Is it just me or End of Dragons is not fun?

[Godfather.9058]

I loved HOT. I loved POF.

But I'm just not enjoying EOD. At this point I have stopped playing a few months ago. I was pretty much done with the 3rd map. And never felt like trying EOD again.

The story was mostly exposition about dragon magic. And there was a LOT of it.

I did the metas once and never wanted to do them again. Trash mobs, escorting NPCs, a not so great boss at the end. Nowhere near the HOT metas. Or even some living world metas.

There is no game changing traversal method. Ziplines are cool but there are too few of them. You have to use the POF mounts, especially for horizontal mobility due to the map sizes. The maps are absolutely huge and they felt tedious to complete.

Anyway that's all my rant. Did you enjoy EOD?

[Loboling.5293]

I also got bored and never finished. I loved HoT and really enjoyed PoF as well, although not as much as HoT.

 

EoD was doomed to failure by the horrible setup in IBS. Plus the company was going through some really hard times. It shows.

I really hope the next expansion brings back some of the quality I expect from GW2. (Not bashing all of EoD btw, some of the developers and artists did wonderful work, but it's the exception this time around IMO.)

[Ashen.2907]

EoD was some of the worst gaming content I have ever seen. Only the Gyalla Delves chapters were worse. It seemed like what you might expect if all of the professional game writers were on strike so the company brought in some highschool (or junior high) interns to fill in. It felt like the worst episode of a saturday morning cartoon aimed at eight year olds ever written.

 

Some of the elite specs and strikes are fun though.

[Randulf.7614]

It had moments, but wasn’t as good as HoT or PoF which I always got home from work eager to play

[Godfather.9058]

23 minutes ago, Ashen.2907 said:

EoD was some of the worst gaming content I have ever seen. Only the Gyalla Delves chapters were worse. It seemed like what you might expect if all of the professional game writers were on strike so the company brought in some highschool (or junior high) interns to fill in. It felt like the worst episode of a saturday morning cartoon aimed at eight year olds ever written.

 

Some of the elite specs and strikes are fun though.

I felt bored by the story. That was my main state of mind during the story quests. I was constantly yawning, wishing these people would stop talking and waiting for the mission to end.

I never got into strikes. I did some of the earlier ones. Not great not terrible. The encounters weren't that impressive. Haven't tried the EOD strikes. I really liked raids though. There was a period when I only did raids. Minimal trash mobs, a great focus on team comp, rotation and boss mechanics. Raids seemed near perfect to me. There were some questionable encounters, most notably river and statues in wing 5. I do miss raids though. They abandoned them.

As for the new elite specs... yeah... about that... I main elementalist. You see where I'm going with this. I like holding a staff and shooting spells from a distance. I'm an M.A.G.E! Do I look like a vending machine? So my elite spec basically gave me a vending machine (hammer) and asks me to HULK SMASH! It felt like a joke. A really bad joke. I had to switch to celestial stats so I wouldn't die instantly in combat. Catalyst lacks the mobility of weaver. That also strongly contributed to me not enjoying EOD.

Edited June 28, 2023 by Godfather.9058

[Endaris.1452]

I quit EoD story in the New Kaineng part as well and only forced myself to complete it months later because you need a completed story in order to unlock the final Arborstone mastery which in turn is required to craft gen3 legendary weapons without paying a fortune on the TP (or making a fortune yourself respectively).

The first part in Seitung Province was still ok'ish but then story proceeds to fall down a steep slope, ruining Mai Trin's character and the other major characters added in Ankka and Joon are just...kind of bad, cliché, hollow.

Add to that the innavigability of New Kaineng and bugged story instances and I was thoroughly fed up, this will be the first story content where I won't even attempt to get the meta achievements for the story categories.

The strike content is ok but I don't particularly like it as it's a lot about ranged combat and stupid effects pulling you around unhindered by stability. Imo it's a downgrade to raid encounter design and even worse, the high DPS check on HT CM means that we will forever be stuck with insane power creep.

[Yttris.2945]

The expansions prove quite effectively how most of the playerbase prefers to stay in core Tyria doing boss runs/events. Especially at daily reset.

[Tiamat.8254]

HoT still the best expansion in an mmo I have played. I am never bored there and still get lost in tangled depths. The meta is also one of the most fun. 

The only expansion that came close was wotlk in wow, but because of their model it's only fun until the next expac as there is zero replayability.

As for EoD. I think the expansion is great, but the maps are too big for the amount of people that can populate them, thus it feels dead. The rewards are also not that great so there is little incentive to stick around. The meta events are what really ruin it for me though. Basically the same meta in each map, split into 3 groups, do something, fight last boss. They could have been a bit more varied like how they were in HoT. But except for the meta and different enemies I feel I'm doing the same thing for very little fun or reward. That said, the environments are gorgeous, they improved the story telling, and first time exploring felt really great. 

Edited June 28, 2023 by Tiamat.8254

[Mazinger.1084]

You're not alone there.  I have EoD since launch and have yet to get past the starting area lol.  It all just seems so mundane compared to the previous expansions.  Feels like it was designed to create busywork for players and not nearly as much effort was put into the environment/story as before (from what I've seen).  I'm going to try to force myself through it sometime soon, but not looking forward to it.

[Fueki.4753]

It's not just you. EoD got a lot of complaints.

In my opinion, it did not even significantly rise above the quality of DRMs, which were a substantial drop of quality for the game.

In hindsight, they should rather have properly finished Season 5.

Not only did we lose a potentially good second half of Season 5 to EoD, EoD also took away the chance to get a potentially good Cantha expansion.

Edited September 16, 2023 by Fueki.4753

[Witch of Doom.5739]

It's not just you.  I loved HoT and PoF, was initially bored by EoD.  Played for a bit and then took a break for months -- boring story (Waaaaay too much exposition and tweener-vibe "let's talk about our feelings" conversations that went on and on.  And on.  And on.), trash mobs & loot, too much lime green everywhere (jade comes in many colors, not just green).  I came back after my break, but didn't get the Siege Turtle until they removed the Strike requirements, because I hate PvP and Strikes and will not be forced to play them.  Made one Gen 3 Legendary Weapon just to see what it was like, also got one special skin for it, also to see what that process was like, but I'm not going to craft or buy any more Gen 3s.  They're all too same-y.  Research Notes were the most idiotic form of currency I've ever seen.  Fishing is every bit as boring as it is in any other game although I do like completing collections.

Look, I love GW2.  Been playing GW since the beta/release of the first game.  I've already preordered SotO and I'm really glad we're going back to core Tyria!  Probably once it's out I'll rarely go to Cantha.

[gerberlyfe.9736]

EoD was their worst work yet.

> FOLLOW 5 STUNNING AND BRAVE WOMEN AS THEY TALK ABOUT THEIR STRONG AND BRAVE EMOTIONS.

> ATTEND A STUNNING AND BRAVE LESBIAN MARRIAGE

> BE STUNNING AND BRAVE AS YOU CRY AND GET EMOTIONAL

[Ultramex.1506]

I find it's ok, not really the "worst of the worst" but nothing mind blowing, the DE meta and new elite specs are the positive to me

Edited June 28, 2023 by Ultramex.1506

[Tom.8029]

53 minutes ago, gkoogz.3089 said:

EoD was their worst work yet.

> FOLLOW 5 STUNNING AND BRAVE WOMEN AS THEY TALK ABOUT THEIR STRONG AND BRAVE EMOTIONS.

> ATTEND A STUNNING AND BRAVE LESBIAN MARRIAGE

> BE STUNNING AND BRAVE AS YOU CRY AND GET EMOTIONAL

Be stunning and brave as you get more in touch with your feminine side. 

[Vayne.8563]

I like the story of EOD better than the story of PoF.  I like at least two of the metas.  Actually there's a good deal I do like about EoD, including some of the Strike Missions. I've even doine two of them in CM.

People complained that they finished POF in a month and never went back. There were plenty of complaints about it. If it hadn't introduced mounts, it likely wouldn't be in contention for a great expansion. I don't love bounties either. I prefer the metas in HoT and EoD to the metas in POF.

I still play EoD fairly regularly. Of course, I also like the idea of legendary weapons that have color variations. Other legendaries are too limited. 

And yeah, I like fishing sometimes too.  

The thing is, once mounts were added, there was nothing to add that would be better than mounts. Once the skyscale was added, there weren't many niches to add more mounts even. You can't add those things twice. So the masteries become harder to design because the obvious game changing ones, gliding and mounts are already taken.

[Voyant.1327]

EOD is a strange thing for me. It added a lot of things I absolutely hated: Jade Tech, Cantha (loved GW cantha, hate GW2 version), Mechanist (primarily because of the gawdy Mech being 2x the size of most PC), and well another horridly designed set of story levels (use special function key and listen to other people isn't exactly riveting level design)

Yet Virtuoso is the only spec I play & enjoy and I didn't start until it was released. 

Sadly they keep nerfing and breaking builds over & over so its making even that a mute point.

So yay Virtuoso, screw everything else, and the obligatory please stop the balance team from ruining the fun in the game. (Its an annual tradition at this point apparently)

All n all there was no joy in the region, it felt cheap and uninspired, and its awful in terms of aesthetics. 

[Farohna.6247]

EoD has grown on me.  I love Seitung, it's beautiful.  The story is ok, I like the introduction to some new characters.  Absolutely loathed Echovald...so dreary, but enjoy it now.  I still wish they had more events on all the maps.  I Iike not feeling smothered by mobs everywhere.  The dailies are fast and easy.  

The metas I find myself replaying regularly, the Soo-Won fight is actually good just the pre events feel like forever so I don't get to do it as often as I'd like.  The maps can still feel largely empty if a meta isn't going on.

The rewards overall are ok, just not as many or as rewarding as Dragonfall or Auric Basin or Drizzlewood.  I do enjoy fishing, and a Leviathan farm from time to time.  

Stomping around on my big turtle is great fun 🐢

 

[Gravitron.7982]

6 hours ago, Godfather.9058 said:

I loved HOT. I loved POF.

But I'm just not enjoying EOD. At this point I have stopped playing a few months ago. I was pretty much done with the 3rd map. And never felt like trying EOD again.

The story was mostly exposition about dragon magic. And there was a LOT of it.

I did the metas once and never wanted to do them again. Trash mobs, escorting NPCs, a not so great boss at the end. Nowhere near the HOT metas. Or even some living world metas.

There is no game changing traversal method. Ziplines are cool but there are too few of them. You have to use the POF mounts, especially for horizontal mobility due to the map sizes. The maps are absolutely huge and they felt tedious to complete.

Anyway that's all my rant. Did you enjoy EOD?

No, it's not just you. Some of us also don't enjoy EOD. 

[pocky.7468]

No, it's not just you. EoD is a half-baked expansion with terrible post-launch support that looks awful to boot. Most people still playing this game are just Stockholm syndromed af tho.

Edited June 28, 2023 by pocky.7468

[Lucy.3728]

8 hours ago, Godfather.9058 said:

I loved HOT.

HoT was my worst story experience.
Too much talking, too annoying enemies, too many plant stuff, too annoying story and in the last mission, in the final fight, I died early, got teleported to some closed case far away from the battle and could hardly see anything what the rest of my team do. All ppl who knew the game- I was new, I opened the instance and was nothing but a spectator in my own story. That was so sad. Worse than doing a bad story is not be able to do anything and watch it.

PoF was cool. Esp the Vlast parts.
So sad.

EoD is ok. Played through it 4 times. The further it goes the worse though. The start was great, I even felt for Aurene being sick in the cave.
But in general I never thought GW stories are great. Not in GW1 and not here in GW2.

As for the maps and all... I'm a wvw player :x
But HoT metas are the best. Like Dragonstand. Play it every now and then just for the fun.

Edited June 28, 2023 by Lucy.3728

[Vision.9074]

I think they did a fantastic job of building the environments out on each map. The downside is that the more detailed and elaborate maps came with a price of player capacity. The maps still feel very empty.
The city design of NK I like from a visual perspective, but the difficulty traversing the map vertically is not conveyed well. TD at least had pretty distinct underground and surface layers. The labyrinth of stairs and levels where you either have to remember how to get to this one building or resort to using your mounts is a bit frustrating. This also compromises the ability of players to quickly go from event to event unless they are familiar with the map. Having NK as the second map I think really puts a block on people completing the rest.
The story wasn't as terrible as it could have been. I think the necessity of wrapping up the dragon story so we could move on was a good move. I do think there is some trade-off with creating Strikes as part of the story bosses. There is definitely more development towards centering around those bosses and less in the overall combat throughout the story. I do think they should take a page out of the new development philosophy regarding Strikes and implement Strikes from the other expansions. A Balth strike could be great and so could Blademaster Diarmid - creating a strike from the cut content.
The Masteries were definitely gimmicky. The Jade Bot feels like just another equipment slot locked behind an elaborate framework and a funnel for more gem store items. The zip lines are a useful traversal system, but paired with mounts, it feels boring. Granted, there is some validity to it in that new players won't have all the mounts, particularly Griffon and Skyscale, so in those cases I'm sure the zip lines are a lifesaver.
I do think there are opportunities to make old parts new/better again. The Jade Bot could get cross upgraded on the other mastery sets by offering other junk conversions. There are so many additional mastery points for the older content that I feel like expanding old mastery tracks as they did with Skimmer makes sense. Adding a Jade Bot upgrade to the "United Legions Waystation" would be cool. If you don't have a summoning kit, the Jade Bot can summon a waystation similar to the personal waypoint. But the Mastery would be in the IBS track not the EoD track. I know they shy away from "cross-contaminating" the expansions, but I think it will also show more fluidity between them all and promote content across the board.

[Yaki.9563]

I think EoD is the best expansion and has the best metas. It's the one I find myself visiting the most. I like the jade bot. I like fishing (mostly). I like the legendary weapons.

HoT metas are laughable: show up 1 minute before, kill boss, collect 100000 chests. Heck for one of the metas you don't even need to kill the boss to collect the loot (AB). PoF has metas? PoF is literally buy xpac to get mounts, done (and honestly, even the mounts are rarely used bc skyscale). EoD metas involve multiple events and moving around the map before fighting the boss, though admittedly DE has issues (length).

Story wise, EoD seemed about par for the course.

Edited June 28, 2023 by Yaki.9563

[Bankrotas.8215]

EoD was so meh I deleted all my characters and donated what I could salvage in form of 1200+ mystic coins. 

 

I still hate I listened to people to buy char slots, but now I'm slowly restarting the 9 playthroughs. Maybe I should pester support again about deleting char slots... 

[Okhu.7948]

Story was perfectly ignorable. Metas are better than PoF metas. New Kaineng is the worst map in the game. The other maps are fine. Elite specs continued the trend of power creep and were largely boring. EoD is a very mid expansion.

[Duglaive.5236]

  EoD was seemingly built upon the idea of acquiring many, many skins of various new items. Skins through collections? EoD has you covered. Want those skins quick and easy? Oh yes, EoD and the Gem Store can scratch that itch for you. 

Content outside that? Meh when at its absolute best. An insipid story, with Canthan characters that sound as if they were pulled from SoCal shopping malls and poorly written TV shows. Considering the parameters the world artists were obviously given, they did their usual outstanding job. But said world/maps are overall the worst looking in GW2. Saitung: fluorescent, Technicolor green that is in no way natural looking. New Kaineng: a futuristic, cyberpunk themed (and way, way too much verticality) Hong Kong ... without the bustling citizenry. Or considering its size, almost devoid of population. Echovald Forest: an oversized Gothic themed region; the stage for a ... gang war? Really? Dragon's End: just an ugly mess outside a narrow strip at the top of the map. One bonus point here for having the only decent meta in EoD. But just decent as the pre-events are far too long.

The follow up Gyala Delve "story" was even worse. 

With all that in mind, there is no way in hell I'll pre-order SotO, or even purchase it at launch. There is older content I still enjoy a lot, so I continue playing a few hours a few days a week, but Anet has a long road to travel before I spend real life currency on their products again.