I just saw a tweet about the Raven Spirit mastery and thought which one was the last, as most people i've been used to a new mastery on every episode.
But the fact that the prologue did not have its own mastery and that no one talked about it prove that anet don't need to release one on every single episode.
Please Anet consider not adding a new mastery on every episode as you are not going to add a new map to each one.
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You kinda answered it yourself... "i've been used to a new mastery on every episode".
The Prologue is not an episode, same for epilogues.
This living world (saga) is more to be compared with an expansion than a living world season (the name change to Saga already made that impression).... Did you notice that in that trailer/sneakpeak vid they do not speak about "Living World Season" nor episode. It could as well have been similar to an expansion act 1, story piece 1. 1 Big feature was build templates which they basically charge money for as we had the free ones already prior to templates. So an expansion that is not so free of charge basically if you want to get the full thing. 4 Masteries was the other they mentioned (4 spirits).... Those are identical to the amount of mounts we got in PoF with its masteries (jackal, bunny, skimmer and jackal) and an optional griffon with its masteries. Legendaries were only there because they didn't finish the ones introduced in HoT so I do not expect to see more of them. Elite specs.... they probably do not bother since current balance is a mess.
So I will still say this whole Icebrood Saga is a spread out expansion for "free" :P
Map, not card. And yes, people noticed. Besides, it was only the prologue, not an episode per se. Also, if it's a useful mastery, I am all for it.
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No more LW episodes, only Expansions and Side Stories, please!
Yes, most noticed, as ArenaNet spoke about the new Masteries (Raven up first) starting with Episode One (now known as 'Whisper in the Dark') long before.
Ok but my point is just to not have a mastery each episode because it's a long work and it's not always needed. Like the maps they will not release each episodes anymore and will expand the already existing maps.
Releasing many masteries create issues we don't see, unlike with the void maps. And if we can maybe show them that this hard work isn't needed all the time it would be good for everyone. Maybe faster releases, maybe more of other content than story, and a friendlier workspace, less pressure on the devs, ...
I don’t thinking cutting out content to push things out faster is a good idea for the game. I’d even prefer it if we had multiple to work on in an episode to flesh content out more. Right now it’s rather too lineal sticking to one quick to obtain mastery.
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I wish we would get to use some of the HoT masteries in other maps then just the few. Shrooms, Wallows, Oakhart Essences, though I guess the Skyscale spoiled a lot of us for gaining Height. Also some of the non-movement Masteries(too many to mention) could get some use in new maps, for instance an area where you need Itzel Poison Lore. But I guess this would clash with how LW episodes are monetized: having to buy a certain LW epsiode to use its Mastery in another part of the game is probably a no no(like Oakheart Essences). The pure HoT masteries might be less of a problem since everyone that upgrades now gets access to HoT.
It's not that these Masteries were such a big investment or challenge to get: I just like some of the mechanisms.
I definitely hope we get more Mount masteries, I use them all constantly.
Didn't Dragonfall have Oakheart Essences in the east-southern part of the map? But I think it won't keep the devs back in re-using them. It still means players buy gems to get the missing living world. If they can monetize build templates they can monetize this too. (Or perhaps they could give out a special episode temporarily for free again, but this may cause a backlash for players that have bought said episode already).
Dragonfall was a wonderful example of giving multiple options for moving around - there was Bouncing Mushrooms, Oakheart Essences, Gliding Updrafts, ledges for Springer-jumping, chains of Volatile Magic that helps Griffons (and Skyscales) around. I don't remember right now if there were maybe even Leylines around?
I think that with the switch to including HoT with PoF they have vastly increased their ability to add use of different HoT masteries in new maps. This might even have influenced the design of Dragonfall, since I suspect the decision was made far enough back.
I wonder if this Saga will have its own unique mastery points separate from LW4/PoF Mastery points. Because I been holding off on spending my last few PoF mastery points just in case something big gets added in this Saga that I want right away. Did the same for the Skyscale, which is how I was able to max out that mastery line as soon as I unlocked the mount.
Ley lines I believe not (as they used skyscale to travel over distances). But we have seen Ley lines and jump mushrooms in Jahai Bluffs
How many points are you holding off on spending? I've got a decent handful left after maxing my PoF masteries, and haven't really worked hard for them for quite a while. I wouldn't hold on to more than 1 or 2 points if you have anything left to spend them on right now.
If they're not adding a new category of MPs (instead keep using PoF) I can't imagine they would make each Spirit a separate track. Instead I'd expect it to be one new track for all spirits, with Raven as its first rank, costing 1 MP - maaaybe 2.
If on the other hand they plan to add one track per spirit (an option that hadn't occured to me until now, and probably far to optimistic) I'd expect a new category - PoF already has 2 more tracks than HoT and 5 more than Core.
Everyone noticed.
No one minded since it was a prologue episode
To defeat the dragons, see the good in them.
Zhaitan reunites lost ones, primordus creates fertile land, mordremoth spreads the green, and jormag..
..jormag? Who's that?
Dude.
Word.
You got it down.
This was just a very short prologue. Personally I would wait until the actual season comes out to start complaining about 'what is missing'.
We now have confirmation (from latest Guild Chat) that Icebrood Saga will use its own, new, mastery points!
Never mind I missed the point
Not I just wonder if desert XP counts or if we have to get the XP from that map only.
Sweet Balthazar!! I am about to max out my mount mastery when I get home
This is pure speculation, but they might switch Grothmar to count as well. And of course the Strike missions are almost certain to count.
Also, I think they plan for this to take a little while to fill up.
If I understand it correctly, we first complete a two-tier track of Raven mastery, and then unlock three separate two-tier tracks of Essence Manipulation, and they seem to want it to actually be a bit of a choice which you go for first. A casual player like me is probably likely to take several weeks. (Again, pure speculation!)
Ditto.
As mentioned above a Prologue is a preface before the Story.
We're all in the dark, but with the preface they gave us some great fun and an opportunity to get excited about the events, abilities and explorations yet to unfold.
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That to me was the highlight of the livestream, lol - and thinking about that, I speculate they may change the character-selection screen to something related to the saga (like that shot of Jormag behind the blizzard as well as the sweet music score that goes with it).
About the XP though it's always filled up super quick, doing a few of the big events and bosses/missions should get it done in no time.
Erghh..
So now i can throw the desert points on the jungle points pile, and start a dust farm.
Yeeeaaaayyyy
To defeat the dragons, see the good in them.
Zhaitan reunites lost ones, primordus creates fertile land, mordremoth spreads the green, and jormag..
..jormag? Who's that?
We will always get more points than are required. It's really a simple design choice - if the expectation is that most players should get all the options, you'll need extra points so being unable to get a few points don't block.
I got all pof másteres so easily. But I still lack core tyria and HoT ones...
How though?
Outside the Raid mastery which you dont even need, and the fractal mastery, the rest of them are pretty easily obtainable thought not all are useful. HOT require a ton of EXP though so i guess i can understand that one..
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Ember Wandertooth; The Kingslayer, Kianda Redpaw; The Blazing Light
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Yea, I know.
i just wished I could spend them on something mundane, like a basic loot crate or something.
Or consume the leftovers for like 1000 volatile magic or something.
You know.. make them not completely dust-targets.
Nothing that makes a person think "oh I need to have this mastery point" but just something mundane enough for people to open a little bag or something.. I dunno..
just seems like a waste to me
To defeat the dragons, see the good in them.
Zhaitan reunites lost ones, primordus creates fertile land, mordremoth spreads the green, and jormag..
..jormag? Who's that?
maybe because i started playing a bit before HoT. so I never had a lot of time to do them. now even trying to get 1more level requires 4 million exp, and event only give 25.000 at most. so it's a LOT of events for 4 million.
Doing events is probably one of the more inefficient methods to gain XP. You can get a lot of XP from doing events that have a lot of enemies that give XP such as Dragon's Stand or the leather farm in Lake Doric (if people still do that one). You get even more with XP boosters.
Run boosters, any kind of EXP boost will decrease the time dramatically. In between events have a kill streak booster active, the amount of EXP you can gain from the random mobs around the zones is incredible(Mobs gain a exp bonus the longer they are alive from what i remember.)
When i leveled all my Core tyria masteries i did it all in fireheart rise. The events are fast, and the mobs are seldom touched so i was getting 9-10k bonus exp per kill with full boosters active.
Amana Silentchild; My Main
Ember Wandertooth; The Kingslayer, Kianda Redpaw; The Blazing Light
Why GW is Called Guildwars