Guild Wars 2

Alright, before we get focused on the “That’s the way the game works” cliche, I just want to point out that sometimes changing the way the game works is a good thing.

Ever been just roaming around in an obscure zone on an underpopulated server during the wee hours of the player scarce night only to be jumped randomly by some kind of Mega Champion speed-balling some kind of mix of PCP and electrostatic steroids? What do you do in that scenario? Call for help and just accept that no matter how hard you try you’ll never be as cool as that guy? Give up and head back to lions arch and just wait for it to be over? Attempt to deal with him yourself and get murdered over and over and over?

I have been running into these scenarios just more and more lately. With the crafting experience lowered and the dwindling player base in some of the more obscure regions, sometimes a random champ is just too much for the solo player (and consequently smaller grouped players) to sometimes deal with. I can understand from a challenging dynamic standpoint that having an impossible task here or there breeds flavor, but perhaps its time to take the impossible down to just improbable.

I could rattle off a huge list of “unfair” scenarios and whine about how ANet didn’t hold my hand while I was leveling, but that is genuinely not what I’m here to do. I just REALLY want to see this happen less, because I feel it is a detriment to personal character growth. Dungeons and longer or more sizeable event chains are still fair game, but that’s because a larger group is implied, otherwise the scenario at hand would never have arisen. So as little chance there is of them actually following any of the suggestions on this thread, I feel it is my obligation to present them.

First Option:
Champions (unless involved in an over-arching chain of quests) are now veterans. A simple fix, probably leading to some initial balance issues and lessened reward from events but possibly resulting in an overall better experience that’s a bit more fair to players lacking a social conscience. Could also lead to the “Catering to the Casuals” argument popping up more often in discussion, so it may not be worth it.

Second Option:
Quit being so loose with defiant and unshakeable. I can understand the giant chain event “dragon lord king of the underworld’s waffle house” having the ability to take a hit and keep trucking, but why is the bandit lieutenant of backwater county eating my CC’s like popcorn chicken? Maybe making the less important champs less brickhouse would allow roaming players to deal with them. Their massive health and rather incredible damage output alone will make it a long and clenched battle, thus still having a fun factor, but the lack of defiant may give the player a better edge to actually stand a chance.

Third Option:
Buff Friendly NPC’s related to missions with impossible odds. Perhaps if that Guard wasn’t a kindergartner wearing his daddy’s platemail, it wouldn’t be so bad. This buff could even be game-wide if they so chose, seeing as there’s more than plenty instances where we find ourselves begging the six for a competent story character. If they made the NPC’s weak to show us how truly incredible our heroes are, they are doing a poor job of it by then turning around and pitting us against something that is going to be picking it’s teeth with our bones in the next few minutes.

Again, I don’t have any unreasonable fantasy that anybody will care about what I’ve said here. This is just on behalf of myself and a few of my friends who all kinda “do our own thing” and are tired of having to back away from what would seem like a fun event, just because we see that ever-menacing gold crest. Not all champs are OP, in fact, some actually need to have things buffed or fixed. I am referring to the ones that hit like cruise missiles and seem to always park themselves right were we want to be.

And on another side note, I’d like to explain that the “character development” portion of my findings are fueled by the philosophy that the journey to 80 is mostly mine to bear, what comes after is where I show off everything I’ve built. When I’m just meandering about in zones, it isn’t about playing with people, it’s about finding my character’s balance. In dungeons or WvW is where I’m going to try and shine. Knowing that you may be able to understand better that it isn’t simply a matter of “getting a group” for me. Perhaps there is only a small minority of players that feel this way, but after having spent almost $400 on this game over the course of a year, I feel that anybody who paid to play the game deserves a little bit of fairness, especially since even after this there would still plenty of areas for those punishment gluttons to get their beatings from. I feel I need that time to really get into my character; and with GW2 being as story driven as it is, I have enjoyed a lot of man hours alone in some random map discovering myself.

I appreciate any input, positive or negative, and more than welcome solutions of your own design.

I have to say that it does seem like the ones that roam around more are weaker. There’s that wandering Corrupted Quaggon champ in Frostgorge for example, I wouldn’t even call him a group event. The ones that stay around the same area like the giant in Diessa are usually the harder ones, or at least the ones with more HP anyhow.

Vindred.1352:

And on another side note, I’d like to explain that the “character development” portion of my findings are fueled by the philosophy that the journey to 80 is mostly mine to bear, what comes after is where I show off everything I’ve built.

Maybe you’re just wrong… How you want to shine in group activities when you don’t learn how to do group activities with your character.

Vindred.1352:

When I’m just meandering about in zones, it isn’t about playing with people, it’s about finding my character’s balance.

This time you’re definitively wrong. GW2 is not single player game, where you “meander” , and later take the character to some MMO Lobby, it’s about playing MMO since beginning.

Vindred.1352:

This is just on behalf of myself and a few of my friends who all kinda “do our own thing” and are tired of having to back away from what would seem like a fun event, just because we see that ever-menacing gold crest

Then don’t back away. Some champs are meant to be played with a group. And the fun of them is making/finding the group to do them.

Leave some hard Champions alone, cause it’s fun to take them out, when you will find a group.

You can’t make everything here solo-able, cause it takes away all reasons of finding a group to play with. It takes away the sense of MMO.

You make it sound like getting murdered by wandering champions is a common occurance. Unless you and I have been playing completely different games, this simply isn’t the case. I personally find it extremely hard to have an event-level champion sneak up on me, because

1. Upon walking into the area, an NPC runs up to me and screams, “OH GOD THE GIANT MARSHMELLOW MAN IS WRECKING MY HOME PLEASE KILL HIM”

2. Up in the top right corner of my screen there is a bit of text saying [Group Event]: There is a giant marshmellow man wrecking some poor guy’s home. Kill it.

3. The Giant marshmellow man is clearly marked on my minimap with a big menacing orange skull, and his movements are also tracked.

I’m not convinced that champions being too strong is a detriment to one’s character growth. You can’t walk 5 feet without seeing a different way to develop your character in this game.

You don’t have to, nor are you expected to, complete every single thing that’s laid before you in this game. But even if you want to try, you could always yell in map chat for help. Odds are you’ll get at least one person, and if both of you are skilled, you should have at least a fighting chance against most champs.

While I don’t really have a problem with Champion enemies in the world as they are now, I do agree that it seems to devalue the status of Champions by just having them chilling out randomly across the world, with no special reward for defeating them. Therefore, I support your first option in that all Champions that are not linked to an Event should be changed to Veterans, and such Veterans should only be present when they are guarding something valuable, like a Rich Vein or a chest.

If anything, I wish the game had more random champions. People hate Karka. I kinda wish most mobs were more like Karka. Hard at first, but easy once you’d practiced fighting them and learned their patterns. Running in to a random champ is like a little xmas present for me. It starts a mental game of “can I do this, or do I need help?”

I think about what I know of other mobs of its type, have I fought this sort of champ before, does it have help, etc. etc.

When suprised by random champions DURING a fight I run away and then engage this decision making process.

I learned things about my characters by taking on these random champions. Things I often wouldn’t have figured out as quickly otherwise. I’ve made friends (and indeed those freinds have become guildmates) as a result of these random encounters. I still have vivid memories of getting nearly plastered by some big mean thing, only to be saved by some random person taking aggro, who I then ressed after I got up and together we killed the thing.

I think there aren’t any instances in any zone I can recally where some champion completely impedes progress so i’d say just leave them as they are. They’ve added a lot of fun and triumph to my experiences, both solo and in groups.

No!!!!!! I love the challenge of taking on Champions. Veterans just don’t do it for me anymore, even when they have like 6 or 7 body guards they go down like a sack of flower. Champions are the fights where you have to actually plan out your attacks. I’ve developed the build to challenge them. And I love the challenge of them. There are only two so far that I haven’t been able to take down. Giant Deasea Plateu (misspelt I know), and one other forced me to flee.

They are not impossible to do, some builds just can’t do it and are better suited for other play. I’ve yet to run across a champ that “had” to be fought. Most are tucked out of the way, or if they are in your way, one dodge roll and you can casually stroll on by.

Call out in Map chat if you need help, I myself always show up when someone calls out a champ, many enjoy the challenge and will join you.

type the following and your problems will be solved.

/m this champion is up half health chest coming lets take him down

never fails.