … Expand
  43. Syco_
    Oct 28, 2015
    9
    This has been one the smoothest expansion launches in history. Apart from a minute few bugs with story and map completion it has been flawless. A major point of contest on the official forums and reddit was how much grind the expansion bring into the game, To these people please remember everything we were saying before the launch "Please give me more to do" well we finally have somethingThis has been one the smoothest expansion launches in history. Apart from a minute few bugs with story and map completion it has been flawless. A major point of contest on the official forums and reddit was how much grind the expansion bring into the game, To these people please remember everything we were saying before the launch "Please give me more to do" well we finally have something meaningful to put our time towards through Masteries and Elite Specializations. The story was amazing, The maps are vast and gorgeous, The music and sound design takes my breath away. In whole this is a beautiful expansion and I am looking forward to the next one.… Expand
  44. someidiot
    Oct 28, 2015
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is a great expansion for many reasons. I will only touch on one of them here as that alone can fill the minimum of 150 characters.

    Great developers:

    Anet has proved to me, over the last three years, that they are the best at making an enjoyable MMO. Their pricing strategy and the way they seek funds is great in the sense that people like me, who just want to play a game, gets to do just that without the fear of an axe above our heads in the name "monthly subscription"

    Anet has also proved that they listen. and they listen well. No the half assed listening you get from other developers, nor the generic responses from nexon. They put great effort into listening. And this is clearly reflected in both in and outside the game.

    Look at the current expansion and you will see it.

    Many fans complained that the difficulty scale was too high, Anet conceded and lowered the scale. This i agree, it made it manageable for many of us.

    But yet more people complained. And once again Anet provides, by making it even easier. Much to my bewilderment. (SERIOUSLY YOU CAN ALWAYS COME BACK WHEN YOU GET BETTER)

    *ahem* but yes, a great developer.

    I am taking one point away, cause seriously speaking you guys aint perfect and neither am i so who the hell am i to say you get a 10?

    But other then that. go anet go.    … Expand
  45. imjax
    Oct 28, 2015
    8
    HoT is a really great expansion. The story is much more engaging and interesting than the vanilla personal story and so far am enjoying it a lot. A lot of the events and meta events on the new maps are unique and bring in some interesting new mechanics to game. The maps are beautiful and i am always finding new secrets to explore. The gliding and new action camera are also really fun.HoT is a really great expansion. The story is much more engaging and interesting than the vanilla personal story and so far am enjoying it a lot. A lot of the events and meta events on the new maps are unique and bring in some interesting new mechanics to game. The maps are beautiful and i am always finding new secrets to explore. The gliding and new action camera are also really fun.
    Unfortunately there was a lot of QQ in the community on release since people were complaining that they could not unlock everything on day one, which is ridiculous. A lot of the 1 and 0 star reviews are a result of a forum post brigading everyone to write negative reviews to get the devs to respond. This was a real low point for the usually great community. Sadly the devs have actually reduced the amount of hero points needed and have nerfed some of the hero point challenges to make them easier. I am hoping that the devs do not continue to nerf the content due to the vocal minority as i have enjoyed having to form small groups to clear content as it is an mmorpg after all.    … Expand
  46. Slivyr
    Oct 28, 2015
    6
    Despite my lengthy initial review posting a 1/10 score, I have come back to change it with the recent changes made to the Hero Points required to unlock the elite specializations.

    The story is improved with much better VA, and some of the combat is very interesting, but I still find this release a bit of a mixed bag. I would still argue that the Hero Point costs are still too high at    Despite my lengthy initial review posting a 1/10 score, I have come back to change it with the recent changes made to the Hero Points required to unlock the elite specializations.

    The story is improved with much better VA, and some of the combat is very interesting, but I still find this release a bit of a mixed bag.

    I would still argue that the Hero Point costs are still too high at 240, but it's not completely unbearable. The difficulty of the champions/challenges themselves may need to be toned down when less people are playing the map, as already in less than a week it's tough to find groups to do them with. Masteries are a logical grind, which is fine, but I feel the map is not rewarding enough to keep people playing it, especially with the gold reduction for dungeons; more players will be pushed back into the SW. It's not bad combat, but it's very build-specific and not particularly rewarding.

    The map design is both incredible and terrible at the same time. The art is always beautiful, which is a plus.

    The WvW BL's are relatively poor. They're too large and too gimmicky with the newly-introduced mechanics, and posing an attack on small structures or camps is extremely difficult for small groups or solo players.

    Guild mechanics changes almost destroyed small guilds. Not a fan.

    The lack of new skins is also a bit irritating. The release of so many outfits and Colin's announcements at PAX stating that he wanted to release skins as part of the core game and not the gem store is a bit upsetting in that there really were not many available. Lots of missing features on release is also worth docking points.

    So, it's okay. I feel like this is just a conglomeration of LS content all released at once with little of the content truly scrutinized for perfection. It's decent, but I don't know if I got $60 worth of content.    … Expand
  47. nilak
    Oct 28, 2015
    10
    Game has expanded in a way that feels like an extra 30 levels on top of original content without having to grind through new gear. New maps are absolutely amazing and complex and the specialisations add variety to each class perfectly. Absolutely loving new PVP and excited to get back into raids after trying in the beta events. New Guild system and masteries are incredible. especially theGame has expanded in a way that feels like an extra 30 levels on top of original content without having to grind through new gear. New maps are absolutely amazing and complex and the specialisations add variety to each class perfectly. Absolutely loving new PVP and excited to get back into raids after trying in the beta events. New Guild system and masteries are incredible. especially the new legendary crafting system!… Expand
  48. grasping_edge
    Oct 28, 2015
    10
    This was exactly what Guild Wars 2 needed! Great expansion and well worth the money.

    -Elite specs add a whole new dynamic to each class -story missions are great and a huge improvement from the personal story -content in the new zones is DIFFICULT and requires some coordinations -new maps are the new best maps in the game, full of fine detail and quality craftsmanship -revenant    This was exactly what Guild Wars 2 needed! Great expansion and well worth the money.

    -Elite specs add a whole new dynamic to each class
    -story missions are great and a huge improvement from the personal story
    -content in the new zones is DIFFICULT and requires some coordinations
    -new maps are the new best maps in the game, full of fine detail and quality craftsmanship
    -revenant profession feels like it fills in the gap of what was missing with preexisting classes, lots of fun
    -New Stronghold game type is EXTREMELY addicting
    -end game progression through masteries and elite specs, lots of fun to work on and earn
    - much, much more    … Expand
  49. Sebba
    Oct 28, 2015
    2
    I wrote a negative review, it got deleted and I dont know why. soo I'm forced to write a negative review again. lets start with the good stuff. the new areas really do look marvelous, giant frogs, dragon pets, story, music, all that is really nice to have a short and nice experience.

    but since I have a loooot of characters on lvl80 I see many points in the game that range from    I wrote a negative review, it got deleted and I dont know why. soo I'm forced to write a negative review again. lets start with the good stuff. the new areas really do look marvelous, giant frogs, dragon pets, story, music, all that is really nice to have a short and nice experience.

    but since I have a loooot of characters on lvl80 I see many points in the game that range from frustrating to outrageous. after the update you need 250 instead of 400 hero points to unlock a new weapon, a traitline and 4 new skills. if you only have 2 or 3 characters that might be no problem at all, but if you want to experience all the new weapons and skills on each class you have to get your 250 hero points at least 9 times, which might take a while. in order to get those points you have to earn level ups on the disguised new level cap called mastery system, because most of the hero points are gated behind mastery points and affiliated skills. that doesn't make the game more rewarding, challenging or "harder", it just makes it take much longer to get where you want. I also think it is important to add that in some feature patch a few months before the addon all former scrolls of knowledge, which would give you one skill point (which are now called hero points) where turned in spiritshards, a different new currency which now cant be used to level up your hero points anymore, with the only reason behind it being to prevent you from leveling up your chars new specialization. I find that really frustrating.

    another thing that really bothers me is that except pvp every other ingame aspect is nerfed and much less rewarding. xp gain is nerfed, dungeon rewards are nerfed, fractal rewards are nerfed. all just being meant to slow you down and keep you playing much longer in a very unfun, unrewarding, work-like type of gameplay. I know that this is the "magic recipe" of mmos but still I play a game because I want to have fun playing it. like most people I already have a rather boring repetitive job in real life.

    there are so many little small things... the new guild halls are sure looking nice too. but on the other hand I cant earn "influence" anymore by just playing the game like before, I can earn the new currency "favor" only by doing guild missions. there is practically no reason to represent a guild anymore since nothing except guild missions actually matters to help my guild progress. in wvw there is no more claiming, so dedicated guilds cant show off by putting their guild emblem on castles and such. even if a guild has earned fancy decorations etc for the guild, the circle of people to actually see that a guild has progressed and did great on something is pretty much the guild itself and they know anyway because they are the ones who did it.

    my list could go on and on and sure it's all about personal taste. for example why are the new borderlands desert maps? because the devs are good at designing deserts? after dry top desert and silverwastes desert pve maps we need another desert map for wvw? what is the idea behind that? maybe for economic reasons because deserts are pretty much sand only with some rocks. or why do we need a moba style pvp map? because there aren't enough real mobas on the market already?

    well, as you can see I'm not really happy with the expansion and I do regret to even have bought the pre-order version. I'm convinced there are many more who feel like anet is trying to take the fun out of the game and make it feel much more like work. and in fact just as many people seem to like it that way. I don't.    … Expand
  50. Pangolins
    Oct 28, 2015
    9
    After the fix to Elite specialization gaining, the grind is essentially eliminated, it doesn't take ages to get the new trait lines, the maps are beautiful, the classes are great fun in PVP, and the story mode is intriguing, for someone who doesn't do much PVE I am impressed with the story and how massive the maps are.
  51. peppercosmo
    Oct 28, 2015
    10
    People who complains are so lazy about the grind fest. I unlocked mine on the first day, it is not hard. If you are new yes it is hard but those who played the game for a while nope it is not.

    ARE you kidding me? Most games when expansion comes they make you grind. WOW you mean you have to work to get the points? It is called ELITE specialization for a reason. YOU HAVE TO WORK. The game    People who complains are so lazy about the grind fest. I unlocked mine on the first day, it is not hard. If you are new yes it is hard but those who played the game for a while nope it is not.

    ARE you kidding me? Most games when expansion comes they make you grind. WOW you mean you have to work to get the points? It is called ELITE specialization for a reason. YOU HAVE TO WORK. The game is amazing, I didn't even have time to post review until now. Most people in game loves it and didn't have time to post reviews or didn't bother. Until someone posted that HOT expansion is rated very low by people who are too busy posting reviews instead of playing games. Then people who actually played and tried out all the content started reviewing. The people who didn't want to work goes on to every site and complains about the grind. For years they complain there are no grind now that there are, oh i have to work. How horrible. There are so much to do not just bunch of living stories. They are trying to improve the ways we can play this game.    … Expand
  52. gw2fanatic
    Oct 28, 2015
    0
    New Class elites are too powerful and ROFL stomps anyone playing non-elites in pvp and guess what there's no way to unlock elites for your class unless you spend $50+. GW2 pvp now becomes pay2win. Ranger class elite is an exception that doesn't synchronize with the base ranger at all. Many made their ranger to dps not to be a freaking cleric.

    The new WvW maps are empty on Blackgate, a    New Class elites are too powerful and ROFL stomps anyone playing non-elites in pvp and guess what there's no way to unlock elites for your class unless you spend $50+. GW2 pvp now becomes pay2win. Ranger class elite is an exception that doesn't synchronize with the base ranger at all. Many made their ranger to dps not to be a freaking cleric.

    The new WvW maps are empty on Blackgate, a T1 server and one of the most populated, even Eternal battleground is empty. Seems like most of the players lost faith in Anet and stopped wvwing, are in pve, or doing Halloween activities. Can't blame players losing faith in Anet's ability to fix problems as they arise when things like spawn trebs and catapults were never fixed on the old maps despite years of complaints, thieves gaining stealth from walls was fixed after 2 years then quickly reverted, and projectile attacks getting obstructed on flat ground continues to this day.

    People with small guilds lost all their influence and weren't compensated for the lost even if they spent real life money on gems then convert to gold to earn them. Personal guilds are now useless; to earn influence you need 3+ members and all the things you struggled to earn and built are gone.

    The story is heavily gated behind the mastery system and hero points which is slow and painful to earn. If you want to speed through the story to see how it goes what happens you can't because Anet took away the ability to choose how you want to play even if you paid them over $50. Now you have to progress how they want you to....slow, painful and step by step to artificially stretch out the expansion content.

    Overall this was one of the worst MMO expansion I've played. I pre-ordered GW2 based on their manifestos. I didn't know they were going to abandon it after GW2 launched. I'm done giving my money to NCSoft/Anet. No more GW2 expansion for me.    … Expand
  53. Shadeofdoom
    Oct 28, 2015
    9
    Alright, READ THIS before scrolling further. There are a few reasons why HoT deserves a 8.5+, but also a few reasons as to why a 10 shouldn't be given. To start off, lets say this; Heart of Thorns is gorgeous from all perspectives. The storyline is rich with action and intensity, the maps are delightfully created as to give the user a taste of the maze-like complexity of a 3-tiered jungle,Alright, READ THIS before scrolling further. There are a few reasons why HoT deserves a 8.5+, but also a few reasons as to why a 10 shouldn't be given. To start off, lets say this; Heart of Thorns is gorgeous from all perspectives. The storyline is rich with action and intensity, the maps are delightfully created as to give the user a taste of the maze-like complexity of a 3-tiered jungle, and the mobs bring on a whole new challenge, causing you to have to use the full set of your abilities and knowledge of the game to defeat them.

    Where does it go wrong? Gates.
    If we look at the original Guild Wars 2 content, from level 1, you could enter a level 80 zone if you so wished (and if you could make it without dying). In this, both map exploration and your personal story is gated by the mastery system. Without researching new gliding techniques, or how to bounce on a mushroom, you literally cannot advance, and since each of these gates are hundreds of thousands of XP that can only be attained in the jungle, it adds up very quickly.

    Why does map exploration matter? Because the only way to 'finalize' the trait you have been training with XP is with mastery points, and if you cannot reach these mastery points then... you're stuck! Its a vicious cycle that you cannot surmount unless you spend a lot of time gliding around for points that you can actually reach (or the help of a guide through reddit, youtube, etc).

    That being said, what is being added to the game is so extensive it could probably sell as its own "guild wars 3". Raids, Adventures, new world bosses, new content in general such as the jungle maps, the mushrooms, the itzel, mordrem creatures, a new personal story, stronghold, guild halls, guild wars, new legendary weapons and armor, and new WvW borderlands maps that are now part of the permanent rotation (for both players who did and did not buy the expansion, might I add).

    Since the pros so heavily outweigh the cons, Heart of Thorns as it currently stands (10/28/15) deserves a rating above 8.5, and should the gating be reduced, even higher.    … Expand
  54. Knoxty
    Oct 28, 2015
    10
    Anet has truly outdone themselves, I am extremely content to see where all my money is going to. Excellent story, great content, smooth launch. Can't wait what to see in the future.
  55. Elfhorys
    Oct 28, 2015
    10
    Excellent expansion, one of my favorite expansion for an MMO since a while. Great maps, new gameplay and gears, and this story ... my my !

    Don't look at thos who downvote, they rage because they don't have all in a silver plate.
  56. Lozzypops
    Oct 28, 2015
    10
    A beautifully-crafted expansion to a beautifully-crafted game. The story tugs at your heartstrings, and the characters involved show that ArenaNet can write a variety of rapidly changing, yet very human personalities. The new areas themselves are absolutely beautiful, filled to the brim with infuriatingly tough enemies that you can't swing a charr without hitting. The lack of a raisedA beautifully-crafted expansion to a beautifully-crafted game. The story tugs at your heartstrings, and the characters involved show that ArenaNet can write a variety of rapidly changing, yet very human personalities. The new areas themselves are absolutely beautiful, filled to the brim with infuriatingly tough enemies that you can't swing a charr without hitting. The lack of a raised level-cap was, surprisingly, another brilliant move, as new content and old content mesh perfectly together.… Expand
  57. Apolyon
    Oct 28, 2015
    10
    Totally blown away. Not only has this been the smoothest go-live I've seen, but the amount and quality of content in the expansion is brutal.

    Comparing this to the base game, one of the key things you will see is that the new areas don't have renown hearts, instead they have outpost which trigger some pretty awesome dynamic events. These events can even branch in different stories and    Totally blown away. Not only has this been the smoothest go-live I've seen, but the amount and quality of content in the expansion is brutal.

    Comparing this to the base game, one of the key things you will see is that the new areas don't have renown hearts, instead they have outpost which trigger some pretty awesome dynamic events. These events can even branch in different stories and they tell you specific stories of some of the survivors (not going to do any spoilers here). Just stop for a second, and stand there listening to the NPC's.

    The main story, which I have not finished yet, is really intense. Way better than what we had so far. I don't want to spoil this either, so I'll simply say that what I've seen so far is on par with some single player rpg's.

    Content wise, there are "only" 4 new areas, but they are huge, not only horizontally but also vertically, you really have to experience it to feel the size of the jungle. It also has a metric ton of events, collections, achievements, adventures (a type of repeatable activities with world rankings in the type of GW1 challenges), the new specializations, masteries, pre-cursor scavenger hunts, new legendaries (not only weapons, but also backpacks and armor), a new wvw map.

    And the best of all... there is still more to come, namely the so awaited Raids, pvp leagues, and the new living world seasons.

    I may update this review later, since I haven't stopped in World vs World or pvp yet    … Expand
  58. Sabbatum
    Oct 28, 2015
    10
    Finally ArenaNet has found the true essence of progressing and challenging content.

    I feel so sorry about the people that is whining because of the total length expansion gave to game (which is a very very long path to be done) and for personal and selfless purposes gave the game rates like "0/10". This expansions adds to the game a more variety to features to enjoy and a lot of real    Finally ArenaNet has found the true essence of progressing and challenging content.

    I feel so sorry about the people that is whining because of the total length expansion gave to game (which is a very very long path to be done) and for personal and selfless purposes gave the game rates like "0/10". This expansions adds to the game a more variety to features to enjoy and a lot of real challenging content to make you feel you are somewhere between GW and Dark/Demon Souls, where death is just your mentor.

    On the other side, I feel happy that ANet is listening to the community feedback and patching the game as community feedback flows over the web, but i just expect they stop the nerfing the challenges and don't ruin the great work they did with this expansion that is a whole new game to explore (i play this game since core pre-launch) and this just because children that don't know they real meaning of PLAY a GAME and just think like "GIMME WHAT I WANT NOW, ASAP".

    My 10 is for the overall of this expansion which had a completely smooth launch and all the time surprises me with something i can enjoy in a long term of fun.

    Thanks ArenaNet, keep up with your great work.    … Expand
  59. AlexandreDR
    Oct 28, 2015
    3
    Not recommended anymore for casual gamers -- i am a casual gamer and play GW2 since more than 3 years with some breaks. The expansion HoT is a disaster. Is a massive grindfest that requires you to play within guilds. Everything is gated. You need grind to glide, grind to jump on mushrooms, ... The specializations require 100+ hours of game play eaxh to unloxk. Doing boring hero pointsNot recommended anymore for casual gamers -- i am a casual gamer and play GW2 since more than 3 years with some breaks. The expansion HoT is a disaster. Is a massive grindfest that requires you to play within guilds. Everything is gated. You need grind to glide, grind to jump on mushrooms, ... The specializations require 100+ hours of game play eaxh to unloxk. Doing boring hero points gathering 5-20 per map. The devs want to change the meta to make us invest heavily in survivability gear = more grind. No more sense to do 10-20 mns dungeons. Rewards super nerfed. Now time for hour long fractals. So yeah grind is what GW2 became.

    Spending extra money i n the game makes no sense. I had issues. Bugs. Reported with print screens. Had spent more than 300 usd on the gane. Not even an acknowledgement of receiving my bug reports.

    Graphically the game is good. The story is not immersive but muxh better than previous seasons. There is a lot for people who.have tons of time. For casual gamers this became too grindy.    … Expand
  60. itscalledalance
    Oct 28, 2015
    3
    PROS: Beautiful, Well done, very few noticeable issues at launch.

    CONS: Most of the expansion is locked behind walls only meant to slow progression. If you see something you want to do, or a place you want to get to, chances are you can not without grinding out a mastery track for hours. - See an item you can activate? "lolz nope! you dont have the right mastery to use this!" - See a    PROS: Beautiful, Well done, very few noticeable issues at launch.

    CONS: Most of the expansion is locked behind walls only meant to slow progression. If you see something you want to do, or a place you want to get to, chances are you can not without grinding out a mastery track for hours.
    - See an item you can activate? "lolz nope! you dont have the right mastery to use this!"
    - See a skill shrine you wish to use? "lolz nope! you insta-die from poison because you haven't grinded out the right mastery!"
    - Need an item for your legendary? "LOL nope! NPC is bugged and wont sell it to you! (or anyone)"
    - want to go to a way point? "lol nope! its contest...99% of the time, you'll have to run the length of a zone the size of Loio, (the barrens for you wow sluts) to get there, WHILE dodging enemies that can one shot you.
    - Want to play with your friends? "LOL nope you haven't grinded the same masteries they have!"
    - Want the cool looking new gear? "LOL nope! you haven't the right masteries, and RNGesus hans't blessed you with those drops!"
    - Want to buy an item? "LOL NOPE! you can't speak this clowns language till you grind another mastery!"

    Every step of the journey you are slapped in the face with things you CAN NOT do, places you CAN NOT GET TO, without grinding out, sometimes millions upon millions of xp doing the same half dozen events or so. Very VERY little variation in that regard. VERY poor design choices.

    The people giving it a 10/10 are hardcore gamers who dont know what a casual really is.
    or people sucking up.
    people who are not playing the game.

    Do yourself a favor, go get yourself a bot to do all the pointless daunting wall of an XP grind so you can play the game.    … Expand
  61. JeRune
    Oct 28, 2015
    10
    Great expansion, smooth launch, quick iterations on consumer feedback. Very nicely done by ArenaNet; completely changes the game from what it was. Story is great, masteries are great, specializations are wonderful and there's a lot of content.
  62. Yahseenme
    Oct 28, 2015
    10
    Brought me back to playing the VERY enjoyable PVE experience after years of playing exclusively PVP. Elite specs are the bees knees and the difficulty I felt was better before the October 27 patch, but still amazing nonetheless. Nothing I would change about this expansion, it was executed flawlessly.
  63. digSerenity
    Oct 28, 2015
    0
    Not even a week before the nerf hammer hits and they cater to the people complaining about hard content after asking for it. Excellent job. Definitely better this way than to allow things to settle and for people to get used to playing with and against everything new.
  64. sylint19
    Oct 28, 2015
    9
    This expansion is exceptional. It offers a wide range of content that'll keep me engaged for months, maybe even years, to come. While upon release, there were some issues with some of the game's features, the developers have been all ears, working to make the expansion more enjoyable for its players. Certain aspects were moderately grind-intensive, but have been reduced since launch due toThis expansion is exceptional. It offers a wide range of content that'll keep me engaged for months, maybe even years, to come. While upon release, there were some issues with some of the game's features, the developers have been all ears, working to make the expansion more enjoyable for its players. Certain aspects were moderately grind-intensive, but have been reduced since launch due to player feedback. Arenanet has done an exceptional job tweaking the base game, as well as this expansion.… Expand
  65. munki314
    Oct 28, 2015
    8
    Upon the announcement of HoT, I must admit I was skeptical based on the price. I wasn't sure what the $50 was paying for and Anet tends to trickle their information. Being a fan of the game and a consistent player, I paid very close attention to the reveals and, for the first time, pre-purchased a game. This was just before the second beta weekend event. I was extremely impressed by theUpon the announcement of HoT, I must admit I was skeptical based on the price. I wasn't sure what the $50 was paying for and Anet tends to trickle their information. Being a fan of the game and a consistent player, I paid very close attention to the reveals and, for the first time, pre-purchased a game. This was just before the second beta weekend event. I was extremely impressed by the classes, the parts of the map we were able to play, and the difficulty of the new AI. Release only solidified my opinion. The launch was ridiculously smooth. The maps are deep, intense, and gorgeous. Gliding is fantastic. The progression systems provide a real feeling of success. The fights are intense and I have found myself cheering aloud upon successful completion. Heart of Thorns has delivered basically everything Anet promoted. There are some bugs and some issues with the mega-server, which leave some maps shards too dead to successfully complete meta-events, and that is why I have given an eight and not a nine. Barring that issue (which is being addressed), this game is utterly amazing and worth every cent. Anet also, just yesterday, implemented new iterations and lowered the Hero Point requirement for Elite Specializations in response to player feedback just 5 Days after release. Anet listens to their customers and they response, which makes me an utterly devoted customer. And now, back to the jungle.… Expand
  66. Paulaberry
    Oct 28, 2015
    8
    Heart of Thorns had a very smooth launch, which is remarkable for an MMO. I experienced minor lag for about 30 minutes after launch, and then no problems whatsoever. The new maps are amazing, guild halls are FANTASTIC (and bring group-utility to the game that will greatly affect people who like guild-based MMOing) and the new profession mechanics are very fun to play with.

    This    Heart of Thorns had a very smooth launch, which is remarkable for an MMO. I experienced minor lag for about 30 minutes after launch, and then no problems whatsoever. The new maps are amazing, guild halls are FANTASTIC (and bring group-utility to the game that will greatly affect people who like guild-based MMOing) and the new profession mechanics are very fun to play with.

    This expansion adds some useful general features to the entire game. The excellent new action camera change has done a lot to make combat feel faster and more immersive. I would highly recommend it! There are so many little features that have been added that I really can’t list them here, but let me just say a huge thank you for the achievement hints. People who play will know what I mean. It’s awesome.

    I haven’t had time to check out PvP yet. There are new maps but I don’t know anything about them. What I do know is that if you like PvE and you’re level 80 and wondering what to do with yourself, Heart of Thorns answers that question in a meaningful way.

    Heart of Thorns introduces a much-needed progression system to Guild Wars 2. The fact that Arenanet chose to take on the challenge of working on an alternative progression system not based on the tried and tested method of raising level cap, is commendable. The new systems are looking to introduce region-based progression that will not invalidate all previous content, achievements and gear. Now, this was a risky and ambitious move and their new systems aren’t perfect. They need tuning and polishing. The developers have already heard the initial complaints from players and made several adjustments (only 5 days in). I am positive that they will continue to improve the system until it is fluent and works to its fullest.

    Some complaints I have is that I don’t feel the fractal system is rewarding enough, and that there have been issues with the megaserver. Arenanet has confirmed that the megaserver’s been unnecessarily putting players in empty instances, which is a major problem due to the importance of group-play in the meta-events on the Heart of Thorns maps. I also believe that events in Maguuma should award more experience points upon completion. There have been bugs, but I haven’t encountered many. I have also heard from a few players who have been experiencing crashes. This is the exception though and I myself haven’t had a single crash since launch. These issues don’t worry me because I’m confident that the above problems will be addressed to the best of the developers’ abilities. In the meantime, members of the community are doing their best to provide useful feedback that helps the developers to see which areas they need to focus on.

    Heart of Thorns is important because it lays the foundation for future content, and that foundation is looking pretty solid. Guild Wars 2’s potential has now been massively increased and I can’t wait to see where it all goes. Meanwhile I have more than enough new content between bouncing and gliding along the new maps discovering everything, adventures, and earning new skills to last me for quite a while. I give Heart of Thorns a solid 8/10 for execution. If the problems are fixed and the systems are tweaked, I’d even call it a 9. But not quite yet! ;)    … Expand
  67. bravoart
    Oct 28, 2015
    4
    As a player from the launch, this expansion is highly disappointing because as from the start, ArenaNet has decided to sell one thing, and deliver another.

    Any premise that the game has had of 'casual friendly' and 'no grinding' and so on, has been thrown out the window completely with the new expansion (if not a bit beforehand, honestly). There are multiple reviews here stating that    As a player from the launch, this expansion is highly disappointing because as from the start, ArenaNet has decided to sell one thing, and deliver another.

    Any premise that the game has had of 'casual friendly' and 'no grinding' and so on, has been thrown out the window completely with the new expansion (if not a bit beforehand, honestly).

    There are multiple reviews here stating that people are just lazy and want everything handed to them, but the reality is that if you were told that the game you paid $50 for, the majority of the content was locked behind doing the same events and waiting for the same events to respawn indefinitely with no ability to advance past it until you have done an arbitrary amount of grind, wouldn't you consider that unnecessary? This game has a rabid fanbase that believe that the developers can do no wrong and everyone should be aware of that.

    Gated content, forced group content that can not be soloed, bad rng, separation of reward effort, the list goes on and on of what is wrong with this expansion.

    As we've seen with ArenaNet multiple times before, they don't fix things without changing something else or knee-jerk nerfing whatever the playerbase moves to for counteracting the nerfs. The developers literally go out of their way to hobble progression again and again, yet people still defend it. Unbelievable.

    EDIT: Arenanet has made a concession with the amount of Hero Points needed for Elite specs and the gating of accessible hero points on the first new map. This is great and a solid step in the right direction, but that being said there is still a lot of issues pertaining to bait and switch and effort/reward that still need to be reviewed.

    Also be warned that community sites are actively guilting and insulting people with low review scores to change them to 10/10s. The game is not that great, but the communities about it are even worse.    … Expand
  68. Zephyria
    Oct 28, 2015
    10
    Beautiful art, meaty expansion that can't be sped through. Vertical maps are very reminiscent of Zelda, meaning that they open up and become easier to traverse as you gain new skillsets. This has been frustrating for some unfamiliar with that playstyle, but if you're expecting to revisit the map for better explorability, it cuts out that frustration. These areas are ENORMOUS, andBeautiful art, meaty expansion that can't be sped through. Vertical maps are very reminiscent of Zelda, meaning that they open up and become easier to traverse as you gain new skillsets. This has been frustrating for some unfamiliar with that playstyle, but if you're expecting to revisit the map for better explorability, it cuts out that frustration. These areas are ENORMOUS, and make you feel quite small in the game, which is a wonderful thing...the landscape is a part of the challenge, in a good way.… Expand
  69. dhakor
    Oct 28, 2015
    8
    Awesome expansion, but for WvW gamers it's a pity not have the option to glide in the competitive maps T.T

    The amount of materials needed to upgrade a guild or level a character with the new specialitzations will paralize some time the competitive world, because a lot of us has a job and not so much time to farm or lvl up.
  70. BeardRex
    Oct 28, 2015
    9
    Probably THE smoothest launch of an online game I've ever played. Heart of Thorns is the culmination of all the experiments with content Arenanet has been doing over the last 3 years.

    The world events are the most engaging yet. And the story is wonderful. The level design, which focuses on vertical and exploration makes every zone 3 times as big as it looks on the map. The mastery    Probably THE smoothest launch of an online game I've ever played. Heart of Thorns is the culmination of all the experiments with content Arenanet has been doing over the last 3 years.

    The world events are the most engaging yet. And the story is wonderful.

    The level design, which focuses on vertical and exploration makes every zone 3 times as big as it looks on the map.

    The mastery system accomplishes its task very well. As you venture through the jungle you really feel like you're mastering it. Traversing it becomes easier and easier as you learn the secrets of the jungle.

    There's a real sense of progression in Heart of Thorns that I haven't felt since launch.    … Expand
  71. awesomebydlo
    Oct 28, 2015
    0
    Grind Wars 2's mastery system and hero points are impossible to solo. Ascended gear is necessary for raids and Arenanet has made it a larger grind. The elite specializations are lackluster and the developers did not pay attention to community response during the betas. On the day of release, the game was horribly broken and it was practically impossible to continue the game's story becauseGrind Wars 2's mastery system and hero points are impossible to solo. Ascended gear is necessary for raids and Arenanet has made it a larger grind. The elite specializations are lackluster and the developers did not pay attention to community response during the betas. On the day of release, the game was horribly broken and it was practically impossible to continue the game's story because of broken NPCs and this was not fixed until a week after. The developers have also gutted core-professions such as Thief's Acrobatic line and require you to pay $50 to buy the expansion to have what they took back. The story is shorter than the Personal Story. There are only 4 maps in this expansion. It's honestly not worth the price tag.… Expand
  72. Lkvtnl
    Oct 28, 2015
    9
    I have been playing on and off since release, rest assured Arena Net cares about us. They fixed the things people complained about and it just goes to show that t hey do in fact care.
  73. Kalameloth
    Oct 28, 2015
    10
    An Xpac with no grinding but only new content, a meta-event system per map like in silverwaste, andDELTAPLANE !
    A good story with good charactère, Arena make what they are good for, make an mmorpg that is not like every one else, and the new TERA-like combat system is pretty good.
    Love it.
  74. humor4fun
    Oct 28, 2015
    8
    HoT is expansive. lots to do, lots to learn, lots to grind, lots to collect. and its all rated at level 85-90 from what I’ve judged. I found the Elementalist Elite spec is pretty amazing. I can spread might and auras around in seconds and nuke for 15-20k dmg while spec’d for Divinity (all stats) gear, which is absurd. Even that isn’t enough to easily take down some mobs though. That’s whyHoT is expansive. lots to do, lots to learn, lots to grind, lots to collect. and its all rated at level 85-90 from what I’ve judged. I found the Elementalist Elite spec is pretty amazing. I can spread might and auras around in seconds and nuke for 15-20k dmg while spec’d for Divinity (all stats) gear, which is absurd. Even that isn’t enough to easily take down some mobs though. That’s why I’d estimate most content at 85-90 in HoT, even though the max is still 80. The extra weapon that Eles got (warhorn) is super lame in terms of skills, but the shouts are fantastic to play with: Lets me switch-hit my staff build between quick/slow cast skills.

    The game has been plagued with a slightly larger than expected amount of game breaking (event blocks, client crashes, npc bugs) bugs but Anet has been hard at work around the clock to fix these as quickly as they can. Initially, Elite Specs cost 400 points which essentially meant that unless your character had stockpiled hundreds of skill points years ago before they were removed, you would need to complete most if not all of the HoT content in order to utilize the full Elite Specialization. This seemed outrageous to me, but didn't stop me from working on it. I was happy to see the cost reduced to 265 points.

    I think that releasing the Mad King events (Halloween) at the same time as the WvW and HoT content was a completely terrible decision. I would have separated them because the WvW changes BEG for gliders to be used, but they are not enabled, so essentially the WvW community has just been disrupted by all this new PvE content to play in HoT. Meanwhile the HoT content is disrupted by the Halloween content which is limited time only stuff. You should have done WvW for 1-2 weeks, then drop Halloween, then at least a week later drop the HoT content. No I didn't forget the PvP Stronghold update, but that seems tightly coupled with HoT so I am bunching those together. I don't think PvP draws people out of Halloween, WvW and PvE content.

    The HoT story is intriguing and presents an epic journey through an incredibly dangerous jungle. Gliding is fantastic and the Mastery system is.... immense. I love the idea of needing to "train" a passive skill track. That said, I'm not convinced there is enough HoT content to make it not feel like a grind to unlock the Mastery skills. I've found myself staying in a single map for hours on end repeating the same sets of events over and over to grind for XP to build my Mastery track simply so that I can progress my story to unlock the next mission (some of which require tier 1 mastery skills from multiple tracks, which equates to millions of XP.) The T1 mastery skills cost roughly 500-600kXP which would have meant 2-3 levels (in the previous 80+ terminology).

    The scenery in the jungle is incredible, Anet did a fantastic job with the art. Also, the Guild Hall claiming mission (my guild, Attuned[att], did the Precipice one). The map is huge and required a ton of coordination. Lots of fun there. I'm looking forward to getting in deeper with my guild and playing the new maps.

    The mindset of map-meta events works quite well, though map activity coordination has not proven to be workable really. I'm sure that will come with time.    … Expand
  75. Secr3tt
    Oct 28, 2015
    10
    This is how you do a EXP, don't make you feel that you need to grind for new gear or level, just have fun with the game, and the EXP didn't had any issue on release. 10 out of 10
  76. Jarvice
    Oct 28, 2015
    10
    Simple review: It's almost like they doubled the original content of the game. If you like Gw2 you'll love HoT!

    Why? Because they added exactly what Gw2 needed, new maps, abilities and a totally new class to play! The new content is also very challenging which encourages players to play together (you can do it alone if you're skilled enough!). The new story they added is also a lot of    Simple review: It's almost like they doubled the original content of the game. If you like Gw2 you'll love HoT!

    Why? Because they added exactly what Gw2 needed, new maps, abilities and a totally new class to play! The new content is also very challenging which encourages players to play together (you can do it alone if you're skilled enough!). The new story they added is also a lot of fun to play. It takes you on a journey through the amazing maps and you get to battle awesome bosses!

    The only negative part is that there are some bugs (which is expected of course). But Anet is working hard and they are rolling out patches to fix as much as they can. I expect most of the bugs fixed in a couple weeks.

    Anet did a great job and this is a well deserved 10.    … Expand
  77. Mank
    Oct 28, 2015
    9
    Stable servers, no game breaking bugs but a few client crashes for me. Maps are fantastic, beautiful, chock full of content with lot's of variety and things to do. Mastery system really changes how you play, gliding is very fun, and there's a couple of little things gated behind masteries that give a good sense of progression when you come back to them. Solid experience overall.
  78. ballywaug
    Oct 28, 2015
    9
    Excellent and very challenging new content. Beautiful environments and the new revenant class is extremely fun to play. The expansion has really re-ignited my interest after a long break from the game.
  79. Vatras
    Oct 28, 2015
    9
    HoT is one of the best things that happened to GW2. ArenaNet added so much new content to the game most people don't even know what to begin with.
    ANet added masteries to the game, which contrary to what all those casuals say, are easy to unlock. You will get all of the masteries you need to progress your story just through playing the game normally. If you want to do the entirety of your    HoT is one of the best things that happened to GW2. ArenaNet added so much new content to the game most people don't even know what to begin with.
    ANet added masteries to the game, which contrary to what all those casuals say, are easy to unlock. You will get all of the masteries you need to progress your story just through playing the game normally. If you want to do the entirety of your story instantly you will have to grind apporximatly 2 hours though, which in all honesty, is nothing compared to other MMOs.

    With the most recent patch ANet also reduced the amount of Hero Points needed to unlock your elite specialisation (a new traitline that unlock various new features for your class when selected). The current amount is 250 hero points, if you did world completion you'll already have 200 of those meaning you'll only have to do 5 of the 40 hero challenges in the new maps which takes about 20 minutes.

    Sadly the game does crash quite frequently due to a currently unfixed memory leak in the new maps. Until that issue is fixed only 9/10.    … Expand
  80. djbrooker99
    Oct 28, 2015
    8
    This game is truly innovative in the worlds of MMOs. New mechanics interesting bosses and TONS of new stuff to explore along with a moving story make this well worth the buy.
  81. turin
    Oct 28, 2015
    9
    People seem to keep confusing grind with time consuming. A grind is boring not because it takes time but because its repetitive.

    Heart of Thrones is not repetitive. It just time consuming and is challenging. Half of the progression is account wide thus you only have to do it once and its unlocked for all characters. This is the opposite of grinding. This is horizontal progression. Many    People seem to keep confusing grind with time consuming. A grind is boring not because it takes time but because its repetitive.

    Heart of Thrones is not repetitive. It just time consuming and is challenging. Half of the progression is account wide thus you only have to do it once and its unlocked for all characters. This is the opposite of grinding. This is horizontal progression. Many seem to have the mentality that because they paid for the expansion They also must have everything unlocked immediately. No guys you are actually supposed to play the game. That is the point in the first place.

    Other than that the maps, the story and event are brilliant. The only valid concern is the WvW part. The progression there does seem a bit slower than it should.

    EDIT even though the review stands Anet just nerfed a good deal of content. For me this is very disappointing and feels that the expansion loses a lot if its challenge and metroidvania feeling. Thus I have to lower my score to 7. Its still a great expansion and if you did not care about the challenge you will like it a lot. For me the enthusiasm plummeted but i an the minority it seems.    … Expand
  82. Wensy
    Oct 28, 2015
    10
    Best & smoothest release of ex. pack I have ever experienced.
    Beautiful maps and music.
    Maps mechanisms are more interesting and fun than in older maps.
    So many nice details to find every day.
  83. shirogatsu
    Oct 28, 2015
    10
    I've found this expansion is very fun to play. It literally just a child of Spyro The Dragon & Castlevania: Symphony of the Night that decide to become a MMORPG when grow up.

    Add to this combo beautiful level design: you don't traverse linearly on flat maps, you basically start your journey by running around in jungle, then you could fly to new heights or crawl through tunnels to the    I've found this expansion is very fun to play. It literally just a child of Spyro The Dragon & Castlevania: Symphony of the Night that decide to become a MMORPG when grow up.

    Add to this combo beautiful level design: you don't traverse linearly on flat maps, you basically start your journey by running around in jungle, then you could fly to new heights or crawl through tunnels to the deepest caverns of the jungle. And even this movement has sort of progression, because with improving your flying techniques you're able to ride the energy waves and different updrafts that may help stay afloat or fight several bosses(Yay for bombing dragons from the sky!)

    Music and ambient sound is just extraordinary - give some feels of Final Fantasy, if you ask me.

    As for "the controversy" - I tried to stay away from reddit and web due to spoilers and was surprised when I finally opened it - I just never hit any of this mentioned problems, probably because I love exploration and I just got enough experience for my masteries from events during my average gameplay sessions. As for elite specialization - yeah, high amount of hero points actually stopped me from using it right away because low level of elite spec basically makes you weaker than 3 full core specializations and there is no excuse to running bad unfinished builds during endgame content. I'm glad it lowered now so you can get full elite after a couple of hours in the jungle.

    After first iteration of balancing pass I've no complaints and can fully enjoy the content which is top quality so 10/10 from me.    … Expand
  84. Ludus90
    Oct 28, 2015
    10
    With HoT Guild wars 2 became, without any doubts, the best MMORPG I ever played. I'd need to write a book to describe and review all the things Arena Net did perfectly with this expansion.
  85. Poisty
    Oct 28, 2015
    8
    Honestly the best expansion of a mmo I've experienced. I personally love it, but I do enjoy base gw2 so take that into consideration. It was also a really smooth launch, and pretty much all the bugs that did exist (and there were a few quite annoying ones for some people) have now been dealt to (which has been pretty damn fast).

    Good story updates, good content and general updates for    Honestly the best expansion of a mmo I've experienced. I personally love it, but I do enjoy base gw2 so take that into consideration. It was also a really smooth launch, and pretty much all the bugs that did exist (and there were a few quite annoying ones for some people) have now been dealt to (which has been pretty damn fast).

    Good story updates, good content and general updates for both pve in general, pvp and wvw, new specializations for each existing class and a new class. New content is satisfyingly more difficult, and raids are on there way very soon (we had a taste in the beta's).

    Basically if you enjoyed GW2 (you can try it for free now if you haven't) and can afford to spend a little money (non subscription - just a upfront cost) its totally worth it. If you hate mmo's, or GW2 I wouldn't recommend it though.

    Don't see a reason not to get it if you are already enjoying GW2 and the asking price isn't outside of your budget.

    PS the so called grindy unlocks people have been complaining about have also been reduced in a way that you could barely justify calling them grindy now.    … Expand
  86. snokey
    Oct 28, 2015
    10
    This expansion blew my mind! It is gorgeous! Maps are so beautiful and very fun to traverse, especially when you learn gliding, mushroom jumping etc I haven't had that much fun to just explore in ages :) Story is amazing and absolutely shocking, filled with fun challenges. I love the new difficulty of mobs, while they don't have huge amount of HP, they do hit hard! and new mechanics isThis expansion blew my mind! It is gorgeous! Maps are so beautiful and very fun to traverse, especially when you learn gliding, mushroom jumping etc I haven't had that much fun to just explore in ages :) Story is amazing and absolutely shocking, filled with fun challenges. I love the new difficulty of mobs, while they don't have huge amount of HP, they do hit hard! and new mechanics is very nice! Camera action mode proved to be th one thing i wished they added from the start, can't play without it!

    New specializations are so much fun as well, great animations, great feel to them. Some people expected to get them straight at the start, but it is unreasonable to expect to unlock elite spec on day one, however that was still possible for some vets. If you just play the game, then unlocking masteries and getting Hero Points comes naturally without feeling any repetition as there are a lot of different ways to get those.    … Expand
  87. waffleninja
    Oct 28, 2015
    10
    Beautiful new content all around. Lots to do right off the bat and plenty to look forward to. I highly recommend this to anybody wishing for a genuine challenge in the traditional MMO genre.
  88. KyrgyzManas
    Oct 28, 2015
    10
    I was already playing GW2 (the base game) for quite some time. The biggest gripe I had with it was the difficulty level. Most content was too easy, although the game was really, really good in all other ways. But Heart of Thorn set the bar really high (didn't expect too much). But man...that jungle is immense! It's so dense and atmospheric, I can't believe it. The difficulty of gettingI was already playing GW2 (the base game) for quite some time. The biggest gripe I had with it was the difficulty level. Most content was too easy, although the game was really, really good in all other ways. But Heart of Thorn set the bar really high (didn't expect too much). But man...that jungle is immense! It's so dense and atmospheric, I can't believe it. The difficulty of getting around is partly nuts (rolling raptors *gaze*). But honestly, the greatest addition to the addon was gliding. I didn't know how much I love it until I had it - hoooooly **** is this awesome exploring those multi- layered maps by gliding! So much looking forward to the Raid :D… Expand
  89. wowroxursox
    Oct 28, 2015
    0
    Expansion without any meat on the bones. Gating measly content behind grindy masteries. Expansion without any meat on the bones. Gating measly content behind grindy masteries.
  90. WMustafa
    Oct 28, 2015
    9
    As someone who isn't a 'fan-boy', this is really quite good. Don't get me wrong: there are issues with this expansion, such as level gating. But ANet has been swift to fix this.

    I was initially confused about the pricing. It still is a little high (£35! I bought the base game for £40!) but I've spent about 15 hours on the first map, with only 55% completion. There is plenty of content,    As someone who isn't a 'fan-boy', this is really quite good. Don't get me wrong: there are issues with this expansion, such as level gating. But ANet has been swift to fix this.

    I was initially confused about the pricing. It still is a little high (£35! I bought the base game for £40!) but I've spent about 15 hours on the first map, with only 55% completion. There is plenty of content, and some room for re-playability.

    The content itself is rather vivid. The maps focus on vertical progression, which makes for an interesting change from typical maps. There is a limited glider system that helps you travel across the jungle. There are also now 'raids' and harder world events. This is a good change from the base game, which has comparatively uninteresting events. Put simply, you cannot just use a glass-cannon build in the jungle; the jungle will kill you and you'll have to find a way back, somehow. (There are less waypoints, too: the moral of the story is 'don't get yourself killed'.)

    As to why I've rated it a 9: originally, I was anticipating to drop a 6 or 7. But ANet's feedback towards the live game has actually been stellar, with loads of swift changes to make the game play less infuriating. The content is beautiful (both playing it and seeing it), and it truly echoes the whole 'open world' statement original reviews of Guild Wars 2 were raving about. The 'gating' is now moderate, and it doesn't really impede my game-play.

    Overall, I really am satisfied with my purchase - I hope that will allay some of your concerns.    … Expand
  91. wowrox
    Oct 28, 2015
    0
    This is an example of an expansion done wrong. A business model that is displeasing to the customers and provides the players with the type of content that we want. It would have been nice if it included build templates but they said that will come soon.
  92. Sk1ppeR
    Oct 28, 2015
    10
    Arena Net are stemming professionalism with this expansion and personally I think they just gave an example to the whole industry. In times when every MMO launch, expansion or not, is faced with mile long queues, lags, crashes and disconnects, Arena Net had one of the smoothest launches in gaming history with basically zero downtime. As for the expansion itself, it iterates over everythingArena Net are stemming professionalism with this expansion and personally I think they just gave an example to the whole industry. In times when every MMO launch, expansion or not, is faced with mile long queues, lags, crashes and disconnects, Arena Net had one of the smoothest launches in gaming history with basically zero downtime. As for the expansion itself, it iterates over everything the community has been asking for in the past 3 years. Meaningful progression, new content, new specializations which bring much needed new skills. action camera, guild halls, hard content (the jungle is pretty vile place to be alone at, especially at night *pun intended*) raids and that's just on the PvE side. On the pvp front we got new pvp leagues and a new World vs World borderline map. And seriously, that's not all. There's tons more content, nooks and crannies about this expansion. The expansion is extremely polished. I already have majority of mastery points and have completed the story, nothing appeared to be broken. A lot of hard work went into this expansion, it's not just dust in the face. It's not cash grab. It is by all means an expansion to the game. In conclusion, I'm a person who values their, sadly limited, free time. But I do not regret spending every free second of it in the Heart of Thorns expansion. And in the this is what matters to most people. It's fun, it's relaxing and there's always something to do. Arena Net deserves a massive tap on the back for this expansion.… Expand
  93. lecramstar
    Oct 28, 2015
    10
    Guild Wars 2 Heart of Thorns features:
    - An awesome new profession which feels like a throwback to Guild Wars 1 - The Revenant
    - 4 Huge explorable maps
    - Unique mastering which gives the player solid endgame content
    - Guild Halls
    - And much more

    Must buy if you like the base game.
  94. thatfool
    Oct 28, 2015
    9
    Very solid expansion with new mechanics, a new profession, and new horizontal progression on level 80. I'd give it more points but some of the bugs are downright embarrassing, if not particularly problematic, and show a serious lack of QA (e.g. the new profession not showing up as an option on the trading post... not an actual problem, but one of many examples that show their QA doesn'tVery solid expansion with new mechanics, a new profession, and new horizontal progression on level 80. I'd give it more points but some of the bugs are downright embarrassing, if not particularly problematic, and show a serious lack of QA (e.g. the new profession not showing up as an option on the trading post... not an actual problem, but one of many examples that show their QA doesn't involve actually playing the game like a normal player).… Expand
  95. DaHunt
    Oct 28, 2015
    10
    An amazing expansion that adds a ton of features even for free to play players. There are not enough hours in a day to do everything I want to do, and I see myself playing this for months as the repeatable content is so rich and rewarding. Definitely delivers its money's worth even compared to games of old.
  96. TheBlankBadge
    Oct 27, 2015
    8
    + Very smooth launch technically. No seriously it's been impressive.
    + Elite Specializations generally add a LOT of fresh playstyles to old classes
    + Revenant is awesome new class, which is quite impressive + The new zones and story are greatly improved from the base game, and the base game wasn't that bad. + The Masteries system is largely a success, adding lots of utility to    + Very smooth launch technically. No seriously it's been impressive.
    + Elite Specializations generally add a LOT of fresh playstyles to old classes
    + Revenant is awesome new class, which is quite impressive
    + The new zones and story are greatly improved from the base game, and the base game wasn't that bad.
    + The Masteries system is largely a success, adding lots of utility to exploring vanilla zones at max level and giving the new zones a welcome "Metroidvania" feel.
    + The revamps to the Guild system are excellent
    + Many minor UI and general game improvements
    + The new content encourages group play
    + Guild Halls rock

    * Stronghold is very "meh." Not bad, not great.
    * Scribe is very "meh" as a crafting discipline, but might not be to you.
    * The new WvW maps seem barren so far.

    - Elites can take a fair amount of time to unlock. Not a horrible amount of time, but a fair amount of time.
    - Unlocking Masteries can be a bit too much of a grind.
    - Encouraging group content is great, but not all groups are equal.
    - The new zones can take a heavy toll on your CPU/GPU. I have a solid mid-range i5 and an R9390 and parts of the new zone drop to 15 fps, with middling settings.
    - Still no build lockers. They really really REALLY should implement those.

    -----------------------

    Overall I'm very pleased with this expansion and with moderate play (1-4 hours a day) feel I've gotten both a lot of value and still have a lot of value to still receive. If you're into f2p GW2 enough to have leveled more than 1 character to 80 and still want more to chew on, the expansion is definitely for you.

    ---------------------------------------------------

    People who want to jump in with both feet without trying GW2 f2p should really try f2p first-- GW2 is great but it's a distinct flavor that doesn't appeal to everyone. HoT is definitely for players who already took a big hunk out of the base game and are looking for more.    … Expand
  97. SwiftZero
    Oct 27, 2015
    8
    The expansion adds a deceptively large amount of content to the game. I've heard many people refer to the content as a grind, but the most accurate description I've seen is that it brings the spirit of Metroidvania to the MMO. Having to move on from the first zone before you can fully complete it might be disheartening to some, but the game has much to offer in each of the subsequentThe expansion adds a deceptively large amount of content to the game. I've heard many people refer to the content as a grind, but the most accurate description I've seen is that it brings the spirit of Metroidvania to the MMO. Having to move on from the first zone before you can fully complete it might be disheartening to some, but the game has much to offer in each of the subsequent zones. As you explore those you will earn plenty of experience to rank up the required Mastery lines to then return and conquer the earlier challenges.

    The developers did a wonderful job on the creation of this expansion. It was worth every penny. I am thoroughly enjoying the scale and variety of the new maps. The new gliding mechanics and mastery system make traversing the waypoint-sparse zones much more fun and encourage you to find new routes of travel.

    The audio and story are simply splendid. I could probably spend hours just gliding around the maps admiring the view and the new tunes.

    All that said, it was not a perfect launch. Some issues with bugs hindered the progress of the player story or game mechanics, and some even had ripples into old content. Most notably was a mishap with the megaserver system that caused many maps to have a sparse amount of players in them over the launch weekend. Responses from the developers have been positive and it is clear they are monitoring the playerbase for feedback.

    That said, I have been playing MMO games for many years and have never seen the launch of an expansion go this smoothly from a technical standpoint. Arenanet truly does a wonderful job of hosting an MMO that has virtually zero downtime and even introduces patches and hotfixes in a very unobtrusive way.

    The expansion might not be for some people, but as a 3-year veteran of Guild Wars 2, I am thoroughly enjoying the time spent in the game. I look forward to exploring the nooks and crannies in all of the new content.    … Expand
  98. Drakortha
    Oct 27, 2015
    9
    I pre-purchased heart of thorns some months ago and I've been having a great time in the Maguuma jungle. it's tough, engaging, but most of all, it feels like my character is progressing past the level 80 point and more. I still need to run through more story missions and explore more than the 2 maps I have so far, but so far the experience has been nothing short of spectacular. Thank youI pre-purchased heart of thorns some months ago and I've been having a great time in the Maguuma jungle. it's tough, engaging, but most of all, it feels like my character is progressing past the level 80 point and more. I still need to run through more story missions and explore more than the 2 maps I have so far, but so far the experience has been nothing short of spectacular. Thank you for the experience!… Expand
  99. chaninxain
    Oct 27, 2015
    10
    I feel Anet has to write a guide on how to launch expansions. No downtime, bug fixes are a daily basis, lots of content.

    - The story has received a major improvement from Living Story 1.
    - Challenging content
    - Lots and lots to do
  100. bob_dobalina
    Oct 27, 2015
    10
    A really excellent expansion. I've only got through the first zone after 3 days so far and I'm rather happy how the game and new systems have played out. That and because of the new collections, the entire world is now relevant as far as GW2's unique (for a MMO) horizontal progression. 10/10
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Awards & Rankings

51
#51 Best PC Game of 2015
10
#10 Most Discussed PC Game of 2015
15
#15 Most Shared PC Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 22 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 22
  3. Negative: 0 out of 22
  1. CD-Action
    Jan 12, 2016
    85
    Heart of Thorns is so good I forgot the flaws that made me lose interest in the original game after my initial delight with it. [13/2015, p.64]
  2. Games Master UK
    Jan 3, 2016
    85
    Not the biggest expansion, but it enhances the best parts of an already magnificent MMO. [Christmas 2015, p.75]
  3. Edge Magazine
    Jan 3, 2016
    80
    In spite of the odd stumble, it's a wonderful journey. [Jan 2016, p.120]
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