Guild Wars 2

Hi everyone,

First off, hello. I am a relatively new member to GW2 (as in I have no lvl 80 characters; just have a lvl 50~ ele), but long time GW1 vet.

My question might be bit complex, but please bear with. I was lucky enough to hitch a ride on a scale 9 group that didn’t mind I wasn’t a lvl 80 (you wouldn’t BELIEVE how often I got kicked before that). But eventually I got a group, we all entered the portal in lion’s arch, proceeded through the fractal, and finished it.

Next day, I decide to do it again. I go through several kicks before I find a group that has patience with me. I am near the portal at this point, but i don’t see any of my party. I assume they’ll all show up at some point. Eventually they say “are you coming or not, dude.” I didn’t even know they were already in the portal! So I jump into the portal and it suggests to me that I have 5 party members, would I like to start in explorable mode? I was confused so i clicked yes, it took me to an empty mistlock. I proceeded to the first fractal, none of my party was there.

At this point my party is getting kittened off, calling me noob, losing patience etc. So I have the grace to exit the party myself, apologizing for not know what went wrong.

So I beg of you, GW2 community. What went wrong?! Is there more than one access point to the fractals? How could they still talk to me if they were already in there, and why didn’t I see them? Is this a common problem? Am I being an idiot here?

Thanks.

Well, when somebody enters fractals and he’s in your party, you get a pop up window. If you don’t, try to use any wp in la.
If that doesn’t work, exit and enter la. If that doesn’t work, talk to your party and tell them to inv you back when you leave, that should fix the problem.

You are not idiot, this happens alot.

Ok thanks for the reply and your time, Oxidia. It’s good to know that I wasn’t seriously screwing up or something. I’d hate to waste a group’s time, especially if they had patience to work with me in the first place.

Yeah there’s been problems with parties/prompts to join instances for years. Since you’re new to the game there’s absolutely no way I would expect you to understand the problem. It’s really weird, I know.

Next time this happens, I suggest you try what Oxidia said and waypoint somewhere far on the map so that you get a loading screen. If it doesn’t work then try hopping to another map and back.

Going to the character select and logging back in always works for me. If you have a decent fast PC it’ll probably be the fastest way to fix it.

You can hover your mouse over your party members portraits to see where they are

Normally if you don’t want to create an instance yourself – you wait for someone to do so and take a prompt. If you attempt to go through the portal yourself – you can create your own instance and group will end up split between 2 or more instances.

If you wanna rejoin your group:
1. Use waypoint on the same map or relog to character select
2. Take prompt

Skady.5916:

Normally if you don’t want to create an instance yourself – you wait for someone to do so and take a prompt. If you attempt to go through the portal yourself – you can create your own instance and group will end up split between 2 or more instances.

If you wanna rejoin your group:
1. Use waypoint on the same map or relog to character select
2. Take prompt

It doesn’t always split the map. You can use the portal to join your party.

BTW, if you’re joining a lot of parties and getting kicked for being low level, try making your own group and put that you’re low level / learning in the description. You’re more likely to find a patient teaching group that way — or better yet, another group of players just learning fractals to figure everything out with :-)

On a side note, the frequency of kicks stems from the fact that you’re not 80 (and if you’re new, probably have low AP, which is a factor for many people, for some reason…) and fractals are, ultimately Lv80 content. People tend to not like taking people with them if they’re below the minimum level/80, because time is money, even though right now the sub-80 would probably be equal because of certain bugs.

Also, it’s nice to see that you’re staying friendly and asking for advice despite the bad experience you made, often people come here and get all salty at us.

You guys are fantastic. Thanks for the replies, all of you.

And yeah, at first I was frustrated and I began to think that maybe fractals were populated by the most elite, but I remembered quickly that throughout my travels I’ve been aided by a LOT of friendly people.

GW has a great tendency to attract a very friendly population, overall. Since my GW1 days, I’ve rarely had a bad experience that was so consistent that it made me want to leave the GW community. This thread is also indicative of my suspicions: most people are here to help and have fun.

I’ll take what you have mentioned to heart, and start my own group. I saw someone else mention that it might be a good idea to put “casual” as well as something to the effect of “all cutscenes” in there to let people know of these preferences.

Thanks again, everyone.

I just want to add one more thing. Sometimes when I join a party and then waypoint, the popup box appears smashed into the bottom left corner of my screen, really small so I can hardly see it. I have to move it to the center to click enter. I don’t know why this has started happening to me, but I haven’t heard any other complaints about it so maybe it’s just me.

But it’s possible you’re having the same issue. If an obvious pop-up box doesn’t appear after you join the party or waypoint, check the bottom left. It might be jammed down there.

That happens to me as well. I don’t really care about it, though.

Pop up box (at least for fractals) always appears on the bottom left nowadays for me and everyone I met ingame so far. Inconvinient, but nothing to get kittened about
Also, you will always see your personal reward level in the box, no matter what level the running fractal is. E. g. if your personal reward level is 50 and you join a fotm level 21, your pop up box asks you to join a lvl 50 fotm…
If there’s no pop up box at all when there should be one, you have to force a loading screen. As mentioned before by others, either use a distant waypoint in LA or go back to the character selection screen (which ever works faster for you). If neither nor helps, ask for a re-invite to the party.

About proper lfg usage: writing “casual” is always a good idea while you’re still learning. Being open and honest generaly works best. Something like “casual lvl x run, still learning, teachers/mentors welcome” should work. You might also consider finding a helpfull guild that welcomes new players and is willing to teach you the basics.

Hey Capgaius,

Most of your question has been answered but I’ll try to touch on some of the finer implicit points.

First of all, Fractals is level 80 content. That’s why people kicked you. Not like they are mean, it’s just not meant for those who are under 80. And if you do get accepted, you are basically being carried by all 4 of them.

Progression through Fractals starts from Scale 1 to 50. There are 4 reward tiers (scale 1-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50). Yes I know it doesn’t match with the LFG option in game, but that’s how it is.

Fractals also has a damage mechanic called “Agony” that kicks in from Scale 10 and onwards…you need to get Agony Resistance to mitigate the Agony damage. The acquisition, usage, requirement etc. can be read in more detail here:
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Agony
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Agony_Resistance

General helpful link:
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Fractals_of_the_Mists

Lastly, good luck out there! Keep up the positive attitude!

Technically, you can start doing Fractals at level 2, but you probably shouldn’t.

A good rule of thumb is to have gear equal to your level and of at least rare quality before you hop into the fractal portal. This includes trinkets and weapons (although these you can get away with masterwork quality if you know your class well)

Once you are familiar with all the dungeon paths and mechanics in fractals you can probably get away with saying something like “this is my second account” to avoid the assumption that people think you are a complete noob.

roachsrealm.9284:

Technically, you can start doing Fractals at level 2, but you probably shouldn’t.

A good rule of thumb is to have gear equal to your level and of at least rare quality before you hop into the fractal portal. This includes trinkets and weapons (although these you can get away with masterwork quality if you know your class well)

Once you are familiar with all the dungeon paths and mechanics in fractals you can probably get away with saying something like “this is my second account” to avoid the assumption that people think you are a complete noob.

Yes but, do you really want to drag the whole party down because you technically can? Sublevel 80, you’re basically getting carried if the rest of your party is 80 in full ascended / exo, regardless of dungeon or fractals. Also don’t forget about Agony, you won’t be able to do any fractals >10 without agony resistance.

Avster.1935:

roachsrealm.9284:

Technically, you can start doing Fractals at level 2, but you probably shouldn’t.

A good rule of thumb is to have gear equal to your level and of at least rare quality before you hop into the fractal portal. This includes trinkets and weapons (although these you can get away with masterwork quality if you know your class well)

Once you are familiar with all the dungeon paths and mechanics in fractals you can probably get away with saying something like “this is my second account” to avoid the assumption that people think you are a complete noob.

Yes but, do you really want to drag the whole party down because you technically can? Sublevel 80, you’re basically getting carried if the rest of your party is 80 in full ascended / exo, regardless of dungeon or fractals. Also don’t forget about Agony, you won’t be able to do any fractals >10 without agony resistance.

Mhm, that’s exactly how it worked when I played with a friend on his low level. He plays guard and does stupid stuff like using a wall of reflection and tossing Aegis around like it’s candy. Freakin carry, doesn’t he know he’s not helping, geez.

Avster.1935:

roachsrealm.9284:

Technically, you can start doing Fractals at level 2, but you probably shouldn’t.

A good rule of thumb is to have gear equal to your level and of at least rare quality before you hop into the fractal portal. This includes trinkets and weapons (although these you can get away with masterwork quality if you know your class well)

Once you are familiar with all the dungeon paths and mechanics in fractals you can probably get away with saying something like “this is my second account” to avoid the assumption that people think you are a complete noob.

Also don’t forget about Agony, you won’t be able to do any fractals >10 without agony resistance.

Now that’s just wrong.

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

Now that’s just wrong.

Okay fine, doable but not recommended, you’ll survive up to Scale 19 fractals at best, then you’ll become start to become a burden.