Hall of Monuments rewards: Thoughts?

[unruly]

Anyone else here somewhat disappointed with the way the HoM rewards turned out? I wasn't exactly expecting items of godlike power or anything, but I was expecting something that would give me a bit of a leg up at the start, at least with the Heirloom gear. Instead, you get skins that you can apply to your other gear, which definitely isn't something I was expecting.

I know they had said that they were working on a way to keep the HoM rewards valuable to players beyond the start of the game, but when they said that I was thinking they would do something like the heirloom items in WoW. So you'd get the item and it's got a set of stats on it that increase or decrease based on your level. I remember them being really good up to about level 30 in WoW, because you don't have to worry about being stuck with under-leveled gear, but after that point it's fairly easy to get gear that's got better stats through running instances. Once you get close to max level(about 70-ish) the items became mostly worthless to you though.

It just seems like they could have done something better with them than making them be optional item skins. And it makes me glad that I didn't spend a lot of time grinding out the remaining reward points beyond the 20-some that I got relatively naturally. I guess it comes down to them not wanting to alienate people who are new to the game, but I think they could have done better after making the fuss they did about the Hall of Monuments, and how it would tie into GW2, shortly after GWEN came out.

And, not related to the HoM but still disappointing, the summonable banker golem that I got with the Digital Deluxe edition being limited to 4 days of use? Really? They never mentioned that on the website, they just said that it was an in-game item. I was under the impression that it would be a permanent item, like the mini-Rytlock is.

What are you guys' thoughts on the matter? Am I just coming off as an entitled and whiny brat who really has nothing to complain about, or were you guys somewhat disappointed too?

[zanchito]

The bank golem limitation was on the website, it's mostly the reason I didn't get the deluxe edition, most of the added stuff was limited in time. And that's a real shame, I agree, it's not like an ubiquitous bank is something gamebreaking.

About the HoM, I like the way you can always get the stuff, and I was expecting items too, but I think I kinda like the skins option better.

[apricotsoup]

I far prefer the skins option that we have to simple power items, now I get to have the pretty things without it impacting my game and making things a bit too easy at the start.

I just wish there was less running around in the instance.

[MOKKA]

I dont mind the rewards themselves that much, at least that way I can use them for as long as I want. I'm a little bit dissapointet in the way theRewards themselves are presented.
Back when the rewards got announced I said: 'I hope they don't turn the hall into a store.' And what happened? The hall of monuments essentially is a store, with three additional NPCs for a at least a little bit of fluff.

I was hoping for a little bit more atmosphere and decoration. My hall is pretty much full, and when I enter it in GW1 it looks like a museum, but when I enter the same hall in GW2? Nothing. At least put some crumbled monuments on the pedestrals or something, create some klind of direct connection between my old and my new characters. The way it's implemented right now, makes the hall itself almost obsolet. They didn't had to create such big structure to just host a store.

I'm pretty sure, the Hall was a 'low priority' target for ArenaNet and it shows, they certainly had better things to do in the last months then to decorate a small room. I guess the hall was such a low priority that it was among the last things they implemented, maybe they even had to rush it. This could also explain why it was so bugged at the start.

I certainly can understand that, but it's still somewhat sad.

[sendmark]

It definitely feels like it was their lowest priority, and in fairness to them people with a wellstocked HoM were going to be buying the game anyway. Saying that, the flaming dragon sword graphic is particularly awesome and I like that it has your pets wandering around inside. The Jellyfish and Moa look really good.

[Screwie]

I far prefer the skins option that we have to simple power items, now I get to have the pretty things without it impacting my game and making things a bit too easy at the start..

This too. As skins I can use them as often as I want, and on top of any weapon or armour piece I want, without having to use up transmutation stones to do so.

As for the hall itself, I was impressed by its atmosphere and the attention to detail as a whole (I really liked the fact the xunlai chests were still there). It would have been nice to have some ruined statues or other evidence of your personalised achievements (maybe some custom personalised blurb from the historian), but the lack of this didn't detract so much from the hall to ruin the experience for me.

[BobbyFizz]

It would have been nice to have some ruined statues

This is the only thing I'm slighty gutted about, it would have been great to see ruined version of the statues.

Otherwise, I love the rewards, put the heavy and medium sets on my guardian and ranger in pvp straight away, the flaming sword looks bloody brilliant, as does the longbow. I'm really glad I made it to 27/50, and was considering doing the full 30/50 afterwards up until GW2 launched, now I really don't care.

I would have been happy with just the armour.

[FriendlyFire]

This too. As skins I can use them as often as I want, and on top of any weapon or armour piece I want, without having to use up transmutation stones to do so.

As for the hall itself, I was impressed by its atmosphere and the attention to detail as a whole (I really liked the fact the xunlai chests were still there). It would have been nice to have some ruined statues or other evidence of your personalised achievements (maybe some custom personalised blurb from the historian), but the lack of this didn't detract so much from the hall to ruin the experience for me.

Agreed with all of this. Honestly I'd expected the rewards to just be a vendor in your home city. That they recreated the entirety of the Eye of the North (don't be fooled, you can't just copy/paste the old model or textures, it wouldn't look good), made it look all crumbled and weathered, and then added a vendor there, is fairly awesome.

Also, I wasn't sure. Those skins are infinite? It's not one per character or per account? I didn't dare take any just in case.

[wahwah]

Yeah you can use them as often as you like :)

[zanchito]

Actually I think they are using a straight import of the Pyre Fierceshot GW1 model in th Plains of Ashford, for the Monument of Victory. It looked goofy but it's a cool detail in the "breaking the 4th wall" way.

[Winged Nazgul]

I am sooooo glad I didn't go out of my way to get HoM points after seeing what the rewards actually turned out to be.

[Surlywombat]

I'm very pleased with it, as mentioned the fact that the Xunlai chests are there spick and span put a huge smile on my face. Statues would have been interesting, but I think I prefer the abandoned (and possibly looted) look to the place than statues that didn't really match up to how I had them.

I was very worried that the armour and weapons would be useless very quickly and the only things worth having would be the pets. Scaling weapons would have worked in some ways, but then you lose the excitement of actually finding something decent. Never really liked heirlooms in that other game.

[MOKKA]

I would love to have a way to open the Xunlai Chest as I still have a lot of money on my GW1 account.

[manveruppd]

I was kinda disappointed too at first. I thought that they were going to give you starter weapons, and that you'd be able to use a transmutation stone to transfer their skins to stuff you got later. That would've been nice for a starting character cause it would have been handy to have a bunch of starter weapons at level 1 so you can unlock all your weapon skills right away, rather than be dependent on drops and quest rewards to get new weapons usable for your class. However, in the long run, you'd have been forced to abandon those weapons pretty quickly or spend gems (and therefore cash) on transmutation stones to transfer the skin to more powerful weapons, so giving you free skins instead of actual starter weapons is actually a lot more generous. It wouldn't have been a nice way to treat their most loyal customers, forcing them to spend real money to buy dozens of transmutation stones just so they can keep the look that was supposedly a reward for being with them all the way since 2005, would it?


I would love to have a way to open the Xunlai Chest as I still have a lot of money on my GW1 account.
Lol, well you should've used them on fancy armours for more HOM points then! :D

[MOKKA]

Lol, well you should've used them on fancy armours for more HOM points then! :D

How? My monument is already full. Well besides the Fissure of Woe-armour, but that thing is ugly as hell and is also beyond my financial capabilities.
I was considering to give it away at some point, but since most players in online games are ungrateful brats, I decided to keep it.

[harhis23]

I am more that willing to accept it. You know, to refuse an offer is an insult. lol

Anyways. I was so eager to calculate the points I earned when I heard about the weapons, armor skins, companions, pets, etc. that I would get if I redeem the points. However, same as you guys, I was disappointment. Well, business is business. To be dependent on the rewards we get in order to upgrade our weapons, transmute, etc. is not a good option. Obviously, we need to spend money for the upgrades we prefer to make.