Guild Wars 2

My feedback: I hate it. Allow me to elaborate.

I have attempted this fractal perhaps 6-7 times, both before and after the update. In both cases I have the same reaction. The coordination of the wisp running in under 30 seconds without the use of a team voice channel is almost impossible. The set/attempt/reset cycle is so short with often devastating consequences (read: hard down player) if you fail, you do not find the enjoyment of the pleasure of making progress, even if small, because each reset completely wipes out all said progress. Because this set/attempt/reset happens at the very beginning of the fractal, if you go through multiple resets, you don’t feel like you have made any progress. Therefore, my main point is this fractal is set up to not allow players to feel progress through repeated attempts (even if failing), which therefore undermines the point of the game: to find enjoyment. As counter, I propose the underwater fractal, while challenging at first for an unitiated group, gives you a sense of small steps of progress as you make your way through the dark, not to mention gives you progress at the beginning before you make it to the dark. Swampland does not give you that.

While I have attempted this fractal 6-7 times with only one success – I have visited it perhaps as many times where the team abandoned it upon arrival. The team I was in last night attempted perhaps 5 or 6 runs before giving up. No progress was felt, no fun was had, and we left.

My two cents: remake the fractal so there is some way to get a sense of progress being made while you attempt and fail, or just kill it altogether.

I have not had this experience with the other fractals and generally enjoy all of them.

Typically you only need 1 person to run the drake/spider one. Those two are quick and easy. The farther ones you two-man: Guardians can absorb nearby conditions, warriors have ‘Shake it Off!’ and banners (pick one up, use the swiftness boost on the orb carrier, boom running), not to mention a warhorn can remove cripples. Engineers can use double super elixirs and toss elixir C to help you keep moving, etcetera. I will say this – learn which walls you can and can’t jump over. Sometimes you get screwed and the Bloomhunger roots you while climbing a wall, and you don’t have a teammate nearby to help you out (although you should, admittedly).

I used to have your opinion about this fractal at the beginning until after a few times and with good teamwork you actually learn that this is one of the easiest fractals. All I can say is : practice makes perfect. I even did it many times with teams of randoms and we were successful every time and for the most part on the first try it not then second one in the worst cases. I love it as it is all about pure teamwork and proper coordination.

I used to hate this fractal, but now that I’ve learned all the places to jump over the walls I’ve completely changed my tune. This is now my favorite fractal by far—a challenging non-combat encounter that can be completed very quickly by a skilled group. Mossman is a jerk, though.

I’ve actually done this with PuGs several times. In fact, some were happy to see it because they had mastered it to the point where the fractal takes 5 mins or less. I’ll admit that it’s frustrating the first couple of times you do it because it’s still a bit unfamiliar, but once you learn it, like you learn any dungeon route, it’s easy.

If you need to feel progress, have the team just walk around without the wisps and study the paths for a few minutes. Try a few more times, then try to observe the layout again. Attempts without understanding the layout will only slow down your progress.

This is the fastest fractal there is. Probably 2nd easiest next to the Jellyfish.

I kinda agree with em, not that swamp fractal is hard, but that it hardly scales up at all as you progress to higher fractals. it starts out as the group has no idea what there doing so it appears hard, but once you figuer it out at around scale 6 or so the dificulty barely goes up at all. the difference between scale 1 and scale 48 is like mabey a couple extra traps and the mobs hit harder /mossman running around throwing his axe with agony that one shots you, but easy to avoid that. I think the swamp should scale a lot more as you go up through the fractals, change it as you progress a bit

Fluffy Ferocious.9807:

My feedback: I hate it. Allow me to elaborate.

+1. No elaboration necessary.

This is the favorite fractal of people at scale 20+, 30+. Heck people will restart until they get this fractal. At higher levels when everyone knows it well, we get it on the first try about 75% of the time. It’s rare that it ever takes more than 2 tries. You’ll get there, just takes practice. If you continue with fractals, before long you’ll be hoping for the swamp.

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems really hit or miss. Is there a pattern on the trees closing up once you grab the wisps?

Yup, this is my favorite fractal. It’s fast, it’s easy and it’s fun. Most importantly it’s fast and I love groups who keep rolling till we get it first.

Edit: I usually run FotM 18 on my two toons daily. Maybe level of group has a lot to do with it.

Having a mesmer in your group really trivializes swamp.

There’s a reason this fractal is rolled first… If you have trouble go in alone and roll swamp first and practise jumping over the trees

Coordination? What coordination? 3 people pick a node, you count down 3,2,1 and then everyone runs their route. You need zero teamwork as long as each person knows how to run.

This fractal is by far the quickest, which is why pretty much every high level group sends in one person to roll for swamp before starting.

It’s pretty much a 5 min fractal once you learn how to run orbs in the first section and what to do to kill each boss.

The side ones are 10 second runs. The one right back at the rear is a nightmare for me, unless we have a (helpful) mesmer. Sometimes I have found the back wall is complete from one side of the map to the other and I still can’t find a place where I can jump over it.

RoRo.8270:

There’s a reason this fractal is rolled first… If you have trouble go in alone and roll swamp first and practise jumping over the trees

^

It takes practice, like any other dungeon. Figure out how to scale trees and those longer runs are no trouble at all. As a warrior I use mending, balanced stance, sig of stamina(condition removal), Shake it off! and Sig of rage for the run. I haven’t needed a mesmer since I have figured out the paths. GL and keep trying!

As a thief it’s one of my favorite fractals. Lets me use a ton of moves in PvE I don’t usually get to do. I like to take the farthest one back, and between Shadow Steps, Run Speed, Roll For Initative, Withdraw, Dagger Spin (for stability), I can sometimes beat the guy who has the spider cave one.

Definitely have to be will and ready to break from your usual traits and utilities for this one, but it’s pretty refreshing becasue of it.

PlasticHippo.8934:

I kinda agree with em, not that swamp fractal is hard, but that it hardly scales up at all as you progress to higher fractals. it starts out as the group has no idea what there doing so it appears hard, but once you figuer it out at around scale 6 or so the dificulty barely goes up at all. the difference between scale 1 and scale 48 is like mabey a couple extra traps and the mobs hit harder /mossman running around throwing his axe with agony that one shots you, but easy to avoid that. I think the swamp should scale a lot more as you go up through the fractals, change it as you progress a bit

This. The problem with the first half of the Swamp is the difficulty curve.

They could make it scale a lot more just by playing with the timer. Maybe once you reach the 30’s or 40’s you have to run the wisps in 20 seconds, or below 10 you get an extra second every time the clock runs out.

The swamp is not a very hard Fractal, but I hate it none the less. It absolutely brings the Fractal run to a screeching halt, and I often find myself in parties with players that are unable to do it, and who become extremely frustrated. The constant resetting, and the lack of actual rewards or battles, is what makes this Fractal so annoying. I’m able to do the Fractal just fine, but the random people I join up with, are often unable to do it. Thus often making it impossible for me to complete it as well, since a team effort is required.

This Fractal would be less bad if 3 people could run the same wisp, and if the progress was saved. And put more battles in there! This Fractal is such a waste of any active consumables.

If you can’t do the swamp fractal you need to go practice it. There’s a reason every group 30+ insists on starting on Water, Ascalon or Swamp.

They’re the easiest and fastest fractals. Swamp is by far the best of the three.

I used to hate this fractal when I first started as well, but then I learned the map and now this is my favorite one. Once you get to level 10+ this map is almost always completed on the first attempt, because by that time everyone has had enough experience here to get this done with ease, making this the fastest and easiest fractal.

Maybe they should let you have a little bit more time to complete it at level 1-9, so that new players have an easier time learning it, but ultimately I don’t think this one is too much of a challenge.

I run Fractals with my Guardian so the swamp is not a problem for me. I usually take the furthest one since no one else wants to. I just use 3 shouts (save yourselves, retreat and the stability one? stand your ground or whatever?) as soon as the countdown starts and then go.

However if I run Fractals on my Necro I feel much more limited. I only have Locust Signet for passive 25% speed and Spectral Walk for 33% speed. Maybe I can do the trap one but I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing the others. As soon as I run into two knockdown traps without stability, it’s over (lich form can’t be used with spectral walk).

So some classes just have more useful skills for doing the furthest one (mesmers have it pretty easy I have to say). Nevertheless, the two nearer ones shouldn’t be a problem. Once you figure out how to jump over the spontaneously appearing walls you should be fine.

My gripe with this fractal is with Mossman. I’ve run in one PuG with low DPS and we just kept wiping. Never had a problem in average~high DPS PuGs. I think this fractal should be able to accommodate any type of party composition.

all you need for this fractal is basic coordination. all prepare and be ready at the wasps, then 1 person count down from 3 to 0. and then it should be pretty easy to finish. some accidents or misses may occur, but absolutely no need for voice communication.

It’s a l2p issue..people reset fractals till they GET this instance. The only time it ever occassionaly causes trouble is with bloomberg…Even mossman can be facerolled under the bridge….

My main issue with the swamp, is the lack of actual rewards. It feels just like an obstacle, with one boss battle. I really miss having a few battles in there.

why dont you go fight the champ drake then?

Because it is one opponent, and fighting him is a waste of time, and because my team is not going to wait around just to kill one drake boss, when it is not needed for progression. It takes too long to kill him for the reward it might drop. I might as well go counting moa birds in Caladon forest.

At least in the Jade Maw Fractal there are plenty of trash mobs that die easily, are in your way anyway, and have good drops. There is a point to killing them. There is no point in killing the drake, it is just a waste of time.

Fluffy Ferocious.9807:

The coordination of the wisp running in under 30 seconds without the use of a team voice channel is almost impossible.

I’ve PUGed this Fractal many times. Whenever I did it above Difficulty Scale 20, it was incredibly quick and easy.

What exactly do you need “voice channel” for? There are 3 players running the Wisps. Once they are all ready, they type “r” in chat. Then a fourth player (not running the Wisps) counts down “3”, “2”, “1”, “go” for them.

It sounds like the groups you are in do not understand the mechanics very well. This is one of the few dungeons where you will fail until the majoity does learn it, but you will always succeed once you do. Learning is not synonymous with difficulty.

lcpdragonslayer.7895:

However if I run Fractals on my Necro I feel much more limited. I only have Locust Signet for passive 25% speed and Spectral Walk for 33% speed. Maybe I can do the trap one but I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing the others. As soon as I run into two knockdown traps without stability, it’s over (lich form can’t be used with spectral walk).

Try popping Flesh Wurm along your path. That can let you skip a lot of traps, save time, and it also acts as a second stunbreak if you need it. The Wurm has been a staple for me doing the swamp.

At 20+ people love swamp. Hell some groups will even restart until they get swamp.

It’s the easiest and shortest fractal once you know what you’re doing.

Protip: you can usually jump over the treelines.

I feel your pain man, it does suck. I won’t say it gets easier because it never gets easier, but you do eventually get used to it. Now with the groups I usually run with it’s about a 75% success rate on the first try. It took a long time to get there . All I can tell ya is, keep working at it and try to remember where the biggest groups of traps are. I actually can do this easiest on my necro believe it or not. The only time I get messed up is if the bloomhunger roots me mid-jump or something equally stupid like that. And ALWAYS do countdowns, make sure everyone is comfortable running the path they’re on, and if the orbs look to be in a bad setup, have 1 person grab one, drop it, and reset the spawn to an easier pattern.

Wasabi Kitty.8247:

At 20+ people love swamp. Hell some groups will even restart until they get swamp.

It’s the easiest and shortest fractal once you know what you’re doing.

Protip: you can usually jump over the treelines.

Im pretty sure you cant jump over the back treelines, only the middle/front ones. Im certain in some cases the back treeline extends from one side of the map to the other. Thereby some classes cannot complete that one with their ability set. Its the back one that gets the most delays. Sometimes people mess up the side ones, thats all good. But its when pugs don’t pick up a player with a class that can get over that back wall then its destined to take a while.

I love it, easiest fractal out there by far.
The only thing I hate is Mossman gimmicky fight.
“olol I spam 1shots 2 u” isn’t good design honestly, I can almost feel the smell of cheese there.