Guild Wars 2

1. Looking for a group can be difficult and even after asking twice 5 minutes apart in map to find a group to do TA story I was informed i was spamming and not allowed to post anymore. With no dungeon finder, how is one supposed to actually find a pug group to do a story or explorable mode if one can’t advertise for more players in map or indicate you’re looking for a group. Despite this I found a story mode group after a while and with patience finished so I was ready for explorable mode and could start working on my first set of dungeon gear. I had already crafted almost full exotic gear but was after my first skin.

2. I get into a group with a guildie and some people he met and had run once or twice with and away we go. What I’m immediately thrown into is run quickly and stay alive b/c we’re not actually going to fight any of the mobs on the way to the first boss’s room. I turns out the monsters leash inside of a dungeon, a concept I was unfamiliar with as I don’t think I’ve ever been through a raid or dungeon where I could just skip entire packs of trash mobs b/c they’d just go back and stop chasing you.

3. We get to the first boss and are killing some worms to spawn a larger one. My guildie tells me on vent that if you are at range from the worms then you get targetted by random ground aoe and if you get close you only have one big aoe to run from occassionally. I see one elementalist standing on a ledge lobbing only spells when something is in range and mostly hiding. I’m told about a safe spot and to stand there. I’m on my mesmer, i think well okay, but i’m not actually able to hit anything from this safe spot so dart out to hit and stand back, we get aoe’d frequently. In another run a hunter tells me not to use any clones at all as it’ll hurt melee. I’m thinking he’s crazy as this is how I’ve built my mesmer using phantasms that apply bleeding but then in a later run with these people I started with I’m told that they want me to just hide and do nothing or only attack using no clones. I can just hit staff 1 i suppose but I can’t believe this is the dev’s intention for this encounter. I can’t say I find this entirely inspiring as a game mechanic and it does nothing to combat the stigma I’m already seeing comments in chat and on forums that mesmers aren’t good in pve, though I can tell you they certainly are, they just have a ramp up time and are better on boss type mobs than large low health trash mobs that swarm you. They do have a huge toolbox and some great group synergy with time warp, mass invisiblity and moa and they do a great deal of random buffing and debuffing.

4. I’ve now done all 3 paths atleast 2 or 3 times each now. I find some of the monsters engaging and I think some of the trash pack groups are fun too, but there is freqently random skipping of mobs entirely that varies between groups and they expect you to know what they will or won’t skip intuitively. Atleast 2 of the 3 end Tree bosses everyone just stands at max range and fires a long range spell and ignores the mechanics of the seed turrets or most of the spiders. The summoned oakheart one is actually a lot of fun, requiring a lot of movement and I feel this encounter I get to shine on by circle strafing the boss and assisting other players to escape roots and oakhearts and creating clones that draw their attention. I also feel the mesmer boss is a great deal of fun though I think she does randomly just one shot you from full health for no reason, I do love the common sense of not attacking and killing yourself with confusion stacks if she has the shield up and not standing in her aoe. For most bosses I’m not entirely sure if we’ve bypassed part of the mechanics b/c we pull them to a hallway or something. The spider boss seems pretty balanced around kiting and crippling and is also a lot of fun.

5. Some boss encounters where there are multiple mobs people keep running to tag one and pull it back and then reset the others so they can whittle the group down with less risk, perhaps this is intended. Most other games I’ve played you can’t just pull 1 mob out of a group of 4 and the strategy is more centered around managing these multiple mobs with cc or cooldowns, etc, but we don’t have the holy trinity and perhaps this is intended. I do find the multiple stuns from groups of knights or husks to be annoying, though i find it more annoying when I’m told to run through and skip them. Sometimes things work, or my invis is up or other things, but even with careful planning someone else can get charged and I can be knocked down, and then stunned and knocked down again by another, etc. Part of this is just the root of the problem of trying to bypass packs altogether and run like crazy people past 3 sets of trash mobs to jump off a small overhang and let them reset.

So, I am sorry if this was long winded, but I think it’s the type of feedback you’re looking for in regards to how these dungeons are truly received by players and actually being ran. I’m enjoying them but I am certainly perplexed by some design decisions like leashing mobs or that group mentality would actually rather have a mesmer or I suppose a summon based necro do nothing in an encounter at all but hide b/c their participation makes the encounter more difficult. I like to participate and experience content and work as a team and bring my unique abilities to encounters such as these, not be told to sit here and do nothing. I also personally think dungeons should be designed to where you have to clear logical group of mobs with planning and the class synergy that is so touted in this game as an alternative to the typical holy trinity and not just leashed and skipped and then repeatedly ran through like a crazy person if you wipe later in the dungeon.