Back when Guild Wars 2 debuted in 2012 myself and many others were surprised by its charismatic style. It took risks during a time when many other MMORPGs weren't, and had a tremendous amount of heart. Thus came the high review scores and praise.
Unfortunately, its charm didn't last for long. Within three weeks myself and many others moved on, seeking the depth of competitors like World of Warcraft and EVE Online to keep us invested for a long period of time.
Today, Guild Wars 2 debuts its first expansion, Heart of Thorns. It's a huge opportunity for the game to expand its influence by bringing in both new and returning players. That opportunity was tackled in a way that should leave many people surprised. Instead of trying to appeal to the common MMORPG fan, it aims to satisfy the already existing fanbase. Let's go over what this means.
Mastery: No Substitute for Leveling
I'll be the first to admit that leveling is becoming an arbitrary element in modern MMORPGs. World of Warcraft allows you to jump to level 90, for crying out loud. However, there is something to be said about the leveling experience and how it's been a reliable form of progression since the birth of the genre.
Heart of Thorns has introduced a new system called Mastery. Instead of being able to level beyond the current level cap of 80, you gain Mastery Points by participating in and completing content. These can then be spent in one of several trees that provide perks that range from being granted access to new quests, to being able to glide around the map and harness its resources.
You might earn a wealth of Mastery Points, but you'll soon learn that they aren't anything to be excited about.
The problem is that the rewards are rarely exciting. Actually, a great majority of the perks that you can spend your Mastery Points simply allow you to access a small number of new pieces of content. For the most part, the system essentially acts ass a content gate between you and new activities, a substitute for level gap barriers in many other MMORPGs.
It's great in theory, but lacks the sense of progression that virtually every successful MMORPG in history has delivered. There's no moment where you hit level cap, or achieve an equivalent feat. You simply participate in a theme park of content and then slowly unlock other options. It isn't enjoyable enough of a system to be successful in what it sets out to achieve, and that does the game a great disservice for the foreseeable future.
Skills: Incongruent
One of the qualities of Guild Wars 2 that prevented me from ever investing any reasonable amount of time at level cap was its skill design. Playing an Engineer, abilities felt like they hadn't been tuned to work well together. Really, most of the main and off hand skills were used on cooldown, and then there were a couple situational abilities that were popped in times of need.
Ability rotations don't have to be employed in every MMORPG, but what Guild Wars 2 had didn't feel cohesive. The only way I was able to get to level cap without being bored to tears was switching my skill loadout frequently. This doesn't say a lot about the combat given that Engineer is considered one of the least redundant professions.
This doesn't change much with Heart of Thorns, sadly.
What has been added are new Elite specializations that provide two new weapon to use in addition to new traits. For Engineers, the hammer and gyro become available for the first time ever. For Mesmers, shields and wells add options to gameplay. You just have to hope that the new skill sets brought by these new weapons have been well thought out. Judging by early impressions, they aren't much different than what's been seen in the past, and that isn't a good thing.
Depth: A Short Term Adventure
Guild Wars 2's greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. On one hand its adversity to gear grinds and equipment upgrades means that the landscape is completely dependent upon skill rather than time invested. On the other hand, one of the most charming elements of MMORPGs has been replaced by what many consider to be a hook-less system.
Guild Wars 2's simplicity is a gift and a curse.
As with many other things in Heart of Thorns, you can expect things to remain relatively unchanged since the original experience. There is still no gear grind, and instead your long-term progression is based around visual upgrades. As a matter of fact, dungeons have had their rewards reduced in order to steer PvE fans toward fractals and raids. If you enjoy the gameplay enough, these group activities will give you the content you're looking for.
The lack of a gear grind, in addition to there being no traditional tanks and healers, is a bold move. Unfortunately, it's one that will once again lose the interest of hardcore players who like to sink their teeth into deep experiences.
Stuff: More Is Better
Instead of addressing some of the concerns with the foundation of the game, ArenaNet has subscribed to the philosophy that an expansion should throw a ton of new content into the mix. On this front it's succeeded.
You have a whole new area called Heart of Maguuma to explore. It brings with it new quests, NPCs, outposts, and even new races to interact with. There's a story to follow, and plenty of secrets to uncover.
Heart of Maguuma is a great place to spend time for Guild Wars 2 veterans.
PvP has also been given a ton of attention. Stronghold has been added, which is a long-requested game mode that acts similar to the popular Guild vs Guild mode in the original game. It is backed by a new Desert Borderlands map for World versus World, Guild Halls, and new PvP gear to work toward. New Raids, Fractals, Adventures, legendary equipment, and more ensure that PvE fans have their share of options.
All this new content means that existing fans of Guild Wars 2 have more to enjoy, and it'd be unfair to complain about that.
The Bottom Line
Guild Wars 2 is one of the more well-composed MMORPGs that have released in the past decade. While it has delivered a much shorter-lived experience than its competition, it had some flavor of its own that's made it a joy to play. It's no surprise that it has earned hundreds of thousands of fans in the process.
Heart of Thorns continues on the same path that Guild Wars 2 set out on. It's casual, has a pretty presentation, and balanced PvP component. In the event that you've had fun with the game during the past couple years, Heart of Thorns is likely to be worth your hard earned money. However, if you're like me and haven't been wooed by its unorthodox gameplay and content mechanics, then you might be better off watching from the sidelines.
