April 19th Patch - Thoughts?

[Sithicus 98]

I was just wondering what you guys thought about last night's patch? Overall I think there have been a lot of interesting changes. I especially like what they have done with Fractals. I really like that you can do one of the Daily Fractals (i.e. yesterday was Snowblind, Urban Battleground and Dredge) on a difficulty above 75 and then get the rewards for all 4 tiers of that daily at once!

I like the reinvigoration of HoT maps, especially the way that more keys seem to be given out now, so you aren't spending currency on keys to unlock chests and finding it a chore to save up lots of currency for the various items you have to buy. 

Dungeons too, the token rewards are much better, and the new type of Dungeon Master achievement is a good way to incentivize more people to run dungeon paths. At the moment I'm trying to run as much Caudecus Manor and Arah as possible in order to finish those Dungeon collections for the Ascended accessories.

So what things did you all like? Or dislike for that matter?

[Lacie 16]

I had no idea something this big was coming and it caught me totally unprepared I am still a little lost in the patch notes and I'm probably missing half the changes, but the highlight for me was definitely the level 80 boost and the shared inventory slot (didn't have any before). Even thought I might never use it, I still think it was an awesome thing to do... only now I'm afraid I will get stuck in that trial mode for too long

Other than that, I completely agree with HoT maps and dungeons changes. The grind in HoT really got on my nerves, because it took forever to level up some of the masteries, so I really hope it will go at least a little faster now and as for dungeons I just hope this change will motivate more people to do them... I've only done a few and I'd really like to try out the harder ones. Also the token increase is awesome, I might actually get some dungeon armor someday!

Don't know about fractals, I was doing them only for a short time before the patch hit. But I guess with those new achievements it won't be as repetitive and the increase of ascended drops also looks pretty promising.

What I don't like is the reaper change, because I just finished leveling my necro, decided to go hybrid condi as it looked pretty viable and now I'm just not sure if I haven't wasted all that gold for nothing. But I'm not that experienced in this field to criticise the changes constructively.

And yeah, I think that's pretty much it for now. In summary, I'm really happy with this patch (if I leave out the random crashing that occured and was hopefully fixed afterwards)

[Arvinthir 38]

I gotta say, I'm liking the patch overall  I'm not sure about the giant amount of gold they are suddenly giving away with dailies, boss rewards, chest rewards, HoT map rewards, etc.

The fractal changes, as Sithi said, are awesome. I can finally do other fractals without having to find a dedicated climbing group! 
As for dungeons, I like it. Dungeons are a great pick-it-up content for newer players and are enjoyable for the veterans. But what I like most is the bonus tokens. I finally don't have to grind AC for a set of monk runes

And the new dailies are also great, some variety was needed (and we got daily JPs!!!). I have no idea why they are giving free 2g/day away now, since you do 1 pvp match and even if you do very poorly, you go look at a vista and voila, free money.

Plus now that it isn't such a chore, I'll finally get around to levelling in HoT again. ^^

Forgot to add this, farming maxed out GHs now gives orichalcum and ancient logs!

Edited April 20, 2016 by Arvinthir

[Vortok 2]

I'll add my 2 cents about WvW changes as I find myself playing this a lot lately.

Huge thing is the reward tracks similiar to PvP ones - I finally feel that running arround and capturing camps/towers that are recaptured half an hour ago has some sens

The not-so-big-as-advertised changes to the desert borders maps are also nice - no barricades and WP unlock with lvl of the keep is very nice for map mobility on this huge maps...

Some smaller (objectives lvls on the map) and bigger (autoloot !!!!!) quality of life changes are also a nice addition.

The biggest change will come friday evening with reset with the server pairing and it remains to be seen whether it was a very good or very bad idea and implementation...

[Epertyufi 32]

I also really like the changes they did to fractals. Mossman after Mossman had its charms as a daily meditative exercise but it sure can get boring. Also as Arvinthir mentioned I expect it to be easier to finish levels other than the swamplands and the very few that were in the daily rotation before. One thing I noticed though is that I haven't really got any Tomes of Knowledge from the new fractal dailies (tier 1-3)

As for dungeons, I was very excited about them when I started playing. They were my favorite thing in GW1 and my favorite thing to do in GW2 to level up my characters. Finding parties for AC and CM were kind of easy but soon I had to realise that apart from people who were leveling their alts and some farmers, dungeons really weren't as popular as it first seemed. I'm still missing most paths because after some time I just gave up looking for groups. So far I haven't checked out the new rewards yet, but yeah I'm very happy that they are encouraging people to return to the dungeons  

I also couldn't yet check out the WvW changes but I am very excited for the new reward system. I was hoping that they would bring back the old borderlands but with all these other cool new things happening I'm currently unable to rage out on that  Ooh and account bound proofs of heroics ftw :3

I still have some reading to do on the update notes and also have to check out HoT changes ( \o/ xp boost \o/ more time in DS \o/ bigger rewards \o/ admdkgkdfgnd ) and so many other things. Oooh yeah and DPS meter and asc gear for magnetite shards (not that I have a considerable amount, but still) and and and... just so many cool things. I just wish I could return my lvl80 booster in exchange for some free time because lacking those just when such an update hits is.... bleh

Oh and don't be fooled by my excitement ANet... I still haven't forgotten nor forgiven you guys not implementing build templates and all the cool GW1 emotes >_<

Edited April 20, 2016 by Epertyufi

[Daus 15]

Personally, I am really pleased with the changes, especially when it comes to the Warrior stuff. Now, wandering solo in HoT maps is a lot more viable, and it's great. I like the daily changes as well. They provide incentive to explore everything, or in my case, revisit all the places, instead of just popping to certain waypoints just for the sake of farming materials for 15 minutes. Speaking of farming, I also like the changes in the HoT maps and their rewards. I want to go there a lot more often, even though I spent so much time around the area anyway. Fractal overhaul and dungeon changes might be my favourite though. It makes me want to play the game more. I needed improved PvE content, and I am especially happy that I won't have to be in Swamplands of the Mists as often anymore. In fact, I am way more interested in going to Cliffside, now that they made it less of a chore.

However, I am not sure that throwing gold at people will be good. It might lead to some severe inflation. I am still not sure though. I am watching the TP for a more complete opinion. Also, I hope that the increased ascended drop chance will actually give me some ascended. I've got to gear 9 more characters, and I am not going to craft every single thing that is needed.

[Vortok 2]

24 minutes ago, Daus said:

increased ascended drop chance

Where did that come from ? I'm pretty sure it was not in the patchnotes...

[Daus 15]

46 minutes ago, Vortok said:

Where did that come from ? I'm pretty sure it was not in the patchnotes...

I don't know either. Someone else above mentioned it. I thought I had missed something and didn't feel like double checking.

EDIT: I looked at the thread again, and I see that no one mentioned it. Where did I even see it? Might have been a misread on my part. Probably my brain registered the better rewards as that. Disregard it. Brain farts are a regular occurrence.

Edited April 21, 2016 by Daus

[Epertyufi 32]

20 minutes ago, Daus said:

I don't know either. Someone else above mentioned it. I thought I had missed something and didn't feel like double checking.

EDIT: I looked at the thread again, and I see that no one mentioned it. Where did I even see it? Might have been a misread on my part. Probably my brain registered the better rewards as that. Disregard it. Brain farts are a regular occurrence.

I've read it too, as well as the mention of the old and new borderlands rotating every 3 months and some other stuff. I've seen it on another community website yesterday, where it was pointed out in the comments that these were plans discussed in March (on reddit probably?). I have not yet found any official comment on whether the fractal drop rate changes were included in the April patch.

Edited April 21, 2016 by Epertyufi

[Lacie 16]

1 hour ago, Vortok said:

Where did that come from ? I'm pretty sure it was not in the patchnotes...

I wrote that, I think. Don't know about patch notes, but it was mentioned by one of the devs in AMA session on reddit, that the chance of getting ascended drop from fractals is a lot better now ^^ But maybe I just didn't understand it right, idk.