Hello readers,
As we all know, I made a previous topic about the announcement of Heart of Thorns, we're all still excited for that, don't you worry. However, there was a social media spat recently regarding the pricing of HoT (Heart of Thorns).
The first question I have to ask myself is why are people acting this way? There has been literally no decent and entertaining content for almost a year. ArenaNet's focus has switched from content creation to Gem store creation (Gem store being their version of micro transaction shop), so it leads me to think, if people actually did their research on the direction and focuses of the game, then it is quite an expected outcome.
Secondly, the history of ArenaNet and expansions typically include a character slot at the very minimum (Guild Wars 1: Nightfall/Factions) but again, let's look at this logically. You couldn't buy character slots with gold in Guild Wars 1 whereas you can in Guild Wars 2; so why on Earth would they keep on giving MORE free shit? People are trying to defend that they are entitled to more, but dispute the fact that this actually isn't entitlement.
Despite all of the personal attacks on ArenaNet, the immature people insulting them, people DDOSing their forums so that people can't actually communicate effectively, Gaile Gray has taken the time to assure players that they are being listened to - read the quotes below:
"We understand that there are many opinions and suggestions about the game versions and the pre-purchase program. We will continue to read your thoughts and thank you for sharing them. We will share your input with the team," she wrote.
She then followed with the comment: "I should be a bit more clear: Please don’t take a comment like “we’re reading your thoughts” lightly. That’s truly not a dismissive comment, but one that is intended to let you know that feedback from our forum members and players will be shared with the team as a whole.
In fact, I’ll edit my previous post to make that a bit more visible."
Okay, so after reading all that, it's calmed people down - people have shared this post because Gaile is known for her interaction and kindness with the community. Putting the price aside and complaints, let's talk about what this expansion will include.
One of the many, many complaints was that people were "only paying for 3 maps" but the problem is, the sole point of this expansion is much wider than just the part of the maps that we are getting.
For example;
- Guild Halls: there are going to be Guild Halls. Some people actually believe that these were in Guild Wars 1 from launch (they weren't), they were actually introduced in Factions.
- New weapons for each class: there will be a new weapon for each class, not only are they going to be added it but you also have to earn it with the new mastery system that will be added with the expansion.
- Mastery System: this system will allow you to unlock special knowledge traits that will allow you to defeat certain amounts of foes; the aim of this was to make sure that level 80's don't immediately jump into the content. Mastery points will be unlocked through map exploration in HoT.
- New PvP and WvW map: another amazing change for the game is that there is a whole new style of PvP maps and WvW maps coming into the game when the expansion is released. The reason why they are so amazing is because they literally are far from the original maps and their type of game style.
- A whole new class (Revenant): yes, you read that correctly, there will be a new class that will be coming with the expansion that opens up a whole array of new story, weapons, skills and armor. Judging from the beta, it looks like you won't need a pre-requisite for playing them (WoW put a level requirement on their Death Knight class). This class will also have its own specialisation to build into.
- The core game comes free for new accounts! This is probably the best feature of the game and people hate it. I like the fact that some people are intimidated by a game with an expansion, whether new or old. This allows people to jump straight into the core game and when they're ready to jump into the expansion; people are saying that "the expansion would have been cheaper without the core game included." ArenaNet have confirmed themselves that this is simply not true.
- New world maps with THREE layers: this is right, players will be gaining access to 3 (datamined so far, could be more) maps with 3 layers, so isn't that technically 9 maps straight off the bat? It depends entirely on how big these layers are, if they're anything like Divinity's Reach then yes, it'll be a bit of a let down but we'll have to wait and see. We have only seen the starting event with the wyvern boss and that already looked amazing. I can't wait to see these new maps.
My point of detailing these updates is because you are getting more than 'just 3 maps', I believe that the expansion price and the bonuses included are fair. Anyone saying otherwise it's either quite greedy or has some issues of entitlement, because really, they don't even have you give you a reasonable price on Deluxe Edition but they have.
Some features I would like to see:
- Outfits: I would like to see the ability to mix and match the outfits that you buy in the gemstore, some of them have really great shoulders, but not so great chest pieces etc... You get the general idea.
- Waypoints: I'd like to see free waypointing whilst you're already at a waypoint.
- Legendary glow effects: I'd like to have the option to have these disabled/enabled and also to select which footsteps I want to use with any of my legendary collection, perhaps a new tab for them, much like miniature pets and finishers. If you unlocked the legendary, you unlocked the glow/footsteps with it.
- Aegis: I'd like to see an option to remove this graphical effect whilst wearing a shield, it clips extensively and it's annoying.
- Character weight / hip / breast / chest / stomach / leg width : I'd like to see more options to customise your character from the start; I literally cannot wear outfits on my Human anymore because of how clunky and chubby they make her look only because of the preset hip sizes that you're given. I'd like to see an sliders for these features so you can choose a super hipless character or a super wide one.
- Race changer! Yep, it may seem simple but I'd love to have the ability to change my character's race without having to do everything all again.
Conclusion;
The expansion is going to be amazing, ArenaNet have struggled to deliver previously, but I feel this could be a bright start for them. They took a gamble with Living Story and it didn't work out as well as they wanted. Hopefully; this will.
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