Guild Wars 2

I would like to see less frequent 1-shot kills from bosses in dungeons.
Because its fun to have a challenge, but frequent 1-shot kills are too “unforgiving”. Additionally, I feel the dodge limit being set to 2 isn’t enough to deal such harsh circumstances. 3 would be more acceptable.

I would like to see bosses fight more intelligently, more dynamically, more lively… For example, they could run and jump away from players for a few moments, instead of relentlessly pursuing players in a bee-line.

What do people think about these unforgiving (harsh) dungeon experiences?

The frequency of 1 shot kills is fine. 3 dodges would cause balance issues, as there are already many ways to gain more dodges such as certain utility skills and vigor.

The bosses themselves, for the most part, do need a lot of work though. And a lot less health. I’m ok with frequent hard hitting attacks, but when it takes 5 minutes to kill a boss following the same pattern over and over, that’s not difficult, just tedious.

Gorge Express.7163:

The frequency of 1 shot kills is fine. 3 dodges would cause balance issues, as there are already many ways to gain more dodges such as certain utility skills and vigor.

The bosses themselves, for the most part, do need a lot of work though. And a lot less health. I’m ok with frequent hard hitting attacks, but when it takes 5 minutes to kill a boss following the same pattern over and over, that’s not difficult, just tedious.

I’m not sure if I agree on the dodge/endurance argument, but I agree on your point about the length of time it takes to kill a boss. Maybe instead of lowering their health, throw a couple random attacks the boss does at certain time or health intervals?

There are many ways to deal with these ‘1 shot skills’ (I’ve never seen them done to me, but I stack vit and toughness). Here is a list:

Dodge – get it out of the way
Protection – 33% less damage, easier chance of surviving these
Weakness – boss now does glancing blows 50% less dmg
Blind – Makes the boss now miss his 1 shot
Vigor – More dodges
Block – Their are many skills that can block attacks, not all class have them
Interupt – Interupt their main attack with a daze (yes, even if they are immune to daze, you can still interupt the attack)
Reflect – If it’s a ranged attack, it can be reflected
Destruction – If it’s a ranged attack, it can be destroyed
Decoy – Put a minion in the way
Tank – Put a high toughness/vit character in the way

Just to name the ones off the top of my head. Look for the ‘tells’, if there is no tell it’s not a big attack, you probably just need protection and weakness

- Xhaine, Warrior

Which boss(es) have been 1-shotting you?

Unfortunately, blind is useless against bosses :/ And some 1-shots cant be avoided, reflected, or dodged. Collosus Rumblus cough

He’s hard and fun, but that scream is a bit absurd. Huge range, huge cone, 1 shot downed.

Ender.3508:

Unfortunately, blind is useless against bosses :/ And some 1-shots cant be avoided, reflected, or dodged. Collosus Rumblus cough

He’s hard and fun, but that scream is a bit absurd. Huge range, huge cone, 1 shot downed.

I’m glad you mentioned this!

First off his Scream is a Huge AoE Cone that can one shot most people, not me, but most. But as you mentioned… it’ s a cone. A cone can be dodged by moving behind him. A simple tactic we use is to put me in front and the rest hit the back, no one dies.

But better yet! Did you know you can interupt his scream!? Why yes, yes you can. With 3 dazes i’m able to keep his scream from going off so my hp can get back up to full before I run out. If you hit him as he’s charging up it stops his scream and he moves on.

And if I do miss one, I may have to rely on my block, yes you can block his scream.

- Xhaine

Kind a turns it into a tank and spank for the 4 other people, but at least I have fun keeping the boss at bay.

Name one boss that’s actually one-shotting you in a manner so obscene no amount of forethought or observation allows you to survive.

That’s great and all but sadly that’s one area in AC where Ele’s fall short. We’re ranged, but usually not far enough away to avoid the scream, you can’t move to the side of it, we have no block or aegis, 1 interrupt.

However I was just using it as an example of an attack that has huge range, instant effect, 1 shot capabilities, and little to no telegraphing. Still never had to waypoint during the fight.

Yeah, Elementalist’s can’t do everything, I know I run with two usually, but other classes can make up for the rest. It is a group effort after all

- Xhaine

I’m okay with 1 shot bosses as long as they’re directional skills and not target skills where the only way you can avoid it is to “evade” with a roll.

@WBL Do you have trouble with timing the dodge roll? It just takes practice.

We took an a party with a thief, a ranger, an engineer, and 2 eles to do colossus rumblus. I’ll admit that these professions were our lower level alts, but like many have said, you can easily avoid the scream with practice.

Assuming no one interrupts colossus rumblus’s pattern, you should realize that he typically screams either after his ceiling rock attack or after the burrowing. As an ele, I brought a stun breaker just in case I get hit by the ceiling rocks. During the rock fall phase, colossus doesn’t do anything, so you can take the time to position yourself in time for that scream (1200+ distance helps). I don’t use any dodge rolls during the rock falls unless I run into a circle because of poor judgement. During the scream, I dodge sideways and all is well.

I was using a staff during this fight, so I could maintain range and be able to damage safely in preparation for the scream (staff even gives you a 3rd dodge in fire). I think if you insist on using any other weapon on the ele during this fight, you should anticipate the scream more strictly. Otherwise, make the sacrifice of your favorite setup and use the staff to support, damage, and keep yourself safe.

I’ve been told that playing an ele in dungeons was too hard because if a mob looks at you, then you’re pretty much dead. I honestly don’t find this an issue because once you understand the mechanics of the dungeon, you just use the best of your abilities to counter the situation. I even pull mobs with my ele, dropping a static field to ball them up for my team’s AoE damage, roots, and snares. Playing an ele is quite enjoyable for me and playing one in a dungeon forces me to learn more about the ele’s capabilities (just recently found out offhand dag is great for single target non-boss shutdown).

Sorry if this sounds like your typical L2P argument, but I’m sure with a bit of practice and effort, you can figure out how to counter these difficult situations. With that said, I do agree that bosses need a bit more improved AI, but I do not think the 1-shot thing is a problem. I have never been one-shot on my ele unless it was something like kudu in CoE story, whose ability really is a 1 shot to downed state.

Don’t misunderstand, I rarely wipe during dungeons, even on rumblus when my team wiped I was the one surviving and kiting his fat kitten around. In fact when we dont have a guardian, I play full time tank/CC on kohler and the graveling zergs. I’ve just found the telegraph to be way too short on Rumblus’ scream. I’ve had the best luck with getting in his face with stability and protection and dodge rolling through him when he screams. It’s definitely not a L2P issue, but thanks for your reply.

@Xhaine No, I don’t have troubles dodging. However, I think if it was more like Monster Hunter battles, the boss fights would be a lot more interesting. (If you’ve ever played that game, you’d get it) GW2 def has the mechanics to do it.

Ender.3508:

Don’t misunderstand, I rarely wipe during dungeons, even on rumblus when my team wiped I was the one surviving and kiting his fat kitten around. In fact when we dont have a guardian, I play full time tank/CC on kohler and the graveling zergs. I’ve just found the telegraph to be way too short on Rumblus’ scream. I’ve had the best luck with getting in his face with stability and protection and dodge rolling through him when he screams. It’s definitely not a L2P issue, but thanks for your reply.

Yeah, those telegraphs are way too short. For me, it just became a pattern prediction, where I would just expect the scream to follow after the rock fall or the burrowing (assuming no one was using basilisk venom or disabling him after defiance was broken). The best I can do is get ready to dodge as soon as I see him raise his head upwards.

People are starting to learn the mechanics and how the game is supposed to be played.

so NO I do not agree with the OP about this 1 hit kills issue, I used to get killed by 1 shots a lot at 1st specially in AC, now with a decent group even explorable mode dungeons are a lot easier to the point I think they should add a new difficulty mode instead of bringing it down.

He talks about Bosses running away from players and stuff, that is just silly a Boss should not be afraid of you it’s why it’s called a Boss not a minion !

You the player are the one that needs to fear him and his 1 hit killing shots just like a Boss should be.

Of all the dungeons I’ve run there has only been one boss that has totally brought me to my knees. The huntsman from story mode HotW.

I might be missing something about the fight, but I cannot get around his rapid attack pattern, especially if he focuses you with his flock of birds. This isn’t even taking into account his pet lizard, which pretty much has to be separated from him and killed on its own or you’re in for a world of pain.

Appreciate all the stories folks!

A few in here asked directly which bosses were 1-shotting—I would prefer not to name them because that really wasn’t the point of the OP.
In general, I don’t mind 1-shot kills—but they shouldn’t be frequently used as the primary method to make a dungeon difficult.

Frequent 1-shot kills do not = “Ooh, this is a hard dungeon”.—Its just dumb kitten .

I will liken how it looks, feels and plays with a ‘story’ example of my own;
A veteran warrior trained for battle from birth, his skill with the bow and sword exemplary. Standing resolute before his men facing the enemy, he shouted “CHARGE!!” But before he could unsheathe his blade from its scabbard, a rifle bullet pierced his breast, killing him instantly.

nope. please practice and you will get these down. Just need to go through them more these should be considerd raid’s not pug dungeons from wow.

If you want to consider them raids, then up the amount of players you can take into the instance?

There are legitimate issues with these dungeons, and they are not enjoyable for a huge portion of the player base. They are tedious and brutal if you make even a minor mistake.

Yes, they get much easier once you figure it out, but if people are getting stuck having to spend an entire evening just to learn one dungeon, they will stop running dungeons.

If they stop running dungeons, maybe they go out and explore the whole world over the course of a month. They hit 80, they don’t enjoy dungeons and maybe they don’t like PVP. Now they’ve explored the world map, but don’t really feel like leveling an alt. Where will they go?

Other games. That is not good for the continued success of GW2. This outright dismissal of people’s complaints by using WoW as an insult is not helpful to anyone.

Roctod.7290:

If you want to consider them raids, then up the amount of players you can take into the instance?

There are legitimate issues with these dungeons, and they are not enjoyable for a huge portion of the player base. They are tedious and brutal if you make even a minor mistake.

Yes, they get much easier once you figure it out, but if people are getting stuck having to spend an entire evening just to learn one dungeon, they will stop running dungeons.

If they stop running dungeons, maybe they go out and explore the whole world over the course of a month. They hit 80, they don’t enjoy dungeons and maybe they don’t like PVP. Now they’ve explored the world map, but don’t really feel like leveling an alt. Where will they go?

Other games. That is not good for the continued success of GW2. This outright dismissal of people’s complaints by using WoW as an insult is not helpful to anyone.

Where will they go?

Back to dungeons with hopefully better gear, better mentalities and a better understanding of their class.

Ask yourself these questions before you try and place a complaint:

Am I running “glasscannon” builds

Is my team on the ball with utilities or is that warrior using nothing but signets

Has everyone got melee and ranged covered equally

Is everyone playing for the team, are your guardians using their virtues and timing them, is that thief using stealth to control mob aggro away from injured players, is he using smokescreens etc to block ranged is he blinding enemies to reduce damage and weakening them, is that ele using water spells to heal up the team

These are just a few questions you should ask yourself before you blame the system for flaws. It’s always well known that whilst we do get mechanical faults and failures, the human element is always the most riddled with flaws and problems due to bad attitudes and approaches

There’s absolutely no reason for the dungeons to be as punishing as they are to large portions of the player base in their current forms.

Like I said, these dungeons do get easier once you figure out the patterns. The first time we tried CM, we got stomped. We went back a day later, without anybody having really changed much in terms of gear or traits, and pretty much steamrolled it.

But a lot of people are going to get discouraged. Many of my guildmates are real life friends, and we have all tried several ways to complete some of the dungeons to absolutely no success. This is discouraging. People who get discouraged don’t want to put more effort into something they are disillusioned with.

And it is really easy for people to get discouraged when trying several approaches over an entire evening, and their reward was paying for trait respecs and repair bills. People won’t return to that kind of environment.

Pure Heart.1456:

A few in here asked directly which bosses were 1-shotting—I would prefer not to name them because that really wasn’t the point of the OP.
In general, I don’t mind 1-shot kills—but they shouldn’t be frequently used as the primary method to make a dungeon difficult.

Frequent 1-shot kills do not = “Ooh, this is a hard dungeon”.—Its just dumb kitten .

The reason that people are asking which bosses have been one-shotting you is because the vast, vast majority of bosses can’t one-shot a player who comes appropriately equipped to the dungeon, and of the few bosses that can, there are almost universally some fairly easy-to-spot tells or simple strategies that can keep you from being devastated by those attacks.

I think very few people would disagree with you when you say that being one-shotted repeatedly by many enemies isn’t particularly fun – but for most people who have adapted to dungeon play, that hasn’t actually been our experience. If it’s happening to you frequently enough that it seems like one of the most prominent ‘features’ of playing in dungeons, then you’re probably missing something, and I’m sure that people would be more than happy to give you some tips to point you in the right direction.

I can’t think of a time that I’ve been legitimately one-shotted. That is true. However, I have been in situations where my health has dropped significantly. Last night while trying to help in AC Ghosteater, I pulled some ghosts during the mortar event. Knowing there was a ranger, I dropped my Wall of Reflection and pulled using the staff’s medium range orb (as a Guardian). The result?

I reflected the ranger but both necromancers dropped wells on me, and the elementalist firestormed me. Between the conditions the wells reapplied after Contemplation of Purity and fire storm, I lost so much health that when the reflection wall dropped, a trap shot from the ranger downed me.

Like I said in another thread, I really just think the trash needs its health/damage lowered a bit, and the modifiers need to either be clearer OR reflect boss mechanics. This will keep things challenging but it also means the mechanics aren’t hidden behind layers of “what did we do or should I have done?”

Roctod.7290:

Like I said in another thread, I really just think the trash needs its health/damage lowered a bit, and the modifiers need to either be clearer OR reflect boss mechanics. This will keep things challenging but it also means the mechanics aren’t hidden behind layers of “what did we do or should I have done?”

NO. 1st: DON’T STAND IN AOE DAMAGE.
2nd: If through all that time none of your team members pulled the agro from you , means you shouldn’t go with them again.

Running AC 3 paths each day since the DR fix. Dont have a tears about boss health in there and totaly like the 2nd boss , the mechanic where he pulls people in then one shots is nice, means if u dont pay attention you die. That said the troll miniboss could really have less health , he doesnt have any fun mechanics but tons of hp.

Was in TA 2 times 1-2 path , emerald boss before the “fountain event” is so terrible , he has tons of hp but literally no abilities. That should be fixed in my opinion.

I only find 1 shot mechanics acceptable when you have high mobility or mitigation otherwise it’s just ‘hard’ for the sake of being hard. It’s like some of the bosses in Tera, sure there’s a tank but a tank can’t tank things like wide AoEs or raining AoEs, you have to avoid those things yourself but luckily in Tera you move at a respectable speed in combat. You see similar things in action games like Devil May Cry [especially Heaven or Hell difficulty], God of War, Ninja Gaiden, Dark Souls, even action RPGs like the Tales series, some of those games have 1 shot mechanics, some don’t but all of them give you enough mobility to manage incoming attacks.

Another important thing to note is that other games have very clear tells for when a big attack is coming at you, I don’t expect a QTE-like prompt on my screen [I actually hate QTEs] but I think animations/sound effects/speech play a very important role when it comes to this in a lot of games but it simply isn’t here in a lot of cases in GW2.

Pure Heart.1456:

I would like to see less frequent 1-shot kills from bosses in dungeons.
Because its fun to have a challenge, but frequent 1-shot kills are too “unforgiving”. Additionally, I feel the dodge limit being set to 2 isn’t enough to deal such harsh circumstances. 3 would be more acceptable.

I would like to see bosses fight more intelligently, more dynamically, more lively… For example, they could run and jump away from players for a few moments, instead of relentlessly pursuing players in a bee-line.

What do people think about these unforgiving (harsh) dungeon experiences?

I agree entirely, and commend you for the lack of ranting in your post.

I just completed Story Mode of Honor of the Waves and it is simply very very boring and not fun to keep running back from the spawn because I get 2 shotted by The Huntsman.

In addition, I think that Jon Peters comments on Death and the Downed System are worthy of note: http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/features/interviews/death-and-healing
Being downed and then instantly finished off makes a mockery of the downed system, and is not fun.
Because healing is replaced with the “Damage, Control and Support” system, I note that control is reduced on boss mobs. This negates a key pilar in the new system and thus the whole idea of new non-“holy trinity” oriented combat mechanics collapses. Because healing is gone, bosses must not negate or mitigate ANY of the combat mechanics. This is a fundamental design mistake. A schoolboy error on the part of the developers and they should hang their heads in shame and stand on the naughty step for 10 minutes each, promise not to do it again and fix it ASAP.

The boss I remember having the most cheesy attack was Kudu in Crucible of Eternity story mode.
What was it , Shoot to kill ? I can’t remember as I did the story mode a month ago and vowed not to return to it before I was sure I wouldn’t ragequit the game. I hated every moment of that dungeon from the asura equiped with guns with a rate of fire equal to a machine gun to Kudu with his Hunter Seeker Gun, and those anoying blue blobs of death with my name on it.

However I was just using it as an example of an attack that has huge range, instant effect, 1 shot capabilities, and little to no telegraphing.

Can’t tell if serious. He spends like 5 seconds channeling while orange or yellow or whatever colored kitten is all over him like Goku in DBZ before unleashing his incredibly easy to dodge frontal cone of death.

Kudu in CoE Story probably has telegraphing too, but you can’t see it because explosions happen everywhere thanks to players hitting him, and he’s a midget rat person.

Maif.7594:

However I was just using it as an example of an attack that has huge range, instant effect, 1 shot capabilities, and little to no telegraphing.

Can’t tell if serious. He spends like 5 seconds channeling while orange or yellow or whatever colored kitten is all over him like Goku in DBZ before unleashing his incredibly easy to dodge frontal cone of death.

Kudu in CoE Story probably has telegraphing too, but you can’t see it because explosions happen everywhere thanks to players hitting him, and he’s a midget rat person.

Have you even done tsarks path? It’s not a frontal “cone”. The kitten thing hits you even if you are just behind him. There is no “5 second channel” it’s 1.5 at most with an animation extremely similar to the one he uses when he calls down rocks, the notable difference being that he flails more when he calls down the rocks. Ran him again last night, the only time I was downed was when I was hit by his scream, while standing comfortably BEHIND him.

I don’t have a problem with dungeons being unforgiving/punishing—in order to survive a dungeon profitably (e.g. without breaking all your armor,) you need to learn the “right ways” to get through each encounter. People are already saying dungeons are too easy so imagine how many more people would call for harder dungeons if the challenges added by 1shot attacks were removed.

I gained an appreciation for 1shot attacks in AC explorable. Those Graveling Scanvengers that leap on you, knock you down, and chomp on you till you die were giving me a kitten hard time until I accepted that I need to fight them a specific way. Every class can dodge if they time it right. As a necro I have many tools at my disposal for dealing with leap attacks: blind, fear, immobilize, freeze, and cripple. Any one of these can trivialize the leap attack when paired with good timing and intelligent positioning. If one of them does get me and I’m knocked down, I can either equip a stun-break or pop Death Shroud and use Doom to fear it away before it starts chomping. Death Shroud and Doom can be activated while CC’d, and Doom can be used even while channeling another skill.

It’s all about being familiar with the enemies you’re facing and knowing your class well. Don’t ask for the challenge to be nerfed—accept the challenge and meet it head-on.

Hey guys

i read this about “Boss Kill with One Hit” and its true and it works. I see it first time for a few days. After i ask Support. “Is this possible”. And i get an answer: “This Item is integrated into game. This Item is no Bug and this is the Special of this Item to kill the Boss with one hit.” So i look for this Item, found it and try it. It works so perfect. If anyone want to know how it works. Ask me ingame

Xhaine.4120:

There are many ways to deal with these ‘1 shot skills’ (I’ve never seen them done to me, but I stack vit and toughness). Here is a list:

“cough” Try CoE story last boss “cough”

Pinkii.6135:

Hey guys

i read this about “Boss Kill with One Hit” and its true and it works. I see it first time for a few days. After i ask Support. “Is this possible”. And i get an answer: “This Item is integrated into game. This Item is no Bug and this is the Special of this Item to kill the Boss with one hit.” So i look for this Item, found it and try it. It works so perfect. If anyone want to know how it works. Ask me ingame

Um… What in the kitten are you talking about?

sry my english isnt so good. but this post is about kill a boss in gw2 with one hit … thats right? so if anyone want to see this ask me ingame i can show you how you can kill a boss with one hit

Pinkii.6135:

sry my english isnt so good. but this post is about kill a boss in gw2 with one hit … thats right? so if anyone want to see this ask me ingame i can show you how you can kill a boss with one hit

Incorrect and you are definitely exploiting or hacking. My guess is you want my username and password to show me how it works?

The thread is about being hit 1 time by a boss and dying.

But back to the original topic, I think this is fine. I got really upset first time I fought rumulus just because I was on a laggy computer. Once I got home to my desktop I could understand the mechanics and it got pretty easy. The only thing that still makes me upset is that I’ll think I’m outside of the cone effect but I’ll still get owned. That’s more me just being lazy rather than safe though.