Gerry.7964

If you're going through Heart of Thorns right after hitting level 80 then it's understandable you're struggling. I would first look up some open world builds for the class you're playing and then work on unlocking an elite spec. HoT was designed more for grouping so the hero points are difficult to solo. The HPs in the other two expansions are much easier to solo. An option is to unlock an elite spec quickly via the other expansions and then return to HoT.

I still prefer forums over Discord since you can find posts by using Google. There are so much issues I've had in game that I was able to figure out by finding an old forum post.

I would love to see an expansion focused on the minor races and making them playable like the Skritt, Grawl, and Dredge. Give them their own personal stories and maps to flesh out core Tyria. Such an expansion will never be added since there's a few big issues like incorporating the new races into the main storyline. It's also not financially viable to spend so much time on just making new playable races.

At the end of the day this is basically just a matter of preference. Other folks have pointed out vertical vs horizontal progression and neither is inherently better/worse. Vertical progression is definitely more overall appealing due to there being a more straightforward path to take. From what I've read OSRS and FF14 are the only MMOs thats really been growing in active players and partially due to a good implementation of vertical progression with some horizontal sprinkled in.