GW2 SotO appreciation thread

[Cyninja.2954]

So far the expansion is fun, at least according to my social circle (of which most are playing instead of browsing the forums or reddit). Most are actively playing and enjoying themselves, even some of the most veteran and critical players.

Some issues remain, so let's list them here to not make this a too one sided post:

1. dailies could use a touch up, maybe something along the lines of 5 offered, 3 needed.

2. missing that legendary relic annoys and even knowing this is temporary doesn't help. That said, relics will need serious balance passes

3. bugs, there are some, need to get addressed

4. the removal of spvp and wvw potions caught players off by surprise

Now to the good stuff imo (going to refrain from story because that is subjective, most seem to enjoy it though. Skipping dialog on alt characters would be nice):

1. the new vault system is far more lucrative than the old dailies plus login rewards for active players (those legendary starter kits are pretty sweet)

For more precise math feel free to read up on Keiran1031 breakdown on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/15yg9q2/wizard_vault_rewards_breakdown/

2. in game rewards which encompass mount skins and skins which usually only sold on the gem store are a huge step forward

3. reducing login rewards and alt multi account profitability while rolling that into active account rewards, while divisive, is a plus for active players

4. a ton of additional tutorials and changes made for newer players to understand and get into the game

5. asset reuse while obvious, still resulted in decent new maps and events

6. most of the changes made with SotO seem to try to establish and push the game towards an active player base which engages with the game and is rewarded in return

 

With all that said, everyone gets to feel how they want about the expansion and there is no right or wrong. The same happened with every single expansion in the past which introduced changes, in part because players are creatures of habbit. Some accepted the changes and looked past what they where used to, others did not. Sometimes the changes where for the better, sometimes not. How SotO fares, time will tell.

Edited August 23, 2023 by Cyninja.2954

[Danikat.8537]

I haven't actually started the new stuff yet, because I won't have much time this week and I'd rather do it when I can focus on it, but I've heard good things from people in-game. Both my guilds which had been largely inactive over the last couple of months had multiple people online, playing the expansion and they all seemed to be enjoying it. (Or not enjoying it in 'positive' ways, one person apparently found the start and the first encounter with the kryptids quite disturbing.) Lots of people in map chat seemed excited too.

I do seem to be one of the few who likes the Wizards Vault. I picked all PvE options and was somewhat surprised when I was able to do all the dailies and weeklies in about 2 hours, and that left me with 755 astral acclaim - 3/4 of what I need for the griffon which is the most expensive item I've found. That makes me think even people like me who have limited time to play (not normally as limited as this week thankfully) will be able to get quite a few things from it (including some of the more expensive rewards) without having to spend months saving up. Also it turns out you do get some gold and laurels from the achievements themselves, in addition to what you can buy. I really like that we can choose our rewards, that alone makes the system more interesting.

[Randulf.7614]

If they can make the dailies a free choice of any 12 like before and make them a little less naff (zen daijin.. really?) and return the login rewards, I can live with the vault. It’s still a step down a path it shouldn’t be on, but it won’t affect me too much. It never needed to replace. It could have supplemented.

The rest is all fine. Just tweaks, like rifts being halfway across a map then being closed on arrival

I don’t think their new expac strategy is working with all these huge oversights and thinly spread ideas over a year and that will need changing next expac. There’s too much loss of faith Anet can ill contain. Again, we are back to rushing content and a lack of proper iteration in development. No one seems to be saying “that’s not a good idea” in their team.

But, I’m not hating on the content itself (although it’s gone down badly in game chat from what I see). Maps could use more content and variety, but I’m enjoying it so far. I’m prob enjoying the main content more than EoD, it’s just a bit soured by the features which wasted development time when better things needed it.

I think they need to look to what brought gw2 to the dance. Changes can be fine, but trying to do what other games do is risky. Anet built their rep on innovation and with their players/community always their primary thought. I want them to look to that old mentality with this new team and return to it. Changes like verticality and gliding show them at peak. Changes like build templates, the vault and relics show them changing for changes sake o for the sole purposes of a new team establishing ownership over them. It concerns me what else not broken might get changed.

tldr: Fun content, poor features

[avater.1746]

oh crap we have a appreciation thread? Yes, finally some light besides all this darkness 🤣

So far I like the new reward system and the tasks which you can "weave" into your normal gameplay, instead of teleporting to an easy vista on some map, press escape and teleport back to whatever you were doing. Arenanet can absoluteley tweak and enhance the vault, but so far it is good. Since I'm still on LW4 I can't give feedback to the new map or other systems related to it.

[Zok.4956]

Well, I like the new maps, especially the Skywatch Archipelago, which reminds me a bit of the verticality of Verdant Brink and Draconis Mons. I had a lot of fun exploring and navigating the map and using the skyscale to figure out the optimal paths. I also enjoy the new Skyscale skills. Sure, Skywatch Archipelago has a lot of reused assets, but it's quite well done and I enjoyed seeing and hearing some familiar things from HoT.

The rift events were nice at first, but they're just boring for me now because they're always the same. Once I have enough XP for all the new masteries, I'll probably never do them again.

I think the changes to the runes/relics, the dailies and the unannounced/stealth change to the WvW potions are pretty bad. I think Anet should urgently improve that. As soon as possible and not in 6-9 months.