So I finally made it to the Crystal Desert... I have some questions.

[eisberg.2379]

I really didn't like the HoT areas because it was kind of annoying getting around and finding places. Is the Crystal Desert more like the areas prior to HoT areas, with the exception of mount use?

Also is there plenty of hero points to earn through the Crystal desert to max out the new elite specialization? And are they annoying to find/get to? Can they be solo'd to earn?

Any recommendations on the order of obtaining mount masteries? (like say for example, that I am making up, "Get the first 2 raptor masteries, then work on the first 2 rabbit mastery, then go back and get the third raptor mastery...")?

[Glider.5792]

1. They are more like central Tyria maps

2. There are more than enough hero points. You should be able to solo all of them.

3. To unlock the next mount, you must first unlock the 3rd mastery of the previous mount. So Raptor-Springer-Skimmer-Jackal

 

Edit: Happy exploring! PoF has wonderful maps! Definetly more chill compared to HoT.

[Dante.1763]

1.) No, the areas are alot flatter however they do *REQUIRE* the use of mounts to get to certain areas, thankfully the mount masteries are easier to obtain.

2.) There is plenty of HPs in the area, and they can all be soloed(all of them are vets) some can possibly pose issues due to what exactly the HP is, but they arent to bad.

3.) Rapter 2, Springer 2, Jackal(For the portals), Skimmer.

[Randulf.7614]

Crystal Desert is flat and not very confusing. The exception being Desolation and the east part of Vabbi, but they aren't on par with HoT

 

Plenty of soloable hero points exist

 

The story will basically force you to get a couple of masteries, but really raptor canyon jump (raptor 3) is a must in order to even progress. Bunny high jump is useful too. Sort out those first then progress anything else as you see fit. Most of them are useful for exploring, but not actually essential beyond that.

[Game of Bones.8975]

Congrats!

 

There are more than enough to cover the mount masteries, even if you have to go back to other LS episodes to get those easier ones.

 

If you follow the story(ish) you'll find the mounts in the order they "want" you to find them; raptor, springer, skimmer, jackal and the optional griffon for 250 gold. LS3-4 lets you unlock the the roller beetle.

 

Keep the final mastery ability on each line for last. The one that extends abilities across all mount lines. It's better to open mounts fully then go for the "frosting." The springer's ability to reduce damage is the best overall for each mount.

[TheNecrosanct.4028]

The Crystal Desert is not like the Heart of Maguuma. For starters, the latter is a jungle and the first a desert, so it's much flatter, emptier (when it comes to landscape features) and less complicated to navigate.

Every expansion has more than the required Hero Points to max out an elite specialization, and all Hero Points in the Crystal Desert are soloable (no champions; veterans at most). Then there's also the LW maps that have Hero Points for you to collect.

When it comes to masteries, for the Springer and Skimmer you need to have the 3rd mastery of the Raptor unlocked. And to get the Sand Jackal you need the 3rd mastery of either Springer or Skimmer unlocked. So my advice would be to at least complete each mount's 3rd mastery.

[Steve The Cynic.3217]

One final point: there are more than 20 "spare" mastery points for PoF ("purple"(1)) masteries including the ones for the Beetle (which appear in Living World Season 4 Episode 3).

 

(1) The original HoT mastery points have green icons. Central Tyria ones have red icons. PoF ones have purple icons.

[phs.6089]

Get raptor 3, go get bunny and skimer, unlock bunny 3, make sure you have 200 contracts and 20 gold, go get the jackal, unlock jackal 3. Work on the rest masteries.

Finish PoF, get griffon (optionla). Bee is from LW4 ep 3 also optinal.

 

best way to earn exp in PoF is run Istan with zerg, some moneys + exp

 

[Danikat.8537]

I'd say whether PoF hero challenges can be soloed depends on you and your character.

 

When I did them on my ranger (main character) in a mix of ascended and exotic equipment with matching stats, runes etc. it was easy. On my engineer and my first elementalist, both in full exotics (again with matching stats) it was a bit harder but I was able to solo all the ones I tried.

 

When I did it on my brand new weaver with unfamiliar skills and whatever equipment the level up rewards gave (I used tomes, not a boost so it was a mix of greens, rares and exotics and not all level 80 and the stats didn't match) it was impossible. I think I just about managed to beat one veteran solo but many others wiped the floor with me. I had to wait until other people came along and even then I sometimes died or got downed during the fight. But it only took 1 other person (even if they weren't very good either) and I never had to wait long for someone to show up. I also saw a few adverts for Hero Point trains going around the maps, which would have made it much easier.

[Steve The Cynic.3217]

> @"Danikat.8537" said:

> When I did it on my brand new weaver with unfamiliar skills and whatever equipment the level up rewards gave (I used tomes, not a boost so it was a mix of greens, rares and exotics and not all level 80 and the stats didn't match) it was impossible. I think I just about managed to beat one veteran solo but many others wiped the floor with me. I had to wait until other people came along and even then I sometimes died or got downed during the fight. But it only took 1 other person (even if they weren't very good either) and I never had to wait long for someone to show up. I also saw a few adverts for Hero Point trains going around the maps, which would have made it much easier.

 

Yeah, PoF HP boss-likes are not going to be fun on random levelling junk gear, especially if you don't know the class well. (I wouldn't go into HoT either in that sort of gear.)

 

For reference, I mapped out what level gear an elementalist would have at level 80 if ALL the gear came ONLY from level-up rewards... Not good.

* Boots: 75

* Gloves, Hat, Legs: 72

* Main hand dagger: 63

* Chest: 55

* Focus: 49

* Ring: 47, 20

* Amulet: 46

* Breather: 42

* Trident: 23

* Shoulders: _**17**_

[Khisanth.2948]

Are there plenty of HPs? Depends on your definition of plenty. You can skip 4 out of the 29 if you don't want to go get the points from anywhere else for the elite spec.

[Danikat.8537]

> @"Steve The Cynic.3217" said:

> > @"Danikat.8537" said:

> > When I did it on my brand new weaver with unfamiliar skills and whatever equipment the level up rewards gave (I used tomes, not a boost so it was a mix of greens, rares and exotics and not all level 80 and the stats didn't match) it was impossible. I think I just about managed to beat one veteran solo but many others wiped the floor with me. I had to wait until other people came along and even then I sometimes died or got downed during the fight. But it only took 1 other person (even if they weren't very good either) and I never had to wait long for someone to show up. I also saw a few adverts for Hero Point trains going around the maps, which would have made it much easier.

>

> Yeah, PoF HP boss-likes are not going to be fun on random levelling junk gear, especially if you don't know the class well. (I wouldn't go into HoT either in that sort of gear.)

>

> For reference, I mapped out what level gear an elementalist would have at level 80 if ALL the gear came ONLY from level-up rewards... Not good.

> * Boots: 75

> * Gloves, Hat, Legs: 72

> * Main hand dagger: 63

> * Chest: 55

> * Focus: 49

> * Ring: 47, 20

> * Amulet: 46

> * Breather: 42

> * Trident: 23

> * Shoulders: _**17**_

 

Yeah I wouldn't recommend it, especially for a new player. But I don't like constantly chasing gear, I want to get a set and be done with it so I wanted to get the weaver spec unlocked and decide on a build first. I had some idea what I was getting myself in for, and I didn't mind having to wait for other people to do them so it was fine.

[eisberg.2379]

Thank you everyone for the responses. Glad to hear that I will most likely enjoy this expansion more than I did with the last expansion. I loved the storyline of the last expansion, and all the characters, including the living season 3 storyline and characters, but I just hope they won't bring that kind of map design back to Guild Wars 2.

[Zelanard.5806]

> @"Game of Bones.8975" said:

> Congrats!

>

> There are more than enough to cover the mount masteries, even if you have to go back to other LS episodes to get those easier ones.

>

> If you follow the story(ish) you'll find the mounts in the order they "want" you to find them; raptor, springer, skimmer, jackal and the optional griffon for 250 gold. LS3-4 lets you unlock the the roller beetle.

>

> Keep the final mastery ability on each line for last. The one that extends abilities across all mount lines. It's better to open mounts fully then go for the "frosting." The springer's ability to reduce damage is the best overall for each mount.

 

The Jackal is optional too.