Guild Wars 2 has recently released a chapter called “What Lies Beneath” in the End of Dragons Expansion. I decided to start to play through the chapter and later join on another character with my friend so that we could play though. All went well for a couple of story segments and I reached a new area of the map.
Here you can see where the new map zones are and you can see that my character is max level [which is required for End of Dragons expansion] and you can see that I have a full set of Exotic Armor with the last available Elite Spec for the Guardian class which is WillBender. Which is to say that I’m not new to this game or new to the class.
Reminds Me of Back in the Day
Things went fine for a couple of story segments, which is not to say they were all just talking. But then I was dumped into the Gyala Delve – a jade mine in the Jade sea – and all hell broke lose. I could not move through the map without dying constantly. I was continually attacked by several mobs at once. This all reminded me of Heart of Thorns where you could not progress through the zones without a group of players. If you were caught alone then you would instantly die. Yep same thing here. Eventually after getting flying mounts and another elite spec or two from further expansions, Heart of Thorns is now a reasonable place to play the game.
At this point this latest expansion is also impossible to play unless you have a group of players. As I was fighting and dying in the map I noticed a number of other players having the same trouble.
It is just not fun to play a game where you can make no progress.
Let’s compare this with another game I’ve only recently – for a few months not many years – Elder Scrolls Online.
Elder Scrolls Online New Expansion – Necrom
ESO is close to releasing a new chapter called Necrom. As it turns out, this chapter has been released – or much of it anyway – on the Public Test Server – the PTS. I’ve been waiting to play the new Class and see the new zones for this expansion and when I looked today, I found that Necrom has appeared on the PTS. So I tried it out.
What a difference.
All my toons on the PTS were deleted, so I had to create a character to try the new class Arcanist. On the PTS you are given the option to create a Level 1, Level 25 or Max Level [50] character to try. I chose a level 25 character. Then I had to get some speed books for my mount on the Crown Store, and visit the Outfit Station to set up a glamour and dye my outfit.
My first task was to get a companion. I decided to ignore the story for now and just do the companion quest to try out the new Arcanist class. To get any companion you need to do a quest with them to bind them to you. And this was in a new zone, so I found the portal to the new zone and started the quest. There was some traveling in the new zone, fighting mobs and listening to the voice acted story of the companion along the way. I was jumped at one point by a few mobs and I died. Maybe twice during the over an hour it took to do the quests.
Not brutal, but interesting and I was easily able to use the new class skills to accomplish the task. It’s not like I was practiced with the Arcanist class, since it has only come out and we can only play it on the PTS not the live servers.
Anyway, after I bound my companion, I took him to the outfit shop to dye that silly looking outfit into something reasonable as you can see from the pictures above.
I’m Not a Wimp
I don’t mind fighting in a game. I like to see new places and try new things and experience the story that the Game Devs take so much time writing and creating. But it’s no fun to die time after time.
I like to play with others. I enjoy the GW2 daily quests to join a group to bring down a Bounty Boss when those appear. But new zones should not be so brutal that you can’t make progress. It’s just no fun.
ESO on the other hand is fun from the get-go. Even not at max level – only 25 not 50 – I’m able to play the new expansion and enjoy the new class and the new zones.
I like Guild Wars 2, but it seems they feel like they need to hammer us all down flat with each new expansion. That is no fun. Yes I have completed Heart of Thorns, after another couple of expansions came out, and I have played through almost all of End of Dragons on several characters. It was not Brutal. I played some times solo and some times with a friend.
I guess I’ll just wait a while before progressing more with What Lies Beneath.
Enjoy whatever Game You are Playing.
:ww
Windy Weather 