Guild Wars 2

So, since the Teq update World Bosses have been buffed. Since then they’ve been a MUCH better fight. However, they still don’t seem to scale quite right for massive groups.

I did the Fire Elemental with a group of about 10 the other day, and it was one of the best fights I’ve ever had in GW2. It scaled to the smaller group size really well, everyone was having to do their part, the fight lasted for a good 13/14 minutes. It was great fun.

I would love to get the chance to do some of the world bosses with a 5 man group, I honestly think they could be some of the best fights GW2 could provide.
What do people thing of having some way of possibly starting an instance where your party can take on the world boss when it spawns? That or what do you think is necessary to make the bosses scale up properly for massive zergs?

Ugh, go try the Fire Shaman in Iron Marches with 5. You will not think like that again He kind of resets really fast in the Fire Elemental stage 5 might be able to do it but not 5 randomers. Organized, knowledgable group, maybe.

Soloing grenth, duoing melandru & dwayna and trioing lyssa is the best way to do them. Lots of fun.

The fire elemental may be bugged.

I did it once with only 3 persons (during the pre-event only one was fighting, I was just watching and the other showed up after the FE spawned) and it was REALLY EASY.

However, on another occasion (no new update was released), only 1 did the pre-event and again, I was just watching, and when the FE spawned, nobody else showed up and IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE (tons of ember, AoE everywhere).

And the Shaman is definitely bugged. He keep resetting regarless of the number of players in the zone.

Yeah I did the fire shaman the other day and it was a nightmare.

What I’m getting at is I think the world bosses, since the Teq update, have been tweaked enough to make them decent encounters. Problem is that for the encounter to work properly it seems to require a group that’s “just right”. Too many and it’s just a traditional zerg-fest, too few and you get face-rolled.

LordHogFred.3691:

Yeah I did the fire shaman the other day and it was a nightmare.

What I’m getting at is I think the world bosses, since the Teq update, have been tweaked enough to make them decent encounters. Problem is that for the encounter to work properly it seems to require a group that’s “just right”. Too many and it’s just a traditional zerg-fest, too few and you get face-rolled.

Oh yes, I know what you mean. I did the Wurm with only 5 persons (maybe 2 or 3 more at the end) and it was awesome.
However, I hate it when there is more than 15. As you said, just a zerg-fest.

Howell Qagan.9752:

Ugh, go try the Fire Shaman in Iron Marches with 5. You will not think like that again He kind of resets really fast in the Fire Elemental stage 5 might be able to do it but not 5 randomers. Organized, knowledgable group, maybe.

I actually solo/duo’d him on my ranger. Took forever, but just took a lot of kiting and dodging and pet swaps. I started out by solo’ing him and laying cripple traps along with my shortbow, and then someone else joined me around the middle of his second phase. Probably one of the best times I’ve had in GW2.

Jesseroo.8247:

I actually solo/duo’d him on my ranger. Took forever, but just took a lot of kiting and dodging and pet swaps. I started out by solo’ing him and laying cripple traps along with my shortbow, and then someone else joined me around the middle of his second phase. Probably one of the best times I’ve had in GW2.

But of course stupid timers, that prevent you from even trying that now, are soooo much more challenging <sigh>

Howell Qagan.9752:

Ugh, go try the Fire Shaman in Iron Marches with 5. You will not think like that again He kind of resets really fast in the Fire Elemental stage 5 might be able to do it but not 5 randomers. Organized, knowledgable group, maybe.

We 3 man fire shammy on regular basis whenever I have a weekday off. Its challenging, but perfectly doable. The key is to quit running zerker builds and go hybrid cause 2 dodges are simply not enough when undermanned like that and downies just don’t cut it. The only problem we have is when it bugs out on the elemental phase, which is unfortunately often when it works properly, it gets downed.

Likewise with the Golem Mark II. usually 3-4 man in melee as there is less damage to dodge due to the fact you can just walk 3 steps through it to avoid electrified floor. Also, stability and stunbreakers are your friends. Dont expect to beat it in record times, but you can beat it every single time with around 2 minutes to spare.

Shatter requires around 5 people or so cause of the timer, any less then that and you wont be able to down him. Jormag we do OK in 10-15 man, Teq obviously we can not do, any of the the otehr bosses below Shatter, Fire Ele, maw, etc., can be 3 manned but it is difficult, 5 manned with room to spare. been there done that many many times.

Right people with right builds can take on the same content fairly easy, you have to think a bit outside the box though, if you fall into the zerk DPS mindset you’re done for, your only option is to zerg them at resets. If you have all people runing group support / heals or all people running zerk DPS it wont work due to lack of survivability or lack of DPS.

Its all about striking the rigth balance as a group, not just individual players. This becomes critical when running such small numbers.

Beldin.5498:

Jesseroo.8247:

I actually solo/duo’d him on my ranger. Took forever, but just took a lot of kiting and dodging and pet swaps. I started out by solo’ing him and laying cripple traps along with my shortbow, and then someone else joined me around the middle of his second phase. Probably one of the best times I’ve had in GW2.

But of course stupid timers, that prevent you from even trying that now, are soooo much more challenging <sigh>

Fire shaman still doesn’t have a timer. Also he really isn’t hard solo, I have done it the whole way. Just need to kite phase 1, make sure to dodge the axe throws in phase 2, and he just isn’t very dangerous in phase 3 at all.

Howell Qagan.9752:

Ugh, go try the Fire Shaman in Iron Marches with 5. You will not think like that again He kind of resets really fast in the Fire Elemental stage 5 might be able to do it but not 5 randomers. Organized, knowledgable group, maybe.

I did it with three, the third person having joined in after the first greater embers stage.

Someone in /say was suggesting that what causes the resets is players leaving the area (crossing the fire line AoE) – I haven’t had time to test and verify this, but it definitely makes sense as with more people, there are more people being knocked around by the greater ember whirlwinds, and more people being knocked out.

Two manning the Karka queen preevents was another fun challenge! It’s very possible with 3 if you choose the correct order to do the events, from longest to shortest. (Karka, Pride Point, Kiel, Drift).

I managed to duo Karka and Pride with another guardian, while he did Kiel Outpost and I took Driftglass eggs.

Pride was painfully slow, as it was tough keeping NPCs alive to help hold.

I’d still recommend a minimum team of 3 though for it.

Tongku.5326:

Likewise with the Golem Mark II. usually 3-4 man in melee as there is less damage to dodge due to the fact you can just walk 3 steps through it to avoid electrified floor. Also, stability and stunbreakers are your friends. Dont expect to beat it in record times, but you can beat it every single time with around 2 minutes to spare.

With 2-3 people I do expect to do that in record time because the golem’s scaling is a bit broken but it has always been like that.

From what I know of fighting the world bosses in smaller groups:

• Dredge Commissar – scales to small teams quite well, tends not to use blocks if fighting small teams (but will continue to use auto-tracking confuse as normal)
• Fire Shaman – while Shaman scales fairly well to small teams, he still hits hard, so might want to go range. His fire ember stages don’t scale well, you will generally spend more time defeating those to reduce the meter rather than fight Shaman.
• Foulbear Chieftain – scales well to smaller teams. Even the multiple vets you fight will be reduced if the number of players are small. They have a cap of 23 or so if there is a giant zerg.
• Modniir Ulgoth - scales decently to smaller teams, though Ulgoth will hit pretty hard with fireballs.
• Taidha Covington – everything except the actual fight scales with small teams. Taidha does not scale down to small teams and thus has superior health and damage (she can basically one or two-shot people), and with 10 minute limit, it will be impossible. On the off chance people can get her health to 50%, she teleports inside her home, where players can find powder kegs to immensely reduce her health. However, these only start spawning when she’s at 50%.
• The Frozen Maw – scales decently to small teams, though shaman will spawn multiple whirlwinds which can be bothersome.
• Fire Elemental – scales decently to small teams. Damage remains unchanged, though a smaller number of embers will spawn.
• Golem Mark II – scales well to small teams. Maybe too well, a small team can actually take down golem faster than a zerg.
• Great Jungle Wurm – scales decently to small teams.
• Megadestroyer – scales decently to small teams, though the smaller time might be cutting it close.
• Shadow Behemoth – scales well to small teams (though you will never fight it as a small team, haha)
• Karka Queen – never tried it as a small team, so can’t comment
• The Shatterer – would depend on how small a team you’re talking. If you use the mortars (and defend and repair them with engineer npc if they break), it’s doable. However, people don’t seem to know they have been buffed or prefer to attack on the small hill next to Shatterer.
• Tequatl the Sunless – does not scale to small teams, don’t bother if you don’t have the numbers
• Claw of Jormag – scales poorly to small teams in phase 1, the ice wall will take forever to bring down. Mob HP scales to players, I believe.
• Temple of Balthazar - apparently it will be easier to do the escorting part with morale with a smaller team as the risen scaling system will account for it and not throw as many vets, and no elites or champs.
• Temple of Dwayna – scales decently to small teams
• Temple of Lyssa – scales decently to small teams, providing taking the areas to unlock the shrine doesn’t bug out.
• Temple of Grenth – scales decently to small teams in the Risen priest, but the second part (defend) doesn’t scale to small teams. Two champions will always spawn at set times (not at same time), and a small team will generally not have the DPS to take it down along with the mobs coming to attack the NPC.
• Temple of Melandru – scales well to small teams. If the priest repeatedly turns everyone into lizards (why lizards?) and heals up, there might be problems. The defend part scales to small numbers and will not spawn champs if the criteria does not reach a certain amount of players.
• Gates of Arah – doesn’t particularly scale well to small numbers due to champion health and timers.
• Eye of Zhaitan – never tried this in a small team so can’t comment on it.

I can fill in for the last boss.

• Eye of Zhaitan – A joke. It can be taken down solo in under 10 minutes with health auto-regen; faster if you summon NPCs.

For Temple of Grenth cleansing event, it can be done with 8 people if the group is OP.

IceBlink.4317:

• Taidha Covington – everything except the actual fight scales with small teams. Taidha does not scale down to small teams and thus has superior health and damage (she can basically one or two-shot people), and with 10 minute limit, it will be impossible. On the off chance people can get her health to 50%, she teleports inside her home, where players can find powder kegs to immensely reduce her health. However, these only start spawning when she’s at 50%.

Have you tried using the kegs that spawn outside before the gate is taken down?
Near the cannons. Not a suggestion, just curious.

• Karka Queen – never tried it as a small team, so can’t comment

Really hard to gauge this one. It only takes one person not paying attention and pulling in piles of adds to really screw things up for a smaller group.

• Eye of Zhaitan – never tried this in a small team so can’t comment on it.

Well the eye itself shouldn’t be an issue but the abomination … well this should be fine in a small group assuming everyone is a master at dodging.

Khisanth.2948:

IceBlink.4317:

• Taidha Covington – everything except the actual fight scales with small teams. Taidha does not scale down to small teams and thus has superior health and damage (she can basically one or two-shot people), and with 10 minute limit, it will be impossible. On the off chance people can get her health to 50%, she teleports inside her home, where players can find powder kegs to immensely reduce her health. However, these only start spawning when she’s at 50%.

Have you tried using the kegs that spawn outside before the gate is taken down?
Near the cannons. Not a suggestion, just curious.

Those only spawn if you fail to take the gate down before the lionguard ship is destroyed, I believe? Then the kegs spawn for you to take down the gate manually. And then disappear when the gate is down?

IceBlink.4317:

Khisanth.2948:

IceBlink.4317:

• Taidha Covington – everything except the actual fight scales with small teams. Taidha does not scale down to small teams and thus has superior health and damage (she can basically one or two-shot people), and with 10 minute limit, it will be impossible. On the off chance people can get her health to 50%, she teleports inside her home, where players can find powder kegs to immensely reduce her health. However, these only start spawning when she’s at 50%.

Have you tried using the kegs that spawn outside before the gate is taken down?
Near the cannons. Not a suggestion, just curious.

Those only spawn if you fail to take the gate down before the lionguard ship is destroyed, I believe? Then the kegs spawn for you to take down the gate manually. And then disappear when the gate is down?

Pretty sure I’ve seen the kegs around each time I was around at the event and each of those times the door was successfully destroyed by the ship. I’ve actually tried using a keg on the door but it didn’t seem to do anything.

IceBlink.4317:

• Fire Shaman – while Shaman scales fairly well to small teams, he still hits hard, so might want to go range. His fire ember stages don’t scale well, you will generally spend more time defeating those to reduce the meter rather than fight Shaman.

His damage output doesn’t scale at all, only hp. And he hits hard with almost no tell. Ranged is probably much easier.

• Temple of Balthazar - apparently it will be easier to do the escorting part with morale with a smaller team as the risen scaling system will account for it and not throw as many vets, and no elites or champs.

Done it with about 7 people, mobs can still nuke npcs, especially nobles with their shadowsteps. CCs and baiting their AoEs by yourself is advised. Balthazar himself dies very fast, under 1 minute.

• Temple of Dwayna – scales decently to small teams

Her damage output doesn’t scale at all, she hits as hard with 100 people and solo. Only difference is Malchor’s Tears attack which scales with the number of the people.

• Temple of Grenth – scales decently to small teams in the Risen priest, but the second part (defend) doesn’t scale to small teams. Two champions will always spawn at set times (not at same time), and a small team will generally not have the DPS to take it down along with the mobs coming to attack the NPC.

Geekfox.4267:

For Temple of Grenth cleansing event, it can be done with 8 people if the group is OP.

You can duo defense event assuming you avoid getting pulled by champion spider and interrupt champion wraith. Obviously having high dps is needed.

• Temple of Melandru – scales well to small teams. If the priest repeatedly turns everyone into lizards (why lizards?) and heals up, there might be problems. The defend part scales to small numbers and will not spawn champs if the criteria does not reach a certain amount of players.

Soloable even with healing phase if you use certain trick. Soloable easily without healing phase. His damage also doesn’t scale. Defense event is very easy even for alone player.

Overall, doing world events solo or with few people shows what’s wrong with scaling mechanics. Most of the bosses, if not all, scale their hp only, damage output remains at the same level. On top of that, thanks to the 5 aoe limit, if you are the part of the zerg you can go for a smoke leaving your character on autoattack and still survive and receive gold rewards. World bosses need to have their attacks not affected by this limitation. It would improve vastly those fights and force people to use their brains.

• Temple of Melandru – scales well to small teams. If the priest repeatedly turns everyone into lizards (why lizards?) and heals up, there might be problems. The defend part scales to small numbers and will not spawn champs if the criteria does not reach a certain amount of players.

Soloable even with healing phase if you use certain trick. Soloable easily without healing phase. His damage also doesn’t scale. Defense event is very easy even for alone player.
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Is the certain trick to use the diving goggles to get out of drake form? If so it no longer works last I tried. Same for using mystery tonics.

For Temple of Dwayna the issue would be the priestess rather than the fight with the statue. The statue is pretty easy compared to the priestess.

Statue is easy, if your Zerg is large enough, or has enough sense to spread out and dodge the glory spark it sends up into the sky.

ArthurDent.9538:

Is the certain trick to use the diving goggles to get out of drake form? If so it no longer works last I tried. Same for using mystery tonics.

I’ve done it yesterday and diving goggles still worked.

Khisanth.2948:

For Temple of Dwayna the issue would be the priestess rather than the fight with the statue. The statue is pretty easy compared to the priestess.

Priestess is doable in duo relatively easy.

Yamagawa.5941:

Statue is easy, if your Zerg is large enough, or has enough sense to spread out and dodge the glory spark it sends up into the sky.

Most of the bosses are easy with a zerg. Their damage doesn’t scale at all.

I actually love the world events in small grps, its pretty fun! But when a zerg shows up, all fun is (atleast for me) completely ruined.
I rarely do them with lots of ppl anymore it just gives me a headache from all those effects and shaking <.<
Anet should give the Boss a devastating atack which whipes 80% of the zerg when it scales up to 10 ppl or something. Than we have to work together at a community to kill that evil.

btw: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwzR9hjuNP4
i just leave it here, cause i want some clicks x) (moar videos comming soon)
i love her <3
there are some cool bosses out there, the whole problem is , the chellange they offer simply gets destroyed when a zerg shows up.