Guild Wars 2

Hello!

I’m currently lvl 34 elementalist and I have tried Ascalonian Catacombs couple times now in story mode. Every try has ended up failing in some point. It’s not about that the dungeons would be too hard or too easy, they just feel like “random” happenings:

- Red circles spawning everywhere
– Not sure what mobs are doing
– Not sure what bosses are doing

It’s all like, you have to just go to wiki and read everything to know what this mob/boss does since there are no clues about it (casting bars…bosses saying something…any big move before the boss does “the thing” )

You just run and dodge mindlessly from place to another since everything feels “random”.

So the thing is, that I would like everything or atleast most to have more of the strategy. And by it I mean simple strategys. Easier to get the idea of things to do, bosses responding better to it, and everyone having the thing they need to do. Not just throw rock to get some more time to nuke/heal, run away to get more time to nuke/heal…etc.

Does anyone else feel this?

BTW. Great game in all other ways. I really enjoy this. +50 hours already

Let’s see. You’re asking a boss alerts, and maybe a red text “Dodge now” “Walk back” “Go near him”. Sure, why not. And an autopilot button too, why not?

Lucas Ashrock.8675:

Let’s see. You’re asking a boss alerts, and maybe a red text “Dodge now” “Walk back” “Go near him”. Sure, why not. And an autopilot button too, why not?

Yeah. I expected something like this to come right away. NO. Definitely NO.

What I’m asking is:
Can you currently tell when any boss does something big by somehow?
Can you tell why you were knocked down?

These are the things I like to know. And for every else going to post similar as above I mean like, currently you may be at anywere at anytime (mostly), go ress if you want (not must due the tele running) and use the so called “autopilot” because you just don’t know what else you would be doing.

I’m still expecting more post like above, but they are ok too

Problem is rather, all you do is survive which usually means using AoE slows and dodge, and tear down silly amounts of health.
Encounter design as far as I’ve seen was bland, with every encounter having ONE thing to care about which mostly threatened to kill instantly so it was about avoiding this one thing.

Well I’m sure you weren’t looking for sarcasm. The truth is, those tells that you’re looking for ARE there. They aren’t obvious, but they’re there.

If you’re running and dodging at random, then you’re wasting energy needlessly. AC is tough, and I mean, TOUGH, the first time through. It will be even more difficult if you’re in the process of breaking your old MMO habits (relying on tanks I.e.)

I’m assuming the “random” red circles are traps, all of them appear in the same spot (unless it’s the ranger mobs… But even those say in plain text… “throws traps”)

I would try try again. My first time through AC was accompanied by a lot of “you gotta be kidding me”, or, “this CAN’T be right”

It’s hard, but doable. You’ll get your epic feeling once you clear it, trust me.

It sounds to me like you’re just inexperienced in the art of situational awareness, but that’s okay. Practice makes perfect.

You can always tell when a boss is doing something. They all have ‘tells’ for their moves, which if you’re not familiar are effects or animations that indicate that they are prepping some move. Some of them are instant cast, in which case you need to be on your toes to dodge the red circles, but some of them have these wind-up periods that you need to plan your dodge around.

Usually it will take some getting used to. You won’t know what the animation looks like, or the short four-word description under an enemy’s life bar doesn’t tell much about its capability. Ease into it slowly and then once you’ve gotten the hang of it, you can be more brazen in your approach. All games like this have what is known as a learning curve, which is essentially just this ‘getting used to stuff’ period of time. GW2’s learning curve is pretty smooth, so it’s not bad at all.

Offhand, things I’d recommend are:
- Always watch your enemy’s locations and animations
- Unfamiliar particle effects are usually bad and should be avoided
- Read all enemies’ descriptions under their life bars and try to get a feel for what they mean
- Don’t waste your dodges jumping around randomly, save them for those key moments

Flabber Babble.8720:

Well I’m sure you weren’t looking for sarcasm. The truth is, those tells that you’re looking for ARE there. They aren’t obvious, but they’re there.

If you’re running and dodging at random, then you’re wasting energy needlessly. AC is tough, and I mean, TOUGH, the first time through. It will be even more difficult if you’re in the process of breaking your old MMO habits (relying on tanks I.e.)

I’m assuming the “random” red circles are traps, all of them appear in the same spot (unless it’s the ranger mobs… But even those say in plain text… “throws traps”)

I would try try again. My first time through AC was accompanied by a lot of “you gotta be kidding me”, or, “this CAN’T be right”

It’s hard, but doable. You’ll get your epic feeling once you clear it, trust me.

You got the thing I mean. And yes, your right about that the hints about bosses are there but they are currently so unseen that one just can’t know when and what.

And yes, I will definitely try them again so many times again. And I believe I will get used to them. For sure I miss the old GW having the roles thought they weren’t so clear since the speedclear owning everywhere.

For short, the truth is out there, one just needs to learn to notice it better. Takes time but that’s only good thing

It does seem the biggest intention is to get you to play the field, not the UI.

This is why I highly doubt you’ll get any sort of UI “warning” for impending attacks or even a cast bar for enemy mobs/bosses.

Hit me up in game too if you need help. I’ve done AC story mode a lot since the first time and offer more practical help in game

Yes, it’s tough the first few times doing a dungeon. You’ll have to get used to the higher difficulty compared to open world PvE. But once you’ve done a few dungeons you’ll see the things you’re missing now.