What is the BEST OPEN WORLD CONTENT in the game?

[Blue.9401]

At start I wish to point out that I am probably late with this type of topic, I mean I am not first to have this idea, to open topic like this.

 

Anyway, even I do expect that people will add their comments, this post is mostly for Arena Net Developers.

 

After playing this game from very beginning, and after doing every content that was available to us I decided that best OPEN WORLD CONTENT is:

 

Verdant Brink.

 

No other content in game cannot pick up this title. Yes, there is still good maps and contents in all Tyria and Elona, but VB is still number one.

 

Why?

 

The map and its events and at the end the META event is well designed.  All concept in the map make good use of complete 3D posture of the map, and once a player have a grasp of it just adds right flavor. All events on map are interconnected with general story, and every event has at least some meaning, not just to fill that area of the map.  As every HoT map this one too is hard to navigate alone, specially when you are there for first time. I See that as good thing because it will enforce players to ask for help and to team up.. 

Yes,  I hated that map for a while, it was very confusing for me. Well I did not tried Tangled Depth, atm. :)

In time I started to see what was idea while developers made this map. For this reason only I think this content is the best. As players enter the Meta event (night time) they do need to work together  to achieve the end goal. The cooperation is not given trough lanes, that in a way streamline the action of all players in the map.. Again, that's a good thing. On map there is always ever changing situation that needs to be followed. Every local problem or situation has an impact on general goal.  When you are a part of group that tries to reach T4 security on the map you are not a headless drone that follows Commander to the letter. You still have freedom to resolve situation as you see fit. Yes, sometimes you are on your own, but with well organized group you are almost never without a help if you need it.  Commander of the squad cannot and will not hold your hand and to tell you on every step what you need to do., once you get starting instructions, you need to react. I like that individuality of single player is not crashed.  

Yes, I know, there are players that hate VB map, and being there makes them uncomfortable, but If I may ask: Do you wish to to have park work in that jungle or to have sense of danger while you explore it? 

The map Auric Basin (also HoT) is very nice, but streamlined with entry lanes on Tarir.  The next map, Tangled Depths , has even more streamline during meta and its duration is very short. the Dragon Stand map, as last in HoT, is very climactic by design, but still very streamlined. 

Other Meta events that players can play on other maps are not as elaborate as Verdant Brink. Most of the time they last much less then VB. Bounties on PoF  are not that great, since you as player just run around a map with rest of the squad and kill any nasty monster that Commander have picked for that moment.

And there is a Drizzelwood Coast meta.  It is a huge map and events are story driven, but.. as you guessed.. be near commander and do what he/she say and you are good.  Does not help that you have some backtracking on the map if you are not careful, since there is no time limit to finish META event. So sooner o later the players will come in numbers and push the progress on the map.

Even with help of mounts, poorly organized group on Verdant BRINK META will fail.

To end this post,   VB map is single piece of content in game that, by my regards , best think that Guild Wars 2 as game can offer to the community.

 

 

 

[Mungrul.9358]

I'm a big fan of Bjora Marches.

It's got an interesting horror theme running throughout it, and both metas are pretty good while not outstaying their welcomes (although Storms of Winter could do with shortening the portal phase).

Plus GW2 has always done good snowy environments, and the various puzzles are pretty fun and not too tedious to repeat.

Also, dropping in to Boneskinner fights and helping people get the Constant Vigilance cheevo is always fun.

Overall, it all feels very coherent and focussed, and everything flows together well.

Also-also, the music is great, taking obvious cues from The Witcher 3, which is never a bad thing.

 

Sure, a full run of Drizzlewood is probably one of the most rewarding runs in the game, but much like Dragon's Stand, I don't like that the whole map is dedicated to the meta, and that a full run takes a good couple of hours. I feel drained after completing a full run of Drizzlewood.

Edited December 1, 2021 by Mungrul.9358
Missing punctuation.

[kharmin.7683]

What is the best/most fun OW map is relative to what one finds best/most fun.  Personally, I despise anything HoT (but I do appreciate the design of those maps). 

I spend a lot of time in lower level maps helping out newer players.  I find that to be the best/most fun OW maps for me.

[Gibson.4036]

Concert for the ages.

The Dawkkurra event chain.

Dragon’s Stand fight, though I’ve only done it once, so maybe it would lose something on subsequent play throughout.

South Drizzlewood. Not just the meta, but there are so many good bits of color dialogue in NPC conversations.

Tarir, with its four different mechanics, and South burning too early, then yelling at the rest of the map that they’re at fault, then burning too early a second time, but then you all pull it off the third time through and not a single person places an aviator box inside a chest. Not being sarcastic, it’s a blast.

Edited December 1, 2021 by Gibson.4036

[Neva Eilhart.5347]

My top 3 maps ever designed by Anet are :

- Silverwastes

- Verdant Brink

- Dragonfall

 

[AliamRationem.5172]

3 hours ago, Blue.9401 said:

At start I wish to point out that I am probably late with this type of topic, I mean I am not first to have this idea, to open topic like this.

 

Anyway, even I do expect that people will add their comments, this post is mostly for Arena Net Developers.

 

After playing this game from very beginning, and after doing every content that was available to us I decided that best OPEN WORLD CONTENT is:

 

Verdant Brink.

 

No other content in game cannot pick up this title. Yes, there is still good maps and contents in all Tyria and Elona, but VB is still number one.

 

Why?

 

The map and its events and at the end the META event is well designed.  All concept in the map make good use of complete 3D posture of the map, and once a player have a grasp of it just adds right flavor. All events on map are interconnected with general story, and every event has at least some meaning, not just to fill that area of the map.  As every HoT map this one too is hard to navigate alone, specially when you are there for first time. I See that as good thing because it will enforce players to ask for help and to team up.. 

Yes,  I hated that map for a while, it was very confusing for me. Well I did not tried Tangled Depth, atm. 🙂

In time I started to see what was idea while developers made this map. For this reason only I think this content is the best. As players enter the Meta event (night time) they do need to work together  to achieve the end goal. The cooperation is not given trough lanes, that in a way streamline the action of all players in the map.. Again, that's a good thing. On map there is always ever changing situation that needs to be followed. Every local problem or situation has an impact on general goal.  When you are a part of group that tries to reach T4 security on the map you are not a headless drone that follows Commander to the letter. You still have freedom to resolve situation as you see fit. Yes, sometimes you are on your own, but with well organized group you are almost never without a help if you need it.  Commander of the squad cannot and will not hold your hand and to tell you on every step what you need to do., once you get starting instructions, you need to react. I like that individuality of single player is not crashed.  

Yes, I know, there are players that hate VB map, and being there makes them uncomfortable, but If I may ask: Do you wish to to have park work in that jungle or to have sense of danger while you explore it? 

The map Auric Basin (also HoT) is very nice, but streamlined with entry lanes on Tarir.  The next map, Tangled Depths , has even more streamline during meta and its duration is very short. the Dragon Stand map, as last in HoT, is very climactic by design, but still very streamlined. 

Other Meta events that players can play on other maps are not as elaborate as Verdant Brink. Most of the time they last much less then VB. Bounties on PoF  are not that great, since you as player just run around a map with rest of the squad and kill any nasty monster that Commander have picked for that moment.

And there is a Drizzelwood Coast meta.  It is a huge map and events are story driven, but.. as you guessed.. be near commander and do what he/she say and you are good.  Does not help that you have some backtracking on the map if you are not careful, since there is no time limit to finish META event. So sooner o later the players will come in numbers and push the progress on the map.

Even with help of mounts, poorly organized group on Verdant BRINK META will fail.

To end this post,   VB map is single piece of content in game that, by my regards , best think that Guild Wars 2 as game can offer to the community.

 

 

 

Heart of Thorns, generally.  Verdant Brink I give a nod for story integration and great events during the day cycle, but the night meta is poorly designed, in my opinion.  I think they did a much better job on the meta with Tangled Depths and Auric Basin.  Dragon's Stand, while not my cup of tea, is (was - until DWC north meta) fairly unique and has great story integration, too.  All of the HoT maps are visually striking and it's difficult to choose my favorite on that score.

Honorable mention to DWC south (if only this had been two full maps!).  Other favorites include Sandswept Isles, Bitterfrost Frontier, and Kessex Hills.  I like PoF aesthetically.  The theme and music are nice.  But I dislike the event structure.  The maps feel pretty dead and I don't feel like part of the story the way I do in LS3/LS4 and HoT maps.

[Randulf.7614]

Verdant Brink is def a contender with very strong storytelling. I have fond memories of the early days there and years after of repeat play. I think Amoon deserves a nod too just for how well the city integrates into the map and the overall feel of the map. For sandbox random play, it’s my go to map.

Silverwastes is in there too, but I think Frostgorge should be mentioned as well as it pretty much perfected the core map design and still holds up as the best snow map with Bjora a close second.

Is VB the best overall map though? No, that it can never claim. No map can, because everyone looks for different things. VB is too group orientated for many and despite all it does right, it’s not suited for every player. 
 

Thereis no best open world content in game, but I agree VB is a great map that achieves what it sets out to do 

Edited December 1, 2021 by Randulf.7614

[Esquilax.3491]

I would have to agree with VB. In fact, Auric Basin and Tangled depths have fantastic, varied meta chains for those maps too. They just don't feel as rewarding because you can buy chest keys, and the metas in those maps are not linked to map progress.

 

I hope EoD can work more along the lines of the way HoT did. Path of Fire had an incredible story, but it's maps massively failed to deliver on replayability. 

[ChronoPinoyX.7923]

As much as I enjoy VB, and to equal extent Auric Basin, they aren't my personal best in terms of just pure content and overall setting. 

That belongs to Dragonfall for me. Dragonfall is essentially the amalgamation of HoT and PoF in terms of the content in my opinion, both map wise and Meta wise. The only way they can improve its overall design is if they had the HoTs Tier system for facing against Kralkatorrik rather than having the keyed chests just because keys tend to run out way too easily.  I also enjoy the story behind some of the characters, the ambient dialogue really gave perspective on the severity of Kralkatorrik's actions that VB couldn't provide because Kralkatorrik went beyond Tyria and into the Mists that even the ghosts in the Mists got involved. When you hear that one ghost talk about dying to Kralkatorrik during Thunderhead and then coming back again to face the Elder Dragon in Dragonfall, that really hit me for some reason. Shows that not everyone was a willing participant in the conflict but just unexpected casualties. 

Also, having the 4 domains of the Mists that belonged to the Human Gods made me enjoy it even more as a GW1 player, especially with the callbacks to Fissure of Woe and the Underworld. We never explored these areas in GW2 before Dragonfall, and now there's a map that amalgamates them, really played on my nostalgia with that one. 

[Linken.6345]

Metal legion concert in Grothmar valley enough said.

[Harak.8397]

I'm on board with Verdant Brink, in fact all the HoT maps (Auric basin being the exception, Tarir gets attacked every 5 minutes. I know it's not, it just feels that way when I go there )

Edit: Dragonfall is up there too

Edited December 1, 2021 by Harak.8397
Forgot stuff

[Cynder.2509]

The one you can farm the most money with actually. Until it gets nerfed to the ground... *sigh* 
I currently enjoyed the Drizzlewood Coast meta again due to the current revisit events. I remembered how much money you can make easily with this meta. Also I like the idea of the bit of WvW mechanics sprinkled into it. 

[Duglaive.5236]

I think anyone's opinion on what's best is exactly that: a subjective opinion. With that in mind, I really do love reading what captures other players' interest, and why. There are many reasons to enjoy just about everything and every map in the game; if for no other reason than the amazing world art this developer is so capable of.

 

Now for my opinion, I suppose an absolute fav for me is probably Tangled Depths. From the map design and artwork, to the individual lane events, various champs and bosses, and finally on to the meta. I just dig that zone. But I say suppose as there are other zones, other events and mobs/bosses, more fantastic artwork. Despite the complaints, groans of doom & gloom (which are sometimes, if certainly not always, warranted), etc., we as players of GW2 are lucky to have such a large trove of excellent content.

[Rogue.8235]

Drizzlewood Coast as it's the map that I can play my true playstyle in.  Most maps are pretty big on huge mobs of roaming creatures and .... well the enemies are just kinda there just to be there is the best way I can describe it.

 

Drizzlewood is a combat environment with sensible objectives and the (my opinion) best placement of NPC's. 

 

I play rifle deadeye, exclusively, in Drizzlewood.  I can do what I was trained to do as a marine and provide precision fires for allied forces.  The flow of the map is strategically in line with sensible military goals, and so I know exactly where I need to be and where I need to go next with ease.  The terrain is perfect for infil/exfil and observation posts.  There are lots of groups of allied mobs that provide the equivalent of mission support sites.  Where and when to extend allied forces is sensible in that I know where and when to assist in over-running enemy positions and establishing forward operations.  

When I say sensible, I mean that I do not require any indicators about what's going on.  One frustrating thing when playing blind is that information about the map as a whole is visual.  It's hard to piece things together in most maps because things are ... just there (for lack of better articulation on my part).

However, Drizzlewood is a place that makes sense to me as a marine.  I can spend all day in there doing recon ops, HVT ops, pathfinding, archangel support, COIN ops, and FID ops (the legion forces are equivalent to host nation forces).

I can even do jump ops!  This map actually allows for vertical envelopment, finally.

 

A lot of the time in open world, I just run around doing things randomly and rarely have a plan.  That's because it's nearly impossible for me to plan on what to do in a particular map as it is visual information that I cannot track.  Yes, there are local sound cues for what's going on, but that only helps for choosing to do something on a whim.  With squads and meta events, it's a frustrating task because I don't know what we're doing nor why, I'm just struggling to keep up and hoping I don't get lost, lose the zerg, and give up.

 

In Drizzlewood I feel exactly at home.  It's comfortable, because I know where I'm needed and what I'm needed to do.  It's all an exercise  of training for me, which is extremely comfortable.  

I want more military oriented maps like Drizzlewood.  Let me conduct the operations that I am trained to do.  Give me familiar environments that I can thrive in.  Although I am unfamiliar with the terrain in Drizzlewood, there is enough going on for me to figure things out with ease.  Everything I hear is understood in the context of strategic goals because, again, I am familiar with combat environments and what my job is.  I don't know the map's terrain or what it looks like, but it is the only map I'm truly familiar with.

 

Now, if only we can implement some actual comms with proper radio etiquette (NEVER say "repeat" over the radio!!!! that is so eye twitchy!!).  It'd be nice to receive sitreps and posreps from coalition forces.  I'd also like to send my own sitreps (don't worry about my pos 😛)

 

Edited December 2, 2021 by Rogue.8235
apparently I don't know how to spell stuff

[Antycypator.9874]

Dragon's Stand — It's one huge meta, feels like doing something big.

Lake Doric and Bloodstone Fen — lots of events. These maps are small, but also busy.

I always liked Verdant Brink, but this map is simply dead. No one is doing events, players are just coming to kill the Wyvern, they don't even bother to defend main camp. I couldn't even gather people to do other bosses. Where are the times we were going for max tier?

Dragonfall is great, but sometimes I have to switch maps few times (all closing randomly).