Dungeons & Casual Players

Dungeons & Casual Players

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Posted by: Hezkore.9568

Hezkore.9568

When I heard that Guild Wars 2 was aiming to attract casual players as well as hardcore players, I thought “YES! Finally a game me and my girlfriend can play together!”

We play with our friends who are all casual players, which also enjoys the game.
We’re having fun in PvE, doing all the maps one by one and such.
Haven’t played much PvP… because, well to be honest… there seems to be no reason to play it, no real rewards or anything (like in GW1 hehe).
But enough of that, dungeons are the real issue here!

We’d love to play the dungeons, do the story mission and exploration, but we honestly get stomped to death after the 2-3 first enemies.
And we’re well above the level requirements, we get scaled down to 30 in Ascalonian Catacombs and yet we die instantly, over and over again, unable to progress.

And I was just wondering if there’s a reason why there’s no Easy mode for dungeons?
Should casual players really be excluded from dungeons because they don’t want to spend time on developing tactics and for not having the perfect team?

It seems very odd that the game in general is so easy and forgiving, then when you enter dungeons everything is flipped around.

I understand that hardcore players need content too, it can’t all be casual stuff!
That’s why I think Easy mode would be perfect, as the rest of the players can just do Normal (or Hard?) mode.

Anyways, great game!
We’re having loads of fun, just wish Dungeons would be playable for us!

(edited by Hezkore.9568)

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Posted by: Zoss.8476

Zoss.8476

To some people they’re pretty simple once you’ve gone though them at least once, or just read up quickly. There’s plenty of guides around.

Frankly as group of internet friends (5 of us) just had trouble the first time we ran them. Once we know what’s going on, well you can clear it easier.

Unfortunately, you need people that are smart and they’re far and few.

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Posted by: Hezkore.9568

Hezkore.9568

I’m sure dungeons are a breeze with the “right” players.
It feels like it should be, and I’ve been through tougher games in the past hehe.
But I’m really only talking about casual players here, my girlfriend has never played a MMORPG before, nor has her mother (yes she plays with us :P).
They’re doing really really good in the rest of the game, they keep up with me and everyone else, but in dungeons… not so much, heh.

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Posted by: MarzAttakz.9608

MarzAttakz.9608

I hate to say it but story mode is meant to be easy mode, unfortunately AC is a harsh awakening. It’s not so much a learn to play issue but a learn to play together one rather.

Try running Caduceus’s Manor although the difficulty has been ramped up a tad.

YOU KNOW THERE AIN’T NO REST FOR THE WICKED, TILL WE CLOSE OUR EYES FOR GOOD.

Once proud member of Extraordinary Gentlemen [EXG]{DESO4LIFE}

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Posted by: Zinwrath.2049

Zinwrath.2049

I wouldnt object to this… You could take out tokens even but atleast ease it up so people can learn the ropes. I would be a fool to say certain team comps etc arent better on certain maps, but every map is doable irrigardless…i’ve beaten many of em with bizzare teams like all theifs etc. The thing that makes most of them “hard” is the fact there isnt a defined role for each player like other games, instead many dungeons force cooperation differently “all click this at same time, take turns doing X thing, everyone dodge at the same time, focus fire X when it happens, Kill each monster at exact same time” that sorta thing.

Anyway, before i start ranting my point is ya i agree this would not hurt (tbh i thought story mode was supposed to be the EZ mode dungeons) I would be fine with an easy dungeon alternative that perhaps didnt offer the same rewards but atleast gave less organized players a dungeon experience and helpfully helps them learn and adjust so they can tackle the harder versions.

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Posted by: mulch.2586

mulch.2586

Reading the top post, I get the impression they’re going in as a duo. You really need a full 5-man group.

At this point in the game, most people have run it a few times, and can show you the ropes (and chains).

Even if not able to run with a veteran, the first time I ran it, none had done it before and there weren’t yet guides for it. So we took a long time, but it was fun, regardless.

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Posted by: Hezkore.9568

Hezkore.9568

I wouldnt object to this… You could take out tokens even but atleast ease it up so people can learn the ropes. I would be a fool to say certain team comps etc arent better on certain maps, but every map is doable irrigardless…i’ve beaten many of em with bizzare teams like all theifs etc. The thing that makes most of them “hard” is the fact there isnt a defined role for each player like other games, instead many dungeons force cooperation differently “all click this at same time, take turns doing X thing, everyone dodge at the same time, focus fire X when it happens, Kill each monster at exact same time” that sorta thing.

Anyway, before i start ranting my point is ya i agree this would not hurt (tbh i thought story mode was supposed to be the EZ mode dungeons) I would be fine with an easy dungeon alternative that perhaps didnt offer the same rewards but atleast gave less organized players a dungeon experience and helpfully helps them learn and adjust so they can tackle the harder versions.

Yeah I’m sure we could do it with a bit of training.
But as of right now, getting killed by the first few enemies over and over again and again is neither fun or good pratice imo.

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Posted by: Hezkore.9568

Hezkore.9568

Reading the top post, I get the impression they’re going in as a duo. You really need a full 5-man group.

At this point in the game, most people have run it a few times, and can show you the ropes (and chains).

Even if not able to run with a veteran, the first time I ran it, none had done it before and there weren’t yet guides for it. So we took a long time, but it was fun, regardless.

We’re 5 people, none of them except me and another person have even played an MMORPG before.

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Posted by: Khristophoros.7194

Khristophoros.7194

You don’t need the perfect party composition or advanced tactics to beat AC story.

You just need to play decently… like dodge big attacks with the roll, focus fire important targets.

Take note of which enemies do the most damage and call those enemies as the target and make sure all your friends press T and attack it. There’s your “advanced tactics” have fun beating the dungeon!

Getting killed by the first few enemies… Are you opening all the coffins at the same time? Try common sense; open one and kill the enemy before you open any others.

It’s not hard at all if you actually pay attention to what is happening. And you might have to take the role of leader and tell your friends not to do stupid stuff like opening all the coffins at once.

(edited by Khristophoros.7194)

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Posted by: LOCO.1785

LOCO.1785

I’d suggest you read a guide on AC story mode. Once you know the tactics, it’s easy peasy.

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Posted by: Hezkore.9568

Hezkore.9568

Of course we’re not running into the mess of it all and opening every single coffin at the same time, jeez haha give me a break, I was playing MMORPGs before most people even had internet, I’ll do these dungeons with other players (my guild) later on, proper hardcore style.
The issue here is that casual/beginners are going to have a hard time doing these dungeons on their own, and I can now see this with my own eyes as I have a lot of friends and family that are casual players.
They’re not here to “read an AC story mode guide” or stand outside the dungeon shouting at others that they need help.
They’re here for fun, they play an hour per day, then they go do other stuff.
And when you get a mail saying “Come try this dungeon out” at certain levels, of course they’re going to be interested and head over there, only to get their snot beaten out of them, which I personally think is quite harsh (compared to the rest of the game).

(edited by Hezkore.9568)

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Posted by: Strifer.3507

Strifer.3507

The dungeons are easy enough as it is even for casual gamers (myself included).

The trick is to learn the mechanics of the dungeons – which is difficult to do if you are running with full team fresh members. My best suggestion to make dungeons enjoyable is to have each one of you solo-finding PuGs to join, learn the mechanics after a few runs, then team back together for some togetherness enjoyment.

Happy dungeoning.

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Posted by: Zoss.8476

Zoss.8476

Mmkay, so you know what your doing. My advice now is you read up, summarise what to do and tell the others. Eg. Boss in AC does a AOE pull. Everyone just needs to press V when he looks like …(insert animation summary).

Mark the target that you want to focus down. (I think it’s SHIFT-T, default keybind? Could be CTRL.) This helps a lot in trash pulls.

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Posted by: Rizzy.8293

Rizzy.8293

And dungeon story modes are actually pretty kitten easy.
Exploration mode is a tad harder, but even pugs can do it.

Levels and gear dont matter as much as personal skill do.

Learn to dodge and watch for visual ques.

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Posted by: Hezkore.9568

Hezkore.9568

Mmkay, so you know what your doing. My advice now is you read up, summarise what to do and tell the others. Eg. Boss in AC does a AOE pull. Everyone just needs to press V when he looks like …(insert animation summary).

Mark the target that you want to focus down. (I think it’s SHIFT-T, default keybind? Could be CTRL.) This helps a lot in trash pulls.

You can Ctrl click the target, then everyone else press T to target it (Ctrl + T works too for current target)… But yeah, still the issue is that I’m pretty sure that the rest of the casual team will never beat this.
I’ll get through it, it’s just a shame that a lot of people won’t.

This thread was really mostly aimed at the developers, I want to know if they have any plans in the future for dungeons, possibly easy mode etc.

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Posted by: sainguine.2870

sainguine.2870

lots of dodging and dont stand toe to toe with anything.if you are on a warrior go ranged or hit and run hehe.there will be lots of running back from waypoints though anyways

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Posted by: Hezkore.9568

Hezkore.9568

Mmkay, so you know what your doing. My advice now is you read up, summarise what to do and tell the others. Eg. Boss in AC does a AOE pull. Everyone just needs to press V when he looks like …(insert animation summary).

Mark the target that you want to focus down. (I think it’s SHIFT-T, default keybind? Could be CTRL.) This helps a lot in trash pulls.

You can Ctrl click the target, then everyone else press T to target it (Ctrl + T works too for current target)… But yeah, still the issue is that I’m pretty sure that the rest of the casual team will never beat this.
I’ll get through it, it’s just a shame that a lot of people won’t.

This thread was really mostly aimed at the developers, I want to know if they have any plans in the future for dungeons, possibly easy mode etc.

Here is your biggest grievenc esimplified.

Simply put, you are not level 30, even when you are.

The game ‘auto-levels’ you, and auto level’s your gear as well. If you don’t have top of the gear for your level bracket, your gear gets severely kittened, making you less than level 30 in effect. the only advantage you have over a real level 30 player is that you have more HPs and access to more skills/elite.

I am aware how auto-leveling in this game works teviko.6049, thank you.

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Posted by: EverythingXen.1835

EverythingXen.1835

The dungeons arent for them. Also warn them that their Personal Story will end with a dungeon so they wont get to see the end of that either.

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Posted by: penatbater.4710

penatbater.4710

Dungeons become easy when you realize what kind of strat needs to be done. Also, dont feel bad for wiping the first few times. Get one or two tough chars (i hope u all arent glass cannons, if so that may be the first mistake). If you’re talking abt trash mobs, well, an ugly suggestion would be to get full exotics first. It becomes, imo, significantly easier and more forgiving esp if all of u are full exotic gear. Plus its notso hard to farm for mats/the crafted ones.

Edit: before i get flamed, of course i agree gear and level isnt a requirement to do dungeons, nor is it the most significant factor, but every little bit helps, and it, as ive said, makes fights a bit more forgiving.

Don’t disturb me, I have a cat in me at the moment.

(edited by penatbater.4710)

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Posted by: Ebs.6280

Ebs.6280

Dungeons are already really easy. Calling yourself a casual does not mean you can ignore making proper builds, syncronizing traits with weapons and getting some nice equipment. It just means these things take longer (correct me if I’m wrong). You still have to play the game properly.

I think Guild Wars 2 is very forgiving for people with sub-par gear and getting gear is not that hard. On level 80 you should easily be able to get a full suit of rare armor with the money you made leveling and I’m pretty sure story mode of pre-60 dungeons can be done with non-rare equiment, at least AC and CM are easy enough.

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Posted by: aivedoir.3471

aivedoir.3471

Here’s an easy way to take out the silver-colored trash mobs: blindness. For example, a pistol thief can permanently keep up aoe blindness on silver mobs. I could easily face-tank ~4 silver enemies when I did AC and CM story as thief while others nuke them down. Made going through trash very smooth. Try asking among your groupmates who can spam blind.

Drawback is blindness is quite useless on bosses, but hey you can at least wipe on bosses now instead of at the start of the dungeon.

(edited by aivedoir.3471)

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Posted by: LordByron.8369

LordByron.8369

Dungeons lacks of what is called a good design…

That is a linear increase of difficulty to help you actually LEARN how to play correctly dungeons…

As they are they are nothing but END GAME content…….

Now there are plenty of players that tells you to check guides (why on earth? i am wanting to play not to copy…if to succeed i have to know before what to do and just repeat i feel myself like a bonobo rather than a player)or that dungeons are easy….

But the truth is that maybe for the skill required or maybe for the experience or the equip/level a fresh lvl 30 player trying with friends AC or a lvl 40 new player trying CM will probably fail horribly (not to mention if they don t use teamspeak they are wasting their time).

They should increase difficulty (and rewards) according to required level so there are dungeons for “skilled players” and dungeons for casual players that teach you team play and such rather than doing what they do now that is saying:“come back when you are 80 full exotic if you don t want to lose time/silver”

GW2 balance:
A PvE player is supposed to avoid a 1-2 second 1 shotting aoe.
A WWW player is considered uncapable of avoiding a 5,75 second aoe for half his health.

(edited by LordByron.8369)

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Posted by: Algreg.3629

Algreg.3629

dungeons in story mode are not hard. You say neither one of your team has MMORPG experience, but that hardly is an argument to lower the difficulty even further. What is more fun: winning even with 0 skill and game experience or improving your skills till you are able to overcome the challenge? If a game like GW2 would set the bar at 0 skill, there was no reason to play it at all – or at least I do not want a game where I autosucceed whatever I do.

Also, GW2 is not very MMORPGish, if you come from different, more action oriented gaming backgrounds, it should in fact be easier for you to adopt.

@LordByron: this is simply false, I did all dungeons I did without team speak (or a comparable tool), in PUGs and without reading up on them. And I see a lot of people doing likewise – with a job and approaching 40, so I do not stay at the game 10 hours a day.

(edited by Algreg.3629)

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Posted by: LordByron.8369

LordByron.8369

actually we are playing different games….also reading different forums considering how many people EXPECIALLY at low lvl complain about dungeons….

I mean i don t care if a lvl 80 is difficult….but a lvl 30 dungeon should be just little more difficult than a scripted event…….

I can solo many lvl 80 events but i still hesitate to play CM story for ex because the first golem oneshot my 80% defensive builded ele >.>

Then the first ambush is bloody hard if anyone dies…..(or if you don t pull enenies one at a time that i don t think is intended….)….
Then it becomes really easy….

So basically 1st and third part are the most difficult….instead of the latters.
Now tell me L2P but if i reached 80, can solo many events, kill veterans etc and can do lot of different things i should probably be able to play the second easiest dungeon with random players…..

And note that i m not a so casual player…….having played competitively many games with results some years ago…..

GW2 balance:
A PvE player is supposed to avoid a 1-2 second 1 shotting aoe.
A WWW player is considered uncapable of avoiding a 5,75 second aoe for half his health.

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Posted by: Shadow of Time.3126

Shadow of Time.3126

not to be rude to OP but story mode dungeons (at least until Sorrow Embrace, since I haven’t done any after TA) are actually quite doable with PUGs without teamspeak or anything.

However, the players making up your team DO influence a lot. I did AC story mode 3 times and the first two most of my team just melted to the trash mobs. However with another team I managed to do finish most bosses without wipes – in fact, in the lovers, I was the only one who died (tanking the mesmer boss – I’m a mesmer myself).

I usually do the dungeons once I’m a couple of levels above the min req, especially if it opens up new traits (very noticeable difference). The best advice I can give if you don’t wan’t to read wikis/guides (like me) is assign a team member that calls targets and have everyone focus that, try to kite melee bosses, and learn how to time your disables with your team – explain how the stacks of defiant work, so that people don’t waste a 1 sec daze rather than a knock-back.

Also, on the lover’s, if you have difficulty there, try reading the text under their hp bars – they need to be split or else they’ll probably wipe the floor with you – the mesmer is somewhat easy to tank since you can keep throwing stones/knockback/pulls/pushes at him and using line of sight (just beware of killing yourself with confusion!)

Good luck

The closer you get to the light, the bigger your shadow grows…

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Posted by: LordByron.8369

LordByron.8369

i have problems with mobs oneshotting me actually….yeah i know i can fill myself and team with combos, boons, use various strategies etc

….but require a similar level for a BEGINNER dungeon is too much. but instead of asking me just drop by AC and wait for some new players to do story mode for the first time….

When they exit ask them thei impressions…….i think with this method there would be no doubt…

GW2 balance:
A PvE player is supposed to avoid a 1-2 second 1 shotting aoe.
A WWW player is considered uncapable of avoiding a 5,75 second aoe for half his health.

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Posted by: Tom Gore.4035

Tom Gore.4035

I see the OP has been “AC’d”. Don’t worry. It happens the devs thought that a good “learning curve” to their game is to introduce an extremely trivial PvE and then add the most difficult dungeons in a modern MMO yet, PLUS placing arguably the most difficult story mode dungeon at the lowest level of them – usually the first one the players get into.

So instead of a learning curve we have a learning wall. Hitting your head through that one might be painful, but rest assured after that the dungeons will feel a lot less difficult.

One – Piken Square

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Posted by: FourthVariety.5463

FourthVariety.5463

Your character level isn’t everything. Your gear makes up for 60% of your character’s strength.

A level 50 character with mediocre equipment will be far worse off when scaled down that a level 30 character who sought out the best gear available at his level.

Players tend to only perceive a character’s level as measurement of his strength. But the downscaling system means that a character’s equipment has far greater impact. No matter whether you are 50 or 70, the attributes based on your level will get scaled down to the same value assumed for level 30. It is the loot which makes the difference.

How far are you behind? There is a calculator for that
www.guildwarstools.com

Just because the game tries to be friendly to “casual” players, does not mean they get an all access tourist pass for every piece of content in the game.

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Posted by: EndlessDreamer.6780

EndlessDreamer.6780

Also, devs have commented muliple times that dungeons are supposed to be hard. They’re supposed to be the things you do at the end of the game.

And no, downleveling down to 30 doesn’t screw up your gear. If you are in yellows at 80, you do outperform a person at 30 in yellows. It downscales, but you still do have a leg up because it doesn’t downscale perfectly.

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Posted by: Geemo.6018

Geemo.6018

Please add an ez mode for the people who can’t find their dodge button or the other 2-3 abilities that all professions press over and over.

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Posted by: Slither Shade.4782

Slither Shade.4782

The impression given by the adverts is different than the reality and frankly you were misled imo. It is a bit of a shock like being kicked in the kittens and the face at the same time but just keep at it. Story mode is doomed to suck because most players doing it havent done it yet or at least not much. So you get “yaya we know” yaya they know thats why we are wiping are wiping on the same boss for the fifth time and now they are getting frusterated and quitting. Resulting in you still not getting to complete your story mode. Im talking about you AC Lovers. Just push through story mode and move onto the exploreable modes where the experienced players are. There you, and I, will benifit and learn from their experience. Its better then.

The dungeons are fun dont give up.

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Posted by: Algreg.3629

Algreg.3629

that given, the first time in a dungeon is really a shock, but that should subside fast. They are doable and not as frustrating as they may now appear to you. A good mindset for them is to expect EVERY enemy and situtation to be a deadly threat which – admittingly – is vastly different from the map PVE.

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Posted by: aleiro.8521

aleiro.8521

Try changing your builds to be more group and support oriented, not only damage. You are supposed to do them as a team. You can’t use your solo open world builds in dungeons. YOu should be able to CC the enemy, buff/debuff them and also deal damage.
Once you get a hold of that you will start succeeding.

I’m a casual player as well…

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Posted by: LordByron.8369

LordByron.8369

Ok i’ll say it even more clearly

I did dungeons 6 times till now.

AC story
CM story 4 times
CoF Explore (the path with the bomb)

Aside from the bomb part i would rate AC the most difficult followed by first and third encounter of CM….(unless you have not less than 2 good tanks).
CoF EXPLORER (except the bomb) is easy in comparison….

Also i use a toughness/vit ele >.> not a glass cannon for sure…..if you ask on this forum everything is easy……if you log into the game and ask casual players things changes a bit.

Also AC i tried explorer once and that Boss that oneshot everything AoE unless you have sharp reflexes and an awesome connection AND you learned his animation…is really appropriate for a lvl 35 player….

I really don t get what s wrong with making low level catacombs easier and high level harder so peaple learn slowly how to face them….(no problem if they remove dungeon armors for lower lvl dungeon…casual wants to play it not the reward).

Also having a lvl 80 dungeon armor would be more rewarding…….because only few could have it.

GW2 balance:
A PvE player is supposed to avoid a 1-2 second 1 shotting aoe.
A WWW player is considered uncapable of avoiding a 5,75 second aoe for half his health.

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Posted by: Algreg.3629

Algreg.3629

you are right, AC story is maybe not a very well designed for a starter dungeon: you shouldn´t probably be able to spawn more than one enemy with the caskets at the very beginning and then the trap room while you still are realizing a single “normal” enemy can wipe the floor with you, hm…. maybe the game needs a 101 starter dungeon before AC that gradually demonstrates that you are now in real trouble.

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Posted by: Splatter.2169

Splatter.2169

I agree with the op. I’m a veteran mmo player but a casual. Just did AC in my warrior last week with no pre research. It w was difficult but I found it berry enjoyable because I had to do some thinking!. Ended up being nearly a full support build to help out the team. I could see how this would be a major barrier for a new player.

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Posted by: mulch.2586

mulch.2586

You don’t get one-shot if you don’t take the hit.

Doesn’t matter your toughness, what matters is standing to take the hit.

Dodge-roll isn’t a casual thing. It’s a low-skilled player vs knows the basic game mechanics thing.

It is NOT easy to do dungeons. But neither is story-mode not for casual players. Really, you can only do story mode once or twice each dungeon in your whole lifetime because of re-run penalty. Explorer mode is not casual-friendly, cuz it takes ~17 runs to get what you came for.

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Posted by: Travleer.6301

Travleer.6301

i’m guessing they change dungeons up a bit when after another month or 2 their metrics still show that nobody is completing dungeons.

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Posted by: Nerien.5412

Nerien.5412

You can Ctrl click the target, then everyone else press T to target it (Ctrl + T works too for current target)… But yeah, still the issue is that I’m pretty sure that the rest of the casual team will never beat this.
I’ll get through it, it’s just a shame that a lot of people won’t.

This thread was really mostly aimed at the developers, I want to know if they have any plans in the future for dungeons, possibly easy mode etc.

Sorry, but the Story Mode is the easy mode, so don’t get any hopes of anything changing it.
I also play with friends that are casuals and some of them are also new to mmo concept, knowing this, me an old mmo player, felt that it was my responsability to know how to do things and explain it to them. Also, they being casual, they are always asking how to do things on their own, when I’m not around.

Sorry if your friends are having trouble to finish a instance, but don’t go on assuming that because they can’t, everybody else will not.

marnick.4305: “Just because you went down last
doesn’t mean you’re the best player in the group
it means the enemies considered you a low priority.”

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Posted by: Dracones.9105

Dracones.9105

I gotta ask, are you and everyone in your party in full level 80 masterwork gear? Because if your gear isn’t up to spec the down scaling to level 30 is going to really kitten you.

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Posted by: Xuro Deluxe.6314

Xuro Deluxe.6314

Odd, I have been playing this game for a week now and we randomly pulled together a group of players and ran Ascalonian Catacombs AC mode and wiped on the 3rd or 4th boss and we just went in on Story mode and finished the dungeon.

This group was as casual as casual gets with loads of laughs, if you wipe at first few mobs with a group I am not sure there will be anything to prevent that from happening.

(edited by Xuro Deluxe.6314)

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Posted by: Arsenal.2601

Arsenal.2601

i’m guessing they change dungeons up a bit when after another month or 2 their metrics still show that nobody is completing dungeons.

This. Doesn’t matter what a bunch of us hanging around the forums think of the difficulty, almost by definition we’re outside of the “norm”. They’ll look it over, likely, and determine based on what is actually happening with the majority of players if the dungeons are balanced or not.

I would guess more people are having serious problems with the starter dungeon than was their intent, learning curve or not.

“I’m always achieving greatness!”

Dungeons & Casual Players

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Posted by: Algreg.3629

Algreg.3629

Sounds like the OP is using the term Casual when he is really talking about bads.

yes, but in all fairness, casual has adopted that meaning sadly.

Casual A: not spending endless hours of your life in front of the screen, plays when life allows and feels like it. Playskill can still range from absolutely abysmal to pro.
Casual B: does not read any info about the game, does not think about character builds, does not experiment with in game mechanics, reiterates the same mistakes over and over without trying to alter approach, then complains about difficulty.

Actually, I am thinking of myself as a fairly casual player (A) and am somewhat surprised by the notion that I should obviously fail at the story dungeons.

(edited by Algreg.3629)

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Posted by: draylore.2837

draylore.2837

Sounds like the OP is using the term Casual when he is really talking about bads.

yes, but in all fairness, casual has adopted that meaning sadly.

Casual A: not spending endless hours of your life in front of the screen, plays when life allows and feels like it. Playskill can still range from absolutely abysmal to pro.
Casual B: does not read any info about the game, does not think about character builds, does not experiment with in game mechanics, reiterates the same mistakes over and over without trying to alter approach, then complains about difficulty.

Actually, I am thinking of myself as a fairly casual player (A) and am somewhat surprised by the notion that I should obviously fail at the story dungeons.

Yes it is unfortunate. By most standards I fall into one of the many definitions of Casual yet I am able to get thru most of what the game offers. GW2 is one of the most Casual friendly games I have ever seen so I get really annoyed when I see players like the OP trying to suggest otherwise.

(edited by draylore.2837)

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Posted by: Hellkaiser.6025

Hellkaiser.6025

Honestly, as you improve in the game and understand it better, it becomes a much more enjoyable game, if you’re both the standard no brain dps builds with no utility and are going in blind to content without trying it with survival traits and whatnot first, then yeah you’ve only yourself to blame

The fault with A-net stops and starts with the first dungeon and it’s sudden wall of difficulty instead of a curve but it’s worth getting past it honestly.

perhaps reading up on some good dungeon builds and treating them as the hard content in the game and working on your teamwork might help you OP

Irony…. xD

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Posted by: Bruno Sardine.2907

Bruno Sardine.2907

I think dungeons are too easy mainly cause too many fights are too similar. Say what you will about WoW, but many boss fights (at least for raids and even a few 5-man bosses) forced you to do something different or even non-traditional and in that way made you better with the class you were playing. Many WoW-bosses could easily be tweaked to respect a dps-system rather than the holy trinity system they’re originally designed for… Lazy encounter designs are just lazy encounter designs.

“Tank n’ Spank” or whatever you want to call the equivalent in GW2 is fine perhaps for story mode and a few explorable boss fights, but there really are not a lot of encounters that utilize any of the skills available. Where’s the debuff cleansing fight? Where’s the fight where we need to chain our immobilize/slow mechanics on the boss for a certain duration? Where’s an encounter where the boss can’t be interrupted until it’s doing some big telegraphed move? All classes do have some form of these skills and some group make-ups will work better than others for certain encounters (as it currently exists now). Rather than say “hey you could get through this with perhaps a little co-op”, you say “you’re really gonna need to coordinate, switch up your utility skills, and do a lot to get through this”.

Maybe that’s too much given the diversity of skill between players…. So vary paths with difficulty and reward. The “easy” path is more “tank n’ spank” and only gives you maybe 30 tokens at the end, whereas the “hard” path really needs you to be involved in the fight and gives you 80+ tokens at the end; and then something in the middle that’s a blend of the two paths and gives you 60 tokens at the end. Hard shouldn’t mean that it takes longer than other paths…. It might take longer to learn, but it shouldn’t take longer to execute.

(edited by Bruno Sardine.2907)

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Posted by: Arsenal.2601

Arsenal.2601

I think it’s an issue that the dungeon content isn’t graduated, which is at odds with general game design, in this game as well as others.

All MMOs, including this one, bring players up to speed with the mechanics of the profession, the world, crafting, and everything else before throwing anything too complex or difficult at them. And unless this is a game expressly for MMO veterans, which clearly it is not, it is a strange choice to make the first step to any type of content, be it story modes, dungeons, or even entry level PVE, to be a barrier for a high percentage of players (I assume).

No one complains starter areas aren’t overly difficult. Why should starter dungeons be any different?

That said, I’m okay with the dungeons being as difficult as the designers want them to be, within reason, once the mechanics and concepts of a dungeon are introduced to the player base. I feel not every player is entitled to access all content if they don’t master the skills to do it. But they must be given a chance to master those skills in a reasonable fashion.

I have no idea if this could be done in the context of the bigger story, but I feel another dungeon at level 18-22, say, should be placed in the game. Something in-between the ease of the PVE content at that level, and the difficulty of AC.

“I’m always achieving greatness!”

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Posted by: Smackjack.5071

Smackjack.5071

Haven’t played much PvP… because, well to be honest… there seems to be no reason to play it, no real rewards or anything

okay so because you dont get a cookie for playing pvp there absolutley no reason to play that and PvE dungeons are just not done becasue they are to hard for you but of course since you are in it for the cookies you want then to make it easy for you.

Why did you play games again you say ?

btw me and my gf pugged up with a pug made in the middle of the night in 5 minutes by means of asking and inviting in chat. None of us had been in that particular dungeon before ,granted it wasnt easy at anytime but we cleared it in about a hour nonetheless.

I wonder what you will do when you reach the end of your personal story , zaitan has your biggest cookie. Maybe they should take that cookie out of the game that way you can say like with PvP that you have no reason to play it because of no cookie, in the meantime you can pretend that there is no cookie.

Solved.

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Posted by: Hezkore.9568

Hezkore.9568

Haven’t played much PvP… because, well to be honest… there seems to be no reason to play it, no real rewards or anything

okay so because you dont get a cookie for playing pvp there absolutley no reason to play that and PvE dungeons are just not done becasue they are to hard for you but of course since you are in it for the cookies you want then to make it easy for you.

Why did you play games again you say ?

btw me and my gf pugged up with a pug made in the middle of the night in 5 minutes by means of asking and inviting in chat. None of us had been in that particular dungeon before ,granted it wasnt easy at anytime but we cleared it in about a hour nonetheless.

I wonder what you will do when you reach the end of your personal story , zaitan has your biggest cookie. Maybe they should take that cookie out of the game that way you can say like with PvP that you have no reason to play it because of no cookie, in the meantime you can pretend that there is no cookie.

Solved.

Jeez, I thought the GW2 community were supposed to be “friendly”.

But sure, I’m sorry Smackjack.
I’m sorry for trying to enjoy this game with my beginner family and I’m sorry for not enjoying GW2’s PvP.
And I’m sorry for not being able to beat the dungeons (even though I clearly stated that I probably could do it, and that the issue were that my first time computer gaming friends had a very hard time doing the dungeons, not me… see the difference?)

I guess we should just give up and move to another game! \o/

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Posted by: Hezkore.9568

Hezkore.9568

Btw, the forum seem to work very odd today… I can’t even see any posts in this thread anymore. :|