Guild Wars 2

Well I decided to finally write this, I was going to keep quiet but then I keep reading through these AC threads and I am starting to think that a lot of people are speaking for us ‘new players’ that are not new players at all.

It also seems like players defending the changes to AC are being asked to be very technical, very specific and are asked to follow very strict guidelines when supplying evidence to support their claims and the same is not being asked of the players who are against the changes.

Those against the changes are throwing around multiple terms like, ‘new player’, ‘casual player’, ‘average group’ with no real definition for these terms or constancy in their context.

If you care to read on I will share with you the experience and perspective of a brand new GuildWars 2 player.

My previous game experience includes World of Warcraft (Vanilla to Wrath of the LichKing), before that I played Asheron’s Call (Vanilla for about 3 years.). Recently I have played Diablo III and League of Legends.

I started GuildWars 2 about 3 weeks or so ago now. I played all the classes except engineer and ranger till about 20 before deciding to stick to my Mesmer who is now level 62 with 2 crafting professions maxed. So that should tell you I don’t have a whole lot of experience.

My first experience with AC was pre-patch explorer mode because no one was running story mode. I was between 36 and 38. I had mis-match gear stat wise because I was just putting on whatever I thought was better. I did figure out real quick though that I could sell the blues I didn’t want on the trading post and buy greens that I did want for mere coppers. So it wasn’t hard even has a brand new player to have gear appropriate for my level. I traited and skilled whatever I wanted.

My first run was with 2 level 80’s, and the rest of us were in our 30’s. (( Let me just say right here that this experiment that Meastro is running with all 35’s is cool and interesting, but this far into the game there is no reason any group wouldn’t have a couple of 80’s. I think I would actually have a harder time building a group with out including level 80’s. So while I understand Meastro is trying to prove a point, and I respect that, he is handicapping himself because that is far from the typical or average group.))

I explained to the group right away this was my first ever dungeon run, the two 80’s took the lead explaining the content for me. Every pull was explained before it happened.

I was told how to assist targeted mobs, I jumped where they jumped, I went where they went I targeted what they targeted. I still died a lot. I died every time Kholer spun and pulled me in with out exception. We continued on, we got through it and I learned a whole hell of a lot, but I had fun.

(Continued)

Dungeoning in GuildWars 2 compared to world leveling was an intense experience that required me to follow direction, be on my toes and use my skills, or hit the floor.

I did a few runs after that, and let me tell you, not all of them were successful. Thing is level 80’s or not, I could call the ones that were not going to go well after the first few pulls. It was the ones with out leadership, with out co-operation.

As soon as the group pulls that group of gravelings in the trap hall and no one singles a focus target, right there I know the chances of us making it through this dungeon just halved.

After patch, no a whole lot changed to be honest. There was more trial and error because of the little changes, I was about level 43-44 at the time, same gear though, I had stopped buying it at this point because I was paying repair bills, lol.

The groups that had one or two good leaders and the rest following directions made it through, and the ones that didn’t quit and gave up after 3 or 4 wipes.

Here is an important point though. The amount of wipes didn’t really change, the only thing that changed was the unorganized groups giving up.

The first group I went with post patch wiped 4 times on Kholer before we figured out we couldn’t just ignore the adds anymore. No one said a negative word. We problem solved it, made a battle plan for the next go, repaired up and went to it.

So here is my point. As a NEW player, and LOW level player, I’ve been having a blast figuring these dungeons out.

To the people saying that new or low level groups can’t do it, you’re wrong. Anytime a fresh group steps into a new dungeon, they need to expect they will wipe at least 3 or 4 times on each major encounter. That is what dungeons have always been. The fights and mechanics are learned through trail and error, through death.

So yes, if you take a brand new group which is at the minimum level for the dungeon they will die a lot until they learn it. And then guess what, they are now experienced, lol.

That being said, if that is not your cup of tea, there is really no reason to go into any dungeon in this game with a fresh group if you don’t want to. There are always 80’s looking for groups, or making groups themselves.

Stop whining the dungeons are hard, step up to the challenge! People are doing them right? Me! I’ve done them! This guy who has been playing for 3 weeks and doesn’t have a single max level character.

New doesn’t matter, casual.. doesn’t matter. You need to use your skills and if you don’t have those skills, you need to practice the ones you have until they are the ones you need, and if you are unwilling to do that, then you are undeserving of the rewards doing so would gain you.

Also, ask me anything. If you want to know how I felt about a specific encounter, or specific mechanics, I’m happy to share my experience.

I keep hearing players say that “new players are going to quit because of this..”, or “what type of game experience is this for a new player?”

Well please ask me while I am still new, because from what I see on this forum, many of you forget what it is like to be a new player, and we don’t need or want to be babied as much as you think we do.

Thanks.

Great to hear the experience from this perspective.

Tbh I’ve just been ignoring all the new ac threads because they have no basis for their complaints.

I’ve done AC before and after the patch, although I have been playing since release and not enough has changed for me to consider it overall harder.

A lot of the lag issues that occured after the patch have been mended so that is no excuse imo.

The spider is possibly easier and in a group the baby spiders can still be handled no problem. The scavengers were made a lot easier. The breeders are now like a cold knife through hot butter. The encounter after the spider is easier. Kholer seems easier to me I think they might have reduced his damage.

Hodgins still just stands there trying to open the door when the graveling mounds spawn.

The only encounters that I consider to be any different is ghost eater and colossus rumblus. Colossus just (likely) requires certain methods (rupts and stability) which he previously did not, although he himself is a pushover now. Now he is not necessarily more difficult he just (likely) requires a certain method to win. This may require new groups to problem solve and have a fuller knowledge of game mechanics but like the OP said it is likely that a group would have at least a lvl 80.

Ghost eater is just not friendly to players with lifesteal (thats me) since the majority of the time hes invulnerable, but overall its not like hes really difficult. Also detha still sucks.

Howling King is too easy but I hear hes not functioning correctly so w/e.

I have no idea what’s so different now that people are unable to play the dungeon. The only thing that might have been effected is swapping to alts if players find the boss encounters more difficult.

I do agree their are some valid complaints about rumblus, although I did try him before you could interrupt his boulder shout.

There is a lot of luck dependent on if the npc will preform or not and because one mistake = wipe it can be a frustrating event. That being said I don’t think it’s hard, I think it can be tedious, which IMO is worse. So I think that event should be looked at again.

The npc bugs need to be fixed, but that isn’t what is being complained about here. But that is part of the problem I mentioned, most of the people complaining are not being specific, they are just saying it is too hard.

Sounds to me most of them tried one run and then came to the forums.

I guess as a new player I expected to have to put more effort in to succeed so I did, and I did.

i’m more interested in how you managed to find a pug post patch as lv 45.
My lv 55 war keeps getting kicked

We (I’m one of the people in Maestros dungeon group) must handicap ourselves because if we do not, people will claim we are not legitimate, and we agreed to it willingly, accepting the challenge. I personally have no issue, but I hope there is not something else that will be added on; like we used utilities to our advantage and that doesn’t count etc etc.

I agree with you though.

Levistis.8356:

We (I’m one of the people in Maestros dungeon group) must handicap ourselves because if we do not, people will claim we are not legitimate, and we agreed to it willingly, accepting the challenge. I personally have no issue, but I hope there is not something else that will be added on; like we used utilities to our advantage and that doesn’t count etc etc.

I agree with you though.

Yes and I understood why you were doing it and I support the challenge, obviously you are players like me who enjoy a challenge.

I just wanted to make a point to the people who were dictating the stipulations of the challenge to you that they are indeed creating an under dog challenge, not the typical or average scenario.

As to players under 60 getting kicked from AC exp, I did it with my level 44-45 the day of the changes, so people didn’t quite know what they were getting themselves into.

Although I am not sure what server you are on, I am on Tarnished Coast and people seem more then willing to handi cap their group in order to include me on their runs.

I completely support this post, nice work. I do not kick players due to level as long as they are the level of the instance or more. I have played since launch and whether I always enjoy it or not I stay and help anyone new in my PuGs learn the fight, I have post and sub patch helped groups up to 2-3 hours in one path to help them out. I do have to admit that I mostly run the AC paths on my 80 because he is my guardian, it’s hard to step away from such a useful character, I mostly keep 2 stability and 1 condition removal as my utilities that can all be shared with my allies and I use this to try to help others as well as myself stay up and moving. He is not the only character I do take, just mostly. No other character I have is 80, and I do fine on them, though do not feel as useful to others purely due to the fact of losing those support skills. Any guardian can have the same utilities by 35, it’s pretty easy to reach. When I play my Ele my support comes in boons and staff heals, though that number 3 heal is kitten to try to land on someone who is running and dodging for their life, lol. Healing rain removes conditions, his utilities are more selfish survival stuff always including the Stone Armor for stability.

The only things I’ve been complaining about AC are the bugs, like in path 3; Grast not summoning bubbles or summoning bubbles after the rocks have fallen. I’ve never spoken on behalf of a new player or anything.

Having said that, you should also understand that while you are a new player, you are not necessarily representative of all new players. I’m a regular ACer and FotMer, and I purposely stress in gw2lfg.com that all first timers and people still getting their bearings around these dungeons are welcome in my party. I want to guide people through dungeons so that everyone gets to give it a go, not just the elitists. As such I usually get at least two first-timers because of my open attitude.

The thing is, you and the parties that didn’t ragequit were willing to keep trying even after numerous wipes. You were willing to step back after a couple of failed tries and go “Okay, this strategy isn’t working guys – should we try something else?” and your party was very adaptable. And this is a sign of a really great party even if it was a PuG.

The new players I run with are not like you. They’re so used to facerolling in their PvE, running around killing everything so easily. They’re not used to dying. They’re not used to seeing repair bills that actually cost in silvers, not coppers. They’re used to doing whatever they like in PvE because it’s not as challenging of an environment, so they run on ahead and get themselves killed even though the other party members said to wait. They’re used to doing things on their own in PvE so they don’t bother resurrecting people until they’re the only one standing, and then they come to the forums and go “I’m a new level 35 but my whole party died and I survived – what’s with all this elitist attitudes when I’m clearly better?”

Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s awesome that you had such a great dungeon experience and I hope that there are others who are equally keen to give dungeons a go. But do understand that just because you are one new player who has enjoyed doing what you do doesn’t mean that every single new player will find dungeons just as fun.

^ What he said and I am one of those people posting. And my guildies live,breath, and eat dungeons for 8 hours straight… They won’t even run with me unless I am running my 80 everytime I ask I get an ehh answer but ANYWAY pro dungeon team that is use to running together agrees they messed up AC and far as I know my guild now refuses to run it. They tried it,said it was easy,rage quit 10 mins later. So all the people that say this dungeon is to hard to be “ENJOYABLE” are bad? And I find it hard to belive you find groups so quickly… New people tend not to know what to eat,how to trait,and what stats to stack on so they get a insta kick so I have to agree with Aegis on that one because 98% of the time the good groups will “BOOM” you because they want you to help there group not the whole group help you.. If you have had a good experince I hope you have a 1000 more but everyones point of view is differnt and people have different “expectations” of what a dungeon should be.

lcpdragonslayer.7895:

The only things I’ve been complaining about AC are the bugs, like in path 3; Grast not summoning bubbles or summoning bubbles after the rocks have fallen. I’ve never spoken on behalf of a new player or anything.

Having said that, you should also understand that while you are a new player, you are not necessarily representative of all new players. I’m a regular ACer and FotMer, and I purposely stress in gw2lfg.com that all first timers and people still getting their bearings around these dungeons are welcome in my party. I want to guide people through dungeons so that everyone gets to give it a go, not just the elitists. As such I usually get at least two first-timers because of my open attitude.

The thing is, you and the parties that didn’t ragequit were willing to keep trying even after numerous wipes. You were willing to step back after a couple of failed tries and go “Okay, this strategy isn’t working guys – should we try something else?” and your party was very adaptable. And this is a sign of a really great party even if it was a PuG.

The new players I run with are not like you. They’re so used to facerolling in their PvE, running around killing everything so easily. They’re not used to dying. They’re not used to seeing repair bills that actually cost in silvers, not coppers. They’re used to doing whatever they like in PvE because it’s not as challenging of an environment, so they run on ahead and get themselves killed even though the other party members said to wait. They’re used to doing things on their own in PvE so they don’t bother resurrecting people until they’re the only one standing, and then they come to the forums and go “I’m a new level 35 but my whole party died and I survived – what’s with all this elitist attitudes when I’m clearly better?”

Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s awesome that you had such a great dungeon experience and I hope that there are others who are equally keen to give dungeons a go. But do understand that just because you are one new player who has enjoyed doing what you do doesn’t mean that every single new player will find dungeons just as fun.

That’s my point. It is about attitude. It has nothing to do with being new, or being casual or even being experienced.

It is about knowing what you are getting yourself into, we are trying explorer mode here, you should at least know this is the harder version of the dungeon, you are going to die, level 80’s die.

It shouldn’t be as easy as leveling outside of dungeons. If explorer dungeons were the same thing as open world leveling, what would be the point?

These new players that you are speaking with that can’t handle dying because they are used to face-rolling the rest of the PvE content, should we make the dungeons as easy as the rest of the content for these players?

You are right, I am a certain type of new player that is up to the challenge. I’m not a better player, I’m not a more skilled player, I’m just ready to fight tooth and nail for the prestige of completing the more challenging content.

I find that fun, I find the trail and error, the problem solving fun. I enjoy the team work it takes to see your party mate fall and rush to his side because you need him for the rest of the fight. You don’t see someone die and keeping hitting 1 like people do in the big group events. You get that guy up because even though you all may have just met, you are now part of a cohesive team that needs each other to survive.

You’re not holding hands, skipping down the path and picking daises. That’s for when you are sight seeing vistas and collecting points of interest on the world map.

In a dungeon, you’re trudging through the mud, slipping in each others blood, gritting your teeth and trying your best to make it look like a grin.

I’m not telling you you have to like what I like, and the Dev’s are not telling you that you have to do what I do. There is plenty stress free content out there that will earn you equivalent rewards.

But I don’t think it is right that you are asking the Dev’s to put daisies in my trench because because you think it stinks.

I mean think about it people, on the world map you’re earning hearts, in AC I’m collecting the tears of my enemies…

Croatoan.8426:

^ What he said and I am one of those people posting. And my guildies live,breath, and eat dungeons for 8 hours straight… They won’t even run with me unless I am running my 80 everytime I ask I get an ehh answer but ANYWAY pro dungeon team that is use to running together agrees they messed up AC and far as I know my guild now refuses to run it. They tried it,said it was easy,rage quit 10 mins later. So all the people that say this dungeon is to hard to be “ENJOYABLE” are bad? And I find it hard to belive you find groups so quickly… New people tend not to know what to eat,how to trait,and what stats to stack on so they get a insta kick so I have to agree with Aegis on that one because 98% of the time the good groups will “BOOM” you because they want you to help there group not the whole group help you.. If you have had a good experince I hope you have a 1000 more but everyones point of view is differnt and people have different “expectations” of what a dungeon should be.

So your pro guild team rage quits a dungeon after 10 minutes and calls it too hard? You are just proving my point for me.

I didn’t call anyone bad. I didn’t call anyone anything, I will say this though, there are groups completing this dungeon, there are groups not using all 80’s completing this dungeon and there are groups having fun doing it.

You may have different expectations of what a dungeon should be, and I say it sounds like you already have those dungeons in explorer mode. If you want better gear you can still get that through crafting or other means.

You have easier content yet you still ask to make the harder content easier. Why should all of the content be geared towards players who want it easier? Or people that rage quit after 10 minutes because they don’t they don’t want to learn something new?

Well it shouldn’t. And at least right now Anet agrees.

It should have gone without saying that “new” does not equal either unskilled, unwilling to go through the learning curve or doesn’t crave challenge. However, this is the internet and assumptions prevail. When referring to people who don’t enjoy the GW2 dungeon experience, I prefer to use the term, “prefers a more relaxed dungeon experience.” It’s a mouthful, but all of this discussion is really about preferences.

Low leveled players looking for difficult content before hitting their character level cap are in the vast minority. Your anecdote does not represent the feelings of most of the playerbase, regardless of how much I may agree with you.

The dungeons are particularly buggy though as well, which is very bad for an update hitting the live server that’s so significantly different than the prior. Once they’re ironed out, I’ll love the new engaging AC. Again however, we are not the majority.

CryxTryx.9208:

… You may have different expectations of what a dungeon should be, and I say it sounds like you already have those dungeons in explorer mode. If you want better gear you can still get that through crafting or other means.

You have easier content yet you still ask to make the harder content easier. Why should all of the content be geared towards players who want it easier? Or people that rage quit after 10 minutes because they don’t they don’t want to learn something new?

Well it shouldn’t. And at least right now Anet agrees.

It really is all about expectations. Dungeons in GW2, at least while you are learning them, require more attention, more active participation and more skill than dungeons in most other games. Face it, the tank had to know the fights and positioning, the DPS didn’t have to know more than who to hit when, the heal spent all his time in fights looking at health bars and of course everyone had to know not to stand in fire. Those dungeons were easier because there was more margin for error. Once you learn the GW2 dungeons, you know what to do and when, but until then you need to be on your toes as each player has to learn most everything. If you’re expecting a “typical” MMO dungeon, GW2 is going to surprise you.

Everyone keeps saying that players who crave challenge are the minority even though there are no hard facts to support this. The complainers are always the most vocal.

However, even if we are the minority let me ask you this;

How much of GuildWars 2 content is challenging? The minority?

I personally love the new path 2 now. The boss gives a much more fun encounter; better than the usually key spamming.

Thank you sir, for this post. I’m happy that there are still some people that agree with me…

I have been playing from the start, but I only did AC explorable about 5 times (before the update). After the update, I did every path once because I needed it for the Monthly (February). Meaning I’m not at all “experienced” in Dungeons.

I shared back then, that in my experience, the Dungeon was even better (more fun) and although it takes a little while to figure out, it is still pretty easy once you do. However, I got a lot of comments that I was level 80 and that I couldn’t speak for all the Guild Wars 2 players. So I’m happy that you, as new player, agree that the new AC isn’t really different or harder.

If people can’t avoid the red circles, dodge some special attacks or figure out boss mechanics, they don’t belong in Dungeons.

Thanks again for this post.

Cryx you claim I want an easy mode?? I don’t I have been a long time supporter of increaseing cof p1 difficulty. We can face roll any boss in that dungeon in under a minute (minus p3 boss). Where I am getting at is how is new person supose to know and have the experince to know when to rip bleeds off his/her allies from gravelings? How is a new person supose to know to take out the statues before going for spiders?How is a nub supose to know about the new ghost eater mechanic? That is alot of trial and error if a team will tolerate you for that long. And this learning curve you keep speaking of is unfounded. What team that knows what they are doing is gonna whipe 2-5 times just so you can memorize a bosses moves? ?? I’ve never meet a pug group like that and I have kicked people from my party for less. A decent team might have the patients to explain it to you once and maybe point out what your doing wrong once or twice but after that KICK and pull somebody off of gw2lfg that knows what they are doing. People “like myself” don’t want to spend 50 mins in one path because something bugged or a tiny mistake was made and whiped the team and I hate having to kick but I don’t want to spend a hour in dungeon that was supose to be over 30 mins ago. I have had to quit p2 because ghost eater bugged and was perma invulnrable. If its not broke… WHY FIX IT? AC was perfectly fine the way it was and people did enjoy running it. The new AC is a pain to say the least and for that reason everyone I know is running to CoF. And it wasn’t my d team that rage quit never said it was it was some of my guildies. And they had to carry pugs because they couldnt get enough people to go. I never claimed it was to difficult for me I have ran all 3 paths, I have a full set of Dungeon gear on my main full exotics so yes I do grind.I can handle any difficulty I just don’t want a dungeon to die/turn into an elitist dungeon that you can never get a group for. But I can see why casual players will avoid this content and thats why I have said before there should be an “elite explore” mode, and that way it makes both sides happy. People that say make it harder are just wanting to kill farming and thats what it is about. Who is going to enjoy whiping 5-10 times and laugh about it and say lets try again if you are like that you are in a severe minority in the gaming world period and as well as getting the same rewards for a harder dungeon that takes a longer time to complete that puts you waaayyy far down there on that list. And my personal complaints are they made it harder/longer (no jokes intended) without really increasing the reward/ac tear increase and the dungeon to me is already showing alot of signs of losing people willing to run it multiple times or even at all. I have not “personally” heard anyone in la LFG AC any path since the patch.

I wouldn’t exactly call AC perfectly fine the way it was before. There was certainly room for improvement.

Spider Queen’s poison AoE from beta was overnerfed into a trivial trickle of damage and you could very well stand in it for the most of the duration, pop a condi clear then heal to full. Not threatening at all. Her spiderlings were also made very, very trivial in comparison to beta where they were just too much. The new version is so much better because this attack actually means something, and the added pressure of the web and spiderlings that strike a good balance between beta and the old live version is icing.

Path 1 and 3 final bosses were carbon copies of each other with one single mechanical difference. The new versions make them more distinct from each other.

Path 2’s final boss mechanics (mortars) were useless trash that didn’t influence the fight in the slightest and you were better off ignoring it completely and just doing the damages. Now, I haven’t actually done the new path 2 yet, but I’m fairly certain that when it works, its a lot more interesting than just being Howling King without a cone scream and slightly different adds.

Scavengers were over-the-top and the rest of the ‘veteran’ gravelings were just so much chaff. Perhaps the new balance of power isn’t the right one, but the original certainly isn’t much better. Stalkers in particular gaining evasion when they hit someone with their burrowstrike is something relatively unique in that it suitably punishes players for not dodging properly in a way that doesn’t result in terrible, terrible damage to those who were hit. The game needs more mechanics like that.

Bugs aside, the new AC I feel is a better experience overall. New players will learn the same way we did when the game first came out; experimentation and some trial and error. Hopefully with a helping hand from those who are willing to show them the ropes.

People think the new AC is harder?

I played it yesterday for the first time since the update, and also in months, and I found it shockingly easier with a pug group where not everyone was 80. In fact I’ve done it 11 more times since then and none of those groups have been full 80’s and I haven’t had a single moment where I’ve even considered it difficult, let alone MORE difficult.

I suppose it’s appropriate they made it easier given that its the lowest level dungeon.

Croatoan.8426:

…I can handle any difficulty I just don’t want a dungeon to die/turn into an elitist dungeon that you can never get a group for. But I can see why casual players will avoid this content and thats why I have said before there should be an “elite explore” mode, and that way it makes both sides happy. …

I have to strongly disagree here. Explorable mode is supposed to be hard. I don’t know if you’ve played GW1 but nobody would have complained about Urgoz or the deep that it is too hard and that ANet should make it easier. It is supposed to be hard. It is not supposed to be for “casual” (or however you want to call them) players. Dungeons need to be hard – at least in explorable mode. Those “casual” players have a whole world out there to have fun in. If they don’t want to improve on themselves and teamplay then they should not run dungeons.
I think nobody would go into WvW and complain about the fact that you cannot take a keep alone and ask ANet to change that mechanic. That’s just how this part of the game works and i think it is the same for dungeons.

Just gonna throw this out there: http://www.ign.com/a...lans-to-survive

“In terms of PvE, the goal is far simpler; provide more challenging content for those who want it. “I think for players looking for more difficult content, that’s an area where we don’t have as much as I think that we could, and that’s going to be a focus of 2013; taking some of the optional areas and making those more difficult,” Johanson asserts.”

Probably talking about explorable dungeons. I am excited.

UnrepentantProcrastinator.7420:

People think the new AC is harder?

I played it yesterday for the first time since the update, and also in months, and I found it shockingly easier with a pug group where not everyone was 80. In fact I’ve done it 11 more times since then and none of those groups have been full 80’s and I haven’t had a single moment where I’ve even considered it difficult, let alone MORE difficult.

I suppose it’s appropriate they made it easier given that its the lowest level dungeon.

It’s not really harder, they have lowered the health pool of a lot of enemy mobs, which makes things go faster, and helps players at or around the level of the instance quite a bit. Some of the lesser mobs, not elite, have had their bleed damage increased, so remove condition. Some of the lesser elite mobs, the graveling, have had a leap added to their rotation, with them, scavengers, and stalkers use stability skills and they can’t knock you down, alone their damage is not great, grouped up they can be overwhelming. The Breeders have been removed from burrow events which makes them much easier, the breeders would be like a walking burrow before constantly spawning more adds. If people still want to speed run/farm, path one is easy and quick. Path 2 is still easy and quick except the last boss is easy, but a little long. Path 3 is easy, though the last boss may take some coordination with interrupts since the NPC has bad timing with the bubble and no one can do anything about the NPC being stuck in a long melee swing, though support can keep him off his butt with stability, regen, protection, aegis. The bugs that still exist in AC are annoying, we’ll give them time. What is harder to some people is that some fights are more mechanical, though bugs aside that does not make them more difficult once the encounters are learned. The only thing I find to be longer is Ghost Eaters fight, and people not working together to lift/pull the adds into the traps only increase the time. People dying because they can not/will not/do not know how to adjust increases time. A lot of the time one player with a working knowledge can make all the difference if the group consists of decent or better players that chose to learn and work together. If people have a hard time, especially while a majority are still learning the instance, it come to either lack of knowledge on all 5, lack of leadership for those who have knowledge, lack of coordination (talk to each other, work things out), or they just plain don’t want to learn new things anymore.

Croatoan.8426:

Where I am getting at is how is new person supose to know and have the experince to know when to rip bleeds off his/her allies from gravelings? How is a new person supose to know to take out the statues before going for spiders?How is a nub supose to know about the new ghost eater mechanic?

They are not suppose to know, THEY ARE SUPPOSE TO LEARN! lol.
You don’t give new players enough credit. We’re new, we are not stupid. As soon as I see that the majority of the enemies cause bleeds, I either choose a skill to remove them or I take the damage. Simple as that.

As soon as you jump into the spider fight with the statues up for the first time, you realize they are a problem. The game is full of jumping puzzles, from an early level I was already trained to look for alternate paths. Seeing that block to jump on instead of going down the stairs of death and realizing I can hit the statues from there took 2 wipes but I figured it out.

And again, please refer to the part in my post that states it is unrealistic to think that a group with form with ALL new people. With people who have never done the dungeon before, or have never done it with an experienced person. After my first run I knew the things you claim a new person wouldn’t be able to figure out.

Croatoan.8426:

That is alot of trial and error if a team will tolerate you for that long. And this learning curve you keep speaking of is unfounded. What team that knows what they are doing is gonna whipe 2-5 times just so you can memorize a bosses moves?

This is part of playing an MMO. I take it you never were the one of the first people in any dungeon, you have always been carried through by the knowledge of others, and that is fine, but you’ve been spoiled. Even a full geared group of 80’s that have never seen AC before will wipe multiple times figuring it out.

If Anet creates a totally new dungeon, I suggest you wait until it has been mastered by other people before you go in, because from what you are telling me, you couldn’t handle being one of the first to discover it. Let me tell you though, you are missing out.

Croatoan.8426:

I’ve never meet a pug group like that and I have kicked people from my party for less. A decent team might have the patients to explain it to you once and maybe point out what your doing wrong once or twice but after that KICK and pull somebody off of gw2lfg that knows what they are doing. People “like myself” don’t want to spend 50 mins in one path because something bugged or a tiny mistake was made and whiped the team

I’m going to stop you there, because we’ve found the problem. Read this part of your post, read it from a new players perspective, and ask me if I would ever want to group with you as a new player. I make more then 2 mistakes as a new player and you kick me? Actually you state you have kicked players for less!

Who is the elitist now? You don’t want to spend 50 minutes in a 30 minute path? You can’t take 20 minutes to show a new player how to do a dungeon? We are not talking about bugs here..

As a new player myself, not even 80 yet, I have spent hours showing people through the jumping puzzles in Lions Arch.

I am not saying this to be offensive, but I am glad I have not grouped with a player like you sir. Because I wouldn’t have learned the content, I wouldn’t have become a better player.

The players that I have grouped with have been patient and courteous. In fact so far I have been very impressed with the Guild Wars 2 community. It is leagues above what the World of Warcraft community had turned into when I left.

The content isn’t the problem, it is player attitude, it is your attitude. And please don’t invite me to any groups if you see me out there, because I may make more then 2 mistakes.

Hell what is worse for a new player experience, a difficult dungeon, or getting half way through a dungeon, making your second mistake and being kicked from the group for being a noob. Sigh.

I think parts of it are harder and remind me of WoW raiding. If I want that feeling I would play WoW.
I’ve just finished going through Path 1 and 2. The way they make it “harder” is the formula of ‘more adds’ almost to the point of overwhelming. While it does make it harder it does not make it fun.

I just finished P1 with a PUG. Half the group died at the spider queen and at the final boss we wiped completely once. I asked them beforehand if they knew the boss they said yes. We went in and wiped. Apparently they knew the pre-patch boss. Next try, i told them the boss mechanic. Half of the group wiped in the middle of the fight. The rest survived and we managed to kill the boss. On of the last standing guys was a 55 warrior.
I just can repeat myself. Explorable mode dungeons are supposed to be hard. Expect to wipe. Expect that you have to adapt your play to the dungeon. Yes it may be hard for people who don’t know the dungeon but as long as you’re willing to learn and listen to other who know the dungeon it won’t be a problem. If you don’t like to do that then i would suggest to not make dungeons. You can have all the items you need without doing a single dungeon.

@Spekingur maybe you want to tell me where you had problems with “more” adds. Maybe you did not understand the mechanic? I just know that no dungeon is a problem as long as you understand the boss mechanics and know the attacks the mobs use.

Spekingur.1062:

I think parts of it are harder and remind me of WoW raiding. If I want that feeling I would play WoW.
I’ve just finished going through Path 1 and 2. The way they make it “harder” is the formula of ‘more adds’ almost to the point of overwhelming. While it does make it harder it does not make it fun.

Well in Wow you can’t skip any trash mobs, and GW2 you can just run right by so I am not sure what the problem is there.

If you are talking about Kholer’s adds, all they did was fix it so you couldn’t exploit their pathing any more.

But again, out of all the rewarding content in GW2 only a small, small minority of it is actually challenging. I have not been through all of the dungeons yet, but even in this thread posters have said how easy the other dungeons are even on exp mode.

So you don’t like the challenge, no problem, there is plenty of easier content out there for you. Why are people asking for the one part of the game they think is too hard for them to be changed?

Kanako Davis.5364:

I just finished P1 with a PUG. Half the group died at the spider queen and at the final boss we wiped completely once. I asked them beforehand if they knew the boss they said yes. We went in and wiped. Apparently they knew the pre-patch boss. Next try, i told them the boss mechanic. Half of the group wiped in the middle of the fight. The rest survived and we managed to kill the boss. On of the last standing guys was a 55 warrior.
I just can repeat myself. Explorable mode dungeons are supposed to be hard. Expect to wipe. Expect that you have to adapt your play to the dungeon. Yes it may be hard for people who don’t know the dungeon but as long as you’re willing to learn and listen to other who know the dungeon it won’t be a problem. If you don’t like to do that then i would suggest to not make dungeons. You can have all the items you need without doing a single dungeon.

@Spekingur maybe you want to tell me where you had problems with “more” adds. Maybe you did not understand the mechanic? I just know that no dungeon is a problem as long as you understand the boss mechanics and know the attacks the mobs use.

Sounds like a fun run. I don’t understand when people talking about wiping in this game they say it like it should never happen.

I have to say, if I run a dungeon and we smash through it the first try through never being in any real danger of dying, how was that fun?

Beating the final boss to a dungeon run with one man standing? Now that is fun.

CryxTryx.9208:

…
Why are people asking for the one part of the game they think is too hard for them to be changed?

Very simple. Human is a very curious creature. Most of them (80/20 rule in a way) wants the same rewards w/o working a lot (in the name of … putting your excuses here). It’s everywhere around you.

They added more adds to bosses and made some of them harder. They added in more champion beasts and changed what skills they used. AC is a level 35 dungeon and it feels more difficult than higher level ones due to the changes in the mobs. The dungeon should be “easier” than those that come after it.
People I play GW2 with have little raiding experience. The changes that were made DID make AC harder but also made some bosses less fun (Spider Queen and Boss path 1) – and made it feel like WoW raids. I have no qualms about more difficult/challenging content but it needs to be done right – meaning, fun. Boss in Path 2 was super fun.

I’m looking for fun in the games I play along with challenges. Not something that just gets irritating with time. I feel like some players actually want WoW like content in GW2 which is something I was trying to escape from by going into GW2. Guild Missions showed us that WoW like content is already starting to spill over and I feel even more so with the recent changes to AC.

Umm….how can the spider queen not be fun? Just keep moving and avoid the red circles and i promise you will never go down.
As for the add’s at the final p1 boss….the flame circles are there for a reason. Forget the adds, don’t fight them just keep moving and “use” the fire circles. It sounds like you did not quite understand the boss mechanic there.
I do agree though that AC should be the easiest of all dungeons. I think AC should stay as “hard” as it is and the other dungeons should build ontop of that. Making AC explorable easier would make no sense. Explorable needs to be hard.

Spekingur.1062:

They added more adds to bosses and made some of them harder. They added in more champion beasts and changed what skills they used. AC is a level 35 dungeon and it feels more difficult than higher level ones due to the changes in the mobs. The dungeon should be “easier” than those that come after it.
People I play GW2 with have little raiding experience. The changes that were made DID make AC harder but also made some bosses less fun (Spider Queen and Boss path 1) – and made it feel like WoW raids. I have no qualms about more difficult/challenging content but it needs to be done right – meaning, fun. Boss in Path 2 was super fun.

I’m looking for fun in the games I play along with challenges. Not something that just gets irritating with time. I feel like some players actually want WoW like content in GW2 which is something I was trying to escape from by going into GW2. Guild Missions showed us that WoW like content is already starting to spill over and I feel even more so with the recent changes to AC.

GW2 actually has interesting and challenging mechanics, unlike WoW. The mobility you have in GW2 is amazing, add that to the dodging mechanic and you have some tools at your disposal for some interesting fights. Not to mention switching your weapon set.

When I’m running around with in an inch of my life, rezzing my team mates, switching weapons when I know my cool downs are up. Using stealth, using blink, getting downed, getting back up. That is a challenging fight.

People are always saying things like, ‘adding more health and more monsters isn’t adding challenge, it is just making it take longer’. Well no, it is making you have to sustain your team in a fight for longer yes, and that takes a little bit more skill then being able to stay on one weapon set and just spam skills for 1 minute.

Also this type of criticizing never comes with a suggested solution. How do you think they should have made AC more challenging? Put a jumping puzzle in the spider queens room so you had to jump from block to block while fighting her? Admittedly that would be cool but there would be no end to the rage on that one.

Na, SkyChef is right. You just want easier content. You don’t want to be challenged. AC is too hard for you now, admit it and move on. There is still lots of easier content out there for you.

wow…. I had no idea there was such a backlash against the “new AC”

I was going to post this in a new thread in the general discussion…. but figured it would be better suited for this forum…

and then I saw this thread.

Anyway….

I knew they reworked the dungeon encounters for Ascalon Catacombs….. but I had no idea it would be so cool.

Detha’s Path is my favorite.

As I’m sure you are already aware, the end boss now requires the usage of the traps to make the boss vulnerable.

The entire thing seems like you are a ghostbuster, trying to get ghosts into traps using the positron glider.

I had an AWESOME time doing this with a half-pug half-friend run, and the boss died fairly quickly once everyone was able to understand the mechanics.

Don’t cross the streams!

haha

Thanks Anet!

You did a great job with this one.

TheBlackLeech.9360:

wow…. I had no idea there was such a backlash against the “new AC”

I was going to post this in a new thread in the general discussion…. but figured it would be better suited for this forum…

and then I saw this thread.

Anyway….

I knew they reworked the dungeon encounters for Ascalon Catacombs….. but I had no idea it would be so cool.

Detha’s Path is my favorite.

As I’m sure you are already aware, the end boss now requires the usage of the traps to make the boss vulnerable.

The entire thing seems like you are a ghostbuster, trying to get ghosts into traps using the positron glider.

I had an AWESOME time doing this with a half-pug half-friend run, and the boss died fairly quickly once everyone was able to understand the mechanics.

Don’t cross the streams!

haha

Thanks Anet!

You did a great job with this one.

Rofl, that is what everyone said the first time we went in. “Ghost busters!”, I think next time I do it I am going to a quick alt+tab and put on the theme song.

@CryxTryx Sheesh. So if my opinion isn’t the same as yours my opinion is invalid? I don’t want easier content. I want fun challenging content. Some battles in AC are lacking that fun factor. That was what I was saying. Do I think they should change AC back to what it was? No.
Want suggestions? Okay then.
AC paths. Each path start the same. Make them start differently (not always the same first boss for example).
Spider Queen room. Hatchlings are too powerful or too many. Lower the power or lower the amount of them.
Spider Queen. She is not that difficult (unless you get really unlucky with poison). The fight just isn’t fun. Maybe that’s okay because she is the first boss.
Howling King. (Path 1 Boss) It is lacking the fun factor. Also, why is fire involved? Lower the amount of adds he calls upon. Make his super howls shake the room and rocks fall down. If rocks fall on adds they die otherwise players have to kill them. If they fall on players they are knocked down and stunned.
Other. Make it so that skills that (champion) mobs have are on a longer timer till they can be used again.

@Kanako Spider Queen wasn’t much fun to fight in my opinion. After the first try we understood the Path 1 Boss mechanics just fine.

I would like to iterate, we just did AC Path 1 and 2 and I enjoyed most of it. The Ghostbuster fight was pretty sweet – it was fun and interesting. The above I mentioned are things I think should be fixed to some extent.

Cryx Sooo your a nub that explored the dungeons,without any experinced players,and you were a pro at it. Either your the best GW2 player on earth or your a lying troll. I’ll take the 2nd on that. And Spekin you made a better point than me. Its not fun to anyone atm other some of these people… The old AC was perfect the way it was it could’ve used some fixes here and there but this.. CoF is gonna be the most popular now.

Wow what a condescending post. “These” people are the people who want challenging content like explorable dungeons should be.
If you do not like the challenge dungeons are then just don’t do them. If ANet would make the whole content for people who want the easy way then what should “these” people do who don’t want it that way?

@Spekingur: I can understand that you don’t like fights like the spider queen fight. I think these fights cater for people who want a challenge. Who want to stay focused a whole fight and like to keep moving and stay aware of the surroundings.
As for the P1 boss. Why do you have problems with adds then when you understand the mechanic? Once my whole group died and i almost soloed the boss. I still died right before his HP reached zero but if you use the surroundings to your advantage add’s won’t be a problem.

@All whiners: If you say the dungeons are too hard and blahblah then you should ask yourself: Why are there groups(pugs included) which manage to do AC without ANY problems. Maybe you’re just the type of player who is not patient enough to do dungeons. Or maybe you lack the communicative skills to do a successful dungeon run? I have no clue but if you struggle to do a path and you’re a EU player i encourage you to come along and i show you that it is VERY easy task to do if you’re able and willing to communicate and listen to your teammates.

Ok to all you New AC lovers. I just ran AC with a random group. I decided I was going to do whatever they wanted/there strat no arguement no fuss. After a few mins of looking I found the group I was looking for they said get off your 39 and on a 80 or KICK. I said ok and got on my War that was spec’d for CoF not AC and I said that,they didn’t care. Skipped the borrows with 2 of them and 2 stayed behind at the starter burow. They whipped twice trying to kill it instead of skipping. “I was laughing”. Everyone died on spider queen in about 20 secs. So rather than have 3 wars,1 guard,and a ele they had 4 glass cannon wars and a ele. My guardian would have been much better suited for that dungeon/group because that is what I have him spec’d for to boon and keep the team alive, my warrior on the other hand is designed for a CoF p1 4 wars and 1 mes build to burn bosses down as fast as possible . Needless to say I felt no reason to stay in the group or give any effort after the first whipe I knew it was a fail team because nobody even tried helping the one nub we had that was screaming he didn’t know what to do. I felt bad and wanted to help him but I was there soley as a follower and didnt want to take the role as a leader. This is the type of stuff the new AC is inspiring and you are all defending it??

Just because the new AC is harder than before, that doesn’t mean it needs to be nerfed. It just means that people need to learn the new mechanics before coming back to the forums whining that the new AC is too easy once you’ve gotten past the learning curve.

The key to any dungeon is communication. You don’t even need voicechat. You just need to use your keyboard. In that regard, @Croatoan, if no one is taking the lead then you should step up and tell people what to do. People don’t sign up to a PuG to ‘be followers’. Most people sign up for the tokens. If you fail because you just want to follow around mindlessly and waste a few silvers repairing your armour, you don’t really have a right to come to the forums to QQ about the new AC. You’ll find that most people will agree that the new AC is harder than before, but almost all of my PuGs get through it just fine. A full party of level 80s who’ve done the new AC before got through it much faster than some non-80s and first-timers, but it wasn’t impossible.

@Croatoan That is the stuff all new/unexperienced groups go through in any dungeon.

To add my two cents, I went through new AC on both my lv35 war and lv80 guard and my warrior did more damage and went down just as much. Basically, if you don’t use the basic dodge mechanic, you are going to have a bad time. You use dodge, and it isn’t hard at all. That is the difference between old AC and new AC. You actually have to play the game, not just spam 1.

Spekingur.1062:

@CryxTryx Sheesh. So if my opinion isn’t the same as yours my opinion is invalid? I don’t want easier content. I want fun challenging content. Some battles in AC are lacking that fun factor. That was what I was saying. Do I think they should change AC back to what it was? No.
Want suggestions? Okay then.
AC paths. Each path start the same. Make them start differently (not always the same first boss for example).
Spider Queen room. Hatchlings are too powerful or too many. Lower the power or lower the amount of them.
Spider Queen. She is not that difficult (unless you get really unlucky with poison). The fight just isn’t fun. Maybe that’s okay because she is the first boss.
Howling King. (Path 1 Boss) It is lacking the fun factor. Also, why is fire involved? Lower the amount of adds he calls upon. Make his super howls shake the room and rocks fall down. If rocks fall on adds they die otherwise players have to kill them. If they fall on players they are knocked down and stunned.
Other. Make it so that skills that (champion) mobs have are on a longer timer till they can be used again.

@Kanako Spider Queen wasn’t much fun to fight in my opinion. After the first try we understood the Path 1 Boss mechanics just fine.

I would like to iterate, we just did AC Path 1 and 2 and I enjoyed most of it. The Ghostbuster fight was pretty sweet – it was fun and interesting. The above I mentioned are things I think should be fixed to some extent.

Saying the hatchlings are to powerful tone them down is not a creative suggestion, it is just asking for easier content like I said above.

Saying the Spider Queen just isn’t fun also isn’t a suggestion, it is just a complaint.

Why is rocks falling on adds better then running them through the fire? Because you don’t have to do anything to make it happen? Again, you are just asking to be able to afk the dungeon, I don’t think that is the direction Anet is going.

Giving champion mobs skills longer cool down is not a suggestion for making fun challenging content, it is just yet another request for an easier dungeon.

So even when you make a post with the intention of giving suggestions, all you give are complaints and nerf requests.

Croatoan.8426:

Cryx Sooo your a nub that explored the dungeons,without any experinced players,and you were a pro at it. Either your the best GW2 player on earth or your a lying troll. I’ll take the 2nd on that. And Spekin you made a better point than me. Its not fun to anyone atm other some of these people… The old AC was perfect the way it was it could’ve used some fixes here and there but this.. CoF is gonna be the most popular now.

I wasn’t pro at it, if you read my posts we wiped quite a few times, I even specifically said that more then once the wipe was solely my fault.

You don’t have to be pro to get through AC explorer. You have to have patience and the willingness to learn. I followed my party, I targeted what they targeted and I tried to avoid damage by dodging.

I had to use my heal every time it was on cool down and I had to get rezzed mid fight more then a few times.

I never said I was pro. I said I had a good attitude about it and so did my party and that was the key to our success.

Most of the people complaining about AC right now have spoiled, entitled attitudes that feel like everything should be geared down so they don’t have to go outside their comfort level to complete a dungeon.

Thankfully that doesn’t look like the way Anet is going, and that is part of the reason I created this thread, to show Anet that even new players can complete their content and have fun doing it.

@Anet, I’m looking forward to seeing the changes you make to the explorer dungeons going forward. It seems that I joined the game at a good time and I am excited for the changes to come.

Croatoan.8426:

Ok to all you New AC lovers. I just ran AC with a random group. I decided I was going to do whatever they wanted/there strat no arguement no fuss. After a few mins of looking I found the group I was looking for they said get off your 39 and on a 80 or KICK. I said ok and got on my War that was spec’d for CoF not AC and I said that,they didn’t care. Skipped the borrows with 2 of them and 2 stayed behind at the starter burow. They whipped twice trying to kill it instead of skipping. “I was laughing”. Everyone died on spider queen in about 20 secs. So rather than have 3 wars,1 guard,and a ele they had 4 glass cannon wars and a ele. My guardian would have been much better suited for that dungeon/group because that is what I have him spec’d for to boon and keep the team alive, my warrior on the other hand is designed for a CoF p1 4 wars and 1 mes build to burn bosses down as fast as possible . Needless to say I felt no reason to stay in the group or give any effort after the first whipe I knew it was a fail team because nobody even tried helping the one nub we had that was screaming he didn’t know what to do. I felt bad and wanted to help him but I was there soley as a follower and didnt want to take the role as a leader. This is the type of stuff the new AC is inspiring and you are all defending it??

That group went in with a handicap as soon as they let you into the group. You went in there with a bad attitude from the start. ’Let’s just see how bad this is going to be and I am not going to help out at all.’

You admit to laughing when the people in your party are dying, you admit to not helping out a player who is saying he doesn’t know what to do.

They might as well went in there a man down because all you contributed was a negative attitude.

I’ll say it again. Content isn’t the problem here, it is attitude, and in this case, your attitude.

Icpdragon I said I didn’t want to lead. I was there to pug and act as a newby. Cryx says pugs are good and willing to teach people how to play. I was wanting to see that for myself and it didn’tpan out. Swift I run CoF p1 with a Glass Cannon I know how to dodge and all mechanics of the game. I was even buffing the team/using warbanner to mass pick up while trying to stay on the offensive while running around. My prof set up was set up was to stay constantly on the offensive and not have to break combat to help team mates as I previously stated. The whole point of what I was doing was to see if I could find a group that would be willing to help new people. And a few of the people were from the same guild they just didn’t care to help new people.

If anyone is willing to run the New AC and show me how they teach new people to the paths and prove me wrong by showing me how much patients people have I am more than willing. That being said I won’t be dead weight I will keep prot/regen on the whole team as much as possible. I am just stating from personal experince that I haven’t meet a group yet that is willing to teach nubs the paths I have had to learn everything I know from every dungeon by watching experts and there play style and taking it from there. I haven’t had the luxury of anyone EVER teaching me how to run a path in any dungeon. The only reason I got in my dungeon team was I was experinced enough and knew how to run path with the right prof/spec for there group if I hadn’t been they would have kicked me more than likely. Send me a pm and a time along with name if anyone is up for it.

Spekingur.1062:

Howling King. (Path 1 Boss) It is lacking the fun factor. Also, why is fire involved?

Because the narrative of the entire path revolves around Hodgins rebuilding magical flaming scepters because they might be useful in handling what he deems as the most pressing threat to the Priory expedition. And now they are useful (he’s the one creating those fires), and the events preceding the final boss actually have relevance and appropriate context.

Your suggestion basically changes it back to being too similar to Colossus Rumblus.

CryxTryx.9208:

Croatoan.8426:

Ok to all you New AC lovers. I just ran AC with a random group. I decided I was going to do whatever they wanted/there strat no arguement no fuss. After a few mins of looking I found the group I was looking for they said get off your 39 and on a 80 or KICK. I said ok and got on my War that was spec’d for CoF not AC and I said that,they didn’t care. Skipped the borrows with 2 of them and 2 stayed behind at the starter burow. They whipped twice trying to kill it instead of skipping. “I was laughing”. Everyone died on spider queen in about 20 secs. So rather than have 3 wars,1 guard,and a ele they had 4 glass cannon wars and a ele. My guardian would have been much better suited for that dungeon/group because that is what I have him spec’d for to boon and keep the team alive, my warrior on the other hand is designed for a CoF p1 4 wars and 1 mes build to burn bosses down as fast as possible . Needless to say I felt no reason to stay in the group or give any effort after the first whipe I knew it was a fail team because nobody even tried helping the one nub we had that was screaming he didn’t know what to do. I felt bad and wanted to help him but I was there soley as a follower and didnt want to take the role as a leader. This is the type of stuff the new AC is inspiring and you are all defending it??

That group went in with a handicap as soon as they let you into the group. You went in there with a bad attitude from the start. ’Let’s just see how bad this is going to be and I am not going to help out at all.’

You admit to laughing when the people in your party are dying, you admit to not helping out a player who is saying he doesn’t know what to do.

They might as well went in there a man down because all you contributed was a negative attitude.

I’ll say it again. Content isn’t the problem here, it is attitude, and in this case, your attitude.

I didn’t know you were a mind reader dude???? Thats why I made sure each war was running a differnt banner,picked them up a number of times,and I was the last to die with a glass cannon. And as for not helping the nub I wanted to see what the guild/team that knew eachother was going to say to help him. And it was nothing you are basically saying I caused the whole team to whipe. I didn’t have a negative attitude I was laughing at the team that wouldn’t help him. Get your facts right troll.

@Croatoan you should have told them that you have never run AC before then and said you needed guidance. You got on your glass cannon warrior and said you have it specced for CoF, not AC. Everyone would assume you know the AC mechanics since you haven’t specced for it. Why then would anyone explain to you how AC works if you clearly know how to run AC?

Also, you’ve just not been in the right groups. I’ve acted as a tour guide for over 100 parties for AC, CM, TA, CoF and FotM. Just because you’ve always ended up in noncommunicative PuGs doesn’t mean that they don’t exist.