In this issue of MMO Co-Opportunities, we’ll be spotlighting the recently released second expansion to Guild Wars 2, Path of Fire. Specifically, we’ll be examining how its three big features (new story/map content, mounts, and new Elite Specializations) stack up in terms of co-opportunity capability.
First, a brief descriptive introduction of each of these new features, starting with the new story and map content. Following the events of Living Story: Season 3, Path of Fire opens up a brand new region of the world: the Crystal Desert. The expansion’s new campaign story takes characters across five new zones (the Crystal Oasis, Desert Highlands, Elon Riverlands, The Desolation, and the Domain of Vabbi) as they try to unravel the long mystery of the disappearance of the Gods from the world.
These new zones provide access to unlocking mounts, the expansion’s brand new Mastery mechanic. Like the first expansion, Path of Fire doesn’t increase the normal character level cap; instead, it adds in more Mastery Paths which grant Mastery levels. Mastery levels track player progress completely separate from character advancement (Mastery levels are even shared across all characters on an account). Mounts give players new and exciting ways to traverse the world, just like how Gliding Masteries did in Heart of Thorns. Each mount (most being unlocked by completing a particular renown heart and paying an amount of gold) has their own unique way of navigating the world, with enhanced abilities being unlocked as your progress deeper and deeper into its particular mastery track. While many of the Elite Specializations are thematically based on ideas associated with the new zones, players won’t need to visit the Crystal Desert to unlock of advance them. Like the Elite Specializations originally introduced in Heart of Thorns, they simply require character level 80 to unlock and can be advanced through the collection of Hero Points anywhere in the world. Players should note that only one Elite Specialization can be equipped at a time, even though currently two exist for each profession. Each one introduces a new weapon option that requires the specialization be equipped to wield, as well as some new mechanic for the profession.
Now let’s get down to how each of these major features fare from a co-opportunities angle. Like most other Guild Wars 2 content before it, Path of Fire’s story content supports both solo and cooperative play with ease. I’ve discussed this at length before in my Guild Wars 2 and Heart of Thorns spotlights, so I won’t be reiterating on that aspect. I did run into one bug where a particular mission would break if attempted cooperatively, but it was obviously not intended and has hopefully been fixed by now. As far as quality and quantity, Path of Fire’s story felt reasonable in length (though a bit shorter than the first expansion), but a little disappointing for me personally in regard to its structure and plot. As a Guild Wars nut, though, I likely had unfair expectations of the story going into the expansion.
The new zones are a huge strength of the expansion, and it’s easy and fun to explore them with your friends, doing renown hearts and events and collecting mastery points.. Unfortunately, however, the ease of this falls apart a bit with the introduction of some of the later mounts. To be perfectly clear, I really enjoy the new mount system. From a co-opportunity perspective, however, it has substantial flaws. The first mount (the Raptor) is gained in the very first mission of the expansion’s story and it possesses a special movement ability (a long leap forward) that allows mounted players to jump over small chasms. This ability can be upgraded with Mastery points after you reach unlock eligibility (through gaining Mastery XP), letting the Raptor leap farther. At the beginning, this just seems awesome with no potential drawbacks, but later you find out this upgrade is actually required to reach the second half of the Crystal Desert’s second zone, which in turn contains the second mount, effectively gating both character and mount progression.
Now, it’s not exceedingly challenging to get this upgrade with a small amount of time, but this represents the beginning of the fragmentation of accessibility. A player without this Raptor upgrade cannot easily access any of the zones past the first half of the second zone (Desert Highlands). The second mount, the Springer, is even more integral to reaching necessary areas for story advancement, and is also not awarded to players for free like the Raptor was. Though I can’t imagine any player reaching the Springer renown heart and not being able to afford the 1g cost, the mounts that follow it become more and more expensive. The Skimmer is 4g and the Jackal costs 20g, meaning the basic mounts all together cost a total of 25g. This is not an insignificant amount of gold to a casual player. Then there’s the ultimate mount, the Griffon. In addition to the scavenger hunt required to unlock it, the Griffon also requires that the player buy vendor items that come to a whopping total of 250g. Now, the Griffon is absolutely not required for any of the expansion’s content, but I know that a lot of people will be heartbroken when they find out they won’t be able to unlock this mount. I can confidently say that the vast majority of GW2 players will never have that amount of gold to spend on a mount, which is a real shame since the Griffon is really fun and useful. Most people who can afford it are (or have been at one time) deeply invested in the game. Unless you win the equivalent of the lottery in terms of item drops, 250g requires some degree of serious farming, which the casual player will likely never do.
This fragmenting of accessibility really impedes the sense of wonder and exploration when you’re playing the game with friends. In a lot of cases, people’s Mastery progressions won’t be the same as their friends. While this was a bit annoying at times in Heart of Thorns, it’s really a huge drag in Path of Fire. For example, if one player has unlocked an upgraded jump on a Springer, he may find that he can access an area on the map that his friend can’t. In this case, his choice is usually running on ahead without his friend or deciding to not explore the area, a no-win situation. Not only is exploring the expansion’s areas just fun, but it’s necessary for gaining more Hero Points (for unlocking more of your Elite Specialization) and Mastery Points (for upgrading your mounts). Suddenly, a group of players who wants to play together and not split up becomes impeded by the progression of the least progressed character, and that’s a big downer for everyone involved.
Happily, the disappointment of this missed mount co-opportunity is balanced out by the excellent Elite Specializations co-opportunity. In general, the new Elite Specializations excel by granting each profession another option of how to play, sometimes drastically different from all the options prior to the expansion’s release. For example, the new Thief Deadeye gives thieves access to the Rifle and, by extension, strong single-target damage at long range. While single-target damage doesn’t inherently scream “co-op play,” it enhances the Thief profession’s arsenal of roles it can fulfil for a group. Some of the new Elite Specializations (such as the Necromancer Scourge and Guardian Firebrand) specifically offer new ways to support a group of players, which I’m extremely pleased about, especially since the Necromancer previously lacked a strong group support build.
In summary, Path of Fire’s co-opportunity capability has its peaks, plateaus, and valleys. The cooperative mission play stays constant in relation to the core game and Heart of Thorns, the Mounts feel like a missed co-opportunity, and the new Elite Specializations continue their trend of expanding the game’s co-opportunities. Overall, despite the fact that I may personally like Path of Fire more than Heart of Thorns, I give the co-opportunity edge to Heart of Thorns. If you already have Heart of Thorns, however, Path of Fire is well worth picking up to play with friends. There's a ton of quality content in this expansion that is certain to keep you busy for a while. For some more impressions of the general gameplay, you can check out my impressions of the Path of Fire Preview Weekend.