In Guild Wars 2, the developers continue to discuss Heart of Thorns. This time, it’s about the PvE content in the endgame.
After the announcement in Texas on a big stage, smaller discussion rounds with the developers from ArenaNet followed. At Polygon, they chatted about the schedule, discussing massively about the masteries, and at the MMO specialists from mmorpg.com, the topic is now the PvE endgame.
And – if we didn’t know better – one could think that ArenaNet co-founder Mike O’Brien and game director Colin Johanson were talking about raids or at least the GW2 version of it.
But at ArenaNet, they do not use the R-word. At least they repeatedly talk about “challenging content for groups.“
With Heart of Thorns, PvE is supposed to become more challenging
Challenging content for groups has been something that has painfully been lacking in Guild Wars 2, according to Mike O’Brien. So far, ArenaNet has primarily had to develop content that players could solve immediately and without prerequisites. This was also due to the fact that they could not assume a proper development of the characters. The mechanics were missing. It was “everyone equal,” so to speak.
We release content all the time, but honestly, most of it is not very, very difficult challenges for groups. And when you think about it, I think you’ll realize that’s because it’s hard for us to be able to release content that’s so difficult that most players can’t solve it right away.
However, they know that Guild Wars 2 must become more difficult and much more challenging for groups. And in the end, there must be an “ultimate challenge” that motivates groups to reach it.
Heart of Thorns was developed with the idea of eliminating the equality of characters and making these more difficult challenges possible. The masteries are intended to differentiate characters from one another.
Guild Wars 2 Receives Endgame Progression with Heart of Thorns
Now they will be able to develop content for which players must first complete the “masteries,” Mike O’Brien continued: “Anyone who has not mastered the jungle and has not developed their character will not be able to complete this content.”
That’s actually a lot of the genesis of Heart of Thorns: being able to put in these endgame character progression systems so that we can release content in the jungle that requires you to have played all of the jungle to build up the abilities you need to solve that content. If you haven’t played the jungle and you haven’t built up your character, you’re not going to beat that content.
Through Heart of Thorns, they will be able to further develop the world and bring increasingly difficult challenges up to “ultimate challenges.” They want to give Guild Wars 2 an “endgame progression.”
Not only heroes, but guild halls should also be able to grow in GW2
The idea of this “progression,” this constant advancement, should also be reflected in the guild hall. Guilds will be able to continuously expand their halls, just as players will do with their heroes through the masteries.
We’re looking at fundamental progression throughout the game, and that includes guild progression. Your guild hall is your home for your guild progression. You will not just own a guild hall, you will build and progress your guild hall and your guild.
Pre-Cursors and the new sub-classes
There was also more information about crafting and the pre-cursors. These are the exotic weapons from which legendary weapons can be crafted. The pre-cursors will be awarded as a type of reward with Heart of Thorns. Players will have to embark on a quest journey through the world to complete collections, it is said.
These quest journeys will need to be unlocked through mastery points. The collections are account-wide. For each of the pre-cursors, players can start such a “journey” on their account. They will not only lead them into the new zones but also into the old world.
Regarding the new “sub-classes”, the specializations, there was also new information. Anyone who is a druid can continue to play as a ranger. This would essentially mean changing some talents again. So every druid can continue to play as a ranger, but not every ranger can play as a druid; for that, they first need the appropriate masteries.
It seems that the masteries are the key to important changes in Guild Wars 2. At the moment, it still sounds a bit abstract; more information on the individual features is expected in the coming weeks.
