A brief mention as I did participate.
It was very lack-luster and kind of a disappointment. I am aware it was a stress test and am in no way slanted negatively towards them, but I was very underwhelmed in my experiences (~3 hours over 2 of the blocks). The root cause imho was a combination of the UI and the new systems implemented therein.
1) Story
While I wasn't expecting a great arc the sad, single quest with 4 sub-parts would take ~20 minutes to do solo unless your system crashed. Mine did twice but only once during the quests, so I had to start all over. The story chose the two decisions for you, railroading you in your script instead of presenting the options they're so proud to brag about in HoT. The events, day/night cycle, and outpost events were interesting but gave little to no indication of what you were supposed to do. 3 times I failed objectives when no enemies appeared, no interactive material spawned for us to 'deliver' and took a long time for use to figure out the 'to do'
2) User-Interface & Integration
So they bragged we would experience some of the new systems, masteries, and abilities for the new expansion. 3 hours in and a few rare people had figured out how to actually add points to their system. I ended up with 5, but I couldn't figure out how to actually spend them even though the mastery page said it was already full. To be honest gliding was the one thing I wanted to try and see how it went. No one was explaining anything in chat to assist other gamers and the vast majority of people didn't get to from what I've discussed with guildies and read in the forums.
3) Instructions
This was possibly the most heinous mistake that occurred and you';ll see the vein in the other points. There was no instruction. There was no intuitive design to implement any of these new systems as such leaving many people more unimpressed than I was. As I mentioned I had 5 mastery points, I had 8 or so tracks "open" to me to view, but everything was either grayed out and locked or already said I was fully trained and locked (1/1, 3/3, etc). I tried the classic double-click, went key-by-key down my board, even the drag and drop ability which left nothing accomplished. I hope they hold another one with better us of their players time. After I explored as much of the map as I cared to I just swapped to normal play and left the Beta with a sickening, empty feeling that didn't sit well for all the hype and attention this has been getting.
All grieving aside it looked pretty. That said in an age where anything sub-photo-realistic is considered retro, stylized, or cheap. I think no more than what I had with the teaser trailers thus far: it has potential but will likely be very small in comparisons to similar expansions [in other games] in both scope and newly accessible areas. This may be a glimmer at what is to come with a fuller-engrossing Season 3 Living World. This could rework a masterful overhaul to the game world we already know. There are too many unknowns and too many theories and speculation about where it all is going.
I previously had the experience the PvP map Conquest. This looks promising but a lot more play will be needed to understand all the new features going on in it. For it ~ 6/10
Still hopeful if a little less optimistic for HoT. 3.5/10 for the limited Beta
**Full Release Update** 5/10 was alright just way too small and limited to be taken serious as a MMO contender. ArenaNet will really have to step it up to keep its population, because everything I've seen and heard in chat and on forums (even from major content creators like Wooden Potatoes) has been steadily declining in favor because they're not keeping the audience entertained between content and they back back-pedaling more and more on their promises.
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