Just can't get into EoD like I did the other xpacs.....

[Luclinraider.2317]

It just feels like such a failed expansion compared to the other two.

 

None of the zones feel impactful or have any kinds of "wow" factor to them.

 

The systems brought to the game are not game changing at all compared to Magic/Gliding of HoT and not even on the same planet as mounts from PoF.

 

No more raids...everything just feels so simple and boring compared to PvE in other xpacs....

 

And PvP really just feels forgotten with this expansion....literally nothing new to their systems at all.

 

Overall...it feels like half an expansion compared to HoT and a quarter of an expansion compared to PoF.

 

It's only been a little over a month and I can't find the drive to log in...especially with Elden Ring lol.

 

Hopefully they can get some momentum or some patches going...but I feel like this is the beginning of the end for GW2...PoF was such a high point for me...and it's come crashing down in a hard way.

[Doggie.3184]

Every expansion is technically half an expansion till living story fleshes it out.

[Gerrick.7489]

I've only scratched the surface but I really enjoyed the aesthetic of the new area. The new elite specs are also very welcome.

[Deedrick.4372]

How is this anything but pve, what upgrades came to wvw and pvp?

[knite.1542]

They were busy working on the 4th expansion.

[notebene.3190]

1 hour ago, Doggie.3184 said:

Every expansion is technically half an expansion till living story fleshes it out.

 

Definitely some truth in this for me. I have great memories of PoF, but they are mostly because of mounts and LW4. If you take those two things away, it was a lot less engaging for me than HoT or EoD. I loved the areas of PoF, but after the story, subsequent characters 'discovered' the map and I did a few treasure hunts here and there, got my giant achievement, and that was it. Didn't do the metas that much. Did 'some' achievements, but I found them all a little flat in hind sight.

EoD is having some amazing "after I'm done" play value. Raising the turtle (down to the strike!), and all the continuation story quests you get from Arborstone that then send you around doing metas, traveling around the world, doing events in all the other places, and providing additional lore, it's all really interesting and engaging for me. I don't feel I had much of that with PoF (pre LW4).

Still having a good time getting my rest experience every day. Still working on the after story. Doing the EoD 'daily' every day! I never did that with PoF. Hard to compare with HoT, as I was one of the few folks who stepped away (year in my case) when it first hit, because of the jarring difficulty swing. I didn't spend as much time with HoT only because by the time I came back, I had 3 LW3 episodes to chew through and the 4th was imminent. Was spending a lot of time playing catch up. Though I did do that meta in dragon's, uhm, 'stand', is that right (?) quite a bit.

[Ashantara.8731]

I am on my fourth playthrough of EoD, and while I don't like a lot of the aesthetics (besides the jade-tech aethetics I absolutely hate the blue haze covering most maps and the ugly luminous flora), I love this expac for the story, the missions, the meta events, the humor, some of the achievements and collections, the new strike missions, and the Echovald Wilds map.

What I am thoroughly missing in this expac are mind-blowing elite specs and Kurzick and Luxon armor sets (and Luxon cultural contents), as well as a decently designed Shing Jea map (like I said, the blue haze and luminous flora is killing it for me, and the architecture could be prettier).

Edited April 7, 2022 by Ashantara.8731

[Kaliwenda.3428]

I really like this one, I think the maps are gorgeous (except for Dragon's End, bleh) and I feel like there's always something to work towards.

Today I logged on at the start of the Igne Mossheart event so I finally got my untamed's hammer, that was the last thing I needed for the collection.

I'm finding that doing the Dragon's End meta on the weekends, and stuff on other maps during the week is a good way to break things up for me.

 

[Taclism.2406]

As far as I'm concerned
Best part of eod (by far) : Strikes (well telegraphed attacks, progressive difficulty), and "introduction to strikes" within the story with easy settings for story-only people, small touches on every maps like hidden chests / ambiant dialogs between npcs
Worst part : research notes, wasted potential on kurzick / luxon cultures
Meh : Everything else is neat to explore a first time, you can sense every inch of shing jea was handcrafted, but its content is either not rewarding  (worth farming), funny to toy with but not that useful (masteries) or just frustrating (DE / minidungeons)

Edited April 7, 2022 by Taclism.2406

[decease.3215]

When they announced EOD.  I really get my hope up..hoping skiff would be useful.. Under water combat is coming back...sadly some of the new spec don't even work under water...I guess pof really set the bar of expectation high..

 

 

[Diovid.9506]

3 hours ago, decease.3215 said:

When they announced EOD.  I really get my hope up..hoping skiff would be useful.. Under water combat is coming back...sadly some of the new spec don't even work under water...I guess pof really set the bar of expectation high..

 

 

I really enjoyed PoF's masteries but in terms of events and map design and collections and music and the like I enjoy EoD a lot more. Elite specs are about equal for me. But of course it's all a matter of personal taste. 

[Veprovina.4876]

14 hours ago, Luclinraider.2317 said:

It just feels like such a failed expansion compared to the other two.

Maybe you were in a different mental state then? Bit younger, bit easier to impress, less jaded? 😜

14 hours ago, Luclinraider.2317 said:

None of the zones feel impactful or have any kinds of "wow" factor to them.

I mean, Seitung is really nice and relaxing, you can't deny that map looks great! And is a great introduction to the story. Kaineng could be better, but there's bits there that are pretty wow. I don't care much for Echovald or Arborstone, both are awful, and i'd care more for Dragon's End if the meta there would be ok and not a design failure. For dragon's end, if the meta didn't last 3 hours only to fail and reward nothing - that would be a wow factor. Fighting a dragon like Dragon's Stand when fighting Mordremoth. Right now it's just pointing out everything that's wrong with raiding community in this game.

 

So... Half agree, half disagree. There's some really nice stuff in the maps if you explore. 

14 hours ago, Luclinraider.2317 said:

The systems brought to the game are not game changing at all compared to Magic/Gliding of HoT and not even on the same planet as mounts from PoF.

Idk, Jade bots with certain upgrades kinda do change a lot. First of all, research papers got rid of a lot of trash on the TP, that's pretty big. Second, might/magic trophy finder is a pretty nice boost to material availability. Gliding and mount boosters interact with older masteries in a unique way, and chest finder upgrade literally works in the entire world, plus it's pretty helpful. 

Also - fishing added to the entire world - this one single thing literally transformed the entire world, i'd call that impactful. Most of HoT masteries only worked on those maps, and nothing will probably beat mounts but still... There's definitely big changes brought by the expansion.

14 hours ago, Luclinraider.2317 said:

No more raids...everything just feels so simple and boring compared to PvE in other xpacs....

They made Dragon's end which has now become the raider central, so i think you got your raid. You even have to ping KP for certain squads apparently. 

14 hours ago, Luclinraider.2317 said:

And PvP really just feels forgotten with this expansion....literally nothing new to their systems at all.

I mean, elite specs? But yeah, anet doesn't really change much about PvP. Though, what would really need changing? I can see stuff being added, but for the time being, the systems seem fine. I'm not a PvP player though, so idk, i play WvW, that's different.

14 hours ago, Luclinraider.2317 said:

Overall...it feels like half an expansion compared to HoT and a quarter of an expansion compared to PoF.

Maybe? There was all that pandemic business to deal with during the development, i never really expected half of what we got, so i'm good... 

14 hours ago, Luclinraider.2317 said:

It's only been a little over a month and I can't find the drive to log in...especially with Elden Ring lol.

 

Hopefully they can get some momentum or some patches going...but I feel like this is the beginning of the end for GW2...PoF was such a high point for me...and it's come crashing down in a hard way.

There's your answer. You're into another game right now. Of course you're not going to feel like GW2. Play Elden Ring, get your fill, then you'll see GW2 differently after.

The game is not dying, it'll be here when you return.

[Wintermute.5408]

It's an objectively lesser expansion. There's less stuff to do on the maps. Less events and meta-chains than even PoF. No adventures, no races. Almost no secret corners to explore - while HoT and PoF maps both unfolded over the course of several weeks as you progressed mastery, with EoD exploration i was done in 4 days. MUCH less effort put into new especs, with blatant reuse of assets and general lack of care. Speaking of asset reuse - yes. We got almost no new monsters - everything in Cantha is mostly human. And yes, new masteries are trash.

That said, I disagree with endgame PVE assessment. New strikes are fantastic, and the CMs have big potential in them. As for them being delayed - raids were also delayed all the time. So it's not really anything new.

[Gibson.4036]

45 minutes ago, Veprovina.4876 said:

 

I mean, Seitung is really nice and relaxing, you can't deny that map looks great!

Many people can, and have. Some people find Seitung pleasing, but a significant number of people also find it unattractively bright. This has been a topic of conversation on the forums from its first reveal, and people continue to mention it.

[Antycypator.9874]

21 minutes ago, Wintermute.5408 said:

We got almost no new monsters - everything in Cantha is mostly human.

Everything is just reskinned.

[Wintermute.5408]

1 minute ago, Antycypator.9874 said:

Everything is just reskinned.

Yup. I kittening hade hydras in PoF, with burning passion. But encountering them for the first time, getting bombarded and watching the heads getting cut off, was amazing, memorable moment both for me and all of my friends. EoD.... doesn't have that kind of mobs.

[Sarius.9285]

3 hours ago, Veprovina.4876 said:

Seitung is really nice and relaxing, you can't deny that map looks great!

maybe it's just me, but the color pallet of that map always makes my eyes hurt after looking at it for more than 30 minutes

[Veprovina.4876]

3 hours ago, Gibson.4036 said:

Many people can, and have. Some people find Seitung pleasing, but a significant number of people also find it unattractively bright. This has been a topic of conversation on the forums from its first reveal, and people continue to mention it.

 

1 hour ago, Sarius.9285 said:

maybe it's just me, but the color pallet of that map always makes my eyes hurt after looking at it for more than 30 minutes

The brightness and sturation can be adjusted on your monitor or you can install ReShade and go wild.

So that's not what i was talking about, i was talking about the general design, features, placement of objects etc. 

It's a pretty map with pretty things in it. 🤷‍♂️

[TheAgedGnome.7520]

I can't really get into EOD too much either.

Overall, it was superficially interesting and unique; but after a short while, it feels empty, and events seem infrequent, and even those are uninteresting, as most use the copypasta mobs with 'void' skins thrown on.

 

Cantha has no unique identity

• For a mysterious land that has been isolated for hundreds of years, there is little in the way of unique cultural identity beyond the superficiality of faces, dress, and architecture. 
• Language is jarringly modern slang/idioms/swears, like it was lifted from tik tok, not like that of an imaginary society on an imaginary world that has been isolated for centuries. 

 

Arborstone - glad I didn't have to pay extra for this

• Awful garish lighting.
• Crafting stations aren't even located all together.
• If I have to hear Kestrel Zuru's "den of iniquity" line one more time...
• It feels neither majestic nor utilitarian - its just feels off.

 

Seitung - yea, its bright and colorful

• Why is it so clumsy to travel from one side to the other of such a small map?
•  Why are there entire villages full of Aetherblades, when just a few ships crashed there?? 
• Risen too? Ok...but Orr...hmm.

 

Jade Bot - a solution in search of a problem

• Offensive/defensive buffs are like FPS power-ups.
• 10 min timer is ridiculous
• Losing buffs/charges on map change or logout is not fun
• Jade Battery placements are arbitrary and un-immersive.
• Zipline placements are arbitrary and un-immersive.
• Where is our screenshot camera mode for the Jade Bot?

 

New Kaineng

• Feels like an FPS map - something I'd expect in CoD or the like, with its lack of detail, lack of interior spaces, lack of NPCs, etc. (I.e., superficial) Verticality for the sake of sniper positions.
  • Half-expecting to find a railgun, BFG or quad-damage powerup
  • Unnecessarily annoying to navigate; i.e., intentionally obstructive

 

Echovald

• Unnecessarily annoying to navigate; i.e., not in the elegant complexity style of Tangled Depths, but instead seems merely intentionally obstructive. (Maybe this a GW1 thing, I don't know - never really played GW1.)
• Structures and villages placements seem entirely arbitrary, rather than as representative of some organic societal organization.
• Meta is kinda meh, and the 0.34159 seconds to move behind a junkpile before getting slammed is annoying.

 

Research Notes

• Obviously a sink for resources; ok, fine.
• Research Kits: lack of a 'Salvage Stack' option reeks of corporate-mindset approach to gating progress, as it is both crass and soul-sucking (and mouse-destroying).

 

Dragon's End

• Dragon's End meta is truly great (yes, I just said that!). It may need a tad more fine-tuning, but this is what open world metas should aspire to. This is what made TD, AB, DS metas so great, and DE was a great next step forward.
  • DE meta time commitment is kinda long, though.
• Aurene's melodramatic voice becomes grating as the meta wears on.

 

Story

• Story was pretty good.  Beyond the overworked Aurene deus ex machina role, the big negative for me is the proliferation of half-assed technobabble, in true Star Trek:TNG style, to explain situations and resolve them.  This has been true of many story episodes in the past; I had hoped this time would be different.

 

Edited April 8, 2022 by TheAgedGnome.7520

[aspirine.6852]

Though I liked the story I just cant believe this was Anets best GW2 expansion. I mean I almost never see anyone on the maps, it feels empty all the time.

[Redfeather.6401]

My incentive to go anywhere revolves around the question "what can I unlock to play with". Cause that's what gaming is to me. There was the elite spec and the mount. I guess some people like doing events over and over again to get drops to sell to other players for those player's gold, but I don't care about that. That's not a game thing to me.

Edited April 7, 2022 by Redfeather.6401

[patton the great.7126]

Lack of good drops, like it or not this games niche is fashion/infusions. It is what it is. Still fun ex pack

[Vavume.8065]

Played 10 mins of EoD and uninstalled the game again.

[Cronospere.8143]

Everyone has its own taste. 

I liked HoT. 

I disliked PoF. (Which a lot of people think is the best...)

I really like EoD. 

And i still think lws4 was the best in the game. 

Maybe you will like the next one. And maybe you will not. 

On 4/6/2022 at 11:55 PM, Luclinraider.2317 said:

Hopefully they can get some momentum or some patches going...but I feel like this is the beginning of the end for GW2...PoF was such a high point for me...and it's come crashing down in a hard way.

But stop pretending like the entire gw universe will end just because this expansion was somewhat less to your taste.. 

[Sarius.9285]

6 hours ago, Veprovina.4876 said:

The brightness and sturation can be adjusted on your monitor or you can install ReShade and go wild.

doesn't change the fact that it's the first map in the game with such a bad color palette 🤷