Guild Wars 2

Obstructed!

Yeah this is extremely threadworthy, ty for your input!

“Reroll” or “Reroll swamp” or “Nope” would be the things I most frequently utter.

“You’ll never conquer Ascalon! We’ll die first!” (Okay then. Die.)

“You’ll never conquer Ascalon! Rrrrraaaaaaahhhh!” (Ascalon’s been conquered, you fool.)

“Obstructed!” (Hooray for bad design. The arrow carts and ballistas can cripple and ping pong me from there, yet I have to get in a melee them, so as to obviously aggro the overpowered enemies.)

Did I mention fractals are garbage?

This fractal’s boss room and boss fight need a redesign.

I have a few suggestions…

A: Make four statues in total, that ring the center room in 1/4’s.
~~~There are two statues to block the ballista shots. Not everyone knows this. In fact, not everyone even believes this. I can’t tell you how many PUGs I’ve told about the second statue who have simply ignored me, ran into the siege equipment, and pulled two or three groups of enemies down on their heads, and died. (this is why the enemies are considered OP) I believe that the reason for this is the size of the room. The other statue is SO far away that no one wants to walk all the way around the red circle to get to it. There is nothing obvious that would suggest that you even should. Also, on lower level fractals (read 1-9 with PUGs, 10-19 with a decent group.) it is possible to pull the first few groups behind the statue and bull rush the last two and all the siege equipment all at once. Four statues would make it obvious that it is possible to move around the outer ring and pull from several safe spots.

B: OBSTRUCTED
~~~~ I don’t know if this is a bug, or a misfeature. If making them obstructed to all but melee was to keep players from killing them at range…. then I simply disagree with that approach to the design. If this is a bug…. (which I think it is, due to targeting algorithms trying to hit the very bottom of an object that has been placed clipping ever so slightly into the floor.) Then it should simply be fixed. My next suggestion, if taken would give the designers a perfect moment to do this while they have the boss fight room open in their editors.

C: The ‘Squire’ and his ridiculous AOE’s of doom…
~~~~ Most folks don’t even know that this ‘extra’ mob is responsible for group wipes, because he is SO fragile. He spawns in… and gets ignored long enough to cast GIANT AOE spells, which nearly always kill someone. Then he is killed by spill over AOE and cleave damage before anyone notices he was even the cause. Most folks think Ashyum is the source of these AOE’s
~~~The Squire should follow Ashyum out to fight the players carrying his sword and helmet. (as a knight’s squire would) and while Ashyum is invulnerable, he should say something like “Whelp! Bring me my sword!”. To which the Squire hands him his sword, then says “your helmet m’lord…” and kneels. Ashyum then says “I don’t need it to kill these fools… Get out of the way boy!” as he flings himself into battle.
~~ At 50% health Ashyum should drop to one knee and use an AOE stun, lasting for 5 seconds, the last 2 of which stun breaks can be used. He screams " Don’t just stand there you fool! help me!" to which the squire strides forth and begins casting (at the 3 second mark) a 1.5 second cast GIANT AOE OF DOOM giving the players a chance to interrupt (if they are fast with a stun break followed by an interrupt). The Squire should have much more health, but no extra damage resistance, making him a soft target that needs either, a focused burst of DPS from multiple players, or the dedication of one player to interrupt and kill him while the other four work on Ashyum. The damage of his AOE skills should be decreased, but they should add ALOT of stacks of burning. This will amount to a net DPS output increase but a burst damage decrease. This will provide to much more pressure, and thus difficulty, without magical one shots. Once the squire is killed, Ashyum screams " You filthy charr would even slay a child!! RAAAAAAGH!!!" and he gains 20 seconds of quickness, alacrity, and fury. If Ashyum is killed first, the squire goes green to the party, drops to his knees (crying animation) and says “Ok… ok, I’ll tell you everything I know about the castle’s defenses. just please don’t kill me….” and the party gets a bonus chest, and an achievement (merciful, or some such)

these changes would make Ascalon a lot of fun rather than a dreaded “oh… well, reroll swamp please?”

…and it could be debated on weather or not the ‘shortcut’ around the front should even be there. (I vote no… I want to see what the battle looks like… and I never have.)

I’m pretty sure you’re wrong about the squire being the source of the AoEs.

All of the AoEs read that they’re from Ashym in the combat log. All of them can occur when the squire is dead (as best as I can recall). Ashym does animations for them. The “Meteor Shower” (#2) even clearly emanates from him and not the squire.

“Where did our kittening cats go”
tfw clearing siege at ashym plaza in a trio without cats