Path of Fire is a much better expansion than Heart of Thorns, and the best part about it is it will only set you back $30. The Guild Wars 2 base game is already free to play, and if you want both expansions, you can get them combined for $50. You are essentially getting years worth of content for the price of one game. If you have already played Guild Wars 2 before but have left for one reason or another and are on the fence about returning, I could not recommend a better time to come back. The Guild Wars 2 of 2017 is a very different game then you probably remember, and that's a good thing. Change in MMOs keeps them fresh and fun for years to come, and Guild Wars 2 embraces this better than any other MMO on the market. Praise Joko!
Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire continues the story with an imaginative and fun campaign filled with great character moments and a reverence for the world of Tyria that is infectious. The addition of mounts that feel more than a speed boost is a welcome one but the lack of dungeon and raid content sticks out.
A trip to the vast Crystal Desert is worth every penny if you’re mainly into PvE (the new maps are one-time affairs though due to lack of meta events), but it does not offer much to those who prefer PvP or WvW. [13/2017, p.44]
Guild Wars 2 goes back to its roots. The new zones offer an upbeat and exciting adventure filled with better events and challenges than Heart of Thornes.
It's disappointing how many issues Guild War 2's second expansion Path of Fire has. Whether it's the lack of content, numerous bugs (some fixed, others that still exist), or rushed plot, there's a lot that hinders what is otherwise a surprisingly great expansion.
As someone who is writing the review almost 3 years later after seeing the content age I still think its a very good expansion. Especially if i count that there also came 6 more content updates (Living World) .
Writing this a few years after the fact so I'll keep this quick! The story was good if a little bland compared to the following Living World content releases. But cinematically it is one of the high points of the franchise, the set pieces spectacular! It's brought down by the lack of meta events which means the maps are less replayable than many other areas of the game. Also bringing down the score slightly is the railroading GW2 used to be known for, pushing you VERY quickly through the latter third of the expansion story. So fast was it that we got 5 maps in total but the last two occupied maybe 1/8 of the game's story.
After HOT the maps fells way to simple, but maybe players needed less verticality. The introduced mounts are the best, their implementation is very unique in the MMO genre. Story was ok. My biggest complaint is the path Anet choose after introducing mounts: PAY FOR THE SKINS or play with just the one. ZERO skins for being good player and playing the game, nothing. What of the most annoying things is the ever present bug that makes your mount invisible, and your character stuck in place because somehow basic skin messes thing up. When I bought skins from gem shop and used them on mounts everything was fixed.
PvE review: Mount mechanics are clunky and controlling them is a pain. They added like 4 boss mechanics spread out between about 10 legendary bounties that everyone just swarms for a few minutes and moves on. The new map metas are either impossible to do because nobody knows they're happening or impossible to do because they were balanced poorly. The only thing to do after you beat the story is get a flying mount and do collection achievements for a not-so-great exotic set. Half of the new specializations are a mess and double the amount of key inputs. Game is rife with little annoyances that will have you quitting in a rage within 2 weeks, guaranteed. Like, HoT before it, wait until they get their act together before you bother with this one.
Ok, im complite all maps, there is 0 METAs and Bosses. All posibly METAS (from reddit) fake its event like Orr tamples nothing more.
GW2 for me was always about cool METAs, Boss fights, crazy epic big events. PoF have nothing of this. IM REAALY hope for META Krakatorik in future. LVL of disspointment 10/10
Also MAPS have no meta, old players returned alreyde 2 HoT, Casuals also lost coze map a big and they cant do events solo and just give up. Desert are really desert now. bad jobe you really dont know how 2 balance and know only 1 option ALL MAPS META OR 0 MAPS METa..... pffff
also no new Raids fractals dungeon WwW and Spvp mod ets...