September 22nd. Much earlier than I expected. Bad timing for us - we'll be on holiday.
Can't really see the point of either of the more expensive editions. If I wanted another character slot or a character makeover kit I'd just buy one in the Gem Store. If I wanted Gems...I'd buy Gems.
The pre-order perks are nice, though: Mini Balthazar, a choice of weapon skin and a title.
I didn't really think about it but I kind of assumed those would come with the expansion itself but no, they arrived in the mail instantly.
The weapon skins are, for once, something I'd actually use. They look like weapons rather than something Kiss would have rejected as too tacky for stagewear.
I chose the staff and I'm using it.
I have Mini Balthazar out. He's taller than me.
I'm displaying the title - Elonian Envoy.
I am a walking commercial for the expansion.
There's a "Preview" weekend from Friday 11 to Sunday 13 August.
Naturally I'm working that weekend.
I wouldn't mind but I would have liked to have blogged it while it was still happening.
As for what's in Path of Fire, I don't really care. I was going to buy it whatever. I was just waiting for them to take my money.
What really struck me? Now we know where that Desert Borderlands map came from.
Just how long have they been working on this thing, anyway?
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It's not just me then with that weekend, I was hyped when I read "next weekend" as we have nothing on this coming weekend. But of course it had to be the weekend after when we're going to a big country fair with family and will have no computer access the entire weekend - zero chance to join in on that :-/
ReplyDeleteI will say I'm interested in GW2 again, it's a combination of several new elite specs looking very nice (Mesmer and Necro), the EQ2-style mounts and the prospect of big open zones to explore and do public events across...
Ditto. I have all weekend off - this weekend! What with that and being away when the actual expansion launches the timing could scarcely be worse. Oh well, at least this way it won't clash with the EQ2 expansion.
DeleteA friend of mine was relieved that his last two years of work are now visible to the public.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe he was hired on at the start of the project.
So... long time.
(I don't get insider information or anything. I didn't even know what game he was working on 'til he spoke up.)
There's an expansion screenshot in the promotional set they released that literally looks as if it was taken from the steps of the Lord's room in Air keep. Everyone always said that map was clearly a PvE map - people thought it was a rejected zone from HoT but now it looks as though it was an early draft from PoF!
DeleteI note they were very very careful with their Path of Fire Twitch announcement, keeping to relatively non-controversial casual-friendly Explorer-focused features. No one can bitch about moar content, right? More zones with pretty assets, bigger zones, mounts, elite specs, world bosses/bounties which sound like they will be player-summoned and open to all in the map to participate, a shiny guild hall, $30 at the lowest buy-in price...
ReplyDeleteDefinitely sounds like they are trying to woo back their original audience.
... Call me a little burned from HoT, but I'm kinda half waiting for the other shoe to drop. Surely their fractal and raid teams haven't been sitting around doing nothing - how much more exclusive content are they going to produce? How comparable will the new elite specs be to the old ones? What kind of power creep and endless stat grind are we going to see with the new expansion? What kind of rewards are there going to be for open world content compared against closed group content?
Guess we'll see how the preview weekend goes. The servers haven't exactly been living up to Anet's reputation for reliability lately, with skill lag and new map crashes either. I hope it goes well. That's about as much optimism as I can muster lately.
As I commented in Team chat in WvW the other day, if the new Elite specs aren't better than the HoT ones then there really isn't any point in them existing. People seem to think power creep is an unintended side effect whereas it's actually pretty much the point. The plan will be to create an environment, at least in the competitive modes, where buying the expansion is not seen as optional.
DeleteOther than that, yes, it looks as though they have taken the major complaints about HoT to heart. As someone who really, really liked HoT, I'm in two minds about that. There's always the risk, with a project that takes this long to complete, that you end up solving the problems of two years ago not the problems of today.
As for the server issues, they've been getting DDoS'd again. A lot.
I wonder if they'll have hero challenges in the new maps grant 100 hero points per, with the new elite specs costing 2,500 to fully unlock. If they stick to the same costs as HoT, a character that's map completed base+HoT could complete the new elite spec day one, and we can't have that, can we?
DeleteHmm. Hadn't thought of that. Of course, they could use an entirely different mechanic to open the Elites. Have they given any details yet? I didn't actually watch the stream...
DeleteSo a couple questions about the pricing packages and what's included:
ReplyDelete1) what is this 'Lily of the Elon' pass that is only available in the higher tier packages
2) are season story lines actually a separate purchase? I see they are purchasable with gold - are Season stories not available to me if I haven't purchased HoT?
Two very good questions to which I don't know the answer. I assume the Lily of Elona is one of those velvet-rope areas where all facilities are available. I've never seen the point of these. You can just hit "B" and go to your Citadel in WvW for every service I can think of, which is what I do. I actually have a pass for one of them that dropped out of a Black Lion chest but I never use it.
DeleteAs for the LS episodes, I imagine they will continue to be sold separately. They only cost 200 gems each though and as you say they can be bought for Gold. 200 Gems is about 50-60 gold, which takes no time to acquire. You get 2g a day just for doing the basic dailies so you could work through the episodes for free at one a month, which would be two or three times faster than you'd have been able to play them when they went live! You can buy the episodes without having HoT but you can't play them because they all either have parts that take you into HoT maps or require abilities that are only available in HoT.
Whether any of that will change with the coming of PoF, thogh, who can say? Season 1, of course, remains unavailable to everyone and will, I'm fairly sure, never be repeated.
Noted and thank you. Well I do have season 1 under my belt. Didn't realize season story lines were 'purchase' content now - or maybe they've always been? Been forever since I've played GW2. This expansion looks interesting though - the mounts look fantastic.
DeleteThe "season" storylines unlock for free if you log in while they are active, you only have to buy them if you missed them due to an extended absence or if you only started playing after they came out.
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