Guild Wars 2

Hi! Ehmry Bay player here. I just wanted to offer some thoughts on these two in particular… I feel like we struggle on these two the most for several reasons and it’s helpful to document why going forwards.

Warden 2
This is the second-most likely warden to wipe on. I don’t think this is entirely your fault though. The thing is he’s a little too fast for an enemy you have to lead onto mines. If you run in circles, he keeps up with you, and it is very hard to actually get a mine between you and him. The best solution, for me, has been to dodge roll through him so he has to turn around.

…But what players actually tell newbies to the event is simply “kite it” without elaboration how to kite it or what they mean. A newbie is going to interpet “kite it” to be "run away from it in a circle until you can get a mine between you and it. That won’t happen. So I think players have a very counter-intuitive expectation how you actually want them to lead it into the mines. Perhaps that is just me.

Warden 3
This is the one that, in my experience, Ehmry wipes on the most. There’s a few reasons for this that I don’t think are players’ fault.

1. Not showing AOE circles for the bombs
This is a big one. Especially considering all of the other AOE, it is very easy to miss when you’re in a bomb’s range or not. Not everyone is good at dodging, and alot of the fails here are user error, but the odds are really stacked against you in this one because you can’t see everything you’re supposed to be dodging at once.

2. Dead before Loading
This, IMO, is one of the biggest ones. As a rule, the players don’t wait for everyone to get in before attacking the Warden. That means players 3, 4, and 5? Really easy for them to be dead before the game even finishes loading their screen. I can’t count the times I arrive 5th in a room with a circle on top of me and then I’m downed and that’s the end of that.

Please, in the future, if you’re going to use a set-up like this? Don’t let people start the Warden fight until everyone who is going in is in. Otherwise you get a mess where arriving 5th is a crapshoot whether you live or die.

3. Making the AOE a oneshot
This isn’t a problem, in and of itself, but combine it with 2 and the results are very unintended. I’m pretty sure the reason the other Wardens don’t wipe 4-5 lanes in a row are because the loading players can only be picked off one in a time by Warden attacks. It is the mass-AOE nature of Warden 3 that makes it really imbalanced. At least one room is going to have a straggler or two arriving late – and that room gets mauled so the whole lane fails.

On the whole, I love this event, I just wanted to offer my thoughts on why Warden #3 is such a pain. There really should have been some kind of buffer before the fight starts so a room can actually get together before the battle begins. Like a holding chamber where people show up, and if you don’t have a room full of 5 after 10 seconds, -then- open the door and let them in. As it is, it really punishes everyone but the first arrivals.

Especially considering you need all five rooms to win and you weren’t able to add any way to help a struggling room. Lanes, in my experience, constantly fail 4/5 completion and the above is why I think it happens.

Hope this is helpful for the future and thanks for a really neat event concept I know you can improve!

I’m also an Ehmry Bay player, and I see these problems, too. Loading into the arena is a large problem, as it creates a delay and often ends with players dying, as OP said. The bombs on Warden 3 could really use an AoE circle, but I like the challenge of them being an almost insta-death.

With that said, thank you ANet for an exciting and fun Living Story event! While it may have some small issues, it is one of the most enjoyable events I have seen come out of this part of the Living Story.

The 2nd warden should not be an issue at all. Stick as a group and lure him over a mine. Or whoever has aggro lure him over a mine.

The bombs on the 3rd warden do not need an AoE ring. Just don’t go near them. People fail because they’re not paying attention to the placement of the bombs or try to melee him and do not know how to minimize damage. You can easily range that boss and still have plenty of time left on the timer.

Fort Aspenwood here and we run into all the same problems. Both of these champs are notorious for wiping lanes, particularly champ three. I’ve been running lane three a lot and trying to work it out; vigor, immobilize, and ranged DPS seem to work best. Often I’ve found that a few of my platforms can’t DPS enough b/c they’re spending all their time picking each other up.

Basically we load up on rangers and eles. Doesn’t work every time but we’re getting the hang of it.

2 has a problem that new or less skilled players can actively harm the attempt, by kiting it rather than taking it to mines, rather than just being of limited use. I don’t think that’s good.

3 is tough, and I’m personally bad at it, but it’s OK to have a tough one in there.

I think warden 2 is fine. It’s pretty easy. However, I have been a victim of loading into 3 and into a downed state. Something needs to change on this one.

Completely agree with the loading issue!!!! Earlier today I experienced this issue as we must have had a staggered entry spanning 30 seconds. It was ridiculous and we all wiped one by one.

An issue I have with the 3rd champion is that unless I play on rather low graphic settings, the bomb graphic won’t load in time for me to see them. It seems as if the bomb graphic is the very last thing being loaded.

I don’t have a particularly slow system, and I can play anywhere with nice graphics and a good FPS, but after a loading screen it sometimes takes a few seconds to load all graphics. Not a problem in 99.9% of cases, but these bombs… it’s ugly. So, I play the marionette grainy and dull. AoE circles on those bombs would certainly help me.

Another suggestion is for everyone to head to Fireheart Rise and get the elemental powder. You’ll have well more than enough DPS given how small the platform is. It’s on a 30 minute cool down but if everyone wins their chain, it won’t matter.

Warden 2 is what makes me sorta wish this game had a forced aggro mechanic. Why is it that it nearly always seems to follow the one or two people who don’t have a clue how to beat it and are unable to read the text below its vitals? :/

On Far Shiverpeaks main and overflow we beat the marionette consistently. I’m working on my achievements and today for example we have beaten it every single attempt on the main server so feel free to guest. As the event gets older and interest to participate decreases it might get harder to beat if your on an overflow server.

We make sure to continuously spam each boss mechanic in map chat before the event starts so everyone knows what they’ll be up against. We do head counts and gear up properly depending on which champ the lane is doing.

The second champ which in fact is the easiest only becomes vulnerable when it’s dragged over a mine. The spacing of the mines by the way is so that if the champ is in pursuit it’s possible to just lure it by carefully walking between two mines without taking damage yourself. Once the boss is vulnerable it won’t attack and can be meleed or ranged at hearts content.

The third champ places beacon grenades alternating between an outer ring formation and a single one in the middle with no telltale red AoE rings. It is therefore better to range this boss. His stomp can down a player so stay as far away always aware of your placement while keeping an eye out for mines.

Another thing I have seen no mention of on the forum is that when you enter the platform make sure you move away from the regulator. Backing up into it will cause you quite some damage.

If your working on a dodge achievement start dodging during the loading screen just to avoid getting hit due to loading lagg.

If you want to participate on the main server simply waypoint an hour ahead of time. You can spend time efficiently by working on several slayer achievements by killing stuff in that zone; like Jotun, Minotaur, Pirates and several others.