Guild Wars 2

So, here’s the deal…

On the one hand, I like to figure stuff out myself. I typically avoid walkthroughs, guides, that sort of thing, until after I’ve completed something on my own. Even if it means failing a few times.

On the other hand, most of the people I play with don’t share this sentiment. Too much fail will bring on the grumpy sauce, and then I feel bad because folks aren’t having a good time. This encourages me to research team-oriented content before launching into it, even if it’s new to me, so I can avoid the grumpies.

On the other other hand, micro-managing a run through team content can be a real detraction for me. It can get so bad that I’m not even really playing anymore, I’m just managing the experience, so everyone else can play. Thing is, I want to have fun too.

We have not done any dungeons yet in GW2.

We are getting to the point now where we’re looking at the Catacombs as something to do.

So my request to the experienced dungeoneers is this: what are the most critical tips for this dungeon that I should really know going in, if I want a generally positive and successful experience? Are there any real big trip-ups for which forewarning is essential? And can this forewarning be provided without being too “spoilery”?

Thanks for any help!

Fight higher level content.
if you are 50 fight level 60 content. In your group.
get good as a group.
learn how to use eachothers combos.
how not to get hit.
Cover each other.
control mobs.

Its good training. you will get better and PvE and PvP.

Pay attention to the red circles on the floor, they’ll 1 hit you.
Avoid the hit when a mob uses a big flashy windup, they’ll 1 hit you.
Pay attention to the objectives, they’ll 1 hit you.

All really obvious stuff, AC is pretty straight forward. Sure there’s stuff to make things a bit easier/faster (stand on a ledge when XXX, pull XXX first, run after XXX) but you’re not going to fail without them.

All: DO NOT SPEC DPS EVER

….now that that’s out of the way.

Story: Focus fire trash by control clicking, and be cautious of how many mobs you pull. Avoid AoE’s and use boulders on the lover’s fight.

Explorable: When it comes to gravelings, scavengers have to die first, no exception. Lt Kohler has a visual cue for his pull, it can be neutralized with stability, aegis, blocking, reflection, line of sight, or a well timed evasion.

Be very aware of traps and dont progress until the group is ready.

Two of the graveling zerg events are dps races, one of them has an ideal order to kill the mounds in.

The one that isnt a dps race is arguably the easiest, but it requires timing, and a very tough member to kite, dodge, cc, and interrupt hordes of mobs.

Not all trash has to be fought, its at your teams discretion to decide whether to engage, or run through.

The cave troll is neutral-aggro and will aggro with Kohler.

Thanks! This looks to be very much the kind of stuff I was hoping for…

A couple of specific questions:

Most of us (3 or more) will be well above the dungeon’s minimum level requirement (and with multiple character options). Would this generally be sufficient, or should we all be above it?

One of us is all about the tankiness. She likes playing bricks. No matter which character she brings, it’ll be a brick. Is there anything specific she should know, key targets she should look out for?

We’ve played together in multiple games, we know eachother’s preferences and proclivities (for example, I’ll almost always opt to be support-oriented, be it defensive or offensive), so teamwork shouldn’t be an issue.

story or explore mode??

I assume explore, since story is fairly easy and puggable.

the initial traps in EM are DEADLY. As in, they will down you in 1 pulse, and finish you in another shortly (the wall ones). Avoid them like the plague.

Kite Kohler away from adds so you dont have to juggle them and his wire both at the same time. Or pray that the troll spawns and aggroes him, then it’s easy mode.

Spider: easy, dodge the poison stuff.

Gravelings: scavengers (i think) do a channeled knockdown/focus fire. They WILL kill a teammate if not cc’d or stability used asap. Otherwise, breeders make more so kill them first.

Most of the rest of the stuff is fairly straight forward like people have said. The ‘protect npc while X happens’ can be annoying, but it’s fairly easy to rez and run back even if you do die.

The graveling boss that spawns oozes is really really easy, just dodge his un-burrowing and you’re set. oozes can be pretty much ignored.

the scaling system works well enough.
higher level people will still be more powerful but effectively level 30.
you might want to advise them to use a good suit of level 35 armor so they dont spend all their winnings on repairs.
You will likely die a lot.
Nothing you have done in game so far has prepared you for what you will fight unless you routinely seek out higher level content.

Crunchy Gremlin.5798:

Nothing you have done in game so far has prepared you for what you will fight unless you routinely seek out higher level content.

A couple of us do, a couple don’t, but we have been in plenty of omgwtfbbq moments in the past in various games.

Well then if you enjoy doing that kind of thing you will like the dungeons. I enjoy AC story most every time i do it.

oh, so story mode?

i would advise your ‘brick’ friend that she may feel a lot… softer than a tank in any other game. While being very defensive does help, there are certain mobs/bosses (first ‘mini boss’, the champion chick eir is tanking, troll event and some others (melee trash, esp. fighters) that just hit too hard to sit there and eat it all. Lining up blocks and using stuns may be effective, I’ve seen some warriors do this fairly well.

Blind is one of the most effective cc’s you can bring, use it as much as possible (especially on non-kiteable ranged mobs, like rangers, eles). Rangers knockbacks do a lot of damage, anti-projectile abilities (or blinds) help a lot. Eles just do nasty aoes that should be avoided, and necros spam crap tons of conditions and fear (condition removal fields are nice here).
so i’d say the trash order would be: ranger > ele > necro > mes > monk > fighter if you can keep the fighter perma snared or otherwise shut down/kited.

for the lovers, use boulders to keep them perma knocked down and keep them apart. having a lot of blinds, blocks and regen/protection is nice here due to lots of splash damage between the two of them.

ranger guy: really easy, just make sure to cc/kill his wolf adds asap.

necro chick: condition removal and stability, as well as some coordinated healing make this fight a breeze.

last guy: can be tricky if you haven’t seen it. his ranged throw does a lot of dmg to clothies and knocks down; best bet is trying to stay behind him, or dodging when he gets the tell (red circle around HIM). He also summons ground aoe (red circle on the ground, can be hard to see if other people using aoe) that does A LOT of damage, get out of this asap. otherwise he’s fairly easy.

The best tank is one that doesn’t get hit often. If you have a tank, it is your teams responsibility to support the tank with blinds, cc’s, boons etc. A fully traited, exotic-geard guardian tank will still get shredded in any dungeon if the team isnt pulling their weight.

Also, aggro is hard to predict, so dont expect the mobs to always target your tank. Make sure each member has enough survivability to kite/flee/control mobs while still focus firing the target.

You HAVE to work as a team it doesn’t matter if you get 5/5 mobs down to 10% hp if your team wipes you have to do it again.