Post by Indigo on Aug 4, 2017 9:27:42 GMT 1
Back when HoT was due to arrive I made a large post containing information about the new expansion. This was due to so many new features in the game and if you weren't following all the slowly dripped information it was easy to miss something. Arenanet has changed quite a bit since then. Path of Fire is a more content rich expansion rather than a new feature rich expansion which makes it easier to follow. Arenanet changed their policy of communication as well instead of having information slowly shared over half a year, we've had a large single announcement. I'll keep the format of this post similar to what we had before, 3 sections; release info, changes and new features
Release Info
Path of Fire Launches 22nd September | 8am BST (estimated)
HoT released at Midnight Pacific Time. I expect the same here.
COUNTDOWN TIMER TO PATH OF FIRE
Changes
There's not much to list here, compared to HoT you won't see much that'll effect you day to day. One thing I do want to mention is Guild Missions. Have they changed? Absolutely not, however things have changed around them. The primary reason we ran guild missions was because of the currency Guild Commendations. This currency would allow us to buy many items from certain vendors but it mainly allowed us to buy Ascended Accessories cheaply at 12 commendations and 5g. Since HoT we've had Living World Season 3 drop 6 new maps with 6 new currency/materials that allow us to buy Ascended rings, back pieces, amulets and accessories and makes the whole process accessible. I know organized guild missions haven't been run in a while now, we've all seen interest in the game drop in the past year but as people start returning to the game with PoF we will look to start running some guild events again.
A question I put to the guild is : Do you want to run guild missions on a weekly basis?
I want to offer my point of view on this discussion as well. For me, GUILD MISSIONS SUCK. They're a pain to organize, someone misses a bounty tag because of map completion, someone can't find their trek location etc. And most of all they are stale, relatively boring content. However, it is a really good entry point to just join guild events, they are relatively easy to hop in and join.
If you do want want to run GM's again regularly, that's fine we can do that.
If not, would you be interested in anything else instead?
If you do want to but we don't get enough YES' to make it regular, what we will do is give everyone in the guild the right to start guild missions, if someone was doing them regularly we could change the GM focus to PvE,WvW or PvP if that person requested it.
Just my thoughts on the whole GM issue but not something I alone should decide as these are guild events.
New Features
As I mentioned at the start, PoF seems to be a content rich over feature rich expansion. What that means is (in theory) you won't see many new features in the game, but you should see a lot of new content.
CRYSTAL DESERT
We'll be introduced to a new region of Tyria, well new to GW2. Those who played GW1 will be familiar with the Crystal Desert. We have 5 large new open world maps that in Anets own words "match the size and scope of all HoT plus LWS3 maps" which is 10 current maps worth. We have seen screenshots that confirm these maps look huge. There's new adventures, hearts, events and even some Raptor Racing on the new maps.
NEW SPECIALIZATIONS
No new class this time but you do essentially have 9 new play options with PoF. Each current class will have a new specialization and with it a new weapon and skills to try out.
Guardian - Firebrand, Axe
Mesmer - Mirage, Axe
Warrior - Spellbreaker, Dagger
Ranger - Soulbeast, Dagger
Engineer - Holosmith, Sword
Elementalist - Weaver, Sword
Necromancer - Scourge, Torch
Thief - Deadeye, Rifle
Revenant - Renegade, Shortbow
GUILD HALL
There is a 6th map also added with PoF that being the new guild hall.
I wanted to mention this specifically, YES we will be moving to Windswept Haven. The gold has been set aside already and we'll sort a date closer to the time for the move. Thanks to Chris and John for the donations of gold also. Everyone I've spoken to so far about the new hall agrees and after 2 years in the Gilded Hollow a change of scenery is right. If I understand correctly we may have to "retake" the hall, which is a small PvE event where we kill enemies to claim it.
In terms of the new guild hall and the current decorations, we will be looking to replicate some of our creations, like the trophy walkway and the Memorial to Sam. If you have a decorated room/area in our current guild hall, take the time to note down what you made/purchased to make it and we'll make sure they are available to you when we move. We've taken some screenshots already but there maybe some hidden areas we are not aware of.
MOUNTS AND MASTERIES
This is all in one because one relies on the other. Mounts have been added to PoF, we have 4 on launch, The Raptor, The Skimmer, The Springer and The Jackal. All have their own look and movement skills. These have been designed in the same spirit as gliding, a fun mechanic to help you to get from A to B. Earning mounts and skills for them is linked to the Mastery System. There will be new Elonian masteries (purple) and that means new Mastery Points and lots of experience to be earned. There doesn't seem to be much else to add about masteries other than in this expansion they seem to be specifically designed for mounts.
MECHANICS
Barrier. There is a new mechanic which will effect your day to day PoF experience. Barrier is something Scourge and Eles will have access to, which essentially gives the player or ally a shield with it's own health pool. If you watch some footage or play the demo shortly you may come across yellow damage numbers. Yellow damage is damage to barrier. Barrier is applied to the top of your health pool meaning if you apply barrier, damage applied to you will hit your barrier first, then your actual health. It's worth noting barrier is effected by your Vitality stat.
And I think that's it? If you're looking for WvW / PvP / Fractal updates they are not tied to the expansion. You will see them update as and when they are ready. We saw the competitive feature pack a month or so ago and in fact we are due a WvW update soon that will add stat swapping armour and a beta for gliding. I will try to keep this up to date as new information comes out, for now if you want more information on PoF I suggest checking out content creators like. WoodenPotatoes, Peachy and Bogotter who have had access to the demo and have videos up on their channels. I'll also be updating the "Prepping for Path Of Fire" thread from before as we have new information.
Prepping Thread
Release Info
Path of Fire Launches 22nd September | 8am BST (estimated)
HoT released at Midnight Pacific Time. I expect the same here.
COUNTDOWN TIMER TO PATH OF FIRE
Changes
There's not much to list here, compared to HoT you won't see much that'll effect you day to day. One thing I do want to mention is Guild Missions. Have they changed? Absolutely not, however things have changed around them. The primary reason we ran guild missions was because of the currency Guild Commendations. This currency would allow us to buy many items from certain vendors but it mainly allowed us to buy Ascended Accessories cheaply at 12 commendations and 5g. Since HoT we've had Living World Season 3 drop 6 new maps with 6 new currency/materials that allow us to buy Ascended rings, back pieces, amulets and accessories and makes the whole process accessible. I know organized guild missions haven't been run in a while now, we've all seen interest in the game drop in the past year but as people start returning to the game with PoF we will look to start running some guild events again.
A question I put to the guild is : Do you want to run guild missions on a weekly basis?
I want to offer my point of view on this discussion as well. For me, GUILD MISSIONS SUCK. They're a pain to organize, someone misses a bounty tag because of map completion, someone can't find their trek location etc. And most of all they are stale, relatively boring content. However, it is a really good entry point to just join guild events, they are relatively easy to hop in and join.
If you do want want to run GM's again regularly, that's fine we can do that.
If not, would you be interested in anything else instead?
If you do want to but we don't get enough YES' to make it regular, what we will do is give everyone in the guild the right to start guild missions, if someone was doing them regularly we could change the GM focus to PvE,WvW or PvP if that person requested it.
Just my thoughts on the whole GM issue but not something I alone should decide as these are guild events.
New Features
As I mentioned at the start, PoF seems to be a content rich over feature rich expansion. What that means is (in theory) you won't see many new features in the game, but you should see a lot of new content.
CRYSTAL DESERT
We'll be introduced to a new region of Tyria, well new to GW2. Those who played GW1 will be familiar with the Crystal Desert. We have 5 large new open world maps that in Anets own words "match the size and scope of all HoT plus LWS3 maps" which is 10 current maps worth. We have seen screenshots that confirm these maps look huge. There's new adventures, hearts, events and even some Raptor Racing on the new maps.
NEW SPECIALIZATIONS
No new class this time but you do essentially have 9 new play options with PoF. Each current class will have a new specialization and with it a new weapon and skills to try out.
Guardian - Firebrand, Axe
Mesmer - Mirage, Axe
Warrior - Spellbreaker, Dagger
Ranger - Soulbeast, Dagger
Engineer - Holosmith, Sword
Elementalist - Weaver, Sword
Necromancer - Scourge, Torch
Thief - Deadeye, Rifle
Revenant - Renegade, Shortbow
GUILD HALL
There is a 6th map also added with PoF that being the new guild hall.
I wanted to mention this specifically, YES we will be moving to Windswept Haven. The gold has been set aside already and we'll sort a date closer to the time for the move. Thanks to Chris and John for the donations of gold also. Everyone I've spoken to so far about the new hall agrees and after 2 years in the Gilded Hollow a change of scenery is right. If I understand correctly we may have to "retake" the hall, which is a small PvE event where we kill enemies to claim it.
In terms of the new guild hall and the current decorations, we will be looking to replicate some of our creations, like the trophy walkway and the Memorial to Sam. If you have a decorated room/area in our current guild hall, take the time to note down what you made/purchased to make it and we'll make sure they are available to you when we move. We've taken some screenshots already but there maybe some hidden areas we are not aware of.
MOUNTS AND MASTERIES
This is all in one because one relies on the other. Mounts have been added to PoF, we have 4 on launch, The Raptor, The Skimmer, The Springer and The Jackal. All have their own look and movement skills. These have been designed in the same spirit as gliding, a fun mechanic to help you to get from A to B. Earning mounts and skills for them is linked to the Mastery System. There will be new Elonian masteries (purple) and that means new Mastery Points and lots of experience to be earned. There doesn't seem to be much else to add about masteries other than in this expansion they seem to be specifically designed for mounts.
MECHANICS
Barrier. There is a new mechanic which will effect your day to day PoF experience. Barrier is something Scourge and Eles will have access to, which essentially gives the player or ally a shield with it's own health pool. If you watch some footage or play the demo shortly you may come across yellow damage numbers. Yellow damage is damage to barrier. Barrier is applied to the top of your health pool meaning if you apply barrier, damage applied to you will hit your barrier first, then your actual health. It's worth noting barrier is effected by your Vitality stat.
And I think that's it? If you're looking for WvW / PvP / Fractal updates they are not tied to the expansion. You will see them update as and when they are ready. We saw the competitive feature pack a month or so ago and in fact we are due a WvW update soon that will add stat swapping armour and a beta for gliding. I will try to keep this up to date as new information comes out, for now if you want more information on PoF I suggest checking out content creators like. WoodenPotatoes, Peachy and Bogotter who have had access to the demo and have videos up on their channels. I'll also be updating the "Prepping for Path Of Fire" thread from before as we have new information.
Prepping Thread
