Pros:Maps are very nice. Mounts are well done for the most part. I have no issues with mount movement, or length of time to change mounts. That's fine.Where HoT was very intense at times, PoF is the opposite, more open range and exploratory. Both approaches have a place in the gameworld.Difficulty in PoF is pretty easy. I'm really a fan of HoT difficulty, but I can see the need to tone things down more for all the people who had difficulty with HoT.Did I get $30 out of the expansion? Yes, I believe I did, compared to $30 single player CRPGs. Cons:Story is lacking, IMO. the whole Balthazar going rogue just doesn't go down well. If the other gods cared that much about humanity they would have taken Balthy with them, instead of locking him up with a chain so flimsy that even Ritlock can break it. Balthy already proved he could kill the main character easily, why didn't he just kill us again in the final battle? I imagine Joko's free now since Balthy maintained his little cell? I assume that will be dealt with in another LS espisode.I miss HoT's rush of excitement and sense of danger. Each map had a purpose, something was going on in the whole map while they player's storyline was going on. Each map had fleshed out chains of events that you could participate in to get the full experience of what all the various Pact forces were doing during the conflict. PoF is just kind of... there. The quests describe what's happening, sure, but there's no sense of urgency in them. PoF really needed at least one meta map with an epic battle like Dragons Stand. Events like that create situations where the whole map needs to work together to achieve a single purpose, and PoF doesn't have anything like that.Will I be playing in PoF for as long as I played in HoT? Nope.
Personal life changes, here. Some good, some bad, such is life. However, I pop my head into the forums from time to time just to see if there's anything new that would entice me into returning. I know the devs spend a lot of time on the LIving Story and each one if judged independently is pretty neat, but I got tired of having a new zone each time. The power creep, pacing and LS storyline are just all over the place. It doesn't seem like there's a cohesive, coherent reason for much of the game at this point other than shinies. I prefer diving into something I can sink my teeth into, like a full blown expansion. Nickle and dime stuff, leaving little tidbits to snack on just aren't keeping me involved.