Guild Wars 2

this is a good start for living story, it reminds me of war in kryta and winds of change but i feel like these missions were too easy.

you guys should design these missions around group play like dungeons making them require 5 people to do

Dr Ritter.1327:

this is a good start for living story, it reminds me of war in kryta and winds of change but i feel like these missions were too easy.

you guys should design these missions around group play like dungeons making them require 5 people to do

I fully expect that to be the climactic encounter, the Rox instance was actually fairly challenging at a couple points to avoid being downed. Granted, I was not killed but it still piled a lot of melee on my poor ranger :P

It’s fine the way it is. Felt hard enough to keep me focusing but not frustrating.

Firstly, the missions are intended to be done by any player who’s had access to the game for about a week or so, so the mission itself needs to be doable.

As they are, I had no real issue soloing them on an cleric-exotic-geared elementalist, although it took a significant amount of time to complete each mission (around half an hour each). Didn’t get downed, but I came fairly close.

A new player will not be so skilled at the game, will not be fully geared up, and on most professions will experience the mission as hard as you want it to be. I’d say it doesn’t need to be any harder (and the new Molten Alliance enemies in Wayfarer Foothills are probably a tad too hard for a starting zone – a guildmate got roflstomped on a new engineer exploring there after the update). As it stands, I don’t think the mission rewards quite meet up with the time investment either, but that’s a separate issue. 1k karma and around 6-7 silver for half an hour’s work… doesn’t particularly match up with any other level 80 content.

As for having a group-centric mission, remember that there’s still one more update to come in the Flame & Frost arc, and it’s likely to contain the finale to this story. It wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility for that to be a group mission or even a full-blown dungeon, complete with post-story explorable mode.

However, I’m mostly against being forced to party up to experience new content which is focused around telling a story. It’d be fine if they make a story mode dungeon that scales up difficulty and rewards for groups while still being solo-able, though

Heck, there might even be a couple more story missions that’ll just unlock in the weeks to come like the lost objects did during March. Nobody outside of ANet really knows at this point.

Dingle.2743:

Firstly, the missions are intended to be done by any player who’s had access to the game for about a week or so, so the mission itself needs to be doable.

As they are, I had no real issue soloing them on an cleric-exotic-geared elementalist, although it took a significant amount of time to complete each mission (around half an hour each). Didn’t get downed, but I came fairly close.

A new player will not be so skilled at the game, will not be fully geared up, and on most professions will experience the mission as hard as you want it to be. I’d say it doesn’t need to be any harder (and the new Molten Alliance enemies in Wayfarer Foothills are probably a tad too hard for a starting zone – a guildmate got roflstomped on a new engineer exploring there after the update). As it stands, I don’t think the mission rewards quite meet up with the time investment either, but that’s a separate issue. 1k karma and around 6-7 silver for half an hour’s work… doesn’t particularly match up with any other level 80 content.

As for having a group-centric mission, remember that there’s still one more update to come in the Flame & Frost arc, and it’s likely to contain the finale to this story. It wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility for that to be a group mission or even a full-blown dungeon, complete with post-story explorable mode.

However, I’m mostly against being forced to party up to experience new content which is focused around telling a story. It’d be fine if they make a story mode dungeon that scales up difficulty and rewards for groups while still being solo-able, though

Heck, there might even be a couple more story missions that’ll just unlock in the weeks to come like the lost objects did during March. Nobody outside of ANet really knows at this point.

I would like to second this. I found the missions to be at the perfect difficulty. I did the missions on my glass cannon ranger (I’m a VERY good dodger). I had a few close calls, especially when both pets were dead and Rox just kind of stood there and let me have the limelight. Fortunately, well timed dodges saved the day and I didn’t go down.

WatchTheShow.7203:

Dingle.2743:

Firstly, the missions are intended to be done by any player who’s had access to the game for about a week or so, so the mission itself needs to be doable.

As they are, I had no real issue soloing them on an cleric-exotic-geared elementalist, although it took a significant amount of time to complete each mission (around half an hour each). Didn’t get downed, but I came fairly close.

A new player will not be so skilled at the game, will not be fully geared up, and on most professions will experience the mission as hard as you want it to be. I’d say it doesn’t need to be any harder (and the new Molten Alliance enemies in Wayfarer Foothills are probably a tad too hard for a starting zone – a guildmate got roflstomped on a new engineer exploring there after the update). As it stands, I don’t think the mission rewards quite meet up with the time investment either, but that’s a separate issue. 1k karma and around 6-7 silver for half an hour’s work… doesn’t particularly match up with any other level 80 content.

As for having a group-centric mission, remember that there’s still one more update to come in the Flame & Frost arc, and it’s likely to contain the finale to this story. It wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility for that to be a group mission or even a full-blown dungeon, complete with post-story explorable mode.

However, I’m mostly against being forced to party up to experience new content which is focused around telling a story. It’d be fine if they make a story mode dungeon that scales up difficulty and rewards for groups while still being solo-able, though

Heck, there might even be a couple more story missions that’ll just unlock in the weeks to come like the lost objects did during March. Nobody outside of ANet really knows at this point.

I would like to second this. I found the missions to be at the perfect difficulty. I did the missions on my glass cannon ranger (I’m a VERY good dodger). I had a few close calls, especially when both pets were dead and Rox just kind of stood there and let me have the limelight. Fortunately, well timed dodges saved the day and I didn’t go down.

>glass cannon ranger
obviously you going to have a problem because of the ranger handicap, i steamrolled through this content on my guard and mes

Dr Ritter.1327:

>glass cannon ranger
obviously you going to have a problem because of the ranger handicap, i steamrolled through this content on my guard and mes

I only got downed a couple times due to overextending a couple times. If I’d been more cautious it wouldn’t have happened at all. Ranger handicap my left thumb . . .

make it harder ?!

This game really needs a seperate Normal and Hard Mode, like GW1

I tried North Nolan Hatchery with an lvl39 Necro (yeah buffed to lvl80)
Could not do it.
First part with Rox, went fine.
Then destroy Sonic devices. After i destroyed the first one there was some fighting at its location (foes and my minions prolly). Then when my minions died, 5 to 10 foes came at me. I fled out of the instance.

Yeah, i read groups or a real lvl80 char is recommended.
But it would be nicer if any char lvl could do it.

I think the difficulty is fine. One has to remember that this content is available for only a limited time and is something that Anet wants everyone to experience/enjoy, not just experienced level 80’s with complete exotic gear.

The difficulty is fine, not everybody is a hardcore dungeon master. Maybe add a hard mode like dagrdagaz said. It’s a mission for everybody. Especially low lvl player, it’s not a dungeon.

Tower Guard.5263:

The difficulty is fine, not everybody is a hardcore dungeon master. Maybe add a hard mode like dagrdagaz said. It’s a mission for everybody. Especially low lvl player, it’s not a dungeon.

“hardcore dungeon master”

because hard content is only for hardcore players…

i’m pretty sure most people enjoy challenges in games

Dr Ritter.1327:

“hardcore dungeon master”

because hard content is only for hardcore players…

i’m pretty sure most people enjoy challenges in games

And I am not one of those people. If anything I prefer it when they make things easier, not harder.

I found it difficult enough on my 35 or so warrior. Id be perfectly fine if they kept it right where it was.

I echo the sentiment that I miss group missions from GW1. These missions felt more like GW1 missions than the personal story did, but I found myself missing my party members (I know can optionally bring them with me). As other have said, I expect this content is all leading to a new dungeon, so we will get our challenging content there. There has to be a balance between casual new content and more difficult content for the players who like that kind of thing (hopefully with more robust rewards).

Having said all that, I have a friend who did it on a level 55 character and yes, they were up levelled, they said it was still too easy. Maybe I’ve been doing dungeon content in full exotics for too long, I forgot how personal story was (it has to be doable by lower levels, less developed builds, often undergeared etc). As long as more challenging content (like a dungeon) is on the way, I’m OK with this stuff being a little easier.

dagrdagaz.4913:

make it harder ?!

This game really needs a seperate Normal and Hard Mode, like GW1

I tried North Nolan Hatchery with an lvl39 Necro (yeah buffed to lvl80)
Could not do it.
First part with Rox, went fine.
Then destroy Sonic devices. After i destroyed the first one there was some fighting at its location (foes and my minions prolly). Then when my minions died, 5 to 10 foes came at me. I fled out of the instance.

Yeah, i read groups or a real lvl80 char is recommended.
But it would be nicer if any char lvl could do it.

Try going in with wells, they work a blast on the groups that spawn out of those portals. Also, Lichform works wonders on those Sonic devices. Lastly, deathshroud 4 is your friend, especially when traited to draw life
Granted, my necro was lvl 80, but I didn’t have any problems at all with a conditions/well build. Well, got downed right at the end because I wasn’t especially careful, but still.

Also, I like the difficulty as it is – I do this mainly for the story, there’s other content if I want a challenge. If people really want this to be harder, I’d petition for an additional hardmode.

Dr Ritter.1327:

this is a good start for living story, it reminds me of war in kryta and winds of change but i feel like these missions were too easy.

you guys should design these missions around group play like dungeons making them require 5 people to do

No. They should add more content to the game that’s fun and doable solo, like an interesting solo mission/dungeon (not these mini-dungeons, they are fun but they bore really quickly).

And why solo? Because not everyone has the patience to keep looking for a group or has the time to always look for one, it’s fun to do things on your own, even if this is an MMO, a lot of MMOs add interesting stuff for solo play. There’s enough to do in this game as a group already, the solo part isn’t that great.

You can do zone exploration on your own, but that’s only once per character and it gets pretty dull after a while.

I’ve just finished both instances, and I’ve got to say that the difficulty is perfect as it is for storyline content. It’s challenging in the sense that demands you to play decently well, but acessible to any player and without breaking the storytelling flow.

I like challenging content to not make content a snoore fest, but there are many different degrees of challenge, and for storylling, this one is perfect: not too easy to be boring, not too hard to be hardcore.

Of course, I wouldn’t mind if the finale’s content increased a little bit in difficulty, expecially if it ends up with a big boss or something (which it’ll probably will, as it’s typical of gaming), but I’m satisfied as it is.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Dr Ritter.1327:

this is a good start for living story, it reminds me of war in kryta and winds of change but i feel like these missions were too easy.

you guys should design these missions around group play like dungeons making them require 5 people to do

I fully expect that to be the climactic encounter, the Rox instance was actually fairly challenging at a couple points to avoid being downed. Granted, I was not killed but it still piled a lot of melee on my poor ranger :P

Melee in tight quarters no less, something that seems to be quite a trend in ANet’s story instances. Just glad i had enough wherewithal to have flesh golem as my necro elite when i hit that fight, as it allowed me a breather at times.

Now if people want it harder, ANet could introduce a hard mode replay option.

It is a commercial for the skins and dyes and whatever else is going to be added for people to gamble for in the store, so they’re going to make it accessible to everyone. My level 80, glass-cannon ranger in full exotics didn’t have any problems. If I’d tried to rush maybe I’d have got myself in trouble, but that happens on pretty much anything with a glass cannon.

I’d really prefer not to be in the same position with the Living World that I am with my story completion and waste an hour every once in a while trying to get into a group or start a group that actually fills out and goes into a story mode dungeon.

Difficulty is fine for the pure story line content we received in this installment.

However I urge the developers into looking at optional objectives or side missions that challenge a group, or 80s, or both.

dagrdagaz.4913:

I tried North Nolan Hatchery with an lvl39 Necro (yeah buffed to lvl80)
Could not do it.
First part with Rox, went fine.
Then destroy Sonic devices. After i destroyed the first one there was some fighting at its location (foes and my minions prolly). Then when my minions died, 5 to 10 foes came at me. I fled out of the instance.

Yeah, i read groups or a real lvl80 char is recommended.
But it would be nicer if any char lvl could do it.

I had a similar experience with my humble level 16 Necro. Buffed to 80, sure, but not (that I could see, anyway) with any abilities I didn’t already have.

All fine up until shutting down the first sonic device, then the melee fight that followed turned nasty very quickly. Rox died, they all set on me, and I died in no time. Restarted from the checkpoint – which, as it turns out, the hostile NPCs were standing right next to! Died again. So I rushed over the next time to where Rox was to revive her. Died twice doing that. Eventually got her revived, tried again, Rox died again and so did I. At this stage half my gear was broken and I gave up (left the instance literally in my underwear!)

I’m sure it’s fine with a well specced 80, but unless I was doing something drastically wrong (and the placement of that checkpoint was not MY fault!) then yeah, it’s pretty impossible for a low level character.

One thing I don’t understand is why MMO developers don’t put difficulty levels on instances whose main purpose is to convey the storyline.

I’m on the opposite end, I just want to see the Living Story plot and I have little interest in loot or a challenge for PvE content (I don’t mind a dungeon challenge when I’m playing with friends, but I like playing the Personal and Living story solo).

A difficulty slider that goes from Keymashing Easy to Nightmare mode and it would be an easy solution. We know that scaling mechanics are already in the game. Single player RPGs have had difficulty levels for decades but I don’t think I’ve seen it in MMOs (I might be wrong there).

Naturally the higher levels of difficulty would give better rewards and given the repeatable nature of the Living Story it would make perfect sense to have difficult scales.
That might be more an issue with content you can only play once like in the Personal Story but I don’t see why. I really wish ArenaNet would incorporate it into GW2.