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Question for Casual EoD players.


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1 hour ago, ASP.8093 said:

They're trying to get more people into Strikes because strikes are supposed to be their solution to the problem of Raids.

But the biggest problem of Raids is that they're these bespoke maps and storylines that like 2-5% of the player base will ever see at all. So Strikes are a way to create that same "endgame instance" content but at much lower development cost because they can reuse more story / open-world elements.

So, do the EoD devs really really want you to try Strikes? Probably. Are they trying to make you do all strikes all day every day? Enh, I don't think so.

 

Some of the best stuff in the expansion is open-world stuff. Fishing and skiffs (which mainly exist to support fishing) are both aimed more at collector/explorer type open-world players. The Dragon's End meta (that lots of people are complaining about right now, because of how it's tuned) is an attempt to make an engaging boss battle for people who like stuff like the Frost Citadel map. A lot of the new maps only really come alive when you start doing the side-story quest extras from your achievements (Echovald in particular has a ton of "scavenger hunt" type stuff).

 

Thank you!

 

That's really interesting, I never thought that was the reason of strikes: Because Raids required a heavy development cost, I really hope they've found the key to making hardcore content more easy to produce, and hopefully the challenge modes will be up to hardcore player standards.

 

It's also cool that they are making them accessible for anyone that's curious and wants to get into that content.

Just hopefully the devs don't expect the whole playerbase to be comfortable playing them.

I'm so happy you perceive there's a lot still aimed at collector/Explorer type open-world players, that's more in line with the type of content I enjoy so that makes me super happy! 

I'll still wait a bit to see how much things might change in the coming weeks, but you've made me hyped, that scavenger hunt type stuff sounds fun!

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Players cannot get much more casual than me... and so far I am really enjoying EoD.  HoT gave us gliders, PoF gave us mounts, but EoD has a much more fun story, and beautiful maps. 

I am still in Echovald, in the story. So far it is easily soloable.  Echovald is ugly... but I guess that is what they were going for.  The other maps are gorgeous. I am only halfway through the story because I am doing map completion on my way.  I find that much more fun than the stories. Echovald is so ugly, I may not do map completion there. It happens sometimes. No worries.

I do feel that they are trying to push the strikes and get people interested in them.  It may work for some, not for me.  Many games have areas they try to entice players into.  They will surely have analytics to look at and will know if it works. If it does not work, they will have to try something different. I play for the open world fun. Exploring, finding the odd chests here and there, and monster bashing.  I have no interest in dungeons, strikes, raids, PvP, WvW...  I do not care what carrot they wave. If a content is not enjoyable to me, I simply skip that part. Generally it is no problem.

I am not a crafter so I assume any bot upgrades will need to be purchased, so I do not care what kind of effort others have to make for the ingredients. I was never very interested in a turtle, and if there is a long collection to get it, I will not bother. Same reason that I do not have a skyscale, and do not care. It is just something I am not going to bother doing, and that is alright with me.  Your mileage may vary. 

EoD is still the most fun expansion so far (to me).  😎

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3 hours ago, SaltyTidalwave.5876 said:

Does it feel to you like the whole expansion is a shift to force their whole playerbase into the strike/raid scene? Or is it just the one event aimed at the tryhards, with a lot of badly designed elements (rng, casual features locked behind it, way too long, etc).

I'm trying to decide if I'll buy the expansion.

If it's just the one event then I don't mind, I imagine with enough time to learn and a few adjustments it could just become a triple trouble type event, but if the whole expac, feels like a general shift to increase difficulty and force people to do strikes, I'll skip this expansion, read about the story on the wiki, and wait and see if future content continues the trend.

I'm worried because it seems like a lot of achievements and collections are also gated behind very difficult events and even strikes... I don't know if most events or story instances are the same as well.

This game has been so enjoyable, beautiful open world and map designs with amazing exploration, very interesting and fun mechanics, and a world story and characters that keep me invested! I really hope it's not the case but if Arenanet wants to get rid of "filthy casuals" who use gw2 as a fun relaxing time instead of a second job, well.. I guess I'll have to get a clue and prepare to move on. But I'm posting this because I hope other casuals will prove my fears wrong.

No, it did however feel like they were trying to push people away from solo play and start trying to work together instead of having this "me me me" attitude about getting your cut of the game's pie. It backfired because clearly a big chunk of the community hasn't yet learned how to cooperate with others to achieve goals together. Which is fine in some cases, it could take time and not every player wants to play alongside others except for events and achievements (such as the Turtle).

 

Anet should try to address this, perhaps put together some really nice inspirational community movement where they're transparent with us players and see what it is we'd like as an entire community to try and move towards working together rather than apart. Might be wishful thinking though, there's always hope.

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3 hours ago, SaltyTidalwave.5876 said:

Does it feel to you like the whole expansion is a shift to force their whole playerbase into the strike/raid scene? Or is it just the one event aimed at the tryhards, with a lot of badly designed elements (rng, casual features locked behind it, way too long, etc).

I'm trying to decide if I'll buy the expansion.

If it's just the one event then I don't mind, I imagine with enough time to learn and a few adjustments it could just become a triple trouble type event, but if the whole expac, feels like a general shift to increase difficulty and force people to do strikes, I'll skip this expansion, read about the story on the wiki, and wait and see if future content continues the trend.

I'm worried because it seems like a lot of achievements and collections are also gated behind very difficult events and even strikes... I don't know if most events or story instances are the same as well.

This game has been so enjoyable, beautiful open world and map designs with amazing exploration, very interesting and fun mechanics, and a world story and characters that keep me invested! I really hope it's not the case but if Arenanet wants to get rid of "filthy casuals" who use gw2 as a fun relaxing time instead of a second job, well.. I guess I'll have to get a clue and prepare to move on. But I'm posting this because I hope other casuals will prove my fears wrong.

The story is fun the maps are very nice. I would say yes get it. Its allot of content and the DE meta is being worked on and eventually Im sure they will get it working for most players. I would say the story has more mechanics and puzzles maybe but not much more and if you are a mostly solo casual who is looking for content for $ than that just helps you get value IMO. If you get stuck just ask for help.

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2 hours ago, Deekkru.5128 said:

There's a ton to enjoy without worrying too much about hardcore content or having to learn raid rotations! I honestly think a lot of players are looking at the tougher strikes or the DE meta and thinking they need to be confident there in order to enjoy EoD. In reality, you could spend a weekend learning how your class works and how to deal with common issues (i.e. learning CC skills, condi cleanse, etc) and be set to have a great time with the content.

 

When HoT and PoF came out, there was similar concerns about difficulty level improving, with many saying that Anet was forcing them to play in parties instead of alone. But you rarely see complaints about difficulty anymore, because the only real issue is that it was new content and it takes time to learn new things.

 

Imo, there's just a lot of folks looking at a few key instances of difficult content and saying that Anet is trying to force the playerbase into becoming Hardcore Elite Pro Gamers. But really, there's so much you can enjoy, and the skill cap for EoD is incredibly achieveable just by learning how the game works and bring a class (and skills) that fit the situation.

 

And as a last note, I personally think it makes a lot of sense for them to add more difficult content as the years go by. Everyone deserves new things to enjoy, from the casual folks to the more experienced. And imo, EoD does a really nice job of encompassing both.

 

1 hour ago, Deekkru.5128 said:

Waiting and seeing is a great idea, honestly. Especially with how much better Anet is getting at reading and responding to player complaints. It feels more and more like they're actually paying attention and trying to resolve issues, so even if they're not fully on track yet, they're improving! Even a few more weeks will give you a better idea of where things are heading and how folks feel about EoD.

 

1 hour ago, Deekkru.5128 said:

There are definitely achievements and such that require doing the higher tier content. Examples include needing to do a strike for the turtle collection and the final steps of an achievement I'm working on requiring a completed DE meta instance. There's not a ton, but they're there. So if you're a completionist, or just really enjoy getting into all the content, there will be some roadblocks there. I'd actually love to see these roadblocks removed, bc while I personally love the content, I know many don't.

Thank you so much Deekkru!

 

Personally I have no interest and get no joy from build crafting, learning the classes inside and out, or having characters with different builds equiped and ready for a variety of situations, with rotations memorized as well.

 

So even if increasing the difficulty and reaching the skill cap is achievable... It would be very restricting being expected to do all this, when I get my joy from exploring the maps, doing collections, or following the story and learning about the world that is Tyria and the many characters and dynamics that make this world feel alive.

It is true though that understanding the game mechanics is important, and its also true letting fears and anger take over is something that happens too easily and we need to be more objective, wait, and provide out feedback in a kinder way.

 

I agree 100% though, Experienced players that crave a good challenge deserve and NEED to be catered to! They are an important and very passionate part of the game and they've been getting the short end of the stick for far too long and it's not fair that casual players seem to be the only ones getting consistent content.

It's just that... Anet needs to realize these are two different groups, so changes like making the mount available through different methods, or what you mentioned about removing harder roadblocks from some achievements are necessary I think. Anet needs to make it so challenging content is optional and maybe enticing for casual players, but above all very rewarding and satisfying to hardcore players.

 

I will be waiting to see how things develop in the coming weeks, but I'm way more optimistic now.

Personally I hope they address what seem to be the biggest issues with the DE meta: Too lenghty, RNG gets too frustrating, and very poor rewards for such a big event.

Maybe it's because I haven't played it, lol, but I don't hope it's nerfed into the ground, just gatekeeping something like the mount behind it wasn't such a good idea and I'm happy they addressed that part already.

 

Thank you so much Deekkru for your time, your very positive attitude and for being so kind!

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1 hour ago, SaltyTidalwave.5876 said:

 

Thank you! Thad doesn't sound bad, better understanding the mechanics of the game, or having a better idea of how to make a nice build sounds good.

 

As long as it's not too restrictive like "You must know one or several classes inside and out, learn how to create the most efficient builds. And to advance you MUST group up and are expected to learn complicated rotations in order to pull your weight" Something like that would be stressful and not my personal idea of fun. It's good that content is in the game of course! But as long as it's completely optional then I'm very happy.

 

Haven't felt like that at all. I do not run arc dps. It is very possible that people carried me over. But, I knew what to do and did not keep dying. The stuff that requires you to not fail to not jeopardize the whole event is not really that complicated. I was concerned, for example, that if I was turned into the wisp I would struggle climbing my way up. That's was not really the case. Watch some videos and go for it. You know you will succeed if the map has a commander giving clear instructions and people are following. 

 

A good squad will let you know right away they working well if you can finish the pre meta events with plenty of time to spare and people are following orders. Even if you feel you are in a bad team, go to the meta and see for yourself how it works. Next time, you will know what to do.

 

A minimum preparation goes a long way, like making sure to unlock the jade bot' s resurrection and personal waypoint, doing the pre battle events to buff yourself up etc. My damage was increased five fold by getting the pre battle buffs. There's no way you can't do good DPS in the fight if you follow the natural progression of the event.

 

My experience was very enjoyable, fun and with a sense of accomplishment. Can't wait to try it agin.

Edited by angrax.1372
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31 minutes ago, Tukaram.8256 said:

 

I am not a crafter so I assume any bot upgrades will need to be purchased, so I do not care what kind of effort others have to make for the ingredients. . 

The basic upgrades are craftable and tradable.

Tier two and tier three of the upgrades are account bound and purchased from a vendor. Tier two requires the basic + research notes. Tier three requires tier two, research notes, and and an account bound trophy.

Some of the trophies are rare drops from a meta chest, some are rare drops from strike mission chest.

You won’t be able to buy tier two or three upgrades from other players.

Edited by Gibson.4036
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16 minutes ago, Caitybee.3614 said:

Anet should try to address this, perhaps put together some really nice inspirational community movement where they're transparent with us players and see what it is we'd like as an entire community to try and move towards working together rather than apart. Might be wishful thinking though, there's always hope.

I do not actually see that there is anything that needs to be addressed.  I play casually, and love the way GW2 is set up for open world play and cooperation.  But strikes, raids etc are not fun for me, and I am not going to do them. If there is something locked behinds them, I may or may not care enough to get it. And that is fine.  

If I stumble upon a champ fight (or such), I usually jump in and help. Sometimes not. Depending on my mood.  If I am fighting, sometimes people jump in and help.  The cooperative play has always been part of GW2. It has to be one of the friendliest and most helpful games I have played.  Almost as friendly as City of Heroes was. 😎

21 minutes ago, SaltyTidalwave.5876 said:

Personally I have no interest and get no joy from build crafting, learning the classes inside and out, or having characters with different builds equiped and ready for a variety of situations, with rotations memorized as well.

 

So even if increasing the difficulty and reaching the skill cap is achievable... It would be very restricting being expected to do all this, when I get my joy from exploring the maps,

Very much this.  I have one build per character, I have no interest in changing builds for different events. I am here for exploring and monster bashing.  I am glad all the other activities and tools are there for people that enjoy them, but that is not me. 😎

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2 hours ago, Chichimec.9364 said:

I'm casual, not in the sense of how much I play the game but because I am an old, slow player with very real physical limitations that keep me from "gitting gud". As a  casual player, I very much share your concerns about where Anet seems to be going right now. They really do seem to be pushing a "git gud" theme. Now that does not mean the whole expansion is that way. The story is very forgiving and I was able to solo all of it. On the other hand, the "git gud" push is not just about one meta either.

Anet started pushing strike missions with the IBS Saga. This expansion was the first time though that they locked something behind a strike mission that most players wanted. They also locked something similar behind a raid level of difficulty meta in an open world map. What really concerns me is that even after all the uproar here on the forum, the most Anet has done with the DE meta is tinker with the mechanics, making minor adjustments here and there, as though they still want to keep it as hard as they can get away with. Even more concerning, I have yet to hear anyone from Anet say, "No, we are not pushing 'git gud' on all our players. We very much want to keep our casual players and will continue creating content for them." Supposedly they are monitoring this forum and are paying attention to player feedback. To date though, I haven't seen or heard anything from Anet that addresses the concerns of those of us who don't want to play a "git gud or git gone" game.

Personally, I don't know if you should buy the expansion or not. The maps are beautiful. The story and many of the map events are doable by casuals. I love my new mechanist. It's great fun to play. Heck, some of my guildies and I went fishing together last night and that great fun too. On the other hand, this expansion exacerbated a toxic divide in this community and it may be showing us something about Anet's direction for the future that I do not like at all.

PS 1 - Oh, let me add something I've said repeatedly on this forum before. I'm not at all opposed to hard content in GW2 as long as it's optional, like raids, high level fractals, and structured pvp. I only have a problem with hard content if someone is trying to push me into it. The game needs both the hardcore players and the casual ones to keep it strong and thriving for all of us. In my book, the ideal situation would be for Anet to make a variety of game modes available so players can choose the level of difficulty they like. Open world maps have been a game mode for casuals. I hope that is not going to change.

PS 2 - I've been part of the arguments about all this since EoD dropped. At this point, I'm not going to argue about it here and won't be responding to folks who try to start an argument with me in this thread. The op asked an honest question and I did my best to give an honest answer and I'm going to leave it at that.

 

Thank you! I'm very relieved to see your message as you seem to really get where I'm coming from! I'm glad you also see the push to a different direction, but that you also see there's still a lot to do, that makes me way more inclined to experience the expansion.

 

I haven't finished IBSaga yet so I still don't know the extent of this push. But yeah locking something as big as the new mount was really bad.

 

I'm also very iffy on Anet's response, what I'm hoping is that they are holding off because there's a lot of internal discussion going on and they need to be extra sure of how they will proceed before making a big announcement... But right now their silence and tiny changes come across as begrudgingly changing the smallest possible things to make us shut up.

 

Hopefully, like you said they will give a satisfactory message that reassures us that there will be a place for casual players and hardcore players, and that they won't try to convert one into the other or keep mixing the content for both.

 

Same, I'm a lot more optimistic about the expansion itself, it's the future and apparent shift of direction that is really concerning.

 

About PS1, same same, Hardocre players need their challenging, satisfying and rewarding content! It just shouldn't be forced onto everyone.

 

About PS2, Thank you so much for taking the time to give your honest take! I really appreciate it, honestly I also appreciate you've been part of the discussion and have given your feedback. It must be exhausting with how toxic the whole community has been, so again, thank you for taking some time to give me your take on this situation, thank you!

 

Hope you continue having fun with your guildies in EoD, and hopefully we will receive reassuring news soon, for both sides.

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1 hour ago, SaltyTidalwave.5876 said:

I didn't know there were more RNG aspects in the expansion besides the DE fight. But since that and length of the meta are the most common issues between both casuals and hardcore players... hopefully it will be addressed or it's impact reduced.

Since I didn't see anyone mention it specifically, I just want to note that they have reduced the impact of the meta in terms of getting the new mount - the collection for the new mount can be unlocked from a vendor for a certain amount of new EoD currency that you can earn doing almost anything in the EoD zones.

Unfortunately, you still have to do the strike mission to complete that collection for the new mount. Given how reasonable the strike mission is (the mechanics are pretty much identical to the story version, things just have more HP and hit harder), I don't think ANet will or should remove that requirement. Hopefully if and when you're at that stage of the turtle collection, you'll be able to find a group to help you.

While I'm probably not a "casual" player by many people's standards, I know for a fact that I'm not one of the super elites either. For reference, I've cleared raids and performed my roles acceptably well, but only "acceptably" - I'm not on the high end of that content at all. More importantly... I just don't find that stuff all that much fun. Too much waiting, planning, shifting, and overhead for a chance to fail. Incidentally, that's exactly the problem most people seem to have with the Dragon's End meta in EoD as well.

So to give a summary answer to your question, my response is: (1) the game does indeed appear to be trying to nudge players to the more intense style of content, but (2) most of that more intense content doesn't seem that bad, and (3) there is a lot of stuff outside of the meta events that is very solo friendly.

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1 hour ago, Gibson.4036 said:

I wouldn’t say the whole expansion is shifted to force the players into strikes, but there is definitely more stuff tied to strikes than prestige items and achievements.

The turtle requires one strike, reported to be the easiest. In order to get the best upgrades for your jade bot, you need account bound items that come from doing strikes. The fact that they are gating these kinds of things behind strikes for the first time makes it clear that they are interested in nudging casuals into strike missions.

Overall, general open world content doesn’t feel harder to me. Ambient mobs go down as fast as PoF mobs. But it is my impression playing so far that there are more group oriented events in general, not just the metas. I have had several encounters with easy events that chain into events with significant difficulty spikes later in the chain.

Having said all that, there’s a lot of very enjoyable content for casual, average players. There’s a ton of ArenaNet’s usual wonderful nooks and crannies for world explorers to discover and some beautiful environments. There’s some interesting and memorable story bits, though it does feel like they ran out of time and rushed some conclusions after doing a good job setting up the story.

If you don’t care for strikes but are okay with just ignoring the turtle and jade bot upgrades, you’d be fine.

If you’re the kind of person that doesn’t mind “just getting through it” the number of times you need to in order to unlock things, there are reportedly still plenty of groups made up of other players doing that, or even groups ready to carry you through.
 

If you really don’t want to do strikes, and not having the turtle and bot upgrades is going to chafe, best to wait a bit and see how things settle.

 

Thank you so much for sharing your experience and perception on EoD!

I will wait, but I'm getting more and more comfortable with the idea of getting the expansion, but I'm also taking note and a bit worried that, while there's still plenty to enjoy for casual players, the shift is palpable.

 

Hopefully voicing these opinions will make ArenaNet realize that while hardcore players need content that is challenging and satisfying, it's not Anet's duty to convert casual players into hardcore players that love strikes and difficult group content that requires hours of preparation and commitment.

 

Again thank you so much! I hope you continue having a lot of fun in the expansion!

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My 2 coins: 

fishing: awesome. There’s bait! There’s buff food! There are rods to collect! And collect a fish achieves that have the janky part of my brain purring happily

 

jade bot: super cute. Wish I could pull him out like a mini pet sometimes. My wombfruit find them adorable. 
 

the maps: beautiful and nostalgic. I’m telling the wombfruit stories of what happened here and there. That’s been incredible. I do wish there were more events, though, esp in KC

 

that meta: the rewards need upped big time. The pre either needs to be shortened or give level-adequate chests at each major pause point on the route. The timer needs to hold its kitten horses when we have to detour to these random levendaries over yonder. 
the map though is beautiful. I would love to see more npc around and things trapped in the jade like we did in factions but I love the map. 

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1 hour ago, SaltyTidalwave.5876 said:

Personally I have no interest and get no joy from build crafting, learning the classes inside and out, or having characters with different builds equiped and ready for a variety of situations, with rotations memorized as well.

This is very understandable! I just wanted to clarify though that the max amount of effort I was describing was more a one-time effort to copy/paste a build from a site that's already done the work, read their blurb on how the class works (i.e. understanding that you want to make more clones and then shatter for mesmer classes, or stack your dps-boosting skills before using all your good weapon skills for a soulbeast, etc, just the basics of why the class works), and then understand what you can swap out (i.e. here's something you can bring for condis, or if you're dying a lot, you can try this trait to heal based on dmg). And if you're up to it, reading a rotation (without even memorizing it), can kind of help you understand how the skills mesh together. But I 100% agree that no one should have to get as deep into it as you were saying you don't want to do^^

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I think you'll find the stunted quality open world variety, profession inadequacy, and rewards to be more of a problem than difficulty.  Most of it is pretty easy or manageable with a little time investment, but this expansion isn't going to grab you like PoF, HoT, and the prior LW's did I can promise you that.  As a fellow casual, I'm bored.

 

Edited by Borked.6824
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4 hours ago, SaltyTidalwave.5876 said:

 

This was very comprehensive!

A lot of what you mention sounds really good and makes me optimistic.

 

If the metas are like current Heart of Thorns I'm ok, I won't be doing them over and over but it's something fun to dive into once in a while. A bit wary about it having too much going on, hope it's not too confusing.

 

I didn't know there were more RNG aspects in the expansion besides the DE fight. But since that and length of the meta are the most common issues between both casuals and hardcore players... hopefully it will be addressed or it's impact reduced.

 

I hope Anet stops trying to push these two groups of players together and expect it to work. It's good that there's complexity and difficulty just... hopefully Anet learns it should be an option and not a requirement.

 

I agree with you, I'll definitely wait and see if there's any changes and adjustments, and thankfully I'll wait with a more positive attitude as well, thank you so much!

The metas are fun the first two or three times but after that the enjoyment drops off, at least for me. There's a lot going on, it's a time commitment that can range from 20 minutes to 2 hours, and the loot isn't something to write home about. They are well-made for the most part but with so much going on you it gets a bit overwhelming. They're much more the sort of events you do once a week instead of events you run daily.

Yeah, sadly there's a lot of RNG and repetition this expansion. The DE meta for sure but fishing is also RNG, you don't always get elite specialization items from completed metas (unsure if this is a bug or not but hasn't been mentioned to be a bug), and the only way to get the level 3 chips for your jade bot is for them to drop for you as they're untradeable and you can't craft them. They aren't needed but if you really like a chip and want to max it out, you'll have to grind an encounter until the upgraded chip drops.

And same. Another non-meta event that's supposed to be big is the Leviathan events that require probably at least 7 or 8 people with a certain mastery level in skiffs to complete. It's impossible to do with a handful of people and/or if people don't have the right mastery level so a lot of the time it's completely ignored. There's also a maze dungeon that you need at least two people to do (more if it's not a raid healer and raid tank).  Group events have been in the game since release, it just feels particularly forced this time since group events are made so you can't even attempt to do them solo (or will quickly kill people who attempt to solo them), at least the ones I've come across.

Glad to have helped!

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9 hours ago, SaltyTidalwave.5876 said:

Thank you!! This is giving me a few things to keep in mind but it's overall pretty encouraging!

That aspect of wanting players to get "better" has me a bit worried. On one hand, yes I'd like to get better at understanding general mechanics of the game! And from what I've heard.. they are doing a good job at introducing these naturally and little by little. On the other hand I worry they'll soon expect the average player to get t4 fractal builds, memorize rotations, get food and upkeep a ton of boons for a party. As someone who plays in small chunks of time and likes to jump into different characters, it would be overwhelming, hard to build that muscle memory, and discouraging to be forced to just play the one class.

I'm happy to hear about the story still being very fun and soloable, and the maps being good. 
About the "Story progression masteries", do you mean stuff like in Heart of Thorns where you can't continue the story until you've reached a certain tier of a mastery? or like "War Eternal Mastery" that gives you a skin reward after completing? (Or maybe something completely different I'm not getting...?)
Over all this makes me cautiously optimistic, thank you so much for indulging my question!

No..they don't stop you from continue story. Its the achievement sets. Where you do a set achievements connected to the maps and story and get a reward and mastery point.

Some of the older living world ones.. you can do like 19 out of 21 and get the reward,  for theses ones, there's no leeway and some of the achieves are quite difficult. 

 

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I dunno how to describe it something feels off about Catha.
It feels like it was made by people with very different approaches to design. Theres a lot more grind in it and I would say yes there feels like theres been a lean more into the hardcore.

The turtle requires strikes, several of the upgrades requires strikes, the legendary jounrey will be slower without strikes.
Theres a clear push to get people into them especially as IBS tried to do the same.

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3 hours ago, Borked.6824 said:

I think you'll find the stunted quality open world variety, profession inadequacy, and rewards to be more of a problem than difficulty.  Most of it is pretty easy or manageable with a little time investment, but this expansion isn't going to grab you like PoF, HoT, and the prior LW's did I can promise you that.  As a fellow casual, I'm bored.

 

To each their own, but  I totally disagree. 😎

I am having more fun in EoD than I had in either expansion, and never liked any of the LWs.  The maps are gorgeous, the critters are fun to bash, even the story is better than any other they have had.  I am as casual as they get, and I am loving it. (there are issues, but that is true for all games) 

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I finished story one one account, did 2 others to Arborstoe scroll.

Got lucky and got the egg on main joining the DE meta while farming for 200 writs.

 

Started to do the collection but then I saw the strike ( and the Jade maw drama )

 

I joined in 10 casuals who like me were forced into doing a strike mission.

 

To some strike missions maybe "fun" and "challenging"

To others seeing people forced to do them brings an immens feeling of pleasure and an opportunity to show how "gut" they are and a chance to tell "how the game should be played and how casuals have to "learn" how to play"

 

"Learn the mechanics"

"Get carried"

"Get better gear"

"Do like I say"

 

Casual people may have their own reason to want to collect the turtle ( they paid for expansion too )

Casuals NEVER tell the self proclaimed "teachers" how to play their game.

Casuals often want to avoid playing with people with that mindset.

 

I would love it if the people who gave me a blocklist and made a vast game with too much to do also gave us filthy casuals a chance to play our game, not being forced to "get carried".

 

Whats next ?

Want to play the lute - need 5 world completes ? 

Want to fish ? Have to ask permission in chat ?

 

please make turtle collection accessible for more casual customers ( who also paid for the content )

don't have to make it easy or simple, just give us an option to avoid who/what we detest.

 

thank you

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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No, to me it doesn't feel like that. It's up to you how you play the game. I'm still doing the things I enjoy like story, mapping, fashion, the occasional achievement or meta and now fishing.. so casual things since I have quite limited time to play.
Even the turtle mount is not that important for me since the other mounts are much more useful. I also need writs for the egg and likely guild help for some following parts but I'll get it eventually. Took me months of casual playing to get the skyscale so I'm in no rush to get the turtle either.

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The story was okay, for the most part. There's a lot...a LOT...of unskippable, dull, exposition heavy dialogue. Plus a lot of walking. Not running. Walking. You have to follow NPCs from point A to point B, and they walk painfully slow. 

New Kaineng City is filled with dead ends. Helps to have a Skyscale. Echovald is filled with Tangled Depths-like complexity, so getting around can be daunting. 

And the invisible walls. Wow. So many.

Tried the DE meta once. Won't bother again. 

The Siege Turtle is, at first glance, niche, and serves no real function that I've seen. 

Fishing is a mini-game that you may or may not like. I've always hated mini-games like this, myself.

The skiff. Well, unless you are using it for fishing, there's no point. The Skimmer is faster.

The jade bots - meh. I guess there's a use. I heard that the top mastery for Jade bots messes up your downed skills. Not sure. 

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