So the other night I ran AC story mode for the first time. This is now my second dungeon experience in GW2, the first being CM about a week ago.
The group was my brother, son, wife, and a random player that we picked up. We used no voice chat, even the three of us that were in the same room (Its not like we didn’t talk, but we shared no information vocally that had any relevance to the dungeon).
- Prior to the dungeon, my son’s resume contained only CM story mode. He made a pretty good showing there, but he remains middling in skill for now (hes not bad for a 12-year old). He tends to have issues using the right half of his skill bar.
- My wife doesn’t get to play a lot. If she did, she’d be in the upper middle-high range. She uses the full range of her bar and has a very analytic mind, but lack of playtime means she relies on conscious thought over instinct for now. This is fine in most fights, but when you need to twitch, it doesn’t help. Also, she was playing a RL minion master during this run (more on that later).
- My brother is a MMO veteran and the only member of the group to have done AC before.
- I’m not familiar with the background of our 5th, but he was just standing near the entrance asking if any story mode groups needed 1 more, so we took him.
- I am a MMO veteran of over 10 years. I’ve played a lot of major MMOs, but not in a hardcore capacity. Yes, I’ve raided in most games, but not to the exclusion of all else in my life—always in a casual capacity.
Alright, so that is who went in. Our levels were roughly 30, 40, 50, 80, and 80. We did not change our skill bars for the entire run. We did not talk strategy before going in either—we took only what we used for general-purpose solo content. Despite the family connections, we’re pretty consistent with the makeup of a pug—limited direct experience, diverse backgrounds, levels and abilities, and, of course, minimal planning.
Before each room, my brother gave us a quick 1-2 sentence description of what we’re in for—boss does X, traps, spawns from Y, etc. Nothing elaborate, just a heads-up that you would have after a single run.
Summary of the night’s events:
The necromancer boss almost wiped us. My wife was playing real-life minion master at the time, attempting to appease our 2-year old who had decided she wanted to sit in mommy’s lap and play computer too.
My son was killed once (the only death of the night) when a fight my brother didn't remember broke out. A cave troll plowed through the wall shortly before Adelbern. I took the time to make the obligatory LotR reference while my brother apologized for the oversight--while the troll was smacking him around. My son missed 3 dodges in a row and ended up going down. Before I could get him back on his feet, I had to dodge and he ended up taking a fatal hit.
The dungeon was a lot of fun, we met a new friend, and walked out with a decent pile of money.
I’m looking forward to explorable mode. Well done ArenaNet, thank you.
. Most people find the lovers (duo boss) quite challenging their first time, was surprised to hear it was the necro chick for you guys. Any condition removal and group stability makes this fight pretty easy (light fields or well of power, guardian shouts).