A big, very much belated thank you to the Devs, and a question.

Hello all.A couple day ago I made an eye popping discovery that I should have figured out long ago. I thought, I really thought, that I could not get the PoF elite specs because for the life of me, I cannot solo the kitten Hero Points found there.

Well, a couple days ago I had clicked on a character to see if that one had the HoT elite spec, and I saw the two choices. HoT, and PoF.

Somehow, I always thought there was no choice, I had to do HoT before getting PoF's elite.

Darn...I was wrong!!!!!!!!!!!

So I have been busy running through characters through the solo hero points on first two maps of HoT. Verdant Brink and Auric Basin. Those, and the points I get from open world, combined, grants me the spec. And yes, Arena Net made money off of me as I bought some slots :)

So, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!

And Please, I beg of you, let this be true of the next expansion as well : )

Now, for my question. I am going to find myself in time with some brand new, shiny, PoF elite specs. Which ones work best in open world PVE???? Which ones might make going through the stories easier????

I am very excited :)

Lisa.

You can get points for both in core tyria as well. The points can come from anywhere, it's just much easier to do when they give 10 point per hero event. I'm leveling my berserker spec in later PoF maps right now, just finished spellbreaker the other day.

And in/from WvW, as well, through the Heroics Notary.https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Hero_point

Good luck.

Holosmith is pretty amazing at chewing up groups of mobs. Based on your past postings, I think you're leaning towards the easiest one? Though I have to say Reaper is marvelous, and you could get a Reaper up via the PoF HP. Reaper is slow, inexorable, and very tanky, you might have fun with it. I know it's my go-to for pretty much everything in the open world.edit: I'd be glad to chat with you about a reasonable (and inexpensive) build and the very basic means of using it to hold your own against pretty much anything. PM me if you are interested. No worries if you aren't!

Congrats on your new shiny elite specs! On future characters, you can complete a full trait line if you pick the PoF elite first simply by completing all the hero points in Core Tyria, with a few left over for variety. Then once you hit the easier PoF maps, you can solo most of the hero points there to finish unlocking your PoF elite spec and almost halfway finish your HoT spec. Spend some time with Dulfy's guide to soloable HoT hero points and you can finish HoT's elite spec without breaking too much of a sweat :)

I mostly advise going PoF first because you can have a functional elite spec a lot earlier. It helps a lot with dealing with expansion maps, vs. unlocking entire tiers of traits one at a time for the HoT spec.

Personally, I've had a fairly easy time running solo with Scourge. Soulbeast is doable, especially with dagger/torch. I haven't played around much with the HoT elite specs.

@Klowdy.3126 said:You can get points for both in core tyria as well. The points can come from anywhere, it's just much easier to do when they give 10 point per hero event. I'm leveling my berserker spec in later PoF maps right now, just finished spellbreaker the other day.

Yes...all the core Tyria points and the solo HoT points combined equals the Elite.

I just use Verdant Brink and Auric Basin for my solo HoT points. I know the other maps in HoT have some more solo points, probably need to crack open Dulfy and find the others, but all the points I need, I get from these two HoT maps. The least number of points needed, once I get the open world points, are 5 from Verdant Brink, and 3 from Auric Basin. I now regularly get 9 from Verdant brink, and five from Auric Basin.

One of the nine I do is not solo. It is the Frog heropoint. I always jump in when I see it active...I hate that frog soo much.

@"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:And in/from WvW, as well, through the Heroics Notary.https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Hero_point

Good luck.

I don't do WvW, but thank you for the advice..and I mean that sincerely. Sometimes, when all you have is text to go by, something meant as a complement or a thank you can come across as sarcasm.Lisa.

@Donari.5237 said:Holosmith is pretty amazing at chewing up groups of mobs. Based on your past postings, I think you're leaning towards the easiest one? Though I have to say Reaper is marvelous, and you could get a Reaper up via the PoF HP. Reaper is slow, inexorable, and very tanky, you might have fun with it. I know it's my go-to for pretty much everything in the open world.edit: I'd be glad to chat with you about a reasonable (and inexpensive) build and the very basic means of using it to hold your own against pretty much anything. PM me if you are interested. No worries if you aren't!

Grin. I have two Reapers and I love them to pieces. I also have the HoT elites for everything except Mesmer. I discovered I can play Mesmer just recently. So, I have two level 80 Mesmers who have been through HoT and just need the hero points from open world.

As far as going for the easiest, that is truth...but...I play around with things. With my Mesmers for example. I boosted both to 80...one through crafting and the other through the level 80 boost. I went through the list, and loaded him up with all the weapons Mesmer can use. I then went map completing, and saw for myself how the weapons worked.

I chose my favorite weapons, then looked at my traits more carefully, and built around what traits support those weapons.

My builds will probably make build makers run away screaming in horror :)

For example, I must always use Superior Rune of Speed. When I get dismounted, I have to have speed to get the kitten away from what was powerful enough to dismount me...and it makes my Norns feel less clunky when they are on foot :)

But yes, I do have thousands of questions involving building builds. For example, when using a combination of Knight's gear and Berserker gear, how do I know which armor piece gets what?? Do boots get Berserker, or do boots get Knights??? Same with Trinkets. Do rings get Berserker, or do rings get Knights? Or does it really matter???

Ohhh..another question. What is it about core Guardians that makes their health go from 0 to full as soon as I hit the heal ???? How can I get other professions to do that???

Lisa-Head full of questions.

@juhani.5361 said:Congrats on your new shiny elite specs! On future characters, you can complete a full trait line if you pick the PoF elite first simply by completing all the hero points in Core Tyria, with a few left over for variety. Then once you hit the easier PoF maps, you can solo most of the hero points there to finish unlocking your PoF elite spec and almost halfway finish your HoT spec. Spend some time with Dulfy's guide to soloable HoT hero points and you can finish HoT's elite spec without breaking too much of a sweat :)

I mostly advise going PoF first because you can have a functional elite spec a lot earlier. It helps a lot with dealing with expansion maps, vs. unlocking entire tiers of traits one at a time for the HoT spec.

Personally, I've had a fairly easy time running solo with Scourge. Soulbeast is doable, especially with dagger/torch. I haven't played around much with the HoT elite specs.

Hello Juhani.

I am backwards I suppose.

I do the HoT Elite hero points without breaking a sweat...it is PoF hero points which I cannot do.

And yes, Dulfy was a lifesaver.

I printed out her HoT Solo Hero Point guide, poured up a huge glass of tea, and went at it.

All my new characters I am getting the PoF elite on, already have more than enough HoT hero Points for the elite. Just have to run like a mad person through Core Tyria for those Hero Points.

So I have been doing your advice, I just did it backwards :)

I almost have enough Hero Points to unlock Soulbeast...actually, I might have enough now. This is the small Asura Ranger, I created and ran through PoF looking for pets when I had my first hip replacement done. She has all of PoF pets and none of HoT. I need to remedy that.

My favorite of the HoT elites has got to be Thief's Daredevil. You might want to give that one a go. She mowed through PoF's introduction...and fell on her face attempting Hero Points..sad face.

Anyway, Soulbeast and Scourge are now placed high on my list. Thank you :)

Holosmith is high on my list too.

Lisa-has a lot to do ingame :)

@Julischka Bean.7491 said:

@juhani.5361 said:Congrats on your new shiny elite specs! On future characters, you can complete a full trait line if you pick the PoF elite first simply by completing all the hero points in Core Tyria, with a few left over for variety. Then once you hit the easier PoF maps, you can solo most of the hero points there to finish unlocking your PoF elite spec and almost halfway finish your HoT spec. Spend some time with Dulfy's guide to soloable HoT hero points and you can finish HoT's elite spec without breaking too much of a sweat :)

I mostly advise going PoF first because you can have a functional elite spec a lot earlier. It helps a lot with dealing with expansion maps, vs. unlocking entire tiers of traits one at a time for the HoT spec.

Personally, I've had a fairly easy time running solo with Scourge. Soulbeast is doable, especially with dagger/torch. I haven't played around much with the HoT elite specs.

Nah, you're not backwards at all. I just find the HoT maps stressful and annoying so I put them off as much as possible. PoF's maps have a few problems, but I mostly die to jacarandas, quicksand at night, and sulfur there instead of cliffs, ledges, vines, undergrowth, poison in those weird poison areas... I've been able to solo most of the hero points in PoF, aside from that one elementalist outside the skimmer ranch which you can usually find help with and the one high in Joko's grid thing in Desolation. I haven't bothered with the grid maze + canids + shield after a couple of failed falling attempts. Mostly because, even with a springer, I still can't platform my way out of a paper bag ;) Also, I could only manage exploring HoT maps with mounts. Fully tricked out, fully mastered mounts.

I haven't tried an unlocked Holosmith yet-- I did an insta-80 and then tried to go back through the personal story with her. I just couldn't get the hang of it and deleted her once I'd gotten through the Vigil Norn storyline. My thief's lingering unused-- I have half of one line of the Deadeye spec unlocked, but I don't really like it. Which is weird-- I usually love sniper combat. SWTOR's was awesome. Same with Firebrand-- my guardian's been totally neglected for four months now. TBH, core guardian is one of the easiest specs to survive with anywhere. Firebrand... isn't.

Ýou can also keep your eyes open for an HP train oooor the HPs where you just have to channel. PoF didn't have that many combat ones I believe, though it's been 9 months since I did them :)

@"Julischka Bean.7491" said:

Now, for my question. I am going to find myself in time with some brand new, shiny, PoF elite specs. Which ones work best in open world PVE???? Which ones might make going through the stories easier????

This is a great resource for open-world builds (and other game modes, as well):

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Open_World

@Blocki.4931 said:Ýou can also keep your eyes open for an HP train oooor the HPs where you just have to channel. PoF didn't have that many combat ones I believe, though it's been 9 months since I did them :)

Oh my Gosh....the memory. I did follow a hero point train around for a bit. Then I fell off a cliff, and couldn't find them again. The Dorito was nowhere to be found on my map. It went poof. Still confused about that one.