A Boss Worse Than Duke Nukem Forever?! - Guild Wars 2

Mike finally hit Level 80 and finished out the base story - today he talks about the fun stuff he found at cap and a last boss worse than even Duke Nukem Forever.
00:00 - Intro & Capping Level 80
01:10 - Story & Worst Boss Ever
08:00 - Elite Specializations & Masteries
09:55 - Gearing
15:20 - Expectations & Silly Stuff
18:00 - Summary
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Twitter: @Preachgaming
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Website: preachgaming.com/
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[@Preachgaming]

Mike has officially hit Level 80 and finished the story of the base game. Today he looks at what he found at cap and at the worst boss he has ever played. What was your reaction to the Zhaitan fight?

[@TomppaESG]

Zhaitan is easily the most disappointing last boss from the core and expansions. The good thing is that the devs really learned their lessons and made huge improvements on the storytelling and missions starting from the first expansion. No more interrupting gameplay with cutscene dialogues for example. Remember to play the living world seasons as they are like FFXIV post-expansion patches which bridge the story between them.

[@kimaclaret]

Did the video thumbnail/title get changed? I saw a video about the worst end boss that I meant to watch when I had a moment, and now it's this one 😅

[@williamdegrey]

Zhaitan sadly was a rush job because they ran out of time and didn't want to delay the game..

[@JayImmortalTV]

The Zhaitan fight was a struggle and a half when I first ran through it. The instance you run through for that fight used to require 4 others and it was intense and time-consuming. ANet decided it'd be a good idea to have a personalized version of that dungeon instance, but the difficulty and scale of the fights was tuned down WAY too much to be enjoyable in one of my more recent play-throughs. So my reaction to it initially was "Yooooo!! LET'S KILL A DRAGON!" but these days it'd be "That's... That's it?"

[@fredericbrasseur7399]

@@JayImmortalTV I remember when you had to fight 3 freaking champion Eyes of Zhaitan at the same time. That shit was terrifying when they decided to beam you to death all at the same time.

[@TheOdMan]

Hating both Braham and Zhaitan? It's like he was born to play this game.

[@stumie1699]

God I can't wait for him to get to icebrood saga and hate Braham even more

[@Qrczaqq]

@@stumie1699 Nah, HoT Braham is the worst, in the Icebrood Saga I got over him a bit.

[@candrian7]

@@Qrczaqq I think he was at his worst in LW3 and early LW4, he was such a sulky brat

[@dangerousdays2052]

@@candrian7 Humans have emotions, get over it. 🙄🙄

[@Kitabake]

@@stumie1699 You mean like... ls3 hate levels bro? or Ls4 is also the thing xD

[@lakdav]

Living World Season 1 used to have the idea that the developers are developing the story of the world semi-real time, so a change happens in the game world and that change sticks, it is no longer possible to go back in time. That's why you have a different Lion's Arch in your personal story than the one you enter outside of the story, because the original Lion's Arch was changed in the events of Season 1. After about a year and a half after release, season 2 came along and by then the developers figured that this method just simply won't work long-term, as new players need the old maps for their story steps to make sense. So with Season 2 came the Story Journal that made it all re-visitable. However the whole of Season 1 was simply unavailable to be revisited until recently due to technical issues: It was originally simply not coded in a way inherently compatible with the Story Journal.

[@zenith110]

All I can say is that LWS1 has a complicated history. LWS2 is a step up, but HoT is the place where the game starts to pop.

[@CrystronHalq]

Heart of Thorns zone/map design, gameplay systems and gameplay gonna blow him away. And then there is the challenge aspect. HoT is quite diffucult for a new player so I think Mike will really like that. Considering his history with Dark Souls games and such.

[@JoshSweetvale]

You _can_ skip to it, but you'll not recognize certain people.

[@shrenko]

I remember finishing the base game 2 years ago and I enjoyed it alot... but once i put my foot in Hearth of Thorns I was blown away by the detailed jungle and all the corners to explore. Felt like a true adventure and that is what I love about GW2. Im a collector in mmo's and like to farm achievements, mounts etc. so GW2 is just top notch for me

[@bloodthirstyworks]

My first experience stepping into verdant brink and then tangled depths will remain fresh in my mind till the day i die.... What a map!!!

[@thorthratt]

@@bloodthirstyworks and Auric Basin?

[@anonamarth4291]

But BOY, is it a pain in the arse to get around without a glider and some upgrades.

[@bloodthirstyworks]

@@anonamarth4291 Hey.... You're in the jungle baby!!!

[@nata.s189]

Same. Getting into Hot for the first time blew my mind. They nailed the deep and dangerous jungle feeling. Vast, detailed maps , cool story and awesome music 👌. Man, I still get chills when hearing the Tarir theme.

[@_Encie]

hitting lv80 in GW2 feels like completing the prologue.

[@killval849]

thats a great way to put it honestly lol, I hit 80 and have no idea what I'm doing 😂 😂

[@PhilosoRaptorORLY]

there was a title in the original game, rewarded to players for hitting max level in the prologue - so at the very least, they stuck to SOME of the original🤣

[@jeremysmith7176]

@@PhilosoRaptorORLY Legendary Defender of Ascalon is the title. And yes there is still a population of toons who don't leave pre-searing Ascalon.

[@TheOdMan]

@@killval849 I have around 2000 hours in GW 2 and I still don't know what I'm doing in certain areas of the game, there's just so much you can do if you want to, and I tend to just focus an a few things I really enjoy, mainy WvW, exploring, farming for various legendaries, and a few Fractals now and then, but this means I have no fucking idea what's going on in the other half of the endgame, like raids for example, I've done 3 raids I think, in 2000 hours, I don't even have something against raids, it's just I enjoy doing all my other shit too much I can't be bothered putting in the time learning wth raids are all about, even though I have a guild that regularly runs noob raids for ppl wanting to get into it. And btw, it's pretty easy to find guilds that are willing to learn new players about raiding, just ask around if that is something you would want. Anyway, don't feel bad about not knowing wth is going on, it's normal, just try to find something you enjoy, research around a bit and take it from there.

[@akhsdenlew1861]

@@TheOdMan pretty much same..i've done 1-2 raid bosses just so i can unlock the raid mastery and max it. I don't have something against raids, but i just don't feel like GW2 is the game to do pve... Also raid community is just.. too strict with their demands and stuff. Feels like a small mafia that i want nothing with.

[@burnttoast26]

Can't wait to see what he thinks of the actual end-of-expansion bosses. MASSIVE step up from Zhaitan

[@wiziek]

Well final boss of heart of thorns is kind of let down, last zone meta is more of proper boss fight, kinda familiar with some of living story maps and bosses.

[@burnttoast26]

@@wiziek Mordy is still leagues better than Zhaitan

[@wiziek]

@@burnttoast26 "mind fight" isn't really that great, better then zhaitan but last map meta is a lot more of a BIG dragon fights with whole map assaulting dragon lair, phases during fight, this would be suprise. kinda like path of fire eh i don't remember, living story map in the sea where we can fight another dragon.

[@killer-im5hn]

personally i cant wait for him to experience path of fire and the balthazar fight with kralkatorix in the background

[@xxJing]

The hard mode of the mind fight was an experience. I couldn't find a group so I soloed it lol. It wasnt that bad except for Eir, she was really a test of focus and endurance lol. Honestly sometimes I feel like hard content in GW2 is meant to be soloed lol

[@Theoscronos]

Living world is the patch msq, unlocks some maps and masteries, like mini expansions in some seasons especially icebrood saga. If you want to experience the story don't skip living world.

[@DrecSutal]

He seemed really confused by living world season one. And honestly kinda still does here? So here's the quick history: The original plan for GW2 was to have no expansions. Instead there would be the "living world", which would be free content patches that made permanent changes to the existing world and then were gone for good - be there in the 2-week period when it happens, or miss it forever. So for example there was a two-week period when there were odd events and an invisible wall in Kessex Hills. And then a two-week period when the Tower of Nightmares was visible and accessible. And then it was GONE, accessible only in its 'destroyed' state, in the middle of a radically-changed Kessex Hills map, for something like nine years. Only last year did they finally make it available to play again (along with the rest of living world season 1), which involved some minor changes because of the nature of the original releases, which were largely focused on public events that just didn't work solo. This is partly why it's a good time to start GW2 - because for the last 9 years if you played the story there would just be a big chunk missing between the core game and living world season 2. Now the story is finally whole again. Or at least mostly - for whatever reason they cut the parts of LW1 related to Southsun Cove. Maybe it was too filler-y, since it doesn't really directly relate to Scarlet. But you do lose some context on Job-o-tron, and more notably Canach. After living world season 1 they abandoned the "free temporary content" model. Future Living World content (2,3,4, and IBS) would take entirely in new maps and was available for free if you logged on during its release window, but available for purchase afterwards. A much more reasonable model, IMO. And it looks like going forward they're removing the payment option and just including it with an expansion, and doing away with the "Living World" name for good.

[@ardabaser1349]

@@DrecSutal Good call imo. I think anet is genuinely the most insane mmo studio of all time because they did a jaw-dropping amount of content for absolutely free, which was not a good idea at all, as they seem to be realising it now. There were these content droughts all over the history of gw2 and I am very happy that they seem to be going for an actual schedule when it comes to publishing content and it is all going to be properly sold in nice packages.

[@pancake7183]

If you can believe it, that IS the fixed version of the Zhaitan fight. Originally, the final quest required you to do the dungeon. I don't know if it's been confirmed, but there is a small, unused section of the dungeon that is believed to have been used for the on the ground final bit of the fight, and the suspicion is that they ran out of time to make that bit.

[@Marunylos]

in way way you still have to do the dungeon, they just made the story mode scale from 1-5 people instead of being fixed to 5 people afaik

[@orimu836]

man this makes me want to play GW2 again. Their environment designs still looks great imo

[@Qbyyy]

you should the new ones look amazing

[@TAZMASTA40]

I've been thinking of coming back to it too

[@Arenyr]

@Preachgaming You've misunderstood Living World. Initially when Season 1 came out Arenanet tried to make the world just that, living and breathing. They attempted to tackle this by releasing content and have it physically change the world and once that storyline was completed- we would move on. This is the primary reason it was removed, because it was planned from the start to be removed. Players had a negative reaction to this and moving forward Arenanet made content in a way that you could always go back and experience it. Season 1 was rereleased due to popular demand, and it took so long because there were quite a few technical challenges the team faced when trying to re-add the content. They've done interviews in the past and I'm not sure of the specifics, but it's quite hard to reimplement something when in the process of creating it, you're planning to never bring it back. Hope that helps clear things up, glad to see you're enjoying the game!

[@Madd_Jack]

As you get deeper into living worlds and expansions, you can tell arenanet learned from their issues, fixed and improved quite a bit. Like cutscenes in HoT. For example. No more zhaitan fights.

[@PhenomRom]

Why not fix the old stuff too 😡

[@kokainkalle]

@@PhenomRom Cost too much resources to change something like that fight.

[@PhenomRom]

@John Wicks says who lmao literally put in an alternative fight and let it have a hard mode and then it can be both new and old content. Everyone wins.

[@kessy628]

@@PhenomRom With the way that arenanet is moving forward with strikes, a Zhaitan strike that would be "on the ground' is one of the most requested ones I've seen in my time playing the game (going on 2 years now). Hopefully they end up actually doing it eventually, especially because with how they've been the past year they've shown an increasing appetite to fix issues that were identified in the earlier content like the core game, reintroducing LW1, etc.

[@TomppaESG]

For the UI, I actually only played WoW with GW2 UI mod since it just felt so familiar after so many hours in GW2 (also the "cutscene mod" to make the quest walls-of-text almost readable to know what is going on for the story).

[@sindri1447]

Yeah same. After they came out with the GW2 UI for WoW I haven't used anything else. Easy to install and I don't ever feel like I need anything more. Pretty much the only mod I install other than boss mods.

[@TomppaESG]

@@sindri1447 I wish we could have move the target hp bar to bottom in gw2 though, I like it over my buffs/debuff in wow

[@porkncheese1789]

I did the same. I love the gw2 UI. Simple and stylish

[@TheCludo]

The Zaithan boss battle has been fixed a long time ago because back then when you needed a full party of 5 to be able to progress in some areas of the final mission

[@xTheToolx]

If you want the story, then you need to play all Living worlds in order as they appear in the quest log. Jumping to Heart of Thorns without playing the preliminary LW episodes wouldn't be recommended if you want all the story. They contain huge parts of the over arching story.

[@HelloFellowMellowMarshmallow]

All I can say is that going to HoT blind with Berserker gear was a nightmare (I was core, potion-drinking engi with a flamethrower) since I couldn't walk for a minute without dying to something. I also fought without dodging (little reason to dodge in core game aside from dungeons, fractals, and if you plan to solo a group event)

[@Nephale]

Tbf. Flamethrower engi was/is a terrible pve build. Hot was a reality and build check for most.

[@HelloFellowMellowMarshmallow]

@@Nephale I figured that out the hard way. I also attribute it to mostly because flamethrower builds have a constant stability pulse, further reducing my need to dodge something from the core game.

[@Mattlife97]

Fortunately they’ve come a long way with boss fights, looking forward to seeing him experience Soo Won.

[@lonelysdomain]

ughhh i have nightmares over that meta.

[@sirthanksalot97]

Trahearne is the literal definition of a living plank of wood in terms of acting

[@PoohbearZa]

I was waiting for this... We promise going forward the bosses get way better.

[@thenerdbeast7375]

The DF mounts have more in common with the GW2 Gryphon than the Skyscale (dragon)

[@dusk1947]

The brilliance of horizontal progression really does shine in gearing. It doesn’t really hit you, until you make ascended or legendary items (which you should). Next patch isn’t replacing your gear… Not in GW2. The implication is the: chasing a BIS item should be a goal, and it’s usually a very rewarding experience. As it will never be replaced next update. The tradeoff then, is the sheer amount of effort needed to get it. Ascended are hard to get, Legendary's are very hard to get. The amount of effort to make a single Legendary item can be its own in-game goal for a player, for weeks and months. But ascended or legendary items are BIS indefinitely (in that stat). They're also account bound, not soulbound. And so, the fun becomes either chasing various sets of ascended for your account, for various the play styles. OR undertaking the great effort of earning a Legendary, which can change its stats on the fly. The gearing is one of this games best features through and through. It’s super well done. Also, living world was an experiment. Originally, their idea was to release regular updates that changed the game world and RPG elements with regular story updates, rather than the expansion formula of WoW (which is were many of the original Dev's came from). And originally, once those segments were complete, you could never experience them again. For those of us there the first few years, it was great. But ANet quickly realized it was unsustainable long-term and a disservice to new players who'd missed it. So they went back to the expansion formula. However, they did retain the living world formula as additional maps and story content between major expansions. Much like a 0.0.5 or 0.1.0 update in say WoW. Interestingly the original living world season one, was only recently reintroduced after years of new players asking for it. Because it's original version was designed to be once and done. They had to physically redo season one years after the fact, and re-released it for continuity. You can get living world story segments for free, if you log-in while that living story is active. But, if your account is inactive and missed that story's release period, you have to buy them.

[@t-teodoro]

One of the interesting things to notice is the chronological date in the quest log, there you can base it on the years that the events took place. each expansion has a range of years in the dates and the living worlds are between this range

[@HuaYunlan]

I think there was a rumor that they were supposed to do a ground combat after that, but they ran out of time or resources

[@venny1689]

Living World is basically the patch series: Season 1 was mostly Arenanet being experimental. A lot of the stuff happened in real time during patches and was gone by next patch. They've recently re-introduced this content as permanent content since it meant there was a gap in the story. As of writing, season 1 is now finished being re-implemented. Season 2 picked up afterwards. They started making this content permanent. It is mostly story content with a couple of new small maps. It's setup for Heart of Thorns. Season 3 is a lot more juicy in terms of content. It's 6 episodes, each one has story and a completely new map, bridging between Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire Season 4 is very similar, with another 6 episodes each with a lot of content, and a new map. Some even introduce new mounts. Takes place after Path of Fire. Season 5 (Icebrood Saga) is a bit closer to season 2 as they were scrambling for resources and couldn't make a new map per episode. Bridges between Season 4 and End of Dragons.

[@trxe420]

Thank God, I thought it was just me that was underwhelmed by the end of the base game boss. I had to remind myself of ffxiv though and the big boss fight and how that was and how they decide to fix it recently.

[@TAZMASTA40]

I'm enjoying this series coverage so much. 👌

[@allanturmaine5496]

Preach! Haven't seen you in my feed since the guild drama days of yore. Good to see you're still keeping up!

[@otone7seven]

PS, i absolutely LOVE the way you're going about this MMO challenge - the question at the end are all the questions people that have never played the game will want to know before diving in

[@marajango]

I recently finished my full playthrough of the story and I would definitely recommend playing through all the Living World seasons and expansions in order, not just to get the full story but also to see the change and evolution this game went through.

[@Vilisith]

Right clicking on the chest at the corner of the screen will instantly open it with out the loot window.

[@blech71]

I always enjoyed my time in GW2. Especially DOT builds and how the damage is displayed. I really like how DOT damage is really displayed as that type. Lots of streaming little numbers coming up from each mob’s head was satisfying to me. Short bow and Necro back then was my jam. Damn, it’s been quite some time now. I might have to spoil it back up. I think I left off getting more of the ascended gearing.

[@RedNuii]

It’s not a bad idea, they’ve just announced massive changes with their roadmap of how they will continue doing content in the future. Major step up after the game did really well this past year.

[@saborwolf]

The expansions are on a completely different level than the base game of GW2 for sure. Much higher quality, more verticality, more exploration, more interesting locations and scenery. Just better in every way

[@gontrandjojo9747]

The base game of GW2 was basically doing map completition...

[@Gajsu1]

I love that you are exploring the game i've been playing for like 7 years. It gives me an itch to revisit it. I stopped after i completed everything in Path of Fire. In GW2 I've met one of the best people in my online life. The community i've met there was better than in any other MMO i've ever played.

[@blazblueeuopen4566]

love this mike please keep it up :D

[@Phreephur]

I think one of the most fun parts of this game is playing alts, coming up with new and interesting builds and trying out all the weapons!

[@lordspotato5032]

I second the trying new builds. Especially in pvp, where the fluidity of combat really shines, trying new builds can be just so fun to dive into customization and tinkering around with traits.

[@Izzy-tu9oq]

Love your content!

[@G8Thunder]

I'm always glad to see people try out GW2 and enjoy what it has to offer; also that you share it with your whole community is also awesome. I would definitely recommend you try out LWS1 (living world season 1) before heading into Heart of Thorns, mainly because it will help you understand the story and characters you'll be with in the first expansion but also because you'll notice a drastic change in how the presentation. The way the story plays out, primarily with no more 'cinematic, face to face cringe talks', is largely how the story is presented throughout the rest of the game now. I just went back to do LWS1 myself for the 'return to' achievements and really enjoyed it seeing the story I hadn't been able to experience since, whenever that was, 2014?

[@galadrigal7644]

Described so perfectly. There are many who complain that this game needs vertical progression, yet as you pointed out: ‘other bars are filling up.’ It’s all the same in reality. You’re always getting new gear, new masteries, new skills etc as you progress through the game. It’s all in the head

[@joshseymour7563]

Can't wait for you to start Heart of Thorns Mike. It was those zones that taught me it's the player skill and not the gear that matter. A real learning curve. So glad you're enjoying GW2. My favourite mmo.

[@GuitaristZep]

what I like about it is the random boss fights you encounter when you are just minding your own business leveling up or questing. I find myself almost always dropping what I was doing and joining the train to the boss, or to wherever it is going! 😃

[@ThisLineCrossed]

I admit I was driven insane by the Heart of Thorns map at first. But the second I unlocked unlimited gliding, they became my favorite maps!

[@pepasaurus]

recently landed on your channel. Can't agree more on the launch content. However, I've played Guild Wars 2 since launch and let me tell you, both Heart of Thorns & Path of Fire are really enjoyable addons

[@panajotov]

I played the original game for about two years. Most of my time spent was in wvw, but I did a bit of dungeon and fractals at the time. When I came back in 2019, I went into HoT content because I missed most of it. After getting the hang of the game, I started working towards Astralaria (generation 2 legendary axe), and that experience was one of the best I had in GW2. Satisfaction after completing it sucked me back into the game so much that I started playing Fractals again with some new friends I met meantime, and wvw with some old buddies from back in the days. GW2 has its own flaws (I'll never forgive Anet for completely shrugging off the idea of structured GvG), but it has a special place in my heart. I've met some lifelong friends in there. I am glad you are just at the start and being this positive about it. There's so much content for you to explore. Enjoy!

[@spambaconeggspamspam]

The best part about that gearing, and the reason why GW2 is considered horizontal progression is; That gear you picked up from the AH? That was relevant 10 years ago, and it still is to this day.

[@-artanim-5232]

Eagerly waiting for Mike to try out WVW and sPVP in GW2

[@xxJing]

GW2 really kind of hit a new stride with Heart of Thorns. That expansion was brilliantly designed. After it though I think GW2 took a slight step backwards though. HoT had a decently high gamer skill requirement to play it smoothly, so you either were having the time of your life or frustrated because you weren't quite good enough to smoothly overcome the challenges. The test will be when you hit Tangled Depths. By far my favorite map in the game and yet a lot of people hate it because navigating it is a skill in of itself.

[@NothingCoherent]

Tangled Depths is the best map I've ever played in an MMO. I think its an absolute masterpiece. However, my wife, who is a casual gamer, hit a wall and completely quit the game when she reached TD. Very polarizing experience.

[@norvelled]

Poor Preach, thinking they just give you a flying mount. Oh poor, poor Preach.

[@evilkamatis542]

Ah your adventure is just starting from hitting 80. Unlocking every mount and exploring the Heart of Thorns map will be a sweet treat for you.

[@ctg4818]

Its always been a meme in GW2 that the end boss is just spamming the number 2

[@M0KX]

You are gonna love the game once you start the expensions, each one gets better and better

[@Gammatrap]

Not trying to come off as the "oh you WAIT til such and such"... but the story set pieces get world-shatteringly epic as you progress through the story and expansions. So I'm sure you're gonna have a BLAST!

[@AshtailFoxclaw]

Silverwaste was the first introduction to bigger META events as they're called, which are full map events. That and Dragonstand is my two favourite maps for now, 1 out of nostalgia more than anything.

[@wyldlibrarian3549]

THANKS for this series. You are right - the combat in this game is unbelievably good though you might say a little complex for new players. I guess the first boss is over 10 years old now so in comparison to its peers, it was good - maybe they should revamp it a bit :D anyhoo Loving the look of your charac. - thats some good fashion wars there ! And as for bobble head - well every game has weird things even final fantasy has weird stuff like that - fun effects !

[@KROOF]

I had a feeling this was coming. XD

[@TrueNargin]

Living World Season 1 is basically just a story arc that was happening back before the first expansion but after base game story. Every few weeks (I think) they'd release another chapter in the story and the world kinda changed dynamically with that. There was a time where Lion's Arch got invaded by this big villan and was razed and completely destroyed. The story gradually moved forward each patch with everyone regrouping and striking back, eventually resulting in a final battle where the villian was defeated. Then the story shifted to rebuilding the city and then there was Season 2 with a new threat looming on the horizon and the story smoothly transitioned into the release of the expansion. It was really interesting for me at the time. I don't know exactly how it works for new players but I hope you'll enjoy it if you end up buying it. There are more seasons of Living World because this sorta stuff happened after each expansion although I don't recall anything as big as utter destruction of the main hub ever happening again but the other seasons added tons of new zones around the world with their own gimmicks and events happening there. In general the main focus of the story of GW2 were the Elder Dragons - Zhaitan, Modremoth, Kralkatorrik, Jormag, Primordus and a deep sea dragon whose name was unknown in the base game so maybe I shouldn't say. It was the drive behind the overarching story that GW 2 developed from the base game through 3 expansions and 5 seasons of Living World up to the latest expansion - End of Dragons and it seems this enormous story arc has finally concluded.

[@IronBrutzler]

Always come back to Guild Wars 2 and i just love that my Char from release is still playable and that you really can explore the zones and never get bored of content because you can always do something else that has a meaning. I could complete Maps or working on my Mounts or just going for mastery point.

[@KeithEngel]

Living world is simply the patches that came out between expansions that continue story as well as introduce a new zone to the map. They are initially free when they come out, but then cost money afterwards about 10 dollars for a full living world content.

[@Forgotten_Moon]

Thank you Preach, I'm not sure how long you can go... or how long you can tolerate with GW2 lol bc for me, it starts getting good after HoT and it is a long journey... So my lowest expectation is, at least finishing living world season 3. My best expectation is to see you get griffon and skyscale. My unrealistic wish is you start to like the story since living world season 3 ;D Happy journey O/

[@Chessrook44]

To explain Living World... When it was first billed, the idea was that as the story continued, the world itself would change. So they were smaller updates and content and story injections that would change the face of the world itself, such as taking a verdant countryside and turning it into a toxic wasteland, or filling an area with refugees, or in one case entirely destroying a city. That was the first season, and it didn't get the best reception. Further Living World seasons would instead have new maps added in with each story content injection. If it's story you care about, then no, you can't really skip the Living Story. It is important. Season 1 actually introduces the party of companions that will be joining you throughout the REST of the story from then on.

[@EpicFacePalmskerak]

i tried guild wars 2 after seeing the beta coverage from Totalbiscuit and Jesse Cox, this game will always have a special place in my heart. I love exploring

[@josechianetta]

if you plan on doing the living world seasons (wich are mini expansions on its own after HoT at least) I recomend you check the "season of the dragons" achievement, it rewards a legendary trinket and you complete it by doing different quests and events on all the living world seasons. also. achievements is how gw2 handles quests, a ton of stuff ask you to complete achievements to progress on some stuff, like for example crafting a precursor for doing a legendary, getting some ascended gear or really cool looking armor and trinkets

[@kungsmurfen]

I really hope he takes the time to check out world vs world sometime!

[@macabrecreation1067]

Oooh, I can't wait to see your reaction when you start exploring The Heart of Thorns maps. 😁

[@TammieTV]

Living world Story are basicly sort of mini expansions that happen in between the expansion releases that happen in small episode packs. when you are playing while they launch you get them completely for free.

[@jermplaysgames93]

the Aviator's Memory Box is a pretty funny item to see used. especially with the norn players, because they go T-pose and make airplane noises when running around

[@ollie8788]

Doing the living world before Heart of Thorns is recommended if you want to know the story that sets up the expansion. You also get more mastery and talent points during the living world questing zones.

[@aurawind1597]

keep at it! you are barely scraping the surface of GW2

[@V0rwArd]

Wasnt living world S1 the thing with lions arch, which you cant really play anymore?

[@anthonymaringelli966]

if you like the serious dragon stuff it just gets better, wait for kralkatroik

[@justHieuNgo]

Glad you are enjoying the game. My opinion? Heart of Thorns is the best expansion, you should definitely try that, namely the fantastic meta events, with the amazing possible rewards. (Reset Auric Basin meta =D)

[@Aquilenne]

Also Verdant Brink with gliding and mushroom masteries is probably the most fun map to explore in the game.

[@goosemoose2011]

Even Dragon Stand is a good map. From what I have seen, the zone a lot of players have an issue with is Tangled Depths in Heart of Thorns.

[@dark_praetor]

I cant wait to see the grind for Griffon and Skyscale

[@XemnasTM]

One thing I really appreciate about the Deva for GW2, is the fully came out and admitted, that they agree the Zhaitan fight fucking sucked, and was way too small scale for a fight against an Elder Dragon. They certainly fix that in the future expansions and Living World season.

[@borisguy1986]

I for one enjoyed the base game story and wasn’t disappointed. Played it with a friend.

[@silveriusgaming]

looking for your thoughts when you discover the "combo field / finisher" mecanic..

[@xAce8]

15:20 Some tips from someone that enjoy playing Vindicator. 1. Take Legendary Alliance and use Scavenger Burst for initial Quickness + Fury, almost spam-able. 2. Use Phantom Onslaught or Nomad Alliance to get into melee range faster. 3. "Evade" deals a lot of damage, and it will proc Forerunner of Death for few seconds when hit, that'll give you extra +15% damage So ideally you want to open with "evade/drop" but sometime i open with Burst>Onslaught>Drop>Mist if the mob is not in melee range. This won't give you the best DPS but the initial burst pretty high and i really enjoy it more.

[@artsveiman7776]

if you have the expansions (including End of Dragons) and are willing to cheat a bit, you can join a guild and if they have the Cantha Guild hall, you can go to Cantha, which is an area from the newest expansion, and get a boat there.

[@Velstat141]

Now play PoF and fight one of the best last boss fights ever.

[@bigbo8474]

You're forgetting he has to navigate the Heart of Thorns zones, which is easily the worst part of the game.

[@selendile030]

@@bigbo8474 that’s a STRONG disagree. I loved every second of HoT. Mounts killed those old zones, sadly.

[@Velstat141]

@@bigbo8474 forgot about how trash HoT is the first time you play it. after the first time, hot is reduced to hero point trains and a reason to finally use teleport to friend items :P

[@khymaaren]

@@bigbo8474 I had the complete opposite experience. The challenge of learning to navigate the maps and finding paths and shortcuts was one of my favourite parts of the expansion.

[@pirateFinn]

Just never do those bosses as a Bladesworn, I made that mistake and soft locked myself multiple times on those bosses as they clearly were not designed for you to shit out such hard hitting single attacks with Dragonslash.

[@MrDisphoric]

The gearing is fantastic in GW2. As Mike found you can get solid gear right at cap, and from there the upgrades (all the way to legendary) are entirely crafted. Because of the horizontal progress too you can step away and come back and your character isn't way behind on gear. Living world is worth doing next if Mike wants to keep story continuation, but I can't wait for him to experience the HoTs maps, they are peak MMO map design in my opinion.

[@mebrandonb]

The gearing in gw2 is pretty awesome. I love being able to step away from the game for a long time and then come back and not be behind. It's also great for people who like playing alts, just go buy it and play. You can even craft legendary gear eventually that let's you pick the stats you want on it! Definitely a long term goal, but imagine if wow would allow for that level of flexibility.

[@kimaclaret]

It'll be interesting to see if Mike keeps an active interest in GW2 going forward after all this.

[@Sleepgodx]

Would highly recommend taking an hour or so to explore the pvp island lobby, a really good system including scaling levels and gear

[@tomia89]

best place to test new charachter if you want to level it up and how it works cause you can go there at level 2 and its boost you to 80

[@anitaszilagyi9357]

At the end of End of dragons, I cried, as you experience the effect of the main story. And the words of Joko are also worth paying attention to, because what you think helped whit it, has made a lot of damage in others life. The commander is not a shiny perfect "hero" more like an unperfect being that try to make his/her home to survive.

[@darkwulf2k]

Zhitans fight might be horrid. The music is so epic during the fight, and the music after is still one of my all time favorite songs in a video game with "Fear Not This Night". The game does get better, along with the boss fights. Also the cast goes from 50 to like 8ish important characters, so Preach will probably enjoy it. Like commented below, do the Living Stories cuz they are basically like the 0.4/0.5 msq patch content of FFXIV. They build up to what the next expac is going to be about. GW2 I feel is the best casual mmo out there. The horizontal prog allows you to jump in an out as you please without and fear of not being able to do things. Very little FOMO as there are some skins not easily obtainable anymore. Only thing I wish he could of seen was what Fractals were to what they are now. Glad he seems to be enjoying this.

[@markwltz6879]

living world is a story that fills between expansions, and builds up to the opening of the next expansion, think of itas a massive pre patch on wow for season 1, later seasons are stories in themselves like mini campaigns that fill in lore and flesh out the world and have huge bosses

[@ChrisTheYeti]

The hair is looking great Preach!!!

[@Boxkar24]

The thing for me about the gear section is, yes it is cool that you can just go buy very good gear off the trading post, the issue I have is that my characters (my guardian specifically) has been wearing the same stuff now for nearly 10 years. I'm not entirely sure how I truly feel about that. On one hand, like Preach said, yeah I've got my gear don't have to worry about nothing else but overtime just feels like I've nothing really to look forward to/work towards.

[@Tankmasterxyz]

Living world is smaller content updates between expansions. The story typically sets up the next expansion and was free to active players when they were released. If someone wasn’t active during that season they have to pay to unlock them.

[@netherialdreyrimani]

if they had you and a party pushing up ruined buildings collapsing on each other, avoiding environmental hazards to make your way to an airship crashed at the top, picking up peices of the airship cannons along the way or something, with the undead tentacle snake things lurching in and attacking every so often that you had to kill before moving on, it would have been more interesting, and have the whole party firing at will on the dragon at the end for cinematic effect. boom keeps the bad ass scenery while giving you something to do that feels meaningful.

[@jmbrady1]

the final encounter of the base game's main story used to be a lot harder and being able to solo it was actually a challenge

[@tsubrando]

They kinda recreated the zhaitan fight among other elder dragons in one of the end game instanced content, and it was rated as the hardest content.

[@drax.2795]

To andurstand the story you have to do season 1 and 2, then jump to heart of thorns, I did the opposite and I was very lost with the story

[@Lsano32]

On the gearing I love how you can if you want to craft ascended gear and it will be good for multiple expansion’s also base story is not the greatest but later on it’s great

[@michaelreilly6621]

Do they still have the pilot helms in the game? The ones that make your character stretch arms out like wings and make plane noises?

[@jcm2606]

Yes. He actually got trolled with a pair in one of his streams, and couldn't figure out how to remove it.

[@mrbastos]

I played during beta and for a while after launch, but wow I am kinda wanting to start it up again.

[@camoril]

so happy the games gets the love it deserves..can't wait to see what he thinks about the skyscale collections LOL

[@pieguy1785]

Have they changed it or do you not have a mount yet? If you are i would really recommend getting the quick ones from path of fire next because they make traversing the maps much easier in Heart of Thorns

[@hungryb4dinner]

he has mounted already

[@raky76]

Living world is basically a set of story quests for the timeline of the world and expansions - The early ones are the worst, LW 1 went out as LW2 changed things in the world, if you were an active player during their release they were free, if you missed them you can purchase them.. They eventually figured out world phasing to re-introduce earlier LW stories so people could do them if they had missed them at the time, as when each one came out it overwrote and stopped access to the latter. Some unique cosmetics on offer.

[@Juniorweed1]

do you get given a roller beetle if you start a race without unlocking it?

[@jpeg.jordaan]

Living world is/was the story when it came out and its free when it drops - worth doing for some of the achievements and items, as well as area unlocks but can be expensive for normal players. They do cycle it back in free now and again.

[@wiiagent]

completely agree about the vanilla main story