Honest Review of current "MAJOR" update, it's not.

[RotherHans]

To the average player this will be a mostly average and very short experience,
still bordering on frustrating while having to wait for the slowest bear ever to finally finish his monologue.

It's biggest feature is the new convergence, giving us a preview to the ACTUAL major update. The next map we'll await for 3 more months.

So temper your expectations, I guess.
Hopefully this way the devs managed to steal enough time crafting a better follow-up map, than in the last "expansion".

[Dr. Electrocutioner]

Lol.

The council meeting or whatever that was, and the the bears.

Not just one either, there was a table full of them with all kinds of irrelevant things to say.

I walked away from the game repeatedly during the mandatory tedium, but it does get better once you are past that.

[RotherHans]

Oh god yes.
I'm pretty disapointed with this unskippable and awkward open world meeting crap,
when even the old core-game showcased a much more elegant way of story telling and conversations between characters.

But it's gotta be quick and dirty nowadays.

[Hefutoxin]

I just read the news.

They tell you what's coming.

Raiding, Convergence, Relics, Legendary Spear, Wizards Vault refresh.

Might check Wizards Vault, but I'm mainly waiting for the next map.

[Dr. Electrocutioner]

I did like the old way because you could see your character better than in game and it added something more to the story than word balloons and incessant radio chatter.

The JW intro was a complete waste of both the developers and players time.
At least introduce all those people one at a time if and when they become relevant to the story or a side quest.

[Angrypillow]

Aside from the raid/convergence, the whole "major update" can be done in under an hour. I'm not exaggerating, the story is stupid short. We got trickle-fed a few housing items, some relics I doubt many people at all will use, and more bugs.

I can't tell if 1) They are out of ideas, 2) most of the real talent doesn't work there anymore, or 3) Both.

I'm still enjoying the game for what it is, but I don't see it having much(if any) of a future at the rate it is going. You can see the cracks start to appear as far back as EOD, and everything about JW feels so half-baked.

[Uma Purpura]

Originally posted by AngryPillow:

Aside from the raid/convergence, the whole "major update" can be done in under an hour. I'm not exaggerating, the story is stupid short. We got trickle-fed a few housing items, some relics I doubt many people at all will use, and more bugs.

I can't tell if 1) They are out of ideas, 2) most of the real talent doesn't work there anymore, or 3) Both.

I'm still enjoying the game for what it is, but I don't see it having much(if any) of a future at the rate it is going. You can see the cracks start to appear as far back as EOD, and everything about JW feels so half-baked.

I don't understand how people are even surprised at this point. For quite a while now it's been known that they're working on Guild Wars 3 since the end of EoD, and GW2 is just a side project now.
Getting less content is definitely better than getting none though.

[SinisterSlay]

Would have been less annoyed if the specials in the wizard vault didn't disappear. I never got to finish some of them. Just leave them forever, why not?

[LSD]

Originally posted by Uma Purpura:

Originally posted by AngryPillow:

Aside from the raid/convergence, the whole "major update" can be done in under an hour. I'm not exaggerating, the story is stupid short. We got trickle-fed a few housing items, some relics I doubt many people at all will use, and more bugs.

I can't tell if 1) They are out of ideas, 2) most of the real talent doesn't work there anymore, or 3) Both.

I'm still enjoying the game for what it is, but I don't see it having much(if any) of a future at the rate it is going. You can see the cracks start to appear as far back as EOD, and everything about JW feels so half-baked.

I don't understand how people are even surprised at this point. For quite a while now it's been known that they're working on Guild Wars 3 since the end of EoD, and GW2 is just a side project now.
Getting less content is definitely better than getting none though.

True, but seeing them sell this ♥♥♥♥ at the same price is hilarious.

EoD was the price of a full expac, but was so obviously rushed and poorly thought out that it's still a buggy and imbalanced mess to this day, with almost nothing to offer.
These last two cobbled together bits of junk are 4/5ths of the price of a full expac with less than 1/10th of the content -- drip fed over the course of a year, no less.

[Uma Purpura]

Originally posted by LSD:

Originally posted by Uma Purpura:

I don't understand how people are even surprised at this point. For quite a while now it's been known that they're working on Guild Wars 3 since the end of EoD, and GW2 is just a side project now.
Getting less content is definitely better than getting none though.

True, but seeing them sell this ♥♥♥♥ at the same price is hilarious.

EoD was the price of a full expac, but was so obviously rushed and poorly thought out that it's still a buggy and imbalanced mess to this day, with almost nothing to offer.
These last two cobbled together bits of junk are 4/5ths of the price of a full expac with less than 1/10th of the content -- drip fed over the course of a year, no less.

To be fair, everything has gotten more expensive in the meantime, games included, so EoD would probably cost more if it came out these days if we account for inflation.
I think 25 bucks is a very good and affordable price (that's like 2.1 bucks/month lol), because we still get a fair amount of content, especially considering how overpriced a lot of other games/expansions are these days.
I mean, other MMOs like WoW or FFXIV you gotta pay like 15 bucks A MONTH for the subscription to even play, then buy expansions for 40 - 50 bucks on top of that LOL, so I think GW2 is extremely generous and definitely worth the money, even for the smaller style expansions

[O.K]

Originally posted by AngryPillow:

Aside from the raid/convergence, the whole "major update" can be done in under an hour. I'm not exaggerating, the story is stupid short. We got trickle-fed a few housing items, some relics I doubt many people at all will use, and more bugs.

I can't tell if 1) They are out of ideas, 2) most of the real talent doesn't work there anymore, or 3) Both.

I'm still enjoying the game for what it is, but I don't see it having much(if any) of a future at the rate it is going. You can see the cracks start to appear as far back as EOD, and everything about JW feels so half-baked.

out of ideas probably the writing was never that good but its getting worse since EOD

[Teratus]

Originally posted by AngryPillow:

Aside from the raid/convergence, the whole "major update" can be done in under an hour. I'm not exaggerating, the story is stupid short. We got trickle-fed a few housing items, some relics I doubt many people at all will use, and more bugs.

It was short, but it was more content driven this time.
There's only so much time they get to push stuff out so story took a little back seat to the raid/convergence content which is honestly fine..

I don't really care about the raid or the convergence really but other people do and well, they gotta put a little something in for everyone at the end of the day.

What story was in this patch did enough to set up future content.. I am more excited for the next release than I was for this one because of that.
I'm a Gw1 lore nerd so what's coming next is a big deal to me.

As for the relics.. there are 2 in there that I am personally interested in using.
One of them is actually so good I expect it to be nerfed into the ground in coming weeks.. a 15% damage increase for 6 seconds after using an elite skill on a 30 second CD... that's just great for high DPS bursting, especially when combined with Sigils of Force and other damage modifiers.

Rangers for example get.
Marksmanship
Farsighted 10% general increase, 15% if above 600 Range.
Predators Onslaught 15% when enemy is stunned or disabled, or Defiance bar broken.

Skrimishing
Hunters Tactics 15% when attacking from behind or the side of enemies.
Light on Your Feet 10% after a dodge roll.

Wilderness Survival
Survival Instincts 5% damage increase below 50% health, 10% damage increase above 50% health.

Nature Magic
Bountiful Hunter 1% damage increase per boon on you, total 12%..
8 of these boons are easily infinitely sustained in groups.

Soulbeast Elite Spec.
Furious Strength 10% damage increase when you have Fury (Rangers can easily perma sustain fury)
Oppressive Superiority 10% damage increase to enemies with less health % than you.

Soulbeast's also get the One Wolf Pack elite skill which for the next 6 seconds causes all your successful attacks to hit twice.

Untamed
Vow of the Untamed 25% damage increase while the player is Unleashed.
Ferocious Symbiosis 5% damage increase when your pet strikes enemies, stacks 5 times.

So lets do a mock build using this Relic.
Marksmanship 25% damage increase when conditions met.
Skirmishing 25% damage increase when conditions met.
Untamed 30% damage increase when conditions met.
Sigil of Force 5% damage increase
Relic 15% damage increase..

That's 100% in modifiers.. literally double your damage output.. so yeah I think this Relic will see a lot of use personally.
And lets not forget that it's pretty easy for Rangers to also hit 100% critical chance as well, specially if they use food and utility items.

[Virgo]

Originally posted by Uma Purpura:

Originally posted by AngryPillow:

Aside from the raid/convergence, the whole "major update" can be done in under an hour. I'm not exaggerating, the story is stupid short. We got trickle-fed a few housing items, some relics I doubt many people at all will use, and more bugs.

I can't tell if 1) They are out of ideas, 2) most of the real talent doesn't work there anymore, or 3) Both.

I'm still enjoying the game for what it is, but I don't see it having much(if any) of a future at the rate it is going. You can see the cracks start to appear as far back as EOD, and everything about JW feels so half-baked.

I don't understand how people are even surprised at this point. For quite a while now it's been known that they're working on Guild Wars 3 since the end of EoD, and GW2 is just a side project now.
Getting less content is definitely better than getting none though.

You have absolutely no source on this and are just talking out of your anus. There was ONE leak in a meeting that suggested they may be starting GW3 dev or are in the process of a mega expansion.

[Virgo]

TLDR: As of this moment Guild Wars 3 has not been approved and is not being developed. It is in the review stage where NCSoft may decide to greenlight it and start development.
The Facts:

Guild Wars 3 was name dropped during an NCSoft shareholders meeting in Korea and after the event was confirmed as being in the review stage of approval with no active development at this time.

ArenaNet has already confirmed multiple Guild Wars 2 expansions are actively in development so there is no end to Guild Wars 2 in the near future. Guild Wars 2 has at the very least 2+ more years of content already announced as in development.

Even if Guild Wars 3 started development today, it would be several years of development before a release if it could even release this decade, and it is not starting development today.

Because the GW3 project is only in the review stage, there is every possibility that it is shot down and does not happen, the gaming industry is very volatile right now and investments are very low.

[Teratus]

Originally posted by Virgo:

TLDR: As of this moment Guild Wars 3 has not been approved and is not being developed. It is in the review stage where NCSoft may decide to greenlight it and start development.
The Facts:

Guild Wars 3 was name dropped during an NCSoft shareholders meeting in Korea and after the event was confirmed as being in the review stage of approval with no active development at this time.

ArenaNet has already confirmed multiple Guild Wars 2 expansions are actively in development so there is no end to Guild Wars 2 in the near future. Guild Wars 2 has at the very least 2+ more years of content already announced as in development.

Even if Guild Wars 3 started development today, it would be several years of development before a release if it could even release this decade, and it is not starting development today.

Because the GW3 project is only in the review stage, there is every possibility that it is shot down and does not happen, the gaming industry is very volatile right now and investments are very low.

Barking into the void i'm afraid..
I've been telling people this for a while now.. but most seem content to believe whatever they feel like.

I've even seen people saying that Gw3 will be coming out within a year or two xD
I'm just here thinking.... uh.. yeah, try 5-8 years buddy lmao

[Dr. Electrocutioner]

Originally posted by AngryPillow:

Aside from the raid/convergence, the whole "major update" can be done in under an hour. I'm not exaggerating, the story is stupid short. We got trickle-fed a few housing items, some relics I doubt many people at all will use, and more bugs.

I can't tell if 1) They are out of ideas, 2) most of the real talent doesn't work there anymore, or 3) Both.

I'm still enjoying the game for what it is, but I don't see it having much(if any) of a future at the rate it is going. You can see the cracks start to appear as far back as EOD, and everything about JW feels so half-baked.

I liked End of Dragons and felt it was worth what I paid. The maps are a good mix of land, water, and different elevation levels. The Jade Bot was new and has a lot of unique functionality and the story was fine, at least for me.

I also liked the easy peasy Springer and glider, because I am not from the "grinding is good for your soul school", or whatever those people call themselves who are mad when things become easier to get.