Guild Wars 2

Just came back after 3 years. I quit in Feb 2014 and have decided to take GW2 back up but before I delve into the expansion and what not I wanted to wet my feet and catch up on what is in the base game.

Everything was fine until I entered Fractals for level 32. Everything was so different to the point I barely recognized the Swamp Fractal Boss encounter. It use to be either Mossman or the tree but now its always the tree and he is invulnerable half the time? Not to mention it looks like I shouldn’t even bother without HoT skills. Was it necessary to kitten those without HoT in base game content?

p.s. why is gimmp censored?

The argument that people use. Why is anet not balanving the game around the base game. Why is it i need the expansion to do x thing. It is an MMO. It evolves with expansions. If you are invested in an MMO you buy the evolved product. Why would any company take a step back and worry about something that isnt for the better. Buying HOT and working on getting elite specs/the armor you need is the way to solve it. You need to evolve with the game. And because swamp was changed means your disappointed? So anet failed because you dont know the boss mechanics? Depending on the class. You really dont need HOT to do fractals. Warrior, Engi, and maybe even gaurdian. Of course the elite specs and new stats from HOT make other classes viable…

So you’re disappointed that they updated fractals?

The HoT specializations are stronger than the core, so you’ll struggle to get a group, but they core is still doable.

Swamp Fractal got updated to actually have mechanics, because previously it was stupid-fast and easy.

Dromar.1027:

Just came back after 3 years. I quit in Feb 2014 and have decided to take GW2 back up but before I delve into the expansion and what not I wanted to wet my feet and catch up on what is in the base game.

Everything was fine until I entered Fractals for level 32. Everything was so different to the point I barely recognized the Swamp Fractal Boss encounter. It use to be either Mossman or the tree but now its always the tree and he is invulnerable half the time? Not to mention it looks like I shouldn’t even bother without HoT skills. Was it necessary to kitten those without HoT in base game content?

p.s. why is gimmp censored?

the encounter was reworked and no you can do it with out hot.

All I read was:

I came back to try GW2 after 3 years and even though

- my gear was still just as powerful as back then
- and I was able to get directly into endgame content
- was not required to relevel or catch up
- there were multiple new endgame maps
- was not required to spend even 1,- $ to play the game
- was not required to resubscribe

I was vastly disapointed that:

- the game content I played was rebalanced and reworked

Sorry but this seems like very huge first world problems right here. The game has had an expansion, yes. For many classes the Elite specialisations offer new and more powerful endgame builds. Bar some changes here and there, you still have exactly the same access to all the vanilla content as when you left the game (you’ll even be more powerful thanks to the trait and mastery changes). Best of all, you can play with everyone no matter if HoT upgraded or not in vanilla areas. Please tell me how many other MMOs out there offer this kind of service? The usual modus operandi is: get the expansion or be locked out of endgame content.

You came back after 3 years and everything changed?? Anet dared to change stuff?
How did that happen, i mean its only 3 years…..

IQ going through the roof.

LOL how dare they update swamp!!!!!!!!!

Dromar.1027:

Everything was fine until I entered Fractals for level 32. Everything was so different to the point I barely recognized the Swamp Fractal Boss encounter. It use to be either Mossman or the tree but now its always the tree and he is invulnerable half the time? Not to mention it looks like I shouldn’t even bother without HoT skills. Was it necessary to kitten those without HoT in base game content?

The reasonable answer to all these complaints can probably be summarised in three signs: l2p

Bloomy is one of the best encounters in all fractals.

CptAurellian.9537:

Bloomy is one of the best encounters in all fractals.

That’s debatable.

L2P kid

15chars15chars

While HoT elite spec power creep is here, for those without xpac short reminder of professions that bring great dps in their core game versions:

- ranger (condi build) – one of top condi dps in raids, and there you’re expected to hit really hard

- engineer (both power rifle and condi twin pistols) – top condi damage potential and very respectable power damage.

Astralporing.1957:

CptAurellian.9537:

Bloomy is one of the best encounters in all fractals.

That’s debatable.

Is it really? He said it is one of the best, which is as far reaching a comment as you can get. What’s there to debate about that? He isn’t saying it is the definitive best.

Ramoth.9064:

Astralporing.1957:

CptAurellian.9537:

Bloomy is one of the best encounters in all fractals.

That’s debatable.

Is it really? He said it is one of the best, which is as far reaching a comment as you can get. What’s there to debate about that? He isn’t saying it is the definitive best.

Of course it’s debatable. Someone debated it

More seriously, some people hate the new version of Swamp; for them, there’s no chance it’s “the best” or even in the top 20 (inb4: yes, I’m aware that there are only 16 atm).

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Ramoth.9064:

Astralporing.1957:

CptAurellian.9537:

Bloomy is one of the best encounters in all fractals.

That’s debatable.

Is it really? He said it is one of the best, which is as far reaching a comment as you can get. What’s there to debate about that? He isn’t saying it is the definitive best.

Of course it’s debatable. Someone debated it

More seriously, some people hate the new version of Swamp; for them, there’s no chance it’s “the best” or even in the top 20 (inb4: yes, I’m aware that there are only 16 atm).

I don’t agree with that. His comment was entirely subjective, not objective or in comparison, nor were there parameters to frame an argument around to begin with. It’s like saying oxygen is one of the best chemical elements!

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Ramoth.9064:

Astralporing.1957:

CptAurellian.9537:

Bloomy is one of the best encounters in all fractals.

That’s debatable.

Is it really? He said it is one of the best, which is as far reaching a comment as you can get. What’s there to debate about that? He isn’t saying it is the definitive best.

Of course it’s debatable. Someone debated it

More seriously, some people hate the new version of Swamp; for them, there’s no chance it’s “the best” or even in the top 20 (inb4: yes, I’m aware that there are only 16 atm).

ppl that hate it hate it for a very particular reason and that the fact that its no loger that free loot fractal they were used to run.

zealex.9410:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Ramoth.9064:

Astralporing.1957:

CptAurellian.9537:

Bloomy is one of the best encounters in all fractals.

That’s debatable.

Is it really? He said it is one of the best, which is as far reaching a comment as you can get. What’s there to debate about that? He isn’t saying it is the definitive best.

Of course it’s debatable. Someone debated it

More seriously, some people hate the new version of Swamp; for them, there’s no chance it’s “the best” or even in the top 20 (inb4: yes, I’m aware that there are only 16 atm).

ppl that hate it hate it for a very particular reason and that the fact that its no loger that free loot fractal they were used to run.

I would say it’s largely in part to that, but I feel like it’s also because it’s an absolute pain in the ass to run in PUGs. It (in my opinion) is a complete nightmare to do it with people who constantly die or won’t CC Bloomy.

I think they did a great job with swamp.

Yobculture.5786:

zealex.9410:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Ramoth.9064:

Astralporing.1957:

CptAurellian.9537:

Bloomy is one of the best encounters in all fractals.

That’s debatable.

Is it really? He said it is one of the best, which is as far reaching a comment as you can get. What’s there to debate about that? He isn’t saying it is the definitive best.

Of course it’s debatable. Someone debated it

More seriously, some people hate the new version of Swamp; for them, there’s no chance it’s “the best” or even in the top 20 (inb4: yes, I’m aware that there are only 16 atm).

ppl that hate it hate it for a very particular reason and that the fact that its no loger that free loot fractal they were used to run.

I would say it’s largely in part to that, but I feel like it’s also because it’s an absolute pain in the ass to run in PUGs. It (in my opinion) is a complete nightmare to do it with people who constantly die or won’t CC Bloomy.

I encountered this when the rework was released i dont see that as much now if ever but i guess for you to say it it still happens.

zealex.9410:

I encountered this when the rework was released i dont see that as much now if ever but i guess for you to say it it still happens.

You don’t see it as often because lot of players just plain stopped doing swamp.

Ramoth.9064:

His comment was entirely subjective

Yes, that’s the point. Whether swamp is one of the best fractals is subjective. There are people (me, for example) that have a different opinion.
In short, it’s debatable.

If tier 4 fractals are too hard for Astralporing.1957 or OP I would suggest trying tier 1 or 2 until you’re more comfortable. =)

NikeEU.7690:

If tier 4 fractals are too hard for Astralporing.1957 or OP I would suggest trying tier 1 or 2 until you’re more comfortable. =)

I can do t4 just fine, thank you very much. That doesn’t make swamp any more enjoyable though.

Astralporing.1957:

zealex.9410:

I encountered this when the rework was released i dont see that as much now if ever but i guess for you to say it it still happens.

You don’t see it as often because lot of players just plain stopped doing swamp.

Ramoth.9064:

His comment was entirely subjective

Yes, that’s the point. Whether swamp is one of the best fractals is subjective. There are people (me, for example) that have a different opinion.
In short, it’s debatable.

you are way to negative… ppl just got decent at it

Astralporing.1957:

zealex.9410:

I encountered this when the rework was released i dont see that as much now if ever but i guess for you to say it it still happens.

You don’t see it as often because lot of players just plain stopped doing swamp.

Ramoth.9064:

His comment was entirely subjective

Yes, that’s the point. Whether swamp is one of the best fractals is subjective. There are people (me, for example) that have a different opinion.
In short, it’s debatable.

No, theres no parameter for the debate because he didn’t definitively say it was the best, or the 5th best, or the 9th best, just one of.

You know OP, 3 years ago you complained about this:

Dromar.1027:

Sad because so far its been 16 months and…
No instanced raids
Same bugs/exploits since day one
Same bad mob AI(mossman can still be exploited)
Lack of defined roles for classes(and diversity)
Constant imbalance

Well you got raids, they fixed mossman ai, they added much more defined builds and diversity, they balanced dps roles a lot better.

They did a lot of the stuff you wanted them to do.

thrag.9740:

You know OP, 3 years ago you complained about this:

Dromar.1027:

Sad because so far its been 16 months and…
No instanced raids
Same bugs/exploits since day one
Same bad mob AI(mossman can still be exploited)
Lack of defined roles for classes(and diversity)
Constant imbalance

Well you got raids, they fixed mossman ai, they added much more defined builds and diversity, they balanced dps roles a lot better.

They did a lot of the stuff you wanted them to do.

/Thread

Fay.2357:

thrag.9740:

You know OP, 3 years ago you complained about this:

Dromar.1027:

Sad because so far its been 16 months and…
No instanced raids
Same bugs/exploits since day one
Same bad mob AI(mossman can still be exploited)
Lack of defined roles for classes(and diversity)
Constant imbalance

Well you got raids, they fixed mossman ai, they added much more defined builds and diversity, they balanced dps roles a lot better.

They did a lot of the stuff you wanted them to do.

/Thread

Nah. That was three years ago and my original post only talks about the redesign of the Swamp fractal and I had no problem with the previous one save a few bugs which could have been fixed without a redesign. Then I just asked should I even bother pugging without HoT skills because at 40+ it seems to become a toxic cesspool where I run the risk of getting booted. Doesn’t matter if I can do it or not and I have done many 40s including the swamp already thanks to some not throwing a fit but the problem still stands. If I can do it without HoT skills then why are some people acting like its a requirement.

Yobculture.5786:

zealex.9410:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Ramoth.9064:

Astralporing.1957:

CptAurellian.9537:

Bloomy is one of the best encounters in all fractals.

That’s debatable.

Is it really? He said it is one of the best, which is as far reaching a comment as you can get. What’s there to debate about that? He isn’t saying it is the definitive best.

Of course it’s debatable. Someone debated it

More seriously, some people hate the new version of Swamp; for them, there’s no chance it’s “the best” or even in the top 20 (inb4: yes, I’m aware that there are only 16 atm).

ppl that hate it hate it for a very particular reason and that the fact that its no loger that free loot fractal they were used to run.

I would say it’s largely in part to that, but I feel like it’s also because it’s an absolute pain in the ass to run in PUGs. It (in my opinion) is a complete nightmare to do it with people who constantly die or won’t CC Bloomy.

If you don’t have players to CC it,and to stay on the safe side just range pew pew it.
The big attacks are telegraphed and easy to dodge.
Unless a huge walking tree thing jumping around like King Kong doesn’t seem as much of a threat to your team mates.
In which case you need to inform them that the big tree cow=bad and so are the big red circles.And of course if it lands on you you are going to die.

Dromar.1027:

Nah. That was three years ago and my original post only talks about the redesign of the Swamp fractal and I had no problem with the previous one save a few bugs which could have been fixed without a redesign. Then I just asked should I even bother pugging without HoT skills because at 40+ it seems to become a toxic cesspool where I run the risk of getting booted. Doesn’t matter if I can do it or not and I have done many 40s including the swamp already thanks to some not throwing a fit but the problem still stands. If I can do it without HoT skills then why are some people acting like its a requirement.

So your complaint is that elite specs power creeped a lot? Yeah I agree. But they are a business, they need to sell the expansion, it sucks, the world sucks sometimes. But you gotta notice all the good stuff they did too.

If your really determined to play fractals without hot, just play power engi. Power engi is competitive dps and doesn’t bring elite spec. Condi ranger and condi engi also don’t bring elite spec, but they use viper gear (HOT exclusive). Power engi just brings berserker armor in its meta build.

Dromar.1027:

Fay.2357:

thrag.9740:

You know OP, 3 years ago you complained about this:

Dromar.1027:

Sad because so far its been 16 months and…
No instanced raids
Same bugs/exploits since day one
Same bad mob AI(mossman can still be exploited)
Lack of defined roles for classes(and diversity)
Constant imbalance

Well you got raids, they fixed mossman ai, they added much more defined builds and diversity, they balanced dps roles a lot better.

They did a lot of the stuff you wanted them to do.

/Thread

Nah. That was three years ago and my original post only talks about the redesign of the Swamp fractal and I had no problem with the previous one save a few bugs which could have been fixed without a redesign. Then I just asked should I even bother pugging without HoT skills because at 40+ it seems to become a toxic cesspool where I run the risk of getting booted. Doesn’t matter if I can do it or not and I have done many 40s including the swamp already thanks to some not throwing a fit but the problem still stands. If I can do it without HoT skills then why are some people acting like its a requirement.

Well, the reason they release an expansion is because most players want to play with new things.

It completely beats the point of having an expansion, if you just want to play the old content with old spec. MMORPG relies on having more and more new content to stay alive.

Exciton.8942:

Dromar.1027:

Fay.2357:

thrag.9740:

You know OP, 3 years ago you complained about this:

Dromar.1027:

Sad because so far its been 16 months and…
No instanced raids
Same bugs/exploits since day one
Same bad mob AI(mossman can still be exploited)
Lack of defined roles for classes(and diversity)
Constant imbalance

Well you got raids, they fixed mossman ai, they added much more defined builds and diversity, they balanced dps roles a lot better.

They did a lot of the stuff you wanted them to do.

/Thread

Nah. That was three years ago and my original post only talks about the redesign of the Swamp fractal and I had no problem with the previous one save a few bugs which could have been fixed without a redesign. Then I just asked should I even bother pugging without HoT skills because at 40+ it seems to become a toxic cesspool where I run the risk of getting booted. Doesn’t matter if I can do it or not and I have done many 40s including the swamp already thanks to some not throwing a fit but the problem still stands. If I can do it without HoT skills then why are some people acting like its a requirement.

Well, the reason they release an expansion is because most players want to play with new things.

It completely beats the point of having an expansion, if you just want to play the old content with old spec. MMORPG relies on having more and more new content to stay alive.

No, no, you don’t get it at all. The mmo should simply perform a holding pattern of zero progress when someone like him stops playing, out of respect. That way they can come back without having missed anything!

Well there’s always dungeons for those who want something that hasn’t changed!

:^)

Dromar.1027:

Fay.2357:

thrag.9740:

You know OP, 3 years ago you complained about this:

Dromar.1027:

Sad because so far its been 16 months and…
No instanced raids
Same bugs/exploits since day one
Same bad mob AI(mossman can still be exploited)
Lack of defined roles for classes(and diversity)
Constant imbalance

Well you got raids, they fixed mossman ai, they added much more defined builds and diversity, they balanced dps roles a lot better.

They did a lot of the stuff you wanted them to do.

/Thread

Nah. That was three years ago and my original post only talks about the redesign of the Swamp fractal and I had no problem with the previous one save a few bugs which could have been fixed without a redesign. Then I just asked should I even bother pugging without HoT skills because at 40+ it seems to become a toxic cesspool where I run the risk of getting booted. Doesn’t matter if I can do it or not and I have done many 40s including the swamp already thanks to some not throwing a fit but the problem still stands. If I can do it without HoT skills then why are some people acting like its a requirement.

The current 40-75 is the old 30-40. Players were jerks back then and the pugs in that spectrum were worse than the ones at 49 or 50. So in a way, the game hasn’t changed in that regard, or to be more precise, the players haven’t changed.

What I don’t understand is, how does running fractals convince you to buy HoT or not?

Questions which seem a lot more meaningful to ask yourself would be:

Are you enjoying the Season 2 story?
Are you enjoying the way achievements for story segments are designed?
What did you think of Dry Top and Silverwastes?
What do you think of the redesigned skill and heropoint system?
How does your financial situation handle paying 20-25,- $ (Euro) for an expansion?

All these would be way more meaningful to your possible longterm enjoyment of the game over if some random pugs are jerks or not, not to mention that obviously other players will prefer a more powercreeped player.

Yobculture.5786:

zealex.9410:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Ramoth.9064:

Astralporing.1957:

CptAurellian.9537:

Bloomy is one of the best encounters in all fractals.

That’s debatable.

Is it really? He said it is one of the best, which is as far reaching a comment as you can get. What’s there to debate about that? He isn’t saying it is the definitive best.

Of course it’s debatable. Someone debated it

More seriously, some people hate the new version of Swamp; for them, there’s no chance it’s “the best” or even in the top 20 (inb4: yes, I’m aware that there are only 16 atm).

ppl that hate it hate it for a very particular reason and that the fact that its no loger that free loot fractal they were used to run.

I would say it’s largely in part to that, but I feel like it’s also because it’s an absolute pain in the ass to run in PUGs. It (in my opinion) is a complete nightmare to do it with people who constantly die or won’t CC Bloomy.

It used to be PITA for a short while right after the release. Then it got tweaked and people in general learned what they are supposed to do there. There are still horrible PUGs – they’ll always be there haunting you, no escaping that – but recently I haven’t encountered any issues on this particular fight. More groups wipe at arms seals on Cliffside than on Bloomhunger.

thrag.9740:

Dromar.1027:

Nah. That was three years ago and my original post only talks about the redesign of the Swamp fractal and I had no problem with the previous one save a few bugs which could have been fixed without a redesign. Then I just asked should I even bother pugging without HoT skills because at 40+ it seems to become a toxic cesspool where I run the risk of getting booted. Doesn’t matter if I can do it or not and I have done many 40s including the swamp already thanks to some not throwing a fit but the problem still stands. If I can do it without HoT skills then why are some people acting like its a requirement.

So your complaint is that elite specs power creeped a lot? Yeah I agree. But they are a business, they need to sell the expansion, it sucks, the world sucks sometimes. But you gotta notice all the good stuff they did too.

If your really determined to play fractals without hot, just play power engi. Power engi is competitive dps and doesn’t bring elite spec. Condi ranger and condi engi also don’t bring elite spec, but they use viper gear (HOT exclusive). Power engi just brings berserker armor in its meta build.

or ps warr

zealex.9410:

or ps warr

No, PS war gains a lot from elite spec. Without berserker you can’t even run a condi build really, and power war sucks even with elite spec.

Dagger thief is another classic build.

dagger dagger thief is solid for single target and definitely one of the few classic builds competitive with HOT builds. Unfortunately its cleave is limited to 2 targets rather than 3 for most of its attacks, and backstab only hits 1 target. Poor cleave hurts you in fractals for sure.

True, although it will be hardly noticeable in the average fractal (pug) group.

thrag.9740:

and power war sucks even with elite spec.

odd definition of “sucks”

Crinn.7864:

thrag.9740:

and power war sucks even with elite spec.

odd definition of “sucks”

Happy to debate it. Besides KC, I can’t think of any fractal or raid where I prefer power ps, usually it’s not even competitive.

thrag.9740:

zealex.9410:

or ps warr

No, PS war gains a lot from elite spec. Without berserker you can’t even run a condi build really, and power war sucks even with elite spec.

power ps warr is fine without elite spec and not everyone runs condi warr and for fractals power ps is fine

I seriously think the main reason people run power ps is because they are misinformed, can’t afford to upgrade, or killing kc. Just because people run it doesn’t mean its good. People still run 5 necro comps in fractals. I still occasionally see pugs running 4-4-2 sometimes.

Honestly I’d say power ps is even worse in fractals than raids, because of the heavy positional constraints such as social akwardness, poison trail, etc. Additionally in raids you get the benefit of large hit box more often, which helps power ps more than condi ps.

:( On a lot of T4 fractals standing there casting hundred blades is like asking to get downed. Not to mention social awkwardness is your biggest enemy….

Unfortunately atm power ps doesnt hold a candle to the condi variant.

zoomborg.9462:

Not to mention social awkwardness is your biggest enemy….

At least a power PS is standing still while doing 100B, in contrast to all those wannabe bouncing balls out there. I’ll never understand why some people constantly run around in SA fractals, especially when they don’t even use that stupid food.

CptAurellian.9537:

zoomborg.9462:

Not to mention social awkwardness is your biggest enemy….

At least a power PS is standing still while doing 100B, in contrast to all those wannabe bouncing balls out there. I’ll never understand why some people constantly run around in SA fractals, especially when they don’t even use that stupid food.

It’s called SSS – Seaweed Salad Syndrome. After a while it becomes a habit.

Feanor.2358:

CptAurellian.9537:

zoomborg.9462:

Not to mention social awkwardness is your biggest enemy….

At least a power PS is standing still while doing 100B, in contrast to all those wannabe bouncing balls out there. I’ll never understand why some people constantly run around in SA fractals, especially when they don’t even use that stupid food.

It’s called SSS – Seaweed Salad Syndrome. After a while it becomes a habit.

what kittenous food buff that is can’t they just nerf it already? Coz buffing all the other foods looks like more work

DPS loss.

Also, 15 characters.