Guild Wars 2

Just finished uploading a run of me and my guildmates completing ascalon explorable with only 3 people, in just over 30 minutes.

The purpose is to entertain and teach players who are wanting to start explorable dungeons, but also respond to complaints that dungeons are too hard. Clearly if 3 players (and potentially only 2) can run an entire route that is neither bugged nor exploitable, then teams of 5 should never have any problem. Ventrilo recording is kept in, although its use is minimal because of the comfort and familiarity each member has.

Also this video may be extremely useful to Guardians wishing to learn a huge deal more about their role in a small, focused party and what they can bring to ensure victory.

Traits are shown in the video at 9:06, and almost all weapons are used eventually, highlighting the genuine balance between almost all options.

For those curious, there is no genuine benefit to having only 3 people, apart from the increased challenge. It would be nice if (like in gw1) if bringing less people rewarded you more greatly, but as it stand we would have recieved just as much with 2 leechers filling the spare spaces.

A written guide by myself divulges more information about each area, to complement the video. http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ascalonian_Catacombs_

The video is not working for me, slow internet

Did you kill kholer in this path? When you picked up the 5 scepter pieces, did you kill the mobs there, or just run it?

I’m also curious about the Kohler thing, I’m sure he’s doable with 3 people, but all 3 people need to bring roots and chills to keep him from leaping all over you.

3 guardians with mace/focus should be able to do kholer easily

that’s awesome guys ! thanks for sharing

Great video guys, good to see people who know their combo fields/classes.

While it is entertaining, I don’t think, “Clearly if 3 players (and potentially only 2) can run an entire route that is neither bugged nor exploitable, then teams of 5 should never have any problem,” is necessarily true.

ref.8196:

The video is not working for me, slow internet

Did you kill kholer in this path? When you picked up the 5 scepter pieces, did you kill the mobs there, or just run it?

We ran the section with the scepter pieces. We could probably clear it with 3 people but it killing the mobs in there is just long and tedious.

We did pull and kill Kholer, we only had the single immobilize, I was the warrior and I didnt bring anything really to control him with it was all Ren. If he really focuses on one person they go down quite a bit but its still not too bad.

@miya Yes it is, how easy does it have to be to make sure even the most ignorant player can complete it?

If a player is not willing to
1. communicate vocaly with a team. (in this day and age there is no excuse not to with a $20 headset and the multiple programs available)
2. attempt to learn something about actually PLAYING their class.
3 attempt to learn anything about playing THIS GAMES mechanics.

They do not deserve to be able to complete the dungeons.
Yes, that is what I said, they do not DESERVE it.

Great video! Keep up the good work!

Now do this for CoF.

Pretty much proves you can do dungeons in less then 30 minutes legit. So about that DR timer.

On Kholer you just need someone who can kite him in a small circle. I can take his hits for eternity and beyond on my dps built warrior, mainly because cripple and evading his leaps. (keep 1 roll for pull ofcourse) Then occasionally, every 10 seconds or so when I’ve regenerated enough health for a hundred blades I do just that and start kiting again until it comes off cooldown.

I’ve actually solod him like this because pugs were unable to dodge his scorpion wires after I stopped kiting him behind the pillars when they were killing the adds.

You should note that we’ve been doing this dungeon with our guild probably since we had 5 people hitting level 35. So a few days after the headstart. You’ll have to get used to the encounters, but once you do Ascalon Explorable is one of the easiest but also one of the most enjoyable dungeons out there in the game now.

Relevant to a different forum post, there is some more information here:

Well if you simplify what each profession is bring into roles then its easier to judge what is necessary and what is not.

In my (biased) opinion, Guardian is essential. The staff 4th and 5th abilites are vastly superior to anything any other profession can bring in terms of might and also the invaluable wall spell, that maintains such huge amounts of safety against melee mobs. If you can bring such huge defence from another profession (perhaps huge amounts of blind, or infinite chill) then and only then can the guardian be replaced.

The warrior represents DPS. He racks up huge numbers, using the passive and active guardian abilities to do it safely. Other elemnts that help are vulnerability, shouts, and interrupts. All of these can be performed by other professions, although perhaps not as well/ safely.

The mesmer is nowhere near as essential, bringing condition removal and quickness simply to reduce dangers in certain fights (for example killing a burrow more quickly will save on a breeder spawn). This role can be exchanged for any profession that can assist in damage and keeping everyone alive.

Specifically, a thief could easily replace the mesmer, although it might not be totally advised. It would probably seriously struggle to replace the roles of the guardian, but might perhaps fare well in the DPS role of the warrior.

I can get the warrior to post his traits, and for this run each of us were running exotic magic find armour. The mesmer is not even level 80 yet, and her gear is probably already replaced by something else.