Guild Wars 2

Here’s a suggestion, but I don’t know if this will be a mirrored sentiment. I think it would be, but only to a rarified portion of the playerbase so the effort-reward ratio to the devs may not be worth it.

Since this is pie-in-the-sky time, I’m pitching it anyways.

Back when AR was capped at 35, Fractals had an entirely different kind of difficulty to it. Player knowledge was much more important, since knowing and avoiding Agony attacks was absolutely key.

Top-tier Legendary Infused Shaman was harrowing. Exhilarating! It was Dark Souls intensity that needed a terrific group to overcome it. Mossman as well, but that was partially due to bogus stealth agony hatchets. Regardless, the team needed to be awake and prepared to deal with the worst. And nothing was more deadly than the Ice Elementals melee agony circle. You knew when most people started to melee him that not only were they about to drop but they weren’t getting ressed fast either.

Rather than the gear-gate most people default to for their instability I would love to see more skill checks if the scales ramp up. Perhaps an instability which applies more potent agony when directly applied by bosses rather than the environment (i.e. forced agony ticks at boss fractals)

In furtherance of this request or even separately, a distinct tell from bosses that would make an agony attack visually distinct would be helpful, if only on lower scales, so that newer players would know what they need to be dodging.

Exotic Infusion Slots:

• I’m probably going to be flamed for this, but here goes:
  
  I think Exotic armor should have Infusion slots, similar to Ascended gear. I don’t mean (Infused) like the back-pieces and the rings; just the single slots that come with all Ascended gear. For the record, I’m saying this as someone that already owns fully Ascended and Infused gear.
  
  I say this because I think the main gate for progressing through Fractals should be one’s skill and time devoted to Fractals themselves; not if they have crafted Ascended armor or weapons through means outside of Fractals. It would also be more in the spirit of how Ascended gear should be only a marginal statistical advantage, and not offer a tactical one of Agony resistance.
  
  The main motivation and inspiration for this suggestion is that I have many old friends who used to run Fractals with me back when the old cap was 80. They have quit for some time, but every now and then will return to the game. However, they are usually soon put off at the thought of needed to craft Ascended gear for more agony resistance.

+n Agony Infusions:

• I’m not a fan of the functionality of these upgrades. As an example: Let’s say you add a +1 Agony Infusion into your Red Ring of Death (Infused). When you obtain another +1 Agony Infusion, you would have to use an Upgrade Extractor to remove the previous Infusion and use an Artificer to turn it into a +2 Agony Infusion and then add it to the ring. Since Upgrade Extractors are expensive, it makes players less inclined to be upgrading their infusions frequently.
  
  I would prefer it if they created the functionality which would (using the previous example) allow a player to double click their new +1 Agony Infusion and then just select their current ring and they would then slot a +2 Agony Infusion into it directly. This would allow players to more seamlessly and frequently upgrade their infusions.

Nokaru.7831:

Exotic Ascended Slots:

• I’m probably going to be flamed for this, but here goes:
  
  I think Exotic armor should have Infusion slots, similar to Ascended gear. I don’t mean (Infused) like the back-pieces and the rings; just the single slots that come with all Ascended gear. For the record, I’m saying this as someone that already owns fully Ascended and Infused gear.
  
  I say this because I think the main gate for progressing through Fractals should be one’s skill and time devoted to Fractals themselves; not if they have crafted Ascended armor or weapons through means outside of Fractals. It would also be more in the spirit of how Ascended gear should be only a marginal statistical advantage, and not offer a tactical one of Agony resistance.
  
  The main motivation and inspiration for this suggestion is that I have many old friends who used to run Fractals with me back when the old cap was 80. They have quit for some time, but every now and then will return to the game. However, they are usually soon put off at the thought of needed to craft Ascended gear for more agony resistance.

Make an ascended fractal armor which you can buy with pristine relics, gg.
Every piece of ascended gerat offers that “tactical advantage” and that’s fine, you need ascended only for fractals. Play it, and you get them. I’d still prefer if you’d only be able to get ascended loot inside fractals because that’s where it belongs to, but for that, it’s too late. “Oh hey for fractals you need ascended gear, here, do dailies, guild missions and crafts which are completely unrelated to fractals in order to play them successfully”.

+n Agony Infusions:

• I’m not a fan of the functionality of these upgrades. As an example: Let’s say you add a +1 Agony Infusion into your Red Ring of Death (Infused). When you obtain another +1 Agony Infusion, you would have to use an Upgrade Extractor to remove the previous Infusion and use an Artificer to turn it into a +2 Agony Infusion and then add it to the ring. Since Upgrade Extractors are expensive, it makes players less inclined to be upgrading their infusions frequently.
  
  I would prefer it if they created the functionality which would (using the previous example) allow a player to double click their new +1 Agony Infusion and then just select their current ring and they would then slot a +2 Agony Infusion into it directly. This would allow players to more seamlessly and frequently upgrade their infusions.

You aren’t supposed to upgrade your rings all the time imo, since it’s better to go with 5/10 anyway. Still a nice idea which I wouldn’t mind being implemented.

When you put content in a game, the goal should be for players to go into it with the expectation of enjoying their experience. There are two or three fractals, however, where I feel the overall perception of them emits groans from just about everybody who enter them.

Fractals shouldn’t be about going in and hoping you get good rolls on which fractals you end up facing. And you especially shouldn’t dread the boss roll, after having spent an hour getting to that point in hopes you don’t face Mai Trin.

Here are the fractals I have the greatest issue with, and what I think could be done to fix them:

CLIFFSIDE FRACTAL: This fractal is fine, on the most part. But I feel the moment where you must break the wrist seals is far too daunting a task for most pick-up groups to navigate without having the seals heal back to full health a few times. The continued problem with the hammer vanishing also frustrates a lot of groups. I feel this can be fixed by reducing the speed at which the seals heal and correcting the bug pertaining to the vanishing hammer.

UNDERGROUND FACILITY FRACTAL: The biggest problem with this fractal is getting organized with the touchplates to open the gate without getting hit by enemy fire. Cutting the time required to open the door will go a long way.

CAPTAIN MAI TRIN BOSS FRACTAL: I have never met anybody who enjoys this. I would either remove it completely or significantly nerf the entire battle. The worst parts is how much time it takes to get her shields down so we can do any damage, as getting her to pull through the electrified AOE is really tough when you don’t have a group that can just stack and tough it out.

MORE BOSS FRACTALS: I can think of a few boss fights that could be added to the end of this so that there is more variety at the end of the line. One that comes to mind is the Shadow of the Dragon boss fight at the end of Dragon Reach Part Two. I would also love to see a few of the boss fights from Guild Wars 1 make their way to this, and maybe even some of the shorter story missions from the game make their way into here.

[quote=4363969;HAPPYcat.6479:

CAPTAIN MAI TRIN BOSS FRACTAL: I have never met anybody who enjoys this. I would either remove it completely or significantly nerf the entire battle. The worst parts is how much time it takes to get her shields down so we can do any damage, as getting her to pull through the electrified AOE is really tough when you don’t have a group that can just stack and tough it out.

[/quote]

I love mai! Dont touch beloved mai, I was happy she escaped from lions arch.

Ill agree its annoying at best, although its an interesting fight and overall I love it. Just you watch.. one day Ill solo it!

Underground Facility is fine, if you really want to speed it up, use a skill that gives Quickness (as the one standing at the mechanism of course) after you’re halfway done with opening the door.

Mai Trin would be completely fine if it wasn’t for the messed up AoE-Indicators and the phase that starts every 25%, especially in combination with the former problem. So a change to that phase would be very welcome.

More boss fractals? Scarlet Prime Holo remade for a 5-man group? Yesplz.

HAPPYcat.6479:

When you put content in a game, the goal should be for players to go into it with the expectation of enjoying their experience. There are two or three fractals, however, where I feel the overall perception of them emits groans from just about everybody who enter them.

While I understand your sentiment, unless all of the shards are faceroll easy people will complain because that’s what they do. They all become faceroll easy with enough practice. Veterans know they’re in a good group when no one complains if they get Grawl or Mai Trin. It’s a great feeling when a popularly perceived difficult shard loads and everyone just falls into place to do their jobs.

Fractals shouldn’t be about going in and hoping you get good rolls on which fractals you end up facing. And you especially shouldn’t dread the boss roll, after having spent an hour getting to that point in hopes you don’t face Mai Trin.

If you consider a particular shard impossible at the tier you are in, then you should either not join that tier or sincerely desire to get better at that shard. Don’t consider it impossible, people run this content all the time with any group composition.

Here are the fractals I have the greatest issue with, and what I think could be done to fix them:

CLIFFSIDE FRACTAL: This fractal is fine, on the most part. But I feel the moment where you must break the wrist seals is far too daunting a task for most pick-up groups to navigate without having the seals heal back to full health a few times. The continued problem with the hammer vanishing also frustrates a lot of groups. I feel this can be fixed by reducing the speed at which the seals heal and correcting the bug pertaining to the vanishing hammer.

The healing is not done by the seals but the chanters. This is why you don’t kill one of the chanters at the first seal, so it heals more slowly.

UNDERGROUND FACILITY FRACTAL: The biggest problem with this fractal is getting organized with the touchplates to open the gate without getting hit by enemy fire. Cutting the time required to open the door will go a long way.

I have to completely disagree with this sentiment, as will many others. This was far more punishing before it was fixed, almost requiring a thief to complete. Now it certainly feels like any group of 4 could accomplish it, let alone 5.

CAPTAIN MAI TRIN BOSS FRACTAL: I have never met anybody who enjoys this. I would either remove it completely or significantly nerf the entire battle. The worst parts is how much time it takes to get her shields down so we can do any damage, as getting her to pull through the electrified AOE is really tough when you don’t have a group that can just stack and tough it out.

Perhaps on lower scales. My only problem with this fight is how often my teammates get murdered by the cannons. I would love the cannons to use the new, more visible tells. This fight is fun when done with a skilled group as they can tear her shields down quickly and burn her down relatively stress free.

MORE BOSS FRACTALS: I can think of a few boss fights that could be added to the end of this so that there is more variety at the end of the line. One that comes to mind is the Shadow of the Dragon boss fight at the end of Dragon Reach Part Two. I would also love to see a few of the boss fights from Guild Wars 1 make their way to this, and maybe even some of the shorter story missions from the game make their way into here.

I agree with this completely. Everyone who plays Fractals would enjoy more of them.

All told, I think your points have merit for lower scales but would prefer that the higher scales not get swatted by the nerf bat. This is the only instanced PVE content people looking for a challenge have to choose from and we aren’t fond of suggestions to make it easier.

Keeping with the spirit of the thread, it may help to have lower tiers do a better job teaching what is happening during the encounters. Perhaps during cliffside when the chanters heal the seal a map notification could be broadcast to inform the players that the chanters are healing it.

Hello, guys. This is an idea I had some time ago that -I think- would make Fractal Skins more accessible, while still retaining their prestige.

I’ve never liked the idea of buying them with Fractal Relics or Pristine Fractal Relics, because, depending on the required amount of required relics that would:
a) cause them to become extremely easy to obtain.
b) make obtaining them a gut-wrenching grind.
After pondering, I came up with the conclusion that there was no appropriate way to fix the issue by throwing numbers around. Instead, I believe that it would be way more awesome and gratifying if the acquisition method were some sort of errand or quest. I hope you guys agree with me on this one.

Before I begin, I’d like to state a few points of view/facts I have. These points will help you understand my reasoning and my posture:

• Fractals are considered the PvE endgame content, along with dungeons.
• Higher levels scales force you to have maxed at least one Armor-Crafting Discipline and a Weapon-Crafting Discipline.
• RNG sucks.
• In order to avoid alienating the casual playerbase and to preserve an stable economy, ANET can’t massively increase the gold reward.
• ANET should keep Fractal Weapon skins as a possible daily reward at the end of the run as this will allow the more casual playerbase to still attain skins, without having to max any of the crafting disciplines.
• RNG sucks.

Anyway, now that that’s out of the way, here are my ideas:

• Add three Fractal Weapon Codices to the vendors in exchange for 20 Pristine Fractal Relics + 100x raw discipline-related components. They could be named after the Six Gods or something cool, like the fractal bosses.
  Example:
  10 Pristine Fractal Relics + 100 Ancient Wood Logs = Artificer’s Fractal Codex
  10 Pristine Fractal Relics + 100 Orichalcum Ores = Weaponsmith’s Fractal Codex
  10 Pristine Fractal Relics + 50 Ancient Wood Logs + 50 Orichalcum ores = Huntsman Fractal Codex
  Name ideas:
  Weaponsmith -> Molten Alliance
  Huntsman -> Aetherblade
  Artificer -> Jade Maw’s

• Add a new component to the vendors’ list, Mists Essence Consolidator, purchasable with for 800 regular Fractal Relics.
  This item would be placed in the Mystic Forge, along with one of each of the Mist Essence items randomly acquired in FotM (Vial of Condensed Mists Essence, Glob of Coagulated Mists Essence, and Shard of Crystallized Mists Essence) and would give us a Mists Essence Amalgamate. This item would allow players to imbue weapon components with the essence of the Mists at specific locations, by fusing it with weapon-specific crafting components at specific locations.

• After a group beats a level 31+ endboss Fractal, a Place of Power should spawn along with the chest. It would allow players to fuse two weapon-specific crafting components with one Mists Essence Amalgamate. This would give in return an unusable weapon, depending on the used components.
  Example:
  Deldrimor Steel Sword Hilt + Deldrimor Sword Blade + Mists Essence Amalgamate -> Mists-Imbued Sword

• This new item would then be thrown in the Mystic Forge along with other components (I’m not yet sure of what they should be) and then Zommoros would reward you with an adequate Fractal Weapon Skin.
  Example:
  Mists-Imbued Sword + Gift of Ascension + Weaponsmith’s Fractal Codex + Vision Crystal -> Fractal Sword Skin.
  Mists-Imbued Focus + Gift of Ascension + Artificer’s Fractal Codex + Vision Crystal -> Fractal Focus Skin.
  Mists-Imbued Pistol + Gift of Ascension + Huntsman’s Fractal Codex + Vision Crystal -> Fractal Pistol Skin

And that’s it!

These are the items that do not exist in the current iteration of the game and that would need to be added in order to implement this idea. I tried to add as little as possible.

Weaponsmith’s Fractal Codex
Huntsman Fractal Codex
Artificer’s Fractal Codex

Mists Essence Consolidator
Mists Essence Amalgamate

Mists-Imbued Axe
Mists-Imbued Dagger
Mists-Imbued Mace
Mists-Imbued Sword
Mists-Imbued Greatsword
Mists-Imbued Hammer
Mists-Imbued Shield
Mists-Imbued Spear

Mists-Imbued Pistol
Mists-Imbued Torch
Mists-Imbued Warhorn
Mists-Imbued Longbow
Mists-Imbued Rifle
Mists-Imbued Shortbow
Mists-Imbued Harpoon gun

Mists-Imbued Scepter
Mists-Imbued Focus
Mists-Imbued Staff
Mists-Imbued Trident
____________________________________________________________________

Feedback is appreciated.

Shinki.8045:

All told, I think your points have merit for lower scales but would prefer that the higher scales not get swatted by the nerf bat. This is the only instanced PVE content people looking for a challenge have to choose from and we aren’t fond of suggestions to make it easier.

Keeping with the spirit of the thread, it may help to have lower tiers do a better job teaching what is happening during the encounters. Perhaps during cliffside when the chanters heal the seal a map notification could be broadcast to inform the players that the chanters are healing it.

Great response. My earlier post was all written from the perspective of somebody who just hit scale 20 tonight and has been doing it almost exclusively by playing with pugs. The first time I played 29 (which was as soon as I got my hands on 25AR) it felt liberating, how fast the group was moving.

Suggestion: Box of Fractal weapons.

Basically with same drop rate as current weapons except you have the option to choose a skin you want. It is really frustrating when you keep getting same skin over and over again at this low drop rate.

I’ve been trying to get into fractals but I’m having a pretty tough time enjoying them. To me a good video game is challenging, but what makes up that challenge is having something happen prompting a required response by the player and punishing them if they are unable to act. Now a fight like Lupi has this down, I think that’s why it’s so popular. There are multiple attacks and phases, but each thing has enough of a tell or gap to let you respond if you are able to recognize the attack. This is something I can’t help but feel fractals just don’t do very well.

I think globally many fractals have smaller bosses than dungeons, this makes them hard to see, what’s the point of a tell if the player can’t see it even if they’re looking for it? For example Mossman, I know his hands go up for a large attack, then it’s a small delay and I should dodge as it’s a 2 pronged attack which aegis won’t be able to defend completely. Well… last night i was doing it, I was looking for it, but with him on fire, with all the effects, and the dark environment I just couldn’t see much at all.

And I want to note, I don’t want any of those attacks to change, I’d just like a bit of work done on the telegraphing of it. Could we get a bit more of a visual queue when these devastating attacks are happening? Is there any way we could have things like the guardian blue fire not show up on these bosses? Maybe get outlines on them so they are easily visible through the multiple fields, walls, bubbles, and whatever other effects?

The next thing that frustrated me last night during our run, unblockable/unreflectable attacks. I get that there really should be some projectiles you can’t just hide behind a wall for, that’d be too easy. But, there really should be a clear messaging about what is and isn’t. Can we take a look at that stuff and standardize a certain missile look for “projectile” and a certain look for “non reflectable projectile” . This carries over to dungeons as well.

I’ll just end here saying again, I like a challenge, but I just feel that fractals are more agonizing than fun to me right now. I am a noob at them, maybe the more experienced players feel these issues are fine, but to me they frustrate the hell out of me. I look at fights like Lupi, or even fractal fights like the Molten Duo or even Captain Ashrym(sp) and when I fail I feel its’ because I made a mistake either responding too slowly or failing to see a pretty clearly telegraphed attack. When I die at Mossman it’s just “ohh yay another attack I wasn’t able to see…”.

Jerus.4350:

I think globally many fractals have smaller bosses than dungeons, this makes them hard to see, what’s the point of a tell if the player can’t see it even if they’re looking for it? For example Mossman, I know his hands go up for a large attack, then it’s a small delay and I should dodge as it’s a 2 pronged attack which aegis won’t be able to defend completely. Well… last night i was doing it, I was looking for it, but with him on fire, with all the effects, and the dark environment I just couldn’t see much at all.

The tell for Mossman that really lets you know that he’s going to do the big double-hit is when he shadowsteps to a player. He only shadowsteps when using that attack, so if he ever just appears near you, dodge away.

The bigger problem with him is the bouncing agony axes he throws while stealthed, there is absolutely no tell for that. You have to watch his position on the mini-map and hide behind walls while he’s chasing someone.

Shinki.8045:

Jerus.4350:

I think globally many fractals have smaller bosses than dungeons, this makes them hard to see, what’s the point of a tell if the player can’t see it even if they’re looking for it? For example Mossman, I know his hands go up for a large attack, then it’s a small delay and I should dodge as it’s a 2 pronged attack which aegis won’t be able to defend completely. Well… last night i was doing it, I was looking for it, but with him on fire, with all the effects, and the dark environment I just couldn’t see much at all.

The tell for Mossman that really lets you know that he’s going to do the big double-hit is when he shadowsteps to a player. He only shadowsteps when using that attack, so if he ever just appears near you, dodge away.

The bigger problem with him is the bouncing agony axes he throws while stealthed, there is absolutely no tell for that. You have to watch his position on the mini-map and hide behind walls while he’s chasing someone.

Appreciate it, still very hard to see him doing much of anything with the combination of the lighting and the effects everywhere but that tip will surely help.

Jerus.4350:

Appreciate it, still very hard to see him doing much of anything with the combination of the lighting and the effects everywhere but that tip will surely help.

What trips me up in this fight more often than not is the tree on the east side of the arena, if you end up on that side of the fight invariably the branches block your camera.