Nightmare fractal is a step backwards

Nightmare fractal is a step backwards

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: VodCom.6924

VodCom.6924

Hey there,

I don’t often post here and what I’m going to say will be controversial for many on this subforum. Yet someone has to say it. Feel free to flame me afterwards.

Note : I’m not talking about the challenge mote here, the challenge mote is a completely different story I have no problem with.

After completing many times the nightmare fractal at scale 100 with pugs, my casual guildies and my raid roster, I have come to a very simple conclusion :

The nightmare fractal is a step back in design and does not pay a good tribute to the depth of GW2 combat

Thus it should not be a template on which model future fractals. Why so ?

In this fractal, the best strategy to take down bosses it to do the regular and boring “stack and burn” tactic that dominates the dungeon meta. All you have to do is stay close (and not too close to your teammates ’cause social ankwardness) and dodge literally everything . Bonus point with MAMA and Siax if you have perma reflect.

Only Siax is mildly interesting because of the kamikaze mechanic and the breakbar phase. At least it forced you to use blinds intelligently. Though you could still dodge the explosion of kamikaze hallucinations.

In the revamped nightmare tower, your build is irrelevant, your gear is irrelevant. Either you have the mobility potion and you can dodge every kitten thing, be it during boss fights or bullet hell or you die/take 4 hours to finish the fractal. Which is a real shame. And let me tell you, it’s not what fractals T4 are all about.

The fractals of the mist is a 5 man dungeon that requires the player to use every tool at their disposal to overcome challenges. That includes blinds, boon management, mob repositioning, cleave etc.

To make these elements relevant, you need to put trashmobs in your fractal. Trashmobs in high level fractals are as important as the bosses. Trashmobs are not merely fillers, they are a challenge in themselves thanks to inflated HP and damage. The revamped cliffside fractal embodies that the best. The kitty golem fight in chaos is also a good example, where your group is forced to use many different form of active defenses and not just dodging to get a smooth kill.

If anything I would like future fractals to ressemble more like the new cliffside or chaos (minus the final boss which is not fun at all) rather that this 5-man raid wannabe nightmare fractal.

Fractal will never be 5-man raids because of a design constraint that a group of 5 cleric guards should be able to clear it. Play on your strengths Anet. That’s all I’m saying.

TL;DR : Nightmare fractal is just melee stuff and dodges everything. Boring. Doesn’t use depth of GW2 combat. Put more trashmobs in your future fractals like in cliffside or kitty golem fight. I do not discuss challenge mote ‘cause it’s an other story.

Known as Reegar Else, Linda Else, Xiana Else and Thorgall Breakstone

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Posted by: Aldath.1275

Aldath.1275

" The revamped cliffside fractal embodies that the best. The kitty golem fight in chaos is also a good example, where your group is forced to use many different form of active defenses and not just dodging to get a smooth kill."

….IDK if we’re playing the same freactals because that’s exactly what we do…. MOST of the fractals can be stacked and facerolled with the right comps, because they rarely force you into mobility. The only I can think of are the Gladiator on Chaos, the Anomaly on Uncategorized and the Mossheart on Swamp (and yes, the new Bosses on Nighrmate too), out of it…. ppffffff….

Nightmare fractal is a step backwards

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Posted by: TheRandomGuy.7246

TheRandomGuy.7246

Challenge mode has trash mobs.

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Posted by: TexZero.7910

TexZero.7910

People find a need to use those potions for anything outside the challenge mote ?

I don’t find food/potions mandatory ever. Might just be a player skill difference.

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Posted by: VodCom.6924

VodCom.6924

Challenge mode has trash mobs.

Indeed. Good thing I mentioned twice in the OP that it was not the topic.

The challenge mote gets rid of the one the key design constraint of fractals which is to allow any comp to clean it. This is the reason why you have a DPS check on Siax only in the challenge mote and not in the regular version.

However the future fractals (bar their hypothetical challenge motes) will still be made according to the usual constraint.

Known as Reegar Else, Linda Else, Xiana Else and Thorgall Breakstone

(edited by VodCom.6924)

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Posted by: BlaqueFyre.5678

BlaqueFyre.5678

Challenge mode has trash mobs.

Indeed. Good thing I mentioned twice in the OP that it was not the topic.

The challenge mote gets rid of the one the key design constraint of fractals which is to allow any comp to clean it. This is the reason why you have a DPS check on Siax only in the challenge mote and not in the regular version.

However the future fractals (bar their hypothetical challenge motes) will still be made according to the usual constraint.

Let me get this straight, you are complaining that the Nightmare Fractal doesn’t give enough Challenge and no trashmobs and want trashmobs and more challenge added while stating the challenge mote does exactly that, am I getting that right?

You have the option to get exactly what you want Anet provided it in the form of the Challenge Mote…

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Posted by: VodCom.6924

VodCom.6924

Let me get this straight, you are complaining that the Nightmare Fractal doesn’t give enough Challenge and no trashmobs and want trashmobs and more challenge added while stating the challenge mote does exactly that, am I getting that right?

You have the option to get exactly what you want Anet provided it in the form of the Challenge Mote…

Nope, I’m saying that it doesn’t use the full depth of GW2 combat system, which is annoying and boring. As it was said in the OP. Thus I do not want this kind of design being replicated in future fractals (regular versions not challenge mote version).

There is challenge in the nightmare fractal. Of course there is. However, the difficulty boils down to “dodge at the right time” and very little else. This kind of design is prevalent in the old dungeons, Lupi and Subject alpha in particular.

IMO revamped cliffside, swamp and the chaos isle (though the last boss could use some fine tuning) are much closer to what I want for future fractals.

Oh and just to make it clear : trashmob = everything that does not have a defiance bar

Known as Reegar Else, Linda Else, Xiana Else and Thorgall Breakstone

(edited by VodCom.6924)

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Posted by: Ayrilana.1396

Ayrilana.1396

You claim that the nightmare fractal is a step back in design because it encourages players to stack and burn. How is it a step back when all of the other bosses are pretty much the same in fractals and dungeons?

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Posted by: Rising Dusk.2408

Rising Dusk.2408

I disagree with the OP. The nightmare fractal is the best fractal I’ve ever seen, and explicitly includes mechanics (including trash mobs and side events) that cannot be stack-burned. For the record, stacking with your friends is a good strategy that will help a lot with introducing players to raids. Everyone yoloing a boss at max range with no boons and no buffs is bad to encourage in fractal design.

[VZ] Valor Zeal – Stormbluff Isle – Looking for steady, casual-friendly NA raiders!

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Posted by: OriOri.8724

OriOri.8724

Let me get this straight, you are complaining that the Nightmare Fractal doesn’t give enough Challenge and no trashmobs and want trashmobs and more challenge added while stating the challenge mote does exactly that, am I getting that right?

You have the option to get exactly what you want Anet provided it in the form of the Challenge Mote…

Nope, I’m saying that it doesn’t use the full depth of GW2 combat system, which is annoying and boring. As it was said in the OP. Thus I do not want this kind of design being replicated in future fractals (regular versions not challenge mote version).

There is challenge in the nightmare fractal. Of course there is. However, the difficulty boils down to “dodge at the right time” and very little else. This kind of design is prevalent in the old dungeons, Lupi and Subject alpha in particular.

IMO revamped cliffside, swamp and the chaos isle (though the last boss could use some fine tuning) are much closer to what I want for future fractals.

Oh and just to make it clear : trashmob = everything that does not have a defiance bar

I don’t get the same impression that you do from the new Nightmare fractal. Truthfully there is only so much that ANet can do to prevent players from trying to stack and burn anything in the game. Social Awkwardness is one way to sort of address it.

What it sounds like though is that you are complaining because there aren’t enough attacks that you can blind?

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Posted by: zealex.9410

zealex.9410

its still way better than the previous 100 fractal. Idk what you’ve been told but a big part of gw2 combat is timing and managing your evades/dodges/blocks to survive the encounters i understand that you might not like ppl being able to play melee in fractals and that you loved that chaos fractal last boss didnt allow you easily to pull that off but the nightmare fractal takes the gw2 combat many steps ahead from what the other fracals had us used to. The fights are intense and dynamic full of movement and positioning is key to success, hell you dont even need to dodge most of thee time just walk out of the aoe’s and that you learn after bashing you head against the bosses (which is perfect coz it gives you something to work and improve without requiring you to have a healer or be ranged) I understand that the movement potion makes the fight easier but really for classes other than mesmer or engi and thief the fight would be a pain with out taht added endurance regen. Cliffsie is just focus 4 all the mobs and cleave them down, mentioning swamp is laughable because its just a dodge check for you and your group (with reflects you can reduce the dodges needed b quite a bit), chaos fractal is nice for the fact that it gives weight to charging targets to make the fight easier but after that its just a kitefest or stackfest with dodging the last auto attack from the last boss while your druid is healing you xD. literally all these fight are jsut stack on boss cc and dps down. Having many attacks and aoe that require you to dodge or ou will get 1 shotted makes you not fall asleep and its super rewarding when you get the hang of it.

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Posted by: NotOverlyCheesy.9427

NotOverlyCheesy.9427

I disagree with OP. Not every fight needs to use every tool you have. If that was the case then every boss would be the same as we use all of our tools. Doing specific things gives bosses flavour and a unique touch.
Trash is called trash for a reason, I’d take a boss fight over elite pack any day.
Having said these things you’re entitled to your opinion and I’m sorry to hear you’re not enjoying the fractal as much as the rest of us. Saying that the fractal is a step back is just plain wrong however as most seem to be enjoying it.

Nightmare fractal is a step backwards

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Posted by: Sykper.6583

Sykper.6583

What the-

Stack and burn tactics? For Nightmare 100 Normal?

…Last I checked, the only boss that comes close to this is Siax, MAMA and Endowhatshisface go pretty nasty with near permaAoEs and movement.

Hell, Archdiviner revamp is more stacking imo.

Suicidal Warrior.
Putting Perspective on Zerg Sizes since 2012. Common Suffixes for 40+ include ~Zilla and ~Train
“Seriously, just dodge.”

Nightmare fractal is a step backwards

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Posted by: TheRandomGuy.7246

TheRandomGuy.7246

Revamped Archwhimp can’t even attack properly because he gets phased so fast.

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Posted by: Nokaru.7831

Nokaru.7831

You say this is a step backwards, but it feels much better than the old Fractal design of spamming projectile reflects and blind on everything forever.

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Posted by: loseridoit.2756

loseridoit.2756

You say this is a step backwards, but it feels much better than the old Fractal design of spamming projectile reflects and blind on everything forever.

you know. some of us hated the new fractal.

The way I see it. There are two camps for hard mode in dungeons

overgrowth vs wildstar

I am in the overgrowth group for ai

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Posted by: King Cephalopod.7942

King Cephalopod.7942

you know. some of us hated the new fractal.

The way I see it. There are two camps for hard mode in dungeons

overgrowth vs wildstar

I am in the overgrowth group for ai

But none of the ai in gw2 went anywhere near as deep as that seems. They’re just meatsacks with 1-3 attacks (more for bosses) on long intervals and high stats. I agree that player-like ai can be more fun to fight than unique-mechanics-based encounters (and would make far more game mechanics/playstyles usefully applicable across game modes so maybe they’d actually have balance) but it isn’t a step back compared to what existed before.

A little savagery now and then is relished by the wisest men.
Don’t cry, Signet of Mercy. Others may forget you, but I will always remember.
Our deficiencies may be overcome by practice and self-discipline.

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Posted by: Hesacon.8735

Hesacon.8735

If any part of it is a step back it’s the length of time it requires to complete it.

Nightmare fractal is a step backwards

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Posted by: loseridoit.2756

loseridoit.2756

you know. some of us hated the new fractal.

The way I see it. There are two camps for hard mode in dungeons

overgrowth vs wildstar

I am in the overgrowth group for ai

But none of the ai in gw2 went anywhere near as deep as that seems. They’re just meatsacks with 1-3 attacks (more for bosses) on long intervals and high stats. I agree that player-like ai can be more fun to fight than unique-mechanics-based encounters (and would make far more game mechanics/playstyles usefully applicable across game modes so maybe they’d actually have balance) but it isn’t a step back compared to what existed before.

i was hoping that anet slowly add diversity to living story creatures. Unfortunately, Anet seems to went the other way. Enemies are one strategy encounters.

Nightmare fractal is a step backwards

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Posted by: Sykper.6583

Sykper.6583

you know. some of us hated the new fractal.

The way I see it. There are two camps for hard mode in dungeons

overgrowth vs wildstar

I am in the overgrowth group for ai

But none of the ai in gw2 went anywhere near as deep as that seems. They’re just meatsacks with 1-3 attacks (more for bosses) on long intervals and high stats. I agree that player-like ai can be more fun to fight than unique-mechanics-based encounters (and would make far more game mechanics/playstyles usefully applicable across game modes so maybe they’d actually have balance) but it isn’t a step back compared to what existed before.

i was hoping that anet slowly add diversity to living story creatures. Unfortunately, Anet seems to went the other way. Enemies are one strategy encounters.

I would say mob AI has substantially improved since launch, the last boss in Nightmare Fractal does routinely shift a few of his attacks around and detects players at range to shadowstep to for instance.

Who knows how far they will go? Give it more time.

Suicidal Warrior.
Putting Perspective on Zerg Sizes since 2012. Common Suffixes for 40+ include ~Zilla and ~Train
“Seriously, just dodge.”

Nightmare fractal is a step backwards

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Posted by: loseridoit.2756

loseridoit.2756

you know. some of us hated the new fractal.

The way I see it. There are two camps for hard mode in dungeons

overgrowth vs wildstar

I am in the overgrowth group for ai

But none of the ai in gw2 went anywhere near as deep as that seems. They’re just meatsacks with 1-3 attacks (more for bosses) on long intervals and high stats. I agree that player-like ai can be more fun to fight than unique-mechanics-based encounters (and would make far more game mechanics/playstyles usefully applicable across game modes so maybe they’d actually have balance) but it isn’t a step back compared to what existed before.

i was hoping that anet slowly add diversity to living story creatures. Unfortunately, Anet seems to went the other way. Enemies are one strategy encounters.

I would say mob AI has substantially improved since launch, the last boss in Nightmare Fractal does routinely shift a few of his attacks around and detects players at range to shadowstep to for instance.

Who knows how far they will go? Give it more time.

Actually I would say no because these elements are already present in the Molten Duo years ago. All Anet did recently was add more skills to give a illusion of strategy but enemies are still one trick ponies.

Nightmare fractal is a step backwards

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Posted by: Sykper.6583

Sykper.6583

you know. some of us hated the new fractal.

The way I see it. There are two camps for hard mode in dungeons

overgrowth vs wildstar

I am in the overgrowth group for ai

But none of the ai in gw2 went anywhere near as deep as that seems. They’re just meatsacks with 1-3 attacks (more for bosses) on long intervals and high stats. I agree that player-like ai can be more fun to fight than unique-mechanics-based encounters (and would make far more game mechanics/playstyles usefully applicable across game modes so maybe they’d actually have balance) but it isn’t a step back compared to what existed before.

i was hoping that anet slowly add diversity to living story creatures. Unfortunately, Anet seems to went the other way. Enemies are one strategy encounters.

I would say mob AI has substantially improved since launch, the last boss in Nightmare Fractal does routinely shift a few of his attacks around and detects players at range to shadowstep to for instance.

Who knows how far they will go? Give it more time.

Actually I would say no because these elements are already present in the Molten Duo years ago. All Anet did recently was add more skills to give a illusion of strategy but enemies are still one trick ponies.

Explain exactly how Molten Duo behaves differently compared to Nightmare Fractal.

If you are referring to the party’s choice on which boss to kill second, that’s not as trans-formative as you believe it to be, either bosses have the same exact AI as all the Nightmare ones do.

Suicidal Warrior.
Putting Perspective on Zerg Sizes since 2012. Common Suffixes for 40+ include ~Zilla and ~Train
“Seriously, just dodge.”

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Posted by: loseridoit.2756

loseridoit.2756

I never said Molten Duo behaves differently. I said that many of elements in Nightmare Fractal is present in Molten Duo.

The Molten Berserker teleports to the farest guy. When a person is nearby, the boss melee instead of doing that aoe wave.

The only difference between Nightmare Fractal and Molten Duo is that Nightmare Fractal bosses have more skills.

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Posted by: Sykper.6583

Sykper.6583

My apologies for misreading.

However I will say the Nightmare bosses tend to be a bit more ‘balanced’ around the threat ranges of their skills. Molten Berserker for instance cleaves for fair damage, shadowsteps and does shockwaves. He’s melee unfriendly for the most part, all his attacks, even his shadowstep, are better for the ranged.

If you were to compare him to say, MAMA, the attack patterns are threatening to all ranges, where the she-bot will add a melee unfriendly attack on a long CD if people are attacking her at that range that’s an easy dodge. Otherwise, I would dare say MAMA has more anti-ranged tools.

The types of skills matter a lot, bosses in the Nightmare Fractal seem dynamic and threatening enough from any composition whereas Molten Duo (Berserker First is the common kill) is effectively anti-melee the entire time.

Suicidal Warrior.
Putting Perspective on Zerg Sizes since 2012. Common Suffixes for 40+ include ~Zilla and ~Train
“Seriously, just dodge.”

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Posted by: zealex.9410

zealex.9410

You say this is a step backwards, but it feels much better than the old Fractal design of spamming projectile reflects and blind on everything forever.

you know. some of us hated the new fractal.

The way I see it. There are two camps for hard mode in dungeons

overgrowth vs wildstar

I am in the overgrowth group for ai

stills its more interesting ai than the previous 100 and less eas to control and to be fair even tho in fractals there might not have been huge changes to the ai mobs and bosses have there have been imrovements in the ai in general biggest example is the hot maps as well as the newest map bitterfrost frontier

Nightmare fractal is a step backwards

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Posted by: loseridoit.2756

loseridoit.2756

My apologies for misreading.

However I will say the Nightmare bosses tend to be a bit more ‘balanced’ around the threat ranges of their skills. Molten Berserker for instance cleaves for fair damage, shadowsteps and does shockwaves. He’s melee unfriendly for the most part, all his attacks, even his shadowstep, are better for the ranged.

If you were to compare him to say, MAMA, the attack patterns are threatening to all ranges, where the she-bot will add a melee unfriendly attack on a long CD if people are attacking her at that range that’s an easy dodge. Otherwise, I would dare say MAMA has more anti-ranged tools.

The types of skills matter a lot, bosses in the Nightmare Fractal seem dynamic and threatening enough from any composition whereas Molten Duo (Berserker First is the common kill) is effectively anti-melee the entire time.

You are missing something more fundamental. Bosses renders all CC/Blinds near useless. Players barely control the boss at all. This game have a wealth of skills and abilities to kite control etc, but bosses are basically statues that dances around in the room.

You should be able to create you own mini opportunities to attack but the current break bar phases renders all burst play useless due to the large health each boss has

I kinda want CC to be a first class citizen.

Either way, I understand the Nightmare Fractal is a giant improvement in mechanics. However, I am highlight that the ai is more of the same.

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Posted by: loseridoit.2756

loseridoit.2756

You say this is a step backwards, but it feels much better than the old Fractal design of spamming projectile reflects and blind on everything forever.

you know. some of us hated the new fractal.

The way I see it. There are two camps for hard mode in dungeons

overgrowth vs wildstar

I am in the overgrowth group for ai

stills its more interesting ai than the previous 100 and less eas to control and to be fair even tho in fractals there might not have been huge changes to the ai mobs and bosses have there have been imrovements in the ai in general biggest example is the hot maps as well as the newest map bitterfrost frontier

No. I believe there is little change in the ai. Adding more mechanics do not make a more interesting AI.

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Posted by: Sykper.6583

Sykper.6583

My apologies for misreading.

However I will say the Nightmare bosses tend to be a bit more ‘balanced’ around the threat ranges of their skills. Molten Berserker for instance cleaves for fair damage, shadowsteps and does shockwaves. He’s melee unfriendly for the most part, all his attacks, even his shadowstep, are better for the ranged.

If you were to compare him to say, MAMA, the attack patterns are threatening to all ranges, where the she-bot will add a melee unfriendly attack on a long CD if people are attacking her at that range that’s an easy dodge. Otherwise, I would dare say MAMA has more anti-ranged tools.

The types of skills matter a lot, bosses in the Nightmare Fractal seem dynamic and threatening enough from any composition whereas Molten Duo (Berserker First is the common kill) is effectively anti-melee the entire time.

You are missing something more fundamental. Bosses renders all CC/Blinds near useless. Players barely control the boss at all. This game have a wealth of skills and abilities to kite control etc, but bosses are basically statues that dances around in the room.

I kinda want CC to be a first class citizen.

Just want to snip some parts here, because you have a point that I slightly agree with but are wary of. Specifically Breakbars are a step forward in allowing groups to control if applicable when they could rapidly CC the boss to stop the pressure or go in for damage.

Blind itself, or even Weakness (might as well bring that one up too) are outright insane conditions to apply if they worked to the fullest extent. But, I don’t think it would hurt to perhaps come up with some specific mechanic on each boss where you can temporarily ‘Weaken’ or ‘Blind’ the boss who then is immune for a period of time afterwards from those effects.

I am always ok with having more variety in which the group can control the boss, and bringing in those classes and builds that serve a greater purpose during encounters if the group so chooses. As for things like ‘Aggro’, that’s a bit harder…

Suicidal Warrior.
Putting Perspective on Zerg Sizes since 2012. Common Suffixes for 40+ include ~Zilla and ~Train
“Seriously, just dodge.”

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Posted by: nagr.1593

nagr.1593

I’m confused and mayb I misreading something… but where u can’t CC in nightmare fractal?

I’m using last boss as example I mean it’s possible to break his bar with 2 ppl very quickly provided they both have good CCs. What more do u want

If u talking abt blinds working for him, then congrats ur now introduced another broken lupi. It get to point that players are so reliant on having guardian or somthin to cheese the boss that they refuse to do it otherwise.. thats not how fight was intended either

Arun Kar

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Posted by: loseridoit.2756

loseridoit.2756

I’m confused and mayb I misreading something… but where u can’t CC in nightmare fractal?

I’m using last boss as example I mean it’s possible to break his bar with 2 ppl very quickly provided they both have good CCs. What more do u want

If u talking abt blinds working for him, then congrats ur now introduced another broken lupi. It get to point that players are so reliant on having guardian or somthin to cheese the boss that they refuse to do it otherwise.. thats not how fight was intended either

I think you are still missing the point. No matter what I do, the boss sets the pace. It does not feel like I beat it at all. All Anet did was create CC phases. There is no element of surprise.

The boss can barely surprise me either.

Making 2 people apply CC quickly seems like wasting CC for the sake of using it.

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Posted by: Neox.3497

Neox.3497

You say this is a step backwards, but it feels much better than the old Fractal design of spamming projectile reflects and blind on everything forever.

you know. some of us hated the new fractal.

The way I see it. There are two camps for hard mode in dungeons

overgrowth vs wildstar

I am in the overgrowth group for ai

stills its more interesting ai than the previous 100 and less eas to control and to be fair even tho in fractals there might not have been huge changes to the ai mobs and bosses have there have been imrovements in the ai in general biggest example is the hot maps as well as the newest map bitterfrost frontier

No. I believe there is little change in the ai. Adding more mechanics do not make a more interesting AI.

So taking Overgrowth as example, how do you want to take those elements into an MMORPG? The main difference is that Overgrowth is about having several tools at hand (different kind of attacks) which you can use to quickly react to your enemies actions which also put you into some kind of disadvantage that the enemy can abuse (this also applies to every fighting game. SSF, Smash Bros etc.).

In GW2 however most actions do not put you into an disadvantage and are generally slow. The closes you can get are jumping and dodging. (Dodging -> can’t change move direction. Jumping -> can’t dodge and movement is limited. Both are instant). Everything else has pretty much no disadvantage for you. The only disadvantage would be that the skill is on cooldown. So what? Should the boss start to shoot projectiles once you used your reflects? Should the boss start to spam conditions once you used your condi cleanse? Should the boss walk out of your AOE after you have casted it? MMOs are way to simple in that regard and the only thing that is complex is actually the movement of the player. And now guess what element the new dungeons heavily use?

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Posted by: loseridoit.2756

loseridoit.2756

You say this is a step backwards, but it feels much better than the old Fractal design of spamming projectile reflects and blind on everything forever.

you know. some of us hated the new fractal.

The way I see it. There are two camps for hard mode in dungeons

overgrowth vs wildstar

I am in the overgrowth group for ai

stills its more interesting ai than the previous 100 and less eas to control and to be fair even tho in fractals there might not have been huge changes to the ai mobs and bosses have there have been imrovements in the ai in general biggest example is the hot maps as well as the newest map bitterfrost frontier

No. I believe there is little change in the ai. Adding more mechanics do not make a more interesting AI.

So taking Overgrowth as example, how do you want to take those elements into an MMORPG? The main difference is that Overgrowth is about having several tools at hand (different kind of attacks) which you can use to quickly react to your enemies actions which also put you into some kind of disadvantage that the enemy can abuse (this also applies to every fighting game. SSF, Smash Bros etc.).

In GW2 however most actions do not put you into an disadvantage and are generally slow. The closes you can get are jumping and dodging. (Dodging -> can’t change move direction. Jumping -> can’t dodge and movement is limited. Both are instant). Everything else has pretty much no disadvantage for you. The only disadvantage would be that the skill is on cooldown.

I think you are completely missing my point. I was commenting on the fact that a simple enemy that has simple set block, attack, dodge, and gap closer can have more depth than a boss with tons of moves. Some of the telegraphs in the nightmare fractals are nothing more than attention checks.

I think Hots Hero Point enemies to better bosses than many dungeons. But, Anet still have the same crappy break bar design which makes it utterly impossible to solo it.

So what? Should the boss start to shoot projectiles once you used your reflects? Should the boss start to spam conditions once you used your condi cleanse? Should the boss walk out of your AOE after you have casted it? MMOs are way to simple in that regard and the only thing that is complex is actually the movement of the player.

Yes, to all of above if it is part of the boss design. Like usual, bosses do not need every skill in the game to be interesting. Everything you said is miles better than what we have now.

And now guess what element the new dungeons heavily use?

A giant statue that dances around and fires telegraphs in somewhat your general direction.

(edited by loseridoit.2756)