Guild Wars 2: End Of Dragons Review - An Expansion With A Lot To Live Up To

thegamer.com:

While playing Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons, I came across a place known as Cat Mountain. Enough said, right? I originally came across it while testing out my rinky little starter boat for the first time, so I had no context for the name. It was just a towering, mountainous pillar that didn’t really look like it should be standing on its own. But, high above me, there was a rope bridge.

I traveled through the map, climbing through towns and bamboo forests, to reach the bridge. When I crossed it, I found cats. At the very top is an especially large cat named Pickle. In Pickle’s subtext, it says they like to snuggle.

I came to enjoy the End of Dragons expansion in the same way I enjoyed petting Pickle, the giant cat: as a series of fun, personal moments that, even if they weren’t mind-blowing, reminded me what I liked about Guild Wars 2 after a long hiatus from the game.

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Heart of Thorns, Guild Wars 2’s first expansion, changed the game (literally) by adding the glider. Players began to soar through the air unencumbered and, all in an instant, players felt that anything was possible. Maps were suddenly as large vertically as they were horizontally. Then the second one, Path of Fire, brought mounts to the game. Each one provided a range of different, game-breaking abilities than the last. ArenaNet set a high bar for itself. End of Dragons doesn’t clear it.

The first thing that strikes you when you step foot on Cantha, the new continent where this expansion takes place, is the beauty. The first zone, Seitung Province, is packed full of screenshot-worthy views including rushing waterfalls, cherry blossoms and weeping willows, fishermen on skiffs, gardens