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. Itsausername
    Apr 8, 2023
    7
    Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns. I will keep this review short and to the point.
    I would like to rate this higher than I am, Guild Wars 2 overall is a fantastic game with lots of dungeon systems, however I have to put this from my first experience of the expansion. And that is that... It felt somewhat lacking. Maybe, had I played it at release, I would feel differently. But when comparing    Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns. I will keep this review short and to the point.
    I would like to rate this higher than I am, Guild Wars 2 overall is a fantastic game with lots of dungeon systems, however I have to put this from my first experience of the expansion. And that is that... It felt somewhat lacking. Maybe, had I played it at release, I would feel differently. But when comparing it to what came before and what came after, there is a lack of unique feeling gameplay or systems here outside of the glider.
    There are also issues in the difficulty jump between the base game and this expansion and even compared to the newer expansions. And while I enjoyed the increase in challenge after a time, I will admit it was frustrating at the start. And I have had multiple friends quit over this difficulty ramping.
    This expansion is just not friendly for people trying to get into the game.    … Expand
  2. Thaksin
    Apr 12, 2022
    8
    Great MMO game, one of the best and the place is deserved! The content that is added in the new addition clearly belongs to the hardcore, but nevertheless, did not stop being interesting :)
  3. Raizsthorm
    Mar 17, 2022
    8
    Globally the expansion is fun and brings new stuff such as :
    - The glider is a nice addition and drastically change how you approach certain things even on core maps.
    - The new elite specialization can be a pain to get because some Hero points are hard to solo and it's hard to follow people without the flying mounts but it's worth it and bring a new dimension to your class. - The story    Globally the expansion is fun and brings new stuff such as :
    - The glider is a nice addition and drastically change how you approach certain things even on core maps.
    - The new elite specialization can be a pain to get because some Hero points are hard to solo and it's hard to follow people without the flying mounts but it's worth it and bring a new dimension to your class.
    - The story was more engaging that what I expected even if slow at the beginning.
    - The new maps bring new events that are fun but require a few people to successfully complete them and you can easily get lost in their multi-level floors.

    The only thing I did like is how they handle the mastery system. You arrives in these new maps and see could stuff such a vents that brings you up when gliding, speed boost, jumping pad, but too bad you can use them you need to unlock them by farming experience. Some of these mastery are required for the story. So between this and if you want to get a specific mastery such as the infinite gliding you won't unlock many of these "bonus" by the time you're done with the story.

    However seeing how guild wars 2 works you'll probably be back in these maps either with alt or to get new shiny stuff later on so in the long run it may be better than when you first experience the maps and story.    … Expand
  4. TerterBG
    Mar 14, 2022
    10
    Great soundtrack.
    Awesome maps. Lots of verticality.
    Metas are super cool mega events.
    The mastery system that they've added is a great vertical progression.
    The revenant feels very polished.
    The new elite specializations make you play you character like a brand new class.
    Raids are very hard and I love it!
  5. Miyammoto
    Aug 31, 2021
    0
    Guild Wars 2 could be the best game in the world, but there is no Russian localization. Arena net is the most greedy company in the world. They sell the game, they sell skins in the game, but they can't find 3 cents for Russian localization. This is discrimination against the ru-community.
  6. Tenarus
    Apr 22, 2021
    2
    The phrase "never play on patch.-day" never fitted any game better then guild wars 2. Well and from patch-day I went to patch-week to patch-month, because not only are patches released incredibly buggy - they stay bugged for SEVERAL months if not years.
    Overall the storytelling is ok-ish. I've seen better, I've seen worse.
    The quality of the patches got worse and worse with every    The phrase "never play on patch.-day" never fitted any game better then guild wars 2. Well and from patch-day I went to patch-week to patch-month, because not only are patches released incredibly buggy - they stay bugged for SEVERAL months if not years.
    Overall the storytelling is ok-ish. I've seen better, I've seen worse.
    The quality of the patches got worse and worse with every release. The content feels like the same thing over and over again. Most things you do ingame are not rewarding at all. For players that spend a longer time ingame there is simply not enough to do. What do I mean by that? Let me tell you what my playtime looks like: Mondays I jump in the game, just to do the weekly raid reclears in like 2 hours (raids, that have been in the game for years. The release of the last raidwing is more than a year ago...) Some evenings I do a quick fractal run which cant keep my group entertained for more than 30 minutes. Farming at this point is pointless - you cant progress gear and I dont want to build duplicate legendaries. But Arenanet stated - against what players want - that there will be no more dungeons and as far as I know no more raids. Content draught which gets me to stop playing.

    And lastly the cashshop: What started off as some nice cosmetic rewards got a dump of putting new stuff in every other week just to earn more and more money. This isnt bad in itself, but selling CHAIRS? The shop got quite ridicculous...

    TL;DR So all in all: A game that started off good a while ago, but cant deliver any content that keeps you playing. To top all of this off the content that is currently in the game is severely bugged. Content in the game keeps you doing stuff for max ~4h/week if you clear all of it.    … Expand
  7. Torgall
    Dec 12, 2020
    8
    The most complex and often annoying maps in the game. The step up in difficulty is very noticeable. Gliders where nice change, but after POF are mostly obsolete. BEVARE the tiny raports.
  8. kimi1775
    Nov 9, 2020
    9
    ‏‏‎ ‏‏‎ ‏‏‎ ‏‏‎ ‏‏‎ ‏‏‎ ‏‏‎ ‏‏‎ ‏‏‎ ‏‏‎ ‏‏‎ ‏‏‎ ‏‏‎ ‏‏‎ ‏‏‎ ‏‏‎
  9. LiveSpartan235
    Oct 21, 2020
    7
    Nice expansion pack after some updates and the devs committing to finding it footing
  10. Angenix
    Sep 7, 2020
    10
    Loved map design. Meta events are the best of entire game. Cool elite specs.
  11. FennecFeathers
    Sep 1, 2020
    9
    Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns innovates on everything you might think of when you hear MMORPG. The core game was innovative for the time, but HoT takes it to an entirely new level. Despite a few growing pains in the first month or two of launch regarding balance and community reaction to the time investment in gaining new elite specs (something I never thought was egregious or over theGuild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns innovates on everything you might think of when you hear MMORPG. The core game was innovative for the time, but HoT takes it to an entirely new level. Despite a few growing pains in the first month or two of launch regarding balance and community reaction to the time investment in gaining new elite specs (something I never thought was egregious or over the top anyway) - it adds many new features that enhance your gameplay experience and a unique horizontal progression curve for your character, so you're never in the traditional MMO rat race of constantly power creeping.

    First; the Mastery System. This is the primary feature of the MMO and introduces a form of horizontal progression - focusing less on power creep and more on simply offering a plethora of options to enhance gameplay, which really suits the feel of mastering the Maguuma Jungle. While at the start of the expansion you have to slowly push your way through a threatening and hostile jungle environment, by the end of its story you're already gliding through the air and utilising the tunnels of the new Nuhoch NPCs to cross it in no time with an adeptness that would make anyone feel badass.

    Secondly, Elite Specialisations; These are trainable specialisations for your character class that add a new weapon, a new trait line and a handful of more utility skills. The difference between a core thief and a daredevil in terms of how they feel to play is night and day, and broaden the amount of builds any class could go for. With some very slick new animations and some creative new ideas, the feeling of choosing a new elite spec is almost like changing class entirely but managing to do it without a steep learning curve.

    The Maps in HoT are incredibly detailed and diverse, and extremely vertical - making those masteries a necessity to traverse them safely. A handful of new, huge, cinematic meta events go a long way to making these maps endlessly replayable.

    Raids; A bit of a tough subject for a lot of the more casual players, who may see raids as a gate to some of the best, coolest rewards and some of the most interesting storytelling of the series. The wings added with Heart of thorns are tough as nails and require perfect group communication and synchronisation. Without the power creep of some other MMOs thrown into the mix, they'll never stop being as tough as they are unless you simply learn them inside and out - the way raiding should be!

    Overall, Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns is a fantastic first expansion that had a very smooth launch compared to other MMOs' expansion launches (in EU, where I am situated. I cannot speak for NA). It innovates in new, unseen ways for the MMORPG genre and adds a great deal of content and rewards for everyone - especially the masteries which can be used anywhere in the core game or other expansions, greatly changing the way you see and move around old maps.    … Expand
  12. Chababa
    Jul 1, 2020
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. New environment and well...if my memory serves me right, beloved character(s) die. I still cared for the characters and the story.… Expand
  13. nemoo
    Feb 13, 2020
    0
    Dont play this game if you want a support team that cares for you, got 20000 gold taken away and when i showed them how i got the gold they just stopped responding to my emails really lazy support
  14. brightwish
    May 8, 2019
    3
    The gliders were a nice addition, but the multi height levels made the maps too difficult to navigate.
  15. TIZ
    May 30, 2018
    7
    HoT at release was an infuriating and agonizing experience. It takes some getting use to as it is very different from the base game, which I had gotten use to by the time the expansion came out. Once HoT came out I wasn't a big fan of the new maps (even if they did look amazing and much prettier than the base game). I struggled, like many veteran and new players to really get stuck intoHoT at release was an infuriating and agonizing experience. It takes some getting use to as it is very different from the base game, which I had gotten use to by the time the expansion came out. Once HoT came out I wasn't a big fan of the new maps (even if they did look amazing and much prettier than the base game). I struggled, like many veteran and new players to really get stuck into HoT content. Eventually I managed to 'learn' to like it and even love it. My god I loved gliding!!!
    It is important to note that I only started loving it after I had almost all the masteries unlocked for HoT. I'm not sure this is what the devs wanted when they made HoT...
    I would rate this expansion a 7/10. If I had to be biased I would give it an 8/10 but I'm trying to be realistic.    … Expand
  16. em4o0
    Mar 5, 2018
    5
    A, Heart of Thorns, so aptly named. It has quite become a thorn in my sight and a genuine heartache.

    I became a fan of the franchise way back when 1 came out and since then I have played all expansions (with Nightfall being my favourite). Alas, HoT cannot claim such greatness. The game introduces 4 new maps to a rather large plethora of pre-existing territories, however, the new    A, Heart of Thorns, so aptly named. It has quite become a thorn in my sight and a genuine heartache.

    I became a fan of the franchise way back when 1 came out and since then I have played all expansions (with Nightfall being my favourite). Alas, HoT cannot claim such greatness.

    The game introduces 4 new maps to a rather large plethora of pre-existing territories, however, the new additions are noticeably larger in scale. Even better, there is now comprehensive exploration to be had on the vertical axis and, unlike some other games, it is not limited to flying mounts, but is instead full-fledged exploration. The map is no help as it does a poor job of denoting heights, yet, I found this pretty exciting and the explorer in me actually got some (admittedly, masochistic) pleasure. I would also be remiss not to compliment the design of the maps, as they are visually stunning.

    Populating the new maps are a set of new creatures, which are noticeably more challenging to deal with that the ones in core-game territories. Sadly their difficulty stems from buffed health and damage (in fact, some can oneshot characters). There are no enemies with interesting or unique mechanics, not even bosses. The overall creature design is thematic - from raptors to pumas to various cretins covered in tendrils, if predictable and uninspired. The elite enemies are, once again, just larger versions of regular ones, which is a bit disappointing (especially considering the overall low number of introduced monsters).

    Main centrepiece of the remains the typical "saviour" trope - you are the one and only hero (which glaringly contrast with the almost exclusively group content of the maps). Of course, this does nothing for immersion... or suspension of disbelief. Admittedly this is a problem that trickles down from the original game. Although clichés are abound, it is in general better that the core game. Voice acting is decent enough, but it is a MMO - don't expect miracles.

    The core gameplay mechanic in the new expansion are the so-called metaevents - essentially a tier type event comprised several smaller events that must be completed in order to reach an end boss. These are not only map-wide, but are spread out around the entire mar, and require the cooperation of a large number of players to be successfully completed... in a game with no effective or efficient method of communication between random players. It is fair to say these require all the stars to align perfectly. That is if you have enough players to begin with. Admittedly there does seem to be a level of adjustment for the number of characters currently on the map, but anything under 11-12 is simply not feasible (and even that's a stretch). Additionally, if certain conditions are met new smaller events will become available. They are nothing new though, being similiar in nature to the events from the core game maps.

    But that is, if you can even get to these in the first place... That's right the new "horizontal progression system," aka masteries. In essence those function in a similar way to regular levelling - collect (a lot of) XP to unlock skills. These skills are unique to each separate area (HoT and Central Tyria, the core territories). These are quite important as they literally limit your ability to explore the maps and participate in events, making it all the more annoying that they are "locked" behind a grind wall. And if that's not enough, they are required for story progression and raids. And remember - the only way to get HoT relevant XP is through the endlessly repeatable metaevents. Which leads to the next required skill, which costs even more XP. Which leads to playing even more metaevents. A magic circle, or rather - trap. Who thought this is a good idea?

    And last, but certainly not least - the new elite specialisations. Right of the bat, they are also safely put away behind a rather considerable hero point barrier. Hero points are now obtained in chunks of 10 (mostly) by beating an elite mob, which always requires a group of players (or a talented pro, I suppose). In reality, this is likely to be a long and arduous process, probably not completed before you have already finished the vast majority of the story. The new specialisations are a lot of fun though and definitely worth it. They also add more variety to class playstyles, granted that was not terribly necessary, as plenty options were already available. Still, as Dolly Parton said - "...more is more." and I do so find it to be wise remark.

    Overall, the expansion takes a very sharp turn from an (in my opinion) already winning formula... and fails. The new areas are beautiful and big, but ironically devoid of content - you will be stuck repeating the same chain of events ad nauseum. Allowing the developers to pad the content by introducing, what amounts to, "time gates" is a dangerous precedent (and has honestly shaken what belief I had in ArenaNet).    … Expand
  17. Foxtina
    Jan 8, 2018
    7
    Fun expansion but I have found news maps to be very confusing and messy. Other than that it's great.
  18. ShinGlacier
    Dec 1, 2017
    0
    The game has a lot of potential, but ANet doesn't care about the players, they are more interested in their money instead.

    The game evolved since launch, that's true, but at quite a slow pace. The expansion stories were a lot shorter than the main one and a lot more convoluted. The new classes that were added with the expansions are a bit of a fresh air, but ANet doesn't know how    The game has a lot of potential, but ANet doesn't care about the players, they are more interested in their money instead.

    The game evolved since launch, that's true, but at quite a slow pace.

    The expansion stories were a lot shorter than the main one and a lot more convoluted.

    The new classes that were added with the expansions are a bit of a fresh air, but ANet doesn't know how to make them fit in the different aspects of the game (PVP, PVE, Raids).

    Spellbreaker from the last expansion doens't have a place in Raids, as an example. Scourge was so nerfed that it lost it's place in any raid for more than 3 months.

    ANet doesn't seem to test what they do and then it takes 2+ months for them to fix it.

    Classes are absurdly unbalanced in PVP, you can take an overpowered one and simply cheese you way to the top tiers.

    End game content (I include making new Legendary items, high level Fractals and Raid Wings in this category) are slow, very slow to come out. We had to wait 6 months for a new raid wing (had 4 before that), and ONE YEAR for 01 new fractal level. That is RIDICULOUS.
    The new legendary items are lackluster. As an example the new rifle and shield are simply garbage when compared to the previous ones. The medium legendary armor look absurdly crap, when compared with it's heavy and light counterparts.

    Now they decided and go heavy with the lootbox system. It was ALREADY present in the game, with Black Lion Chests, but now they decided to introduce Random Mounts for a price. When they are not random, which are 2 atm, they are extremely overpriced.

    Oh, and I forgot to mention that they slyly changed most of their servers to Amazon ones, giving most of their player base worse pings, while a minority ended up getting better pings, and they don't even acknowledge that.

    So yeah, that's it I guess. A game with potential, but huddled together with a greedy, lazy management.    … Expand
  19. bthomas
    Oct 8, 2017
    6
    The only significantly positive change brought by HoT is the specialization system for each class, which can make your playstyle vary drastically.

    The masteries systems are good on principle, but tying them to what I believe to be an exaggerated amount of experience can lead to a frustratingly tiresome grind-fest. Although the meta event chains can be entertaining, maps like Tangled    The only significantly positive change brought by HoT is the specialization system for each class, which can make your playstyle vary drastically.

    The masteries systems are good on principle, but tying them to what I believe to be an exaggerated amount of experience can lead to a frustratingly tiresome grind-fest.

    Although the meta event chains can be entertaining, maps like Tangled Depths are a a plain nightmare to navigate. Get in and get out.    … Expand
  20. TicTacTaco
    Sep 24, 2017
    7
    When I first heard that Heart of Thorns would only have four maps, I was pretty skeptical of how much content there would be. Having played a good amount of each map, I can honestly say that there's a ton to do. These maps are huge, beautiful, and probably the most fun to travel in the entire game. People will say that you need to grin to unlock certain things, but this is simply notWhen I first heard that Heart of Thorns would only have four maps, I was pretty skeptical of how much content there would be. Having played a good amount of each map, I can honestly say that there's a ton to do. These maps are huge, beautiful, and probably the most fun to travel in the entire game. People will say that you need to grin to unlock certain things, but this is simply not accurate. Sure, you CAN grind the same events over and over, but that's on you. There's so much to do that you really only have yourself to blame if you're just sticking to on area.

    I will say, I can understand people's frustration with not being able to play their Elite Specialization for quite some time. However, this is part of the endgame progression. It's just a shame that some of the specs are much worse without their traits than others.

    The story is a vast improvement over the base game's though still pretty bad.    … Expand
  21. Blanel
    Aug 11, 2017
    7
    A Meh expansion to a solid game.

    The new zones are very big and artistically beautiful. The story is good, not great, but good. The new monsters and challenges you face will actually put up a fight sometimes, but at other times its the same old steam roll. Gliding is pretty cool.

    If you like Guild Wars 2 (which is Free to Play, so just check it out), you might want to buy this expansion.
  22. alceste007
    Jul 30, 2017
    3
    I used to love GW2 until HoT came out. The maps are horrible for casual players. The maps feel like they were designed for players in ascended / legendary gear. Bottle necks that artificially restrict movement through the maps based on mastery while giving daily objectives that you cannot even reach out. For casual players I just recommend moving to different game.
  23. furyunleashed
    Jun 22, 2017
    2
    Be aware. Depending on what you look for in a mmorpg, this game does not have a lot to offer. It is also arguable NOT an P2W-mmo, but I would beg to differ. EVERYTHING remotely advantegous for your character/account, you have to pay. More space? Pay. Rent armor. Rent weapons. Rent, rent, rent. There are even passes for areas in the cities which has all the necessary vendors combined, andBe aware. Depending on what you look for in a mmorpg, this game does not have a lot to offer. It is also arguable NOT an P2W-mmo, but I would beg to differ. EVERYTHING remotely advantegous for your character/account, you have to pay. More space? Pay. Rent armor. Rent weapons. Rent, rent, rent. There are even passes for areas in the cities which has all the necessary vendors combined, and guess what? You have to RENT that space too. And if you are looking for a PvP-experience, this is not the game for you. You have 6 attacks/skills to play with, rest are buffs/self-healing. For 10 attacks, you can swap with secondary weapon.

    The only thing which has some entertainment-value is the world-events. Bosses spawn, and many player gather around to kill it, though it's mostly just dpsing, dying, getting ressed, rince and repeat.

    Gw2 has few 'moments', and is much less than it gives itself out for.
    97 hours of playtime (with lvl 80).    … Expand
  24. Bulmarth
    Apr 24, 2017
    1
    First $50 for an "expansion", to me it's something that could be added on a patch but not in an EXPANSION. Elite specialization now beat core specs, and you need them in order to compete in PvP or WvW. They added viper gear wich is mandatory for condition build and you only get the mats in HoT zones, so if you are F2P or had the core game only you are on a huge disadvantage.

    The other    First $50 for an "expansion", to me it's something that could be added on a patch but not in an EXPANSION. Elite specialization now beat core specs, and you need them in order to compete in PvP or WvW. They added viper gear wich is mandatory for condition build and you only get the mats in HoT zones, so if you are F2P or had the core game only you are on a huge disadvantage.

    The other thing is that ANet promised a lot of things and didn't deliver nothing of it, like new legendaries or even more they told that elite spec would be a "side grade" or an alternative way to play each class, but it ended up been a "power creep" and being a upgrade of the classes, just look reaper and chronomancer.    … Expand
  25. Cell1e
    Apr 4, 2017
    7
    Much improved since I last reviewed this expansion, there are a lot more players in the four new maps, all except for Dragons stand, which is pretty ridiculous in how it works.

    I am now enjoying my visits to the new maps. So well done to GW2 team for the great improvements,
  26. buranya
    Mar 24, 2017
    7
    HoT is in some ways a rebuild of Guild Wars 2. It adds a lot of content to the main game, new areas, new bosses and dungeons. It contains all that we expect from an expansion. But, and there's always one but, it is too expensive for what it gives. If you had already bought Guild Wars 2, HoT will cost you exactly the same as a completely new player, as it gives you the main game with theHoT is in some ways a rebuild of Guild Wars 2. It adds a lot of content to the main game, new areas, new bosses and dungeons. It contains all that we expect from an expansion. But, and there's always one but, it is too expensive for what it gives. If you had already bought Guild Wars 2, HoT will cost you exactly the same as a completely new player, as it gives you the main game with the buy.

    But, trying to focus on the expansion itself, it adds a lot of hours of fun. Also improves the living world, and the new dungeons can be a big deal to treat with. Graphically it keeps the same aspect as the original game. The new areas are full of quests, every area contains it's own coin, that lets you buy some materials, armors and weapons. The new dungeons gives you the chance to face probably some of the hardest bosses in the game.

    And, ANet kept the expansion going further on the storyline. It doesn't finish with the fight against Mordremoth, but there are new living world quests. There are also new Legendary weapons coming out.

    One of the bad aspects of it is that it doesn't keep the community playing commonly. GW2 had that issue: you can play it during 4 months but, given the time, you stop playing it, because you lost the intention to obtain things, you already got all you wished, etc. And HoT has exactly the same problem.

    Given those aspects this is why i decide to score it with a 7. HoT adds content, new story, dungeons, weapons and maps. It also adds some classes making the game more open to customization of characters. But, it isn't worth 50€ if you aren't a new player or you intent to give it a lot of hours (old player). If you know that you will, don't doubt buying it; it is made for you. But, if you're closer to a casual gamer, forget about this buy.    … Expand
  27. zaftgun
    Jan 23, 2017
    0
    if this game is worth a 10 in some eyes, then it is definitely a 0 in some eyes too and all those with bs marketing like language that's not worth the paper its printed on.

    1. Everything including the main story locked behind exp grind with almost no new content to back it up. You play the old content to grind exp. The new maps are small, very very few events repeat themselves at very    if this game is worth a 10 in some eyes, then it is definitely a 0 in some eyes too and all those with bs marketing like language that's not worth the paper its printed on.

    1. Everything including the main story locked behind exp grind with almost no new content to back it up. You play the old content to grind exp. The new maps are small, very very few events repeat themselves at very short intervals over and over. Merchants in each area require tokens from that specific map available only through grinding those few events.

    2. Expansion skills adds a huge damage spike and are way more effective than almost all pre-expansion skills. If you dont have the expansion then you are no where near as effective as you can be. There are also almost no non-expansion players. Essentially, if you dont have the expansion you might as well not play.

    3. The story is terrible, and very poorly made. I dont think I can recall anything worse.

    4. There are so many garbage items that serves almost no purpose or require so much grind and additional resource to make use of its just not worth the trouble unless you've got absolutely nothing to do. To top it off they make them and so many other things account bound. There's so much garbage that a 5 20 slot bags arent enough.

    5. After 5 years of guild wars 2 build template still not done. For some reason they thought they can send me an email before heart of the thorns release saying build templates is coming. As it stands its still not there. There's no weapon and armor sets switch option, so many redundant clicks to open bags, click through confirmations and so many more that is just so much pain.

    No where near any of the quality of guild wars 1 expansions. Utter garbage that is infuriating to experience. I want a refund.    … Expand
  28. whatever523
    Dec 19, 2016
    8
    + New maps with a fantastic map design and good event chains.
    + Great vertical gameplay with gliders that really adds a lot to the maps.
    + Good sub classes. + The new masteries are good, with a few very bad exceptions. See below. = The story is more grown up, characters act less childish. It starts off good, but the ending is a bit uninspired and boring. It doesn't feel like a story    + New maps with a fantastic map design and good event chains.
    + Great vertical gameplay with gliders that really adds a lot to the maps.
    + Good sub classes.
    + The new masteries are good, with a few very bad exceptions. See below.

    = The story is more grown up, characters act less childish. It starts off good, but the ending is a bit uninspired and boring. It doesn't feel like a story that was crafted from great ideas, but from a writer who gets paid for it. The living world season 3 story seems to get better again so far.

    - Missions and achievements are still bugged a year after release. Companies that don't fix bugs suck.
    - The central Tyria mastery points are a pain in the ass to get. I'm not complaining about the time it takes, but it becomes boring and annoying (jumping puzzles, waiting for WEEKS for monsters to spawn, buying items with gold [how is that a mastery?], farming the same area for days/weeks).
    - Still no guild wars in Guild Wars 2.
    - Too many items in the gem store that should be available through normal gameplay.
    - Gold to gem conversion prices are out of control.
    - Too many trash drops and no good way to deal with them (Bloodstone Dust etc.). After every run you need to destroy all unsellable items manually.    … Expand
  29. Alistairas
    Dec 5, 2016
    10
    Ok so first off for those that enjoy WoW and other grind fests please find another game. For those that enjoy a game where one can mindlessly kill mobs for an hour and feel like they did something you will not enjoy this. GW2 is in my opinion one of the most different mmos I have come across. First off leveling is in no way tedious I have made 6 characters for GW2 and never have I thoughtOk so first off for those that enjoy WoW and other grind fests please find another game. For those that enjoy a game where one can mindlessly kill mobs for an hour and feel like they did something you will not enjoy this. GW2 is in my opinion one of the most different mmos I have come across. First off leveling is in no way tedious I have made 6 characters for GW2 and never have I thought what I was doing could be considered boring. GW2 is a game that in my opinion most anyone should try at the very least just so they can see a different style of mmo, however that being said I am aware that there are those poor souls who will claim the game is bad. I looked through many of the negative comments for both GW2 and HoT I cannot agree with any of them in any way. Every class feels very different once you truly start playing abilities have very different animations and effects. What other games can say that they have a spell-caster who shoots laser beams out of a great-sword. I'll grant it that many of the skills seem "simple" howver that is because GW2 is not a game that wants players to spend hours trying to figure out what each and every skill does, when to chain it to another and why this one iss better than another. GW2 is a game that gives you a small selection of skills and says make your own style sure it will be somewhat similar on paper to another person's but how you play is up to you and HoT is a great example of that I main a daredevil running around dodging like crazy and murdering every enemy i find in 80% dps gear with a bit of extra health because i'm a filthy casual and occasionally sit in an aoe i shouldn't and would rather not die/ So for those that claim you can't live in HoT without being a tank i call BS. You think Open World HoT is dangerous try doing a raid those things are scary. GW2 is not a game that says hey you played for 2 hours today have a cookie, its a game where you say i want 250 elder wood planks for my legendary collection not because i need it but rather because chuka and chumpawaut looks amazing on my character. Being lv 80 in gw2 is nothing impressive. What you do afterwards is what matters whether that means map completing the world and learning every piece of lore or becoming a salty scrub in PvP because people are idiots that don't know how to capture a point or building a great sword that paints the sky and leaves galaxies in your footprints your time is your own the devs don't tell you how to use it and if you find yourself bored with the game thats fine go search for your hidden gem elsewhere GW2 will be here when you realize that there are not all that many games that have a solid world with an interesting story that so often seems to have some random tidbit missing waiting to be discovered and a reliable combat system that keeps you on your toes. Sure you could play WoW or Tera but if your looking for a new game to play try something new don't look for something you already have and aren't satisfied with. I would give this game a 9/10 simply because while i believe it is one of the best games out there when it comes to MMOs I will admit i find myself looking at other games sometimes however i have yet to find another mmo that i have devoted even half as much time to. Also for those who may try to claim this game is p2w I again call BS the closest thing to p2w is pay for convenience. I have some ascended armor on my thief acquired purely through crafting. Was it a pain sure but there was no reason to spend money to buy the gold i needed to craft the armor especially since i have perfectly usable exotic armor that was pathetically easy to get when i first got to lv 80 and while i am trying to get a legendary short-bow its not going to increase my dps or survivabilty one bit. I just want it for the simple fact that it looks awesome. the most expensive items on the trading post are legendary weapons and color dyes if you can somehow find a way to "win" gw2 congrats your a try hard in a game of casuals. The vast majority of people in gw2 are chill and more often than not will help someone because they feel like it and they might get some decent loot from the whole ordeal maybe karma will say they deserve an ascended armor box or a cool skin they hadn't found yet. I think i have rambled enough today and will leave with a simple request. When trying out gw2 forget the customs of other MMOs do things because its fun not because its the fastest way to your goal. The fun is in the shenanigans along the way. Make a Necromancer that looks like a butler or try to make a charr look fashionable be a fire tornado or run round as a rat thing dropping turrets because your character makes interesting remarks. Have fun with the game and ignore the people who can't get past the traditional MMO garbage that we in GW2 have left behind.… Expand
  30. ltmiroku
    Nov 13, 2016
    4
    the add on does in fact plenty of nice features. but my biggest turn off to this add on has got to be how you are playing the Exact same style of boss monster. when you start the game the first was about a Dragon that rises the dead and controls an army, the next story is about a dragon that raises plant characters that he controls. the dead were once living but controlled, thethe add on does in fact plenty of nice features. but my biggest turn off to this add on has got to be how you are playing the Exact same style of boss monster. when you start the game the first was about a Dragon that rises the dead and controls an army, the next story is about a dragon that raises plant characters that he controls. the dead were once living but controlled, the plants can be of created or a controlled race. The creativity here is Terrible to say the least!!

    Lets not forget the new zones will kill you, i just don't mean you picked a paper class death. i mean dear god you can have high defense and feel as if you are a paper class character. the damage is just to high! and the monsters use plenty of pulls, knockdowns and anything to kill you as often as they can its not creative!

    the maps themselves are very hard and is very confusing at times that you might get lost or frustrated that these high damaging monsters are making it hard to figure out where your at!

    Cash Shops seem to been on the rise with the add on as well, seems if you want another character slot it is 10$ per slot! sound fair to you? i felt ripped off! personally!

    I'm uncertain what Anet was thinking with this add on, but they certainly have created a mess :(    … Expand
  31. MasterMangoose
    Oct 11, 2016
    0
    Used to be the game you could play how you wanted to get the gear you wanted. Now caters to the WoW exodus and has lost it's way by giving in to the elitist who have segregated a formerly good community in to the "leets" and the "git guds". Raids, eSports, and whiners who forgot they were playing an MMO wanting the content to be increasingly more challenging have ruined a good thing.Used to be the game you could play how you wanted to get the gear you wanted. Now caters to the WoW exodus and has lost it's way by giving in to the elitist who have segregated a formerly good community in to the "leets" and the "git guds". Raids, eSports, and whiners who forgot they were playing an MMO wanting the content to be increasingly more challenging have ruined a good thing. The expansion was a joke and instead of fixing the problem They move forward to the promise of the next expansion. The game itself is horribly optimized, only works well on certain CPUs and GPUs, and is constantly bugged. There are serious game breaking bugs that have been left to be suffered through since the games release four years ago.

    More so to the expansion in general is that we were completely lied to as to what we would receive after we paid for it. Much of the new content was hidden behind raids which we were promised wouldn't be required to play the game. However it is if you want the top tier armor which was to come with the expansion. (which hasn't been released even a year after the expansion came out)    … Expand
  32. Lluvia4D
    Sep 11, 2016
    10
    welcome to the jungle, guys. My initial impressions with this xpac have been outstanding. I played for practically two days straight, and had a blast the whole time. The maps are amazing, and literally rise above any map made by an mmo to date. I feel as if I am deep in the jungle. The ambience and soundtrack range from mystical hymns to terrifying growls that echo throughout the forest.welcome to the jungle, guys. My initial impressions with this xpac have been outstanding. I played for practically two days straight, and had a blast the whole time. The maps are amazing, and literally rise above any map made by an mmo to date. I feel as if I am deep in the jungle. The ambience and soundtrack range from mystical hymns to terrifying growls that echo throughout the forest. As I gain masteries, I constantly find new places to go.

    On that note, the masteries work very well. I can see how some people want the process to go quicker, but I don't mind it. I don't want to see it all in one day. Right now, the easiest way to level masteries is by completing the meta events in the map. These are really fun and unique, but they require a good amount of people to do them. If your map isn't that populated, its frustrating, but I feel this is a problem Arenanet will fix. Additionally, I know that the meta events are repetitive, and this will turn me off down the line.

    My only other gripe with the xpac is how grindy the process of unlocking your elite specilization is. Simply put, it's too much. Anet has already stated they're looking into the issue, so I'm not too worried about this either.

    The story isn't amazing, but in terms of Guild Wars standards, it is a huge leap forward. There are plot twists, deaths, and dramatic situations, something I haven't seen tried before. This was the first time I looked forward to continuing the story in this game. I got excited during each mission.

    Overall, Heart of Thorns has held its ground. It introduced a whole new way to expand an mmo. The content doesn't seem like it will be abandoned soon, as it is in other games, and the vanilla game still proves to be relevant. They nailed so many things, and got a few things wrong, but it still gets a 9/10 from me. As I have stated, Arenanet has already announced they're looking into changes to the problems I have mentioned, so I'm not worrying too much about those hurting the game's growth. Check it out if you haven't already. Ignore the trolls.    … Expand
  33. Ellthan
    Aug 26, 2016
    0
    I just paid 40 **** bucks for this game.

    Upon installing and logging in for the first time I was immediately banned for gold selling before I even got to play the game.

    I don't even know what gold selling is.
  34. Basedshitposter
    Aug 12, 2016
    0
    Many things advertised in the expansion delayed for over a year or didnt come out/canceled completely. Long drought of content updates. Game was better Pre HoT.
  35. RedCombLP
    Jul 8, 2016
    0
    HoT expansion turned this once fine game into a p2w gear grind. WvW now is totally unbalanced (power creep of HoT classes against old classes is unforgivable). It's clear the devs want to funnel everybody into buying HoT, so if you are an old player who prefers to play older classes, you will be left out in the cold. Worse still, many of the HoT features like the guild hall took away a lotHoT expansion turned this once fine game into a p2w gear grind. WvW now is totally unbalanced (power creep of HoT classes against old classes is unforgivable). It's clear the devs want to funnel everybody into buying HoT, so if you are an old player who prefers to play older classes, you will be left out in the cold. Worse still, many of the HoT features like the guild hall took away a lot of hard work previously completed by guilds, and if you aren't a HoT player, you have no real access to any of the stuff in the guild hall (sure, you can go there and look around, but none of the NPCs will actually let you do anything unless you buy HoT). It's clear Anet doesn't care about older players who don't like pve content and don't appreciate how OP and unbalanced all of the new classes/elite specs are. We don't make them money so they gave us the bird. Hope all the p2w people who love pve gear treadmills enjoy, because I'm done.… Expand
  36. OldGamer99
    Jul 4, 2016
    5
    GW2 and HoT have a lot going for it- a fairly action-y combat system (though not as quick as more recent games), great visuals. But with HoT, many of the things that made GW2 great were broken. I used to be able to move between PVE, WvW, sPVP, achievement hunting, and the occasional instance as my mood struck.

    With current rewards (which are still nerfed for all but the new content),    GW2 and HoT have a lot going for it- a fairly action-y combat system (though not as quick as more recent games), great visuals. But with HoT, many of the things that made GW2 great were broken. I used to be able to move between PVE, WvW, sPVP, achievement hunting, and the occasional instance as my mood struck.

    With current rewards (which are still nerfed for all but the new content), and so much of the new content requiring masteries and time gates, the game has losts its appeal. Login went from "what seems fun today" to "I'm only really enjoying sPvP but I need a break even from that".

    I'm a 'steady casual' player: spend a lot of time in-game, spend money in my current games of choice, have moments of decent pvp play but not a great pvp-er, am helpful to other players, like exploring and getting new skins and titles as much as anything else.

    HoT fails on most of the things I like. The mini-games are annoying and seemed designed only to distract me from the fact that there is not that much new content. There are almost no new skins, and what there is ugly (like the gear made out of wreckage- interesting concept if it was part of a much larger offering, kind of weak as one of 3-4 new sets).

    Anet also seems to have made the decision to only spend its dev effort on outfits and black lion weapons, rather than the old armor skins that could be mixed and matched. I much prefer the latter but would tolerate the skins if they weren't cash shop only (technically the blacklion skins aren't cash shop but grinding keys is not practical so you need to buy keys for tickets for skins.)

    It's all rather disappointing. The best analogy I can think of is they had a nicely running jeweled mechanical watch and they threw sand in the gears. They can completely rebuild the watch or pick out the grains of sand one by one but either path is slow.

    The old lead dev responsible for the mess has moved on (great job earlier but I think he lost his way with most recent release) and the company says they are trying to fix things. I have fond memories of the game and will keep an eye on it in hopes that they do but my expectations are low.    … Expand
  37. themangoose
    Jun 14, 2016
    0
    Not worth the money. They sold us a box of promises, but when we opened it there were only likes. Half of what was promised with the expansion has been cancelled in lieu of more gemstore updates. Raids ruined the game as the only way to get top armor gear now is behind only one game mode. The game has chanced and you're going to hate the community now. They sold out to make all ofNot worth the money. They sold us a box of promises, but when we opened it there were only likes. Half of what was promised with the expansion has been cancelled in lieu of more gemstore updates. Raids ruined the game as the only way to get top armor gear now is behind only one game mode. The game has chanced and you're going to hate the community now. They sold out to make all of the WoW transfers happy. WvW is a joke and they promote match fixing.… Expand
  38. johnyboy420
    May 31, 2016
    0
    this Xpac is a waste of money plain and simple!

    only real reason i got HOT waz for the claimed PVP matchmaker that waz released late and is 100X worse then Mechwarrior:online's matchmaker......LOL thats saying alot (-_-) then WvW new cliff fall simulator that is EZ'er then hell too get lost in and has tons of broken PVE in it only now too get thrown away and bring back the old    this Xpac is a waste of money plain and simple!

    only real reason i got HOT waz for the claimed PVP matchmaker that waz released late and is 100X worse then Mechwarrior:online's matchmaker......LOL thats saying alot (-_-)

    then WvW new cliff fall simulator that is EZ'er then hell too get lost in and has tons of broken PVE in it
    only now too get thrown away and bring back the old map's.....lawl too bad this Xpac killed my server RIP

    i give this Xpac a zero for giving me **** all but making me more toxic and not giving me a descent MatchMaker, for a PVP RPG lover this game is trash now not worth the 50 bucks even if they give you a Free 80 too start your game    … Expand
  39. DanteYoda
    May 8, 2016
    2
    Guildwars 2 is no longer for casual players, you enjoy solo play this expansion is not for you..The game has completely forgotten its values of when it was released, everything they stood for is gone.

    What do you have to look forward to in Heart of Thorns Mind numbing difficult, what ever happened to fun enjoyable game play?, nope the hardcore cancer that is infecting a lot of games    Guildwars 2 is no longer for casual players, you enjoy solo play this expansion is not for you..The game has completely forgotten its values of when it was released, everything they stood for is gone.

    What do you have to look forward to in Heart of Thorns

    Mind numbing difficult, what ever happened to fun enjoyable game play?, nope the hardcore cancer that is infecting a lot of games these days has well and truly got its claws into HoT, to the point of unplayable solo, Arenanet claim they've made it easier but that is completely false.

    Grind - of multiple types, you name its its there, loot grind, exp grind, resources grind, consumables grind, as of writing this i cannot think of a part of HoT that doesn't have horrible grind attached to it.

    Rng - The randomness is mind boggling, everything you'd ever want is locked behind some ungodly rng so good luck ever seeing it.

    Half of what they promised has not even been added to this day, Legendaries nope that's all over now. sorry if you purchased this for them.

    Honestly if you value your money stay clear, the game is losing population badly.    … Expand
  40. Cosmicegg37
    Apr 7, 2016
    1
    I've been enjoying the Guild Wars franchise since the release of Guild Wars 1 and I had high hopes for Guild Wars 2 heart of thorns they advertise exciting content but failed to deliver parts of the game has been scrapped completely after failed promises after failed promises I cannot recommend this game
  41. StormageddonBK
    Apr 6, 2016
    0
    I've played since launch and love the game but HoT isn't fun, AT ALL! To play any part of the new content you NEED to grind masteries and only the new classes are competitive.

    HoT changes killed WvW. It has a new laggy PvE filled border lands and you now need to grind outside WvW in PvE to level guild halls for WvW. This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard of in game design and    I've played since launch and love the game but HoT isn't fun, AT ALL! To play any part of the new content you NEED to grind masteries and only the new classes are competitive.

    HoT changes killed WvW. It has a new laggy PvE filled border lands and you now need to grind outside WvW in PvE to level guild halls for WvW. This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard of in game design and totally ruins dedicated WvW play.

    Actually no, I stand corrected, there is something more stupid! They cancelled the new legendary weapons development 6 months after launch (which they advertised and took money for), plus the loooooong awaited WvW update has been delayed and isn't anywhere to be seen. How hard is it to deliver on these 2 sales points that you accepted money for? They now say the legendary team has been re-purposed... seriously!!! What else is going to drop in the future? Oh and they have been developing the next expansion with 70 devs while this expansion suffers!!! OMG. fool me once...never again Anet!    … Expand
  42. Exfan
    Mar 25, 2016
    1
    How to ruin decent game:
    1. New dailies less to choose from in pve content wise same areas repeating event side, usually daily fractals and certain level ones so its like 2/5 usually filled with these and always 1 world boss you could actually wait 1h to 30 mins to get daily boss done. Pve content and group pve content should be 2 separate things and for **** sake more choices.
    2. New    How to ruin decent game:
    1. New dailies less to choose from in pve content wise same areas repeating event side, usually daily fractals and certain level ones so its like 2/5 usually filled with these and always 1 world boss you could actually wait 1h to 30 mins to get daily boss done. Pve content and group pve content should be 2 separate things and for **** sake more choices.
    2. New mastery system forced content must do storyline, must own, buy and must get certain achievement while doing storyline if not your character progress just stops until you advance in storyline to get enough mastery points so you are forced play game certain way.
    3. New classes some are just lame some are just overpowered. New class revenant is just grind skill points to open each stance and open all skills in each stance. There ain't lot of customization because skills require certain stance to use perhaps most boring class to play. As for other classes game is just skillpoint grind fest need 30 open weapon for profession and of course you need to use almost empty skill three to use weapon.
    Perhaps they have started fix these things but haven't been bothered to play game is not for casuals anymore it is becoming just like wow boring and old no life grindfest. Sadly i am casual and proud of it.    … Expand
  43. crypticturtle
    Mar 8, 2016
    9
    This adds some much needed end-game content to GW2. The new zones and their meta-events are well designed, although traversing is difficult until you get the necessary masteries to use the environment to move around. The new glider is fun to use all around the world, especially at vistas. My only issue is that the new mastery system is very grind-y.
  44. Lechasseur
    Mar 8, 2016
    2
    This expansion has completely decimated the community. Entire guilds have been killed due to players no longer logging in because of how dead the content is. WvW is broken(more so tham usual) and has been broken since October. PVE is dead to those who like content other than brainlessly following a group. The new maps are pretty sure, but theu just hide the fact that all they have are theThis expansion has completely decimated the community. Entire guilds have been killed due to players no longer logging in because of how dead the content is. WvW is broken(more so tham usual) and has been broken since October. PVE is dead to those who like content other than brainlessly following a group. The new maps are pretty sure, but theu just hide the fact that all they have are the same events over and over. The tangled depths are a huge **** This expansion isnt worth $10 let alone $50.… Expand
  45. skilliard
    Mar 7, 2016
    1
    For $50 you get an expansion that has roughly 8 hours worth of content. Then it gets boring again. The game is pay2win. There are never any content updates anymore besides paid DLC. Combat is dull and uninspired.
  46. marc5477
    Feb 13, 2016
    3
    Grind GRing GRInd GRINd GRIND!!! Thats all this expansion is.

    I am a fan of GW2 despite its many flaws and was hoping for something new in this expansion but alas, it was a let down. Not only is the content just more of the same (zerg this, zerg that) but they made it grindy as hell... they created new currency for each of the new zones that forces the player to grind the same cycle of    Grind GRing GRInd GRINd GRIND!!! Thats all this expansion is.

    I am a fan of GW2 despite its many flaws and was hoping for something new in this expansion but alas, it was a let down. Not only is the content just more of the same (zerg this, zerg that) but they made it grindy as hell... they created new currency for each of the new zones that forces the player to grind the same cycle of quests more than a hundred times to get the items in each map. The quests are just like old world quests and just as boring when you have to repeat them.

    The one notable difference is the enemies are harder but not in a good way. They simply have more hit points and hit harder but they dont do anything interesting and for the most part, they do not require any strategy or anything like that to beat. Think Planes of Power in EQ (which is when that MMO fell apart as well). Its just the same enemies from the old game but hit harder and take longer to kill. The problem is that they are still trivially easy to beat so all this does is make the grind even worse. On top of all that, there is no reason to fight them... and that is the real killer. You dont get better loot for killing them because they didnt add any new loot to the game... just new skins for the same old same and thus, there is no point to any of it.

    The only cool new mechanic is the ability to glide from a fall... but its not as if you need this in the old world for anything. Other than that, no interest new items (just new looks/skins), no interest bosses (they are all just zerg fests like old bosses) and lastly, the story is clearly contrived and an afterthought and not nearly as good as the original game quest.

    I had to remember that this game is made by a Korean company and Koreans are known for their grindy MMO's like Lineage, which many western gamers (like myself) get bored of very quickly.

    There is no reason to own this expansion. Just play the original game and once you are bored move on. This brings nothing worthwhile to the table.    … Expand
  47. TMachine
    Feb 5, 2016
    4
    If you pay attention it becomes clear how A-net is running this business. I don't feel like writing another long wall of text, we've done plenty of those on official forums.
  48. Zlare
    Feb 3, 2016
    3
    The little content of this overpriced expansion cant bring the game back to life. Guild Wars 2 looks outdated and gameplay feels okay but the story is short and after that there is once again nothing. Guild Wars continues its story of having very litle to do after finishing the story. Of course you can always go into the world and spend hours collecting more hero points but they is veryThe little content of this overpriced expansion cant bring the game back to life. Guild Wars 2 looks outdated and gameplay feels okay but the story is short and after that there is once again nothing. Guild Wars continues its story of having very litle to do after finishing the story. Of course you can always go into the world and spend hours collecting more hero points but they is very little to do with those hero points. What is the point of upgrading your character if you could do all the content before those upgrades aswell?
    Sadly all new areas are made of meta events which require a lot of people to participate. That worked the first time after release but now the areas are rather empty. Also the interesting quest design from the normal GW2 is complety gone. The new areas consist only of meta events.
    Sadly this expansion doesn't change anything about the concept of GW2 of being a game where progress means very little and endgame is nonexistent.    … Expand
  49. Woahstrewth
    Jan 25, 2016
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Speaking as someone who has played nearly every game mode and has sunk over 4000 hours into the game I can say that I am pretty well versed in the game. After hearing about Heart of Thorns and the myriad of changes it would bring to the game I was understandably excited. When it launched it seemed to be everything I had hoped for and completely renewed my interest for about a month or so. But as time went on I noticed a strange and bitter taste developing every time I logged on to play, which I was doing less and less. Something was off about it, and the more I thought the more I realized just how much about this expansion I disliked.

    Art and Design: As usual it's top notch, probably the most beautiful MMO I've ever played. SOME (not all) of the new zones are really cool, my personal favorite being the golden city of Tarir and Auric Basin in general. Overall though the four new zones and two new guild halls and raid are just ok in my book. They're each about half the size of the vanilla maps or a bit more and some of them are just kind of dull (Verdant Brink and Dragon's Stand are fairly bland).

    Progression: Ah the Mastery System, where to start. It's essentially Anet's way of putting in end game progression, but I have numerous problems with their implementation. First off, and there's no way of sugar coating it, it is a total grind to get everything, and for very little reward. Everything you are grinding for has nothing to do with stats, or really anything, it just has to with being able to navigate the new zones more easily, or with getting small bonuses in already existing content such as fractals. The new "Legendary Journey" to craft a precursor is a joke, and it's still cheaper in most cases to just outright buy the thing. I was able to finish all central tyria masteries but gave up after I reached Mastery level 89 as I just couldn't be bothered, they gave me no incentive or reason to continue, I could care less about gliding marginally faster in these specific areas.

    The Story: Alot of people are giving the expansion tons of praise for how much better the story it tells is. I have to admit that through the living story Arenanet obviously learned some things about telling more interesting stories. But to be completely honest, though it is leaps and bounds better than the original story quests, I still found it completely laughable at best. The entire thing is over in about two hours barring the required mastery grinds in order to progress, and it does nothing new or interesting with the characters. Not to mention explaining how exactly Canach ended up with us? Also that Vinetooth Faolain thing is **** hilarious to look at and not menacing in the slightest. Compared to other MMOs such as WoW and FF14 the story is entirely mediocre.

    Elite Specs and PvP: Yes, PvP is a complete dumping ground atm, with elite spec metas totally dominating and imbalance rampant. WvW's new borderlands have been rethemed as Deserts, which is entirely fitting because they are almost completely and always empty. Most of the Elite Specs are cool to mess around with and take a bit to unlock but they don't really do much in redeeming the overall expansion.

    Dungeons and Raids: So if there is one thing I really can't complain that much about it's what Anet did to Fractals of the Mists, shortening and streamlining it, making it more accessable, albeit with reduced rewards, but that is symptematic of something even worse. Other than that and the new raid, there is no other new instanced content, not even a single new dungeon. The Raids are also awkward stilted affairs, far too difficult for any casual players to finish but also lacking any true sort of reward or stat upgrade. They get more of a resounding meh.

    My main problem with the game is what the expansion did to instance rewards and rewards in general since the f2p coversion. If you want any hope of keeping up with the "End Game" or really accomplishing anything, you need gold. Gold in the game has always been alot harder to come by than almost any other mmo but now since they neutered the rewards from every dungeon, it is almost mandatory to spend real money and transfer it to gold to get anything done this century in the game. It is incredibly disheartening and just makes you realize the completely shallow nature of the expansion and the game itself in the current state.

    tl;dr Don't waste your money on the game in it's current state, there are mmos out there far more deserving of your time and effort that do what this game tries to do better in almost everyway. Try Heavensward on FF14 or even Warlords of Draenor for WoW over this.    … Expand
  50. Patriarch
    Jan 16, 2016
    2
    Hated it. Four maps for full expansion price. Lots of mini-games. Content gated behind masteries. Anet is obviously moving towards "grinding". Each map has its own currency, which clutters up your inventory. Not casual-friendly like the core game. I went back to the core maps before reaching the fourth map.

    The new masteries seem cool, and Revenant is fun to play, but you have to buy a    Hated it. Four maps for full expansion price. Lots of mini-games. Content gated behind masteries. Anet is obviously moving towards "grinding". Each map has its own currency, which clutters up your inventory. Not casual-friendly like the core game. I went back to the core maps before reaching the fourth map.

    The new masteries seem cool, and Revenant is fun to play, but you have to buy a character slot for it separately unless you want to delete one of your characters. I have no idea why Anet thought it would be a good idea to charge $50 for an expansion with a new profession and not include a character slot.

    Overall, it feels like the whole expansion is geared towards gold sinks and time sinks. Any future expansions will be a hard-sell after my intense dislike for this one.

    On a side-note, Anet is already tempering expectations for the new living story (LS3). They said there will be fewer updates, but they will be "richer". they also said they will be splitting their time between LS3 and the next expansion.    … Expand
  51. Pst
    Jan 10, 2016
    0
    If you take away the bells and whistles of the "mastery system", this "expansion" brings nothing new or innovating to the game. The new maps are terribly designed, expect to spend a lot of time taxiing into an active map. WvW is still neglected, dungeons are pretty much forgotten and the story is very short. I lost interest in HoT 2 weeks into it. The raids do not feel epic whatsoever, itIf you take away the bells and whistles of the "mastery system", this "expansion" brings nothing new or innovating to the game. The new maps are terribly designed, expect to spend a lot of time taxiing into an active map. WvW is still neglected, dungeons are pretty much forgotten and the story is very short. I lost interest in HoT 2 weeks into it. The raids do not feel epic whatsoever, it doesn't feel right without the trinity. I have more negative things to say about this game and company but am feeling too salty to write anymore. I regrettably purchased the ultimate edition. I won't be supporting Anet ever again.… Expand
  52. UPRC
    Jan 10, 2016
    1
    I'd give it something higher than a 1/10, maybe even a passing grade, if I could progress past the start. I simply can't. I've died over 20 times since stepping foot into the first new zone and trying to do the first story mission. I had no problems in this game before the expansion, and I'm leveling a revenant without any problems... so why is it so hard now? I literally can't progressI'd give it something higher than a 1/10, maybe even a passing grade, if I could progress past the start. I simply can't. I've died over 20 times since stepping foot into the first new zone and trying to do the first story mission. I had no problems in this game before the expansion, and I'm leveling a revenant without any problems... so why is it so hard now? I literally can't progress past the first story mission in Dry Tops or wherever I am. I wanted an MMO to play, so I came back to GW2 and I bought the expansion despite being fairly poor, but I figured I'd get hours of enjoyment out of it and that would offset the cost of the expansion. I feel like I just threw money away instead, money that could have gone towards groceries and such. This is just stupidly difficult, and I was never a bad player previously. Way to go ArenaNet, you've probably left a bad taste in the mouths of a lot of people.… Expand
  53. LordHawks
    Jan 9, 2016
    6
    I've played Guild Wars 2 for a few years now, along with the expansion Heart of Thorns. Decided to take a break from GW2 because the expansion felt like more of a job than a game. I wasn't having fun. Wiping every event, boss, story, and even exploring became really tiresome. Still a okay expansion for a certain type of player, but I'm burnt out on GW2. Disinterested in the story, newI've played Guild Wars 2 for a few years now, along with the expansion Heart of Thorns. Decided to take a break from GW2 because the expansion felt like more of a job than a game. I wasn't having fun. Wiping every event, boss, story, and even exploring became really tiresome. Still a okay expansion for a certain type of player, but I'm burnt out on GW2. Disinterested in the story, new builds behind a wall, and you're essentially just soloing around a lot of people. PVP was always enjoyable but not enough to keep me around. This is where I part ways with Guild Wars 2.

    Moved onto Star Wars: Old Republic as a subscriber. Tank, DPS, healer is a breath of fresh air, and I like the teamwork aspect. Story is excellent. Environment is excellent. Dungeons are way fun, and raids are insanely fun.    … Expand
  54. Adrenalin
    Jan 3, 2016
    0
    Cash Grab Wars 2: Heart for Gems - This expansion is nothing but an insult to its playerbase. Way too less new content, dumb destroying of old content (dungeons, wvw, class balancing) and above all, the complete destruction of ingame rewards (especially liquid gold drops) in order to force players to GEMS->GOLD. The whole game is completely pointless these days because everythingCash Grab Wars 2: Heart for Gems - This expansion is nothing but an insult to its playerbase. Way too less new content, dumb destroying of old content (dungeons, wvw, class balancing) and above all, the complete destruction of ingame rewards (especially liquid gold drops) in order to force players to GEMS->GOLD. The whole game is completely pointless these days because everything meaningful gets accomplished faster with a McDonald's job rather than actually playing the game.

    If you compare this with WoW:WoD, WoD introduced stupid browser game stuff with its mission table gameplay-wise; HoT made GW2 a browser game reward-wise. And I'm talking about **** p2w browser games, no quality stuff like CoC.

    This mindless greed of Anet will be the downfall of the company and the game. And that is well justified.    … Expand
  55. Linnavisa
    Jan 2, 2016
    0
    Heart of Thorns should be labeled with a warning that the game is not intended for players that are a little bit slow when it comes to move a character around or having a little bit slower reaction. This game is impossible to progress if not able to participate in all tasks related to the new leveling system with mastery points. The game lacks options for collecting the needed masteryHeart of Thorns should be labeled with a warning that the game is not intended for players that are a little bit slow when it comes to move a character around or having a little bit slower reaction. This game is impossible to progress if not able to participate in all tasks related to the new leveling system with mastery points. The game lacks options for collecting the needed mastery points as many points requires the ability to play arcade games or mini games with a very short timer and other hard achievements. If unable to complete some of the tasks related to mastery points there is no way to progress and level up a character. This game is sloppy and thoughtless, not a worthy expansion to core Guild Wars 2.

    Also be aware that what is referred to as adventures has nothing to do with the game genre adventure. The adventures in this game are a mix between arcade and mini games. Those arcade or mini games are tightly tied to the in game essential mastery points needed for leveling a characters abilities.    … Expand
  56. Clopon
    Jan 1, 2016
    10
    Great expansion pack, even better than i expected. New maps are fun, mastery system is interesting and not too much grinding.
    And the raid is great, finally a challenging content for pve.
  57. Watanka
    Dec 31, 2015
    10
    Many good things was added to the game with this expansion (raids, guild halls, personnal quest, elite specs, ...).
    Some other features are still bugged or unbalanced right now, but wait few weeks for fixes and GW2 will more awesome than ever !
  58. Manwithtwohands
    Dec 30, 2015
    5
    Beautiful environments, animations and voice acting.
    Horrible game-play design.
    Seems the company has no ideas for longevity besides endless grind. Earn 1 million xp to talk to this frog vendor. Then talk to the frog vendor and see all his stuff is locked until you earn 3 million xp or some nonsense like that. You definitely get the impression the company making this game either hates    Beautiful environments, animations and voice acting.
    Horrible game-play design.
    Seems the company has no ideas for longevity besides endless grind.
    Earn 1 million xp to talk to this frog vendor. Then talk to the frog vendor and see all his stuff is locked until you earn 3 million xp or some nonsense like that. You definitely get the impression the company making this game either hates players or just doesn't care anymore.    … Expand
  59. Etay
    Dec 26, 2015
    3
    wvw is dead now because of this expansion and lots of lags
    the expansion is not needed if you use your old class in pvp or wvw..
    and in my opinion the new maps suck!
  60. WiLdEcaRd
    Dec 18, 2015
    3
    It turned out that A.Net is one of the most unworthy of my attention group of developers and HoT's is nothing more than grind fest.All there manifesto is out of the window,and so it remains for me nothing else but to leave this sinking ship.
    3/10 for beautiful graphics and musical setting.
  61. truereviewforyo
    Dec 13, 2015
    2
    The game is amazing when you are running solo or in a small party. The UI is friendly for solo play, but when it comes down to figuring out how the guild actions work, you are left with asking questions that it come with no explanation. The functions for party/guild play are very confusing....and most of the time you will get a guild friend that will never answer your question, but giveThe game is amazing when you are running solo or in a small party. The UI is friendly for solo play, but when it comes down to figuring out how the guild actions work, you are left with asking questions that it come with no explanation. The functions for party/guild play are very confusing....and most of the time you will get a guild friend that will never answer your question, but give you a link to a portal that gives you no help. I mean, come on, don't link a portal, you can answer 1 question cant you? Instead, here's a portal that you haven't discovered (cant travel to), instead of answering if it were possible to craft weapons. WTF is that?
    I've had the "benefit" of joining llama and AARM and it was absolutely horrible. They post that they are noob friendly, but that is complete bullchit, I have been an mmo gamer for 12+ years and they couldn't answer the simplest of questions concerning the UI for guild use. For instance, invited to a guild/ party instance or set of quests, they would link a portal and when someone showed up, they would disappear and leave you wondering. Asking questions was a waste of time, just another link to a portal that no one is at.

    Most people brag that they have been a GW player for 8 years, but cant answer the simplest of questions. ~Hey, Im great at this game, what was the question and what do you mean by how I can help you?~ Full of morons! Play time doesn't make you a leader, knowledge does.

    If you want a great solo game that isn't as bad, as most, this is definitely the game. Tons of content with some quests that had me laughing. Keep in mind that most are slayer quests and you will be battling...or searching for the correct area to complete the quests. Annoying at times, but fun.

    Just be careful of which guild you join if you want to excel at the game and have fun with friends.    … Expand
  62. onegamer1
    Dec 12, 2015
    4
    tl:dr - HoT is the worst production of ANET's Guild Wars franchise so far. With HoT ANET embraced the repetitive; grindy; gold for cash free to play MMO model. Lack of creative design is evident in an otherwise aesthetically beautiful game.

    HoT is an expansion content of Guild Wars 2 that takes players inside Maguuma jungle. However, in reality, it is basically 4 sets of events on 4    tl:dr - HoT is the worst production of ANET's Guild Wars franchise so far. With HoT ANET embraced the repetitive; grindy; gold for cash free to play MMO model. Lack of creative design is evident in an otherwise aesthetically beautiful game.

    HoT is an expansion content of Guild Wars 2 that takes players inside Maguuma jungle. However, in reality, it is basically 4 sets of events on 4 maps.

    The good:

    10/10 - Art and Aethetics: ANET Artists truly add character to the environment. Tangled Depths is the most beautiful and ambitious map design that I have ever seen in any MMO. It's disorienting, confusing, challenging and beautiful all at the same time. It gives you the feel of entering a jungle, an unknown place where fearful enemies lurk in the shadows. You will lose your way; you will be frustrated, unhappy and probably close the game after a few deaths. Howeever, eventually as you explore and learn the ways of the jungle, you will find how beautifully it's layered. A lot of things are happening in each layer and as an inhabitant of the jungle you will know how to traverse it quickly, safely and without frustration.

    8/10 - Difficulty: ANET abandoned play as you like model of GW2 core game where you can run from a level 1 zone to level 80 final zones wearing basic gear. In this expansion, that is no more the case. Equipment matters. Knowing what skills you have on the skillbar helps and knowing how to use those skills effectively helps even more. Maguuma is a jungle and not a theme park; it's dangerous. You will feel that way when you play HoT. Would you like that feeling? I don't know. But, I think it's realistic.

    The bad:

    2/10 - Meta event system: The event chains, meta events, in Maguuma are quite long. ANET, for some inexplicable reason, wants the playerbase to stay logged in the game for a long time and on the very same map with the same IP address. Participation in the event is logged and tracked for each player. Players are rewarded for longer participation and awarded in small bits at certain stages of event progression with main /final award distributed at the end of the event chain based on player's particiaption in the meta chain. This design makes players vulnerable to inadvertent disconnects losing progression and eventually the final rewards. For example, if a player who was completing one event for last 90 minutes and suddenly gets disconnected, upon logging back that player will lose all contribution to the event if he/she is lucky to get back to the same map instance and start from scratch. In most cases, that player would not be able to get back to the map instance because it would be full if it was an instance where the event was organized.

    1/10 - Gearing for endgame: The endgame of HoT is raid. A minority group of total population play the content because it's hard and arguably pointless from the perspective of current game design of equipment upgrades. Not everyone's lifestyle or skill suits this content. To make things more absurd, you need to spend nearly 1000+ gold just to get the equipment to get ready for this content. It can be argued that one does not need to spend so much gold to do raid. And theoretically, it's true. One can join a group with less than desirable gear only to be replaced promptly with someone who already has the better gear. One can also try to join a guild to raid with less than desirable gear choices. However, finding such a guild in reality and then succeeding in raiding with that guild probably has a lesser chance than winning a decent prize in a state lottery.

    0/10 - Legendary Weapons/skins: There are no legends associated with them except the cost to make one. It was the result of an extremely poor content design that ANET promised to fix in the core game but, kept on dillydallying for 3+ years and never fixed them. With the launch of HoT, ANET made a huge deal about how they changed the existing system to a "journey" to give players content to enjoy while pursuing this "legendary" journey. What they actually did was nothing but taking a bad system and making it worse. In addition to spending 2000+ gold in getting a skin/weapon, the player will have to do chores, sabotage events (for example, if the map population wants to complete an event chain, player on the legendary journey will have to negotiate with all the players on the map to purposefully fail certain number of events to start an event that will reward an item this journeyman can use to progress on his legendary quest), wake up odd hours at night or log on odd hours during day to check if a particular event/NPC is available (in fact that's exactly what I am doing right now on Plains of Ashford while waiting for Siegemaster Lormar event to trigger.. and I am doing that for last 2 days for more than 5+ hours) and, among other nuisances, gather 150000+ material to craft the weapon.

    Please check reddit, google etc. to know what to expect from HoT before spending money and time.    … Expand
  63. Oxicleen
    Dec 11, 2015
    2
    Game has been redesigned to feed the cash cow NCSoft, PvE, PvP, WvW, Dungeons, Fractals, and Raids are all lacking rewards to fit the Cash->Gems->Gold conversion system since the game is starting to fail. Pay heed to the 200+ negative reviews as they are from the actual players who have been here since 2012, the positive reviews are usually from "first impression" reviewers who haveGame has been redesigned to feed the cash cow NCSoft, PvE, PvP, WvW, Dungeons, Fractals, and Raids are all lacking rewards to fit the Cash->Gems->Gold conversion system since the game is starting to fail. Pay heed to the 200+ negative reviews as they are from the actual players who have been here since 2012, the positive reviews are usually from "first impression" reviewers who have probably invested less than 10 hours into the gameplay and have not realized the game LOOKS good, but it's not good anymore. It's a painted horse, there to entice you to pay your money and then realize how little there is in the end.

    DO NOT buy the expansion. There is a reason why this game went free to play.    … Expand
  64. mega_karaoke
    Dec 9, 2015
    7
    Heart of Thorns represents a worthy effort by ArenaNet, but ultimately the content available within the first couple months of launch feels shallow.

    Great: the first raid, Spirit Vale. The music. The art, especially Auric Basin. The new class, Revenant (once you fully unlock its elite specialization, Herald). Gliding! Good: guild halls are incredible if incredibly overpriced. The    Heart of Thorns represents a worthy effort by ArenaNet, but ultimately the content available within the first couple months of launch feels shallow.

    Great: the first raid, Spirit Vale. The music. The art, especially Auric Basin. The new class, Revenant (once you fully unlock its elite specialization, Herald). Gliding!

    Good: guild halls are incredible if incredibly overpriced. The Mastery system is a good idea though it needs more impactful unlocks, especially later in the system. Elite Specializations are mostly upgrades to the class.

    Bad: by "disincentivizing" dungeons, instanced content feels lacking, especially rewards. WvW players are mostly avoiding the new borderlands map. PvP balance issues and matchmaking still poor. Many rewards are locked behind Mastery system gates. The new maps are all on strict timers, often requiring an hour or more of time investment to receive rewards. The last act of the Story felt horribly rushed with an incredibly unsatisfying ending.

    Overall: if you intend to keep playing Guild Wars 2, you should absolutely buy Heart of Thorns. For players who have never tried the game, start with the free-to-play version and, if you still like it a couple hundred hours in, feel safe buying the game.    … Expand
  65. jellorageh
    Dec 9, 2015
    0
    They released a broken, unfinished expansion that didn't deliver half the things it promised. I got maybe two weeks out of it. Not only did they make an expansion that is riddled with progress blocking pugs, incredible grind and major oversights, missing items... they also broke the core game in the progress.
  66. MechVampyre
    Dec 9, 2015
    0
    while pre-HoT core speccs needed buffs, nerfs, fixes they ignored it and threw in all this elite speccs with HoT which are mostly overpowered.
    everything depends on passives and stupidly smashing buttons for aoe-rekt everything within range...
    on the other side you have thief with his cool evade animations and so on... most of the time theyre hopping around while stealthed and then    while pre-HoT core speccs needed buffs, nerfs, fixes they ignored it and threw in all this elite speccs with HoT which are mostly overpowered.
    everything depends on passives and stupidly smashing buttons for aoe-rekt everything within range...
    on the other side you have thief with his cool evade animations and so on... most of the time theyre hopping around while stealthed and then getting accidently rekt by random aoe spamming and appear from stealth downed a few seconds later...
    whole balance has become a bad joke...    … Expand
  67. inocciduous
    Dec 7, 2015
    4
    Very good
    - General area aesthetics and art design. Considering this is still running on DX9 - it's top notch.
    - Gliding, albeit not as functional as Archeage's, but still good. - Music is fantastic Good - New class specialisations. Average - The core story - Meta events and questing (I'm putting this here ONLY because you need to use your head a little when dealing with NPCs    Very good
    - General area aesthetics and art design. Considering this is still running on DX9 - it's top notch.
    - Gliding, albeit not as functional as Archeage's, but still good.
    - Music is fantastic

    Good
    - New class specialisations.

    Average
    - The core story
    - Meta events and questing (I'm putting this here ONLY because you need to use your head a little when dealing with NPCs instead of 1-1-1-1-1-1-1). Quite frankly, the repeating meta-events got tiresome after two weeks, are compulsory to progress in the mastery system and also are required for specific deeds (which can get very, very, very tedious).
    - The mastery system.

    No so good
    - Vanilla GW2 rewards have been nerfed into next year.
    - Revoked the 'play as you like’ philosophy for many aspects of gameplay.
    - Class imbalances (will be addressed 'next year'). Right now, vanilla characters are somewhat-to- extremely-weak compared to their ‘specialised’ counterparts.
    - Where is GW2's no grind philosophy? Excessive grinding for 'pseudo-progression', items, specific map currency and increased crafting values for items.
    - Still have not addressed the core mechanics and issues (mass population stacking, zerging etc) associated with WvW, nor rewards going on three years. This really does surprise me as the game mode has such promise due to the gameplay and combat mechanics, but it's still totally neglected.
    - Any previously upgraded guild has been completely guttered and set back to 'level one' (so to speak), even if you purchased upgrades with a gem conversion. This content is masked behind months of tedious grind. WvW (gamemode) upgrades are also locked behind excessive PvE content and resource grind (which to me seems rather silly given that it IS for WvW) and really doesn't favour guilds with less than 15 players at all. To be honest, it seems like the guild system was purely introduced in this state as a 'fix' for the GW2 economy with zero consideration given to the WvW demographic (who get minimum rewards as it is). In this way, the guild system itself is pretty poorly thought-out, moreover the inherent mechanics between players - guild.    … Expand
  68. karitata
    Dec 5, 2015
    0
    Core Guild Wars 2 had a rich content with many options to level and progress a character. In core Guild Wars 2 there was no requirement to complete sub content like map completion, achievements, jumping puzzles or mini games. HoT offers no options at all. To be able to level and progress a character in HoT all tasks related to mastery points needed to unlock mastery skills has to beCore Guild Wars 2 had a rich content with many options to level and progress a character. In core Guild Wars 2 there was no requirement to complete sub content like map completion, achievements, jumping puzzles or mini games. HoT offers no options at all. To be able to level and progress a character in HoT all tasks related to mastery points needed to unlock mastery skills has to be completed. If not able to complete all tasks there is no way to progress further in the game. Not only is it a flaw it is also simple-minded. It would be interesting to learn why the developing team decided to lock out players with an even so slight maneuvering trouble.… Expand
  69. Maelzrael
    Dec 4, 2015
    9
    New review update, changing score from 10 to 9, which is still a point higher than I want but I have to offset all the 0 scores somehow..
    So new skills/elite specs are really great, worth the price of the expansion.
    The new maps are really great visually but they lack the casual accessibility and hearts that made the core maps so fun. Basically they are tuned to high, they should scale    New review update, changing score from 10 to 9, which is still a point higher than I want but I have to offset all the 0 scores somehow..
    So new skills/elite specs are really great, worth the price of the expansion.
    The new maps are really great visually but they lack the casual accessibility and hearts that made the core maps so fun. Basically they are tuned to high, they should scale down to just one single player if that is all that is available. They don't. You'll need at the very least one friend to accompany you anywhere you travel in the new maps if you want to survive, more like a full party if you want to do everything. This might be good for an mmorpg but it is bad for a casual player with little time to commit to others in-game.
    Raiding is awesome and I'm so happy they've added it into the game. HOWEVER, they really **** up because the rewards are hardly better than anything else in the world, the bosses do not drop special raid only gear save a few pets and the promise of legendary armor in the years to come. Rewards have always been mediocre in this game but the Raids should drop **** unique and badass armor and weapons right from the first boss. It doesn't have to be statistically better than other gear, but it should look cool and NEW. This is raiding basics 101.. raids should drop the best rewards in pve.. simple.
    Fractals has never been my thing but as someone who is still under level 20 frac difficulty there is nothing new to see in the expansion save a new (awesome) back piece if you grind the **** out of it. Or so I hear.
    Dungeon nerfs was a bad idea. Really stupid to tie collections and gear for raid into old dungeons (monk runes) and then nerf them so most people don't want to do them anymore. Head up ass on that one.
    New Legendary masteries progression didn't really make legendaries all that much easier to get, save the RNG drop requirement.. which you can now craft for roughly the same cost you could buy it for. For a casual player this is hardly an improvement, they still feel impossible to get.
    Guild Halls, this is a big deal here, this was supposed to be an awesome new custom housing for your whole guild.. however the new scribe crafting for items takes a whole guilds effort to create.. it's a little insane. They can do better here.. an individual should be able to create housing items for the whole guild by themselves in my opinion.. I haven't even been able to touch the creative side of this feature because you have to be in a large guild AND high ranked enough that people want YOU to be the builder/decorator. It's a great idea but flawed in execution.
    New WvW maps are so empty, I'm on a t3 server, Crystal Desert, and WvW has been a barren wasteland sing Hot came out. This is unacceptable. Screw server vs server, you guys have to go megaservers and really get this revamp for WvW out soon.. also for the love of god please don't screw this one up with poorly thought out design decisions on good original ideas like we've seen with some of HoT.

    So what do I think they should do to fix this stuff? Well make the new maps scale to less players better for one. Maybe add hearts to new zones when they come out. Raids an meta bosses should be tough, but traveling the new maps should be scaled to match the solo player if needed. Fix dungeon rewards. Add new fractal maps and make the progression and reason for progressing more enticing. Make legendary crafting slightly easier to achieve than buying one outright. We are not chinese people with infinite time to grind out the required stuff. Take a look at the core Gw2 philosophies and clean up your mess here. HoT is great and I love Anet but you guys cannot rest until this game is perfect! That's it for now, will resubmit and adjust as the expansion and living story develope.
    Also STOP ADDING ALL THE COOL NEW **** IN THE GEM STORE.. You guys are **** in this regard, you need to hire double the artists and programmers and have thing switch back an forth.. one new set for the gem store, one new set for normal play/progression.. I have no problem with the gem store but when you launch an expansion with minimal new visual items sets an then release TONS of gem store updates afterwards it really feels like a money grab instead of a thought out badass expansion. Fix this **** please.    … Expand
  70. cygnarite
    Dec 2, 2015
    1
    This review is from a PvP perspective.

    I'll begin with a summary: If you're a fan of PvP, avoid this steaming pile at all costs. Actual balance between classes is subjective, so we won't talk about that, but it is clear with HoT that some classes are winners (Revenant, tempest), and other classes are losers (Thief, warrior). The developer has broken their promise of releasing    This review is from a PvP perspective.

    I'll begin with a summary: If you're a fan of PvP, avoid this steaming pile at all costs.

    Actual balance between classes is subjective, so we won't talk about that, but it is clear with HoT that some classes are winners (Revenant, tempest), and other classes are losers (Thief, warrior).

    The developer has broken their promise of releasing balance patches multiple times since HoT was released with absolutely no explanation as to why.

    The developer constantly sneaks in unannounced ("stealth") changes to classes with no acknowledgement in the patch notes or reasoning to the playerbase.

    Balance patches happen once ever 6 months, if that, giving OP specs months to dominate the meta and make the game unfun. When they finally get around to "fixing" it, said spec is always nerfed into the ground and unplayable rather than fixed.

    There's STILL no PTS (public test server). Every single patch rolls out with a ridiculous amount of bugs that require 2-7 days to fix. Bugs that existed at launch still exist in the game now.

    Honestly, I could go on for another 5-10 points, but do i really need to? Spend your hard earned cash elsewhere.    … Expand
  71. razor1000
    Dec 1, 2015
    3
    I'll narrate how I went from loving this game to barely playing it nowadays. This review will mostly address the PVP content and "balance" in game. I have bought HoT (Heart of Thorns) by the way, in case in my review it might sound like I haven't.

    I play every game mode in GW2 (PVE, PVP), from release (2012). I've always considered this game to be excellent in many aspects, but if I had    I'll narrate how I went from loving this game to barely playing it nowadays. This review will mostly address the PVP content and "balance" in game. I have bought HoT (Heart of Thorns) by the way, in case in my review it might sound like I haven't.

    I play every game mode in GW2 (PVE, PVP), from release (2012). I've always considered this game to be excellent in many aspects, but if I had to what I liked the most it would hands down be the combat system. A game can look gorgeous, have amazing lore and community, but in my opinion if it has a dull combat system, I wouldn't see myself playing for long.

    To describe my playstyle in general, it would be versatilty, and complex mechanics. I like to challenge myself in various game genres to play the unused characters, or the ones with the highest risk and reward. Sadly, that kind of playstyle no longer exists in GW2.

    Why? Because ArenaNet (GW2 developer) don't have a clue when it comes to proper pvp balance. This is not overreacting, I'm not one of those idiots quick to cry OP to anything I can't beat. This is a reality in this game. There's so much wrong with ArenaNet's recent approach to pvp balance that I'll break it down in 4 different paragraphs:

    1. Unbelievable power creep: With HoT, elite specializations were introduced (think of them as enhanced base professions). Every single one of these is blatantly and disgustingly better than their base counterparts. I really can't tell if ArenaNet planned this in order to force people to buy HoT to remain competitive, or if they're that inept when it comes to proper pvp balance. It goes to show how bad the power creep is when the hands down BEST build pre HoT in pvp cannot even hold a candle to these new elite specializations. The funniest part is that ArenaNet as a company has pursued becoming an E-Sport with their pvp for a long time. They aim for their pvp to be competitive and widespread yet you CANNOT COMPETE if you don't own the expansion (due to not having the elite specs, thus being forced to use non-viable builds), where's the logic in this?

    2. Lies, and more lies: The pvp season just started. Yes, in December the 1st, over 1 month after HoT was released. An ArenaNet dev stated that 2 weeks before each pvp season, there would be a balance patch related to pvp. Needless to say that didn't happen. Back at the start of November, we learned that the actual pvp season wouldn't start until a month later. We were hopeful. The consensus was that ArenaNet was monitoring the status of pvp so they could properly rebalance stuff as needed before the actual pvp season started. None of this happened. They just went into it with the entirety of the non-elite spec builds unviable (sucks to be you, F2P users!) and no hope for a balance patch until the next season starts in a few months.

    3. Lack of vital pvp features 3 years in: They try to be recognized as an e-sport yet they can't add core pvp features such as solo queue (all you have is 1 queue that combines premades and solo players), spectating (currently only possible in custom hotjoin matches), proper matchmaking, etc.

    And lastly

    4. The balance itself (or lack thereof): GW2 used to have a clean pvp system. The skills with crowd control were few, your survivability was tied to how well you performed, your profession actually required timing, and skillful placement of abilities to come out on top. This has all been but destroyed. Even before HoT ArenaNet shifted the PVP balance to passive procs that automatically helped you at certain hp thresholds. Fast forward to HoT, every new elite spec has a massive arsenal of crowd control, damage, gimmicks, low counterplay, low risk high reward gameplay, fire n forget abilities and extremely low cooldowns. I play one of the most execution demanding classes / builds in the game (scepter elementalist). I know my stuff, but I stand no chance against a player using a elite specs granted they're at least slightly good. It is increasingly aggravating when ArenaNet promises buffs for scepter elementalist and then come patch notes and you find that your useless ability that was impossible to land reliably now does 10% more damage. Or that a class that has only received nerfs for 3 years straight (thief) continues to get random nerfs despite being bottom tier for very long. At this point it just becomes comical.

    In conclusion:

    The PVE part of HoT is good to kill time. It's grindy and I like that. The pvp is at its worse its ever been IMO, I used to like pvp but now I have retired for good. You might enjoy it if you like being carried by overtuned, easy and forgiving mechanics. But if you enjoyed a challenge like me, or happened to be a pre-HoT spec user, you'll have a very hard time.

    In short, ArenaNet's complete disregard of balance to prioritize HoT sales, while pretending to hilariously care about "e-sports" can only be compared to being spit in the face multiple times.

    If you like to PVP, do not buy this game.    … Expand
  72. ichigohatake
    Dec 1, 2015
    3
    I enjoyed the game, but I'm giving it 3 because the developers does not know how to balance their game. This game rarely gets balance patches, and when it does some of the changes are just terrible. The expansion has made alot of its classes op while leaving some classes in the dust, instead of fixing these problems, the developers ignore it and nerf the weak classes even more. I'mI enjoyed the game, but I'm giving it 3 because the developers does not know how to balance their game. This game rarely gets balance patches, and when it does some of the changes are just terrible. The expansion has made alot of its classes op while leaving some classes in the dust, instead of fixing these problems, the developers ignore it and nerf the weak classes even more. I'm guessing they are not going to fix any balancing issues until the expansion sales decreases, they want to give players an incentive for buying to expansion pack. The expansion pack deals are great for new players because you also get the core game, but for veterans it is a terrible deal.… Expand
  73. Vahden
    Dec 1, 2015
    4
    Broken promises and more focus on maintaining the gemstore then fixing the base game. It seems like more then half of what does get added to the game then gets pulled due to being either bad design or horrendously unpopular. Most of which could have been avoided if they actually listened to the player base in the first place.
  74. Asguard
    Dec 1, 2015
    2
    Only game mode I play was drastically taken a dump on world vs world, new maps that were added were made too big with choke points at every corner.
    Fighting in these maps are no fun and being in T1 the highest population servers people stay away from the new maps like the plague, making the map feel like it looks a barren dry dead land.
  75. Winterice
    Nov 29, 2015
    0
    HoT offers nothing more that grinding group events and it is a long term task. There is no alternative than grinding group events to gain progress and advance a character. Take also into consideration that there is a time schedule attached to the game. What would have been an exciting new game turned into a game with stiff, forced and controlled way to play. Core Guild Wars 2 was a grandHoT offers nothing more that grinding group events and it is a long term task. There is no alternative than grinding group events to gain progress and advance a character. Take also into consideration that there is a time schedule attached to the game. What would have been an exciting new game turned into a game with stiff, forced and controlled way to play. Core Guild Wars 2 was a grand game. HoT is nothing and feels only petty.… Expand
  76. Vankeios
    Nov 28, 2015
    4
    In other games you pay for quality content. I want to be brief. THIS GAMES PUNISH YOU FOR PLAYING.

    -Worst HUD/UI possible. -Unbalanced Classes(P2W Specializations) -- (nonsense like Heavy Armor Stealth). -Unrewarding and unchallenging PvE(3 years and no endgame) -Unworthy PvP, Unbalanced, Boring.(fans says this is endgame, well it is not). -Outdated Graphic and worse than that NOT    In other games you pay for quality content. I want to be brief. THIS GAMES PUNISH YOU FOR PLAYING.

    -Worst HUD/UI possible.
    -Unbalanced Classes(P2W Specializations) -- (nonsense like Heavy Armor Stealth).
    -Unrewarding and unchallenging PvE(3 years and no endgame)
    -Unworthy PvP, Unbalanced, Boring.(fans says this is endgame, well it is not).
    -Outdated Graphic and worse than that NOT OPTIMIZED.    … Expand
  77. Chista
    Nov 25, 2015
    9
    The expansion literally brought me back from the de-install. There is a lot of new content that has kept me busy since the expansion launched. There may be fewer maps than i'm used to from different expansions, but each single map is huge, more than making up for it. The maps become easier to traverse as you progress through the new progression system, which for me is a leap up fromThe expansion literally brought me back from the de-install. There is a lot of new content that has kept me busy since the expansion launched. There may be fewer maps than i'm used to from different expansions, but each single map is huge, more than making up for it. The maps become easier to traverse as you progress through the new progression system, which for me is a leap up from simply incrementing LVL_MAX. The story is challenging, sometimes bordering on annoying, but feels hugely rewarding when you manage to complete a part. I'm currently looking forward to raiding, once i finish a healer's set (see below) and working on legendaries. To top it all off, this expansion finally gave me a class I love to play: The revenant.

    Now there are a few issues:
    possibly due to the economy still adjusting, the new profession is unfeasibly expensive. The que times for crafting materials that you first need to get a guild developed enough to even be able to start that que. You cannot level this profession unless you are highly ranked in that guild either. You need access to things stored in the guild, access to the que if you want to be able to even make the items. simply: it's a hot mess.

    Downside for me: I like playing a healer, but the only accepted -not just elitism, i actually accept the reasoning for this- healer set requires recipes that are no longer available, with materials that are so limitedly available that is costs tons of gold to get that set together. Would like to see more healer sets or better accessibility to the materials.

    A minor, tiny, point is that playing as revenant does cause a little bit of a disconnect from your suspension of disbelief: One of the main NPCs also uses the revenant class, and all other characters seem awestruck at this despite you actually using the exact same magic. Can live with it, but still somewhat cringey.

    Of course, we still have the living world to look forward to =)    … Expand
  78. MrKurteous
    Nov 24, 2015
    10
    I've had an absolute blast with this game, the maps are beutiful and filled with captivating and just-enough-challenging events to entertain for hours and hours. The gameplay is absolutely amazing and the progression is incredibly rewarding. The changes to PvP are darn juicy too. That being said, it's not everyone's cup of tea. There is a fair amount of challenge and most of the moreI've had an absolute blast with this game, the maps are beutiful and filled with captivating and just-enough-challenging events to entertain for hours and hours. The gameplay is absolutely amazing and the progression is incredibly rewarding. The changes to PvP are darn juicy too. That being said, it's not everyone's cup of tea. There is a fair amount of challenge and most of the more attractive rewards require a decent amount of work. If you're not too fond of the new gameplay it might feel annoying to get them, but in general both hardcore players and more casuals can have a great time.… Expand
  79. MarcTryon
    Nov 23, 2015
    5
    At first blush, HoT has a lot going for it. The specialization are fun, the glider is a hoot, the new zones are lush and the critters unique and challenging.

    But as the hardcore players have pushed deeper into the new zones, the more accessible zones are left underpopulated. This isn't too bad in the first zone but, since it's hard to even solo the trash on the paths, and impossible to    At first blush, HoT has a lot going for it. The specialization are fun, the glider is a hoot, the new zones are lush and the critters unique and challenging.

    But as the hardcore players have pushed deeper into the new zones, the more accessible zones are left underpopulated. This isn't too bad in the first zone but, since it's hard to even solo the trash on the paths, and impossible to do most hero points or events without a decent number of people, it means for second and later zone, there is little worth doing unless you can get to a commander's pin and those are hard to come by, at least when I play.

    The mastery system is a long haul, which is not necessarily bad- it's good to have some goals. But it is frustrating to repeatedly find content that you can't access without some mastery since, unless you spend a crazy amount of time playing, it will be weeks or months before you've unlocked the necessary mastery. Plus the mastery "gate" seems frankly just arbitrary- like the hero point that poisons you over time and the only way to last long enough to earn the hero point is to have one of the end masteries, something that takes a very long time. Arbitrary content gates remind me of the old adventure games that put in obscure puzzles just so you didn't blow through the content too quickly.

    The legendary precursor collections proved to be another long grind without even the benefit of saving you money on your precursor since you still need to craft and/or buy quite a lot.

    It feels like the only option is to join a guild (which is hard to find at my late play time) and spend lots of time repeating the same content.

    GW2 went from quite enjoyable to starting to get painful to log in. For me, it's time to give it a six month break and see if they fix anything after a few patches. Definitely a disappointing xpac.    … Expand
  80. Revenanter
    Nov 23, 2015
    10
    I've bought this game after 3 year, for only 49.90 i got 2 games for the price of one.
    And what a game!
    Never thought it may be so beautifull !!!
    Finally i've found my definite MMO to play for months to go.
    Really happy !
  81. maximay
    Nov 23, 2015
    10
    Really great expansion full of stuff to do.
    Since Wow is dying, and it's dying pretty bad, GW2 is the new king of MMO...these is why so many 0 (zero).
    Please rosik more, can't stop laughing.
  82. Badspazz
    Nov 22, 2015
    0
    This game has went hardcore. IF you want a fun mmo play wow. this game is **** full of failed events and failed everything. If you are a loser perfect gamer you should play this. If you are not a 15 hour a day gamer pick another game.
  83. Erikkaa
    Nov 22, 2015
    0
    For being a new game HoT is surprisingly unimaginative as it offers only event farming for character progress. HoT could have been a great game. The new maps are wonderful, lots of claustrophobic tunnels, dead ends, narrow places and all zones cluttered with hard hitting mobs. Most things needed for progress is locked behind a neat system of mastery and hero points. It could have been goodFor being a new game HoT is surprisingly unimaginative as it offers only event farming for character progress. HoT could have been a great game. The new maps are wonderful, lots of claustrophobic tunnels, dead ends, narrow places and all zones cluttered with hard hitting mobs. Most things needed for progress is locked behind a neat system of mastery and hero points. It could have been good but turned out to be farming event only. To progress you have to unlock masteries and collect hero points. Team up, join others and spam your skills all the way through it over and over. HoT is time consuming and farming event is all there is if you want to progress your character. There are no heroines or heroes in HoT, only event farmers.… Expand
  84. Evalina
    Nov 20, 2015
    0
    HoT is a farming game, one way to play the game only. Four fantastic new maps with nothing more than farming events in order to unlock needed masteries. To fully explore the new maps masteries is needed. The lack of options to gain progress and experience makes the game uninteresting and linear. Playing the game consists of running after event and spamming buttons. The adventures are inHoT is a farming game, one way to play the game only. Four fantastic new maps with nothing more than farming events in order to unlock needed masteries. To fully explore the new maps masteries is needed. The lack of options to gain progress and experience makes the game uninteresting and linear. Playing the game consists of running after event and spamming buttons. The adventures are in fact small mini-games not even close to be an adventure. If you as a player want to challenge yourself and prove yourself as a player HoT is not the game for it. The core Guild Wars 2 was a fantastic game. HoT is nothing but time consuming event farming.… Expand
  85. krlitos
    Nov 20, 2015
    0
    Lack of support, constant nerfing and changes to classes (Druid) making them completely useless and unplayable after you spend hundreds of gold gearing them just to wake up and find out your build is total trash is not cool. The game had potential, sadly the devs are clueless. The music is good tho still is not enough to justify a buy, if it was possible to ask for a refund i would take it. 0/10
  86. nightfyre
    Nov 20, 2015
    9
    Was wanting to try the game again, and glad I did. It's become my time sink. The new areas can be confusing to travel, but you get use to them and have fun figuring out how to get to new areas. They still need to work on some of the 'balancing' but the game is fun. Don't follow the red reviews, they are just mad and are not thinking the whole thing through. Children... sheesh.
  87. FireFruit
    Nov 20, 2015
    0
    First why did I decide to create account and actually give my feedback?

    Because of careless developers that threat ranger class like the last class in the game, with zero respect and feedback to players that care and work hard to have communication about the issues that this game has. After 3,5 years I was hoping this game to get balanced, specially ranger class, I won't even start    First why did I decide to create account and actually give my feedback?

    Because of careless developers that threat ranger class like the last class in the game, with zero respect and feedback to players that care and work hard to have communication about the issues that this game has.

    After 3,5 years I was hoping this game to get balanced, specially ranger class, I won't even start how clunky this class is, because 5000 characters is way to less to do that. Anet did rush in development of one of the most simple core classes named Ranger. In expansion they did successfully release rushed Specialization for Ranger named Druid. This class would be fun, but simply due to some conflict inside of arena net, some one in developer team is on purpose ruining the class.

    Because of that I'm rating this game unbalanced, Core tyria has no challenge what so ever and no matter what you do it has no meaning, WvW after 3,5 years still has skill lag when there is fight 40+ and game mode becomes unplayable for last 3 years, I simply don't know why is ArenaNet so proudly representing WvW when they give zero effort into fixing existing problems for over 3 years, they don't fix bugs, they don't add rewards, the only thing they have done in 3,5 years was removing and crippling the ranking system. They say you can play your game how you want, but that truly means weather you want pvp or PvE, you can't play WvW because they enforce you to do PvE to have steady income.

    One would think game is amazing without subscription, but yet they give you 90% of the content on GEM store exclusively for limited amount of time so that players spend extra money on that. They say game is different from every other, but to be honest, this game is all about grind, and there is absolutely less fun and worst gaming experience i've had in my MMORPG games.

    One would ask me, but why do you still play it? Because GW1 devs did know how to hand things, they got us addicted, and part of us still believes to support them for greather good. But here is where we draw the line. You had 3.5 years, now i'll rate this game with fair score.

    Hearth Of Thorns expansion was released 23.oct, today not even 1 month later, 90% of people cannot finish simple quests due to poor content balance. ( don't take me wrong, HoT maps were amazing) Yet your concept and to keep people playing is wrong on so many levels, your rewards makes you feel unrewarded and grindy!

    Where are GW1 developers that had frequent, pleasant and warm communication with us?
    Where are GW1 developers that did balance the game even with 600 more skills?
    Where are those days when game did not feel grindy?
    Who employed you GW2 developers that only care for money garbing for very little content?    … Expand
  88. Utopia12
    Nov 20, 2015
    3
    The core game is great, if you've never played it before, they got a F2P system set up so you can play for yourself. Definitely something every gamer should experience.

    However, most of the original developers left the company, and everything went downhill, the new story is bland, the new maps are confusing and poorly delivered, pvp balance is a complete disaster (VERY punishing to new    The core game is great, if you've never played it before, they got a F2P system set up so you can play for yourself. Definitely something every gamer should experience.

    However, most of the original developers left the company, and everything went downhill, the new story is bland, the new maps are confusing and poorly delivered, pvp balance is a complete disaster (VERY punishing to new players, very CC centric), they're ruining the most beautiful skill animations in the sake of poorly thought-out clarity (they're actually making them harder to recognize) completely ruining the works of the talented developers that worked on this game.

    On top of it, they completely ignore their community, I've been through some rough stuff, Nexon and NCSoft to name a few, but they're even worse than them, not only do they NOT listen or respond to their community, they do the COMPLETE opposite of what's requested, in bad taste. AVOID AT ALL COSTS unless you want to get stressed and angry.

    Is the core game good? YES, and it's free. Is the EXPANSION worth buying? a resounding NO.    … Expand
  89. eval
    Nov 20, 2015
    3
    Heart of Thorns summed up in a sentence : "A torn in my side".

    Really a majority of content that was available prior to the expansion was either gutted, taken away or put behind a grind wall. You will spend countless hours in HoT grinding masteries to get the loot that should just be given out for your time anyways. Oh and the majority of the advertised content for the expansion that    Heart of Thorns summed up in a sentence : "A torn in my side".

    Really a majority of content that was available prior to the expansion was either gutted, taken away or put behind a grind wall. You will spend countless hours in HoT grinding masteries to get the loot that should just be given out for your time anyways. Oh and the majority of the advertised content for the expansion that we were lead on to believe it would be there release is still being added into the game and a lot of it we don't even know when, it will just be "soon".

    With that said I'll got over each mode briefly:

    PVP: Has an absolute imbalence right now. The new class reverant is just straight up overpowered and outright does every thing better than 2-3 classes. We all seen it coming with 400-500% buffs before launch. A few other classes got the same treatment. While others got straight up nerfs balancing them to the old bar. Also, without a doubt almost every single elite spec is straight up power creep compared to the base classes. There is almost no reason with exception of druid to not take your elite spec as it will bring more damage and utility. I honestly feel sorry for people that did not buy HoT and are playing base classes. On top of that we still don't have leagues. Ranked que is disabled and match making is still an absolute mess. Current balance is just kneejerk nerf into the ground what ever were complaining about today. I mean seriously, there could be nothing wrong with thief, someone will post thief is op on the fourms give no valid reasons and you could log in tomorrow to see nerfs no one asked for. PvP is really hard to enjoy right now.

    WvW: got a new borderlands map. Which is great except it was built as if you were supposed to be gliding everywhere and then they went oh that would be P2W so we wont include those. Generally on the new maps you'll spend countless hours walking around from place to place seeing no one as the maps are so vast. They also did nothing to sort out many of the issues of wvw. It's still a gold sink despite taking out upgrade costs, it still has night/workday time capping issues, it still has no meaningful rewards. If you play WvW it is solely for the enjoyment.

    PvE: HoT brough intresting new maps. The main issue with them is finding one that actually has people in it. A large majority of the time you will be waiting on these timed events and looking in the LFG tool to find other people. Most of the events go on for a long time! minimal 40mins-2 hours depending on the map. Classes are suffering here in being allowed into groups because of pvp kneejerk balance and a large majority of players refuse to play with certain classes. Lastly, anet have started to make changes that reward unskillful play and punish playing well. An example of this is the new adjustment to druid; which made building healing power to heal your allies less effective at healing than not taking any healing power.    … Expand
  90. DruidIsNerfed
    Nov 20, 2015
    0
    Do not bother buying this crap. Constantly nerfing other classes to highlight the one their Devs play. And they are not even in charge of the nerfed class. Extremely unbalanced and biased. If you don't believe me, just read ranger section on their forum and see it yourself. Great game, horrible development.
  91. voodoo683
    Nov 20, 2015
    0
    I'm very frustrated that Guild Wars 2 lose it's core philosophy with this expansion. It’s extremely important that we stay true to our philosophy that you should be able to play Guild Wars 2 the way you want to play the game in order to reach the most powerful rewards, said once Colin Johanson. Now it's gone. You're forced to do many things (such as event grinding, achievements, do raids,I'm very frustrated that Guild Wars 2 lose it's core philosophy with this expansion. It’s extremely important that we stay true to our philosophy that you should be able to play Guild Wars 2 the way you want to play the game in order to reach the most powerful rewards, said once Colin Johanson. Now it's gone. You're forced to do many things (such as event grinding, achievements, do raids, even play right character class) even if you don't like it. Uniqueness that distinguishes this MMO from others is gone. Now this game more like WoW "killer" with grinding like in Korean MMO's. Also this game has no balance between classes, there are OP classes (called Meta) and other with colossal difference of power and benefits for groups (different set of classes in different aspects of game).… Expand
  92. HighestHand
    Nov 19, 2015
    10
    Love the new zones, and the quests that bring the community closer to each other.

    You have a day and night cycle and both cycles are extremely fun. You have raids that came out, personally I haven't tried, but I am a big fan of raids and challenging content. My philosophy is to git gud or die trying.
  93. Flimsa
    Nov 19, 2015
    0
    HoT is not worth the money. The expansion is focused around events that you as player have to repeat over and over in order to gain progress for your character. All events in all maps follow the same pattern, pre event leads to final boss event. HoT does not offer any options to gain character progress besides events. This make HoT linear with directed way to play the game. AdventuresHoT is not worth the money. The expansion is focused around events that you as player have to repeat over and over in order to gain progress for your character. All events in all maps follow the same pattern, pre event leads to final boss event. HoT does not offer any options to gain character progress besides events. This make HoT linear with directed way to play the game. Adventures turned out to be mini games that are unavailable most of the time. I guess that with challenging content developers are referring to players performance for pre event and final boss event to success.… Expand
  94. gugliam1
    Nov 19, 2015
    10
    Simpy an awesome addition to an already great mmo !!!

    If you wonder why so many 0 (zero) ,here the answer. : read one of the many reviews from wow fanboys who rosik cause their mmo is dyning while GW2 is rising. diaper Nov 12, 2015 terrible game WoW is so much better. this game has terrible graphics and takes no skill and the community is garbage. nobody even plays it because    Simpy an awesome addition to an already great mmo !!!

    If you wonder why so many 0 (zero) ,here the answer. : read one of the many reviews from wow fanboys who rosik cause their mmo is dyning while GW2 is rising.

    diaper
    Nov 12, 2015

    terrible game WoW is so much better. this game has terrible graphics and takes no skill and the community is garbage. nobody even plays
    it because most people agree that it is terrible. I hate this game soo much!!    … Expand
  95. WallOfTextPlz
    Nov 18, 2015
    7
    Pros: Guild Wars 2 before the expansion was a shadow of their former self.

    Cons: Anet tried to please everyone. They made HoT grindy. WoW players would love that. They added trinity to raids. Now where is your target market?
  96. cioppete
    Nov 18, 2015
    10
    Awesome expansion, for one of the best, if not the best MMO today.
    Great graphics, immersive sound, strong gameplay with a pve quite difficult.
    Sorry Wow, but GW2 is my new home.
  97. Tatsu-Kan
    Nov 17, 2015
    10
    First, I would like to point that, yes, there are bugs, but all of them are going to be fixed.
    This expansion add a new way to explore content. I'm honestly in love with the news maps.
    And the gliding :] My only wish is that one day I can use the glider everywhere. This expansion does not add new levels to the character progression, which is perfect, it does not make our old stuff    First, I would like to point that, yes, there are bugs, but all of them are going to be fixed.
    This expansion add a new way to explore content. I'm honestly in love with the news maps.
    And the gliding :]
    My only wish is that one day I can use the glider everywhere.

    This expansion does not add new levels to the character progression, which is perfect, it does not make our old stuff obsolete. Arenanet found the perfect way, the new progression is based on masteries which is an account wide progression of ALL your characters.
    The first mastery you unlock is the glider, once done, you can use it on all your characters, even if they're not lvl 80. Ok, it does not matter, since the map where you can use the glider are for lvl 80 characters.

    Story : 10/10
    Open World : 10/10
    Music : 20/10 (They are fabulous)
    Fractals Dungeons : 8/10 (Need to be polished and the reward reevaluted)
    Raids : 9/10 (This is the hardest content of the game, added today)
    WvW : 8/10 (The new map is available for everyone, it's _too_ huge & beautiful)

    And the story continue, I'm expecting a pursue of the living story for a third season. I'm really impatient to see what they're planning for us :)    … Expand
  98. eridanired123
    Nov 17, 2015
    2
    Arena Net introduced the "gliding" concept, their approach to flying in the open world; have to say that it has been implemented in a magnificent way, way superior to WoWs flying mounts if I'm allowed to say. They also introduced the "Elite specializations" which are a new talent line for every class, just the fresh air that actual classes needed. Not to mention the new class "TheArena Net introduced the "gliding" concept, their approach to flying in the open world; have to say that it has been implemented in a magnificent way, way superior to WoWs flying mounts if I'm allowed to say. They also introduced the "Elite specializations" which are a new talent line for every class, just the fresh air that actual classes needed. Not to mention the new class "The Revenant" which aside from the generic story line is a fun to play class.

    But sadly all this awesome work becomes irrelevant when you have an EXTREMELY UNSTABLE software, random crashes here and there, a bug that has been around since launch 3 years ago and now is way more evident. Even worse behaviour on Mac client. Depending on your graphic settings and your hardware your client may crash as often as every some minutes or every some hours, but it will certainly happen. There are only a few documented cases that argue that they have never had any crash.

    Another huge annoyance is the high percentage of content that is now gated behind gold sinks, or heavy grinding of every posible kind you can imagine. Even content that was freely available before expansion has been moved behind grind walls.

    And lets not touch the epic fail with WvW. Where they didn't addressed a single flaw that the community has been complaining about for so long. Sure they delivered a new map which is good to have, but to be true, nobody asked for it and less with all those new problems it came with.

    The amount of new "skins" for gear and weapons that this expansion brought is very reduced compared to expansions of other MMO's with a similar budget. Worst thing is you have, of course, to GRIND your way to get many of these new skins. Sadly seems that items that should have been released as content for the expansion has been instead released trough the Gem Store, which is a real money shop for in-game items.

    The grind problem is now accentuated by a malfunctioning mechanic called "Diminishing Returns" which penalices the players with reduced or null loot for looting "too much" from a single loot table (generally a zone), this system was implemented to deincentivize farming but now it fires too often even when the player is not doing any action that can be considered farming at all.

    This new version also brought great disappointment to the instanced content lovers, because Dungeons loot has been heavily nerfed. And Worst is that known bugs and exploits hasn't been fixed. They also nerfed loot from Fractasl of the Mist (a different type of instanced content based on a couple of random maps that players can access repeatedly, difficulty escalates as its lv increases) even when they promised to buff it. Not being this enough, high lv Fractals bosses where buffed with tons of "armor" to make them more "challenging" instead of implemented interesting mechanics they have promised before. Now these bosses just take a lot of time to beat.

    The new raid content and squadron interface (a UI for groups as big as 50 players) came out late, has been released just today. And in the same way as most of the other parts of this expansion, they came out with easily to spot bugs. Seems this content hasn't been tested enough before launch. To be expected, the other parts of the expansion made you feel the same.    … Expand
  99. Egocentricion
    Nov 15, 2015
    10
    Guild Wars 2 continues to innovate after all these years.
    It is truly the only MMO on the market who actively seeks to please it's playerbase not by spoonfeeding them and hand holding them but with true innovation and challenge.
    Heart of Thorns is the striking proof that an expansion doesn't have to be half assed and dumb down a game.

    I recommend this expansion, it's all worth the money!
  100. jdross00
    Nov 14, 2015
    9
    Changing my initial review due to the addition of the 64bit client.

    Besides a few harsh setbacks at launch, HoT has given us enough new content and changes to make the game feel fresh again. Gliding is more enjoyable than anticipated. The specializations bring a welcome change to the core classes. The story no longer disrupts the immersion of the game with unnecessary 2D dialog. And    Changing my initial review due to the addition of the 64bit client.

    Besides a few harsh setbacks at launch, HoT has given us enough new content and changes to make the game feel fresh again. Gliding is more enjoyable than anticipated. The specializations bring a welcome change to the core classes. The story no longer disrupts the immersion of the game with unnecessary 2D dialog. And the environments continue their artistic flair which is unmatched by any other MMO.    … Expand
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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

All reviews »
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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