Guild Wars 2

Here I am again, with yet another mission that my character cannot complete, this time it’s Armaments from the choose your order storyline.

Did someone really think it was a good idea to put in a monster that can global me?

This isn’t the first time, either, and yet there has been no confirmation from the devs that this is in fact a problem. This isn’t just a problem with a couple of ridiculous missions, it’s a problem with all of the missions. They are all too hard. You were told about this during the beta weekends and did nothing to fix it, other than tone down the difficulty of the end boss during your intro to the game.

This needs to be fixed, as of right now there’s no reason to do personal quests unless you can somehow glitch the AI or bring in a couple of friends. If that was your intended design, then it’s a horrible failure.

Same for me, both the human quest to stop the bandits dumping poison in the well, and now the Sylvari quest to find Ysvelta. Playing a Human Mesmer and Sylvari Elementalist, it simply is not possible to kite and avoid the hordes of enemies that get thrown at you, especially as they are all even leveled with you.
If the personal quests are supposed to be ‘about you’ why are half of them impossible to solo? I’m fine with it being a challenge, but throwing 16 mobs at me, all the same level as me, with two NPCs that die in literally ten seconds despite my efforts to protect them, is not challenge, it’s just mindless and painful difficulty.

I have no problem with any of the personal quest. And i’m a necromancer, the most bugged/broken class in the game( for some )

marianitten.1247:

I have no problem with any of the personal quest. And i’m a necromancer, the most bugged/broken class in the game( for some )

Thank you for your input, please tell the rest of us what build and storyline you chose so that we can learn from your awesome.

Why not just rez and eventually win through attrition? That is how I beat all of my missions. For some reason they thought that letting you rez as much as you want was a good idea so you may as well exploit it ;-P

The point, Blue, is that we shouldn’t have to. These are supposed to be quests and events that we can complete SOLO as part of our PERSONAL story. The fact that they cannot reasonably be completed without either chain rezzing or bringing friends goes against the spirit of what the personal stories are supposed to be.

It’s not a matter of “why not”, it’s a matter of “we shouldn’t have to”. Personal story difficulty needs to be significantly nerfed. If the elitist jerks want to think they’re too easy, fine. For the rest of us, with a normal level of skill, we have issues. This is not a game that is intended for only the “leet” to play. This game is intended for EVERYONE. Right now, the so-called elites are the only ones not having problems with the difficulty.

Assuming you believe them when they say that. I, for one, take “too easy” comments with a grain of salt, simply because I don’t see how it’s possible.

Just my 2 copper. Your mileage may vary.

Godzillathon.8052:

The point, Blue, is that we shouldn’t have to. These are supposed to be quests and events that we can complete SOLO as part of our PERSONAL story. The fact that they cannot reasonably be completed without either chain rezzing or bringing friends goes against the spirit of what the personal stories are supposed to be.

It’s not a matter of “why not”, it’s a matter of “we shouldn’t have to”. Personal story difficulty needs to be significantly nerfed. If the elitist jerks want to think they’re too easy, fine. For the rest of us, with a normal level of skill, we have issues. This is not a game that is intended for only the “leet” to play. This game is intended for EVERYONE. Right now, the so-called elites are the only ones not having problems with the difficulty.

Assuming you believe them when they say that. I, for one, take “too easy” comments with a grain of salt, simply because I don’t see how it’s possible.

Just my 2 copper. Your mileage may vary.

I never said that Personal historyline is easy. You are insulting people without even know him. I probabilly could said that YOU ARE A LAZYkitten #8230; but i’m not. I’m not calling me “elite”.. far from that. I’m not hardcore, i’m not a fanboy, i’m not playing the game more than 2 hours a day. I DIED A LOT in personal histoyline. Because of that, i learn a lot of my class, and sucessed beucase of that.

Eh this is the second time he has insulted my opinion regarding this issue. That aside I agree, you shouldn’t have to. There was an early norn quest involving a gryphon which was waaaaaay too hard. As I see it there are two things that should change. Nerfing the difficulty would be great. Also getting rid of infinite rezzing. Even Mario has a limited amount of lives, and he doesn’t have the “downed” state as a cushion. If you cannot get past a part in your story you probably should get better gear, gain a few levels or find a few friends.

Personally I am beating quests that are 8 levels higher than me. This is not because I am a good player; I am a bad player with very poor reaction time. It is just impossible to lose.

Actually, what you said is that you never had any problem with the personal story. Many a player, myself included, will take this as condescending. You state that you are playing the most broken class in the game, and had no problems. This comes across as you telling us we’re doing it wrong. That may not have been your intention, but that is the effect. It has nothing to do with “learning your class” and everything to do with overall difficulty. I should not have to be some kind of magical, godlike, gaming master to complete a story mission. They should be easy enough that the average player with an average level of skill can do it. They currently are not. You even admit to dying a lot in your story, which completely contradicts your original statement.

I try not to sound harsh when I post, but the divide between the elites and everyone else is starting to become WoW-like. The majority of the posters on this board post that they struggle with the difficulty. Then, a few people, for reasons I do not understand, feel the need to come into the post, say there is no problem, that they have no issues, and that the rest of us must just suck or something.

I am not trying to attack anyone personally, but I seem to end up doing just that. I don’t like elitists. I never have. I don’t like being told to “learn to play”. The fact of the matter is, for a sizable portion of the current player base, personal story is too hard. The difficulty needs to be toned down in a major way. If some people find them too easy, too bad. They are in the minority and this game is not targeted at the elite minority. This game is supposed to be solo-friendly and available to all players of all skill levels. If dungeons want to be really hard, fine. I have no problem with that. They probably should be. But personal story should never be so difficult as to make it unavailable to large segments of players, which, right now, is exactly what is happening.

I know I sound harsh and angry. I am. Not enough to quit playing (yet), but enough that I am not going to sugar-coat my opinion or go out of my way to be gentle.

Summarized point : Personal story needs major nerfing/re-balancing. Too many people can’t do it. If you find it “too easy” I’m happy for you, but the rest of us need some help.

Have a nice day.

Eh, it doesn’t seem that you understand where I’m coming from. What is the point of playing a game where it is impossible to lose? You don’t have to rush the personal story; you can gain a few more levels if you can’t beat it at the point you are at now. Currently it is too hard in that the mobs kill you way too easily. It is also however too easy in that you can rez an infinite amount of times and gradually whittle down the boss. This feels more like a chore than a game.

The last time I played a game like this was Kirby’s Epic Yarn. My wife loved that game because it was stress free and did not punish you for dying. A game where you are supposed to be a hero battling zombies and pirates and dragons should have at least some element of danger right? Or maybe we should just all throw yarn at each-other.

And, for the record, I know I insulted your opinion Blue, and for that I apologize. Your second post in that thread clarified you view a little better than your first one, and I appreciate that.

That being said, the one thing you said that I agree with is that difficulty should just be universally nerfed across the board. Removing or limiting the chain rez option, in the current environment, would make an already difficult situation completely impossible, and would remove story as even being an option for too many players.

The part I will disagree with is the “get better gear, get some levels, or get friends”. The de-leveling effect makes extra levels of very limited value. Better gear helps, but not as much as it would in other games, again due to the de-leveling. I shouldn’t have to go get some friends. This is a PERSONAL story, which is kind of the whole point of the argument.

If they’re not going to lower the difficulty, then they should remove the de-leveling effect for story missions. That would achieve the same effect and would solve the problem without nerfing the story for those who already find it too easy. Everybody wins.

There ya go. Take it for what it’s worth. (which probably isn’t much)

I was unaware that de-leveling occurred in your personal story. That doesn’t really make any sense… I hope that they change the storylines in some way. Maybe implement the difficulty levels that they did in Mass Effect 3. There is a level for those who want to breeze through the events and only care about story, an “Average” difficulty and a higher difficulty level for those who do not feel challenged by the current environment. In the higher difficulty they remove the ability to rez in the mission. That would solve everyone’s problem right?

I do understand where you’re coming from Blue, I just think you’re wrong. Chain rezzing does not make the game impossible to lose. It makes the game intolerably tedious. My point was, if you remove the ability to chain rez, you remove any chance to beat the mission at all for a lot of people. Winning by attrition is the only viable option more often than not. Take it away, and story becomes undoable. What happens, in your idea, if I die too many times and can’t rez anymore? Or, if I am not allowed to rez in the first place? How do I beat the mission? Get more levels? Doesn’t help due to downleveling. Go get better gear? Same problem. Go get some friends? Shouldn’t have to. Personal story is supposed to be doable solo. ANet said so specifically. So basically, this would mean I cannot complete my personal story at all, ever. Not without outside help, which violates the very idea of the “personal story”

Either blanket nerf, or remove downleveling in personal story. Only options I see.

Okay so lets say they nerf the story to the point where the average player can do it without dying or dying once. Would you then agree to removing the infinite rezzing mechanic? How is it possible to enjoy a scenario where you are literally immortal. You can “die” but you just get right back up with no real penalty minus a negligible amount of armor durability. There should be some punishment for dying or some reward for not dying once they figure out the balance.

Godzillathon.8052:

Actually, what you said is that you never had any problem with the personal story. Many a player, myself included, will take this as condescending. You state that you are playing the most broken class in the game, and had no problems. This comes across as you telling us we’re doing it wrong. That may not have been your intention, but that is the effect. It has nothing to do with "learning your class" and everything to do with overall difficulty. I should not have to be some kind of magical, godlike, gaming master to complete a story mission. They should be easy enough that the average player with an average level of skill can do it. They currently are not. You even admit to dying a lot in your story, which completely contradicts your original statement.

I try not to sound harsh when I post, but the divide between the elites and everyone else is starting to become WoW-like. The majority of the posters on this board post that they struggle with the difficulty. Then, a few people, for reasons I do not understand, feel the need to come into the post, say there is no problem, that they have no issues, and that the rest of us must just suck or something.

I am not trying to attack anyone personally, but I seem to end up doing just that. I don’t like elitists. I never have. I don’t like being told to "learn to play". The fact of the matter is, for a sizable portion of the current player base, personal story is too hard. The difficulty needs to be toned down in a major way. If some people find them too easy, too bad. They are in the minority and this game is not targeted at the elite minority. This game is supposed to be solo-friendly and available to all players of all skill levels. If dungeons want to be really hard, fine. I have no problem with that. They probably should be. But personal story should never be so difficult as to make it unavailable to large segments of players, which, right now, is exactly what is happening.

I know I sound harsh and angry. I am. Not enough to quit playing (yet), but enough that I am not going to sugar-coat my opinion or go out of my way to be gentle.

Summarized point : Personal story needs major nerfing/re-balancing. Too many people can’t do it. If you find it "too easy" I’m happy for you, but the rest of us need some help.

Have a nice day.

Again.. i’m a average gamer. I’m not a magical, godlike, gaming master. I find the game very challenging in a fun way. I understand that dungeons are very difficult, and i agree that they need to be fixed in some way because that not fun. NEVER SAID THAT IS TOO EASY. You are being condescend there... I said that i complete them, and the most of people did to.

I dont like elitists either... Elitists are the people who say that dungeons are easy. But most of the people had no problem in personal history(they are the average gamer). And claim that "difficult" is innaceptable .. well. maybe you are not trying enough, or maybe this game is not for you.

Blue. If they made the missions doable to where an average player can complete them without dying, then I would agree that limiting rezzes would be appropriate. I don’t know if you should remove them completely, but I do like the idea of rewarding for not needing them. A certaind number of rezzes should always be available because sometimes you just flat out screw up. There should always be at least one or two do-over chances. In your suggestion, I would say limit rezzes to no more than 3. If the mission has been significantly reduced in difficulty, you shouldn’t need more than that. They should then reward anyone who never uses one.

Also, if they remove the downleveling from personal story missions, then they could remove rezzing completely from all but the highest level missions, because you can always leave difficult mission and come back later when you have some more levels.

Blue, I would again like to apologize for my initial reaction to your idea. I misunderstood your position and overreacted. Now that you have clarified, and offered some interesting ideas to boot, I appreciate your input. I’m sorry I “yelled” at you.

Godzillathon.8052:

Blue. If they made the missions doable to where an average player can complete them without dying, then I would agree that limiting rezzes would be appropriate. I don’t know if you should remove them completely, but I do like the idea of rewarding for not needing them. A certaind number of rezzes should always be available because sometimes you just flat out screw up. There should always be at least one or two do-over chances. In your suggestion, I would say limit rezzes to no more than 3. If the mission has been significantly reduced in difficulty, you shouldn’t need more than that. They should then reward anyone who never uses one.

Also, if they remove the downleveling from personal story missions, then they could remove rezzing completely from all but the highest level missions, because you can always leave difficult mission and come back later when you have some more levels.

Blue, I would again like to apologize for my initial reaction to your idea. I misunderstood your position and overreacted. Now that you have clarified, and offered some interesting ideas to boot, I appreciate your input. I’m sorry I “yelled” at you.

Thanks! I am glad we could come to an agreement :-D

A MMORPG — if something seems too hard for you, try it with a friend.

mulch.2586:

A MMORPG — if something seems too hard for you, try it with a friend.

You shouldn’t have to. If the personal stories are designed to require a party of any size than they need to clearly state that. As it is, they’re set too hard. The fact that most of the missions require you to rez and repeat multiple times is an indication that the difficulty level is too high. I no longer bother with any of them on any character.

Keta.9601:

The fact that most of the missions require you to rez and repeat multiple times is an indication that the difficulty level is too high.

That’s a fact only for you and OP. Not all the player. I’m very cassual and didn’t find problems complete all of the personal history. Sorry but you are simple lazy. Did you view/read any guide of your class? Did you discuss in the forum about good build/strategy? No. You want an easy personal history just because you die a lot without making anything to improve your gamestyle. Sorry but this game is not for you. Baldurd’s Gate is Difficult, Dark Souls is difficult. GW2 Explorable Mode Dungeons Are difficult.. Personal historyline is OK.

Personal story in GW2 is really a waste of time and in-game currency the way it is set up now. It is not that it is challenging in a good way … it is difficult in an unfair/tedious way. NPCs do nothing much to help you, even when you have an army of them. You find yourself fighting against 3-6 mobs, or 3 vets/champs basically solo, which you would never do in the world outside that instance. It’s cheap difficulty slider. So about half way through I ditched it. Not fun at all for me.

I’ve found most of them soloable, except on my teen-level mesmer, which I admit is a profession that I don’t appear to be gifted at.

But don’t ask for difficulty to be lowered — do like you’d do for a champion mob or a dynamic event or a WvW target that’s too hard for you. Group up!!!

For heaven’s sake, if you can’t find a friend (or friend-to-be) to help for the 5 minutes these take, must have no social skills at all.

mulch.2586:

I’ve found most of them soloable, except on my teen-level mesmer, which I admit is a profession that I don’t appear to be gifted at.

But don’t ask for difficulty to be lowered — do like you’d do for a champion mob or a dynamic event or a WvW target that’s too hard for you. Group up!!!

For heaven’s sake, if you can’t find a friend (or friend-to-be) to help for the 5 minutes these take, must have no social skills at all.

Nah, I just can’t be bothered. The content of those missions isn’t nearly fun enough to bother. My main is 80 and I ditched the story in the early 60s and never looked back. I like the game a lot, but the personal story missions are just incredibly unfun for me — tedious is the word that comes to mind. Cheap difficulty and tedious.

Same for me, on several story lines, with several characters. I have had a few that I came back to a few levels later, and barely survived (6 levels above the quest level).
not to mention there is also the cost issue. If I have to spend 3x more silver in repairs then I get from the quest, for a quest that will reward me with an armor piece that is 2-3 levles below me, and I can’t sell (soulbound), coin-wise i am better off just not doing the quest.

And the frustration level is getting to the point that it is seriously impeding on my enjoyment of the game. So far, I have three toons that can’t advance in their storylines, since I hit a quest I can’t beat, even with help from guildmates.

I can attest to the issue of personal story bing too hard.

I dont remember which part it was, but in one of my personal story quests, I was fighting some kind of Ice Imp.
I was around level 10-15 at the time.

The Ice Imp was a veteran mob, with 1 summoned minion, as well as 3 NPC allies I still died so many times I ended up fighting thekittenthing naked.

The problem was that the veteran mob summoned 3 adds, and some kind of nest or something that made it invincible until I had destroyed the nest.

My NPC allies were torn apart as if they were ,made of paper, despite one of them supposedly being a champion type NPC.
Not only that but when I died and respawned the adds of the veteran mob followed me, and while I fought the adds the main target regenerated.

I could not kite or evade all mobs, and if I tried to revive my allies I would die trying as the mobs would just attack me while I tried doing that.

At higher levels, like the fight at fort Claw, I noticed another issue I would call a bug.
I no matter how much an NPC ally hits a mob, I only have to hit a mob once with my weakest attack and I get permanent aggro.
With permanent I meant that if I die and resurrect, the mob will ignore any other NPC hitting it and come running to attack me where I resurrect.

Leveling up is pointless because you are always leveled down to the level of besides what do you do once you hit 80?

You cant level up to say 85 or 90 and then do it even if you were not downleveled, and then do the quest, you would have to do it on level.

The personal story is supposed to be possible to do solo, if you bring some friends I would not mind if they scale it up a bit so as to not make it trivial, but you should at least have a fighting chance, and not end up having to fight naked just to complete the quest.

marianitten.1247:

That’s a fact only for you and OP. Not all the player. I’m very cassual and didn’t find problems complete all of the personal history. Sorry but you are simple lazy. Did you view/read any guide of your class? Did you discuss in the forum about good build/strategy? No. You want an easy personal history just because you die a lot without making anything to improve your gamestyle. Sorry but this game is not for you. Baldurd’s Gate is Difficult, Dark Souls is difficult. GW2 Explorable Mode Dungeons Are difficult.. Personal historyline is OK.

Well if you bothered to read the plethora of topics on this exact same subject you’ll find that it’s not just me and a the op. As for the rest of your diatribe, you have serious anger management issues for a game. I’d suggest some serious help. No, I mean that.

Jeffrey Vaughn.1793:

For what it’s worth, either the 9/17 or 9/24 update (I can’t remember which) has an updated version of that quest. (“Rumors of Trouble.”) In the future, PLEASE provide me with the quest name. I only recognized the step because I just modified last week.

Jeff, I’ve filed bug reports on every personal story mission that’s had problems since beta. So has most of the guild I’m playing in. I’ve been a beta tester on a lot of games for a very long time and provide extremely detailed bug reports. However, at this point I’m not going to bother doing the personal stories any longer. They’re simply not fun.

Slyvari Guardian, died a couple of times but so far (up through 60s) its been fairly easy. Granted I’m a guardian…

I’ve enjoyed my personal story a TON.

Maybe I’m naive but I just don’t see the average casual player reading a guide to their class or posting on a forum. And, perhaps my naivety again, I don’t think they should have to do those things to get through the game.

marianitten.1247:

Keta.9601:

The fact that most of the missions require you to rez and repeat multiple times is an indication that the difficulty level is too high.

That’s a fact only for you and OP. Not all the player. I’m very cassual and didn’t find problems complete all of the personal history. Sorry but you are simple lazy. Did you view/read any guide of your class? Did you discuss in the forum about good build/strategy? No. You want an easy personal history just because you die a lot without making anything to improve your gamestyle. Sorry but this game is not for you. Baldurd’s Gate is Difficult, Dark Souls is difficult. GW2 Explorable Mode Dungeons Are difficult.. Personal historyline is OK.

I’m a thief with toughness and vitality, using sword/pistol and shortbow.

Every mission I’ve completed so far has resulted in me being overwhelmed through an AOE blind, and needing to kite around with my shortbow using cluster bomb just to dent the number of enemies. Queue Benny Hill music for a proper visual.

Like I said, your input on this is null unless you show your build, because I don’t really believe you.

I am, however, glad to hear some missions are being fixed but it’s really not enough when most of them have difficulty scaling issues.

Reading the thread…it sounds to me like people are going in with glass cannon cookie cutter specs expecting to face tank everything but getting a rude awakening instead.

Look guys, I know that big critz are fun. I got my face smashed in the low level Personal Stories too when I went pure conditionmaster. A single hit would molest me for half my health bar.

But then I respeccd more defensively, spread my traits across, and now have no problems whatsoever. Find what’s right for you.

I’m on my second character and I’m focusing full support. The Personal Story is a cakewalk. A Slooooow cakewalk. Pretty much nothing can get me below 90% HP when I play right. I don’t think the personal story is at fault here.

TL;DR
Spread your traits around. Go for damage, but also for some toughness/vitality. Pay attention, and most importantly, Learn to play.

I think the main issue is that GW2 combat is very different from other MMO combat people are used to.

I had the same issue at first. Would take my warrior up face-to-face with the mobs, take my hand off the mouse and start pressing 1,2,3 on my keyboard. Died. A lot.

Then I started actually paying attention to the mobs and noticing when they start their high-powered attack and using my Dodge. Worked better but I was still dying quite a bit.

And then finally, I read some guide on reddit about mouse-turning, and kiting. At first I thought “that’s FPS bull, I hate that”, but decided to try.

It’s been an absolute blast. I absolutely love the exhilaration in being able to take down 3 veteran mobs by starting out melee and when kitten hits the fan switching to a ranged weapon and kiting them around.

Have even begun to employ more advanced “stop kiting, go back to melee for a few hard punches and back to kiting” tactics.

It’s super-fun. Just need to take the time to de-learn the usual “stand here press 1,4,5” routine other MMOs have conditioned you to play.

GW2 combat is freaking amazing.

I think Risotto brings valid points. I’ve played one char to 80, one to 65 and some to 40ish by now, with one having finished the entire storyline and the others all having the story at their level and I have yet to find a storyquest that is too hard. There are some that are hard for sure, but never too hard, and with proper usage of dodge it’s never too overwhelming.

Are they hard? Yes. Are they doable? Also…yes. However, the main thing I want to say about the story is that I don’t think they SHOULD be hard. In my book, the story is there as a quick distraction from your regular heart quests and events and to push forward the overall story of GW2, which will obviously be expanded on in the future.

IMO, the Personal Story is the most flawed aspect of the game at the moment. One of these reasons is that it is a bit difficult. Not that difficulty is a bad thing, it’s just that it’s difficult in a way that is very, very tedious. I really have fun in games not when something is difficult but when something feels epic. That’s why some of the events are so fun, because they feel epic. The fact that the story can be so difficult can take away from the story itself because I am more focused on the simple grind of completing a mission rather than enjoying the story in it’s glory.

If there’s one thing I will say about personal story, I think that GW2 needs to learn a few lessons from it’s competition here. SWTOR has amazing, amazing, amazing Class Storylines and dialogue. Definitely the main highlight of TOR. GW2 tries but sadly fails to be in the same level as TOR is when it comes to story. Take a few things from them in the Personal Story and I will be one happy player.

How does I PvE herp

To the OP: I agree with you wholeheartedly… just last night I was doing the storyline on my lvl 46 Ranger. The quest is said to be for lvl 47, but the big boss is lvl 50??? Totally insane! I tried it 3 times, but it’s just not doable!

And this goes for other quests and other characters as well.

These storyline quest levels should be fixed, otherwise that’s yet another gripe for me in this game…

i see people cry and whine about difficulty, but what if it was a total steamroll? it wouldnt be any fun at all.. people are crying about events being to easy, cause its basically not fun to mindlessly grind something without the option of failure.. then when its about storyquests, and its something challenging, people want it nerfed?
it doesnt make sense to me at all..
im neither an elite player, however ive learned how to deal with different situations on my different classes, and therefore ive completed the storyquests aswell..
I did die alot yes, but dont you agree its much more awesome finally finishing the quest after being stuck there for a while? imo it is, and i think alot of people agree with me!

and btw, to say its impossible is total BS, thooooouuuuusaands of people have completed these quests, so if you cant, you need to play abit more, or practice abit more on your class, or get some better gear.. and to see people complaining, and then be underleveled? wtf.. one level actually matters in guild wars, its not like other mmos where u can farm lvl 50 mobs on lvl 43..

That’s why they call it game balance.

It’s never fun to run in circles just to kill a mob.

Just because you play a 5sig warrior baby doesn’t mean a thief or mesmer faces a far more difficult battle for every engagement, no matter how well you know the class.

veritech.1048:

That’s why they call it game balance.

It’s never fun to run in circles just to kill a mob.

Just because you play a 5sig warrior baby doesn’t mean a thief or mesmer faces a far more difficult battle for every engagement, no matter how well you know the class.

Don’t have a single signet on my warrior’s build.

Have you tried kiting? I too thought it was FPS bull, but it’s given me some epic battles in this game so far with true “oh crap, i can’t believe i just soloed all those mobs” moments.

Many, many, many people have succeeded in completing the personal story. Is it hard at places? Yes. Is it doable? Yes.

Keep trying, it’s a lot more fun to succeed at a challenge.

I hope GW2 stays like this.

Engineer, always a few levels above the required level. I had no problems whatsoever with the difficulty (solo). If the missions tend to be too hard for your level / gear / build, adapt.

I personally think that some of the issues arise because people tend to run with zergs, not really learning how to use their build, crowd control, dodge, etc. Try staying alive soloing a champion, that will teach you the required skills quick enough.

I like challenging missions. The missions that bother me are the ones that have duration and difficulty created through spawning waves immediatly after the previous wave was defeated. It seems… lazy (in lack of a better word). Is there no other way of making those missions interesting? Especially at low levels when players do not yet have access to a huge selection of tricks, some of those missions seem to punish specific type of players a bit more than necessary, without actually being challenging in a stimulating way: a zerg of npcs is not challenging in any way other than how good an aoe spam one can device.

My experience so far is that the story line missions are perfectly manageable if you play them right, Im a human (warrior) playing the commoner (I think) and now vigil story lines and have very rarely died, a few seemed very difficult until I changed my tactics/skills/weapons. Which is one of the reasons i love this game, there are so many variations on your play style and build that theres always a different way of approaching a situation, maybe you just need to experiment?

I will say that the story is a challenge, but not impossible by any means and I love the difficulty. Far too many games make the story “easy” in order to please more games and frankly that doesn’t increase the skill of any player. Personally I am level 74 Human Ranger and currently just finished the Level 74 mission “The Forgotten God” and had no problem completing it. I have had friends in game that ask me to come along with them to help them with quests cause they are “too hard” and I just have to ask myself then “what are they doing wrong?” as everything mission wise is solo-able.

My suggestion to those having difficulty:
1.) Make sure you are geared to your level.
2.) Try different weapons, skills, and traits.
3.) Attempt to find a guide online of how to finish the mission.
4.) Ask questions in /map as many people will gladly answer.
5.) Change up your tactics, many problems can be fixed this way in a video game.
6.) Spend the coin and buy signets, runes, etc….
7.) Take a breather as sometimes getting frustrated at a mission will only cause you to make more mistakes.
8.) If all else fails and none of the above solved the issue then ask a friend to come help. After all this is a MMORPG not just a RPG.

I play a mesmer which is arguably the most underpowered prof while leveling and had absolutely no problems with any of the story quests. Hell I even did a few of them before the recommended level. None of them are impossible to do solo and certainly not “unacceptable”.

In my experience with pve there is no single boss or mob that can one shot any prof without you being able to do anything about it. There’s always an attack animation before any hard hitting attacks and most even have travel time giving you plenty of time to dodge.

It is ridiculous to claim encounters as unacceptable because if your own inability to do something many other people have done and absurd to ask for nerfs. If you don’t see them as challenges to better your own reflexes and observational skills then party with others to do them. You don’t “have” to if you don’t want to but then you’re going to have to accept that you’re not playing well enough to solo and it isn’t the game’s fault. Besides this is called a MMO for a reason. Not wanting to group with other players is not an excuse.

Sabouma.7186:

To the OP: I agree with you wholeheartedly… just last night I was doing the storyline on my lvl 46 Ranger. The quest is said to be for lvl 47, but the big boss is lvl 50??? Totally insane! I tried it 3 times, but it’s just not doable!

And this goes for other quests and other characters as well.

These storyline quest levels should be fixed, otherwise that’s yet another gripe for me in this game…

Are you serious? This is completely normal that some or all mobs are given higher levels than what you have, on Cursed Shore, pretty much every mob is lvl83.

In any case, human thief as Order of the Whispers – killing the Mouth of Zhaitan was time consuming solo, but there wasn’t a single mission that I’d call hard to complete. So I don’t see any need to make changes.

As a Norn Guardian my personal story has been generally on the ‘easy’ side of a challenge – and enjoyable for it. I recognise, however, that there are certain steps which are ridiculous – in my case (having taken the ‘lost heirloom’ thread) I had an instance at lil 11 or so where I was faced with three Zerg waves – the first being Ice Imps. 6-8 overlapping frost AoE fields spammed every few seconds was no fun I assure you, and even with chain res I was effectively naked (ALL armour pieces completely trashed) before I got through the first wave – rendering the second impossible (for me)

To be fair the addition of a Warrior friend got me through it, although we both died several times – and from then in solo has been pretty reasonable. Had my friend not helped, however, I have little doubt that I would probably still be stuck on that step.

I didn’t know we wanted more easy PvE from WoW/Aion…

Get some gear and learn how to dodge better.

As a lv. 80 Ranger and almost finished with my story line, I would also like to make some observations.

I havent had a problem as ranger at all so far. That is, because I picked a ranger.
Its rather the easiest class for kiting and dpsing down groups of mobs and veteran/champions. Bear x2 or later on I prefer spiders. They hold aggro and take some hits. Now I just kite the mob(s) and lay traps. Eventually stuff dies. Ty ranged spider dps!

Now, I tried missions up to lv 15 on pretty much any other class so far. And I was shocked how much more difficult they are with some of the classes. This has to be adressed. I am talking starting level quests. There is supposed to be a learning curve. I can see how people give up in frustration because they havent picked a class that has 2x tank pets. And are just learning the game.
Also not everyone is a mmo veteran like I am or some of the others posting here.

Bottom line:
The quests are not balanced well for every class to manage them. ESPECIALLY at low level quests.

Also I am happy how closely Anet monitors the forum and gives responces. Its a freshly released game and still in need of tweaking! Please keep that in mind.
Thank you for creating such a wonderful game!

xil.5140:

I didn’t know we wanted more easy PvE from WoW/Aion…

Get some gear and learn how to dodge better.

Two dodges, energy gone and still not made any impact on Imps – that’s a ‘downrated’ lvl 25 (at the time) Guardian in lvl 23-25 gear.

Appreciate you may not have been referencing my tale, andI agree that mostly it’s been easy-to-moderate – but that latter fact only went to highlight just how tough that one step was – harder (by far) than anything I’ve faced since and I’m at about lvl 60 in the PS now (with a down-rated l80 toon – playing catch-up on my PS)