Return Player: So Confused!

[Tendo.2810]

It's been a while since I've played the original game. I had a level 80 when I left... but now that I've come back and started Heart of Thorns, I have no clue what I'm doing. Where are the quests in level 80 areas? I'm stuck on the Establishing a Foothold story line... but I can't figure out what I'm supposed to be doing in order to get points. There are no 'fill hearts' for exp like in the original game. I've been stuck for over a week and can't figure anything out.

Someone help?

[Khisanth.2948]

Pretty much everything in game gives exp, kill enemies, do an event, view a vista, unlock a waypoint, unlock a point of interest, chop a tree, ress an ally ...

[Lillbryschan.3281]

Level up the masteries by doing pretty much anything. Participate in events and stuff.

You’ll also need mastery points in amounts specified for each mastery step to unlock them.

Earn mastery points by getting the ones spread out on the map (grey sun/star/orb icons on the map, green when completed).Or get mastery points by doing achievements awarding green mastery points.

Some story steps require you to unlock certain masteries to be able to progress further. If you’re stuck on that story I’m guessing you need to unlock gliding to progress further?

[Chyanne Waters.8719]

HoT does not have hearts it has events to do

[ErickDntn.1847]

Just to add a bit more details, other than trying to finish up the maps, in HoT you might want to try to do the outposts. Outposts is an area in the map where there is thing longer-than-usual event chains that often is meant to be done by a few people. You can find the outpost NPCs from your map indicated by the icon from the link I shared. If you talk to these NPCs, they will show you the state of the outposts, whether they're active or not, and will show you where the event is happening if it's active.

So in HoT, the maps generally have 2 states, pre-meta and meta. Outposts only active during pre-meta state. Check this wiki page for the schedule, just scroll down until you see "Heart of Thorns". The first 3 maps are the ones you want to keep an eye for the outposts (Dragon's Stands have no outpost). To give you some clues from the timer page, Verdant Brink pre-meta happens during the day, Auric Basin is Pylon, and Tangled Depths is "Help the Outposts." After the pre-meta, and 10-15 minutes before the meta started, go to LFG and open the respective map section. You should see some groups organizing these meta events. They give pretty decent reward and exp and afaik mastery points the first time you successfully do them as well.

Oh, also there are achievements that rewards you with Mastery Points if you do all the events within all outposts' event chains in one map. Check your achievement tab that you can find on your Hero Panel (H).

As for Mastery Points that you need to train your masteries. The most obvious ones are Mastery Insight scattered around the map (there are these white icons on the map) that you can commune just like some Hero Points. There are a number of ways to do it and it involves achievements, starting from story to adventures. Again, your achievement tab should be a content guide for you, check out this page for more info about mastery points and a list of HoT mastery points (ctrl+f Verdant Brink since this is the relevant map to you right now). IMO adventures and strongboxes are some of the easiest sources of points so keep an eye out for them.

Alternatively, sometimes if you check Verdant Brink (or any HoT maps) LFG, some people are running "HPs Train." Basically a bunch of people grouping up to unlock Hero Points, which can help if you're unlocking you're unlocking elite specializations, while picking up mastery points along the way.

Can't really help you in-game rn, but you can always add me and whisper/message me if you see me online though (I'm playing in NA server). Hope it helps and good luck!

[Vayne.8563]

Even in the core game, end game zones didn't really have hearts. I mean Frostgorge did, but none of the 3 Orr Zones did. Southsun didn't. Dry Top didn't. Silverwastes didn't. Hearts were only initially meant to keep you in areas where dynamic events occurred and people were supposed to learn to do dynamic events pretty much by the time they got to end game.

Masteries are like a jar with a cap. You need to fill the jar with experience but then you need to put a cap on it, which is the mastery points it requires. Some jars need a bigger cap, so more mastery points. It really is that simple.

[Dayra.7405]

If you want to do hearts for HoT Exp/Masteries: Get Living Story 3, there you get daily repeatable hearts on each LS3 map.