Dragon's Stand, need 100% Map Completion am I SOL?

So after today, I'm assuming Dragon's Stand will be a rotting corpse basically never touched again unless a guild decides to do it. However, I want 100% Map completion on it still, and I'm unsure I have time to do it tonight.

Can you get 100% completion without the meta being complete? Or am I basically screwed until I get carried by some guild in the future?

HoT areas don't count towards Map Completion AFAIK.

I think there will still be people running it. Not everyone will be getting PoF right away and after a few weeks when the PoF excitement dies down enough people will return to run Dragon's Stand, especially in the evening. You don't even need a full map to beat it, just enough people on each side that are semi-decent.

@Oglaf.1074 said:HoT areas don't count towards Map Completion AFAIK.

They do for HoT legendaries.

I think players will still be doing DS meta after tomorrow, as some players will have bought the two expansions together and I'm sure there are lots of players who still have a few HoT collections to finish. Additionally, HoT legendaries need mats from the noxious pods.The only bits you can't get without doing meta are the poi/hp where the three bosses are, and the 2 poi, vista and hp at the end chest when the meta finishes. Everything else is easy to get to if you have the time.If you need map completion on more than one character, park them at the first wp, join a squad for the meta, if it's successful you get all the meta-blocked stuff listed above and then switch characters (stay in the squad). You'll get the same map you've just completed but all the wp will be open. Get the blocked map stuff and then switch to your next character. You should have time to get at least two characters done before you get kicked to the start wp at reset. You can then get the easy stuff at your own convenience.

I'll still be doing DS meta, because I still have HoT legendaries I want to make and the ONLY source of crystalline ore is the DS meta (or the 15 you get from finishing the HoT story). Since you need 250 crystalline ore for each HoT legendary, I seriously doubt you'll be out of luck. It'll slow down for a couple of weeks, but there's nothing else in the game like Dragon Stand.

Keep an eye out for community-organized map runs in your server region. There will likely be a lull in HoT activity while everyone gets their teeth in the new content, but between the people who need them and the people who enjoy them, I expect it'll still happen.

I don't get to do the DS meta very often, but I really enjoy it when I do. And I just had a vision of doing dead-map noxious pod runs on a raptor...

@Fractured.3928 said:So after today, I'm assuming Dragon's Stand will be a rotting corpse basically never touched again unless a guild decides to do it.

Somewhat yes. Best to compare it with what happens in Silverwastes and Dry Top maps. Most of the times they are completely empty, there just isn't anyone doing even the open events, not to mention map wide metas. However, if you play prime time, specially at weekend, AND when there is daily in these maps, the meta is still being done sometimes. The same will happen to HoT maps too - most players who currently grind there will move on to PoF maps, but sometimes it will still be done. Again, it depends mostly when you play and how long each day you plan to spend on the map completion, for primetime at weekends I am sure there are people even on the HoT maps. If you usually play at the morning or the day during workdays, and only log in randomly for short periods...

You can get to most of the POIs, Vistas, and HPs without the meta being active. Having the waypoints does help, but there is only one Vista, POI, and HP that require the meta be complete first. For the HPs, you can purchase them from a vendor in your WvW starting area. I ended up with 100% in Tangled Depths without the poison mastery due to that vendor.

Keep an eye on LFG, they'll pop up every now and then.

People will run it for Gen 2.1 legendaries, for various mats, and (believe it or not) many find it fun.Not every HoT owner will also own POF, not every PoF owner will love it, and eventually, people will have completed their primary goals and return to older content.Plus, it doesn't take as many people as we think to complete the HoT metas, inclding that for DS.

So no, you shouldn't assume that you're Skritt Out of Luck or even that Dragon's's's's Stand will be a rotting corpse.

I've seen enough topics where people are worrying that they'll be the only one trying to do Dragon's Stand, and enough people replying to say they will want to do it too, that I'm pretty confident plenty of people will still be doing it.

Which is good, because I'm one of those people. I need hundreds of crystalline ore still for minis, and I'm very tempted to make at least 1 2nd gen legendary at some point.

@FogLeg.9354 said:

@Fractured.3928 said:So after today, I'm assuming Dragon's Stand will be a rotting corpse basically never touched again unless a guild decides to do it.

Maybe it's different on the NA servers, but on EU there's almost always people doing the Silverwastes and Dry Top meta events from early evening to about midnight GMT every weekday evening, and sometimes during the day too. You may need to use LFG to get into an organised map but they're there.

Every time I've been in DS, no one was running the meta event at all, so if it's that dead before PoF, I have little hope of seeing more than a few noxious pods around the camps. Trying to finish my Bo staff achievement.

Not everyone will buy POF, but then again there will be other legendaries.With HOT I was able to Hope pistol and Astralaria axe very cool weapons best of Hot for my tastes.As always LFG is your friend. :o B)

@Sylvyn.4750 said:Every time I've been in DS, no one was running the meta event at all, so if it's that dead before PoF, I have little hope of seeing more than a few noxious pods around the camps. Trying to finish my Bo staff achievement.

It's very likely that you were in overflow maps. Check the LFG (looking for group), it's a good tool and it can get you onto the maps that are active and filled with others.

@FogLeg.9354 said:

@Fractured.3928 said:So after today, I'm assuming Dragon's Stand will be a rotting corpse basically never touched again unless a guild decides to do it.

Silverwastes is done pretty much all day every day. Source, I've done it multiple times this week. Dry Top doesn't even get to T6, but it almost always gets to T4. I have no idea where you get these ideas,, but just as you told someone in another thread that they were out of luck with their meta, shortly before they got their meta, this is just not true.

I know you don't like those zones for whatever reason, but saying they're not done every day is factually untrue.

Actually, I randomly popped up in a DT that hit T6 this past week, so even that happens (I'm pretty sure it was organized, but I didn't see any instructional messages in /map while I was there).

No worries, people will always play the other zones, especially Dragon's Stand. Core Tyria wasn't abandoned when HoT came, and HoT will not be abandoned with PoF. I for example prefer jungle and green maps over deserts, I'll probably just play PoF's content and then return to the other maps.

@Fractured.3928 said:Can you get 100% completion without the meta being complete? Or am I basically screwed until I get carried by some guild in the future?

You need to do the meta in order to open the map, choose one path and clear everything while at it, after the event is over you have enough time to go to the other 2 paths and clear them too. You can access them from the big open area where the final fight takes place.

@Sylvyn.4750 said:Every time I've been in DS, no one was running the meta event at all, so if it's that dead before PoF, I have little hope of seeing more than a few noxious pods around the camps. Trying to finish my Bo staff achievement.

Dragon's Stand does take a bit of planning to get into. The meta event runs on a fixed 2 hour timer and organised maps form at the start of that period. So the best way to do it is to check in advance when the meta starts, pick a time slot that's convenient for you and head to the map about 5-10 minutes before the reset. Use the LFG tool to find a squad for the meta and when the map resets use rick click > Join in Dragon's Stand to get onto the right map. (If you're doing it for Crystalline Ore I also recommend using the time before the events start to buy some extra machetes since you'll need more than you get from the event rewards to open all the pods.)

I admit it used to annoy me that I had to do that because it's totally different to how I normally play (log in, do whatever I feel like) until I started thinking of it like any other hobby. If I want to go swimming I don't just hope I'll happen to pass the pool with my kit, if I want to watch a movie I don't wait for it to be shown on TV one day - I pick a time and arrange to do it. Same idea here.

Now if I feel like doing DS I'll wait for a convenient day, check the event times in the morning (I know they stay the same but I can never remember them) and then plan around that. And sometimes set myself a reminder on my phone because I can guarantee something will distract me and I'll forget all about it.

Not everyone will buy PoF and people still play older content so after a few days I think you will be ok. REMEMBER this: Get in a group that is running meta and get all the time gated content first. After that all other poi, vistas and what not you can get outside of meta.

EDIT:That goes for all HoT maps. Meta>Gated content>rest of content after metaEDIT 2:I recently did AB and TD in 5 hours on another toon to complete HoT maps

Well, DS was a daily yesterday (I think?) so were there enough players to run the meta, or was everyone trying to get into PoF?

As soon as the new shiny wears off and they ship new legendaries people will be back in Dragon Stand and looking to do the meta, never you worry. Camp the LFG tool around the times for it and you'll be fine, also check out reddit or these forums for guilds that are running it to give yourself the best possibility for making sure that you get what you need from it. People will still want their elites faster than the new maps will give them and will want to come back and finish up story as soon as they get the new one over and done with. Happy gaming, hope this helps!