I've actually met a few Arenanet employees over my time with the two GW games, and I really don't want to crap on their hard work, but if games are in any way a worthwhile endeavor, then it is ultimately a disservice not to point out problems. That being said, I'm going to start with some things that were really well done (skip all this if you just want the reason for not buying HoT):
- The game runs very well. I generally get decent framerates on my 5 year old gaming laptop with settings all but completely maxed (supersampling is a silly option anyways) and my longtime GW1 companion can even run the game on his significantly older laptop, albeit with very low settings. Other games that came out at the same time cannot say that!
- The game has a lovely aesthetic. I would have preferred something that kept the same level of realism as GW1, which has aged quite nicely for a 10 year old game, but GW2 has a very distinct, colorful style that stands out nicely in the crowd, and manages to squeeze a great deal of variety out of its locales. The UI and animated painting cut-scenes complement the rest of the game wonderfully. Sound design is also very appropriate and satisfying.
- Lip Syncing is amazing. This probably seems silly, but it stood out to me when playing the game how well all of the player races look when they are speaking (especially compared with the creepy marionette attempt that GW1 added in with Nightfall). I theorize that showing this off was half the reason for the talking head style cut-scenes that prevail through most of the personal story, but when you can make something that looks like a giant cat walking upright look like it is actually speaking English, it is worth showing off. I also theorize that it was the technical issues of getting the same result with the beaked Tengu that kept them from being a playable race.
- The Setting is rather unique. The elemental dragon thing isn't terribly original (possibly even a copout), but the choice of races was done almost exclusively to stand out from other games. Of special note are the Charr (who were kinda meant to be the opposite of typical Orc enemies in fantasy games in GW1) and the Sylvari, who are probably the best execution of sentient plant life in a game. Even the secondary races like Skritt and Quaggan are more interesting than most. There are also just lots of little details about culture and history that are nice.
- Special Events are massive. Holidays and other annual happenings are just on a scale way bigger than they ever were in GW1, Maybe some other games have had events similarly sized, but it seems unlikely.
- World vs World is a novel game mode. It has been fraught with difficulties in keeping it fun and fair, and I generally prefer to just play PvE, but it's big enough that they could have built a whole game around it exclusively and been successful. It is also probably where my wife spent most of her time, becoming a rather respected commander on our server.
- Multiple Guilds is nice. Being able to have 5 Guilds has allowed me to keep a small guild shared between me, my wife, and my old GW1 companion that acts as communal storage, my long time GW1 guild, and a much bigger guild that regularly does things like Guild Missions. There is something lost in the concept of loyalty, but I think the advantages far outweigh that.
- Traits are really cool. I would have loved Traits in GW1's build system. They aren't a replacement for the old build system, but they are a nice idea.
- Weapon variety is great. There is generally an optimal weapon choice for each class (usually the one with the highest DPS) so this idea doesn't really work as well as intended, but being able to give any class both ranged and melee weapons and just generally get out of the standard fantasy class mold is a wonderful thing.
- Can get a party quickly. It wasn't there initially, but the current LFG tool usually can pull together a party for a dungeon within a few minutes (assuming it is a path people don't actively avoid). Of course, this is at least in part due to the fact that group composition and any real strategy is irrelevant, but it's still a plus.
- Dye and wardrobe system is an improvement. It's pretty screwed up that you have to pay real money to change your clothes even after you have unlocked it, but being able to collect all of the colors and armor pieces in the game is a nice thing to work towards while you're working on more mechanically direct goals.
This probably sounds like there is a lot to like about the game, and there ultimately is. Guildmates and others I've talked to about it say that it's probably one of the best MMOs out there still. I personally don't feel like many of what would otherwise be good elements came together well and often work against each other to make the game significantly worse. Also, I and others long time GW1 fans don't feel like it's a very good sequel; it fails to carry forward the legacy of the gameplay that kept people playing it for 5 years despite the little actual content that was added. On the other hand, people like my wife who never really had the experience of playing GW1 still ultimately stopped playing because of the simple fact that most of the game is boring. Drakie, the creator of GW2Spidy.com stopped playing a long time ago because (paraphrasing a bit) it only has 40 hours of interesting gameplay. The rest sinks quite quickly into a repetitive grind in some ways worse than other games.
But what does this have to do with not buying the expansion? Shouldn't an expansion and its new content and features alleviate the boredom? Yes, but it ultimately comes down to justifying the cost. I spent $120 on the collector's edition of a game that at the point of them announcing the expansion I felt coolly about it at best. While compared to a $15/month subscription fee, I certainly got a deal, but I also felt like I had been misled a little bit by the idea of it being a sequel to one of my favorite games. But still, I definitely got some enjoyment out of it, and even if many of the later hours invested were done begrudgingly due to time gated reward systems. The true issue was the pricing for the expansion itself: $50 for just the expansion? Is there really enough enjoyment to be had to justify spending that much on top of what I spent? Wait, are they giving people the core game with the expansion FOR FREE??
I can understand the justification for it. People can't play the expansion without the base game (nevermind that they made campaigns in GW1 specifically to avoid this issue), so it makes sense to package them by default. But there's no previous owner discount of any sort. I was actually still considering whether or not to buy it up until they started letting people straight up play completely for free.
Both my wife and I agree on this: It felt like a slap in the face. There are justifications for this too: keeping up a decent playerbase is important for an MMO. People should be able to try something before they buy it. And no, free accounts don't get completely unrestricted access right away, but it's only a superficial security measure against bots. I expect the price of a game to go down over time, but never just drop all the way to free like that.
In some ways this is more honest. They've always acted like a free to play game, relying on manipulative drug dealer style tactics to constantly pressure people into spending real money on their in game store. It was always a bit insulting after spending that much money on the game initially. The vast majority of the new weapon skins are exclusive to the RNG skinner box Black Lion Chests that constantly show up in your inventory but can't open without spending money on a key. A large amount of the storyline rewards are the sort of "first taste is free" setup for items in the in-game store. This behavior is the true tipping point towards not buying the expansion.
I can't at this point recommend anyone to buy the game. If anything, wait until a few expansions are out and only pay once, since that is clearly how it is going to work. It doesn't really feel like enough solid content to justify spending that sort of money repeatedly just to be treated like you owe something to the game still. It makes me wish I had never bought the game in the first place.
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