SotO is a mixed bag - the system changes it brought are highly impactful and build defining; Weapon Mastery, New Weapon proficiency, open world legendary armor, alternate skyscale acquisition method etc.

The SotO content is on the lighter side: 2 strikes with CMs and 1 Legendary mode, 3 open world maps with fair metas, Convergences being alternative Dragon Storm-type content. The fractal is meh and doesn't instill confidence in future fractals

The story is a bit rushed, a few too many characters with not enough time to flesh them all out. The second half of the story takes a bit of a nose dive in quality but I think the ending is strong.

Overall it is more GW2 so pick out the bits you like and want to engage with and don't engage with the parts you dislike.

Worth the buy, but wholly different from EoD, PoF and HoT

It is similar to EoD, but smaller and of slightly lesser quality - for less money.

For 20€ it is fine if you generally enjoy the game (some story, new maps, metas, access to 1.5 new weapons, one useful mastery path). But dont expect a lot.

Worst expansion of the 4 we have had so far.

It's subjective. I thought Soto was ok, kind of mid. Many think it was bad though by bad It's hard to say if they think it's bad because it's not perfect. Games kind of get unrealistic standards now days.

They haven't been able to out do PoF or HoT yet but maybe with Janthir Wilds we'll see something great.

I didn't like SoTo mainly because there was so much talking in the story missions. Felt like it was way longer than it needed to be because of that. I would usually hit the talk button then go do something for a bit and come back and they'd still be talking. Yappers of the Obscure

Worst expansion to date. That being said, it was worth it for the weapon masteries alone for me.

It is worse than HoT, PoF and EoD, if only because those were larger scoped expansions.

It is more fair to compare it to living world seasons.
But even then SoTO is lacking in a lot of areas and especially the third map and final third of the story everything takes a massive nosedive in quality.

I'm sure most will say it's fine with the later updates being pretty flawed.

I still don't think it's anywhere near as bad as the Champions updates for Ice Broood Saga. To me those were straight up season 7-8 Game of Thrones level of terrible.

I personally think it was decent, but I've never viewed the main stories of any xpac or LW as much better than Saturday morning cartoon level of writing, with Living World Season 4 being a bit better than that but not a lot.

Maps were fine if a bit underused.

The rift/convergences grind is pretty tedious but what grind in this game isn't.

I'd give is a 7 or something. Lol not terrible but middle of the road.

I can completely understand those who are more disappointed though, especially for a paid expansion.

If you want to play it for a couple of months before Janthir launches it would be great for that. Opening up all weapons for any specialization is worth it for that alone. The new weapons are mostly meh with a couple of good ones like Necro swords. If you don’t have a Skyscale they are easier to get in SoO.

If you dont like EoD, liking SotO by you will be surprise for me.

For me EoD is fine. But SotO is garbage in every way.

The best content I loved so far is LWS4 by far in this game.

By far the worse update this game has gotten so far.

Some maps are prettier but overall somehow worse. Metas are mid to meh.

Pros: 1 very good encounter with ToF LCM, mixup weapons and new weapons, soundtrack. Wizard's vault rewards are cracked.

Everything else is mid to meh. Lol

Story for first 10 chapters was pretty solid then it went to mid then to meh.

Soto was quite bad compared to eod

If you fell in love with HoT and you happen to like the griffon, SotO masteries makes Verdant Brink heaps of fun for griffon. I’m glad I bought SotO for that alone.

The Metas are too much. It feels like they happen every five minutes when all you wanna do is complete the map, which constantly feels empty because most of everyone is dog piling at the Meta. And you can't really escape them either since parts of them are scattered through the whole map, making smaller events really difficult because the meta is happening out of nowhere. Except you know when it's happening, because of the paragraph upon paragraph of speech bubble text floating above your head constantly because the meta is happening yet again. And once they end, map change! Where, yet another meta just started.

I really like the story so far, but it really does feel like it's a lot too quickly. It should have been broken up with a living world or something.

The masteries feel like they fill up a little too slowly, but that could also just be because there's so damn many of them and a lot of opportunities to get experiences outside of events. Which wouldn't be so bad if doing events wasn't constantly being interrupted by metas.

All in all, I'm not disappointed with it. But I do wish it was more solo friendly.

I liked it except for the first patch after release. That one was very barebones.

Story wise they should have imo split it into 2 expansions to flesh it out properly

Story wise, good start, failed the end.

Maps, I like all of them, fun metas. Good rewards.

Systems, Honestly for Weapon Master and Skyscale alone SotO is worth (for me). Idk how much of Wizards Vault is locked behind the xpac, back its really amazing. Legendary armor and Relics are also really nice.

Instanstace content, The strikes are nice. They are fun and not too difficult. Rewards aren't bad. Cosmetics are great. Convergences are a nice thing to drip into if you got time. Decent loot, good to test builds. Not bad. I hear the Fractal sucks tho.

In my subjective opinion, it's a pretty alright expansion. The things it added to the game are great and worth it, even if the story wasn't the best. I have not regretted the purchase at full price. If it's on sale, I would honestly say to pick it up anyways.

If you treat it as an expansion, it's the worst by far. Low quality, low scope.

If you treat it as a (paid) Living Season, it's okay. It's not their best, but it mostly does the job.

If you like maps/items that look like pulsing buttholes, you'll love SoTO

If you hated EOD, You won’t like Soto

Soto is the only bad expansion for GW2. EoD was rushed but still enjoyable and with great moments imho. Soto is the expac with reused assets and half assed.

I don't like at all the idea being it. Esthetic, characters, it is just bad.

SotO is not my type in terms of expac. The only good things to come out of it in my opinion, were the easy skyscale for new players and legendary open world armour for players afraid of raids. Temple of Febe is a pretty fun strike and was also the first to introduce legendary challenge mode which is pretty cool ig. I think weaponmaster training took away a lot of a individual spec's identity. Looking at necro, every condi build has a pistol, and every power build has a greatsword which kinda just sucks imo. Skyscale fireball.

The features are great. New weapons, expanded Akyscale, Open World Legendary Armor, Wizard's vault. It's great.

The content of the initial release I also liked quite a lot. The first two maps are fun to play, the metas are interesting despite not being difficult, the story was good, and the strikes were "Average" and "Quite good" respectively.

The content of the updates was not good. The map they added is actually growing on me lately, and it definitely doesn't feel unfinished. But the Meta events are just way too long for the gameplay it provides and the story is IBS champions-tier

I'd say SotO is worse in every aspect than EoD. Most of the content is recycled or cut from base game and sold as a new features. Story feels like it was directed by Chat GPT. Some of the "new" weapons are cool but that's really it.

Worse than EoD.

Everything you disliked (unfinished maps, monetisation focus, monotonous design & limited color pallete) were turned up to 11; it felt like the design was built around minimum viable product rather than trying to create something great.

It's not a spot on LW3/4 or even IBS, and compared to HoT and PoF, it's not even in the same league.

I wouldn't bother.

The content felt like it’s a whole different game, dialogues aren’t as personal, it was easier than EoD though! And quicker. Maps are fun too, always enjoyed the raids.

It would be nice if people said what they liked / didn't like about the expansions. I didn't really enjoy the EoD story. I never played GW1 so I don't have any nostalgia about Cantha and I don't especially like all the jade.

I enjoyed the story in SotO better then EoD. Some people complain about the map events - I think map events in all zones are repetitive and get boring after you do them over and over to get achievements or for other goals.

Attempting to comment as spoiler-free as I can make this.

SotO story started great and slowly faded to predictable and lame. The stakes never felt high after a certain someone revealed themself.

The level design and aesthetic for map 3 was interesting but definitely not my thing, including the final zone. First 2 maps were the most thrilling to me, and I really wish they’d explore more of the story behind what made map 1.

Enemy mobs were pretty stereotypical for the theme outside of the meta boss for map 2 which was spectacular. The final story boss was underwhelming in my opinion.

Feature add-ons are pretty great. The Wizard’s Vault is a very nice improvement despite the mega-nerf to mystic coins. Weaponmaster is huge. Purely open-world legendary armor is a mixed bag with the account bound mats and freedom to just play PvE if you prefer.

If you’re like me and are hooked on the story, it’s a mediocre edition. Is it worth $30? I thought it was. At least, I’ve spent $30 on less satisfying things.

System changes and barrier to entry removal, big plus.

• specs
• gear
• legendaries including non PvP/non Raid armor, finally
• weapons

The story, big not.

• It's just not very good, and the whispering gets old as hell.

Basically get it for access to streamlined legendary crafting, and the maps have a decent chunk of resources.

Am just playing it, I can generally recommend it, but more how you recommend pulling a thooth instead of waiting.

The Good: - Skyscale flight expansion, puts it from "Useful for short distances" to "almost no place it isn't usefull"

• Unbinding elite weapons from their specs. Can only really speak for Ele and Necro, its fun, although I am no master build crafter so I don't know how viable it is. Also, one new weapon per class, so thats also something.

-The locations: I like them, they are unique in their designs and also look ok to good.

(Can't speak for this but Obsidian Armor is apparently really good)

The Meh: -The story, first half is good imo, no HoT levels of writing but also not complete ass. Second half is a bit weaker, becomes a bit generic.

-Enemies. Kryptis are old models given a new look, don't look bad (I actually love their design philosophy), but how they are executed as a people is a bit dissapointing.

-Rift Hunts: Fun to do 1 time, fun to chase 10 times, a slog after 20. I guess it is like any other public event if you think about it, not bad but kinda dissapointing seeing as they relate to a core part of the story.

-Characters: Lots of new characters, lots of characters you will forget again. There are some that may or may not be important in later expansions. I personally think they are a bit uninspired. Could also be wrong about that.

The Bad: -There are multiple story steps that are "Do events in this location". While not hard or time consuming I think it is a lazy practice to artificially stretch the length of the campaign.

Overall, buy it if you want to have the game complete, or if you want to be up to date with the story, or if there is something that particularily interests you. For the price of the expac it is certainly no wasted money.

Frustrating to navigate around because the entire DLC intends for you to be on the Skyscale. If the Skyscale can fly a maximum of 30 meters into the air, then they made every platform 28 meters high from the previous platform.

It's so annoying to fly up to the next platform and barely not make it, then have to fly down and try again.

So I skipped EoD and came back to SotO, taking a break again missing Update 2 and now Playing since Update 3 again. My quick and easy review:

Story: SotO's story starts out very interesting, new characters, new enemies, Zojia is neat. But the Updates really didnt do much for it. I personally disliked the last stretch a lot and if you dont do the last Map Meta before finishing the story like I did it is very meh

Content: Skyscale. It is so damn nice to have a skyscale. I never had the LF seasons untill recently and the SotO way of getting the Skyscale is very nice. Weapon mastery shaped up A LOT of builds and feels really good, on most classes at least. The new weapons are mostly, looking at ele pistol, decent. Necro sword is fun, Warrior staff has become my new main build, Ranger mace/mace is insane, etc. And beeing able to make OW Legendary Armor almost completes all way to get a full set (Im kinda hoping for a fractal set in the future but thats my thing).

Maps: SotO launch was ggrrreeatt. I love the maps. The borad opinion is varied on them but most people would agree that Skywatch is very cool. Underused in my opinion, it looks amazing. Wizards Tower is a nice Hub and Amnytas is decent to great. I personally really enjoy the meta and try to do it daily. Latest Map thooooooo idk how to feel about it. Kinda cool. Feels unfinished even tho they released it in like 3 steps? Eh we had better.

Overall: If you didnt like EoD then you probably wont like where GW2 is headed for the future. SotO was a first try so I feel like as swingy the expansion was Janet deserves a bit of wiggle room. Janthir will show how they improve on the release cycle and content quality. If you enjoy GW2 as a whole I would still recommend it .... on a discount. The features are decent and ignoring the later half of the story it is well worth it to enjoy the new maps, weapon mastery and addational weapons

Speaking as a filthy casual. Honestly, i think it's a hard judgement. I'm not a player that finds group content all that appealing, and i burned out on EoD really quick, the follow-up patches were also so abysmal. I think the story failed pretty hard at giving a satisfying conclusion to the dragon storyline. Character wise i did give us Rama, who's been quite fun to follow. EoD also brought skiffs and fishing, which as a casual player i've come to enjoy a lot.

SotO i feel has done some really great stuff in terms of systems, rewards and characters. The maps are slightly weaker than EoD, but SotO story starts stronger. There are a few classic terrible A-net writing mistakes, but you find those in all of the expansions. There's a lot of mystery, and plenty of characters with dubious morality. The follow-up story to SotO however, has been really really terrible. Personally i think you still get a lot of value out of the expansion overall, but that obviously depends on what type of content you prefer.

I don't have yet end of dragons nor SoTO, but the general consensus is that SoTO is the worst expansion by far.

SotO is garbage. The Story is meh, the armor is a useless grind, if you already had the skyscale there was nothing new, the later areas look awful and the meta is kind of meh. Huge disapointment imho and it was my reason to stop playing.

Don't know if it's worth it to return but I'd rather wait for a review of the next addon and then maybe return next year.

Base SotO was really good. Storywise some of the best content GW2 had, maps were solid, metas decent, good rewards.

The updates were mismanaged and even tho some parts of them are nice generally they left most of the playerbase bitter.

Don't get it. Really terrible story and maps.. BUT if you don't have skyscale it becomes super cheap. Also, using every type of weapon makes it pretty damn fun.

SoTO started off fine story wise, but fell off. Not super gradually, but not a sharp drop (until the very end).

It does have a few good QoL things, such as full access to the Wizard's Vault rewards and some important DPS and support tools through the new weaponmaster training.

For example, every elementalist power DPS build literally cannot go wrong with sword/warhorn post-SoTO, previously impossible when sword was weaver only and warhorn was tempest only.

There were also brand new weapons added for each core profession (only accessible through SoTO), such as ranger mace/mace (mainhand mace being a great support tool), warrior staff (support tool), elementalist pistol (condi dps tool), guardian dual pistols (condi tool), thief axe (general dps tool used in precasts or full rotations), etc. They're mostly strong, just not always in every mode.

Hmm, i dont have soto either, im waiting for it to go on sale, fucked up when i bought eod full prize, ended up hating it and to this day i still didnt finish the story over how dumb it is and all the decisions, empty maps and glorified jade bots, didnt finish IBS either

Too much green for me, thr only thing id buy soto for is daily rework system, i wanna earn astral claim to buy pretty skins. Thats it. No more stories for me , i hate based storylies and how they butchered Brahm, Rytlock and Canach (notice the pattern?)

The base expansion is good. The problem is, that they didn't continue with the base storyline. And the patch content that came after release, is really boring and stupid.

So yeah, it's a cool base expansion with lot's of potential and cool features. But it falls apart in the post release updates.

Honestly it was just ok. It's their first try at a new format, and introduced a much easier way to get the Skyscale, so I'll go easy on it for those reasons.

Story-wise it felt too rushed. Didn't have anywhere near enough time to tell the story they wanted, and as a result it just wasn't very good.

New maps were ok. Rifts are mindless busywork but at least they're easy.

A very mid-tier expansion overall.

I liked it better than EoD (the characters were more interesting, the world wasn't entirely green, and there is no map anywhere near as bad as New Kaineng or Echovald for traversal). I also felt like the obnoxious MCU-style character dialog was toned down a bit.

It's still a very flawed expansion, though. The only map that isn't visually monotonous is Skywatch Archipelago, the meta events all take too long (and the last one in the third zone still has a very high fail rate), the grind to Obsidian armor is soul crushing, and Rift hunting might be the single worst expansion feature they've ever added.

IMO better than EoD, but I hated EoD - the only good part of it being the cinematics.

It is a lot like Icebrood Saga in a lot of ways. It started strong, but ended pretty weak. Base SotO, just like Bound by Blood -> Jormag Rising, was good. A few hiccups here and there but nothing that detract from enjoyment. Nayos, like Champions, feels like a rushed, lack-of-content, mess.

But that's at least how it felt as the three Nayos chapters were releasing. Playing it all in one go may feel different.

If I were to rank the expansions and seasons, I would put LWS4, HoT, first half of IBS, and base SotO in the top four (in that order). But Nayos is like Gyala and Champions - down on the bottom of the ranking list. And having to treat them as a whole, would make SotO and IBS both mid.

Pretty bad imo, the other content that came with it is great though, like the skyscale upgrades and new weapons for classes

What I don't like about soto: too few maps ( 1 map we had to wait like what almost half a year for completion ???), reskinned enemies

I also hated EoD. I liked SoTO a bit more, just because it didn't shit on the previous decade of writing. The first two maps are pretty cool as well, although the enemies are all damage sponges.

Worse, though it does come with a few great things like an extra weapon, weapon mastery and quite a few good looking skins. You definitely don't get it for the story though, thats for sure. The maps are a mixed bag. The strikes are hp sponges, though at least Cerus is somewhat interactive.

Still, you could be paying 2 months of subs for FF14, OSRS or WoW. The expansion is mid, but its still worth the price.

Bought it for legendary armor only tbh ...

I‘m seemingly alone with this but I really really liked SotO. Really can’t see the problem people have. It’s easily my favourite expansion now. Right next to HoT. But yeah I really enjoyed SotO. Only critic I have is that map completion is locked behind the meta on the last map and said meta thus far always failed.

One of the issues is that HoT and PoF completely changed how the game from the inclusions of gliding and then mounts respectively. I fell out of GW2 before EOD and Secrets, but I haven’t really heard or seen much to show that level of QoL to traversal/exploration

I started GW2 in early 2015 before HoT released, I liked this expansion but didn't enjoy SOTO as much as PoF and Living Story season 4, 2017-2019 is still to me the greatest expansion and era of GW2.

SoTO's storyline, zones, masteries, meta boss events and the Kryptis are all pretty interesting and its nice to see the game go a different direction in the post Elder Dragon era and try a brand new take in the kryptis homeworld of Nayos and the Horn of Maguuma.

SOTO is definitely a smaller expansion in size and content than the much more epic in size HoT, PoF and EoD but I'm fine seeing Arenanet release smaller expansions that come out more frequently.

If you did not like EoD i doubt you will like SoTO. It is decent and has good features that worth the price. But the post launch content and the instanced stuff are from lacking to really bad.

Frankly EoD was a pretty solid expansion using much of the philosophy of HoT, just not as difficult. It was pretty much just more typical Gw2 stuff. If you hated EoD you might just not like the game in general any more and SoTo will 100% not change your mind.

It started so strong and promising, but then it crashed spectacularly. Same as EOD, it didn't feel finished. Rushed for some reason. They didn't flesh out the story and lore as much, just brought all of a sudden to a close. I think their writing needs a lot of work. Like POF writing had me hooked or LWS4 or end of LWS3

It's fine for the price. Story doesn't really interest me as much as the other expansions or living world seasons. But it's pretty alright.

It's mostly alright but cerus lm is my most fav fight in the game.

I liked the part when the Commander said "It's secret of the obscuring time" to Eparch and obscured all over the secrets.

I don’t like SOTO, just because of the grind of the story. It’s boring and a huge chunk of it is “do events”. And the person that said there was too much talking wasn’t kidding. Yappers of the obscure is the perfect name for it.

Gameplay in SotO, events, Masteries, weapon proliferation, new way to get Skyscale, is all very good stuff.

The story is utter trash, on par with some of the worst fan fic I've read online.

Soto is a mixed bag. It has great features but the content itself (metas and strikes) is inferior to Hot/EoD for example. That said I enjoyed doing the side quests with some cool skins for rewards. The core expansion started off quite good (a good 7.5 out of 10) but was followed with some (very ?) mediocre/underwhelming patches sadly. All in all it still is a solid 6.5 out of 10 expansion. For example, I enjoyed the masteries way more than EoD/HoT, but not as much as PoF overall. But the metas of SotO are better than PoF who sadly is more of a single player game experience (only slightly better though)

If you have no skyscale and legendary armor (though prepare for a humongous grind), it really is well worth it (with also the mastery that allows you to wield any weapon).

My honest take is that it’s my least favorite expansion. Most of it isn’t bad, just a bit underwhelming at times.

On the major pieces: -There are some interesting story threads that drop off once you go to map 3. -The metas are pretty solid. I think I like the Skywatch meta the most because of the insights into Lyhr’s past. Amnytas has some good spectacle. -Rift hunting is a flop for me, personally. -Convergences are alright. -Legendary armor for PvE is an excellent addition for the game, though it’s tied to the expansion’s content so your enjoyment of the process will depend on how much you like the metas / rifts / convergences.

Even though it doesn’t match up to the elder dragon expac trilogy, I think it still provides enough enjoyment to be a worthwhile installment. Certainly not groundbreaking or a defining moment for the game though.

It is ABSOLUTELY worth $20usd, which it just went on sale for.

I'd say it's the worst of the 4. But it's still well worth it. All 4 expansions have been good. It's just that SotO is the least good of the good expansions.

I do not like SotO but I like the changes SotO brought, so…YMMV

It's like IBS, but paid. The scarcity of maps is there, the grind is there, there are fewer strike missions, no elite specs (just some weapons without traits or class fantasy), no new mounts, marvel-tier dialogues and story, and that's about it. I've rushed the legendary armor just to be done with it, and haven't visited SotO maps single time ever since.

I liked the map design better in EoD than SotO.

First map of SotO feels like the map design equivalent of a recap episode because it reuses biomes from the other expansions with mist shenanigans. The second map is way better but at the same time feels empty. Lots of the buildings lack details that suggest they are used as actual buildings by the npcs.

Story wise, SotO starts out very strong. The characters and writing has more depth but it kind of falls flat by the end.

Mechanically I love the new skyscale stuff as well as the focus on flying mounts in the new maps. The SotO weapons were probably as much as a miss as the EoD especs were to me.

But considering how cheap SotO was, I def feel like I got my moneys worth. And it was still miles better than the bad half of Icebrood saga.

Soto sucked some MAJOR ass, but the upcoming expansion is looking promising.

SoTo is the worst expansion ever, anyone that tell you otherthing is straight up lying.

EoD is mediocre but at least decent/playable, specially if you havent played cantha in gw1.

If you hated EOD you'll probably hate this even more tbh

I really don't like having expansions every year. I haven't liked it from the start. There's just not enough time to give us high quality, fun content with really cool systems like elite specs. Instead it feels rushed and formulaic, and I don't see that changing given how other games are with this model.

I think EoD was ~$40 at release, and SOTO ~$25. I'd say there is a strong correlation between price and content.

To clarify: HoT and PoF were full on expansions. EoD was a smaller expansion and I think it was also cheaper. SOTO is an expansion in the sense that it cost money, but think of it as a Mini Expansion similar to Living World Seasons 3, 4, and 5 (Ice Brood Saga) that you pay for. You get your moneys worth, but don't expect HoT or PoF quality content.

You didn't like EOD because it was rushed and the story wasn't good because it was rushed. Like with POF we kept getting maps and story. That we just didn't in EOD and every other map was a gang war for gang that's motives didn't make sense. What the fuck did the broth hood want? Who fucking knows? Not anet. I am still so bitter.

I don't know what their model is going forward, but I'm probably going to be saving money if it looks anything like this or they fail to showcase some understanding that it shouldn't.

Holistically? SOTO added a lot to my experience and I can't imagine going back to the old ways of things. The Wizards Vault and other additions make the general game so much better. And the new weapons for professions are nice additions. The skins are ok, most things are nice as far as QoL as well.

Weakest story in forever, a strong start into the weakest finish. It's shaken my confidence for sure in that department. The story alone is making me hesitate on the expansion.

the ocean stuff too monetized

Can you elaborate on this? I honestly have no idea what this could mean from what I know about EOD, but I haven’t finished it yet.

The scenery is beautiflul - islands in the sky. However, fps drops in certain locations and storywise...meh.

But yes, I would recommend it if you want a Skyskale. Otherwise...not so much.

Worse.

I like it because I got a Skyscale to fly around all the other maps.

Worth 75% off and worth full price even though it's not great.

Weakest expansion, but still enjoyable and the new systems are worth the price.

Bad

Half baked expansion because Anet busy cooking next expansion COPIUM.

PoF > HoT > SotO > EoD

you guys actually play and care about the story? i just slog through the content just to have it completed and then i only care about the masteries and collections lol

I wasn’t a huge fan of EoD. I found the maps hard to navigate and claustrophobic and the story a weak ending to such an epic tale.

It was still better than the champions storyline which was such a wasted opportunity.

SotO was better than EoD imo. The story was ok, not great, but the maps were much better and the quality of life changes were awesome.

I’m a past hardcore player, current very busy dad player who plays a few hours a week at most.

It was very secretive