Guild Wars 2

Okay, so…yesterday I finally got my personal reward level from 49 to 50, and got my main Fractaller to 70 AR. Yay me. It was hard finding groups for 40+ scales because, let’s face it, the whole Fractals reward system is borked…but that’s another post entirely.

My question is, how crazy is the jump in difficulty at 50? Should I be legit worried? I’ve heard it gets crazy but I can’t seem to find any information on the specifics of what’s different, other than having heard someone mention once that at 50 the windrider things at Jade Maw never stop respawning.

Furthermore, I’m looking for a permanent group of people who are likewise insane and willing to frequently run Frac50’s in spite of sometimes getting LITERALLY nothing for it. Because I’ve about had it with the LFG tool idling out my ad, and suppressing me for spamming after I put it back up one too many times.

if you could do 49 without trouble, you’ll be just fine at 50.

Every hit is harder, but, your big boss fights aren’t the concern as much. THey already hurt badly if you fail to avoid hits. So you really don’t notice much difference. What is different is the trash or small hits, those are now deadly. Not layering the blinds on say ascalon will have you crying. You really just need to be precise in your strategies is all.

A few things have some different mechanics, like yes the Jade Maw squid adds don’t despawn, so you have to clear those with the other stuff. Again, not too difficult just have to nail down your strat, usually pull them behind one of the pillars in the left back corner.

Firstly, whoever told you about the respawning Irukandjis was mistaken. It’s not that they never stop REspawning, but that don’t DEspawn once you kill the two tentacles at the start of the fight. Granted, the fight is still more difficult and tedious because of this. My guild group usually retreats to the “safe corner” and attempts to draw in Irukandjis one group at a time to handle them without being overwhelmed.

Secondly, the jump in difficulty is not actually that bad. Beyond the obligatory Agony Resistance, the enemies hit a tad harder. Other than that, I can’t recall any distinct differences off the top of my head.

Also, I’m afraid my guild group is almost always full when doing fractal runs. But, if we have a free spot, I can send you a message ingame to invite you along.

Jerus.4350:

Every hit is harder, but, your big boss fights aren’t the concern as much. THey already hurt badly if you fail to avoid hits. So you really don’t notice much difference. What is different is the trash or small hits, those are now deadly. Not layering the blinds on say ascalon will have you crying. You really just need to be precise in your strategies is all.

A few things have some different mechanics, like yes the Jade Maw squid adds don’t despawn, so you have to clear those with the other stuff. Again, not too difficult just have to nail down your strat, usually pull them behind one of the pillars in the left back corner.

^This. Getting a solid strategy with a regular group is the best course of action for 50 runs. Pugging can often net you some capable players, but a regular group that knows all the differences is the way to go if you can find them. Lol

watergenji.5816:

Firstly, whoever told you about the respawning Irukandjis was mistaken. It’s not that they never stop REspawning, but that don’t DEspawn once you kill the two tentacles at the start of the fight. Granted, the fight is still more difficult and tedious because of this. My guild group usually retreats to the “safe corner” and attempts to draw in Irukandjis one group at a time to handle them without being overwhelmed.

Secondly, the jump in difficulty is not actually that bad. Beyond the obligatory Agony Resistance, the enemies hit a tad harder. Other than that, I can’t recall any distinct differences off the top of my head.

Also, I’m afraid my guild group is almost always full when doing fractal runs. But, if we have a free spot, I can send you a message ingame to invite you along.

Ahhhh okay, that makes a lot more sense. I was trying to picture the fight while simultaneously dealing with them and I was just like “How would that even work?”…but just having to clear them at the start doesn’t sound like a big deal.

Jerus explains it well, I will also add you tonite when I get on. Having more fractal friends for 50 never hurts ^^

From my experience FoTM 50 is easier in pug than FoTM 49. This is mainly because of the gear check. I believe players who are serious(AKA the tryhards) about FoTM will go out of their way to get 70AR which cost a lot of money and a long time to acquire. You will get better players in your group so the run will be better.

ElforTheLandStander.7052:

watergenji.5816:

Firstly, whoever told you about the respawning Irukandjis was mistaken. It’s not that they never stop REspawning, but that don’t DEspawn once you kill the two tentacles at the start of the fight. Granted, the fight is still more difficult and tedious because of this. My guild group usually retreats to the “safe corner” and attempts to draw in Irukandjis one group at a time to handle them without being overwhelmed.

Secondly, the jump in difficulty is not actually that bad. Beyond the obligatory Agony Resistance, the enemies hit a tad harder. Other than that, I can’t recall any distinct differences off the top of my head.

Also, I’m afraid my guild group is almost always full when doing fractal runs. But, if we have a free spot, I can send you a message ingame to invite you along.

Ahhhh okay, that makes a lot more sense. I was trying to picture the fight while simultaneously dealing with them and I was just like “How would that even work?”…but just having to clear them at the start doesn’t sound like a big deal.

You don’t really clear them first, you just like, be strict about your strategy. Normally Maw is easy, you just run around kill stuff without much of a care. 50 you have the additional deadly adds as well as things hitting harder, so you just have to be more disciplined and really use the LoS spots to gather things up and drop blinds while you burn them down.

Do Irukandji still respawn before 2 tentactles are killed? Or can you kill them before Maw awakens?

Wethospu.6437:

Do Irukandji still respawn before 2 tentactles are killed? Or can you kill them before Maw awakens?

I’ve never tried. Since they’re blindable and what not, it’s just pretty easy to clean them up in groups with the colossi at a good LoS point.

Jerus.4350:

Wethospu.6437:

Do Irukandji still respawn before 2 tentactles are killed? Or can you kill them before Maw awakens?

I’ve never tried. Since they’re blindable and what not, it’s just pretty easy to clean them up in groups with the colossi at a good LoS point.

They do respawn before you kill the two tentacles. My party tried to clean them up once and found out the hard way. Lol

Wethospu.6437:

Do Irukandji still respawn before 2 tentactles are killed? Or can you kill them before Maw awakens?

Irukanji do respawn if you don’t kill the first two tentacles. After that, you have to clear all of them and they will not respawn.

There are something that makes the Irukanji particularly more deadly than usual mobs. Their range attack is a projectile orb (I believe it bounces on hit) that will one shot you. If any strays aren’t not LOS properly, be prepared to reflect that attack. Their stealth skill is that of the mesmer’s torch skill. They tend to re-position after coming out of stealth and the blast is a deadly aoe trap. Blinding them during their stealth is rng. More often than not, I see people panic and scatter, which baits these two attacks effectively. Or sometimes they too focus on the irukanji and fail to dodge the floppy swipe attacks of the tentacles.

tl;dr If you can watch the tell and use your damage mitigation, it is not hard. Otherwise, it can be a complete group wipe.