Guild Wars 2

It makes me sad.
Back in the days when the game was still young, you could enter dungeons with any class and even non lvl 80 characters.
Nowdays it all has come down to lvl 80 only and warriors and guardians.
Sometimes you see an elementalist or a mesmer when they are usefull to have in certain dungeon paths, but appart from that…
The other fore classes are unwanted. Eigther nobody joins your group or you get kicked and if you are lucky you are merely tolerated.
I haven’t seen any group without warrior/guardian in ages. Sometimes you even get a direct hit by reading in a group description: “No class X or Y”
We don’t want you, go away, your class is garbage. So to speak.
But if that wasn’t bad enough, even if you get in with someone, you don’t play those dungeon paths anymore.
All you do is “stack”.
You stack in this corner, you stack in that corner. You just stay there spamming you skills. No tatics, no evading, no movement or any kind of fun mechanics, it isn’t even a fight anymore.
Sure, it if fast and it works with those guardians, warriors and all the nice support and stuff they bring. But it is BORING AS HELL.
Everyone just wants his loot as fast as anyway possible, actually playing the game and having fun doing it isn’t important anymore.
Back in the day I was having fun doing those dungeons and stuff.
We weren’t always very fast, we failed quite some time, it was frustrating from time to time.
But I also remember all the fun I had with people fighting together, challenging, but still rewarding.
Sure I also want my gold and I know doing the same path(s) every day can get quiet tedious, but sometimes it would be SO refreshing to do the stuff again the way it was once meant to be done.
Fight the mobs properly, use my skills I have aquired and just have a nice time together, without worrying about beeing to slow or not doing enough damge.
A few weeks ago I thought at least in fractals I don’t have to really stack. But apperently I was wrong.
More and more groups seem to stack now ervery mob possible. Molten and aetherblade fractal beeing very prominent ones.
It’s a really frustrating development the people playing gw2 took. And it really ruined the fun I once had playing it…sigh

Instead of utilizing the official forums to post unfounded complaints that most people don’t want to read, my honest advice from you is to start a blog where you can write things like this to your heart’s content.

No other classes have their LFGs filled? I’m guessing you are playing on NA, right? Because yes, in EU there’s plenty of elitist LFGs with “We want X and Y only”, but if the dungeon is popular I’ve never experienced the LFG not filling up when you make one yourself.
Popular dungeons: CoF, CoE, SE, AC
Dungeons that are quite unpopular but I never seen “we need X” on them: TA, CM
Dungeons that are not run as often as they’re sold and I can justify needing X: Arah.

My two favorite characters that I mostly run are a necro and an elementalist and I had no problems getting into dungeons. If there’s no LFG that would want me, I make one myself

Really? I had no problems pugging AC1/3 and CoF 1 & 2 last night on my thief.

Nothing we can do really about the stacking technique, chalk that up to poor design and lack of desire to fix it on arenanet’s part. But that has nothing to do with heavy classes, really.

You can always find a guild that runs dungeons the way you like to if pugs aren’t working out for ya.

Stacking can be viewed as “putting yourself at strategic position”. It has it purpose, a well thought one.

Weird because the last time i checked the meta right now is like

1 Warrior, 3 Ele, 1 Mesmer or
2 Warrior, 2 Ele, 1 Guardian or
1 Warrior, 3 Ele, 1 Guardian or ….

I don’t see SOO MUCH HEAVY THAT ANY OTHER PROFESSION CAN’T JOIN. Back in the days the meta was 4 Warriors and 1 Mesmer, but the community now know much more how each profession work.

Right now only Necromancer and Ranger are view as bad in PvE. While Warrior, Guardian, Ele and Mesmer receive most of the love.

Funny. All classes still do all PvE content so the OP is exaggerating a bit.

No.

My ele, necro, thief and ranger, who run dungeons everyday, on META, is full of your kittens.
As said a billion times,
1) create your own LFG,
2) specify your rules
3) stop being kitten.

Icewolfnector.1487:

You stack in this corner, you stack in that corner. You just stay there spamming you skills. No tatics, no evading, no movement or any kind of fun mechanics, it isn’t even a fight anymore.

No.

Also, no to everything else you said.

Sounds like a description of… nothing.

CoF p1 is all warrior with 1 mesmer, everything else all heavies? Lol. Inefficient.

OP,

You logged in the forums then typed a long rant, but you can’t even bother to do something as simple as using the in-game LFG tool and make your own party labeled “no stack, all welcome” ?

Well if you cant help yourself then no one is going to do the job for you.

Thaddeus.4891:

Weird because the last time i checked the meta right now is like

1 Warrior, 3 Ele, 1 Mesmer or
2 Warrior, 2 Ele, 1 Guardian or
1 Warrior, 3 Ele, 1 Guardian or ….

I don’t see SOO MUCH HEAVY THAT ANY OTHER PROFESSION CAN’T JOIN. Back in the days the meta was 4 Warriors and 1 Mesmer, but the community now know much more how each profession work.

Right now only Necromancer and Ranger are view as bad in PvE. While Warrior, Guardian, Ele and Mesmer receive most of the love.

Meta combinations actually often include Ranger because of spotter + frost spirit. Thieves as well for vuln stacking + high dps + stealth (+ fgs blink), depending on the path.

When you say no one joins your team if you advertise your own party allowing any profession to join is a lie. You. Are. Not. The. Only. One. Necro/Ranger/Engi. In. This. Game.
Whenever I play my ranger doesn’t take me more than 2 minutes to fill a team. Takes longer when you claim specific builds/professions.
Whenever I joined a team with my Ranger and Necro I was never kicked. Use some thinking before joining a party, you can easily tell the teams that will allow you to stay or kick you. If you join a team that states “Guard only” you deserve not one, but 10 kicks. If you join a team that states “SPED RSUH ZERK ONLY 5K++++AP GOGOGOO” /Average dumb noobs adv -mistakes included-/ it’s your own risk.
It’s useless to complain in here. Act smarter than them, you’ll run dungeons and have no problems. They say no x profession? You make your own party saying “no warriors”.
But if the problem is, that people playing “less good professions” with less good builds than the meta, claim to join a party of Guard/War/Mes zerk players and would never join people with as less good builds and professions, there the problem comes and 10000000 rants on the forum appears.

So which class you play? Ranger or necro?

I bet he is a ranger, lots of ranger players really hate stacking. I see that players that play gw2 for long time have more difficult with the stacking/dps meta, newer players usually learn that kind of stuff fast, but experienced players are more stubborn and dont accept changes.

They say that stacking is not fun, but failling at burrows room in ac p1 or at the explosive golem’s room in CoE p1 was not fun either, nowadays its very very difficult for me to get a pug group that simply can’t complete a dungeon path, like it used to happen back in 2012.

Why would you want to join a Heavy only LFG anyway. Sounds like a slow run to me.

People normally ask for heavy comps since it either easier or they are stuck months back in the old meta, its certainly not better especially when you look at the damage of none heavy classes like theives and ele’s

The other night I saw an LFG for HotW path 1 that read “Super Speed Run. Max DPS. WARRIORS AND GUARDIANS ONLY.”

I laughed for about an hour.

People who exclude certain professions in their LFG’s are usually terrible because they have no idea what each profession can provide to a team. That said, I think many of the issues you’ve described could be resolved if people were just more respectful of LFG listings or in your case were more proactive about forming their own groups. When I join a “p1” group with nothing else attached I don’t go in expecting an efficient run, but if I join a “exp speedrun” group or something along those lines I absolutely expect everyone in that group to pull their own weight (which means running meta builds and knowing the dungeon mechanics).

I also disagree with the idea that stacking requires no tactics or skill, because when I do living story content in the open world I always see people not making use of their class mechanics or even simple game mechanics (e.g. dodging, rallying). Do you think the guardians who don’t provide aegis or put up walls of reflection could get away with spamming staff autoattack in a dungeon setting where stacking is used? No, because people who don’t make the most of their profession in a 5-player setting where individual contributions are significant contribute to wipes and this is especially true in stacking situations. Have you ever tried playing a s/(d/f) lh elementalist in a PUG? Because I do so often and let me just say that it requires me to wring every last bit of utility from my profession to avoid seeing the floor on a regular basis.

Icewolfnector.1487:

It makes me sad.
Sure, it if fast and it works with those guardians, warriors and all the nice support and stuff they bring. But it is BORING AS HELL.
Everyone just wants his loot as fast as anyway possible, actually playing the game and having fun doing it isn’t important anymore.

What makes you think that isn’t fun for some people? I think of dungeons as obstacle courses. The first few times you do them sure it’s fun to explore the different mechanics, but once you’ve completed them what more is there to do but improve your time and do things as quickly and efficiently as possible? Personally I find it fun to chase my records.

a 5x Cleric/Dire MM Necro comp is the best for every dungeon.

In all seriousness though, you don’t ever want more than 1 warrior or 1 guardian. Warriors are there for the banners, guardians throw down reflects and blinds and the other 3 spots are filled by Elementalists and a mesmer/thief.

So yes, while warriors and guardians are good in groups, they definetly aren’t top tier. I bet warriors wouldn’t even be taken in meta teams if they didn’t have banners.

Heavies aren’t really the problem. What is the problem is stacking as you pointed out.

It makes the game one-dimensional, and variety of strategy goes out of the window.

I wish I had more to say about the matter at hand, but this is all the effort I’m willing to put.

Icewolfnector.1487:

It makes me sad.
Back in the days when the game was still young, you could enter dungeons with any class and even non lvl 80 characters.

You can still do that.

Icewolfnector.1487:

Nowdays it all has come down to lvl 80 only and warriors and guardians.

No it was like that since day one. Warriors and Guardians have dominated PVE since the game was released, and the balance team has yet to balance it out.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Icewolfnector.1487:

It makes me sad.
Back in the days when the game was still young, you could enter dungeons with any class and even non lvl 80 characters.

You can still do that.

Icewolfnector.1487:

Nowdays it all has come down to lvl 80 only and warriors and guardians.

No it was like that since day one. Warriors and Guardians have dominated PVE since the game was released, and the balance team has yet to balance it out.

Balance what? Anyone with any clue knows that there is no reason to consistently bring more than 1 warrior and guardian. The average pug is just slow on the uptake it seems.

it is not the heavies it is the silly sPVP balance that ruins all that is good in PVE.
also: defiant.

I don t have much will to repost the Whole thread with pictures of LFG showing only heavy/warriors everywhere….

But i already done that 3 times and it clearly shown guard/war is still meta.

How many party are willing to play without guardian and warrior/S?
How many party won t care to go without an ele?

I don t really see any of the latter outside AC.

Until pugs get less dead eles/thieves, less max range bear bows, less I don’t know what I’m doing engies and less condi-tank necros, war/guard/mesmer will always reign even if it is years behind meta.

Runs taking longer than it should be, is similarly boring as hell. Usually I don’t mind it, but most other people are not as patient.

Lalangamena.3694:

also: defiant.

points to Bjarl the Rampager

Defiant is pretty necessary.

Flissy.4093:

Lalangamena.3694:

also: defiant.

points to Bjarl the Rampager

Defiant is pretty necessary.

TBH, I’d love a slightly different take on Defiant. If I were to design Defiant, I’d do it like this:

Every stack of Defiant gives a 20% chance of the mob being immune to a CC (including blind) that hits it, so at 5 stacks it’s totally immune to any CC. When that mob is hit with a CC or blind, it gains 1 stack of Defiant. For every 10 seconds that it goes without being hit by a CC/blind, its Defiant stack goes down by 1.

Dunno, in my mind I think it’d promote smarter use of CCs. Additionally, it would mean that blind has a higher effectiveness rate so long as you’re applying it intelligently.

I dont think so. Theres more coordination in stripping defiant stacks ready for an interrupt than just waiting for them to go down and hoping the boss doesnt do the attack you want to interrupt before you can guarantee cc. Your idea is like timegating CC. We have enough timegating I think.

I personally think defiant is fine the way it is. I would however change unshakeable. Mainly so blinds are 10% chance to be applied, so if you see the blind icon on the boss you know for certain it will work.

Spoj The Second.7680:

I dont think so. Theres more coordination in stripping defiant stacks ready for an interrupt than just waiting for them to go down and hoping the boss doesnt do the attack you want to interrupt before you can guarantee cc. Your idea is like timegating CC. We have enough timegating I think.

I personally think defiant is fine the way it is. I would however change unshakeable. Mainly so blinds are 10% chance to be applied, so if you see the blind icon on the boss you know for certain it will work.

I can dig that. I do feel annoyed when my blinds just don’t work.

Flissy.4093:

Lalangamena.3694:

also: defiant.

points to Bjarl the Rampager

Defiant is pretty necessary.

Not sure how defiant is necessary outside open world bosses ,
it is not that i can chain stun or chain kick the boss for the whole fight, and even if i have five warriors with bull rush, it is on 40 seconds CD, and the boss should use stability against it.

and 10% miss on blind is overkill….

you sure as hell can, with multiple ice bows/sanctuary against wall/thief. obviously not permanent, but each of these skills alone is enough to cc bjarl for long enough that you can deal heavy damage to him.

LordByron.8369:

I don t have much will to repost the Whole thread with pictures of LFG showing only heavy/warriors everywhere….

But i already done that 3 times and it clearly shown guard/war is still meta.

How many party are willing to play without guardian and warrior/S?
How many party won t care to go without an ele?

I don t really see any of the latter outside AC.

Really, Really?? Do you care to understand why at least? Pug don’t want the best team, they want the team that have the best chance of having a smooth run.

5 Ele can make the dungeon freaking easy, by killing most mobs faster than anything else. But they are so squishy and really hard to master if you don’t have the skill. On the other side Guardian and Warrior and not better, but easier to play right, making them really attractive to pugs. That is not bad design, that a common sense choice. I want the best team, i’ll have 1 warriors, maybe 1 guardian for some path. I want a pug group with a good chance of finishing the path in a small amount of time? I’ll go with 3-4 heavies.

What is wrong with that??

Thaddeus.4891:

LordByron.8369:

I don t have much will to repost the Whole thread with pictures of LFG showing only heavy/warriors everywhere….

But i already done that 3 times and it clearly shown guard/war is still meta.

How many party are willing to play without guardian and warrior/S?
How many party won t care to go without an ele?

I don t really see any of the latter outside AC.

Really, Really?? Do you care to understand why at least? Pug don’t want the best team, they want the team that have the best chance of having a smooth run.

5 Ele can make the dungeon freaking easy, by killing most mobs faster than anything else. But they are so squishy and really hard to master if you don’t have the skill. On the other side Guardian and Warrior and not better, but easier to play right, making them really attractive to pugs. That is not bad design, that a common sense choice. I want the best team, i’ll have 1 warriors, maybe 1 guardian for some path. I want a pug group with a good chance of finishing the path in a small amount of time? I’ll go with 3-4 heavies.

What is wrong with that??

This means there’s nothing wrong with the classes. It just means most players are flawed and can’t handle eles/thieves.

Players are not flawed…

Some players just avoid any possible discussion just hiding behind their ability to avoid base mechanics….

The point is a single attack of a necro/ele NPC in AC can kill any dps ele.
Kohler melee standard attack will kill any ele in few seconds and you won t never ever have enough evades ….

But since you can drop 5 fgs and kill it in 5 seconds due to a glitch…..all is ok.

Then you never pugs because you simply CAN T and comes on the forum telling other players they are bad while the real situation is you can t really play without proper party comp OR tactic negating every single game mechanic.

While any player with little experience would instead discuss about cast, aftercast and reaction Windows.

I think I can fairly accurately counter the OP on this – I’ve been playing for about a month, give or take, so I don’t have nostalgia for the game at launch.

I’ve recently been finishing up my dm title and have been pugging some of the less trodden dungeon paths. Almost all of my runs had a necro, half or more had rangers, and I saw a few engis. I think over all engi is just an underplayed class – most that do roll engi stick to wvw/pvp, afaik. There was almost always a warrior, but rarely more then one. Guardians were about as common as any other class.

Also, unless you are talking about the heavily farmed dungeons (AC, CoE), stacking is not really the norm. I ran d/f ele through CM 2, TA aether, SE 2, CoF 3, HotW 2/3, and arah 1. It was essential, because pugs wont stack, they wont bring reflects or aegis or blinds, they just run in and dps. Ironically, a lot more like the zerk elites you describe then what actually goes on in organized runs.

I really smh at how people get the idea that pugs wont except certain classes. The only thing I can think is they spend a lot more time on the forum reading qq then they actually spend pugging.

SorrowsEmbrace.8120:

II really smh at how people get the idea that pugs wont except certain classes.

i can help here…
Log into the game open lfg and start reading…

In few seconds you will realize how they get that idea…

LordByron.8369:

SorrowsEmbrace.8120:

II really smh at how people get the idea that pugs wont except certain classes.

i can help here…
Log into the game open lfg and start reading…

In few seconds you will realize how they get that idea…

Yes, and has been pointed out before, the posts that linger the longest are the ones that have the strictest requirements – so that is what you are most likely to encounter any time you open the lfg. Open up your own post with just the path number and you will have a group in a few minutes.

There are people who require certain classes. But you will have no trouble getting a pug group on any class if you are even a tiny bit patient. If you are upset that strict groups exist at all…that’s a bit unreasonable.

LordByron.8369:

SorrowsEmbrace.8120:

II really smh at how people get the idea that pugs wont except certain classes.

i can help here…
Log into the game open lfg and start reading…

In few seconds you will realize how they get that idea…

Again

Really, Really?? Do you care to understand why at least?

SorrowEmbrace say it right. The post you see on the LFG are usually those that stay there longer because less people enter them. If you see 5 post about +5K AP, full Zerker Warrior/Guardian. During the 10min that they stay up, maybe 50 other post filled up. These post make up a really small part of the game. I’m a full DPS advocate. I always talk about the meta and how it far better. I slowly push all my friend toward that. But still i don’t ask that in my post. If i want a full DPS group i ask my guild not pugs.

So…you admit that there are plenty of non-descript lfg posts to join, but you are still bothered that some small percentage of people (as you admit yourself) ask for zerker? You think that everyone should just get a guild, and only ever just put the path number in lfg?

I have 1.5k ap. Does it annoy me when I see “5k+ only” posts? A little. But honestly it doesn’t effect me at all. They could say “Read: Purple weapons= auto kick i hate purple” and it would be fine. It’s an “unreasonable” requirement by some standards, but it only effects the people who choose to join. If it is easy to get a group for any path (which having just pugged the most annoying paths at ungodly hours of the morning, I can say for sure it is) then there is nothing to complain about.

SorrowsEmbrace.8120:

So…you admit that there are plenty of non-descript lfg posts to join, but you are still bothered that some small percentage of people (as you admit yourself) ask for zerker? You think that everyone should just get a guild, and only ever just put the path number in lfg?

I have 1.5k ap. Does it annoy me when I see “5k+ only” posts? A little. But honestly it doesn’t effect me at all. They could say “Read: Purple weapons= auto kick i hate purple” and it would be fine. It’s an “unreasonable” requirement by some standards, but it only effects the people who choose to join. If it is easy to get a group for any path (which having just pugged the most annoying paths at ungodly hours of the morning, I can say for sure it is) then there is nothing to complain about.

Are you speaking to me? Because i have no problem with any LFG post. I’m saying the same thing as you btw.

LordByron.8369:

Players are not flawed…

Stopped reading here; laughter made it too hard to continue typing.

Now, seriously, most of the players’ ideology is so terribly flawed whether they realise it or not.
Take the constant complaint threads in the BLTP section as an example. Most of the threads there suggest ideas so clueless that they would destroy gold’s purchasing power to the point of having to do as Merchant NPCs recommend and learn to barter.

I take it that some people make suggestions with the best of their intentions (though most of them are motivated by laziness or spite), but isn’t the road to hell precisely paved by those? When it comes to game design it isn’t the intent that matters.

Tree.3916:

Instead of utilizing the official forums to post unfounded complaints that most people don’t want to read, my honest advice from you is to start a blog where you can write things like this to your heart’s content.

First of all, you are neither a dev nor a moderator in this forum, so you have no right to tell me what I can and what I can’t write here.
Furthermore if people don’t want to read it, than why are you here?
What about making your own blog and complain there about posts you don’t like instead of this forum?

Sorry, but I don’t get why all of this hostile stuff here is really necessary. Sometimes people can get carried away by there emotions, exaggerate and stuff, but different people also make different experiences. There isn’t always only one truth.

Onwards…
I have to admit, maybe I exaggerated a bit in some points. But I was just so frustrated yesterday, because the last days I played, it was so difficult for me finding a proper group and everyone everywhere just stacked. Even in fractals, where I thought it wasn’t so popular like in AC.
It took me ages to form a party when I tried to make my own in fractals. Some people joined here and there but it just took to long and they left again and again.
Then I was kicked from a dungeon group where I was asked if I couldn’t change to a warrior or guardian.
Of course I don’t join those groups which say “full zerker speed run heavys only”.
All that just made me furious and I had to get this of my chest as it was kind of bothering me for some time now since I started to play actively again.

So now, why the title about “heavys”?
Mainly because they really make the whole stacking so common and successful. From what I have experienced it doesn’t really work with medium and light armour groups.
I mean, it’s not like I don’t like warrior or guardian, I also play them myself but the stacking stuff with them just annoyed me more and more.

Battledoll.1803:

Stacking can be viewed as “putting yourself at strategic position”. It has it purpose, a well thought one.

You have a Point there I agree and I’m sure there are people who still have a lot of fun with stacking, I never ruled that out. It just isn’t for me anymore.

Well I guess I just have to find a guild that has no problems with my fickle playing habits XD

The people asking for heavies only are severely gimping their own party’s potential DPS, I had a good laugh when I saw a 4-warrior party that advertised speedrun.

Thaddeus.4891:

Are you speaking to me? Because i have no problem with any LFG post. I’m saying the same thing as you btw.

Ah, I misunderstood, looking back I see how i misread your post.

Icewolfnector.1487:

Tree.3916:

Instead of utilizing the official forums to post unfounded complaints that most people don’t want to read, my honest advice from you is to start a blog where you can write things like this to your heart’s content.

First of all, you are neither a dev nor a moderator in this forum, so you have no right to tell me what I can and what I can’t write here.
Furthermore if people don’t want to read it, than why are you here?
What about making your own blog and complain there about posts you don’t like instead of this forum?

Sorry, but I don’t get why all of this hostile stuff here is really necessary. Sometimes people can get carried away by there emotions, exaggerate and stuff, but different people also make different experiences. There isn’t always only one truth.

Onwards…
I have to admit, maybe I exaggerated a bit in some points. But I was just so frustrated yesterday, because the last days I played, it was so difficult for me finding a proper group and everyone everywhere just stacked. Even in fractals, where I thought it wasn’t so popular like in AC.
It took me ages to form a party when I tried to make my own in fractals. Some people joined here and there but it just took to long and they left again and again.
Then I was kicked from a dungeon group where I was asked if I couldn’t change to a warrior or guardian.
Of course I don’t join those groups which say “full zerker speed run heavys only”.
All that just made me furious and I had to get this of my chest as it was kind of bothering me for some time now since I started to play actively again.

So now, why the title about “heavys”?
Mainly because they really make the whole stacking so common and successful. From what I have experienced it doesn’t really work with medium and light armour groups.
I mean, it’s not like I don’t like warrior or guardian, I also play them myself but the stacking stuff with them just annoyed me more and more.

Battledoll.1803:

Stacking can be viewed as “putting yourself at strategic position”. It has it purpose, a well thought one.

You have a Point there I agree and I’m sure there are people who still have a lot of fun with stacking, I never ruled that out. It just isn’t for me anymore.

Well I guess I just have to find a guild that has no problems with my fickle playing habits XD

Many of the forum regulars here play on a much higher skill level than the pugs you’re seeing in the lfg. They know the game and the mechanics much better. Ele’s are very sought after for any real speed run. Thieves and Mesmers are great for many paths. Stacking warriors is generally a no no for the fastest runs. And many real speed runs don’t include a guardian. Granted, these are optimal conditions.

Sure, there are lots of heavy only lfg’s. Partly because those stay on the lfg longer since they take longer to fill and partly because they don’t really know what constitutes as optimal. Personally, if I pugged more often, I’d exclude guardians because most are a horrible drain on the team. But it’s still remarkably easy to find groups with no prerequisite or to start your own.

Saying heavies ruined the fun in your title is kind asking for things to get heated.

You would be surprised just how much the challenge in this game has diminished because of the stacking phenomenon. Just yesterday I went to COE with a pug group and they were all completely wiped by alpha about 3 times in a row because Alpha was moving more than usual and left the corner a lot (I survived all three times after seeing the group die extremely quickly and running away), until at one point I said: Let me kill it. They agreed, and Alpha was dead in about 3 minutes.

Thing is, most people want to make believe that stacking is a sound strategy, when in reality it may not be so. I know some things are best to stack to, but if it weakens your individual skills and abilities to adapt to random situations, then whats the point?

Aden Celeste.3650:

You would be surprised just how much the challenge in this game has diminished because of the stacking phenomenon. Just yesterday I went to COE with a pug group and they were all completely wiped by alpha about 3 times in a row because Alpha was moving more than usual and left the corner a lot (I survived all three times after seeing the group die extremely quickly and running away), until at one point I said: Let me kill it. They agreed, and Alpha was dead in about 3 minutes.

Thing is, most people want to make believe that stacking is a sound strategy, when in reality it may not be so. I know some things are best to stack to, but if it weakens your individual skills and abilities to adapt to random situations, then whats the point?

So, basically stacking is the most optimal strat when people know how to do so properly.