Guild Wars 2

Despite having played the game for long, I am one of those players who haven’t got “Dungeon Master” yet, partially because my guild (and most guild, I imagine) almost never runs the harder/longer dungeon paths. The most infamous of these is of course Arah P4. Thanks to the LFG-finder, it should now be easier to find groups. But when I look for Arah groups, half of the entries are usually groups selling spots (not only to P4).
This is in my opinion an anti-social problem that hurts the game community. While some might think it should be punishable and others don’t, it is obvious that it’s a sympton caused by parts of Arah being too long and difficult for many players. Especially considering that you can get kicked before the final boss if the leader leaves group (which is a problem I put in another topic).

My suggestion is a change to either Arah (specifically P4), or even to the entire dungeon system. It doesn’t have to be a complete redesign, but just enough for players to find an average group that, if competent, can completely the dungeon within an hour or two. thus eliminating sales of group-spots. I am not familiar enough with the dungeon to have a specific change in mind, but I have a few suggestions:

1. Nerf Arah P4 last boss (EDIT: SIMIN, NOT THE LAST BOSS!
It is my understanding that the hardest part of Arah P4 is the last boss. While it makes sense for this boss to be the hardest in the game, a simple nerf seems like a reasonable option, considering that many players are willing to pay for others to kill it for them. This could by itself eliminate the problem with spot-selling. Any change that stops this problem is a good change in my opinion.

2. Difficulty options (or “pug vs guild group”
Another option is to allow players to choose between two or more difficulties for either bosses or even entire dungeons. In that way, your average PUG could complete the easy bosses for a normal reward, while experienced guild groups could do the harder versions for better rewards. This is of course a freature that many other MMOs have, and one that could potentially increase the challenge and enjoyment of the game for both casual and hardcore players. It could be done with a single boss/dungeon initially, and potentially expanded afterwards.

3. Arah trash change
Another basic problem I have with Arah in general is that half of the time have been spent running past trash (which in my few experiences usually ends with the group being split and trying to run past trash by themselves). It’s fair enough to use invisibility to run past a few groups, but up to half of the dungeons (in my experiences) is often spent running past trash. Simply reducing/nerfing the trash or changing the positions/pace could make the dungeon flow better. Also, more WPs.

4. Rewards appropriate to dungeon difficulty
One way of encouaring players to run more difficult/long paths is to have the rewards be proportionate to the difficulty of the path. CoF P1 is probably the most popular of all paths because it’s so fast/easy, so having a path that’s three times a long give three times the reward sounds reasonable.

Finally, an in-game calender (or “guild dungeon coordinator”) that allows guild members to arrange their own events/dungeons could make it easier to arrange guild-events. Of course, since most guilds have their own websites, this is not vitally missing, but it could still make things easier.

u need more practice …… check out some guides on youtube

Arah can be solod or duod

I stoped reading ur post when u said last boss arah p4 is hard. all u need do is stand on the Altar and nuke him while sometimes someone throw a teardrop….

“It is my understanding that the hardest part of Arah P4 is the last boss.”

Au contraire, mon frère! I believe that the most troublesome boss in Path 4 (and in Paths 1, 2 and 3, for that matter) is your friendly neighborhood Giganticus Lupicus.

After (if) you get him down, the rest is a cakewalk.

Arah p4 can be done in 40-45 minutes if you do it fully legit (used to be 30, but the fixed Melandru’s defiant stacks, so now you can’t melee him anymore). 1h-1h30 with a less experienced group. <2h isn’t that hard. So what you’re asking for already exists.

As for the last boss being the hardest boss in the game, that’s one of the best jokes I’ve ever read on this forum. The last boss in Arah is probably the biggest pushover this game has.

What this thread is basically boiling down to is wheeeiii, I want my DM, please GIMME GIMME.

I don’t advise PUGing it though, but here is a video of a speedrun that explains all boss mechanics and how to overcome them. This video might also be good because it shows how to do Melandru without melee’ing him.

Watch it, learn the encounteres, find a group of friends and try to actually earn your DM.

Or buy it!

Thanks for the replies and advice. But I’m afraid you guys misunderstoood my main point. Sorry if it came accross as whiny, but it wasn’t about me personality or my own experiences. I don’t think I’ve even ever attempted Arah P4, and I don’t know if it is as tough as the hype. I’m perfectly okay with spending several hours learning the bosses.
When I said “it is my understanding that the hardest part is the last boss” I was basing it on a quote from the wiki, having never seen the boss myself.

My problem: It bothers me that spot-selling exists. I don’t want to look at it in my LFG, like I don’t want to look at goldspamming in chat.
The fact that people are selling spots (on all servers, I assume) is by itself evidence of a problem with the dungeon. You don’t think it’s too difficult or long? Fair enough, but maybe it isn’t fun enough. I realize that many of the people who are buying themselves in are bad players who can’t be kitten d to even find a guild group, but it’s still the sympton of an issue. Besides, considering that it’s hard to find people even in a big guild shows that people don’t think that it is worth the hazzle. So instead of saying “nerf” (like my first suggestion), maybe a better question is “What can encourage people to do the dungeon with their guilds?”

I wish they encouraged spot selling more, we done it and loved it in GW1 so why not in GW2.

“GW2 will be everything you loved in GW1 and more” – No its not, we have went from non-grind skill based combat with cosmetic expansion to gear based combat with verticle grind

edit: almost forgot, and RNG

I like your final thought about adding a Guild Calendar. Ya sure guilds have their own website and what not but let’s face it not everyone in a guild will signup or go to their guilds website. Sure leaders can type the guild schedule into the message of the day, but having a calendar would be far easier then to read a bunch of text saying when guildies plan to run Dungeons all day, or missions, or ach hunt, ect ect

Oh snap, when I wrote “last boss” in the original post, I was refering to Simin, the Dwayan priestess, not the actual last boss. I didn’t do the reserach well enough, GW2wiki made it look like Simin was the last boss when you skimmed through it.

Anyway, I just finished the Arah P4 in a pug (except for last boss because I got kicked out due to leader being kicked/leaving), and while it lasted 3+ hours it wasn’t as bad as I could have feared. I still think my pre-doing-P4 remains valid, though (but the frankly idiotic system where entire group gets kicked if leader is a reason by itself. I just experienced that myself).

Fragment, I don’t know how spot-selling worked in GW1, but surely you would only pay for it in GW2 to get the achievement without doing the dungeon. That can in no way be seen as beneficial for the dungeon-community, and as I think, is a sign some dungeons could use a revamp.

Nilas.2605:

Fragment, I don’t know how spot-selling worked in GW1, but surely you would only pay for it in GW2 to get the achievement without doing the dungeon. That can in no way be seen as beneficial for the dungeon-community, and as I think, is a sign some dungeons could use a revamp.

It was actually harder to pull of, but far more accepted by the community than it is now.

By harder to pull off, I mean, you had to have the people buying your path in your instance from the start, meaning you needed to contact them and set up a run beforehand.

It was a very simple concept (I ran a DoA running service for a while): the party size in GW1 was 8 for most elite areas (not counting Urgoz and Deep), so basically, what you did was, you got some friends together, we usually 5 manned DoA for the running service for example, and filled up the last spots with people you ran. Usually they just afk’ed the run, except for some parts where they had to be present in order to progress.

The reason path selling is seen as malevolent in this game is because of the (mostly fake) stories that were spread by people that claimed they got kicked out of their party in order to have their spot sold.

I don’t see what’s wrong with it. A certain person has the skill and time to solo/duo a path that is conceived as hard by another person, and is willing to sell his skill and time to another person that requires his assistance. If you think this is a bad concept, I suggest from now on you never go to a car mechanic again and just learn how to fix your car yourself.

It’s basic economic, and there is nothing wrong with it. Not only that, but it has been stated by Anet in multiple languages that selling paths -provided you didn’t kick your party members and didn’t use exploits- is totally okay.