Less content of worse quality, but much more aggressively monetized? Half the content at the same price?
Anet axed Living World, rebranded it as “Mini Expansions” and is reselling it to us at full price. Complex mount system gets sidelined in favour of A mount to rule them all. Class skills and mechanics that have existed for years and years and years without issue are suddenly a problem and get gutted, dumbed down or removed. Classes get homogenised and simplified. Very little actually new systems get created, instead the existing game gets switched around as a much easier alternative. More focus on easy and cheap to develop daily/weekly content for whatever the current’s expansion faction is.
I know that pattern.
I also know another pattern. SquareEnix. ActivisionBlizzard. NCNet.
Every other expansion has had this be true. I’ve got a couple raiding alts and neither has EoD, I can raid just fine on builds that use HoT or PoF specs/gear. Once this new system hits, using the meta weapon on a build will require a new exclusive $25 mastery. No other expansion has required its purchase to enable the use of old specs at full potency. Do you think any condition Necromancer spec is going to survive being balanced around pistol+torch as a weapon set?
Splitting off the only thing that made legendary runes even slightly useful, the ability to skip grinding account bound content like dungeons for Monk/Nightmare runes on 20+ healer/condi dps gear templates is something worth complaining about.
Nah, you’ll be fine with base. Sit the fuck down.