Considering how large Cantha is (GW: Factions), Is the expansion big enough? Should there be more maps?

[dly.2485]

When Guild Wars: Factions was released in 2006, I was amazed at the amount of content that was included. The map is huge and there is so much to it.

So, have they done Cantha justice in only release 4 maps? IMO its 3 maps, New Kaineng is a city along a similar vein to Divinity's Reach.

Edited March 6, 2022 by carrolltech.9215

[Tachenon.5270]

I was thinking about this earlier today. As big and convoluted as some of these maps are, it all seems very small compared to the original. Probably saving stuff for living world chapters, like with POF.

[Caitybee.3614]

If you zoom out on the full map around Cantha there are regions with the level 80 number over it. Indicating those places are potential upcoming or unused map locations to be added in the future if they so choose to.

[Doctor Hide.6345]

Maps are big enough as is imo. And with a lot of the land masses we can't reach yet, but they are shown. I am not worried since they will most likely be the LW stuff that is to come in the future. People who don't buy won't be able to access those new LW maps, so in essence they are part of the xpac.

[Vash.2386]

I am hoping with the next living story releases that we will get more maps to cover Cantha fully. 

[Warzog.6315]

I presume that the size is intentional, they plan to expand through the living stories. 

Having said that, GW2's Cantha is down right tiny. In GW1, the first part I bought was Factions, I loved the Rogue-Like Assassin, and played Factions exclusively for over a year before playing the others.

As to the GW2 maps... I recognize the names of everything, but Dragon's End is the only map that brings back memories of Factions.

[Debesyla.7102]

GW1 maps were mostly copy pasted plain empty spaces of nothing. GW2 maps are not.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

2 hours ago, Caitybee.3614 said:

If you zoom out on the full map around Cantha there are regions with the level 80 number over it. Indicating those places are potential upcoming or unused map locations to be added in the future if they so choose to.

One region, and that's the Guild Hall. 

[patton the great.7126]

It is a pale reflection of that once masterful expansion stand alone game. Even the jade wind trailer was better and it was straight up anime....

[aspirine.6852]

Not gonna lie. When i saw that the eod expansion did not cover all of cantha i was dissapointed to the max. Not even starter island completely??? 

[dly.2485]

8 hours ago, Debesyla.7102 said:

GW1 maps were mostly copy pasted plain empty spaces of nothing. GW2 maps are not.

 

Yeah they were but they will still areas to complete and explore, which was always part of the appeal with GW. The beautiful map design regardless of copy / paste textures.

 

Additionally, do you not think the Echovald forest is a lot of copy and paste from HoT? 

[patton the great.7126]

Honestly I'm not going to knock the current story writers, I think they did the best they could with what they had to accomplish. The Cantha story from gw1 was like watching a cult classic movie, it's not fair to compare the 2. 

 

However I am certainly disappointed at how the Echowald forrest turned out as well as Shing jea Island. The Colors on shing jea aswell as only being able to explore the single map just seems off.

 

I actually like kaining's new map. It's got that modern feel you'd expect from the cleaning up of the great slum city it used to be. Im kind of enjoying the jade sea map, I feel like they did a great job on highlighting the overall changes it had to have gone through since the great war for cathan independence.

 

I think they did my Kurzicks dirty with the new map.....just feels too meh.

 

[Obfuscate.6430]

I don't feel that any of Guild Wars 2 Cantha offers less to explore than the original Factions Cantha - most of all because we can jump and fly now so have access to much more vertically. 
Factions had set pieces with invisible walls that you could not go in to or around.   Much of the Guild Wars 2 Cantha was destroyed by Zhaitan's rising but you are still able to explore some of the ruins and you can enter many of the buildings and explore over the mountains and through the forests in ways you weren't able to in Guild Wars 1.

That being said:  a skyscale and gryphon trivializes much of what exists to explore. The developers really wanted you to use zip lines and raptors and there are achievements in some sections for doing so.

I will admit only one thing with regard to these maps: due to the excessive overflow maps, I feel like I am always on a dead one. No one is around to participate in events, let alone map metas except the End of Dragons one. So the end result is, I skip them and move on. THAT, for me, makes the maps feel smaller. I have not even spotted a single mentor tag let alone a commander tag outside of the last map. 

[piitb.7635]

Next LS I bet they dive into some more of Old Kaineng

[psyt.9415]

I cant find anyone to do the metas as it is. They should split them up to get around the player cap. I see like 10 people over the course of an hour if I'm lucky.

[Faridah.8431]

32 minutes ago, piitb.7635 said:

Next LS I bet they dive into some more of Old Kaineng

This is my want as well. I really would have liked to see GW2's take on a slummy city with a vast Undercity, etc. At this stage, given the direction they went, would love to see them do something with the old Raisu Palace and the area around Sunjiang District which looks largely unaffected by the flood. Give me that Sunjiang District/Pongmei Valley map!

I was a little surprised they went down to 4 maps again for this expansion. I expect they will expand some more during LW Season 6.

Edited March 7, 2022 by Faridah.8431

[ProtoGunner.4953]

Maps are huge compared to the plain fighting only maps in GW1. Still, I think four maps is a bit on the low end. Five or six should have done it, especially after so many years without an expansion. That said I think they will add more land mass with the next season.

I still think there is a huge immersion killer as the maps feel disconnected to each others. GW1 did that better after leaving the town in Pongmei Valley and finally entering the nature. Felt great back then.

They missed a lot in GW2 with that. Remember the guards in LA or in Ebonhawke with the shut doors? Not even after Elona and the Crystal Desert opened they added a passway through that door. Why not? It kills the immersion...

[Whine and Spirit.4359]

I don't think we have to worry too much about more maps in Cantha--there are a few map areas (Kinya Province, Togo's Estate, Raisu Palace/Ruined Kaineng) that look like locks for LW6, and I'm sure we'll get at least one Jade Sea map too.

GW1 Cantha was big, but there was a lot of redundancy. I don't mind if we only get one or two map sections per region as long as they're interesting--especially the Jade Sea now that the color is a bit more, glowy. My long shot hope is for a Maishang Hills + Archipelago + Gyala Hatchery map. That would cover a lot of interesting stuff and, more importantly, have turtles.

I am a little bummed about Old Kaineng though. Why does every old city from GW1 end up as some stony, antiquated pile of ruin? It was only 250 years! Leave it a gross, towering slum the way it was in GW1. Old-old Kaineng had a unique, grungy aesthetic that I think would be cool to revisit. I miss the Xaquang Skyway, running on top of those makeshift skyscrapers was so cool and an interesting map concept for GW2. Undercity would have been a freebie for some sort of instanced content. Maybe we'll get a taste of that if we go to Raisu?

To be fair, New Kaineng does capture a similar sense of GW1's height and expanse--if only there was a little more to do in there. It's a beautiful area and I'd love to see it fleshed out more, maybe with some LS6 related content.

I am admittedly very nostalgic for Cantha.

Edited March 7, 2022 by Whine and Spirit.4359

[blackheartgary.8605]

Judging from the overall size of Cantha itself, there is definately room for more zones, and apparently there already is one located slightly south of one of the existing zones.  then again, that zone specifically, is for the guild hall. 

imho, it is entirely plausible that there is Living World  content in our future related to Cantha.  The real mystery is: what kind of living world will we get?

 

Edited March 7, 2022 by blackheartgary.8605

[dly.2485]

6 hours ago, Whine and Spirit.4359 said:

I don't think we have to worry too much about more maps in Cantha--there are a few map areas (Kinya Province, Togo's Estate, Raisu Palace/Ruined Kaineng) that look like locks for LW6, and I'm sure we'll get at least one Jade Sea map too.

GW1 Cantha was big, but there was a lot of redundancy. I don't mind if we only get one or two map sections per region as long as they're interesting--especially the Jade Sea now that the color is a bit more, glowy. My long shot hope is for a Maishang Hills + Archipelago + Gyala Hatchery map. That would cover a lot of interesting stuff and, more importantly, have turtles.

I am a little bummed about Old Kaineng though. Why does every old city from GW1 end up as some stony, antiquated pile of ruin? It was only 250 years! Leave it a gross, towering slum the way it was in GW1. Old-old Kaineng had a unique, grungy aesthetic that I think would be cool to revisit. I miss the Xaquang Skyway, running on top of those makeshift skyscrapers was so cool and an interesting map concept for GW2. Undercity would have been a freebie for some sort of instanced content. Maybe we'll get a taste of that if we go to Raisu?

To be fair, New Kaineng does capture a similar sense of GW1's height and expanse--if only there was a little more to do in there. It's a beautiful area and I'd love to see it fleshed out more, maybe with some LS6 related content.

I am admittedly very nostalgic for Cantha.

 

I am also VERY nostalgic about Cantha in GW1, I still do vanquishes a few days a week. I think that's why I am a little critical about the expansion. I do think 4 maps is on the low end for an expansion even though we will likely be getting more in LW.

I would like to see more areas open in the Echovald forest, Especially around the Mourning Veil Falls area and as previously said Gyala Hatchery and The Undercity. 

 

It is interesting to see others thoughts. I found the story very good and I do love the maps they have released so far. I just hope its not too long before its released!

 

[ScottBroChill.3254]

they are most certainly saving those areas for the living story, and honestly I'm kinda happy because it'll be the first maps without all this dragon nonsense and the story and events and stuff can be focused on another plot point. I think that will make the maps even more meaningful than the past ones but we'll see. Also aren't the other expansions also 4 maps? I feel like these maps feel a lot more quality and feature filled than the PoF maps. My only gripe is I miss the spookiness of the echovald forest. The dark purple that kinda made it look like a blacklight. Good stuff. Just the general mood of it felt creepier and cooler, and I know times are a changin' so there's a little more life in it now, but they really shoulda just said the canopy was too thick to let light in so it's permantly nighttime in there or something. I think the vibe would have been sick. Ok, almost done with my ramble, but I'm hoping Urgoz decides to reemurge and they add that as some kinda of team based mission like in GW1.  I guess a raid, but more strike difficulty. A raid for the everyman. Maybe make difficulty levels that give different rewards. I guess the deep too.... can't dissapoint the suxons. 

 

[ugrakarma.9416]

but these maps are already crazily huge, every of them have 40+ POIS. 

 

[Lottie.5370]

Did you say the same thing when HoT or PoF released? Because they have 4 maps too.

 

I feel like the maps here are great, they're huge, and I like all the content in them so far.

 

The only thing they miss for me, are metas that are rewarding like HoT. I feel like it blows PoF out of the water.

[dly.2485]

4 hours ago, Lottie.5370 said:

Did you say the same thing when HoT or PoF released? Because they have 4 maps too.

 

No, because I was not comparing them to Cantha in GW1 as per the title.

The maps are not really that big. It takes about 2 hours to map completion on Echovald Wilds. Which looks like its supposed to encompass, Ferndale, Melandru's Hope and Drazach Thicket, They would take longer to explore than 2 hours. a VQ on one of these maps is roughly an hour. I am not saying the GW1 maps are bigger but they have more intricacies and you can sometimes feel like you are getting lost.

It is most likely that I am just feeling sentimental and nostalgic about Cantha.

Edited March 8, 2022 by carrolltech.9215

[Lottie.5370]

18 minutes ago, carrolltech.9215 said:

 

No, because I was not comparing them to Cantha in GW1 as per the title.

The maps are not really that big. It takes about 2 hours to map completion on Echovald Wilds. Which looks like its supposed to encompass, Ferndale, Melandru's Hope and Drazach Thicket, They would take longer to explore than 2 hours. a VQ on one of these maps is roughly an hour. I am not saying the GW1 maps are bigger but they have more intricacies and you can sometimes feel like you are getting lost.

It is most likely that I am just feeling sentimental and nostalgic about Cantha.

 

I mean, I've been able to map all of the zones in about 40 mins each - they still feel big to me, it's not just about how quick it is to map.

 

I just don't think you can expect more than that from the base expansion, wait for them to add some LS content (hopefully).