[Discussion] PoF is a great "one time playing experience" but that's pretty much it

Now that PoF is more than a month old, the majority of players have already "finished" it.

Most people (including me) have already unlocked all new elite specializations, explored every map, got all masteries and did most achievements of PoF.This leaves me with the impression that PoF's biggest flaw is that it's not really repeatable. It's not worth coming back to PoF maps once you've unlocked and discovered everything and there are no real profitable farms you can do.

Don't get me wrong, PoF was a great one time playing experience but that's pretty much it. I hope that Anet will put more repeatable content like HoT meta maps into the next expansion and add maps for exploring. Because only having meta maps (HoT) and just having explorable maps (PoF) isn't the best formula in my opinion.

I would have to disagree. Albeit I am not done with all of the achievements, but I love playing the new maps. I especially love the griffon adventures but the bounty system is also fun when you have a good squad going. But no matter what you do, any zone will get old if you play it long enough. I think the only disappointment is that there aren't any large metas along the level of Heart of Thorns, but even those get old once played through too frequently. Still, i look forward to taking at least 2 more characters theough the content and I won't be bored on the playthrough.

@Narcemus.1348 said:I would have to disagree. Albeit I am not done with all of the achievements, but I love playing the new maps. I especially love the griffon adventures but the bounty system is also fun when you have a good squad going. But no matter what you do, any zone will get old if you play it long enough. I think the only disappointment is that there aren't any large metas along the level of Heart of Thorns, but even those get old once played through too frequently. Still, i look forward to taking at least 2 more characters theough the content and I won't be bored on the playthrough.

Yeah I love playing on these maps as well but not having repeatable content like meta events really hurt them in the long turn.

Look at the silverwastes. This map has been out for so long but it's still one of the most active maps (and my favourite one btw) because of the great meta implementation and chests + events.

To be honest, bounties don’t really offer any more than what you could get from regular events during the time spent killing them and they’re essentially damage sponges with mechanics that just prolong the fights.

Not exactly what I would consider repeatable content but that’s just me.

HoT maps haveRewarding meta eventsMap currency that is unique per map and necessary for legendaries and collections

PoF maps have:Very few and completely unrewarding meta events (why would I ever do Ire again other than to help friends or guildies? The rewards outside of funerary collection are non existent for the effort)Shared currency that has very limited use (the minis, the MINIS!)Bounties (which are admittedly fun, but very similar across the maps and will likely get repetitive).Abundant giants (so I can finally finish the silly giant slayer achieve!)

So yes, other than bounties, I feel that PoF provides very little reason for players to return to. I am inclined to agree with OP - PoF was a great one time experience. I will likely poke back in to do some bounty runs (some funerary weapons and beautiful!), but past that, I don't see much reason to come back.

Some of these flaws are easily fixable. Adding unique (or at least plentiful) loot for meta events will likely draw people back. More useful things on vendors to make the trade contracts useful would be nice too. Not sure it would solve the problem, but it should at least extend the life of PoF to some degree.

A "one time experience" still ranks higher than the "never going to be on my hard drive" opinion of HoT.

I'm replaying PoF with my second character now and have to say, without masteries to gather it feels as short as HoT. Especially after we come back from our fun time with the Judge, the story uses superspeed to finish. We have like 1 mission in Desolation, which is 1 fight and a dialogue. What the hell?!

Although I still play -a lot- on the PoF maps and there is always something to do, the "one time experience" certainly applies to some of the badly designed meta events.I'm never going to even try doing Junundu Rising and Forged with Fire, I got their achievements, didn't have any kind of fun getting them, wasn't rewarded at all for doing them (other than the 5 AP), so I find no reason to ever bother with them again. Unfortunately they put an insane grind in the Order of Shadows achievements and as a completionist and achievement hunter I want to finish those. But the meta events in Desolation that are required, the Maw of Torment and the Order of Shadows intel drop events, are so boring and annoying that I will have to force myself to do them. Which is never a good thing.

I agree. It is basically LS4 in one release + mounts. Would be ok for a single player game that you play once and uninstall, but a catastrophic failure for a MMO.

They do have meta events, nothing map wide, but similar activities to defending Tarir organizationally speaking. I just think players are now accustomed to being told when and where events are happening that they won't bother organizing for events that aren't on a strict schedule... even though these events are on timers (just not a schedule). There are many smaller events where players initiate them in PoF, I wish the larger meta events had a similar structure where they'd wait for five players to stand in a lane to start the event (if that is the minimum for success). This way it'd give players time to organize for them or put the effort into organizing them.

I only wish this for the events that really do require a significant amount of players to do. I'm much more partial to a world that operates with or without players being there and player actions determine how the world will change, if they choose to involve themselves in the events. I'd rather there be more events like Straights of Devastation where there is a constant push and pull determined by player participation, than ones where the events always start based on a schedule and end based on a timer.

@Malediktus.9250 said:I agree. It is basically LS4 in one release + mounts. Would be ok for a single player game that you play once and uninstall, but a catastrophic failure for a MMO.

Just what you're saying. It's a neat bundled living story chapter, with some interesting functionnalities, but it's missing a lot of content, functionnality, rehearsal of old stuff etc.Now, I'm only wishing for the genuine LWS4 to take place in PoF maps, so that some life can be put back in them, otherwise, they'll turn into exactly what they were advertised : a big desert.

@Sodeni.6041 said:Now that PoF more than a month old, the majority of players have already "finished" it.

Most people (including me) have already unlocked all new elite specializations, explored every map, got all masteries and did most achievements of PoF.This leaves me with the impression that PoF's biggest flaw is that it's not really repeatable. It's not worth coming back to PoF maps once you've unlocked and discovered everything and there are no real beneficial farms you can do.

Don't get me wrong, PoF was a great one time playing experience but that's pretty much it. I hope that Anet will put more repeatable content like HoT meta maps into the next expansion and add maps for exploring. Because only having meta maps (HoT) and just having explorable maps (PoF) isn't the best formula in my opinion.

I would tend to agree. I've found no good reason to go back to PoF (for me), since doing all the main stuff I've wanted to do, exploration, story, griffon, some achieves etc, there has been nothing to draw me back. I did go back to do a couple of Casino Blitz events once that whole thing about a super high value drop came out, but after doing a few of them I stopped as I found the event one of the most boring things in the game, to me. (also doesn't help that I find the FPS in PoF pretty bad in comparison to the rest of the game (even when solo), and casino blitz worse than at world bosses).

The few 'metas' in PoF haven't seemed worth it to me. They don't seem that rewarding, but more the point I don't find them fun enough, or long enough to make them worth waiting around for (especially ones which aren't on timers so you've no idea how long till it's next up). I much prefer metas that give a purpose, or sense of progression to the map (like silverwastes, or HoT ones).

I don't tend to do farming stuff like fractal 40, or silverwastes over & over etc, so I don't really know what PoF has for farms, but far as I can tell from here, and from what my guildies say, PoF doesn't really have any farm significant enough for most to bother with.

Which leaves bounties, they are about the only thing I tend to see in the LFG for PoF maps, so I assume they are really the main thing people are going back there for. I enjoyed them initially, but after the novelty wore off they just became regular champ trains, which isn't really something I find that engaging. And from doing several trains, the loot has never seemed rewarding enough that it would make me want to do them just for loot.

With the story, map exploration, HPs & Masteries all being very soloable the whole of PoF really felt like a single player DLC that you just forget about after 'completing'. I still think it was great value for money, I've done what I needed, had fun, and got my entertainment out of it, but it just doesn't feel like an expansion as there's no lure to go back there.

I really hope that LS4 brings some map metas into PoF so the maps don't go to waste. As it stands the only part of PoF I have been back to for weeks is the guild hall because the guild I'm in moved it there. In terms of the actual maps I haven't been back since near the start of the month.

I don't know about the majority of players, and I'm sure the OP doesn't either. I find the PoF maps to have plenty of content (i.e, events, collections, Easter eggs, nods to GW lore and other things) that continue to interest me and will for longer than it is likely to take ANet to start implementing LS4. What it does not have are a lot of long-term goals for those who want such things.

@Malediktus.9250 said:I agree. It is basically LS4 in one release + mounts. Would be ok for a single player game that you play once and uninstall, but a catastrophic failure for a MMO.

I absolutely agree with your statement! It summs my post up quite well :)

Well, it could be worse, at least pve and pvp high end contented is well balanc... oh wait, nevermind.

In my view, the assessment depends heavily on the individual. In general, I tend to increasingly enjoy content as i replay it. This is holding true for me in PoF. The first time through any content is typically like work and is often very frustrating for me. I begin to enjoy it as I become more familiar and have the time to enjoy the overall experience. I am nowhere near done with everything...but I am repeating some things I've already done and enjoying it much more second and third time through.

For example, I have four accounts so I have set out to get the griffon on all of them. Two down...one in progress...and one waiting in the queue. On this third run through, I am finding it much more enjoyable and less frustrating.

But, as I said, not everyone plays as I do and enjoys things the same as me.

I'll say this....I've played through its story 3 times. I've done map completion of it once. I've gotten all obtainable masteries from it and even then it has less longevity than HoT.

With HoT i did the story 9 times, map completed 4 times, still have masteries to chase after and can frequently pop back into those zones to do rewarding events.

Now i'm not gonna say HoT wasn't without issues, it certainly was however as per which one had more sustained content, for me personally that was HoT. It's a shame too because the pacing for masteries in PoF was great, the story was some of the best gameplay wise they've had and the maps had some of the nicest exploration pieces....But those are all one off things.

I'm really hoping that the content rich expansion sees some re-playable content pieces added and for some of the existing content that is there to be made available and not be disabled.

They just need to buff the rewards at least for bounties. This would put it where it needs to be. For me GW2 vanilla is world bosses, HoT for metas, and PoF for bounties. 3 very different ways to play and get loot.

Yes, I put POF as a 1-time thing. Most people that did preorders are done by now. I am a casual player, and I could still go back if I had to, but it is more "meh, done for me". To make matters worse, the elites were not as great as the HOT ones either so the few HPs I got were just because I was in a zerg that went after them. At least the maps are not the insane mess we had in places like TD.

I would have liked 1 major meta or world boss or something that could be a beacon to the area. A lot of time I want to go there but have no idea where I'm going to see other players or have an idea what time something will be happening. As is I just teleport there, wander around and am not sure what to do. Maybe I'll do one achievement for .0000001 APs (thanks for being so liberal with those anet!) and then leave.

I didn't found PoF that rich or "longer" than HoT. I'm not a completionist at all, so I have still a lot of achievements to get from both Expacs... but I find myself way more interested in going back to HoT to scratch that last layer of interesting things while doing fun metas, than to keep delving in PoF with its boring maps and mount switching syndrome. I'm forcing myself to do map completion on the desert, really...So far the only real thing I think PoF has truly done better than HoT is pricing...

I can see where you are coming. I only really go back to PoF if I have too, or it is for another characters story. With that being said, I still prefer it over HoT. I have only done the story once in HoT, and I don't want to do it on my alts either because I am not that fond of HoT. Meta events can be fun, but I don't really care for them which is why them not being in PoF doesn't bug me.

I spend most of my time in LA anyways just using map chat being sociable, so I kind of avoid both HoT and PoF when I think about it.

I pretty much lived in HoT for about 9 months after it launched and I still go there a lot. I run Dragon's Stand just for the fun of it even now.

For PoF I finished the story once and hope never to see any of it again. Got the four publicized Mounts, most of which I wouldn't have bothered with other than there were odd bits of the story that needed them. Got the Griffin which was the best part of the expansion (the collection part, not the Griffin itself, which is less useful than a glider). Doing all that, I explored most of the maps - still a few places i haven't visited that I'll get around to some time.

Other than that I think I'm about done. I don't plan on using most of the new Elites and I don't need most of the Ascended weapons so the drive there was to get both of those in HoT isn't there. Again, I may go back to it later but equally likely I won't.

I preferred HoT. It had its issues but it also had a lot more to do and better reasons to do it. It also had much better progression which, in an MMO with no clear throughline, is something that's hard to come by.

Path of Fire isn't a bad expansion but there's really not a lot to it. Just as well Halloween came along when it did and we've got Wintersday to look forward to.

Since PoF came out. I've played way more HoT than PoF. I keep going back to silverwastes, tangled depths and dragon's stand metas and I see way more people there with me than in PoF doing whatever people do there.

When I do play PoF I'm either unlocking one of my new elite specs or playing the story or I join a bounty train, kill about four or five bosses and leave. I know there are other events but either they're consistent failures or they're just not big or interesting enough to show up. I have no interest in the rewards from these events. I think I'm also transitioning out even from bounties. They're all just flashy-flashy-set-your-screen-on-fire with the same mechanics on each boss; even the legendaries.

The collections aren't that interesting either. I much prefer HoT collections. I haven't finished the chak weapon collection but I'm still working on it two years after release. I'm not sure why since I don't like the mini you get from it but I'm doing it anyway. PoF collections haven't grabbed me like that.

The only reason I have gone back to PoF maps after i finished the story is for the griffon and for the casino blitz which leads to the Choya Pinata event, The maps are really cool have so many nice secret areas (or areas that feel secret with the jackal masteries) but the maps definitley lack rewards to keep people playing them. I want them to make the casino blitz more of an actual event rather than just collect coins and sit around then fight the Choya, HoT had the Chak Gerent which drops a infusion why is the boss for PoF so easy? I just hope the new living story adds Metas to the new maps hopefully to do with Kralkotorric or however you spell its name.