HoT vs PoF: which is the better overall map

[Headhunter.4796]

HOT is HOR-rible. POF for sure

[Tinker.6924]

@"Game of Bones.8975" said:For those of you who craft Legendary weapons, do you prefer Gift of Maguuma Mastery or Gift of Desert Mastery?

For a brand new player PoF is much easier to navigate, but by the time you're in the position to craft legendaries I doubt you're still a "new player" and you have everything you need from PoF/LW4 to make farming HoT easy. It feels like the metas you need to farm and repeatedly grind are more active in HoT than PoF.

[Witch of Doom.5739]

PoF for me, although I'm glad both maps have their fans. HoT maps give me a feeling of claustrophobia and often one of "I can't get there from here" frustration. However, I have grown to appreciate all the challenges in the HoT maps... well, except maybe Tangled Depths. Pretty sure Hell is like Tangled Depths.

[coso.9173]

Better is subjective of course.HoT is messy, tangled, dangerous, beautiful and wild. And it did made me a better player. I had to learn how to get better to beat the content.PoF is more organized, more open maps, with a more lonely mood, more calm and well executed, thanks to what the devs learned from HoT.IMO of course.

[Excursion.9752]

HoT maps became much better after the release of PoF. Mounts make exploration much more enjoyable.

[Game of Bones.8975]

@EmmetOtter.8542 said:

@"Game of Bones.8975" said:For those of you who craft Legendary weapons, do you prefer Gift of Maguuma Mastery or Gift of Desert Mastery?

For a brand new player PoF is

much

easier to navigate, but by the time you're in the position to craft legendaries I doubt you're still a "new player" and you have everything you need from PoF/LW4 to make farming HoT easy. It feels like the metas you need to farm and repeatedly grind are more active in HoT than PoF.

It definitely takes longer to acquire Gift of Desert Mastery than Gift of Maguuma Mastery.

HoT seems to have a dedicated group for MP/HP trains that doesn't happen as much in PoF.

[Randulf.7614]

@Game of Bones.8975 said:

@EmmetOtter.8542 said:

@Game of Bones.8975 said:For those of you who craft Legendary weapons, do you prefer Gift of Maguuma Mastery or Gift of Desert Mastery?

For a brand new player PoF is

much

easier to navigate, but by the time you're in the position to craft legendaries I doubt you're still a "new player" and you have everything you need from PoF/LW4 to make farming HoT easy. It feels like the metas you need to farm and repeatedly grind are more active in HoT than PoF.

It definitely takes longer to acquire Gift of Desert Mastery than Gift of Maguuma Mastery.

HoT seems to have a dedicated group for MP/HP trains that doesn't happen as much in PoF.

I think that's largely because PoF has much less group based reqs for those than HoT. PoF tends to focus on bounties for the trains

[Ledi.9742]

trying to move from place A to place B in any HoT map takes like 5 years off my lifespan. obnoxious to navigate (especially tangled depths. like that place got floor plan of a spaghetti bowl), and stuffed to brim with the most obnoxious enemies ever.

in other words i prefer PoF maps.

[Game of Bones.8975]

@Mutisija.5017 said:trying to move from place A to place B in any HoT map takes like 5 years off my lifespan. obnoxious to navigate (especially tangled depths. like that place got floor plan of a spaghetti bowl), and stuffed to brim with the most obnoxious enemies ever.

in other words i prefer PoF maps.

I like your description of Tangled Depths. It's the best description of that map. It is truly tangled and with everything spread on multiple levels, the depths (of your soul and the map) are the hardest to complete if you solo.

Ironically, that's the only map completion I need for Maguuma Mastery for Pharus completion.

[MattDu.7123]

post removed

[WorldofBay.8160]

for me HoT wins in every aspect.

map design:PoF is too forced on mounts that the whole design became unbelievably ugly. i could never see the highlands as a real mountain range or the riverlands as a real delta. anything on PoF maps is forced to force mounts and everything looks bad because of it.

HoT maps on the other hand got their artificial movement by air streams and magic flows in the air, things that don't affect the map design. therefore HoT maps are a lot more beautiful.

enemies:the jacaranda single-handedly makes PoF inferior to any other place in this game. but even without it many PoF enemies are pretty annoying for not offering any difficulty in return. they can only swarm you to be hard and this game with its 5 target limits doesn't work well with swarming enemies. they do swarm you often enough nevertheless. PoF enemies also feel scattered around far too artificial as if the goal was to make every single spot on the map hostile instead of designing an immersive world. a desert? well then make it like a desert: few opponents and hard-fought water spots. a good desert design has few packed places and lots of space with rare encounters. yet you can't walk 3 meters through the open sand without getting a sand shark to bite you (another enemy that is just plain annoying and not worth the time). oh and did i mention the lions? only a true sadist could implement those.

HoT enemies on the other hand are tough yet they offer their individual counterplay. some are really annoying but they offer a depth like itzel or have a valid reason to be so like the various versions of lesser dragons (why are drakes so bad?). HoT isn't flawless but i never requested a flawless game.

performance:while HoT offers more eye-pleasing content, PoF heats my pc more. also PoF maps lags a lot. even here HoT wins.

metas:didn't do enough mainland PoF metas to decide that. HoT metas are good imo.

LS maps:PoF has some good maps and some bad maps. i do like dragonfall, jahai and the non-inquest part of sandswept isles, but i do hate istan, kourna and especially thunderhead peaks.

HoT has on the good side ember bay, bloodstone fen and bitterfrost frontier and i only really dislike draconis mons.

both +3 but HoT has only -1 while PoF has -3, so here also a win for HoT.

anyone hating on tangled depths think about the branded half of vabbi. do you prefer that? i don't. it is the worst place in the open world (well maybe the blue area offers worse spots, i haven't explored that so far).

[artcreator.4859]

@battledrone.8315 said:

@artcreator.4859 said:Hot maps definitely, pof maps are cool, but the HoT maps were downright AMAZING, no other MMO reaches that level.

Feeling like you were really lost in a jungle was awesome, and as you played more and more you slowly started to understand you way around, combine that with the mastery system (learning languages to talk to the hylek, getting a glider, bounce mushrooms) and it really felt like you were learning to master and enviorment that was kicking your kitten when you first tried it.

wonderful experience

i have never been lost in a jungle, but i am pretty sure , that it doesnt work this way.it is a bad expansion, nothing more. it cost them many players and took them to niche status forever

Maybe it did, but it was still my favorite of the two expansions, the story in PoF was better but those HoT maps were full of adventure and mystery for me.

There was so much content all condensed together, they're still fun to explore.

[otto.5684]

If the question is about map completion or HPs, PoF is easier. If it is a question regarding interesting well designed maps, HoT >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> PoF. PoF maps are the worst maps in the game.

[Dreamy Lu.3865]

Globally, I prefer HoT because of 2 main reasons:

• It has a lot more green landscapes (personally, desert areas with all browny brown is not my fun).
• It's possible to remain standing for more than a few seconds without to be attacked by whatever foes.

I don't find that one is easier than the other. Foes are on my opinion same level in both. But what I strongly dislike in PoF areas, causing that I rarely return there, is that there are foes everywhere! It's impossible to stay in peace for one second. Every corner, every ledge... Even at WPs, we can't be sure to be safe if we have a long loading time. So, for me who like to explore, enjoy landscape and such, I got rapidly both annoyed and bored to have to fight something every single step I do in PoF areas. But well, I'm known to be lazy... B)

[b k.1648]

I still enjoy running around PoF maps. Haven't spent any significant time in HoT for years.

[Hevoskuuri.3891]

HoT was and is better content-wise, and the maps are great and very well done IMO, but considering only the maps I like PoF's aesthetics better. I prefer slower, more relaxed exploration, and HoT maps are too crowded with mobs to make that possible.

[Tyncale.1629]

I think PoF maps have much more variety, it is really amazing what they managed to create in those 5 maps. I am a huge fan of HoT when it comes to the meta's, jungle atmosphere and overall gritty warlike atmosphere but PoF is definitely more beautiful and varied. I agree with the poster above me, stuff like the Dwarven Ruins are amazing.

[Sigerk.2897]

HoT, I kinda disliked (almost hated) them at first. Partly because I came back for HoT, missed season 2, and was wholly unprepared for the increase in both difficulty and complexity. Got around to playing season 2, then HoT, through story and map meta's, and gradually came to love them. Design wise I think they are excellent, once you get used to them. As far as a jungle setting goes in an mmo, this is my favourite implementation of it. And going back with the most important masteries earned + mounts make these maps an absolute joy to just explore in. I liked the story better too, though I have no problems with PoF. Somehow HoT felt more personal and intimate (playing a sylvari there helps).

And ultimately, the mix of base game +HoT and PoF makes the diversity in this game very enjoyable to me. I feel that the 2 xpacs synergise very well with each other and the base content. IMO this game has some of the best level designs out there currently in regards of playability, accounting for new content without completely making the old stuff obsolete. Which could have easily happened with the introduction of mounts and to a lesser degree, gliding.

[Orack.9756]

As a new player I had way more fun exploring HoT than PoF maps.Both are good, but PoF is to flat most of the time and like someone point it out : waypoint are severely lacking.Oh, and HoT didn't have these annoying Hearth ><

[GummyBearSummoner.7941]

I prefer HoT but I enjoy PoF also. I like HoT because it’s more fast pace and you always have to be on your guard. PoF is a little more laid back and you’re able to really explore at a slower pace then you would with HoT. Every corner of HoT is a small group of raptors for instance hahaha..

What I like the most about both maps is that there isn’t many waypoints. It’s nice because it feels like you’re really exploring. I think that’s what I disliked about the core maps because there was a waypoint everywhere. And nowadays you have to try even harder to “get good” so you don’t have to travel a long distance if you die somewhere.

[kurfu.5623]

For the most part, people that hated the HoT maps left the game forever, which is why we see such a bias in favor of HoT maps on the forums...

[Josiah.2967]

PoF better maps. HoT better events.

[Atomos.7593]

PoF. HoT maps are annoying to navigate and the mob density is too much. PoF navigation is much easier and the mob density is a lot better, making it more enjoyable.

[Mad Queen Malafide.7512]

Path of Fire on the whole is a far better experience, and not just because it is my favorite region from GW1. Tangled Depths pretty much made me hate exploring Heart of Thorns. Vertical exploration is one of the most frustrating things in any of the maps. It just doesn't work with GW2's map system. It didn't help that one of the story chapters kept stalling on me, forcing me to restart it, and find the entrance several times. And every time you think you are on top of that big green marker, it turns out to be on a different floor, and I found myself screaming at my screen and in guildchat (much to the amusement of the guild). It made me hate progressing the HoT storyline, and to this day I haven't completed many of the maps.

[Fueki.4753]

For me, mounts made HoT maps much better than the navigational hell holes they were before.