Guild Wars 2

Warcry.1596:

Jerus.4350:

Warcry.1596:

dominik.9721:

Aetherpath 2.0 with 10 people ,I promise you :>

I see nothing wrong with this. Mechanic heavy instances are what we need in this game.

Problem with Aetherblade IMO aside from obvious cutscene and reward stuff is that the puzzles are just more annoying than fun. I look at Arah orbs and some of the fractal stuff and those are fun, I look at aetherblade and just… ugh.

But, yeah the idea as a whole is sound, mechanic heavy instances are great, I just am not a big fan of Aetherblade.

That’s what I mean, if these raids turn into 10 people berserker fests, it will be more of the same.

What did I say that had any reference to berserker? The puzzles just aren’t fun. I’m all for alternative setups if it’s done in a fun way.

I don’t understand why many here think that mechanic-heavy raid would be the way to go… Having mechanics does not make a content challenging, it makes a content undoable until you figure out the mechanics and then it’s easy.
For me a good challenging group content, this is PvE instances with fun combat. Something reminiscent of PvP, but in an instanced PvE setting. I want something where I use more than 2 of the skills of my skillbar (mesmer rotation: 55651111111111111, necro rotation: 67111111111 yeah!!!). I want this feeling I have of being on a razor blade, where any error I make could be my death. I want a very mobile and dynamic enemy, which does not stand in my wells or my hundred blade…

Silverkey.2078:

I don’t understand why many here think that mechanic-heavy raid would be the way to go… Having mechanics does not make a content challenging, it makes a content undoable until you figure out the mechanics and then it’s easy.
For me a good challenging group content, this is PvE instances with fun combat. Something reminiscent of PvP, but in an instanced PvE setting. I want something where I use more than 2 of the skills of my skillbar (mesmer rotation: 55651111111111111, necro rotation: 67111111111 yeah!!!). I want this feeling I have of being on a razor blade, where any error I make could be my death. I want a very mobile and dynamic enemy, which does not stand in my wells or my hundred blade…

More like: Swap to centaur, tag boss to get swiftness on kill, drop portal, drop time warp, run run run run run run run run run run run run, mimic, portal, portal run run run run run run run run run, portal

what they told us so far sounds interesting and the ideas behind are the right ones, but i rly cant imagine raids will get different from max dps/speed playstyle, so after ppl finished it a few time they start improoving, and then take up teams with like mesmer(portal/reflect/condi/stabi/stealth?), guard(reflect/condi/stabi),war(might), rest ele(icebows!!!)…
but i hope i’m wrong, so with right gear you can take every class at this level of gaming…

also its sad, that you cant start raiding at release…

Everyone will try it in a PS/Thief/Guard/2 Eles party (x2) and if it doesn’t work they’ll swap the guardian’s build to something more tanky or more supportive. Mesmer to portal everyone out of oneshot aoe maybe?

Silverkey.2078:

I don’t understand why many here think that mechanic-heavy raid would be the way to go… Having mechanics does not make a content challenging, it makes a content undoable until you figure out the mechanics and then it’s easy.
For me a good challenging group content, this is PvE instances with fun combat. Something reminiscent of PvP, but in an instanced PvE setting. I want something where I use more than 2 of the skills of my skillbar (mesmer rotation: 55651111111111111, necro rotation: 67111111111 yeah!!!). I want this feeling I have of being on a razor blade, where any error I make could be my death. I want a very mobile and dynamic enemy, which does not stand in my wells or my hundred blade…

Mechanics are more than just puzzles. They’re also things like Grawl shaman with it’s phases, or Lupi with his different attacks. I still would love to see a Lupi with all attacks available at all times.

As for “like pvp” no, kitten that. I don’t want that level of constant damage going on, I find the gameplay less focused on active reactions and more on just building up passive defense to deal with the damage you will be taking. It’s not surprise you see a lot of soldiers and what not in PVP. I love this game’s PVE content because of the focus on active defense over more passive types (which I’d call having a healer). Now, I wouldn’t mind seeing some attrition type mechanics, but not to the level of PVP, I want it to be a possibility to run a full zerker setup, I enjoy that aspect, high risk, high reward. I don’t think I need to say it but obviously I support alternative setups but I fully believe they should be to make it easier, not to make it possible.

Miku Lawrence.6329:

Everyone will try it in a PS/Thief/Guard/2 Eles party (x2) and if it doesn’t work they’ll swap the guardian’s build to something more tanky or more supportive. Mesmer to portal everyone out of oneshot aoe maybe?

I have a strong feeling there will be a lot of condi focused stuff, in that you’ll probably want a condi guard/engi/ranger/ele. But not only that breakbar will be a HUGE thing, and strong focused CC will play a major role (yay slick shoes). I’m SURE the meta will be shaken up at least initially. It won’t be all about the damage we’re used to, of course it’ll play a big part but we’ll see mechanics that play to different strengths. Of course Deep Freeze is a great CC, but having played the wyvern thing the timing on the breakbar is pretty tough to get dropping an ice bow and landing a deep freeze, it’ll be a long time before people get that timing down I think. It might eventually return to the current meta but I’d bet that it won’t be a current meta team comp that gets the win for quite a while if it doesn’t change completely.

10 hammer guards ftw.

Sykper.6583:

Lord Kuru.3685:

They said there will be three raids coming. They’re probably already in development. I’m calling it now: there will be at most one more new raid after those three.

Anet will then move on to the next big thing while people are left hanging waiting for the next raid (see dungeons, fractals, guild missions).

To be specific they said there were three raid WINGS coming. The only metric used with raid wings I believe was just WoW, where each Wing would have more than 1 boss encounter.

Let’s assume then that there are at least 6 extremely difficult bosses then, given that they want Raiders (Weee we get to use that name now!) to start raiding a few weeks into the first of three wings, perhaps we can assume if the wing was too easy for another wing to open up the patch after (2 weeks) or perhaps a month after.

Yes, there are a lot of assumptions made, my point being is that I…am of the side that thinks Arenanet likely has only just this raid fully conceived with perhaps the next raid starting to form, but that raid won’t be mentioned at the very least for 6 months after HoT release.

Each raid will contain only 3 bosses, not 6. It’s on the blogpost

Quickfoot Katana.8642:

Sykper.6583:

Lord Kuru.3685:

They said there will be three raids coming. They’re probably already in development. I’m calling it now: there will be at most one more new raid after those three.

Anet will then move on to the next big thing while people are left hanging waiting for the next raid (see dungeons, fractals, guild missions).

To be specific they said there were three raid WINGS coming. The only metric used with raid wings I believe was just WoW, where each Wing would have more than 1 boss encounter.

Let’s assume then that there are at least 6 extremely difficult bosses then, given that they want Raiders (Weee we get to use that name now!) to start raiding a few weeks into the first of three wings, perhaps we can assume if the wing was too easy for another wing to open up the patch after (2 weeks) or perhaps a month after.

Yes, there are a lot of assumptions made, my point being is that I…am of the side that thinks Arenanet likely has only just this raid fully conceived with perhaps the next raid starting to form, but that raid won’t be mentioned at the very least for 6 months after HoT release.

Each raid will contain only 3 bosses, not 6. It’s on the blogpost

kitten.

Well, turns out reading blogposts late at night is a great way to have your eyes skim over details.

They seem confident though, that’s a plus right?

Sykper.6583:

Calling it now, well before we know anything.

There will be one encounter where you will need to have your warrior put on a hammer in the off-set to have enough CCs to break the defiance bar to stop the boss from killing your raid in one shot.

No because that means there is a party compisition requirement to complete the raid, which A-net is against and believes 10 Settler’s Necros should also be able to complete their challenging content

Miku Lawrence.6329:

Everyone will try it in a PS/Thief/Guard/2 Eles party (x2) and if it doesn’t work they’ll swap the guardian’s build to something more tanky or more supportive. Mesmer to portal everyone out of oneshot aoe maybe?

You only need one Thief. Only need one guard. Might only need one warrior depending on how they do buff sharing. Chronomancer is definitely worth a spot. If buff sharing goes to 10 Ranger and Necro will be worth a spot.

Engineer, oddly enough, seems like it would be in the worst spot since 10 people can passively keep 25 vuln up and engie has no real team buffs.

NikeEU.7690:

Miku Lawrence.6329:

Everyone will try it in a PS/Thief/Guard/2 Eles party (x2) and if it doesn’t work they’ll swap the guardian’s build to something more tanky or more supportive. Mesmer to portal everyone out of oneshot aoe maybe?

You only need one Thief. Only need one guard. Might only need one warrior depending on how they do buff sharing. Chronomancer is definitely worth a spot. If buff sharing goes to 10 Ranger and Necro will be worth a spot.

Engineer, oddly enough, seems like it would be in the worst spot since 10 people can passively keep 25 vuln up and engie has no real team buffs.

Depending on how the encounters are designed, engineers could maybe be taken purely for their dps.

dboylolz.3916:

NikeEU.7690:

Miku Lawrence.6329:

Everyone will try it in a PS/Thief/Guard/2 Eles party (x2) and if it doesn’t work they’ll swap the guardian’s build to something more tanky or more supportive. Mesmer to portal everyone out of oneshot aoe maybe?

You only need one Thief. Only need one guard. Might only need one warrior depending on how they do buff sharing. Chronomancer is definitely worth a spot. If buff sharing goes to 10 Ranger and Necro will be worth a spot.

Engineer, oddly enough, seems like it would be in the worst spot since 10 people can passively keep 25 vuln up and engie has no real team buffs.

Depending on how the encounters are designed, engineers could maybe be taken purely for their dps.

Especially if one or more of the bosses has mordrem husk mechanics i.e. massive toughness.

Element Two.7316:

Sykper.6583:

Calling it now, well before we know anything.

There will be one encounter where you will need to have your warrior put on a hammer in the off-set to have enough CCs to break the defiance bar to stop the boss from killing your raid in one shot.

No because that means there is a party compisition requirement to complete the raid, which A-net is against and believes 10 Settler’s Necros should also be able to complete their challenging content

Not 10 settlers necro. But a few cleric necro (healing/support), a few terrormancers (CC, condis), a few power necros etc… should work. They want us to be able to play our favorite profession, but we will still need to spec according to an “optimal composition”. They want us to use the wild range of roles available to each class.

Element Two.7316:

Sykper.6583:

Calling it now, well before we know anything.

There will be one encounter where you will need to have your warrior put on a hammer in the off-set to have enough CCs to break the defiance bar to stop the boss from killing your raid in one shot.

No because that means there is a party compisition requirement to complete the raid, which A-net is against and believes 10 Settler’s Necros should also be able to complete their challenging content

I think there’s a misconception here.

I believe they want people going into raids as whatever profession they can.

However some encounters will have certain role requirements met, such as my example of a defiance bar needing to be broken. Some members of your raid in their current profession will likely need to put on a weapon or utility that applies a daze, fear, stun, knockdown and so on. This is a role that needs to be met everytime the mechanic comes up, or the encounter can fail.

NikeEU.7690:

Miku Lawrence.6329:

Everyone will try it in a PS/Thief/Guard/2 Eles party (x2) and if it doesn’t work they’ll swap the guardian’s build to something more tanky or more supportive. Mesmer to portal everyone out of oneshot aoe maybe?

You only need one Thief. Only need one guard. Might only need one warrior depending on how they do buff sharing. Chronomancer is definitely worth a spot. If buff sharing goes to 10 Ranger and Necro will be worth a spot.

Engineer, oddly enough, seems like it would be in the worst spot since 10 people can passively keep 25 vuln up and engie has no real team buffs.

Engineer can maintain a high amount of chill, cripple and blinds and still has top dps. On the other hand, why would you need a thief at all cost? The only thing a thief is better than an engi is his mobility. Spamming headshot for getting another deepfreeze is a thing of the past with the new breakbar. And hopefully in the new raids the bossfights are more important than running from one boss to the next one.
Edit: Also depending on the encounter design, guardians might be not as op as everyone thinks. If there are attacks that hit multiple times or lots of unblockable attacks, there might be better options than a guardian.

I vote to change the topic title to “Raid Discussion” since we are getting one.

Daredevil tank maybe?

NikeEU.7690:

Miku Lawrence.6329:

Everyone will try it in a PS/Thief/Guard/2 Eles party (x2) and if it doesn’t work they’ll swap the guardian’s build to something more tanky or more supportive. Mesmer to portal everyone out of oneshot aoe maybe?

You only need one Thief. Only need one guard. Might only need one warrior depending on how they do buff sharing. Chronomancer is definitely worth a spot. If buff sharing goes to 10 Ranger and Necro will be worth a spot.

Engineer, oddly enough, seems like it would be in the worst spot since 10 people can passively keep 25 vuln up and engie has no real team buffs.

As someone already mentioned, you put in high toughness enemies and suddenly a condi engi becomes highly valued. Also Slick shoes is pretty amazing for breakbar, I’d imagine it won’t be needed but it is pretty kitten awesome.

The design of the content and how it plays to different professions strengths will determine what is valued. At this point we have no idea what we’re getting other than breakbar being a thing and gliders being a part of it. And, we know that there will be times where you split your forces as he describes having a team break off to clear a path while the rest continue on the boss. With splitting forces not everyone will be able to hide behind one reflect, multiple guards may be helpful, and if there is unavoidable damage perma protection from hammer guards may be valuable.

Every profession has the potential to be valuable depending on how they make the content.

They don’t want to force teams to have specific compositions (the LFG monk problem), so they somehow want to make the raids equally hard no matter what profession/build you play.

The easiest (and also worst) way to do this is for them to make your build for you. They’ve done it before with all the LS chapters where you play as Caithe.

Will there be raids where you’re forced to play premade builds as members Destiny’s Edge? IMO, likely.

Shiren.9532:

I’m very concerned about profession balance going into raids. I didn’t play much high end PvE in WoW but I never saw the profession imbalance that I see in GW2 PvE.

Didn’t play much WoW (original game didn’t feel much different from Everquest which I was playing at the time), but I’ve played quite a few MMOs and class imbalance has always existed. There was always the highest DPS, the most healing potential, the most mitigation tanks. It’s unavoidable when you create options and differences. Lining things up perfect is a mess. Take a look at Engi, theoretically one of the highest DPS, but take the vast majority of people playing it and they’re not putting that out. So do you scale to the theoretical or the empirical? These are things you have to take into account. Another example is Mesmer, where it’s not even player skill just the way things work you simply won’t be able to hit your maximum damage and maintain for any duration.

To get a perfect sense of balance you’d have to eliminate the options and unique elements of professions. Even if you simplified it to “X hits once a second for 100, Y hits twice a second but for 50” you’d still have an imbalance that min/maxers would utilize as depending on fight duration, a 1s fight they’re the same, but a .5 or 1.5s fight Y wins. If that X’s attack is mainly aftercast though he may win in kitten fight… obviously over-exaggerated example but the point remains.

And all this is just discussing the DPS, when we get to support it gets even more complicated. In old games we didn’t just look at the healing or tanking potential but also the DPS at high end play. We had the best DPS healers, and best DPS tanks for speedier runs once we found we didn’t need as much defense anymore knowing the mechanics better.

The games I played before did something to fix these issues, they shook up the meta with the content. A boss that died in 30s-1min one profession was top dog, a boss that died in 5mins or more another. Bosses that moved played to another professions strength. The content changed the standings. If we had content that had a ton of passive damage going on Necros would probably actually near the top of the standings because they could still run full zerk thanks to their incredible mitigation (not that I’m advocating that type of content, I hate it).

But, that’s what I’m hoping for, content that is made with this discussion in mind. Content that is created to shake things up. Give me bosses that will put meaningful boons on itself that need to be stripped quick. Give me bosses with a lot of different attacks and relatively weak autos so chill is even more important to space those attacks out. Give me high toughness opponents for condi. Some level of attrition from environmental mechanics to value some level of healing while it’s dealt with. So many things can be done to play to the aspects present in the game but not in our current set of content.

Lord Kuru.3685:

They don’t want to force teams to have specific compositions (the LFG monk problem), so they somehow want to make the raids equally hard no matter what profession/build you play.

The easiest (and also worst) way to do this is for them to make your build for you. They’ve done it before with all the LS chapters where you play as Caithe.

Will there be raids where you’re forced to play premade builds as members Destiny’s Edge? IMO, likely.

Didn’t he specifically mentioning having to learn the mechanics and adjust your builds? Don’t see them locking you in at all.

While it would be FAR from optimal, I see them trying to make us make use of lesser used skills if we don’t run an optimal composition. If you go in with no guards/mesmer you can get by with Perma reflect from Engi maybe or work together with Ele’s/rangers/thieves or whatever. I think that’s what they’re trying to do or at least the intention.

I honestly want the raid to be difficult so that pugging is almost impossible. Basically ever since speedrun tactics were developed, shared, and openly taught, there were more ignorance and opposition on dungeon community. People in speed running guilds are simply reduced to “stack and press 1” despite all the efforts we put in, and I think raids could be the thing to change that.

For those who want casual but gold, you still have dungeons and fractals. Raids should be something that is catered to those who wishes to learn and adapt in GW2 game mechanic. To this day we still have people who wants lazy solution to everything, like having a character tank all the damage while the rest press the same rotations. Raid boss should be something that all 10 players must be skilled enough to read the animations and dodge/block/invul/blind at the right time to mitigate the damage.

It should never be easy where simply 10 random people walk in and finish it because dungeons and fractals already offer. Currently its about how long it would take a group to finish the same content and receive some blues and greens. If there is going to be a precursor involved, the raid difficulty should reflect that as well. This will actually allow people to learn about gw2 combat and take advantage of its magnificent system, and it would also change the perception that wvw/pvp people have on pvers.

I think Nike’s fear was confirmed when they said Raids won’t require any composition and completable with any random set of classes.

If the raid can be completed with 10 Cleric Guardians, it’s never gonna be truly challenging is it.

It’ll be ok as long as “any profession” does not mean “any build”.

They spread around a lot of utility with the recent balance changes. More professions will be able to fill more roles, which is a way to make the actual professions less important. As long as the required roles are fulfilled, specific class doesn’t matter.

It’s a good way to add flexibility to party compositions while (hopefully) still requiring some thought for playstyle choices, IMO.

They definitely meant that you can take any profession, but you will have to adapt your builds. They strength of GW2 is that any profession can have a tank/support build, a DPS build, etc… So 10 cleric guardians won’t do, but 10 guardians having the appropriate builds to fill the needed roles should be able to do it.

Silverkey.2078:

They definitely meant that you can take any profession, but you will have to adapt your builds. They strength of GW2 is that any profession can have a tank/support build, a DPS build, etc… So 10 cleric guardians won’t do, but 10 guardians having the appropriate builds to fill the needed roles should be able to do it.

The more casual players who got Ascended gear (especially armor) after months or years of grinding are going to really resist changing their builds.

A different build with exotic gear may be more effective, but psychologically, it’s a step down from Ascended; people don’t like that. This is going to be a real problem.

Lord Kuru.3685:

Silverkey.2078:

They definitely meant that you can take any profession, but you will have to adapt your builds. They strength of GW2 is that any profession can have a tank/support build, a DPS build, etc… So 10 cleric guardians won’t do, but 10 guardians having the appropriate builds to fill the needed roles should be able to do it.

The more casual players who got Ascended gear (especially armor) after months or years of grinding are going to really resist changing their builds.

A different build with exotic gear may be more effective, but psychologically, it’s a step down from Ascended; people don’t like that. This is going to be a real problem.

But the rewards are the solution

Lord Kuru.3685:

The more casual players who got Ascended gear (especially armor) after months or years of grinding are going to really resist changing their builds.

A different build with exotic gear may be more effective, but psychologically, it’s a step down from Ascended; people don’t like that. This is going to be a real problem.

Then they should get a celestial gear.

dlonie.6547:

It’ll be ok as long as “any profession” does not mean “any build”.

They spread around a lot of utility with the recent balance changes. More professions will be able to fill more roles, which is a way to make the actual professions less important. As long as the required roles are fulfilled, specific class doesn’t matter.

It’s a good way to add flexibility to party compositions while (hopefully) still requiring some thought for playstyle choices, IMO.

By design the Necro has less damage mitigation that any other class, if 10 necros can make it without energy sigils (since this is part of a “build” and Anet doesn’t want to enforce builds for their raids) then raids aren’t challenging enough.

This will be really interesting to see what Anet pulled off. Curious asf.

I believe they stated explicitly that forming your build would be a key part of the raids. They don’t want to enforce professions, not builds.

Also Necro has more damage Mitigation than most professions if not all, they lack avoidance of the damage though, which could be factored in, but if we use the term mitigation it kind of implies absorbing/reducing not avoiding.

Yes sorry, meant avoidance \o/

Jerus.4350:

I believe they stated explicitly that forming your build would be a key part of the raids. They don’t want to enforce professions, not builds.

Also Necro has more damage Mitigation than most professions if not all, they lack avoidance of the damage though, which could be factored in, but if we use the term mitigation it kind of implies absorbing/reducing not avoiding.

The thing is an ele can achieve more effective hp due to the uptime of protection and if forced to, use of blinding ashes, in addition to all the heals to replenish HP.

In temrs of absorbing one big hit, sure, the necro can initially absorb HP, but what’s the value in that if the boss is gonna do that attack faster than you can replenish your life force and HP while the ele can not only easily and swiftly replenish his HP, but has a much easier time avoiding that damage altogether.

There’s a reason why in spvp eles have made far better bunkers than necromancers. If built for it eles can take a lot more punishment than a necro.

Necro recovery options need to be buffed and regen/water field blasts and allied heals need to work on them while in death shroud, as should their own siphons.

I wouldn’t mind needing healers.

Rym.1469:

I wouldn’t mind needing healers.

Ele drops water field. Rest of group blast instant. There is your healer.

Healers as a required hard role won’t happen. Never ever.

deSade.9437:

The problem is I don’t have 9 friends…

I can always bring along 8 of mine …

• quickly goes into hiding *

Rasimir.6239:

deSade.9437:

The problem is I don’t have 9 friends…

I can always bring along 8 of mine …

• quickly goes into hiding *

Now you’re just showing off.

Taku.6352:

Rasimir.6239:

deSade.9437:

The problem is I don’t have 9 friends…

I can always bring along 8 of mine …

• quickly goes into hiding *

Now you’re just showing off.

You wouldn’t be saying that if you knew my friends … they put the most stereotypical special-snowflake phiws to shame .

Rym.1469:

I wouldn’t mind needing healers.

Anyone with a water field or a blast is a healer.

Zenith.7301:

Jerus.4350:

I believe they stated explicitly that forming your build would be a key part of the raids. They don’t want to enforce professions, not builds.

Also Necro has more damage Mitigation than most professions if not all, they lack avoidance of the damage though, which could be factored in, but if we use the term mitigation it kind of implies absorbing/reducing not avoiding.

The thing is an ele can achieve more effective hp due to the uptime of protection and if forced to, use of blinding ashes, in addition to all the heals to replenish HP.

In temrs of absorbing one big hit, sure, the necro can initially absorb HP, but what’s the value in that if the boss is gonna do that attack faster than you can replenish your life force and HP while the ele can not only easily and swiftly replenish his HP, but has a much easier time avoiding that damage altogether.

There’s a reason why in spvp eles have made far better bunkers than necromancers. If built for it eles can take a lot more punishment than a necro.

Necro recovery options need to be buffed and regen/water field blasts and allied heals need to work on them while in death shroud, as should their own siphons.

Curious how does Ele DPS compare when they do that?

Element Two.7316:

Rym.1469:

I wouldn’t mind needing healers.

Anyone with a water field or a blast is a healer.

Area Retaliation

Area Retaliation

Area Retaliation

Area Retaliation

Jerus.4350:

Element Two.7316:

Rym.1469:

I wouldn’t mind needing healers.

Anyone with a water field or a blast is a healer.

Area Retaliation

Area Retaliation

Area Retaliation

Area Retaliation

kitten you and your staff guard !

So much pain in this post

Kordash.2197:

Jerus.4350:

Element Two.7316:

Rym.1469:

I wouldn’t mind needing healers.

Anyone with a water field or a blast is a healer.

Area Retaliation

Area Retaliation

Area Retaliation

Area Retaliation

kitten you and your staff guard !

So much pain in this post

Hammer Guard, Mace Guard, GS Guard

Point is field management can be a pain in the kitten . We’ll have Chronomancer wells and timewarps. We’ll have Feedback/Wall of Reflect fields. Probably some smoke fields for blinds or maybe a dark field here and there and certainly plenty of Lava Fonts. Landing that water field in range of actually healing the team may not be so easy.

We’re in a thread about challenging content, no problem

You know with the raid example they gave on the tongue boss, I am a bit worried about the challenge in it. Honestly how hard is it to DPS down a wall that doesn’t have any defensive measures?

Who knows if its only “a wall”? Maybe there are mobs, maybe the boss does some attacks to that wall, anything is possible. We don’t know anything about the fights in the raids and still people are saying that it will be boring and easy.

EcoRI.9273:

You know with the raid example they gave on the tongue boss, I am a bit worried about the challenge in it. Honestly how hard is it to DPS down a wall that doesn’t have any defensive measures?

Who knows what other mechanics will be happening simultaneously? There could be adds, aoes or who knows what happening to make the “wall team” life difficult.

At a minimum, I can attest to ANet’s conviction that the raids should be difficult. It’s part of why they’re splitting things up into wings, so that they can be sure that they’re actually creating the hardest possible content (and obviously also to stagger the progress people can make). If something ends up being trivial, I would fully expect them to make it tougher.

Things to think about:
Trash mobs – Okay so you know how in gw1, any mob in the dungeon can drop ectos and obby shards which are ingredients needed for the legendary armor in gw1. The way they dealt with preventing people from farming the first mob over and over again was introducing an entrance fee which incentivize people to farm deeper into the dungeons to get more net profit. I feel fighting trash mobs can be interesting if there are certain spawn patterns(chaos planes in gw1) and players have to figure out how to pull as many mobs(mindblades) and how to avoid pulling unwanted mobs (skeletons). Just by having to pull lets say 30 mobs can instantly make tanks and CCs extremely valuable. In fact the ability for tanks to pull and hold mob aggro against extremely large mobs could be an optimal strategy.

No Waypoints – Again going back to FOW or UW, once you are dead, you can’t waypoint, you have to wait for your party to resurrect your and if your entire party dies, it is game over. What is interesting about this is that it makes DPS gear extremely risky but it will still remain as the most optimal gear option. If the first DnT tournament is any indication, no waypoints will make raids extremely difficult even if the difficulty setting is in the range of arah or fotm 50.

Traits and armor are locked in Raids – What is cool about this is it can potentially force a tank into being part of the meta comp. In the current system, one can freely swap into pure DPS or pure tank which makes party comps choose classes instead of specific builds. Imagine in PvP where you can do the opposite, a guardian can instantly spec into bunker when he needs to defend a point or spec into DPS when he needs to capture a point. It loses some team build identity.