Guild Wars 2

Update notes:
Cliffside: Cultists will now respawn if the instance is reset by a party wipe.

But, unfortunately, they changed the arm seals part a lot. There are no longer only 2 cultists on one side, but theres plenty of them. Killing all of them, hiting one seal and running to second wasnt working for us, because cultists spawn too fast and they regenerate the seals. Keeping them alive doesnt work either, they regenerate the seals faster than you can hit them, resulting in wipe (sooner or later). Keeping alive only some of the cultits wasnt working too, they respawned and regenerated seals.

So the old tactic doesn’t work, how do you deal with arm seals part now?

It seemed almost impossible to do for my group today. (Guard, Warr 2x, Ele 2x)

And important note: This was only fractal lvl 20, I think after this update its really impossible to do this part on lvl 40+.

Lol if they really did that…

Will next patch add dredges to current chanters please?

I was wondering why fractal on gw2 lfg was empty since patch… now i know.

Are you sure you haven’t just aoed those first two in the accident? Some patches ago that sweet couple acquired bad habit of sometimes running after seal-breaker right into the corridor up to the second seal, which is countered by entire party run further towards that second seal for a brief time.
AND apparently if players screw up on those first two cultists, they have to reset entire fractals, not just gb2lab and start again. Probably true to other “player-screwed” fractals.

No, they definitely messed this up. My guild was unable to complete it during their daily 48 (got this as the 3rd fractal, had to restart because it was impossible to kill the chanters). I went along for the second attempt, we got Dredge on the 3rd fractal after getting Grawl 2nd. What do we see in Dredge? More groups of mobs that have not been there previously. There was an extra group patrolling behind the gate, 3 groups patrolling at the beginning, and I cannot recall every encountering this before. I’ve seen one stray group patrolling the beginning a few times, but never this many groups of mobs. They also failed to fix the mobs spawning invulnerable at the clown car, so I suppose we will be dealing with that for awhile longer as well.

No, Anet completely removed the 2 cultist on each side phase. Or we might have bug? I dont know, but Im sure there was already a lot of them when we reached this part. After we wiped, the situation was the same as first time trying to do this phase.

TheMaskedParadigm.3629:

What do we see in Dredge? More groups of mobs that have not been there previously. There was an extra group patrolling behind the gate, 3 groups patrolling at the beginning, and I cannot recall every encountering this before.

Well those increased dredge numbers are really rare sighting and are already present since… I’m not sure, maybe 2-3 months already?

TheMaskedParadigm.3629:

No, they definitely messed this up. My guild was unable to complete it during their daily 48 (got this as the 3rd fractal, had to restart because it was impossible to kill the chanters). I went along for the second attempt, we got Dredge on the 3rd fractal after getting Grawl 2nd. What do we see in Dredge? More groups of mobs that have not been there previously. There was an extra group patrolling behind the gate, 3 groups patrolling at the beginning, and I cannot recall every encountering this before. I’ve seen one stray group patrolling the beginning a few times, but never this many groups of mobs. They also failed to fix the mobs spawning invulnerable at the clown car, so I suppose we will be dealing with that for awhile longer as well.

Actually the Dredge additions have been there for a while. In my experience, if you’re rolling, get Dredge, and reroll, then the next time you get Dredge those additional mobs spawn. If you roll Dredge for the first time, they don’t.

P.S. This is at levels 40+

They should let us pick which 3 fractals we want. What about play how you want.Having fractals become RNG of the mists now isnt fun

Falq.8052:

So the old tactic doesn’t work, how do you deal with arm seals part now?

It seemed almost impossible to do for my group today. (Guard, Warr 2x, Ele 2x)

And important note: This was only fractal lvl 20, I think after this update its really impossible to do this part on lvl 40+.

Not to sound like a kitten but this is the way it use to be done when it first came out and up until level 39 you can just rush from side to side and don’t kill them all which caused them to follow you into tunnel buying you time. We even use to leave one person on one side who would grab aggro and pull them into the tunnel then let them leash.

With your team setup on level 20 its defiantly a L2p situation. You should have no problem at 20. This does make 40+ not worth the time even more than ever. I guess this is anets way of trying to get rid of the all zerker groups. Once again the casual players win.

x per fection x.2096:

Falq.8052:

So the old tactic doesn’t work, how do you deal with arm seals part now?

It seemed almost impossible to do for my group today. (Guard, Warr 2x, Ele 2x)

And important note: This was only fractal lvl 20, I think after this update its really impossible to do this part on lvl 40+.

Not to sound like a kitten but this is the way it use to be done when it first came out and up until level 39 you can just rush from side to side and don’t kill them all which caused them to follow you into tunnel buying you time. We even use to leave one person on one side who would grab aggro and pull them into the tunnel then let them leash.

With your team setup on level 20 its defiantly a L2p situation. You should have no problem at 20. This does make 40+ not worth the time even more than ever. I guess this is anets way of trying to get rid of the all zerker groups. Once again the casual players win.

Tbh, we were using this tactic some time ago and it worked before, but after this patch, it seemed to me like they regenerate seals and respawn just too fast, so leaving one player from group on the opposite side results in his dead. It might be only my point of view..

what!? That’s horrible. Can someone confirm this? If they really changed that, think it’s bye bye fractal to me.

This may just be the last straw that pushes the remainder of the fractals players out, myself included. That must be their intention, right? I don’t see any reason to keep on buffing the harder/longer fractals unless this is their plan.

I’m looking forward for this fractal on tonight’s 55+ run. Actually something hard?

Can anyone post videos perhaps confirming this? I remain somewhat skeptical. That portion wasn’t an bug/exploit at all, unlike the many Dredge bypassing the wall stuff.

For those of you who encountered it, did you try to roll swamp, and reset when you saw Cliffside?

Wethospu.6437:

I’m looking forward for this fractal on tonight’s 55+ run. Actually something hard?

Why don’t you guys theorycraft an all elementalist run, run in whites or naked, use no traits, or any other method of increasing difficulty? Difficulty is not what you’re after, I guess?

To speed run the new dungeon it looks like you have to precision burst the First Mate then Mai to avood wasting time on the AoE cannons. Have you speed ran that yet?

Afaik you and your crew uses the easiest professions (besides mesmer) in full easy mode gear (exo/superior runes and sigils/ascended) while, at least while it worked, abusing feedback and wall of reflection to literally melt enemies. I just find it ironic that your crew always brings up harder content yet you refuse to challenge yourselves.

Just did 48 cliffside, behaves as normal(apart from everyone’s friend archdiviner doing his agony-reflect burst right after he lost hammer, unexpected fun). 2 chanters are still there and no additional mobs spawn.
My guess would be op’s party hasn’t restarted it properly, or accidentally killed initial chanters.

Chopps.5047:

Wethospu.6437:

I’m looking forward for this fractal on tonight’s 55+ run. Actually something hard?

Why don’t you guys theorycraft an all elementalist run, run in whites or naked, use no traits, or any other method of increasing difficulty? Difficulty is not what you’re after, I guess?

To speed run the new dungeon it looks like you have to precision burst the First Mate then Mai to avood wasting time on the AoE cannons. Have you speed ran that yet?

Afaik you and your crew uses the easiest professions (besides mesmer) in full easy mode gear (exo/superior runes and sigils/ascended) while, at least while it worked, abusing feedback and wall of reflection to literally melt enemies. I just find it ironic that your crew always brings up harder content yet you refuse to challenge yourselves.

Hey! Group I’m playing with has Warrior, Guardian, Mesmer, Elementalist and Necromancer.
But yes, we abuse anti-projectile skills. No idea about their gear though but should be Exotic.

Who’s that necro o.O?

well idk it needs to be fixed this is the third day in a row im just not getting my fractal done, three tries and we are GREAT till we get to this fractal any other one were fine till this an its just rediculous =/

Nothing was changed… ran fractals twice yesterday, got cliffside on both runs, and everything was as usual. By the way, since the first time I was called on cliffside to replace a genius that messed things up and had the team wipe, I can tell you that chanters do keep on spawning en masse and the fight doesn’t reset. Again, as usual.
I guess they just fixed that bug of chanters not respawning, then. Hopefully.

Wethospu.6437:

I’m looking forward for this fractal on tonight’s 55+ run. Actually something hard?

I did this twice today on level 67. No issues.

Edit: I mean no issues as in, 2 chanters still spawned as it was before. The OP’s description was not what our team experienced.

Edit, edit: A legit bug is the inability to switch utility skills on Ascalon.

Don’t think projectile reflection affects the attacks of the chanters on the seals.

Wethospu.6437:

I’m looking forward for this fractal on tonight’s 55+ run. Actually something hard?

If you have a thief, don’t get your hopes up. It’d be the same thing just the thief gets to safely hit the seal then blink to safety without drawing any aggro from the 20 mobs. Coming from experience of doing fractals with pugs for far too long.

Just did it again tonight on 69. No bugs. See attached.

Sorry Jeff, but this is broken worse than it was before. My group also had the issue where when you get up to the arm seals the cultists are fully spawned, and it’s next to impossible to complete it. My pro 26 group had this happen as the third fractal and we had to quit Very disappointing.

However, at other times it has had the initial 2 per side, so something is definitely wrong here. We did have a full party wipe or two, one close to the arm seals as the hammer disappeared (another annoying bug) not sure if that has something to do with it.

Please take a look, this is killing this fractal.

Syn Sity.5826:

This may just be the last straw that pushes the remainder of the fractals players out, myself included. That must be their intention, right? I don’t see any reason to keep on buffing the harder/longer fractals unless this is their plan.

This is obviously a bug, not intended. Hopefully Jeffery is still checking this thread.

Maybe its when a party wipes before even the arm seal?

Btw the best part is they are somehow forced to watch at the mess this fractal is.
Too long, first boss is the glitchiest ever seen (hits you in melee at 900 or something like that way before agony shots and its not lag..)
And the arm seals needs a rework like spawning only 2 in case of party wipe that don t know if its the case (still to get that fractal post patch).

LordByron.8369:

Maybe its when a party wipes before even the arm seal?

Btw the best part is they are somehow forced to watch at the mess this fractal is.
Too long, first boss is the glitchiest ever seen (hits you in melee at 900 or something like that way before agony shots and its not lag..)
And the arm seals needs a rework like spawning only 2 in case of party wipe that don t know if its the case (still to get that fractal post patch).

Yes, it must be the case. When party wipes BEFORE reaching the arm seals, cultists are fully spawned. Not sure if this is intentional, prolly not.

When we ran this fractal, someone failed to carry hammer through the winds, so we had to wipe to reset hammer location. We need to practise the arm seals part, it is difficult, but not impossible, it just needs proper team (2 guards are always nice) and skill. (Talking about fully spawned cultists, not the old tactic with keeping one alive).

And I apologize for misleading information about respawn rate / cultist numbers.

Last of all, I must agree with most players here, fractals need rework. Especially the dredge map, which is obviously longer (and for some groups prolly also harder) than other maps. Nerfing invisibility kits here was the first nail in coffin.

Jeffrey Vaughn.1793:

The only change I made was making the cultists respawn after a wipe.

You sure about that?

And that happened after we wiped because hammer glitched, and didn’t get the respawn prompt. Every member had to individually relog to respawn. Also, the cultists at the arm seals respawn on party wipe regardless of the original ones being killed, which means if you do have to wipe before the arm seals, you’ll face the original cultists + the respawned cultists at the arm seals, and as far as i saw, they all respawn; which leads to seals healing faster.

temporary solution:
4 men everything :/ until the arm seal….

LordByron.8369:

Maybe its when a party wipes before even the arm seal?

This is what I suspected after seeing the actual run done by DnT, they wiped several times trying to get the hammer up to the seal, so I tried it out. in the pictures below you can see that I first reach the seals with 2 chanters up, then jump down. After I died(complete party wipe), I ran back up again and you can see that the full group is present.

I am not sure about whether the actual fix works(and I hope it does), but I can confirm that this bug is really present and should be looked into.

In addition, there is a bug where you destroy all the seals, but the gate to the last boss remains closed. I encountered this the last time I did this fractal.

Since one of the content designers is kindly reading the thread, can I put in a popular player request for the enchanters to always respawn after a party wipe in their original state. That would be always with 2 on each side. If the content provides the right challenge to start with then it should reset to that challenge. It should never reset to a harder challenge for the struggling groups who are least able to deal with it. This type of punishing design drives the struggling players out of dungeons completely and does nothing to increase the challenge for the players who don’t find it difficult enough.

@DEV

While you fix it do the right thing:

Despawn all of the on party wipe and respawn ONLY 2 in order to recreate the initial condition when you wipe.

That would make the fractal more bearable for pugs and low level pugs while being exactly the same for high level parties.

its not a change or nerf is a fix.
There is no reason why something should became so h_ard on wipe.

P.S. does really the filter change H_ard ___?

While your at it , add fractal weapons to the vendor.

Nevets Crimsonwing.5271:

Edit, edit: A legit bug is the inability to switch utility skills on Ascalon.

I seems to get that bug everyday now. No matter what the dungeon is.

So I’m not sure what is going on. Our party wiped numerous times on that 69 run because we were 4 manning the boss at the beginning, and we still had no issues. I’ve run it four times and had no problems, wipes included. Maybe it is profession specific? I never had warriors on my teams.

Another bug I did notice on that 69 run was that when people were being teleported to the cages during the final boss fight, they were stuck and unable to attack to break free. They had to relog. This happened a number of times. It was also present in Patrikan’s FOTM 80 or 81 video that showed you couldn’t progress because you couldn’t interact with the cages.

Jeffrey Vaughn.1793:

The posts above are correct, the entire group of chanters is respawning after a wipe at any point. I’m going to change it so that only the 2 initial chanters will respawn on a wipe, and the larger group will spawn once the first 2 are killed. (As it used to work, except that the 2 chanters will reset after a wipe.)

Thank you kind Sir.

Jeffrey Vaughn.1793:

The posts above are correct, the entire group of chanters is respawning after a wipe at any point. I’m going to change it so that only the 2 initial chanters will respawn on a wipe, and the larger group will spawn once the first 2 are killed. (As it used to work, except that the 2 chanters will reset after a wipe.)

Do they drop Final Rest?

Thank you very much for attending to this.

Jeffrey Vaughn.1793:

The posts above are correct, the entire group of chanters is respawning after a wipe at any point. I’m going to change it so that only the 2 initial chanters will respawn on a wipe, and the larger group will spawn once the first 2 are killed. (As it used to work, except that the 2 chanters will reset after a wipe.)

Uh … while you are at it can you make the same change for Kholer’s adds?

Jeffrey Vaughn.1793:

The posts above are correct, the entire group of chanters is respawning after a wipe at any point. I’m going to change it so that only the 2 initial chanters will respawn on a wipe, and the larger group will spawn once the first 2 are killed. (As it used to work, except that the 2 chanters will reset after a wipe.)

Does it mean now groups can reset after failure/accident? Sounds like better than before!

Either way, thanks for the fix.

Jeffrey Vaughn.1793:

The posts above are correct, the entire group of chanters is respawning after a wipe at any point. I’m going to change it so that only the 2 initial chanters will respawn on a wipe, and the larger group will spawn once the first 2 are killed. (As it used to work, except that the 2 chanters will reset after a wipe.)

I would like to mention though, stress even, that the hammer itself is buggy and that’s what makes this fractal hard to finish at the moment. Often times, if someone has the hammer and falls to their death, the hammer will not respawn, until the entire group purposefully dies (thus triggering the full chanter spawn in this case). There have also been times where a member has fallen and died in an unreachable spot for reviving, but they do not get a respawn button even when everyone is out of combat. Again, this means everyone has to die to fix.

Please consider taking a look at these bugs as well, Cliffside is a cool idea but these bugs can really be maddening and detract from the playing experience.

Thundolfe.9302:

I would like to mention though, stress even, that the hammer itself is buggy and that’s what makes this fractal hard to finish at the moment. Often times, if someone has the hammer and falls to their death, the hammer will not respawn, until the entire group purposefully dies (thus triggering the full chanter spawn in this case).

This is exactly what happened in the aforementioned post about our run. I fell carrying the hammer and we had to suicide to get to to respawn. Only to find out that our suicide triggered 15 chanters spawning initially and causing what I like to refer to as “the hour of my life I’ll never get back” trying to brute force it anyway.

Nike Porphyrogenita.8137:

Thundolfe.9302:

I would like to mention though, stress even, that the hammer itself is buggy and that’s what makes this fractal hard to finish at the moment. Often times, if someone has the hammer and falls to their death, the hammer will not respawn, until the entire group purposefully dies (thus triggering the full chanter spawn in this case).

This is exactly what happened in the aforementioned post about our run. I fell carrying the hammer and we had to suicide to get to to respawn. Only to find out that our suicide triggered 15 chanters spawning initially and causing what I like to refer to as “the hour of my life I’ll never get back” trying to brute force it anyway.

Did they at least drop loot?

Same thing just happened to my group doing lvl 28… 3rd fractal is cliffside and we have to abandon the run. 3 guards, a mesmer, and an ele and we still were not able to do it. Frustrating. Please fix.

Edit: We had someone in our group fall with the hammer… it was bugged so we had to party wipe… this was before getting to the arms. Might this have something to do with it?

NICKEZ.3671:

Same thing just happened to my group doing lvl 28… 3rd fractal is cliffside and we have to abandon the run. 3 guards, a mesmer, and an ele and we still were not able to do it. Frustrating. Please fix.

Edit: We had someone in our group fall with the hammer… it was bugged so we had to party wipe… this was before getting to the arms. Might this have something to do with it?

Yep. Read the posts above for more info.

Thanks for working on fix. It might get some players back to play fotm. I believe dredge map rework would get even more players back. And ticket drops instead of getting certain fractal weapon too (It should be same system as Jade weapon tickets/Fused weapons/Sclerite – you get token and trade it for weapon). Many players with like 7 torches and 5 warhorns and 0 weapons that they actually want agree IMO. But this was mentioned thousand times in other threads, so lets focus on fixing that Cliffside fractal.