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I just started to play the HoT story and maps ...


Luthan.5236

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After my loooong break (end 2013 until June 2019) I just bought the Deluxe edition of PoF (which also came with free HoT) and started to make my Revenant (still only level 4 not gottein to play it yet) and to play HoT with my engineer.

Since I want to experience stuff in the order (well except some of those golden badges in Silverwasts ... used the glider instead of doing the jumping to get the last 2 :D ) it got released I'm playing without mounts and glider first. Was not that hard to get the remaining hero points (I have world completion on main ... almost enough to fully unlock Scrapper) to fully unlock the Scrapper.

Feels nicer than I thought. At first I thought "meh hammer for engineer does not sound cool I want to stay with rifle" but the quickness and superspeed ... it's fun. Also not having problems to stay alive in open world atm in Verdant Brink.

Great map ... I really like it so far ... the gliding stuff. But a bit confusing to navigate. I think it will take some time to get used to it. (Hopefully other maps will be easier once I have more masteries getting unlocked and more experienced with gliding.) Story is nice. (Luckily I picked the fitting back item - Whispers one ... cause "initate" sounded like whispers and my main did Whispers for core story back then.) Only Stavemaster Adryn sucked a bit (he killed me too often ha ha ... luckily respawn nearby).

Mastery grind ... well I heard different things. And unlocking the glider was annoying a bit. But at the time I needed mushrooms I had them easily unlocked already. The events are interesting and giving nice loot as well (chest at the bottom right in the UI to open) and experience. I guess I'll stay a bit longer in Verdant Brink before proceeding with Act II of HoT since I haven't unlocked everything there yet (trying as much as possible while also training masteries a bit).

Sow how is it compared to PoF? I heard the maps are bigger but easier to navigate? Is that correct? (Jungle in HoT really is a bit of pain - while on the other hand it looks nice and is interesting because of that layout.)

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HoT is an underappreciated expansion that a lot of people tend to avoid because "mobs are harder" and "the maps aren't easy to navigate". Verdant brink and Dragon's Stand metas are some of the best content in the game, and there's a ton of small stuff to do in each area.

PoF is between core game and HoT, both difficulty and layout -wise.

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HoT maps will always be my favorite.

Tangled Depths gets a lot of hate but the map itself is absolute genius. It's this insanely intricate interwoven tangled mess but there's a lot of shortcuts once you learn them. With mounts they're even more enjoyable and honestly I just find myself flying around them occasionally because of how fun they are to explore or sight see.

I tend to really enjoy vertical maps with lots of layers though.

Path of Fire maps are also very pretty, but they're kind of flat.Elon Riverlands and The Desolation are probably my favorites in terms of overall design. They each have a lot of neat little hidden areas. Desert Highlands is pretty good too.

Nothing beats the HoT experience for me though, in terms of gameplay, exploration, atmosphere, or scenery. I really don't know why people were so bitter about those maps. The whole expansion is what made me really fall in love with the game and what I would consider as the peak of GW2 thus far.

I miss those days. :anguished:

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I'm about to rage quit GW2 forever just because of HoT. I'm on the one where you have to find the marks left by Rox and I can't find the 3rd one to save my life. Literally. I die every time. Where is the darn thing? I've even watched videos and can't follow them. My map just doesn't look like theirs. I've asked in game and so far no one has come to help. I've been trying this for 4 days now (play about 1-2 hrs. per day). I seriously just want to be done with HoT.

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@"StormyFae.2761" said:I'm about to rage quit GW2 forever just because of HoT. I'm on the one where you have to find the marks left by Rox and I can't find the 3rd one to save my life. Literally. I die every time. Where is the darn thing? I've even watched videos and can't follow them. My map just doesn't look like theirs. I've asked in game and so far no one has come to help. I've been trying this for 4 days now (play about 1-2 hrs. per day). I seriously just want to be done with HoT.

That one can be tricky, since it is not explained how you are supposed to find the marks.

There is a bar at the top which will fill up as you get close to the mark. Mark use of it and "triangulate" the position where you have to go. Without this it can be a real pain in finding the correct location.

Or, just watch a guide video and maybe pay close attention to how the person moves. This one is very clear on where to go:

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@StormyFae.2761 said:I'm about to rage quit GW2 forever just because of HoT. I'm on the one where you have to find the marks left by Rox and I can't find the 3rd one to save my life. Literally. I die every time. Where is the darn thing? I've even watched videos and can't follow them. My map just doesn't look like theirs. I've asked in game and so far no one has come to help. I've been trying this for 4 days now (play about 1-2 hrs. per day). I seriously just want to be done with HoT.

If its the one I think it is, after the previous mark you leave daylight and enter a cavern with two ways forward. One takes you to the next mark in Ogre Lane, the other takes you to lots of enemies and dead ends, and this is where people got confused.

A simpler and easier way to reach it is to just jump down the hole at the starting waypoint, to the Whisper's camp, and then continue all the way down into the water, which comes out at Ogre Lane, the marks continue to direct you towards Dragon's Stand.

Or just ask someone on map chat how to get to Dragon's Stand and they'll show you the path.

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HOT is very polarizing. Most either love it or hate it (for good reason). I LOVED HOT (except for Tangled Depths map) & POF was OK. The replayability for myself, and most ppl in general is average at best--so the map was always a little sparse for groups. Mounts were/are great--but have really watered down the 'exploring experice' you get when all you typically would use, is your feet and the occasionaly glider from off a cliff.

Current endgame now is a lot smaller and mediorce--Living Stories just dont do it for me. I miss the days of HOT/POF being new, with tons of ppl doing groups events & a moderate degree of difficulty.

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@"coso.9173" said:HoT is IMO the best content in the whole game. I know it's not the same for others but I enjoyed it so much. It felt so different from vanilla, and I wish we had more multilayered maps like that.

They have at least tried to add layers from time to time. In LS3 we got the spritual successors to HoT, Bloodstone Fen and Draconis Mons, and some PoF and LS4 maps have some decent depth to them, and the second half of Bjora Marches is quite vertical.

We'll probably never get full-on layered maps again, but at least they're not making everything flat like Central Tyria.

Remember when people thought Mount Maelstrom was "extreme" ? :p

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The thing about HoT is you have to undo all the bad habits you picked up in Core Tyria. No more running through or past a bunch of badies. No more facetanking while to kill everything. When you get to HoT you need a proper build (not some random shit you picked up and slapped together,) a proper skill rotation, and develop a ton of situational awareness cause if you aren't careful you tend to agro everything.

I also recently played through everything in order and rush through HoT cause even after a 3 year break I still hated every bit of it. Until I got mounts that is. The thing that killed HoT for me was mob density combined with confusing maps. If the minimap were better suited for layered terrain (like a topographical map) it might have been better but having to fight wave after wave of OP trash mobs while trying to find my way to point B was not fun in the slightest. That and the mastery grind, god am I ever glad they steered the ship away from that crap. In short, now that I have a choice to skip the shit via mounts I actually spend more time in HoT than any other maps. It has really great content, to bad they made that content such a pain to get to.

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@"cptaylor.2670" said:HoT maps will always be my favorite.

Tangled Depths gets a lot of hate but the map itself is absolute genius. It's this insanely intricate interwoven tangled mess but there's a lot of shortcuts once you learn them. With mounts they're even more enjoyable and honestly I just find myself flying around them occasionally because of how fun they are to explore or sight see.

Man, on that note that starting area is absolutely awesome. You come in, then this huge area opens up, cliffs, water falls, giant trees, huge caves all in one. You see updrafts, some points to jump from and you're trying to figure it all out. Genuinely amazing the first and second time through, a little less with mounts.

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I found HoT considerably easier than PoF in terms of map enemies. Awakened condition spam, forged aggro range and Djinn hp pools alone made it more of a slog.

There’s very little in hot I find problematic beyond hero points unless I find myself not paying attention to hylek or snipers.

PoF maps are more varied and easier to navigate, although spelunking in Tangled Depths was great fun

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@Randulf.7614 said:I found HoT considerably easier than PoF in terms of map enemies. Awakened condition spam, forged aggro range and Djinn hp pools alone made it more of a slog.

There’s very little in hot I find problematic beyond hero points unless I find myself not paying attention to hylek or snipers.

PoF maps are more varied and easier to navigate, although spelunking in Tangled Depths was great fun

They're both challenging tbh. HoT will punish you hard for not having a strong open world build with gear that supports it. PoF isn't as dangerous everywhere as HoT but definitely has its spots where things are challenging. This game's greatest strength is also its weakness: the ability to make your own builds and a solid power cap. There's a lot of room for error, but good builds feel very satisfying. I've seen newer players struggle with both areas tbh. Some insights and hero points in PoF are in harder places.

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I love HoT doe to how the game force me to reconsider gear/build for my character since Mordrem and wildlife here didn't just kidding around like main land of Tyria (I still can remember what it like when I face with smoke scale and those mini raptor for the first time. XD) even NPC dialog show how hopeless situation they're in and each event actually feel like we're part of the situation not just random adventure who travel around try to solve problem for other which is not even tire to our interest,

In HoT everyone simply try their best to survive and somehow they're not only survive but also able to defeat the dragon in the end (Well craft atmosphere like this really can't find in other part of the game). Each map also offer unique mechanic and memorable event. HoT also have no Heart Quest which make the game feel less like a job, every place I want to go is purely base on my interest such as find for more hero/mastery point.

Enemies like Mordrem make me frustrate at first but after learn more mastery and their pattern make their fight feel easier even with old equipment I have. Auric basin is easily my most favorite map, not only It's easiest to navigate of all 3 (except dragon stand which's full Meta) but activate north watch tower event really make me feel like my action make the map safer even it's just temporary.

What I hate about HoT would be

  • Mushroom (all of them specialize of Queen mushroom in narrow place)
  • Annoyed Tendrils. (these poison tantacles just too tanky for their own good)
  • Most HP and mastery point require enough numbered of people to obtain.
  • lost in Tangle Depth...

Revisit the place again with Mount and more advance gear feel like walk in the park now.

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