Guild Wars 2

Hello,

Having some issues with AC Story / Explorable. I have a 32 warrior and my wife has a 38 thief and we are both having issues within AC. We have both been able to clear AC story once but she is not able to clear AC explore, I do believe it is the boss after the spider queen. In AC Story, at 32 with level 32 gear I noticed that I am getting 3-4 shot by the mobs with the silver circle and I take so much damage. I have to jump out and wait for my heal timer to go down so I can use my heal skill. I come from WoW and played a pally healer / tank so I’m used to having some sort of oh kitten button or some kind of heals. Any ideas what we can do to be able to survive dungeons?

Well this game is alot different than WoW, you can’t stand there and take hits. You have to learn alot of the bosses and attacks in this game and learn when to dodge roll. Also explorable mode dungeons are usually farmed by full exotic geared level 80s even though they are level 35 dungeons, though it is doable at level 35 ive done AC exp on my Mesmer when it was level 35, just takes practice and getting used to the style of GW2 boss fights.

Don’t even try to do a level 35 dungeon on lvl 35 with gear lvl 35. Wait for lvl 80 full exotic, then you will have a chance.

“Don’t even try to do a level 35 dungeon on lvl 35 with gear lvl 35. Wait for lvl 80 full exotic, then you will have a chance.”

Was that sarcastic or should I really wait?

Be a wus and go full power/vitality/toughness in my opinion. This is what I put my kids in and it just makes the run so much smoother when they are not downed all the time. We have done ac/cm/ta/se story modes and ac path 2/3.

Not sure when your warrior gets Immune to Pain. I think it is called that and it makes you take no damage for a few seconds. In ac your wifes thief will always steal fear when stealing from a ghost. Ghosts stop hitting you when they are running away. That second boss you mentioned is Lt Kholer I believe. You do not have to keep beating yourself to death on him if you dont want to as he is an optional boss.

I suggest ac path 3. A couple generous players should be able to get you guys through that easily. You are doing it on hard mode fyi as it really is easier in a lvl 80 with all your traits and skills unlocked. Do the story modes for sure as you are leveling as the first time through they give you 3/4 of a level on top of any xp you got on the way.

You don’t need exotics or to be level 80 to do dungeons as long as you meet the minimum level. However. do not assume that the level dictates the level of difficulty. That’s not how it works. Dungeons (explorable) are primarily for level 80 exotics. In my opinion, there’s no reason for someone under to be there.

bunnyandbear.5734:

“Don’t even try to do a level 35 dungeon on lvl 35 with gear lvl 35. Wait for lvl 80 full exotic, then you will have a chance.”

Was that sarcastic or should I really wait?

Yes, wait.

AC path 3 is perfectly doable by a group of lvl 35 people if they have updated gear for their lvl (green gear and trinkets is enough). Path 1 is easy if your group knows how to deal with the burrows room where you need to defend a npc, and path 2 has a very boring boss at the end so its better to stay away from it.

Also that ghost boss Kholer you can avoid him, just walk on the border of the place where he stays in a way that you won’t aggro him, i think he is harder to fight than the final boss from p1 for example.

The problem with the dungeons in this game is that you need to know the encounters, so experience here means a lot, but if you have difficult to beat certain challenge at lvl 35 if you lvl up to 80 and use exotic gear it will be much more easy.

lol, whoever said you have to be lv80 and full exotic…please stop giving bad advice. this is completely doable by a lv35 team. there was even a video showing full lv35 on masterwork armor. there was also a video of an engi lv35 soloing spider queen.

anyway back to my point. If you come from WoW, try to think less mmorpg, more action game and dodging.

You say you have troubles on the boss after the spider queen, I assume it was kohler. watch out for his arm when it shines and when he puts it up, that means he’s telegraphing his pull>spin combo, be sure to dodge OR block it.

You say u played pally in wow so i assume youre playing guardian in gw2. bring wall of reflection, that skill is one of the best. If you see his adds being a ranger or elementalist, pop it down, alternatively you can use it to block kohler’s pull as it counts as a projectile.

You can also use “stand your ground” before he pulls your team. Stability makes it so that you cant be pulled/pushed/stunned/feared/and all other control effects.

If you really can’t kill kohler, you can opt to completely skip him, just go around

Whoever said wait till 80 full exotic, your a kitten … And to the guy saying to go full ptv, that’s fine for lower levels to get used to dodging and stuff, but be aware at level 80 you want full berserker gear especially as a warrior or thief, ptv nubs usually get kicked…

bunnyandbear.5734:

32 warrior
38 thief
she is not able to clear AC explore

Working as intended. The in-game Email you recieve after completing Story mode should be considered a Bug that Anet never “fixed”.

Realistically… most players shouldn’t even be recieving that Email telling them to try any of the AC explorables until after they’ve atleast done most of the End-Game explorables like atleast 2 paths of CM explorables, all 3 COF paths, 2 of the Sorrow’s Paths, atleast 1 Eternity Path, and atleast one 1 T.A. path. This isn’t exaggerating either, AC explorables were so over-tuned in a recent patch that what you might think are “higher level” dungeons, are now much easier for PuGs to complete by comparison.

(AC is still easier for some groups, but those teams always operated very differently to begin with) …. and don’t listen to the ones telling you that level 35’s can do it. ….they ARE exaggerating, IoW: telling you their standard of what a level 35 (who’s new to the game & the Explorables) is capable of, but it’s nothing but Internet-Toughguy Talk and you’d still see them getting downed very frequently if they recorded “proof” it was possible. There is only a handful of teams with full TS support who can do that and they’re using 5-man Profession combos that you won’t have consistent access to.

Disclaimer **-yes I’m a a hypocrite on this b/c I pug it everyday without even getting downed… and used to lead level 50’s through it regularly. (but that was before Detha’s path got “padded out”.) …but that’s just me being the usual carebear hugger that I am. You guys need to take your time to learn all the proper “muscle-memory” for your classes first before you take on something this gimmicky and risk unnecessary souring on the game itself. Games should be for relaxation/escapism… not making you twitchy and frustrated

For warrior, make sure to learn, for great justice, endure pain, balance stance, frenzy, “maybe dolyak signet”, signet of rage and warbanner.

Good weapon to have are, axe/axe, great sword and rifle.

Make sure to be at least level35 before you try ac explorer.

ilr.9675:

bunnyandbear.5734:

32 warrior
38 thief
she is not able to clear AC explore

Working as intended. The in-game Email you recieve after completing Story mode should be considered a Bug that Anet never “fixed”.

Realistically… most players shouldn’t even be recieving that Email telling them to try any of the AC explorables until after they’ve atleast done most of the End-Game explorables like atleast 2 paths of CM explorables, all 3 COF paths, 2 of the Sorrow’s Paths, atleast 1 Eternity Path, and atleast one 1 T.A. path. This isn’t exaggerating either, AC explorables were so over-tuned in a recent patch that what you might think are “higher level” dungeons, are now much easier for PuGs to complete by comparison.

(AC is still easier for some groups, but those teams always operated very differently to begin with) …. and don’t listen to the ones telling you that level 35’s can do it. ….they ARE exaggerating, IoW: telling you their standard of what a level 35 is capable of, but it’s nothing but Internet-Toughguy Talk and you’d still see them getting downed very frequently if they recorded “proof” it was possible. There is only a handful of teams with full TS support who can do that and they’re using 5-man Profession combos that you won’t have consistent access to.

You must be a really bad player…AC exp p1 and p3 are cake, you can farm p3 almost like cof p1… Even with a few level 35s in the party. P2 is a bit more difficult for newer people to the dungeon but it’s still easy.

bunnyandbear.5734:

I come from WoW and played a pally healer / tank so I’m used to having some sort of oh kitten button or some kind of heals. Any ideas what we can do to be able to survive dungeons?

I played WoW for 7 years… and It took me 3 months to get used to playing GW2 and loose all bad WoW fighting habbits.

2nd Explo is for 35lvl+ so 32 is really too low and it hurts like hell.

3rd You have to do many research on dungeons mechanics and how to play them in GW2 environment, becouse you will die badly, really badly and really fast – can be annoying.

I remember our first AC story run… all ppl from WoW, 11+ wipes on 1st champion.
First attempt on Arah – 7 hours and gave up (on Dwayna).

And don’t try explo too early even if it’s AC for 35 don’t be fooled by the lvl if You do now know the game machanics even as a 80 lvl best geared You will have problems, but if You are really good with game mechanics and encounters even as a 35 lvl You will do just fine.

Don’t rush with explo dungeons. Take your time, do research and practice a loat.

We practiced dodgging skills on the giant sometimes invading town of Nageling on Charr 15-25 map, when we understood how it worked and could melee him we where much much better with the dungeons.

Okay sounds good all, I’ll focus on just redoing AC story since I really like the dungeon overall and put off explorables until later on since I’m not really the mumble / TS type. I have a guardian as well that I’ve been playing when I’m not leveling my warrior so given what I’ve seen in dungeons so far, I may make leveling my guardian more of a priority now.

As for a guardian, I’ve been playing around with Mace / Shield main for dungeons, GS for leveling and for the build 0/0/20/30/20 for group support. Does that sound good?

The story dungeons can be done by new players on level. They will be hard but they are achievable. The explorable dungeons are at a higher level of difficulty. The good news is that as you get more experienced you will be able to get far, far more from your character than you can now. The bad news is that this means you should wait until level 80 before trying the explorable dungeons so that you have some gear/skill benefits to counter your lack of experience.

Stooperdale.3560:

The story dungeons can be done by new players on level. They will be hard but they are achievable. The explorable dungeons are at a higher level of difficulty. The good news is that as you get more experienced you will be able to get far, far more from your character than you can now. The bad news is that this means you should wait until level 80 before trying the explorable dungeons so that you have some gear/skill benefits to counter your lack of experience.

This is true to a certain extent, on my first character I waited and tried TA exp on my 80 full exo warrior and got brutally kitten d because of lack of experience, but when I was level 55 on my 2nd character I did TA exp F/f and Up easily simply because I knew what to do. So I don’t think gear makes that much of a difference other than the damage your putting out because if your in full zerk gear, your glass anyways. Also I would say go for guardian first because it does have more survivability than warrior.

AC is totally completable by characters at level 35, I’ve even been in groups with players as low as 32, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

Completing it really has nothing to do with the level of your character, though having certain key Utilities unlocked really helps. What you do need is some situational awareness, some knowledge of the dungeon, and an ability to dodge. If you have decent reflexes and play some action games you should be able to complete them with no real issues, though it might be worth running with some one that can point out to you the tells. The main one is that the Graveling start to hiss and crouch before they leap.

Also having level appropriate gear is a must have. It doesn’t have to be rare, but if you’re level 35 then make sure your equipped with full masterwork level 35 equipment.

It’s doable with the stats and abilities of level 35 toons, but if you and your wife are just hiting 35 on your first characters you may find it very difficult. It takes many people till their first level 80 to really get use to the combat in gw2. Explorerable mode dungeons oftentimes have one or two shot mechanics and require team coordination, and if you are still learning the game it can be overwhelming. You might not need to wait all the way till level cap, but at least wait until you are very comfortable with your class and confident in your own skill, so you can focus on the mechanics of the dungeon.

For leveling, I wouldn’t recommend repeating AC over and over unless you really enjoy it. If you are out in the world doing dynamic events and hearts and such, you should jump up 10 levels very quickly and be ready for the next dungeon. (Caudicus’s Manor)

Guardian is an excellent choice for running dungeons if you want to focus on support. There is no true tanking but you can be what is called the “anchor”. A higher toughness score (it is believed at least) will make you draw more aggro, and if you are geared with more defensive stats you will be able to take a hit or two. Understand it’s different then wow- you won’t be taking many hits, you will be taking the one or two that slip through. Projectile reflection is useful in every dungeon, and almost required in a few. No dungeon boss to my knowledge steals boons, so shouts are also very strong. In AC specifically you will want stability to deal with gravelings. Lastly, always make sure to bring a ranged weapon.

ilr.9675:

Games should be for relaxation/escapism… not making you twitchy and frustrated

Not every gamer like to play hello kitty online or “this generic rpg where it’s press X to progress” or “this generic game where farming = omghaxxorsuperpowerpawnage”

Explain FPS games, they’re mostly skill based. Explain massive sales of demon’s souls when they had very minimal marketing (also their successor dark souls). Explain Monster Hunter franchise. Explain Fighting games (street fighter/ tekken/ etc..). Explain bullet hell games. I can give many more examples where being stressed in gaming provides entertainment.

ilr.9675:

and don’t listen to the ones telling you that level 35’s can do it. ….they ARE exaggerating ……

There is only a handful of teams with full TS support who can do that and they’re using 5-man Profession combos that you won’t have consistent access to.

really? seriously my mind is blown by this comment.

I think you’re the one exaggerating. The OP was looking for a solution, we gave him a few examples. Maybe he’s a better gamer than you think.

I never used teamspeak on AC, most dungeons even speed runs you will never have to use teamspeak. You don’t even need to have profession combos and such for AC; while some profession makes it easier you don’t need them at all to do a satisfactory job.

It’s all about dodging and positioning. Groups can run dungeons naked because they can dodge the big hits and position their opponents to their advantage.

If you guys managed to get past the Spider Queen then you most certainly have what it takes to clear the rest. Without any prior knowledge you will most likely wipe a few times just to learn what to dodge, which is why I recommend taking someone who knows what they’re doing to show you, there’s plenty on the forums and I’d be willing to teach you on the weekend if you’d like.
Edit: Assuming you play NA Servers.

in short:
learning a dungeon: wait for lvl 80
running a dungeon you know: just be > minlevel in current gear.

the first few times are rough, you’ll make mistakes and at low lvl nearly every mistake kills you and you have to either wait for ress or reset (if the rest of the team finishes the fight, you won’t learn much and are just lying around after your first mistake). if you learn a dungeon while already at max lvl, you have a bit more leeway to actually participate and practice.
it’s not necessary to be 80 in full exotics, but it makes a giant difference in difficulty (not exactly because of stats, but because of traits, and you don’t constantly outgrow your gear). if you do like the challenge go ahead and enjoy it, maybe look for groups with a similar mindset. if you dislike it, wait until you reach 80 and have a more relaxed experience. depends on what you guys prefer.

I only started doing dungeons at 80 and once I knew what to do I leveled 3 of my alts in ascalon.

if you can’t get past a boss on your own, watch a few videos or read up on the tactics. most fights are not hard, you just have to know what to look out for, the rest is practice.

Well, i don’t know, i tried in lvl 35 and got destroyed. Also, i said lvl 80 because it’s almost impossible to find a group that accepts a lvl 35 to do this dungeon.

bunnyandbear.5734:

Hello,
played a pally healer / tank so I’m used to having some sort of oh kitten button or some kind of heals. Any ideas what we can do to be able to survive dungeons?

I soloed the whole ac story with my 80 guardian having only slight difficulty with mesmer duo, thus i can say that if you seek ‘’something that can survive dungeons’’ and pally like – roll a guardian =3

OP,
Dungeon survival is based on these 4 elements:
1) Mob’s mechanics & boss animations before releasing attacking
2) Your skill level, gears and understanding of your class
3) Terrains to be utilized for your advantage whether it’s LoS (Line of Sight not Love of Sh**) or skipping.
4) The party

1) & 3) obviously require dungeon’s experience and memorization so you don’t need to be at level 80s to do that. There are plenty of video guides per dungeons so get yourself acquaintant to the dungeon you plan to run.
On 2) Assume you can dodge perfectly and know how to use class skills to counter threats, then you also do not need to be at level 80s to run a dungeon. The reason gears are there is to mitigate damage if we make mistakes. So the less skills you have, the more quality of gears you need to have to survive to a certain extent (unless you know some god mode). There are also plenty of videos of dungeons explain class mechanics and gears needed to counter mobs & bosses.
On 4) The higher skill level your party as a whole is, the easier the dungeon. And vice versa. And the skilled people willing to help isn’t hard to find. Just look at the sticky thread in this forum. Good thing is these people don’t ask you have to be in level 80s (unless it’s the appropriate level) or in better gears ( unless it’s a hard contents and Arah & FoTM level 40s are the only hard contents)

Now it should be easy for you to solve the problem yourself. If you are all inexperience and insist doing the inexperience way, just to make sure to having plenty of time for your runs. Or using #4 to make life easy while still on the job training. And use this .

DivineSlayer.5039:

You must be a really bad player…AC exp p1 and p3 are cake, you can farm p3 almost like cof p1… Even with a few level 35s in the party. P2 is a bit more difficult for newer people to the dungeon but it’s still easy.

Right, im sure you had 0 trouble in a new 35 group with all members inexperienced. Even post patch it was pretty difficult the first time. Esp p3… before you knew where everything spawned.

I dont see why some ppl go out of their way to bring ppl down in this community.

It’s doable, a little hard and some getting used to. Look up video’s/tactics to know the boss in and out. The combat is way different than a traditional MMO so you’ll want to dodge a lot etc. Make sure your gear is up to date as well.

Wait till you’re level 35 to do a Level 35 dungeon. Other than that, it comes down to your skill. The dungeons are all entirely doable at their respective levels, just a bit hard though, especially if you’re new to the game.

Honestly, stay away from the Explorable modes of dungeons for now unless you’re really dedicated to doing them. In which case, feel free to message me in-game for help. But there’s no shame in struggling with them when you’re new. GW2 is a really difficult game in its dungeon content and that’s what makes it appealing.

If your still having trouble i will be glad to help you i will be on later tonight pacific time just contact me by my tag name