A few days ago, MMORPG declared that Heart of Thorns was the best expansion to be released this year, but Guild Wars 2 didn’t manage to secure the number 1 MMO – that coveted award went to Elder Scrolls Online. However, if that’s the case, MMOs are in a pretty worrying position, and Guild Wars 2 has to make a lot of changes to put it back on the path it forged, that was loved by so many.

Now, let me start by saying I love Guild Wars 2. In fact, I love MMOs. It’s probably my most played genre, and if you were to name one, I could probably say that I’ve, at the very least, dipped my toes in its addictive waters. Guild Wars 2 I place firmly in the category of those games I’m too scared to look at how long I’ve played, because it’ll more than likely bring an early mid-life crisis. (Honourable mentions to Everquest 2, EvE, and Star Wars Galaxies). So, you can probably image my delight when, after the ending of the living world season 2, an expansion was finally being released! GW2 had taken a rather unique approach to updated content – shying away from the standard that most MMOs did (sans EvE, to name one), they would release bi-weekly (more or less) content to the game. These took the form of new areas added to the map, to open world explorable events. Some were better than others, to say the least, but the latter parts of the first season, and the entirety of the second season came bundled with a hefty amount of story for us to sink our nerdy teeth into. This approach, in short, was a calculated effort by ANET (Short for Arena Net, the creators of GW2) to continue their trend of making a new and alternative approach to how MMOs are played and consumed. For the most part, I can say it worked. But one of their biggest short-comings was that they were, almost all, temporary content. New players only interaction with the previous’ weeks content extended to nothing more than hearsay from those reminiscing the fun they had, or berating the entire experience in map chat. It was time for a change. Despite ANETs best efforts, it was clear what the community wanted: large, epic, expansive and long lasting permanent content; we wanted an expansion. Thus, in early 2015, Heart of Thorns was announced.

Along the path to its announcement we were promised a great deal many things. Masteries were introduced, to combat the feeling that players got from other MMO expansions – that your previous progression would be forgotten. Elite Specialisations were added, as a whole new variety and play style to your current class. The story and map would be expanded, throwing us further into the heart of the Maguma jungle. On top of that, guild halls, an addition sorely missed from the old game were included, among a great deal many other things. It was setting up to be the expansion of the year – this was an incredible MMO, and the expansion looked to add even more awesomeness to it. However, having finished the story, and done the new map events over and over again, as well as exploring the other new additions of the game (like legendary crafting, and fractal changes), I have to say…Heart of Thorns doesn’t deserve this award…and Guild Wars is cracking at the edges.

HoT seems to have stripped away what made Guild Wars 2 great, and highlights a worrying departure from what Guild Wars 2 used to represent for the MMO genre as a whole. One of the things that I loved about pre-expansion Guild Wars was how alive the world felt. The way the environment and NPCs interacted with you, and others made you feel like Guild Wars’ world of Tyria was a living and breathing thing – being able to watch as NPCs would talk to one another about the world around them, or how events would progress like water through a map vividly and fluidly, was an amazing experience. One could simply wander off into a random area of the map, only to be greeted by a group of NPCs having a discussion with one another, which would, following the theme of the discussion, evolve into a map wide event, potentially climatically concluding in the killing of a huge world boss. Where as pre-expansion GW2 maps had a certain spontaneity to them, Heart of Thorns feels static and cold. Events lean towards being on a rail, than being something that feels an extension of the world itself. These interactions with NPCs have been replaced by a one-to-one client-side discussion with your character and them; which, although adds a new and creative way for you to feel apart of the world, it seems to ignore the fact that these conversations are happening with every other “chosen one”. The GW2 world felt alive, open and interactive, not because my character was commenting on what was happening around them (if anything, this makes it feel even less alive – dialogue can seem forced, and obvious comments do nothing but attack any immersion), but because without my interaction, the world was still moving on.

One of the things that I love(d) about Guild Wars was that I could do everything at my own pace, and my own way. Levelling was a joy, I could craft, I could explore, I could do quests – whatever tickled my fancy for the day. But, above all, I didn’t feel rushed. HoT on the other hand, is a constant running clock that overshadows everything that I do. Most of the maps run through timed sections, which although creates structure as well as a certain level or urgency to the events, it removes a lot of the player created enjoyment that pre-HoT GW2 flourished with. I don’t get a second to actually take stock of the map, and enjoy it for what it is. If I do, I’m hastily reminded by my quest trackers that there is another Wyvern to slay, or a pact camp is under assault. The world is nothing but a stage now. The map is simply based around the events, not the other way around. I often forget what an event might make me do, but I’ll never forget what a map was like.

As aforementioned, the map, and general feel of the expansion were not the only additions that HoT brought with it.

The story. Let’s get this one out the way. Part of the reason that I stuck with GW2 through some of the more questionable updates, was because of the story. As someone who is heavily invested in the GW2 story and lore (having read all the books), you can imagine my excitement when I was given the chance to finally re-vist the story I loved so much, with the characters I had come to care about. However, to say the story was a disappointed, would be an understatement of cataclysmic proportions. Woodenpotatoes, a well known GW2 youtuber, described the short-comings (and positive aspects of the story) better than I ever could, and I find it difficult to disagree with him on most points:

We were promised a story, and what we were given was an awkwardly written slideshow, that seemed to have thrown out all the old lore and hastily put together something that lead into the third season of the living world.

Although it’s probably best we don’t mention my disappointment with the thief specialisation, and where the class is at the current moment in time, by and large, elite specialisations were a very welcome addition to the game. They allowed people to expand upon their classes in new and unique way. It added a completely new approach to how we all played, and a refreshed enjoyment. Elite specialisations managed to add a new level of complexity and additional mechanics, while still allowing players to hold onto the skills they had garnered while playing their favourite classes in GW2. Whatever the future holds for GW2, and any other expansions, the elite specialisations are a welcome change.

Perhaps one of the major cornerstones to Heart of Thorns was the additions of masteries. A plan to thrown out the old system of “add more levels”, masteries were a new idea on the table: it was progression without progression…kind of. It was something, upon hearing, I, and much of the community, loved. It followed GW2’s philosophy, and I was looking forward to specialising and adapting my character into new and exciting areas of the world. However, although on paper the idea worked, in practice it became questionable at best. Without the first couple of days of release, mindless grinds were discovered to easily boost through the levels, and although one could level the old way in old gw2 maps, in the new ones (outside of adventures) there were little ways to “master” your mastery beyond map events and combat. It quickly became a grind, forcing to me to play out the same adventures I had done over and over again, and the same map events that I had done so much, I was able to memories every line of dialogue. HoT seemed to have dropped the proverbial ball. Take lore masteries for example. The concept was awesome. If you chose to master this, soon you would unlock the mysteries of certain races, and learn more about them. What did this equate to? Mostly being able to use their vendors. Very little flavour text, and basically just a new way for us to press F to interact.

Raids, although late to the party, came crashing through the front door, carrying a 12 pack of beer, and some of that good pizza. You know the one, right? Raids, a sorely missed feature in Guild Wars, catered a growing section of the community that asked for more and more challenging content. Although GW catered to a more casual audience, the mechanics were certainly there to allow for such an additions (masteries, dodging, active defence management like blinding, etc) to a more “hardcore” section of the community. Although their varying success, raids alone are not enough to carry HoT, and with more wings still to be added, it still begs the question as to how it achieved the title. Other areas that seemed to have fallen short, although I’ll keep out for times sake, were guild hall (prices), legendary crafting (having to fail events to progress) and Fractals of the Mist.

However, do not mistake my somewhat overtly critical comments to mean that HoT was necessarily a bad addition for Guild Wars 2. On the contrary, I actually think that HoT was a necessity to Guild Wars 2. As aforementioned, the Living Story approach had a lukewarm reception, and it was clear that Anet didn’t want to have another year of negative murmurs in the community. One of the many great things, as I mentioned previously, Elite Specializations have been nothing but a welcome addition to the game – away with the old pedantic “new expansion advancement” of new levels, elite specialisations were parallel progression which din’t overshadow our previous achievements, and felt like we were exploring and adapting our character for new and interesting challenges. Beyond this, in regards to the maps themselves, despite their short-comings, they continue the superb atmosphere that many players have known to love in the series. With the addition of the ear-meltingly incredible music, the dense foliage and sprawling jungle trees map the maps feel claustrophobic, dangerous and ominous. Their dense and difficult to navigate terrain are perfectly played upon by the design team – with the very nature of the map being integrated into the story and events – fitting like a scary jigsaw; and with this, the constant map-wide “time limit” adds a sense of impending doom and frustration, when you are watching an event fail, while trying to dance and manoeuvre your way through the thick foliage within the heart of the jungles – the maps make you feel a mix of hopeless, and lost.

Admittedly though, what was the competition to the expansion this year? The famous World of Warcraft released its fifth expansion, which although received high praise at it’s outset, quickly plateaued to a realisation that the expansion seemed to fall into the end game of previous expansions, and the game has infamously haemorrhaged many subscribers. FFXIV was another contender, and although was a strong addition to the game, offered little incentive to continue subscribing and playing beyond raids. All in all, it seems MMOs are slowly dying.

I want GW2 to succeed. I really do. I’ve stuck with this game through the droughts, the bad events and the questionable living world content (although, I have to admit, I was actually a fan of season 1 – to an extent). It’s a game that strives to be different from other MMOs, to break an archaic mold that needed to be broken, oh so badly, and aims to lift up the long forgotten aspects of what MMOs stood for: community and adventure. However, recently, it’s fair to say that it’s fallen over in its pursuit of these goals. Although HoT was a step in the right direction (perhaps as a knee-jerk reaction to the growing criticism that the living world updates were receiving), it seems to have forgotten what it was meant to do. Along with this, we were promised so much (who remembers the bark stripping mastery, or the pulling wyverns from the sky mastery?), and yet the delivery seemed hollow and rushed, and a worrying feeling in the pit of my stomach for the future of a game I enjoy so much.