Guild Wars 2

WARNING: THIS IS GOING TO BE A LOT OF TEXT

So, after having played excessive amounts of Fractals of the mists, I’ve decided I can finally compile a good deal of my thoughts on it and it’s various difficulties all in one place, by each individual fractal. This will be done in alphabetic order (save for the Solid Ocean which will be done last). I’d also like to preface that this dungeon has some of my favorite visual design in the game. Sections like the dark forest in the Snowblind Fractal are gorgeous and should be the new standard of design quality.

Aquatic Ruins Fractal

Whenever I see this fractal show up on higher difficulties, I’m typically grateful, because it is incredibly easy compared to the others. For the most part, the design is fine. The first time I saw the Dolphin section, I cracked up especially hard, and it’s still not quite lost it’s charm. It can be frustrating effectively getting 2-shot by the krait, but since one person can reach the checkpoint and get the rest there via respawn, it’s not too bad.

Generally, the Deep Water section isn’t too bad either. It’s mostly dependent on how good your team is at staying together. If a player with light gets ahead or the party becomes fractured, it’s pretty easy for the whole group to get literally devoured. I’d take the dolphin over it most days though, because it’s more forgiving on a less coordinated party, and you never know what you’ll get with a PUG.

The boss fight for this fractal sucks. It’s easy, don’t get me wrong, but it’s also incredibly boring. I remember reading from a dev post on the forums that the dungeons designer had been drinking when he came up with the dolphin section. I suspect that he was hung over when he developed the “Jellyfish Beast” (criminy, even the name is boring). It’s very hard to die on this fight, even on Fractal difficulty 20+ it’s possible to virtually afk. The overall problem is the boss has WAY too much HP and does very little that’s actually interesting. The aspect of kiting the boss into the cages doesn’t really do that much extra damage either, it’s simply a method of salving the sheer boredom this fight induces. I once, on Fractal Difficulty 16, LITERALLY fell asleep for 3 minutes on this boss, and was perfectly fine when I woke up. The boss is also visually boring, being a completely unaltered regular jellyfish of larger size. ArenaNet, you can do MUCH better than this, we both know that.

Cliffside Fractal

This is probably one of my favorite fractals. I affectionately remember the first time I ran it, in which no one had any clue on how to damage the seals with the hammer. The mechanic for the dungeon (the hammer and it’s ever increasing penalties to the wielder) is interesting, and the dungeon is visually stunning. Even conceptually, the dungeon is very cool, and makes me deeply curious about the nature and origin of the chained colossus. The fights can be difficult, but are all very manageable once you figure out the proper strategy for them, even on higher difficulty levels.

I only really have one gripe about this fractal: There’s no alternate pathing. The other fractals usually have some built in way to mix it up to keep things fresh, but the Cliffside Fractal lacks this, and it gets old decently quickly if it keeps coming up.

Snowblind Fractal

For the most part, this is a very enjoyable fractal. Visually, I consider it to be one of the most stunning, particularly with blizzard effects and the darkened forest. It’s something you see very little of in games, and I’d love to see more of it. The Frostbite mechanic keeps you on your toes, and it’s always important to make sure there’s warmth you can get back to. The first section reminds me of The Wall from game of thrones, a massive construct of sheer ice, and I’ve goofed up and called the Sons of Svanir “Wildlings” on more than one occasion.

Most of the fights in the Fractal seem pretty well done, but can be very unforgiving on higher difficulty levels. This is fine, save for what I consider to be one thing: The absolutley absurd range on the AoE knockback of the Ice Elemental (excellent visual design on that, btw, love to see things mixed up). It’s OK during the fight, but to be constantly getting knocked back and over on your kitten as you try to REACH the boss is pretty obnoxious and doesn’t contribute to the difficulty of the fight at all. Just to toss it in again, I love when it casts you into the blizzard. Fantastic way to mix up the fight.

The final boss isn’t too bad in either direction. In fact, It’s one of the easiest bosses in Fractals, but unlike the Boredom monster known as the Jellyfish Beast, the fight keeps you on your toes and forces you to pay attention. Much like the Cliffside Fractal, I just wish this had multiple paths to keep it more interesting on multiple playthroughs.

Swampland Fractal

This is a fractal I’m always happy to see. This is probably because I am a Mesmer though, and may not echo the sentiments of other players. Overall, I consider the experience to be short but sweet. I like the nature of the first area, trying to navigate a swamp full of traps while you try to relocate the wisps and the swamp changes around you. It’s pretty reasonable too, once you’ve learned the location or the tripwires (or if you have a Mesmer who can portal everyone and make the first part a joke). My only big gripe on this part of the fractal is the tripwires can be very very hard to see if you’re running the game on low graphical settings. If you’re running subsample, you better have them memorized because you won’t see them coming.

The Bosses are pretty enjoyable. Mossman is the harder of the two, but not by a significant margin. Both fights seem to emphasize movement and close attention to the behavior of the boss (both telegraph their moves). This is great, it allows an attentive single player to make a large difference in the fight (with a well placed reflection). On the higher difficulties, this is magnified, as it should be. It becomes more and more important to see what attacks are coming and pay attention to where you are standing, which is the proper way to scale difficulty.

Underground Facility Fractal

Whether or not I like this fractal is entirely dependent on the group I am with. This fractal is best described as unforgiving. It only takes one bad player to goof things up, and make the entire fractal drag out. This wouldn’t be so bad if the fractal didn’t stand out as taking SO much longer than any of the others. From standing on the buttons, to placing bombs, to the final boss, all it really takes is one goof-up player to make everyone else miserable. I can say I’ve been fortunate enough for this not to happen often, but it’s still an issue.

This is an issue that heads straight for the bosses. One lousy player can wreck the fight, and it is unforgiving, particularly the Mining Suit. Don’t get me wrong, I love a hard fight. But the healing generally just makes the fight drag out if there’s a screw up in your party. I will grudgingly admit that little needs changing in this fractal, since it’s so heavily dependent on player skill. But it would be nice if its length was brought more in line with the others.

Urban Battlegrounds Fractal

I mind this fractal a lot less than I did when first started running it. Like a few of the others, it’s entirely dependent on how familiar you are with it. Once everyone knows the paths to run and what they’re doing, it’s pretty simple. I thought I’d have more to say on this fractal, but even on higher difficulty levels it’s more or less the same. The changing paths through the streets are basically irrelevant because everyone takes the shortcut via the walls.

The Boss is pretty hard once agony kicks in. It’s pretty important to stay on the move. But really, all I take away from this fight is how TERRIBLE the voice acting for the boss is. Generally speaking, I feel like humans have the worst voice acting in the game, and this guy is a shining example. “YOU WILL NEVER CONQUER ASCALON. DURRRRRHGHGIGAJFLEAJFEHHGGGGGHGHGHGH.” It sounds like he’s choking to death on his on phlegm.

Volcanic Fractal

Another fractal I quite enjoy. It does seem to, however, get disproportionately harder than the other fractals as the difficulty level increases. Early on, it’s almost a joke. Once you get up towards 20+, it takes on a very different feel. Mob damage is pretty massive, and the boss becomes particularly vicious when the lava elementals pop out. It’s not a bad thing per-se, just rather jarring. The rolling magmatic rocks are a cool addition, but rezzing someone who dies there is a nightmare and can drive a group to wipe entirely just to move past it.

The boss is fairly easy on lower levels, though I do quite like the mechanic of constant movement. Makes you consider pretty carefully what skills and traits you take with you. On higher levels, it’s a pretty concerted team effort, since surviving the lava elementals becomes tantamount to beating the boss.

Uncategorized Fractal

I used to love this place. I really did. It was my favorite fractal. Sure, it has no alternate paths, but it was so funny and clever and pretty that I really didn’t care. BUT NOW YOU BRING ME NOTHING BUT PAIN. Seriously. Pre-difficulty level 10, this place is enjoyable. After 10, it’s frustrating. Not hard, frustrating. There’s a huge difference, ArenaNet. Things that are difficult can be mitigated through experience and player skill. Frustrating things can not and make your players agitated and miserable. That’s what the harpies with AOE Knock-back are. Frustrating. You can’t see the red rings on the tiny platforms, and the fall inconsistently either downs or outright kills you. Even at fractal level 20+, I see players falling ALL THE TIME. It makes the kitten fractal take ages compared to the others, while adding no true difficulty to be differentiated by skill, and certainly adding no enjoyment.

The bosses, on the other hand, are fine. I like the changes to Old Tom and the Asura. I demands the player pay more attention and coordinate with the other players. That’s what good scaling should be like. Not frustrating invisible AOE knockbacks.

Solid Ocean

This is without a doubt, for me, the most gorgeous fractal. I loved the jade ocean in the previous game, and to see it again with the new graphics is glorious. I can’t get enough of the place. I can only pray that we get to see the jade ocean again in an expansion. There isn’t much to say about the first part, since it’s pretty short.

The fight with the Jade Maw is awesome. It tests both your ability to pay attention to yourself and your team. Once agony kicks in, it can be pretty brutal, but it doesn’t change the fight too much as long as people have some infusion (at fractal 20, I saw one unfortunate die every time it came out because he hadn’t gotten a ring yet). I once even 3-manned this fight after we lost two players. It’s a good sign of how well designed the fight is. It can suck when you’re downed near a tentacle and the knockback ruins every attempt to get you up from downed, but that’s fairly minor.

My only real gripe is I wish there were more boss fractals like this. The other fractals are constantly mixing it up. Why not have more world boss fractals to mix in? It’d be fun, and a chance to show off what visually spectacular ideas the dev teams can come up with. I love these huge epic boss fights, and mixing a few more in would keep the ending of the even fractals more intense, epic, and varied.

If I were to list from favorite to least favorite, it would probably be something like this:
Solid Ocean
Cliffside
Swampland
Volcanic
Snowblind
Urban Battlegrounds
Aquatic Ruins (Specifically, the boredom monster)
Underground Facility
Uncategorized (Only on difficulty 10+)

I’d love to see what other players think, and please post your favorite to least favorite fractals!

Awesome dissertation, agree on quite a bit but I think you’re holding back on some other issues, my biggest problem in the underground battlegrounds is that the mobs have so much hp that I’m falling asleep while we bash SLOOOOOWLY through wave after wave, and then players mucking up the kiting on the suit made it nigh impossible to complete for the group but at least stopped me falling asleep due to the combination of tiresome chaos and horribly padded hp pools

PS. I’m ACTUALLY starting to doze off, that’s not a figure of speech, lead eyelids set in halfway through some fractals.

With the underground fractal, I have fewer problems with mob HP and more with just the sheer number of mobs which spawn, particularly for the bomb placement/mining cannon. It’s very normal to see a party wipe right after getting the door open because of the number of mobs that spawn. Doesn’t make the fractal harder, just makes sure that everyone dies after achieving the goal. Frustrating design, for sure.