Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns (Add-On) (PC) - Reviews

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3.9.2016

GUILD WARS was a massively multiplayer game which in its original incarnation (Guild Wars: Prophecies, 2005) was added too by purchasing additional games and their product keys to make them playable ... then in August 2012 the company released GUILD WARS 2, and in October 2015 GUILD WARS 2: HEART OF THORNS.The QUESTION I get asked the most is ''what is the difference between them?''ANSWER: Well, the original release of Guild Wars 2 contains the main game, the original maps as released until the middle of 2015, and that's a lot of Tyria (the planet you are living on) to explore and interact with and as such you can purchase Guild Wars 2 and fully enjoy the game as it stands,using all of the features and the ''living world'' as it exists in the game and frankly if that's all you wish to do, you can happily purchase the standard edition of Guild Wars 2 and it is very much worth it!Now the expansion pack (known as Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns) is essentially the same game - everything that you get in the standard game is included in it except Heart of Thorns unlocks more of the living world and gives the characters two major improvements over the original release. The first of these is a new character class, the Revenant Profession and the ability to fly. You cannot fly in the standard release of the game. Now some of you may be saying, ''but I already own the original Guild Wars 2'' and yes, sorry to report in order to get these new maps and new features you will have to upgrade.To do this, either purchase the upgrade in-game (if you have the standard edition) or by purchasing the Heart of Thorns expansion, wherein you will unlock flight and other aspects of the expansion automatically.But there is one small catch. You MUST have at least one character leveled to Rank 80 (the maximum level in Guild Wars 2) but that's okay, because on purchasing Heart of Thorns, you are automatically given a BOOST to level any character you may have, be they existing or newly created to level eighty, wherein you can enter level eighty regions and via them, the Heart of Thorns area.QUESTION: How do I get started?ANSWER: You purchase the game, you load it up and you expect to be a while with the game updating itself. Be advised, the game has a data file which is at least twenty-six gigabytes in size and once downloaded and installed (all seamlessly) the game will continue to do regular updates with emphasis on a regular smaller update which takes place on average every Tuesday.Once the game has installed and been verified, you create an account (there is a serial number on the box which allows you to unlock the game - do not ever share that number) and then you may be asked to provide additional verifying information - which incidentally is a good idea as it acts to protect your account and prevent account theft. Typically this takes the form of a message which is sent to an email address or a cell phone which provides a code which in turn positively identifies you so you can run the game.Once you have actually got the game running, you will be presented with a character creation screen. You select a SLOT and make a character. You can choose from five different species, these being Human, Sylvari, Norn, Charr and Asura.QUESTION: which is the best species and profession to begin with?ANSWER: There is no straight answer to that one! But if you're looking for a strong species to play, you can select either Charr (big upright bipedal cat-like warriors) or Norn very tall humanoids) and as for profession, well, each and every profession has its merits and its disadvantages and you learn to play with those in mind, but for those of you who want a edge, you may want to consider the Ranger class as the profession allows the player to have an A.I. pet (of their choice) which can be directed to defend, attack and even heal you if you are downed.NOTE that you are not bound to one character and that you can add more as desired, and that if a profession is not working for you, you need only make another character and start over again. Be WARNED that if you unlock anything (including the boost to level eighty) on a character and then delete said character, you will delete all unlocks from your account, but CANNOT delete the Heart of Thorns account unlock as this is independent of character manufacture.Once you have made a character you enter the world of Tyria and view a short film about the world you are about to become part of ... you do an initial mission as a form of introduction and then you are free to go where you wish, how you wish when you wish - and Tyria is a very big place. However, you have the option of doing a Personal Story (its an option and can be picked up and put down as and when you want too).QUESTION: How do I advance in the game?ANSWER: Well, you start out with the basics, and the best way of getting going is to explore. Simply run around the maps, engaging in combat which will bring you both ''XP'' (experience points) and recognition. You will from time to time come across places where situations are playing out and you can just leap in - there are no rules - and act to help. This in turn generates karma points (which in turn fills a Heart) wherein you have helped and can move on. You do not need to finish anything in one go - if you wish you can wander where you wish, and do what you wish, as the game keeps track of your accomplishments and you can go back and finish things like that at any time you wish.As you grow as a character you will be warded periodic unlocks which for example, allow you to weld tools for collecting things like wood, plants and ore (which can subsequently collected and used for crafting things or sold on for cash). You will also be awarded crafting materials, bits of armor and weapons - not all of which you can use so you can sell those items or choose to trade them. Now there are three 'classes' of Armor, these being light, medium and heavy and these three classes are common to all professions, irrespective of what they are but a light armor class of character cannot for example wear medium or heavy armor. The same is true of weapons, and specific classes of character can only weld certain types of weapon as they are profession specific.Anyway, irrespective of what race you choose you will always begin in one of the low-level areas, which are typically rated levels 1-15 and have 'region gates' at their borders which allow players to leave that region and visit an adjoining one, although be warned some of those regions may consist of considerably higher combat which you would be ill-equipped for.If you begin as a human being, you will be in Divinity's Reach and Queensdale - a rural area dominated by rolling hill, valleys and lakes. If you choose the Norn (tall humanoids), you will begin in Hoelbrak and the Wayfarer Foothills, a frosty snowy wilderness dominated by ice. If you choose the Sylvari (plant people) you will awake in a lush and semi-tropical paradise, a world of giant plants and exotic animals dominated by jungles and rugged landscapes. If you choose the Charr (giant warrior cats) you will wake to a world of devastation and warfare, of crumbling ruins and blasted moors. And finally, if you choose the Asura (dwarf-like humanoids) you will awake in what amounts to Tyria's most advanced civilization, and a land of jungles and sub-tropical landscapes dominated by ruins and lakes (race images attached).QUESTION: Do I pay any additional monthly fees?ANSWER: None whatsoever, once you have purchased the game and installed it; that's it, you're paid up for life. You can make money in-game by playing, selling and manufacturing. The economy makes it possible to purchase upgrades to armor and weapons and objects without you ever needing to give anyone your credit card details.The reviewer has been playing Guild Wars 2/Heart of Thorns since its release in 2012 and highly recommends it!

23.12.2015

I’ve always loved the idea of MMOs. I was a Runescape fan in my youth, and as I grew up I flitted between a variety of them; never paying, but playing for as long as I could before getting bored.Because of my financial situation at that age I never played the payed ones, so Guild Wars and WoW were out of my reach. Even now, I still shun subscriptions, and as such I decided to give GW2 a go about twelve months ago. Immediately, I loved it, getting to level 46 within a couple of weeks.Then life got in the way.Regardless, when the chance to review the expansion came up I leapt at it, as it gave me a reason to finish the main game,create a new level 80 character and jump into its sprawling world all over again.Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns is the first expansion to the highly-acclaimed action MMO Guild Wars 2, bringing a huge heap of new content to Tyria, and it’s been highly anticipated ever since announcement, but did it live up to my expectations, and has it added enough content to justify the price-tag? I’m going to structure this review so I can focus on each new feature individually, and I’ll avoid spoilers when I can, so there’s no need to worry about that!The Heart of Maguuma – Look up, now down, now up, now down?A majority of the expansion’s content is focused around the new area of the world map available to players; The Heart of the Maguuma Jungle itself. Split up into four distinct maps, the new area is absolutely HUGE, providing plenty of opportunities to go exploring. By exploring, I don’t just mean in the same sense as you did in the base game; The Heart has a huge focus on verticality across three different biomes; the roots, floor and canopy of the jungle.Whilst there are definitely similarities to other areas, the new locations are beautifully breath-taking, and are some of the best views the entirety of Guild Wars has to offer. The fact you can jump off of some of these beautiful vistas thanks to the Glider system (discussed below) just makes them even more breath-taking, as they represent not just a huge expanse, but an explorable expanse.Mastery – 2 B A MasterThe main meat of the expansion unlocks at level 80, but unlike most other MMO Expansions Heart of Thorns does not raise this level cap, instead offering a variety of masteries and skills to improve and evolve throughout the expansion. These Masteries cover a decent range of skills; Hang Gliding, Languages, the ability to unlock and craft legendary weapons and getting achievements, and although I would have liked to have seen more ability-focused paths, they do give you a good reason to progress with your character.The Gliding mechanic is easily the most fun out of all of the masteries; who DOESN’T like flying around a beautiful jungle like a loon? The control scheme fits well into gameplay and after a few hours of using it you’ll be wanting to do the same in the rest of the Guild Wars map. The implementation isn’t anything like WoW’s infamous flying mounts, as it has been designed to assist movement, and not be an entirely separate style in itself, preventing you from flying EVERYWHERE.Mastery points are gained through the story, through the exploration of maps, through defeating bosses and partaking in group challenges, and by gaining achievements, but the main way in which you’ll be developing these new skills will be through gaining experience.Now, I know that this SHOULD go without saying; it’s an MMO after all, but I wasn’t expecting this much damn grinding. It’s frankly ridiculous, even for MMO standards, that it should take so long to level your masteries. Agreed, I’ve heard that they transfer between characters on the same account, but even so, it’s ridiculous, especially when the best ways to level them are those which require more than one player to finish correctly, and many of the maps are already quite sparse.Personal Story – Here be Plants.Without going into too much detail, the new personal story episode is full of developments, but ultimately too short, feeling shorter than that of more living world episodes. It’s disappointing, but I hope that it will be expanded and extended on as time passes, just as the base game was.I did however enjoy the changes in terms of dynamics between the races. Up to yet they have all been pretty chummy, but with the turning of many of a certain race’s members (Avoiding the name due to spoilers) to the side of the Elder Dragon, rifts are starting to form. I look forward to see how this develops going forwards.New Class – Is the Revenant Relevant?By far my favourite aspect of the expansion is the addition of a brand new Heavy Armour class; the Revenant. In some ways a tangential version of the traditional bard, the Revenant channels the powers of a famous legendary character from the past, in order to fulfil a variety of roles.You are able to have one active legend at a time, but can switch them with F1 at will, essentially allowing you to switch between two completely different legends almost at will. Each fulfils a different set of roles; Jalis Ironhammer turns you into a Tank, The Demon Mallyx the Unyielding gives you the power to control and transfer conditions between yourself, allies and enemies, Ventari is all about Healing and Condition Removal and Shiro Tagachi the assassin is all about Damage and Mobility.I’ve been playing a Revenant Sylvari, focusing on the Healing of Ventari (Racial bias, honestly) and the fact-paced damage dealing of Shiro, and I’ve been having an absolute blast. I haven’t yet completely unlocked the Elite Specialisation; a whole new dragon-based legend, Shiro, but so far he seems to be boon-focused, so I’ll probably stick to my current build for a while yet. The Revenant is Definitely my favourite class by far now, as it allows for so much flexibility. Seriously, if you fancy a new character give one a go!Talking about Elite specialisations, they are another bit reason to keep developing your character, as each and every class can unlock them from level 80. There’s only one for each class, but they unlock a previously unavailable weapon (for that class) and give new traits and skills on a certain theme. They’re really interesting and can seriously shift up your play style after so many levels.The Best of the RestAlso included in the expansion are a variety of updates to the PvP systems; including a new World Vs World Map and a whole new PvP mode, Stronghold. It’s a bit of MOBA-themed fun, but more of a side-line than anything else.Guild Halls also return, bringing with them a new profession, the scribe, who focus’ on guild items, and a variety of new missions, guild upgrades and currencies.In terms of PvE, ArenaNET are slowly bringing Raids into GW2, which allow 10 players to work together to tackle a difficult dungeon. Not really my sort of thing, but I’m sure many seasoned MMO players will love this new inclusion.ConclusionAll in all, Heart of Thorns is a pretty solid expansion, bringing together a great new area to explore, a fantastic new class and a huge host of new features. The only areas in which it falls down are in terms of the length and depth of the content itself, which should hopefully improve over time. If you loved the base game it should be a no-brainer, as it offers more of the same and loads of little improvements to the base game to boot. However, if you had issues with the base game and were hoping it would offer enough changed to pull you back in, I can’t guarantee it’ll do anything to help you.Regardless, I still recommend giving it a look, if only for the amazing new class!

21.11.2015

This is an edited version of the one I posted over on the pre-purchase version, so here it goes:This is what an expansion should be hands down; the account-wide mastery system is perfect for end-game progression without invalidating older content (and they are something that can't be rushed to completion, well, for the most part). There is no gear treadmill at all, all of your existing loot and gear is viable for the new content and future content. Gliding you receive from the mastery system is very fluid, but if you lag heavily, it can be a little tedious as there might be a delay.Of the 4 new maps added, 3 are absolutely gigantic, also exploring verticality as opposed to simply being horizontal (as gliding has allowed so much more exploration).The last map is more horizontal, but has a darn epic event attached to it that is the most cinematic the game has ever seen. While some may think 4 maps is minuscule, they are far from it. The amount of content packed into each map will keep you occupied for months. The 3 larger maps have their own little mini-game system called Adventures, which are also a great deal of fun, challenging and are easily repeatable. I must add that there were also 2 more maps added in the form of Guild Halls, as well as a recent Raid addition which is effectively a new map also.Of course, these maps are also incredibly beautiful and detailed - not one section seems repeated from something we have seen before - and they reward you for exploring them, which is a treat in and of itself.The new World vs World (WvW) map is very ambitious, but is brilliant for new strategies and mechanics. However, the map is currently very underpopulated as most players are playing in the PvE content right now (hopefully the population will balance out in the coming months). The new 'Stronghold' PvP mode is great fun, mimicking the classic MOBA game mode, adding an entirely new style of PvP for the game.The guild upgrades, while a little unpolished at first, are now fully implemented and a whole lot of fun. Guild Halls are just as exciting as they sound - it takes months to build it back up with a coordinated effort of your guild members contributing materials, and a bunch of new WvW and PvP Guild Missions (activities for your Guild) have been added.Raids were only recently released this week, so I can't comment much here, but from what I have experienced, there has never been anything so challenging as these. But they are still a whole lot of fun!The new music is enchanting, though if you have any musical experience you will notice the over-reliance on the submediant modulation, but it is still a pleasure to listen to and perfectly matches the atmosphere.I must say though, it is the story that is where the expansion failed; it is short, poorly paced and very anti-climactic. It was very evidently rushed to meet the release date, but the first half of the story is far better than the latter half. Although, if it is only the story that was lacking, then this was a pretty good expansion release - especially with more free updates coming on the way with Living World Season 3.And still no subscription fee; you buy this expansion, you pretty much get everything that is currently available to play.

23.9.2016

Prior to buying this, I played through a character to level 80, and completed some endgame content. This game's free to play model is great; however, with this expansion you gain access to certain incredibly useful features, such as gliding and elite specialisations, which change certain aspects of a profession to place a new twist on the class.The biggest selling point however, for me, is the 4 new maps you can explore. The new maps are incredibly challenging, but contain large chains of map events which lead up to a huge coordinated effort to achieve one goal, resulting in huge amounts of loot when you succeed.I would hold off on buying this until you reach level 80, as it is mostly endgame content.

14.12.2015

One of if not the best MMO purchases I have made. I had a free account and loved the game enough to buy the full game. Curent enjoying the game, and there seems to be enough end-game content to keep most players occupied. The living world is amazing, there is plenty of teamwork and friendly players to help out. Quest or Main Story is very good, and at time very heavy on lore. The miniquest or activities throughout the map range from simple tasks to big meta-events that can culminate into a world boss fight. The whole game feels very natural to play,its just a shame I couldn't into the game before.

23.3.2016

Excellent. Because Guild Wars 2 vanilla is free, it was already installed. I simply went into my account, and put in the activation key. Guild Wars 2 updated to Heart of Thorns, immediately unlocking 3 more character slots and the new class, as well as adding whatever new maps, stories and dungeons come with this. The GW2 world is so vast, it's hard to say how many months it'll be before I even see the new content. I say this as a good thing. One thing to note: in the activation key, what you might think is a 'U' is actually a 'V'.

21.1.2016

I bought 2 copies for some friends as Christmas presents. Now my friends, myself and my wife play this game. Its the best value for money MMORPG i have ever played and I've played a lot of them. The graphics a stunning, the game-play solid and there is no ninja behavior as everyone gets their own loot. There's tons of things to get on with including the best crafting system I've ever seen in a game full stop. I could go on but there's no need. Great MMORPG with no monthly costs. A no brainer.

8.12.2015

Ordered 2 of these (me and the BF), fast delivery etc.The game is a great add on, with loads of new features. Gliders, masteries, new profession, additional weapon for your class (my Necromancer can now weald a great sword) and a new update...Raids!It was a much needed expansion, storyline is good but short, and you do have to team up with other players to do the maps, so it's more interaction

1.2.2016

Very glad they released a disk copy of this game. I was able to buy a copy for my sister and wrap it up as a present and now she plays it every day.Whilst the outside of the box is nicely presented, once you open the box there isn;t much in terms of a manual. Just a slip of cardboard with the product key on.

15.6.2017

An excellent expansion to the core game.Changes the dynamics and progress of play considerably.The maps are a big learning curve, but once you "get-it", they're exceptional maps with tons to do.If you have the core, you need this!If you like fantasy, RPG MMOs, get this.

16.5.2016

Absolutely awesome expansion for Guild Wars 2, Huge amount of endgame content and a level 80 booster to get you started on it immediatly.I would highly recommend this to anybody who wants to play Guild Wars 2.

24.12.2015

...you will love this.This is the cheapest way to get the expansion!This allows you to access all the features that are locked in the free game, after the 4 day verification process.