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Guild Wars 2 - Heart of Thorns |OT| Welcome to the Jungle...

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Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
double post because

LOOKIE LOOKIE

1BjWKAu.jpg



Having a stock of hardened leather squares helped a lot, never knew why it went 1g

Also holy shit. Only 2 months gap from my previous Legendary, and this was a fucking HoT grindfest Legendary!
 
double post because

LOOKIE LOOKIE

1BjWKAu.jpg




Having a stock of hardened leather squares helped a lot, never knew why it went 1g

Also holy shit. Only 2 months gap from my previous Legendary, and this was a fucking HoT grindfest Legendary!

Gratz chief!

I'm on the long slog through Itzel stuff before I can pick things back up and running. The Grindfest continues.

Does it make all the cool 'PewPew' noises one can hope for?
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Gratz chief!

I'm on the long slog through Itzel stuff before I can pick things back up and running. The Grindfest continues.

Does it make all the cool 'PewPew' noises one can hope for?

and cool projectiles too!

too bad the only class that really makes the most of it is thief and grenade-engineer
 
and cool projectiles too!

too bad the only class that really makes the most of it is thief and grenade-engineer

Thankfully I'm a Thief that runs Sword/Pistol as my primary, so one day I'll have that cool gun. I've yet to really play through an Engineer build that I like, but one day I'll give it another go. Whereas my wife runs around with a flamethrower cackling maniacally.
 

Massicot

Member
3 more shared inventory slots on each account now. Let me find my wallet sigh

My guess is we see lunar new year in two weeks since it's on the 28th in real life iirc.
 
I've been pushing into Living Story Season 3 finally, and it is such a relief that walked around and exploring solo isn't a goddamn deathwish anymore. I don't know what it was about the Maguuma zones, but the enemy design seemed to be built to dissolve your health or stunlock you to death. Things seem much more reasonable in Bloodstone Fen and Ember Bay. Stuff is still lethal, but I'm not getting hit with the cheap shit anymore.

Been running around them with the crew and having a blast. Being able to strafe and bomb stuff from the glider brings me such glee.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
So I guess the update just removed wintersday and upped the shared slot limit then? no secret current events or anything?
 
I've been pushing into Living Story Season 3 finally, and it is such a relief that walked around and exploring solo isn't a goddamn deathwish anymore. I don't know what it was about the Maguuma zones, but the enemy design seemed to be built to dissolve your health or stunlock you to death. Things seem much more reasonable in Bloodstone Fen and Ember Bay. Stuff is still lethal, but I'm not getting hit with the cheap shit anymore.

Been running around them with the crew and having a blast. Being able to strafe and bomb stuff from the glider brings me such glee.

I think it was a mistake to take the difficulty up so much for HoT. Players will always choose path of least resistance, and that is why people skip events in HoT. People cannot be bothered.


Difficult content! Yes please- But it's better confined to isolated content. I think that open world content should focus more on a convenient and pleasent experience. Silverwaste had a really good level of difficulty in a sense-
As a solo player in a dead SW map, I can pop my commander tag and herd incoming players. I pop a tag, and I stand at a fort, and a few players come. I tell them to stay there and defend. Then I go to another fort, and a few other people come. And usually- within 30-45 minutes, a map is going. Things are happening and others are popping tags and taking initiative.
You just don't see that in Verdant Brink. And Verdant Brink is fucking awesome. I never realized how good this map was until I had to map complete it, and boy is it a bitch. HoT is by some of the most difficult content I've encountered in a MMO. It's an expansion pack by its very nature where you get wrecked by a ton of things if you go at it alone.

Rememeber when Orr got a overhaul? Back at launch the mobs in Orr would pull you back, stagger, snare and immobilize you constantly. It was so frustrating to skip mobs. This is my problem with Emberstone Bay. I like it a lot less than the other two new zones, and it comes down to these annoying ass mobs.

It's my own fault really. If I just had some better anti CC skills and used weapons it would be easier, but these mobs are everywhere.
 
I think it was a mistake to take the difficulty up so much for HoT. Players will always choose path of least resistance, and that is why people skip events in HoT. People cannot be bothered.


Difficult content! Yes please- But it's better confined to isolated content. I think that open world content should focus more on a convenient and pleasent experience. Silverwaste had a really good level of difficulty in a sense-
As a solo player in a dead SW map, I can pop my commander tag and herd incoming players. I pop a tag, and I stand at a fort, and a few players come. I tell them to stay there and defend. Then I go to another fort, and a few other people come. And usually- within 30-45 minutes, a map is going. Things are happening and others are popping tags and taking initiative.
You just don't see that in Verdant Brink. And Verdant Brink is fucking awesome. I never realized how good this map was until I had to map complete it, and boy is it a bitch. HoT is by some of the most difficult content I've encountered in a MMO. It's an expansion pack by its very nature where you get wrecked by a ton of things if you go at it alone.

Rememeber when Orr got a overhaul? Back at launch the mobs in Orr would pull you back, stagger, snare and immobilize you constantly. It was so frustrating to skip mobs. This is my problem with Emberstone Bay. I like it a lot less than the other two new zones, and it comes down to these annoying ass mobs.

It's my own fault really. If I just had some better anti CC skills and used weapons it would be easier, but these mobs are everywhere.

For sure. I like difficult content, but I prefer it to be in the form of Bosses and Dungeon Fights.

That being said, I ran a group for the Triple Trouble Jungle Worms that was super coordinated and that was intense and a lot of fun, but it really was made by the people who were putting the effort in to make it happen.

I should be pushing past Emberstone Bay tonight, so looking forward to that. Unless my bar plays Big Trouble in Little China tonight for movie night, then I am totally gonna have to be there for that.

Verdant Brink IS a great map. Sure it gets confusing with all of it's layers, but I find that is more of a plus than a minus, as it really pushes you to get all the glider skills to explore and reach all the fun stuff going on. I think the difficulty curve was a combination of the enemy types coupled with the saturation of mobs. I can take on a Shadowleaper solo, and as a Daredevil it is a fun fight, with both of us flipping and twirling around to evade and laying down crazy damage. But you throw a giant beetle with a charge/stun in the mix, or anything that can stun, and you're dead. I do make sure to have CC breaking skills equipped now at all times, which was a rookie mistake in the beginning, since it didn't really matter until we hit Orr.

Maybe we should try and get a GAF night organized? Grab all the people that still play and all their friends in for a big map run in some of the endgame stuff, like a HoT run through a different zone once a week? Make it an all day affair where you log in and help out where you can.

Side note, love getting Empyreal Fragments from Petrified Stumps. Let me drown in them.
 

Vestal

Gold Member
Sooooo...

I started playing again just last night. I have just scratched the surface of HoT. Have a few questions.

1. Should I focus on HoT or do the Living World Story?

2. I had to switch to my Mesmer(leveled her up to 80 with the boost) as opposed to my Revenant cause he was getting chewed up too freaking fast in HoT.. Any suggestions on it? I was using the suggested Assasin Demonic Build that I had used in the past to level him up.. Sword/Axe and Staff.. Mesmer on the other hand has huge survivability hehehe.

3. Exp in HoT appears to be slow as fuck to get Masteries.. Is that umm normal? Ive been hitting the Pact encampments and doing most of the quests related to them.


Any suggestions or assistance would be greatly appreciated.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
There should be EXP boosters in HoT (I forgot where, but they give them a lot), also tiers tell how fast the exp goes, like later masteries take longer than earlier masteries. Clearing the main map meta event also give lots of EXP.
 
Sooooo...

I started playing again just last night. I have just scratched the surface of HoT. Have a few questions.

1. Should I focus on HoT or do the Living World Story?

2. I had to switch to my Mesmer(leveled her up to 80 with the boost) as opposed to my Revenant cause he was getting chewed up too freaking fast in HoT.. Any suggestions on it? I was using the suggested Assasin Demonic Build that I had used in the past to level him up.. Sword/Axe and Staff.. Mesmer on the other hand has huge survivability hehehe.

3. Exp in HoT appears to be slow as fuck to get Masteries.. Is that umm normal? Ive been hitting the Pact encampments and doing most of the quests related to them.


Any suggestions or assistance would be greatly appreciated.

You should play HoT first because Living Story season 3 is a continuance of that plot line. I'm guessing you don't have Glint unlocked for your Rev yet? You really need Glint for the Rev to shine. If you don't have it yet, try to jump in with HP trains in each HoT zone as there usually tends to be one or you can try and get one going in map chat. You get 10 HP points a pop from HoT zones so you can unlock Glint quickly that way. I believe the Dwarf would be better than Mallyx for survivability and you should then swap the staff for hammer, the only ranged weapon Rev has. HoT will get easier the more familiar you get with the zones and as you unlock the traversal masteries but especially once you have Glint.

For Experience, they actually doubled the xp from enemies from what it intially was so imagine it back then ;P BY FAR the best and fastest way to level HoT masteries is to do the Auric Basin Meta Event (Octovine). You don't even have to be there for the whole lead up, just get in on killing an octovine. Killing it will get you close to 400k experience I believe. You can also join a multi-server squad for the event which there is always one running to maximize chest collecting opportunities but I bring it up here because if you're lucky, you might kill the octovine on your server quickly enough that you can ask what server is still working on it in squad chat and then jump over to that server and help them finish off one of their octovines to double dip on the XP which is amazing. In general, doing the events but especially the meta events is the best way to get xp in HoT and Auric Basin is king in this regard. Mostly because of how short it is and easy to coordinate a server to beat it and you get a ton of loot to boot. Best place to farm in the game.
 
Sooooo...

I started playing again just last night. I have just scratched the surface of HoT. Have a few questions.

1. Should I focus on HoT or do the Living World Story?

2. I had to switch to my Mesmer(leveled her up to 80 with the boost) as opposed to my Revenant cause he was getting chewed up too freaking fast in HoT.. Any suggestions on it? I was using the suggested Assasin Demonic Build that I had used in the past to level him up.. Sword/Axe and Staff.. Mesmer on the other hand has huge survivability hehehe.

3. Exp in HoT appears to be slow as fuck to get Masteries.. Is that umm normal? Ive been hitting the Pact encampments and doing most of the quests related to them.


Any suggestions or assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Also? Make friends. If you have some people you usually run with it makes things more fun and more survivable. I'm usually down to run whatever, though right now I'm being headlocked into finishing up Living Story Season 3. But that will probably be done by the end of tonight.
 

Vestal

Gold Member
You should play HoT first because Living Story season 3 is a continuance of that plot line. I'm guessing you don't have Glint unlocked for your Rev yet? You really need Glint for the Rev to shine. If you don't have it yet, try to jump in with HP trains in each HoT zone as there usually tends to be one or you can try and get one going in map chat. You get 10 HP points a pop from HoT zones so you can unlock Glint quickly that way. I believe the Dwarf would be better than Mallyx for survivability and you should then swap the staff for hammer, the only ranged weapon Rev has. HoT will get easier the more familiar you get with the zones and as you unlock the traversal masteries but especially once you have Glint.

For Experience, they actually doubled the xp from enemies from what it intially was so imagine it back then ;P BY FAR the best and fastest way to level HoT masteries is to do the Auric Basin Meta Event (Octovine). You don't even have to be there for the whole lead up, just get in on killing an octovine. Killing it will get you close to 400k experience I believe. You can also join a multi-server squad for the event which there is always one running to maximize chest collecting opportunities but I bring it up here because if you're lucky, you might kill the octovine on your server quickly enough that you can ask what server is still working on it in squad chat and then jump over to that server and help them finish off one of their octovines to double dip on the XP which is amazing. In general, doing the events but especially the meta events is the best way to get xp in HoT and Auric Basin is king in this regard. Mostly because of how short it is and easy to coordinate a server to beat it and you get a ton of loot to boot. Best place to farm in the game.



Thanks for the tips regarding the Rev.. I might just need to rethink stats on his gear etc to try and make him a bit less squishy. Although right now I am having some good fun with the Mesmer.

So Glint + Shinro you would say? Then Sword/Axe and Hammer?

In regards to HoT, yeah I guess I just need to grind out the traversal a bit to get slightly more mobility. Only have 2 in Glides atm and working on the Bouncing Mushrooms now so I can move the Main story forward.

ChemicalCutthroat:
Ive been playing every night this week and I am in the GAF guild although it appears to be barren for the most parts at night hehehe. I know like no one right now in the game LOL.. My hope is to get decent enough to finish out the stories and start doing WvW pvp again.
 

Massicot

Member
You kinda just learn how to handle HoT mobs. In most cases, don't ignore smokescales or pocket raptors and try to run by them, just kill them. Keep your guard up around mushrooms. Etc.

I finished the Chosen precursor collection last night. I really liked the first part of it. Lots of cool callbacks and a couple event chains I hadn't ever done or done in a long while. Too bad the back half of it was basically "Do the World Boss Train", but I guess that's most Gen 1 legendaries.
 
Thanks for the tips regarding the Rev.. I might just need to rethink stats on his gear etc to try and make him a bit less squishy. Although right now I am having some good fun with the Mesmer.

So Glint + Shinro you would say? Then Sword/Axe and Hammer?

In regards to HoT, yeah I guess I just need to grind out the traversal a bit to get slightly more mobility. Only have 2 in Glides atm and working on the Bouncing Mushrooms now so I can move the Main story forward.

ChemicalCutthroat:
Ive been playing every night this week and I am in the GAF guild although it appears to be barren for the most parts at night hehehe. I know like no one right now in the game LOL.. My hope is to get decent enough to finish out the stories and start doing WvW pvp again.

No worries buddy and don't give up on HoT. I remember when I first attempted that region I was solo and I was getting my ass kicked so hard that I questioned being able to do them solo at all. I then tried to play during day time (Verdant Brink) when the mobs aren't as harsh and go to HPs that other people were heading to and as I began unlocking Glint and gaining traversal abilities plus familiarity with the zones, it really changed everything for me. I can no run around solo and do most things outside of certain HP Champs. Just take it careful and slow at first and soon you'll gain momentum!

Mesmer is awesome, nothing wrong with going that route! Yes, I personally when playing Rev roll with those two stances and those weapons. There might be certain instances where you can swap to sword/shield instead of hammer but I have hammer most of the time because again, it's the only ranged weapon and the 2 skill used to be OP. It's still pretty damn strong and spammable for the most part.

Excellent, keep up what you're doing and you'll be cruising around HoT in no time! You can also check the guild list if you're in the GAF guild to see if anyone is running around those zones and join in. I'd offer myself but it will be a little bit longer before I come back to GW2. I still need to finish Living Story and clear that last new zone so I'll definitely be back, just too many new games at the moment to play ha
 
One of the best things I can say is this; Use the LFG tool! It is key to find other players. Always press Y > LFG and then look for what is going on. You want to look for squads where people do map completion, meta or similar.

This will allow you to find a large group of players who you can chug on with.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
wait

since when did they make face of light cost 2 energy? I remember being able to run facet of light, the strength boon and speed boon and still have 1 energy!
 

Massicot

Member
Double post. But I got my 20th Legendary. Wasn't planning on making this so fast but a cheap collection and unexpected Dawn drop helped move things along. Plus I saw what the options were for OG shield and HoT shield and decided I like this one better.


It doesn't even look awful with the Aegis effect on it
good thing shield on guard is not great

Back down to zero exploration gifts again, and I've exhausted all my my battle gifts I had stockpiled. So probably won't make another one for a while.


There's a character in there somewhere.
 
Double post. But I got my 20th Legendary. Wasn't planning on making this so fast but a cheap collection and unexpected Dawn drop helped move things along. Plus I saw what the options were for OG shield and HoT shield and decided I like this one better.



It doesn't even look awful with the Aegis effect on it
good thing shield on guard is not great

Back down to zero exploration gifts again, and I've exhausted all my my battle gifts I had stockpiled. So probably won't make another one for a while.



There's a character in there somewhere.

Congrats.



Why did you go for this Shield over the Quaggan one? Don't you love Quaggan???
 

Massicot

Member
Hehe. They're both good. I like the idea of a non-serious legendary like the quaggan one without it being obnoxious noise and color like The Dreamer (which was my first legendary, so I'm not against joke ones!)
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
I only have 5 and HOPE burned me out lol

I think my next project is gonna be Incinerator. I actually was planning for Juggernaut but then I saw 250 Silver Dubloons, I was like, nope.
 

Sonicbug

Member
(Looks up at legendaries everywhere.)

I just finished the 4th nevermore collection and now I'm just trying to finish the bits and bobs (and cash money) needed for actually assembling the whole thing. I don't know where I'm going to get the 600 something gold I need to buy the items/recipes I need. Luckily I have almost half the clovers from monthly chests and 750 mystic coins stockpiled.

It's still gonna be awhile. =/
 
Yeah, I don't have a single Legendary. I never really stuck in to try and get one, but I figured since I started playing more seriously that it would be time to get going. On the plus side, it means I have a bunch of resources saved up.
 

Spyware

Member
I spent quite some time gathering everything needed for Flameseeker before HoT launch in anticipation of the precursor collections, but when it released I hated it and bought the precursor from the TP instead. :p

I thought that would be my only Legendary but quite recently I got a sudden craving for Eternity, completely out of the blue. I just needed it for my druid for some reason, so I made it in a week or something. Bought the precursors because I still think the collections are a waste of time.
So I guess I've made four legendaries while only considering them as two, since I don't use Sunrise and Twilight.
 

Massicot

Member
I spent quite some time gathering everything needed for Flameseeker before HoT launch in anticipation of the precursor collections, but when it released I hated it and bought the precursor from the TP instead. :p

I thought that would be my only Legendary but quite recently I got a sudden craving for Eternity, completely out of the blue. I just needed it for my druid for some reason, so I made it in a week or something. Bought the precursors because I still think the collections are a waste of time.
So I guess I've made four legendaries while only considering them as two, since I don't use Sunrise and Twilight.

Eternity is cool, congrats! I kinda hope the eventual HoT Greatsword(s?) combine with it. I want a super gaudy ridiculous GS.
 

leng jai

Member
I only have 5 and HOPE burned me out lol

I think my next project is gonna be Incinerator. I actually was planning for Juggernaut but then I saw 250 Silver Dubloons, I was like, nope.

Yeah I'm sure the new legendaries are 50 times more tedious than the launch ones to make.

Once you make one for some reason it becomes way easier to get more afterwards. My first took forever then all the ones after were pretty easy.
 

Spyware

Member
Eternity is cool, congrats!
Thanks :D
I didn't actually like much it back when everyone had it but I see it less and less so now I appreciate it a bit more. It fits my druid pretty well but is a pain to color match :p I wish Eternity got it's own hilt that unified Sunrise and Twilight more. With mostly the blade part changing. Ohwell.


Actually starting to warm up to Verdant Brink a little now that I have more masteries. I've gone there to get the HPs with 3 characters recently and I think I don't hate it anymore, at least :D

It helps that I adore the character I'm playing atm. I just love the phoenix weapon set so much and she's just the coolest lady!
 

Quenk

Member
Yeah I'm sure the new legendaries are 50 times more tedious than the launch ones to make.

Once you make one for some reason it becomes way easier to get more afterwards. My first took forever then all the ones after were pretty easy.

Apparently the newest ones (Eureka and Shooshadoo) are easier to make. Amalgamated Gemstones would still be annoying though. Tools like gw2efficiency and gw2bltc make it easier for me to work on legendaries even though I haven't made many.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Yeah I'm sure the new legendaries are 50 times more tedious than the launch ones to make.

Once you make one for some reason it becomes way easier to get more afterwards. My first took forever then all the ones after were pretty easy.

iirc the shortbow, mace and shield are easier barring the amalgamated gemstones, then again they were made right after the legendary team for HoT were removed iirc

and yeah I know that feel, for some odd reason if you've done a legendary, doing another (non-HoT) one feels easier
 
I mean, I have a little Guild of friends that I play with regularly. Not a ton, but enough for the usual day to day activities. But it would be fun to run with the GAF crowd and do stuff, so I'd support a revival. People are still playing regularly after all.
 
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