Guild Wars 2

This is basicly a thread for me to share what I feel is right and/or wrong with fractals in theyr current state.

I have been thinking of making it for over a week now, but after yet another day of utter frustration at the fruits of my labour I felt it was time to finally do it, especially since todays was even more extreme then usual.

Ill try to avoid “whining”, and try to explain as best I can what I think is wrong, and why I think it is wrong, and hopefully ill bring up a few things that are positive about the fractals.

1: Loot

This for me is the single most negative thing about the fractals, I have run over 80 fractals this last week, and the VERY best run I had, I made about 5g, which would be fine if that was anywhere near the average.

But the sad truth it is not, atleast not for me, and I expect I am not the only one.. for me seems to be 1.5g-2g, which considering the time and effort lvl 20+ fractals require is not a whole lot.

And this latest run (28) I made a stunning 40s, didnt see a single rare item the entire run.

I realise of course that this is RNG, but I will also say this, I have played Mmo’s since EQ1, And I have never EVER felt so underreward for playing the content, even less so in what it supposed to be a “endgame” instance.

Of course I realise that we also get other rewards from fractals like ascended rings, but there comes a point very early on where those rings are nothing but an annoyance, 4s worth of an annoyance i might add.

As it is now, I don’t understand the point of reward levels, either it isnt working or the scaling on it is just horrible.. doing fractal 1 vs doing fractal 29, I feel I have about the same chance at getting junk..

The fractals can only survive so long by handing out redundant tokens, rings and crystallized shards..

As it is the reward from doing fractals can in no way compete with dungeons like CoF, which is rather suprising considering they take 6 times the amount of time and are on a whole diffrent lvl of difficulty.
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2: Infused Backpack.

I will admit that this point is a bit of a whine, though it relates to the overall lack of worthwhile loot..

I do not at all find it to be reasonable that we need to scrape together 250 globs of ectoplasm for a measly 5AR, which are a must to not die at 30+ maw.

It is absolutely FINE when it is for cosmetic upgrades like the later stages, but when it gets in the way of progression it becomes another mather entirely.

3: Fractal “Dungeons”

First of here I would like to say that one of the main things that annoy me about these dungeons are how wildly they differ in difficulty, I feel the difficulty should vary based on the fractal level mainly, not based on which fractals you get.
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A) Aquatic Ruins:

This is prob the only fractal I can say this about, it feels way to easy.. there is basicly no risk involved in this fractal, if you get it you know your gonna pass it..

I absolutely LOVE the routes to the boss, the idea behind them is solid and at times challenging.

That said the boss feels like nothing more then a time sink, he has absurd amounts of hp, and a ton of little adds that pick up most of your damage.. He only has one attack that does any damage, and he uses it so rarely that it poses no risk what so ever.. as for his “chomp” attack, it just makes him more of a time sink as it slows down dps while hes doing it.

The mechanics of the fight show some promise, however without using the “lanterns” being mandatory, he is just way to easy, and one of the most boring fights in all of the fractals.
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B) Urban Battleground:

I really like the idea behind this fractal, however I feel the execution leaves alot to be desired.

The overall damage of the trash mobs in this instance is MIND BLOWING, and I realise that we are not supposed to tank them, but equally anet must realise that theyr AI have severe limitations.. And that does not only go for the friendly AI, the trash with oneshoot capabilities also have a tendency of ignoring the friendly npcs.

Like I said I like the idea behind this fractal, but I feel Anet puts way to much stock in theyr npcs ability to tank.

In my opinion the hp of our npcs should decrease, and the dps of the hostile npcs should be considerably lowered.

Other issues with this fractal is that ALOT of the mobs completly ignore wall of reflection and similar abilities, shooting/throwing straight trough it, especially ballistas.

I like the boss fight in this dungeon, even though it is nothing special, it is not boring, Its not a timesink, and its not to easy or to hard.
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C) Snowblind:

This is one of the better fractals in my opinion, it does alot right.

somethings I do not like however is the trash mobs at the big fire, they work great on the lower lvl fractals were there arnt to many of them, but at the higher lvl fractals it just becomes absurd.. at points there are so many of these svanir spinning around knocking of half your health that there is barley any way to avoid them, I feel that the extra npcs are not needed here, the fact that they increase in level already make it considerably more difficult.

another thing I dislike is some of the rng involved in fighting the elemental, when the snowstorm hits you never know where you are gonna end up, and that is fine.. however it is not fine when you end up ontop of 2 elementals, and get chain knockbacked, with no teammates near to help you, I feel either the elementals should spawn some seconds after the storm hits, or you should spawn in a somewhat safe area.

Also not hug fan of the constant knockbacks in this fight, getting chain cced is never fun.

The dark path between elemental and boss is a disappointment, it is such a intresting place, so dark.. but there is absolutely no incentive to not rush trough it like madmen.

Feels like wasted potential.

The boss fight in this fractal is one of my favorite ones, It never feels cheap, the bosses hp is spot on, and it has some rather cool mechanics.

The only real flaw I can find in this fight is the possibility of getting stuck in wall by entrance, and that there is one spot were the Icetaps simply cannot hit you, which cheapens the experience.

D) Swampland

I absolutely LOVE this fractal, IF I don’t have to deal with mossman!

This is without a doubt the fractal with the coolest mechanics, I really like the “puzzle” at there start, however I feel it is a mistake to let people reset it until they get a easy one.. in my opinion dropping the ball to reset should give you a 20-30s wait before they respawned, that way it would be beneficial to try the setup given to you wether it was hard or easy.

Bloomhunger: This is one of the better boss fights, sure he has a kittenload of hp, but he always keeps you on your toes, and the variety in his attacks makes the fight overall quite intresting, and to some challenging, It is also one of those fights that if you master it you are gonna nail it time after time.

Mossman: This is my single least favorite boss of all the fractals, he feels INCREDIBLY cheap..
He has a ABSURD amount of hp, not to mention his wolves eats a majority of the projectiles, he has instakill capabilities that he can use within 0.5 seconds of leaving stealth, and he double taps you with agony, with a attack that already does insane damage.
There are NO clever mechanics here, just a straight up kiteing nightmare, there is absolutely nothing enjoyable in this fight for me, and to this day I have never been in a group that didnt go “Oh no, mossman”.
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E) Underground Facility:

Personally one of my favorite fractals, despite the fact that is has alot of flaws.

Main flaw is that it is a dredge tunnel, Anet really failed at making these things.. they will strangle the average computer, and kick it while its down, fps is a very real issue in this fractal.

The gate mechanisms at the starting part of this fractal is brilliant, it requires alot of teamwork, especially if you don’t use spy kits, Only thing I dislike about this part is that you can “exploit” past half of it, and I feel that it is such a good design that its a real shame that the possiblity of doing that exists.

Turret Side: This is without a doubt the easier of the two sides, however It always ends up as a “rush in, kill turrets, rush out to reset dredge” for one I don’t think these dredge should reset, but I also do not think they should respawn anywhere near as quickly as they do, atm rushing is the only real option.. Same goes for the door freeze it then run like headless chicken trough the dredge hoping to survive.

Bomb Side: This side is a nightmare, and I don’t know what the hell the devs where thinking.. this pretty much always turns into a kamikaze run, there is no way for a normal group to deal with these dredge, I don’t at all understand why there isnt a limit to how many dredge can spawn here, and how rapidly they can spawn.

The only time I have been able to do this directly was with a 5 guardian grp, we went trough it like a knife trough butter, but I Dont see how a normal group could possibly do it proper.

Rabovich: this fight is sooooo boring, the amount of dredge waves is way over the top, and rabovichs hp is sadistic considering hes not the end boss, I am fine with the damage his attack does, however it is WAY to difficult to spot when hes doing it when you got 5 people hammering him with elemental attacks.

Ice Elemental: I sigh everytime I get this end boss, he is alot easier then the dredge boss, but GOSH is he boring.. trying to get your projectiles past his silly adds is a nightmare, and because of it the fight easily takes 5 times as long as it should..

However other then the adds the boss in him self is actually quite fun, but in my opinion those adds should have hardly any hp.

Dredge Boss: This is one of my favorite boss fights, it has everything, challenging mechanics, fun mechanics, not to much hp, and some really nice counters (feedback).

F) Cliffside:

This fractal have some of the coolest mechanics of all the fractals next to swampland, however it has alot more issues then swampland.

For one having to fight the boss once at start, and then again at the top.. it feels so pointless and its just annoying, cause he has quite the health pool..

And lets face it even without having the boss at start this is one of the longest if not THE longest fractal.

In my opinion boss should be completly removed from the start, and hammer should be ready on a pedestal..

Not much to say about Legs to stomach, other then that I really like how it progresses as you go further up and it becomes more difficult.

Wrists however, these are the single biggest design flaw of all the fractals, I don’t see what kind of absurd logic anet was following when they decided that the mobs would not reset on wipe.. even if you do this carefully it is extremly easy to kill of that one cultist you want alive, and when you do its more or less game over..

Recovering from it is next to impossible, I have only been able to recover from it once or twice at 20+ and that was with some of the finest teamplayers i have ever seen, and even then it was a fluke.

Boss: Overlooking the fact that you have to fight him twice, this is actually a really decent boss fight, Its not at all cheap, and you can definatly get spanked if you make a mistake, and the mechanics are cool and fitting considering the dungeon.

However, there is a certain bug here they need to fix, im sure anet knows what im talking about.
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G) Volcanic Fractal:

Everytime this pops up i see people sigh, personally I really enjoy this dungeon, but it does have some rather important flaws.

The trash mobs at the start pulling you trough them and into the back groups of grawls, causing instadeath and a double or triple pull, is super cheap, and it its not needed, cause lets face it these trash mobs can be brutal by themselves.

Shaman: This fight has some really cool moments, and the mechanics of it is overall quite good.

However at 28+ it has some issue.. the veteran shamans that you are supposed to stop simply have to much hp, you cannot down them fast enough to keep up even with chain roots, and when they finally break root they gain superhuman speed.

I really enjoyed this encounter before i reached 28+, now its just bleh.

Shaman Evolved: This is without a doubt the most intense boss of all the fractals, however its intense to a point where it becomes a issue.. the difficulty diffrence between this boss and all the other vary so much that this one should be on a entirely diffrent tier..

Don’t get me wrong I really like this fight, but voice over is almost a requirement when doing this at higher lvls, and the increased amount of slugs at higher lvls is a issue, I think increasing the amount of adds per tier on this boss is a mistake, the added dmg from them being higher level already adds PLENTY of challenge.

Also I feel that the agony attack of this boss should have a longer animation, as it is currently by the time you see the animation it is already to late to dodge.

Of course the obvious solution is to spam a and d, but is that really how its supposed to be completed?

H) Raving Asura Themepark:

This fractal is absolutely brilliant, and is has some of the most fun and challenging mechanics of all the fractals.

However on 10+ it has some issue, I am sure everyone realised by now that im speaking of the charged balls of lightning by the harpies, my issue is not the balls themselves, it is that the indicators for them are completly rubbish, a majority of the time you have no chance of seeing the actual indicators because theyr outside the platform your on, if possible the indicators should be a solid red, rather then a red ring.

Also I think it would help alot if the balls themselves were a dark red color or a dark purple color, as it is now they blend to well with the background, and are nearly invisible.

Another issue I have with this fractal is at the early parts of the jumping “puzzle”, after lvl 10 the harpies above you have a really bad habbit of agrooing you really early on, this makes this part of the fractal frustrating because you’ll get spammed with alot more charged balls and dmg then you can handle.

Four bosses: I really enjoy the idea behind this fight, however I can’t help but think that the hp of the shaman and the ettin should be HEAVILY nerfed, by the time you get them alone theyr not difficult, they just take a eternity to actually kill, and this is one fractal that is long enough on its own.

Spinning boss: This is a really solid boss, and the 10+ changes to him actually make him better, having to run the tears requires coordination, and that is awesome, also I like that it rewards you for being smart with where you stand when he starts spinning.

Raving Asura: Really great boss fight, If you make good use of reflection its a breeze, but if you fail at doing so it becomes a REALLY tough fight, I really like that players are rewarded for using theyr arsenal to its fullest in this fight.

I) Jade Maw:

Jade maw is great, but like alot of the above fractals it has issues, one of the main being.. what the hell were Arena net thinking with all the shiney surfaces, and the insane view range.. this fractal is a absolute nightmare for the average computer, even worse then the dredge tunnels..

That said, the boss fight here has some really cool mechanics, though some of them are rather flawed sadly..

And when you learn this fight it dosnt just become easy, it becomes blindfold easy..
to the point where it becomes quite boring…

however the mechanics of the fight is intresting, and it does keep you on your toes if you havnt done it before, I do however wish it added more mechanics on higher tiers rather then just more agony..

One of the main issues i run into here is the bug where if you try to pickup something while running you just keep running, this is super frustrating here, for a fight that completly depends on you being able to pick up a object in a very short span of time, it becomes a very noticeable and annoying problem.

Also I am not at all a fan of how agony works in jademaw, I am fine with it being a instant apply when tentacles respawn, however the duration of it seems to long considering it is completly undodgeable.

What makes it worse is that it eats your heals..

And that is pretty much the fractals.

4: Hosting and Kicking.

Hosting:

Having a host is completly fine, but kicking everyone out of the instance if he leaves.. COME ON! or if hes a kitten and you have to kick him.. or if he loses his internet a extended duration of time… The role as host really need to swap when host leaves, don’t close down the fractal!

Kicking: While It has never been a issue for me, I completly understand the frustration of the current kicking system.. 2 people is in NO WAY enough to decide who should stay and who goes, honestly kicking should only be possible if all 4 voted yes.. and while i understand that limits your ability to kick groups of 2+, it more importantly limits the ability to grief players who have put the work into completing a fractal only to have it ripped away by jerks.

5: The End:

Basicly these are my opinions of the current state of the fractals, alot of which have been the general opinion of the groups ive been in.

At the moment I don’t at all feel the fractals are really worth running outside of dailies, progression to 40 and for those who play only for the challenge.

I really want the fractals to be viable, but to me they just don’t seem like a viable alternative to dungeons and straight out grinding atm.

However I must say that the fractals have helped me alot when it comes to learning my class, the way the content slowly gets harder really is a brilliant way of giving the player a chance to slowly get better at the game.

I really hope my post was not to much of a pain to read for those who got this far even, and I hope everything was understandable, even though I realise there are probs some misspellings etc here and there.

Agree or Disagree, please feel free to share your opinions.

Also I would like to appologize for how extremly oversized this post became, I am usually not the type to make long posts, and had no idea how long this was until posted it.

Hehe judging by the lack of replies I am gueesing it might have ended up being a bit to long, opps

I Agree with you with the issue of 250 globs to get +5 AR infused in it, im okay with 250 to making ti glow but not to gain 5 resists, thats way too much.

Puandro.3245:

I Agree with you with the issue of 250 globs to get +5 AR infused in it, im okay with 250 to making ti glow but not to gain 5 resists, thats way too much.

So what happens to the players that already bought it? I didn’t even find it expensive I made all the gold to buy it from doing fractals

Nothing happens to the players that already bought it.

Just like real life, things change and things can go on sale. Doesn’t mean you are entitled to a refund.

You got your infused backpiece and I am happy for you. You got use out of it. If they decide to change the recipe for infusing it to lower the requirements, this does not take anything away from you.

Recipes change. Sales happen. Things change.

I only really have one major issue with fractals atm and that is levelling system and how a level 1 can join a level 10 or 20 and expect to be carried whilst dieing every time an enemy looks at them. Maybe a slight exaggeration, but not far from the truth. It seems everytime I join a group, there is always one or two players who are playing well above their capabilities and slow the rest of the group down. Either they aren’t geared well enough or they haven’t got enough AR or they just don’t even know the basic mechanics of the fractal (and Im talking level 20+ where you would expect people to know what they are doing).

Mad Rasputin.7809:

Nothing happens to the players that already bought it.

Just like real life, things change and things can go on sale. Doesn’t mean you are entitled to a refund.

You got your infused backpiece and I am happy for you. You got use out of it. If they decide to change the recipe for infusing it to lower the requirements, this does not take anything away from you.

Recipes change. Sales happen. Things change.

Explain to me why you need the extra 5 agony resist? It is not a requirement to advance. I am at level 49 atm and have only 25 ar on 1 of my characters seeing as you can’t go any further it doesn’t matter as long as you know how to dodge or mitigate the agony. It actually does take time away required to achieve the materials.

If you play melee, you cant always dodge in time since the projectile only has to go 1 foot to you.

JJBigs.8456:

If you play melee, you cant always dodge in time since the projectile only has to go 1 foot to you.

Don’t play melee then? Let’s face it gw2 isn’t a melee friendly game if you want to melee you will have to take on the risks that come with the benefits

Kilrain Daggerspine.6843:

F) Cliffside:
…
For one having to fight the boss once at start, and then again at the top.. it feels so pointless and its just annoying, cause he has quite the health pool..
…
In my opinion boss should be completly removed from the start, and hammer should be ready on a pedestal..
…

When you think about it, it gets not so pointless after all =)
The first point to think about is that the big guy is a prisoner.
Second, the boss is guarding this prisoner.
Mind blown point : the boss holds the “key” to unlock the big guy’s chains.

And you’re saying – let the “key” (hammer) just be laying down so everyone can take it

I think, and feel free to correct me, you’re having this point of view because you’re not immersed / interested in the game anymore and just want to “farm” fractals to get something. Because of that, you just want to get it done as quickly as possible.

Of course there’s this problem with big health pool, but you just have to bear with it a bit, it is already being taken care of making boss fights more interessting =)

I agree with most of this. I would only say that in dredge fractal, bomb path is not so bad. It’s logner and has higher possibility for players to die but not to hard. Personally I even like it (as a warrior I usually can plant 2 bombs each time I run to the doors) but I prefer turret path as I thing there are more drops With with Rabovich I completely agree that he has to much hp, but I would love adds numbers to stay as it is. With overall drops beeing nerfed in fotm (or more possibly DR hitting some of as hard) it gives at least something in return. For the last bosses, I would say that currently dredge suit is easier.

I agree on some points, though other points are l2p problems.

Urban: Vet Warriors just need to have their initial burst blocked by a Warrior/Guardian.
It’s a very very easy frac.

Bomb side (dredge): Easiest piece of dungeon ever. Even without Guard/Mes/Thief, you simply have your team run up, place bombs and roll away; lose aggro and repeat.

Mossman: While you’re correct that this boss is the ultimate showcase of cheesy gimmickiness, it’s also true it’s quite easy once you learn to spot him on the minimap.

Volcano:
1) Vs vet runners the team just needs proper CC.
Guardian goes wards/root, Warrior goes bolas/kick/stomp/pin down, Necro/Mes grab pull, Ranger uses knockback etc.
Very easy if you force your team to equip ALL CC.
2) Imbued doesn’t require any sort of voice comm.
As long as your team knows the priority is shield>rez>minions>DPS and they tag all minions for rallies it’s basically childproof.
Plus the Warrior trick. Very few know this (actually I don’t recall seeing anyone do this beside me…).
Basically a Warrior/Thief can go full melee on Imbued, and whirl/leap/dodge away when the boss does a “oneshot jump”, and this will lead to the boss not doing anything else than trying to oneshot the Warrior/Thief.
I know I know, this requires a skilled War/Thief, but it makes the fight a joke.
I smile when I see imbued because it’s basically me vs him, a training session for my skills.

biggest issue of fotm, the loots are kitten. Judging by how many ppl are LFG fotm high level right now, its days are over.

If you don’t have an issue with Dredge then you haven’t been doing FOTM for very long. My group running 48 got this the other day and I got a sick to my stomach feeling and literally just wanted to log off and do something else. No that it’s hard – it isn’t. It’s just an experience of mind numbing monotony. Seriously this has got to be one of the cheapest encounters in the game. Wave after mindless wave of dredge – I honestly wonder what the point of it is.

And then, you’re not even done after spending X amount of time getting there. We had 1 person leave group because he didn’t have an hour to spend on this. I was feeling the same way. In this case I had actually got off work early and was looking forward to knocking out my daily somewhat early and hoping I could do something else after completing.

I realize I have nobody to blame but myself because I know the length of time it requires to complete this one but I was hoping for a quick run. On top of that I of course didn’t get a skin.

Anet please do something about this instance. Remove the dredge after the door… just have it go bye bye. This is just too bloody long and really it’s starting to ruin my love for the game.

Chauntry.1635:

If you don’t have an issue with Dredge then you haven’t been doing FOTM for very long. My group running 48 got this the other day and I got a sick to my stomach feeling and literally just wanted to log off and do something else. No that it’s hard – it isn’t. It’s just an experience of mind numbing monotony. Seriously this has got to be one of the cheapest encounters in the game. Wave after mindless wave of dredge – I honestly wonder what the point of it is.

And then, you’re not even done after spending X amount of time getting there. We had 1 person leave group because he didn’t have an hour to spend on this. I was feeling the same way. In this case I had actually got off work early and was looking forward to knocking out my daily somewhat early and hoping I could do something else after completing.

I realize I have nobody to blame but myself because I know the length of time it requires to complete this one but I was hoping for a quick run. On top of that I of course didn’t get a skin.

Anet please do something about this instance. Remove the dredge after the door… just have it go bye bye. This is just too bloody long and really it’s starting to ruin my love for the game.

I know, at 40+ the rabisovich fight is just awful. Endless, pointless, boring waves of dredges, I always fall asleep there.

If they’re trying to accelerate the rate at which players burn out of the game – then they’ve perfected a couple of these Fractals. Honestly, Cliffside can be done fairly quickly- if you make a mistake you pay for it which is fine… but regardless of how efficient you are at Dredge you’re at the mercy of the 1000’s of pointless Dredge that spawn and spawn and spawn from the back of some Dredge Bus? Then, said “Dredge Bus” magically drives through a wall where – yep you guessed it- probably more Dredge. Or Ice Elementals? What? What’s that all about? They apparently killed the Dredge?

To be fair, the boss mechanic is actually quite good – it’s just that by the time you get there you just want it to end.

I would just like to see some time consistency with these instances. You could get Water, Swamp and Ascalon and be done in literally an hour… or on the other hand you can get Dredge, Cliffside and Asura and there goes the next 2 1/2 hours.

You’ve made some really good points and I also agree. That dredge bar requirement when you’re fighting Rabsovich is just a ridiculously unnecessarily long kiting exercise. Mossman also can be difficult for people new to Fractals because of the annoying stealth and massive damage he does in melee range. The knockback harpy thing can get really annoying too, and it’s honestly just a waste of time. People just res-rush from the bottom (and I thought the whole point of removing WPs was not res-rushing) over and over again until they’re dead.

Also would really like to see some armour repair NPC in there, maybe spawning next to the chest. Either that or get rid of repair cannisters from the gem store to make it fair on everyone. After all, it was advertised to us that stuff sold in the gem store was supposed to be mostly cosmetic, and not put some players at a much greater advantage than others.

The thing I don’t like about some of the mechanics is that some of them can be a total nightmare if your party composition does not include certain classes. I play a Guardian and I know I’m a godsend to my party with wall of reflect, shield of the avenger and sanctuary for harpies and the legendary imbued Shaman, and stand your ground and hallowed ground make the Svanir elemental source boss fight so much faster. I made my Guardian specifically to do dungeons because he’s much more supportive than my actual main, but I can’t imagine what those harpies in those jump puzzle parts would be like for a party with no guardians.

You made some really good points, but those fractals aren’t as hard as you describe them (for example shamans in grawl fractal having too much health, grawl fractal is fine as it is)
I totally agree on mossman and cliffside arm seals because they are just horrible.
Also the loot is horrible since a certain update and doing fractals isnt worth doing anymore except you want ascended items or, like me, the weapons.
I’m on lvl 44 and completed all fractals atleast once on 48 just for info.

I read through it all, but I won’t touch on your opinions for each individual fractal. But I will say I 100% agree about feeling unrewarded for the hardest content in the game. Whenever I run into one of those long strings that can take 1.5+hrs and get kitten for loot, I pretty much just alt+f4 and walk away. It’s that frustrating.

It seems criminal that someone can do 48-50 lv fractals daily, and come out emptyhanded or be handed rings and tokens you long since do not need.

The RNG on fractal skins is ridiculous. 600 fractals completed, doing 38-48 daily chests every day, and still only 6 skins, one of which is a repeat and one underwater.

Why can’t these fractals award ascended backpieces? Why do you need to pay 70 gold to have the proper AR for 30+?

I mean, seriously, 250 ectos is ridiculous, they said they were looking into it, and 3 months later still nothing has been done.

What did they do instead? Oh, they broke the Mossman. He spams stealth now, can hit WHILE stealthed so you can’t even dodge it, and even throws his agony while stealthed.

The grawl shaman is well designed. It requires group coordination and execution. The mossman just cheeses with stealth, so you can’t even know when to dodge an attack he’s doing while in stealth because he’s IN stealth to begin with. And you can’t even melee him, because unlike the ettin his melee is much faster and takes off half your health.

The worst part is that he keeps teleporting so it’s not like you can damage him while stealthed with aoe (most of which is stationary), and what that means is that DPS’ing him down at 48 is a long, annoying process just because of a mechanic that aims to needlessly lengthen the encounter without adding anything related to execution. Everytime the boss stealths, there’s not much that can be done besides run in circles until he appears 10 seconds after only to disappear again in 5 seconds.

I mean, come on.

Same with the kitten harpies. If you don’t carry 2-3 guardians stacking reflections, you might as well accept some people will enter defeated because not only do the harpies spam knokcdown, but they also rapidfire anyone into downstate like a freight train and while you’re knocked off a platform they autoattack you midair and you appear defeated with damaged armor. And god forbid you try to jump into another platform while trying to dodge an orb, because some harpy will cripple you midjump and make you fail the jump after you already made it.