Guild Wars 2

Firstly, I would like to say that I am thrilled that you guys have put together some content that is truly challenging in a PvE setting. The changes you guys have made to the Tequatl fight are truly epic and in truth, I sincerely hope the devs are drawing up plans to update many of the other world bosses, especially the dragon lieutenants in a similar fashion. This is the kind of content that is fun to play in an open setting.

Now, as wonderful as I found this fight to be, there are several other indirectly created problems with the Tequatl fight, some which are Anet’s responsibility, others being caused by player personalities. As fun as this new, revamped TACO fight is, it is bringing out some unfortunate side-effects. For instance, in order to successfully kill Tequatl, you need a full map-worth of players fighting in a coordinated fashion. This by itself is not truly a problem, having such a difficult fight that you need to rally together and work hard is truly rewarding, but the problem stems from the overflow system. Players stuck in overflow have absolutely no chance of beating tequatl. There are not enough players in the overflow to constitute a viable force, and players stuck in overflow are usually left without the rallying points of commanders in their fight.

To try to get around this problem with overflow, players are taking to logging in, and SITTING STILL in sparkfly, waiting between tequatl fights. Gamers are feeling coerced into staying in the one zone, just so they are able to participate in the event. It is not fun to remain in the same zone for hours on end just waiting for a boss to spawn, and in my opinion this goes against Anet’s professed vision for GW2.

I do NOT think Tequatl needs a NERF.

I think what needs to happen is that the Devs (in future releases like this) seriously tinker with the scaling of the event, so that it is always a hard and challenging fight, but there is always a CHANCE to beat it with a fewer number of people. Same level of complexity and cooperation required, but adjust the scaling of the event so those stuck in overflow still have a chance to complete the event.

As it stands now being stuck in overflow (especially when you were in the main server with the organized group and then your connection borks, dumping you into overflow once you re-log) is just heaping frustration and dissatisfaction on your players.

I would like to add that I have never been disconnected during a Teq fight, and I have participated in a successful event. On the other hand, I have been stuck in overflow spamming ‘join party in Sparkfly Fen’ every two seconds for around 35min. That was NOT a pleasurable experience.

To add insult to injury, since people are staying in the zone between events to save their spot in the main server, they often go afk and do something completely out of the game. This means that even in the main server, you might think you have the necessary people to complete the event but in reality 1/4 of those there are actually afk for most (if not all) of the fight!

My suggestion is this: during living world content like this Tequatl fight (in the future at least, if it can’t be implemented for this release) put the same afk-kicking system you have for WvW maps during peak hours, or even just link it to the number of overflows that a certain zone has. This way players must be there to participate in the event or be kicked, and those waiting to get into the main server have a higher chance of actually getting a successful fight in.