[EXPANSION] Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns Discussion

[Lazuli]

Not a fan of the Maguuma stuff, honestly, but I'm still kind of excited.

Also, I reeeeeeeeeally hope Thief didn't get rifle. I don't want another Ranged weapon when the existing ones already fill both the ST "hail of bullets" and AoE "ranged assassin" niches. Give us a sword+shield option based around agility, or something to do with maces and "brute force" type ruffian gameplay.

Agree'd x9000

Offhand sword or shield, or some twist with torch / focus. Rifle sounds so retarded, I would rather get the over used greatsword... I like your idea with mace

They refuse to even balance P/P so why the fuck add another shitty range option?

[Deleted]

it's a specialization of the Ranger, just introduced today so you haven't missed anything during your break

Haha, guess I haven't - thanks for the answer, though!

[MrSerious]

That looked AMAZING! I was expecting only half of what they delivering.

I love that jungle theme as well, after spending months in the silverwastes entering the complete opposite of that will be a refreshing change. and it look SO GOOD.

I also love this horizontal progression, I hope its not a simple as going to the trainer and getting a new skill, I want a quest to obtain these new masteries.

well played ANet, well played....

[Karizee]

The concept art for the guild halls looks amazing

[Deleted]

Pretty sure thief is getting rifle. in the trailer a medium armor character has a rifle when the dragon pops out and we know ranger is getting staff and engi is getting hammer so that leaves Thiefs with rifle.

I can't think of anything less "Thief" like than a rifle. Loud, slow, stationary. No thanks. Even greatsword would fit better, so let's just pretend that was just an Engineer they happened to show. The only thing I can think of them doing with it is a "sniper" type theme where you're at long range plinking single target, which is bleh. To me Thieves of all weapons should be in and out of the action. Even using a pistol or a bow you have skills to get you in and out quickly.

Things I would prefer to get:

Duelling swashbuckler with a sword+shield. Emphasis on avoiding + reflecting attacks and getting to counter.
Tough brawler with maces. Emphasis on controlling the enemy and not using stealth as much to get damage out.

They could even have put off-hand sword in. Not a totally new weapon to our land combat, but it's something we currently don't have that would add a bunch of new skills combining it with different main hands.

[Fencers]

I can imagine off-hand mace for Thief. Like carrying a blackjak or being more of a ruffian than an assassin.

[zito]

If mesmers main hand option isn't pistol then Anet just wants to torture us for fun.

[Fernling306]

I can't wait to see the Maguuma Jungle, even though it reminds me of Avatar.

[worprz]

I can't wait to see the Maguuma Jungle, even though it reminds me of Avatar.

DUDE!! I hope there is a ton of bioluminescent stuff.

I have to say that I didn't really want rifle for Thief, I'd rather have greatsword or offhand sword.

I'm so excited for the 3 level maps though! My favorite maps all have a lot of vertical aspects like Labyrinthine Cliffs and Dry Top.

[Deleted]

Have I missed something during my current break from GW2 - what exactly are Druids?

We're refering to Ranger's specialization here, as someone has already explained. BUT there's also this: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Druid_%28lore%29



I'd also like to point out how the phenomenon called hype can ruin game's... not really sure how to call it, reputation? Image? We've seen many cases of that recently and yet people still get too excited about raw information / plans / announcements. Then, get dissapointed and a game suddenly has negative opinion and tarnished reputation.

[nevermore]

This expansion sounds amazing, colour me impressed.

Also GREATSWORD NECRO. Totally called it!

[zito]

I think from now on we will see profession specializations instead of new professions all together. Revenant filled whatever niche that was missing and the rest of the professions can continually evolve since they were born from several differnt themes of GW1 professions. Like we could very well see a Guardian specialization to play and feel like Paragon from GW1 pleasing fans without actually having to add an entire new profession to level back from level 1.

It is quite genius. I also like the fact that instead of a power creep and level cap, for the new areas only you get new techniques and such to traverse the area.

It's a prime example of horizontal progression without some kind of power creep. (In theory).

I'm also quite stupidly blind sided. This type of update is how guild wars always worked. Smaller updates via patches with large expansion adding main features. Just like GW1. (Though more frequent smaller patches than GW1). I forgot that is what Anet does and I was expecting something like other MMOs do (big big patches every 3 months or so).

Anyway with new specializations reroll might be in order more then ever before with everyone.

[Fencers]

It came to my mind this morning that I hope there is a way to undo Specialization choice. There was no real detail on this but Colin said something that gave me pause on reflection: "You can become a Druid or stay a Ranger". Which to me implied taking a Specialization is a permanent choice.

Perhaps though there will be a book or trainer to undo the choice; a "repec" option if you will.

I'd hate to potentially lose a character after discovering a specialization isn't to my liking.

[zito]

I think there will be a way to revert, I don't think it's meant to be a change on the fly thing, then what difference would it make then just simply having it as just a regular weapon and weapon swapping?

[Rhywolver]

Everything sounds amazing, but I'm confused why they miss the chance to add a new race with the expansion. Who knows when the next one will be ready, or maybe they don't have plans to add any new race at all.

Looking forward for this, I hope GuildHalls won't be just for 20+ ppl guilds.

[Rukh]

Everything sounds amazing, but I'm confused why they miss the chance to add a new race with the expansion. Who knows when the next one will be ready, or maybe they don't have plans to add any new race at all.

Looking forward for this, I hope GuildHalls won't be just for 20+ ppl guilds.

Adding a new race is a ton of work. While it would be kind of neat, I'd much rather they spend that effort on other things. A new race means going back and making new meshes for every single armor that already exists, new animations for every action, new paths for weapons, all that stuff. Then you get to lore reasons for it. The current existing races are the major alliance.

If you make a new race, that means a new start hub, a whole extra personal story which basically means two stories in the expansion instead of one, that's again twice the work. You have to have lore reasons why any sizeable number of this population is helping the major races. Maybe you could shoehorn in Skritt. They're my favorite anyways, but I don't know if you could really, seriously, add in skritt heroes that stand on the level with human, sylvari, norn, asura, and charr heroes. Level 80 skritt hero commander of the pact? Probably not.

[CrossNgen]

I've been thinking, and I don't think they're able to add a new race into the game because of how the in game campaign works

[Vintersol]

They refuse to even balance P/P so why the fuck add another shitty range option?

Maybe this option could have a proper range?

[zito]

Maybe this option could have a proper range?

Correct. Think sniper if you will.

[Rukh]

ArenaNet totally sold me with this expansion announcement, so exciting! It's just like in their MMO-manifesto video from few years ago but developed further.

Still I wish they would have something more to show from the expansion (screenshots, mastery system explained further, skills?), although this was just a presentation, not a Blizz'Con like event which would have had panels etc.

They said they'll come out with more specific details as the expansion gets closer. Hopefully sooner rather than later!