BTW anet has started a countdown stream (aprox 38 hours before the reveal)

[Goettel.4389]

@Luthan.5236 said:next week it will be possible to buy Path of Fire and get Heath of Thorns for free - for accounts without any expansions yet.

He stated current PoF owner without HoT get it free too.

[windbliss.3158]

@Goettel.4389 said:Free HoT with PoF!Including those who already own PoF!

If you already own Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire, you'll get a Veterans package which includes a shiny title and other things. I like shiny.

[Luthan.5236]

Oh I see. Makes sense. Didn't focus that much on what he said later when I was busy typing. I think he also said something about special stuff. (I guess for people that have already 2 expansions). Guess we'll get that as text news/announcement to read with the specifig times and dates on the website as well later.

[Anka.3675]

It's almost a bit insulting stating that HoT was for sylvari, considering how hard Anet dropped the ball on that one. Leaving more loose ends than you started with isn't ideal

[Arklite.4013]

Worst timeline: I already own HoT and not PoF

[MetalGirl.2370]

@MetalGirl.2370 said:Can't wait to see all of you being let down. ;)

As someone who's been here since early beta I've witnessed all their hypes and can't remember one that lived up to it.

I love being right.Giving people HoT for free... yet another spit in the fact to us veterans. We had to pay that thing 60 euros and got half of what they promised, we only recently got last legendary, yet it was paid for with HoT expansion YEARS ago.Good thing they gave us vets an ugly glider, title most won't care to use and armor unlock which is useless.....and they hype about build templates.... game is 7 years old. Most mmos come with build templates, and they wait 7 years to do anything about it.

[Lala.8752]

no raid, no wvw, no pvp content what a joke

[Blocki.4931]

@MetalGirl.2370 said:

@MetalGirl.2370 said:Can't wait to see all of you being let down. ;)

As someone who's been here since early beta I've witnessed all their hypes and can't remember one that lived up to it.

I love being right.Giving people HoT for free... yet another spit in the fact to us veterans. We had to pay that thing 60 euros and got half of what they promised, we only recently got last legendary, yet it was paid for with HoT expansion YEARS ago.Good thing they gave us vets an ugly glider, title most won't care to use and armor unlock which is useless.....and they hype about build templates.... game is 7 years old. Most mmos come with build templates, and they wait 7 years to do anything about it.

This isn't about veterans, this is about new people getting in. Broaden your horizons a little bit, not everything is about us old people. Prior purchases are not made irrelevant, we already got our worth from it over the years, no? If you're stull upset you paid YEARS ago then may the Six help you.

Also other mmos have build templates? Never heard nor seen any of that.

[Goettel.4389]

@MetalGirl.2370 said:Giving people HoT for free... yet another spit in the fact to us veterans.Speak for yourself. I'm happy more people are getting access to some of the best content in-game. I've got more than my money's worth.

[Strider Pj.2193]

@Lala.8752 said:no raid, no wvw, no pvp content what a joke

As it was very eloquently pointed out by another poster in the WvW forums on multiple threads, those groups just don’t matter.

[Blocki.4931]

@Lala.8752 said:no raid, no wvw, no pvp content what a joke

You would be right, were it not for the fact you missed the part where they add 10 man missions to help people get into raids, the mention of restructuring and the fact that swiss tournaments are soon in public testing.

[AlexxxDelta.1806]

@MetalGirl.2370 said:

@MetalGirl.2370 said:Can't wait to see all of you being let down. ;)

As someone who's been here since early beta I've witnessed all their hypes and can't remember one that lived up to it.

I love being right.Giving people HoT for free... yet another spit in the fact to us veterans. We had to pay that thing 60 euros and got half of what they promised, we only recently got last legendary, yet it was paid for with HoT expansion YEARS ago.Good thing they gave us vets an ugly glider, title most won't care to use and armor unlock which is useless.....and they hype about build templates.... game is 7 years old. Most mmos come with build templates, and they wait 7 years to do anything about it.

It's pretty common practice as a game ages. And after a point essential to attract new blood. It sucks for vets but then again a game can't function with vets only.

[Lala.8752]

@Blocki.4931 said:

@Lala.8752 said:no raid, no wvw, no pvp content what a joke

You would be right, were it not for the fact you missed the part where they add 10 man missions to help people get into raids, the mention of restructuring and the fact that swiss tournaments are soon in public testing.

They like saying soon

soon for gw2 it's like 6 months or 1 year

[hugo.4705]

WA RIGHT! the face in the fog is a dragon and it's jormag!!! woohooo I won my bet!

[Poledra Val.1490]

I am not gonna lie there was some nice tidy pieces of information there but all in all this was just a hugely glorified fanfare of a new living story arc. No expansions, no new elite specs etc.

Overall dissapointing for me personally I am quite saddened because i love this great game and that whole over the top hype train they created was just for one glorified moment of talking about things we knew were coming and a new living story. What a shame.

[Donari.5237]

@"Tiviana.2650" said:

New thing, called strength missions you group up with 10 people and take on these bosses, it will be like an introduction to raiding without the stress. They will be having a way to group for everyone a new system that will automatically group you or you can go with your guild. And new world boss named Drakkar

Quick correction, they are called Strike Missions.

Concept art of Drakkar: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/532585352175550465/617033468622274636/Drakkar.JPG

[Tiviana.2650]

@Donari.5237 said:

@"Tiviana.2650" said:

New thing, called strength missions you group up with 10 people and take on these bosses, it will be like an introduction to raiding without the stress. They will be having a way to group for everyone a new system that will automatically group you or you can go with your guild. And new world boss named Drakkar

Quick correction, they are called Strike Missions.

Concept art of Drakkar:

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/532585352175550465/617033468622274636/Drakkar.JPG

Thank you i was having a hard time hearing it, were busy here lol

[deffy.1320]

@Poledra Val.1490 said:I am not gonna lie there was some nice tidy pieces of information there but all in all this was just a hugely glorified fanfare of a new living story arc. No expansions, no new elite specs etc.

Overall disappointing for me personally I am quite saddened because i love this great game and that whole over the top hype train they created was just for one glorified moment of talking about things we knew were coming and a new living story. What a shame.

ye totally agree would prefer new expansion with water mounts as well, this was not needed for a living story episode, a bit underwhelm really, i mean is it not now 2 years old pof shouldn't we have at least a new expansion by now. its nice they're giving away hot when ppl buy pof and pof ppl that dont have hot get it also for free, but and its a big but i don't see why a fanfare for this, so ye disappointed.

[Luthan.5236]

Strike mission seems interesting to me. If it really is shorter as raid and basically just about killing a boss + a bit smaller mobs while trying to reach him. And if the lfg works nice and not too many elitist requirements to join. (I guess them being shorter than raids could make it easier to learn all the mechanics. Making it easier to find groups in the long term. At the beginning I doubt it would be a problem since everyone is crowding the new content until they get bored and stay with stuff that is good to farm.)

[zealex.9410]

Yeah i fully expect strikes to replace raids at this point

[TheGrimm.5624]

I actually took encouragement about another expansion from this. By changing up the concept that when you buy the new one you get the old ones they clear up issues with access to things when you don't own one or the other clearing a hurdle for a third one after the living world. This season will also have extra episodes as it's a setting up for bigger things. The sale of the old is also common when you want to get closer to announcing a new one in a period after that. Now does that preclude the concept of still launching expansion material in a "Saga" no, but it doesn't limit the idea of another expansion in works as well. Time will tell. Their first move towards public raids in the form of strikes also allows them to test the water for other public style events. Would have liked more on WvW but at least it shows alliances is still on the table since it's been silent on that front.

[magnusthorek.8027]

HoT as "freebie" striked hard on me. For those who bought HoT on launch or a bit later, fine, they've been enjoying the content for quite some time already, but as for me, playing for roughly 6 months and still unable to even finish HoT storyline because there's content before it that I still don't own, paying like 100 bucks per expansion because of outrageous currencies exchange it was... wow.

Could have... some sort of arrangement for that, I don't know, I don't want to push anything, but...

[TaliaKirana.9137]

The very fact they're bundling Heart of Thorns with Path of Fire from this day forward is actually a sign that more expansions are not off the table. Most MMOs start bundling the old expansions to make it easier to get in with the new. (For all we know, Icebrood Saga will be setting the world stage for a future expansion.) As an easy example? WoW doesn't even sell the base game separately anymore, you can just subscribe and get access to everything prior to the current expansion.

[zealex.9410]

@"magnusthorek.8027" said:HoT as "freebie" striked hard on me. For those who bought HoT on launch or a bit later, fine, they've been enjoying the content for quite some time already, but as for me, playing for roughly 6 months and still unable to even finish HoT storyline because there's content before it that I still don't own, paying like 100 bucks per expansion because of outrageous currencies exchange it was... wow.

Could have... some sort of arrangement for that, I don't know, I don't want to push anything, but...

Standard practice, mmos get alot of instalments and its creates a wall for new players. Hopefully this will allow them to revisit older expansions since everyone now should have access to them.

[SnowMochi.7602]

@Blocki.4931 said:

@MetalGirl.2370 said:

@MetalGirl.2370 said:Can't wait to see all of you being let down. ;)

As someone who's been here since early beta I've witnessed all their hypes and can't remember one that lived up to it.

I love being right.Giving people HoT for free... yet another spit in the fact to us veterans. We had to pay that thing 60 euros and got half of what they promised, we only recently got last legendary, yet it was paid for with HoT expansion YEARS ago.Good thing they gave us vets an ugly glider, title most won't care to use and armor unlock which is useless.....and they hype about build templates.... game is 7 years old. Most mmos come with build templates, and they wait 7 years to do anything about it.

This isn't about veterans, this is about new people getting in. Broaden your horizons a little bit, not everything is about us old people. Prior purchases are not made irrelevant, we already got our worth from it over the years, no? If you're stull upset you paid YEARS ago then may the Six help you.

Also other mmos have build templates? Never heard nor seen any of that.

"Old" (or "veterans" if you wish) players paid for all that, continued to pay for all that, continue to pay for all this, and then some.

A company should not deprecate, denigrate, or render insignificant the older player base at the expense of bringing in new people.