Returning player. Just wanted to say hi to the community and get some opinions about PoF.

[misterman.1530]

> @"Klowdy.3126" said:

> PoF feels a lot easier than HoT was, imo. The enemies don't have periods of invulnerability like some of them in HoT, like the frog archers that would evade, jump into the air becoming unhittable, then evade again, all while doing high damage. PoF still has some harder enemies, but they feel more straight forward than HoT.

 

^This. Though, the Veteran Hydras are a pain! I mean, you are in the middle of a bounty, and one of those things shows up...wow.

 

 

[AliamRationem.5172]

To me, the biggest failure of PoF is the event structure. That was one thing that HoT handled brilliantly - better than any MMO I've ever seen!

 

HoT divided its maps up into zones, with each locality featuring an event chain. They then added map markers and event progress bars to the UI to make it easy for players to figure out where the action is. The event chains themselves all tell a story of what's going in that locality and ties in to the overall story of the entire map, which then culminates in a big map-wide boss event! It's engaging, rewarding, easily accessible, and keeps players coming back for more.

 

Unfortunately, PoF rejected all of that and returned to the core Tyria-style of random one-off events and hearts. This would have been fine if they had also included the type of event structure HoT pioneered. But they simply tossed it out. The result: Big, empty maps with little action or replay value.

 

Having said that, there were some things they handled better than HoT.

 

Hero Point Challenges. Players complained that they couldn't easily unlock their elite specs on their own in HoT. But many players also enjoyed the champions-on-demand that HoT HP challenges offered. So, rather than toss the whole system out, ANet smartly decided to throw a bone to all of us by downgrading HP challenges in PoF to veterans while also introducing the bounty system for champions-on-demand! Well done!

 

Mastery System. HoT's mastery system had too many arbitrary time gates (e.g. Itzel Poison lore? Stealth mastery?) that added little or nothing to the game, but made it more time-consuming, confusing, and annoying to play. PoF, on the other hand, has a much more streamlined system that guides you rather than gating you. Also, the mounts they give you are brilliantly designed! I can't say enough about how good they are! And given how negative opinions were on mounts prior to their actual introduction into the game, the fact that you can hardly find anyone who has anything bad to say about them now is telling. Again, extremely well done! A+!

 

I would say the storyline is the same. Both HoT and PoF are much better than the story elements that came before them, and LS3 and LS4 are vastly superior to LS2 as well. The decision to release on a schedule and add new maps with plenty of attractive rewards to keep players coming back was a good one, in my opinion. I really like the way they've handled this since HoT and PoF continues down the same road (thankfully!).

 

Elite specs. They've created some balance issues with these, but overall I think elite specs are largely a positive. They change the way each class plays dramatically, which adds a ton of much-needed replay value to the game. HoT and PoF both have this feature and I think, despite those balance issues, it was very much a positive addition.

 

 

[Klowdy.3126]

> @"AliamRationem.5172" said:

> To me, the biggest failure of PoF is the event structure. That was one thing that HoT handled brilliantly - better than any MMO I've ever seen!

>

> HoT divided its maps up into zones, with each locality featuring an event chain. They then added map markers and event progress bars to the UI to make it easy for players to figure out where the action is. The event chains themselves all tell a story of what's going in that locality and ties in to the overall story of the entire map, which then culminates in a big map-wide boss event! It's engaging, rewarding, easily accessible, and keeps players coming back for more.

>

> Unfortunately, PoF rejected all of that and returned to the core Tyria-style of random one-off events and hearts. This would have been fine if they had also included the type of event structure HoT pioneered. But they simply tossed it out. The result: Big, empty maps with little action or replay value.

>

> Having said that, there were some things they handled better than HoT.

>

> Hero Point Challenges. Players complained that they couldn't easily unlock their elite specs on their own in HoT. But many players also enjoyed the champions-on-demand that HoT HP challenges offered. So, rather than toss the whole system out, ANet smartly decided to throw a bone to all of us by downgrading HP challenges in PoF to veterans while also introducing the bounty system for champions-on-demand! Well done!

>

> Mastery System. HoT's mastery system had too many arbitrary time gates (e.g. Itzel Poison lore? Stealth mastery?) that added little or nothing to the game, but made it more time-consuming, confusing, and annoying to play. PoF, on the other hand, has a much more streamlined system that guides you rather than gating you. Also, the mounts they give you are brilliantly designed! I can't say enough about how good they are! And given how negative opinions were on mounts prior to their actual introduction into the game, the fact that you can hardly find anyone who has anything bad to say about them now is telling. Again, extremely well done! A+!

>

> I would say the storyline is the same. Both HoT and PoF are much better than the story elements that came before them, and LS3 and LS4 are vastly superior to LS2 as well. The decision to release on a schedule and add new maps with plenty of attractive rewards to keep players coming back was a good one, in my opinion. I really like the way they've handled this since HoT and PoF continues down the same road (thankfully!).

>

> Elite specs. They've created some balance issues with these, but overall I think elite specs are largely a positive. They change the way each class plays dramatically, which adds a ton of much-needed replay value to the game. HoT and PoF both have this feature and I think, despite those balance issues, it was very much a positive addition.

>

>

 

I agree with a bit of disappointment in the events in PoF. I was hoping for something like DS in at least one zone. The HPs are way better, too. I'm leveling a sylvari revenant (my second rev) to replay the story (I actually like the little cutscenes from core) and LS2 and 3, but I plan on going through PoF first to level up both of my elite specs before heading into the jungle. I can't say enough how awesome mounts are in this game, and the mastery system tied to them is so much easier to level.

[kharmin.7683]

> @"Klowdy.3126" said:

 

> I was hoping for something like DS in at least one zone.

 

I'm guessing that decisions were made based on map population metrics which only Anet has. I would think that they would develop content based on styles/areas that tend to hold the most traffic.

 

/me shrugs

[ZhouX.8742]

> @"gabisto.7348" said:

> Greetings everyone. I decided to return to GW2 after that little disappointment that HoT was for me so i bought PoF yesterday and started the journey with my Soulbeast :D To be honest i was thinking about playing with a new character but after trying out some pets i fell in love with it. What are your opinions on PoF so far? Is it too late to get back now?

 

The story is pretty good, and the maps are huge but enough content to do bounties and stuff. I think there's more than enough content to keep you going for a bit, with the elite specs too (which are actually fun). But yea, silverwastes is still a farm hotzone and with Istan out , it's basically a great farm zone as well. PoF is purely for achievement points and mastery farming at this point imo.

 

You have more than enough daily content in the extra zones like bitterfrost, istan, siren, etc

 

> @"AliamRationem.5172" said:

> To me, the biggest failure of PoF is the event structure. That was one thing that HoT handled brilliantly - better than any MMO I've ever seen!

 

Completely agreed with Aliam here, the events are basically like just there. I think they tried to go more in the route of bounty farming and mass zerg farming over organized events like in HoT. It just lacks heavily in comparison to HoT. It sucks too because I loved that direction they were taking, they started with Teq remake and then with HoT's event organization , but then PoF came out and it was a massive direction in the opposite way. Maybe they felt there's enough of it in the form of the raids and newer fractal levels they've come out with to justify having the zerg style kill event play in PoF and newer maps like Istan, etc.

[AliamRationem.5172]

> @"kharmin.7683" said:

> > @"Klowdy.3126" said:

>

> > I was hoping for something like DS in at least one zone.

>

> I'm guessing that decisions were made based on map population metrics which only Anet has. I would think that they would develop content based on styles/areas that tend to hold the most traffic.

>

> /me shrugs

 

Who can say? But there is some evidence that suggests they may have made a mistake in this case.

 

The HoT map metas are quite popular and to this day I have no trouble finding active maps to complete them. For example, the other day I commanded a lane in the TD meta, then hopped over to AB but was a little late. Two maps had already filled up! So we filled a third map and completed the meta there, too. Compare to PoF, where the map metas rarely draw any participation at all and I have never once seen multiple map instances listed for them.

 

I think they really dropped the ball on this one by rejecting what HoT did best of all.

 

 

 

 

 

[SlippyCheeze.5483]

> @"Horrorscope.7632" said:

> Just returned as well. I'm officially burnt on their formula, nowhere near enough that excites, too few powers, gear that is a total bore.

 

Yeah, if that is what you are looking for as a reward, PoF totally isn't going to deliver for you. I'm sorry. I hope you find a game that does better suit your mood and taste! Nothing wrong with not being in the mood for GW2, or even just outright not liking the model. Good for you being able to recognise it!

[Knighthonor.4061]

I say POF is way better than HoT. Mounts are the best thing since Elite Specs. Also if you like the old Vanilla Champ train from Queensdale well PoF has that but on a more interesting fights.

[Knighthonor.4061]

> @"SlippyCheeze.5483" said:

> > @"gabisto.7348" said:

> > What are your opinions on PoF so far? Is it too late to get back now?

>

> I enjoyed both the story, and the maps. I absolutely do not believe it is too late to get involved.

>

> I'd also add that, contrary to what @"Sylent.3165" experienced, I always see people running about the various PoF maps, doing stuff, including the meta events. The Living Story S4 maps are definitely busier, but the whole thing still has plenty of people that I see...

 

I will agree that PoF need a meta event.

[SlippyCheeze.5483]

> @"Knighthonor.4061" said:

> > @"SlippyCheeze.5483" said:

> > > @"gabisto.7348" said:

> > > What are your opinions on PoF so far? Is it too late to get back now?

> >

> > I enjoyed both the story, and the maps. I absolutely do not believe it is too late to get involved.

> >

> > I'd also add that, contrary to what @"Sylent.3165" experienced, I always see people running about the various PoF maps, doing stuff, including the meta events. The Living Story S4 maps are definitely busier, but the whole thing still has plenty of people that I see...

>

> I will agree that PoF need a meta event.

 

I think you mean something more when you say that, because there are a bunch of meta events: Serpent's Ire, for example, is a widely complained about event, since it is on the path to an ascended backpack collection, and is hard to complete without some degree of coordination, making it less common to be randomly pugging away.

 

I will say that some of the dynamic event chains are quite interesting, and I'd like to see them elevated further into a map-wide effort that was similar in spirit to the HoT zone meta events. I suspect that, too, is what you mean with your statement, when I'm using the more precise (or pedantic) definition, which is an event that triggers the participation / completion mechanic for ... well, meta events, basically. The ones like the Ogre Wars, etc.