Which "expansion" did you most enjoy the first time you played through it?

[Kichwas.7152]

I still haven't completed Heart of Thorns or Path of Fire.

 

I did the personal story of the core game once, and only once, across 11 level 80 characters... I don't feel a need yet to finish it on any others.

I stopped with Heart of Thorns because I didn't care for it.

 

I'm paused with Path of Fire because I'm enjoying the game now too much to focus on any one thing.

 

 

[Nuka Cola.8520]

Only played through the original story. No interest of ever doing the rest, they're extremely boring. GW1 mission structure with normal mode/hard mode was a million times better. I replayed those missions because they were fun and challenging, plus you had a chance of getting rare items with low req. In gw2, they offer nothing else but story, and lets just say that i don't play an mmo for story...

[Ayumi Spender.1082]

> @ImTasty.2163 said:

> Bit of an odd question for me honestly. AT FIRST I enjoyed PoF more. The story was more fleshed out and guards getting their tomes back will always be a +1 in my tome.

>

> The thing is though I find myself enjoying repeat plays of HoT maps more than PoF. HoT just feels better in terms of repeatability. There is only so much that bounties can do and they are not close to the awesome map wide objectives in Hot.

>

> I think this difference is good though because it gives people a reason to play both maps. Want an easy time and smash stuff with little to no consequence? PoF is for you. Rather have more group focused map wide objectives? HoT all the way.

 

That would mean the answer is PoF as the question isn't which one you enjoy more after the 1st time or present/distant future.

[Fenom.9457]

This was very very hard but because of nostalgia and because it was my instruction into the franchise I'd have to sauce vanilla. New maps and specs are one thing, but the playing the class for the first time and exploring the world for the first time is different. Also I've liked kryta and shiverpeaks the most and those are core regions. But that's not saying much since I'm ridiculously into the game now and get hyped for any region :P

[OrbitalButt.5708]

Ruins of Kunark

[Drew.1865]

Vanilla GW2.

[Coulter.2315]

I think I prefered HoT. PoF is beautiful and great, however what I missed is my interaction with the open world events. In HoT the chains of events told a story and you spent time with some characters and worked through the map with them. PoF's events were pretty detached and didn't have much of a story (in general I know there are some which do), sadly I found after doing a few events and nothing happening I would tend to just skip over other such things or not be too bothered about saving a village if they just all stood about waiting for scarabs to respawn in 20mins. I also missed the 'wow factor' of finding whole new places to explore that were hidden on first viewing, the dwarven delve is probably my favourite part of PoF (and I really applaud the confidence to keep the story well away from it).

 

I really enjoyed PoF but I think it could have kept some of the great leaps forward HoT made (not just massive world bosses but the story telling event chains and use of the layered maps).

[Dreamy Lu.3865]

I very much disliked HoT. I have given up on many things there, that I will never finish, and generally, I rarely return to it. I keep only doing specific activities like Tarir and Dragon Stand metas. That's all. The list of reasons why would be too long, but I can tell the main ones:

- It was by far too hard for me. Due to that, I got very little fun at very few things. Free wandering in explorable for farming was quite limited therefore too.

- Storyline was a nightmare to me. I did it once, helped by others, and never returned to it again.

- I hate Mordrem foes. I also had this problem in Dry Top and Silverwastes before. I find them scary, disgusting and by far too hard (for me).

- I hate Tangled Depths area. Even after all the time I spent there, I don't achieve to go from one point to another easily, always lost in the maze, not to forget the impossibility to stay quiet for one second without being under attack.

 

In comparison, I was very pleasantly surprised at PoF! Yes, it is hard, but it remains do-able, even for me who is not a very strong player. I can do things. I can explore, I can farm. Foes are hard, but manageable. Areas are "normal". Desolation is annoying, but it needs at least one such area and thanks to the mounts, there are ways to manage. So definitely, I vote PoF.

[Fallesafe.5932]

PoF was great for the 4 days it lasted.

[Fallesafe.5932]

> @OrbitalButt.5708 said:

> Ruins of Kunark

 

Yesss!!! What a game that was. ArenaNet, please take notes. =)

[Vacant.4159]

Let's just say I bought PoF on release but still haven't finished the last two maps.

[Dex.7092]

As much as I have loved PoF, I have to say I enjoyed Heart of Thorns more.

 

Act-wise, I feel like the way PoF told the story was better--ANet has clearly started to get a really good rhythm--as there were some story moments that stuck out to me strongly, instances involved more varied mechanics, and the characters were written really well and didn't get diluted too much.

 

But, I don't think it can compare with the build up Mordremoth had prior to HoT. Balthazar was a fairly last minute reveal and temporary villain, whereas we spent years learning about and reaching Mordy. I was VERY much looking forward to ending him. The main failing of HoT for me was that the last few acts felt rushed and lacked the depth they deserved... But was made up for with a very epic final boss encounter in Dragon's Stand, a rather poignant sacrifice of Trahaerne (regardless of whether you liked him or not), and possibly some of the best music in the entire series. I even came into HoT very late (right as LWS3 started) but I didn't feel like I'd missed out on anything.

 

The maps themselves though are hard to compare because I feel like they're trying to achieve something very different. Each HoT map embodies a certain story beat in its meta, and feels like it has a "purpose"... But tbh, I don't care at all about the Itzel, Nuhoch, or Exalted. In contrast, the PoF maps contain a TON of rich culture, lore, backstory, and feel like an actual extension of the world... But they lack a feeling of continuous struggle, so I feel like once I'm done with achievements, I won't really be back. (A flaw with the LS3 maps, too.) But I'm almost wondering if that's their intention, since they hope to release new content on a more regular basis now.

 

Regardless, HoT wins in my book... But only by a small margin. :)

[Dashiva.6149]

Gonna have to say Core just because of how unique it was when it came out, but it is close between all of them.

 

In other games I played at the time I was annoyed by other players for stealing resources, kills, greed-before-need, getting flak for having bad gear or simply being in an opposing ingame faction. Thankfully I have never had that experience in GW2, at least in pve. I also really liked that they did away with the "Holy Trinity" for a more fluid playstyle.

It also featured a somewhat cohesive story, fully voiceacted, from character creation all the way to maxlevel, which I have never experienced in another mmo prior to GW2.

 

And on top of that the joy of exploring the zones and seeing all the event and world bosses for the very first time.

 

Both HoT and PoF has added good things to the game, but they are building on the successes and lessons learned from Core.

[BunjiKugashira.9754]

Just looking at the story it would be PoF.

 

But I like the HoT maps a lot more and slowly unlocking the masteries to traverse new parts of the maps made exploration interesting. In PoF I got the mounts so fast that I never felt like there was an area I could not yet reach. One time I ran into a mastery point that would've required the Jackal on the first map. Instead I completed it only using the Raptor (3) and Springer (1). Now I have all the mounts and never felt the limitation of having to do something that would be easier with a different mount / ability I don't yet have. I especially remember in HoT the fight against Mordy, where having Ley-Line gliding makes getting around really quick, but you can still do the fight with only updrafts.

 

Also the PoF maps seem so empty. I don't know if it's because they're so big (less ppl/km²) or if there are really less people on the map doing stuff.

[Xbon.9086]

PoF, and each expansion after since u have all the mechanics of the previous expacs with new added expacs...... the mounts r amazing and made exploring core tyria 200% more fun

[Seteruss.4058]

HoT with mounts :)

[RedSPINE.7845]

I'm choked by the amount of people preferring PoF to HoT ... I guess I just love meta events x)

[Spurnshadow.3678]

I didn't vote because the base game is not an expansion.

 

I'd vote base as best mainly due to its length. As far as expansions, HoT. It felt like it had more tension, more at stake, more characters to interact with. One was engaged more with your allies as you had a long history with them through release and LS1 so what happened to them was more impactful. PoF only had 3 characters you primarily engaged with and they seemed more along for the ride. PoF was much more of go to point A them B etc. And not to mention that the maps outside of HoT story reflected the story, namely an epic battle of Dragon Stand which felt very satisfying.

[CharterforGw.3149]

I assume the vanilla option, means the living world (season 1, although i'd like to call it the only season of living world, since the rest isn't "living" anymore)?

 

otherwise it would be HoT. enjoyed the verdant brink meta, and the increased difficulty was actually quite nice.

[dusanyu.4057]

PoF by far no mushrooms of doom, no snipers that take 75% of your health in one shot. And no annoying meta events locking up huge chunks of the map. I cringed very time Lw3 took us to AB because tarir was all was locked up by octovine.

 

By far pof is a much nicer experience.

[Bish.8627]

Going with my major memories of all 3

Vanilla: Well this is a new way to MMO, holy kitten these maps are massive

HoT: WHY WOULD THEY MAKE MAPS LIKE THIS?! I WANT TO GO THERE, NOT IN A TUNNEL, THERE!

PoF: Oh wow, these maps are huge.

 

I went with PoF because I feel it went back to vanilla with its exploration and wonder, yet improved on it and didn't create mazes for maps again.

[Naxian.9823]

My favorite is HOT by far.

 

/spoilers

 

Vanilla: It was really refreshing seeing a new mmo-rpg this good. It really amaze me the quality and how well everything coexisted, it's something really difficult to find in the mmo-rpg genre. The leveling system got boring past lvl 40 though... The history was okey at the beggining and okeysh... at the end. Dungeons where really cool but with lots of bugs. In the end a really good experience.

 

HOT: A-M-A-Z-I-N-G maps! S-T-U-N-N-I-N-G ost! The mastery system is really good. It's been a blast exploring the jungle with mushrooms and the glider.The IA improved a lot from the vanilla experience. The history got me engaged and the end battle was a blast. In particular having Sieran/Tybalt/Forgal in the last battle against Mordremoth made me connect with my character a lot. Meta-events are the best seen and raids are a big improvement from original dungeons. They should have an easier mode with less rewards so everyone can experience it somehow.

 

POF: Mounts are really well made. You integrated really well in the game something that wasn't even thinkable. Maps are really beautiful and the ost fits them. There is a particular music in Highlands that is perfect. History felt slow in the second map after the death of Vlast and in the last chapter it went too fast, but in the end it was a really good experience and Balthazar was a great villain. The battles against him and the other bosses in the history have really really good quality. It lacked a little bit of difficulty though.

 

Forgive me if a I write like Yoda. English is not my mother tongue ^^.

 

[Irreverent.3594]

EVERYTHING.

Except HoT.

Because i skipped it.

>! And after getting griffon i'm 2x glad i did.

[Takashiro.8701]

Have to go with HoT, though im biased on that matter, since I'm a huge fan of jungle/forest areas and not a big fan of deserts and wastelands.

Also loved the original concept of HoT, where you had to work your way through things and regularly had a reason to return to old maps because the new mastery you just unlocked opened up new areas for you to explore.

[Alanar.9854]

HoT for the events and learning the new masteries and travel methods. However, PoF for the story and size of the explorable maps.