Guild Wars 2

I guess many of these posts have been flamed down before but the reality is that if you’re putting together a group and wipe several times with strangers, they just leave. Then you wait another hour for it to happen again. Story mode, tame it down, leave the elite level of difficulty in the explore mode.

That’s the bottom line, don’t care about rewards, just want to be able to play the game.

I actually agree with this. Yesterday, after about 3 days of doing SE to get the gas mask for my characters, I decided to help guild members getting through their story mode. The Kudu and golem boss fight just feels unfair and I actually felt it was harder than explorable mode. Also CoE is guilty of this as well, that the story mode is just too hard. Note I’m not saying explorable mode should be turned down at all, you can check my achievements or I can show all my dungeon gear.

They are way to hard for people trying to learn but once you have the right gear and group they are a lot of fun.
I totally agree that story mode should be easier but I hope if they nerf them they will keep the explorable modes at the original difficulty.

While this isn’t the case for most of them some story modes are actually harder than explorable modes. HotW also comes to mind (super easy explorable in all paths, harder story). Combine this with the issue of most people not running story modes anymore (since they can just get into explorables if someone else in the group has completed the story and there being no real reward for doing the story the first time -or any time for that matter- anyway you have an issue of very few people doing it and usually very new people). This isn’t really the best situation. I’m not really sure what the solution here is. If story modes are designed to get people ready for explorables then they are doing so with only partial success depending on the instance. There are some that are balanced very well for stories so maybe tuning needs to be done on the ones people are having problems with. It might even be worth looking into an achievement for completing all story modes (separate from the ones tied in with explorable mode), it might encourage more people to try them all and may lead them to further explore the explorables.

Greekman.7215:

While this isn’t the case for most of them some story modes are actually harder than explorable modes. HotW also comes to mind (super easy explorable in all paths, harder story). Combine this with the issue of most people not running story modes anymore (since they can just get into explorables if someone else in the group has completed the story and there being no real reward for doing the story the first time -or any time for that matter- anyway you have an issue of very few people doing it and usually very new people). This isn’t really the best situation. I’m not really sure what the solution here is. If story modes are designed to get people ready for explorables then they are doing so with only partial success depending on the instance. There are some that are balanced very well for stories so maybe tuning needs to be done on the ones people are having problems with. It might even be worth looking into an achievement for completing all story modes (separate from the ones tied in with explorable mode), it might encourage more people to try them all and may lead them to further explore the explorables.

In my opinion, HotW is really balanced. The story mode difficulty transitions really nicely into the explorable difficulty.

Well i will have to agree with Kefka on this subject. I love the game and the combat system is one of the best i’ve tried for a long time.

But i really think that the Dungeons Story Mode(s) are very difficult and they take up way to much time. I think its great that Dungeon runs take more than 1 hour or 2… But when you’ve played for 3 hours and you are only about 40 – 55 % done with it, due most part to wipes and hard boss fights it takes most of the joy out of it… And for a PVE player like me that just seems wrong…

Also when it comes to tactics it is very hard to find the right group, most players just want to get right into the fight with the straight forward “Tank and Spank” tactics and it takes way way to much time to explaine that simple tank and spank tactics just wont work… You need your head about you (that is a positive thing!) But to explaine that over the chat, just kills everything, most pleople won’t stick around to listen… They simply go “Baaahhh i’ll find something else to do” and you end up were you started… (LFG to ????) Again its just my opinion

I did find the story mode dungeons a bit too hard as well… explorable is fine but story mode is the type of dungeon that helps players prepare for explorables.

Yup. Difficulty and time are almost polar opposite for a majority of SM/EM dungeons.

Said it before and will say it again: Revamp SM to be solo dungeons. It will only get harder and harder for new players as time goes on and on.

I don’t get it, I did all of my story mode with a condition specced necro and never died on any of the missions. I would’ve thought other professions would have had it easier.

Zogyark.4597:

I don’t get it, I did all of my story mode with a condition specced necro and never died on any of the missions. I would’ve thought other professions would have had it easier.

EM IS easier than the majority of SM. Just look at TA for an easy example. On UP path the hardest boss is the first one (Giant wurm) imo. All the others if you know what to do you basically never die.

The problem is that as time goes on more and more people will ignore SM leaving out those real new players without the ability to finish SM progression nor their personal story.

The thing with story-mode is that it’s really not that hard compared to explorables, both at level 80, but it is hard compared to explorables at 80 and story at the minimum level.

Dead.7385:

Yup. Difficulty and time are almost polar opposite for a majority of SM/EM dungeons.

Said it before and will say it again: Revamp SM to be solo dungeons. It will only get harder and harder for new players as time goes on and on.

What story needs is for people to return there again. Some sort of incentive. Maybe daily tokens for completing it or so. Now it’s just throw-away content that you do once and never again. That’s a huge waste of resources, considering the story-mode dungeons are pretty well designed generally.

Story Mode dungeons should be about story in my opinion. These dungeons should have been more for a group of random people of the stated minimum level to go in and enjoy them.

So to me I would have liked them to be more in tune of DE’s regarding difficulty where the focus would be more about following the story of Destiny’s Edge and having fun (but not extremely difficult) encounters along the way.

As such, the damage dealt by mobs should be reduced significantly. The same goes for their insane amounts of health. Just my opinion, but somewhere the premise and initial concept of the Story Mode dungeons seems to have gotten lost.

Ascalonian Catacombs story is harder than any explorer path imo.

Those mobs of rangers, eles, and warriors waiting for you in those tight nit hallways where there’s no real room to properly CC or dodge?

No thank you.

Some fights are too hard, some are too easy. I’d like to see a balanced approach taken to both. I do agree that story mode overall should be pretty easy for PuGs (most of them actually are, but some particular fights are overtuned… and most of CM, that place is a nightmare now).

disclaimer: I am terrible with names, so I’ll just use boss descriptions instead, hopefully someone will know what I’m talking about.

The ‘tone down’ list:
Kudu’s golems (that fight is absurdly long).
The 4pack at the end of TA (at least make Rytlock charge and Eir multishot less often, maybe).
HoTW last boss and his birds dot, it really is quite harsh (guaranteed down if lacking a defensive cd, and if he decides to charge you thereafter, it’s 100% death).
CoF weapon summoning boss, the swords phase. If he tunnels one person, they WILL die no matter what (can’t peel, or dodge often enough).
AC lovers. Their damage output is just a tad too high.
I’ve yet to do CoE or Arah so can’t comment on those.

For ‘too easy, could use a buff’ list:
TA ‘dogs’ guy. The concept is cool, but the fight overall is just too easy.
Second last HOTW boss (the Voice) is a huge pushover. Considering the whole place is about her spoiler this fight is a bit disappointing.
CoF imps boss… is this even a boss?
CM: everything. Bosses are a joke, and trash is absurdly hard… this place is as backwards as it gets.
SE: last boss – I love LOVE the fight overall, fun mechanics, his moves hurt a LOT (but have a pretty long tell, so it’s fair) but it just seems a bit easy. Maybe buff the adds or give them a debuff they apply (like ‘increases damage taken from lava’ or something). OR make him eventually ‘melt’ the wall shields so it’s a soft enrage timer.

Just my .02$

Yeah, after running 2 story modes this weekend (CM & TA), both with my 50-55 ranger (leveled a lot over the weekend), I have to say some of these were crazy hard.

Dogs in TA. Too many at once w/ powerful CC abilities. We finally just skipped a pack in an open area rather than deal w/ the fearing.
Bandit (or whatever – swarms of human mobs) in CM. Same issue – 6-7 mobs w/, in this case, knockback just ping-ponging you around the room until you’re dead before you can even do anything.
Flowers in TA – in 1 spot, right before you go into the cavern w/ the spider boss, we were getting 2-shotted by flowers… someone come in to rezz, die trying… kill flowers, rezz, flowers respawn & kill the newly rezzed + rezzer before we could even move away… we had to just give up & run back from the entry waypoint.
Final group in TA – bindrushing should not be the way to complete an encounter (& the trash in AC story involved a lot of that, too).

That only 1 boss fight is mentioned here as ‘too hard’ should say something about the current encounter tuning.

(OTOH, I found the TA spider guy insanely hard at first, but after a wipe or 2 we nailed the strat & it was a fun fight.)

I have been working through the story modes, and while I still need arah and CoE, I have come to notice this. The story modes are not too hard but it is the players that make them too hard. So many players are running completely selfish builds pre-80 because they are leveling which makes a lot of these dungeons a bit harder then they need to be.

Personally, I found the hardest part about story modes is finding a group. And of course, once you do find a group, they are going to be relatively inexperienced. As there is no incentive to run story mode again, players will likely have a harder time running story for the first time then explorable as they will bc grouped with people who have been farming explorable.

As to this, I think they need to leave story where it is but also give incentive for players to run it daily just like the explorable versions because as it stands, it is already quite difficult to find a group for story just to unlock explorable. Sorta kicking my own kitten for waiting so long on dungeons.

Actually I ran through CoE story again on my warrior. It felt a lot easier granted we had the perfect team set up with 1 banner warrior (me), 1 shout heal warrior, 1 heal guardian, 1 engineer, and 1 thief. Pretty much nobody died and we ran through it in like 30 minutes. I would say the adjustments made to CoE story mode a few patches ago is pretty reasonable. When I did it on my mesmer shortly after game launch, holy hell it was brutal; pre-adjustment Kudu fight was just frustrating and too hard for a story mode boss.

Oreoz.2573:

Ascalonian Catacombs story is harder than any explorer path imo.

Those mobs of rangers, eles, and warriors waiting for you in those tight nit hallways where there’s no real room to properly CC or dodge?

No thank you.

I remember that /shiver. I hate those rangers.

Still think Magg beats it out though since the majority of people use death zerg tactics to even beat it.

I agree, story modes are way too hard. I’ve been looking for CM Story for over 2 hours and didn’t even get anyone to do it, while I’ve seen several CM Explorable shouts. It is way too hard to get a party for story modes. The actual dungeon difficulty is fine though.

I agree with others, the story modes need some reason to go back there and do em, already I’m starting to see people just skip story modes and look for people who’ve done them already to open the explorable modes. What happens in 2-3 months when new players want to see story modes?

Just add some tokens to them. Especially since they are not consistently easier than the explorable paths.

my dungeon group often relies on strangers to fill a slot or two, and we rarely if ever wipe, especially on story modes.

it’s fine as it is.

’it’s fine as it is’. Tell me that after my PuG took 2+hrs, 10+s and endless frustration in a CoE story pug… all for a hat and 5s? come on, get real.

there’s a reason it’s nigh-impossible to get groups for some of these. there’s no point, and it’s not worth the effort. I’m done it so now I can do explore, and will never go back there again.

Disconnected.9253:

’it’s fine as it is’. Tell me that after my PuG took 2+hrs, 10+s and endless frustration in a CoE story pug… all for a hat and 5s? come on, get real.

there’s a reason it’s nigh-impossible to get groups for some of these. there’s no point, and it’s not worth the effort. I’m done it so now I can do explore, and will never go back there again.

CoE was kind of annoying before the nerf, but even then my group only wiped like twice (talking about pre-nerf, first time runners). after the nerf we didn’t even get anyone killed.

even with a PuG, there has to be some level of coordination and preparation. they’re not hard, they’re just more challenging than standard PvE and require some thought behind what skills you’re bringing for each individual encounter.

that’s nice if it’s not your first time, but tell me how many people do repeats of coe story mode, even post nerf? Would YOU?

I now understand why it’s so hard to find a group for that place.

like i said, before the nerf it was still doable by first timers.

and i did after the nerf. because my guildies asked, and because i find dungeons enjoyable. i agree that there needs to be some sort of incentive to replay story mode, but i disagree that it should get nerfed to the level of your personal story quests.

then again, there are people complaining the personal story is too hard >.>

i agree most story modes are really hard….
Also most people here won t admit that huge difference that makes lvl and equip.

I had to try it for myself, using “the squishy” class known as elementalist……

So many people say “learn to play you go glass cannon etc etc” without even considering that you don t have ANY choice unless you have gear and level to put traits into….

So yes playin a lvl 80 explore mode (tried 2 or 3) is way easier than playing a lvl 30-40 story mode.

LordByron.8369:

i agree most story modes are really hard….
Also most people here won t admit that huge difference that makes lvl and equip.

I had to try it for myself, using “the squishy” class known as elementalist……

So many people say “learn to play you go glass cannon etc etc” without even considering that you don t have ANY choice unless you have gear and level to put traits into….

So yes playin a lvl 80 explore mode (tried 2 or 3) is way easier than playing a lvl 30-40 story mode.

i’ve done most story dungeons on their recommended level :/

gear and traits are equivalent to EV training in pokemon, to make a comparison. it gives you an edge, it maximizes your potential to success, but it’s not something you’re required to do. no matter how well you EV train your pokemon, it’ll still be stupid to put a pure electric type against a ground type.

in other words, if you’re not playing it right, traiting and having gear won’t save you. dungeons are harder than normal PvE and there is a learning curve, yes, but they’re not cheap. they’re not “omg too hard”, you just need to get used to the idea that dungeons play on a different level.

idk if it just because I’m in a dungeon guild but I found both story and exp mode both easy. we and a guild mate a 2 man run of AC it’s not that hard. if you want proof here is a video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhwQD5t2PIU

BrunoBRS.5178

in other words, if you’re not playing it right, traiting and having gear won’t save you. dungeons are harder than normal PvE and there is a learning curve, yes, but they’re not cheap. they’re not “omg too hard”, you just need to get used to the idea that dungeons play on a different level.

yeah it makes totally sense that playing SOME lvl 80 dungeons feel easier than playng a lvl 40 story mode…..

It’s obvious because i need to learn to play…because when i’ll have i will be able to avoid all opponents attacks considering some oneshot ouright your lvl 40 character (without animation/time to react)…..

Obviously depends on the character……i know some classes have less problems than other….

Oh well maybe those oints in traits to enhance toughnness vitality and that knight exalted gear havenothing to do about it ……

Ill will always be dumbfounded by these claims. What do people thing BWE testers were running AC with? 80’s? Perfectly crafted gear? bah half of the people I ran with were still using lvl 15 gear and still rolled ac story & exp.

People still have trouble with the lovers? REALLY? this blows my mind.

Talk about gear&lvl all you want but i ran ac whilst I was 30 explorable when I was 35 and still while I am 60. I get accepted into the “80” only groups because they know I can hold my own.

I purposely run groups through ac story specifically looking for people who havent done it before/ never finished (so i can teach em) and you know what I hear all the time
“wow that was the fastest I have ever seen” “wow I didnt die?” etc etc

It is like 1bazilliontrillionpercent knowing what to do, and how to engage a mob with your prof.

People go in standing in mobs faces taking hits, standing in red circles slowly backing out, keyboard turning and then running out of circles.

People play their professions without an inkling of knowledge of what their abilities do. i.e party of 3 mesmer who didnt think it was a good idea to use feedback against the rangers who were slaughtering them, then the second they do the slaughtered the rangers.

same with guardians who dont put up wall of reflection to help out a mostly ranged party.

Most story modes are hard because either you, or your party are inexperienced or atleast in the case of AC, have poor situational awareness and reactions.

I urge all of my guild mates to go play with Kol in Hinterlands so they can learn how to dodge, manage blocks/evasives/ stamina.

Lately I have been thinking that ArenaNet assumed incorrectly that by lvl 30 (25 for the hardcore pro’s) players would have learned to dodge, manage stamina, work as a group, be defensive, know when to retreat, when in reality you all would prefer the content become easier than becoming better yourselves.

I can count on 1 hand how many pre lvl 80’s Ive seen eat food that was beneficial to their situation and not some silly magic find.

Sure you say now tone down the story modes. What do you think the people who leave story modes and come to explorables will say ? Most likely what they said about the story modes.

I mean what else can I say when a lvl 80 warrior cant kill the 1st warrior mob of AC alone when I could do it on my ele at lvl 32? albiet it took some time but I did it

maybe I am godlike maybe I am pro but I sure as heck dont feel that way in spvp where I cant predict what another player is using.

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idk if it just because I’m in a dungeon guild but I found both story and exp mode both easy. we and a guild mate a 2 man run of AC it’s not that hard. if you want proof here is a video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhwQD5t2PIU

"

You know just last night I was thinking I could probably 2 man ac. Pre lvl50

I accept your challenge sir! creates new char

Story modes are as hard as they should be. There should be tokens for completion though, at least on your first completion. Explorable modes, however, are just too easy.

Lol, the only “hard” thing in GW2’s dungeons are cheap shots.

Attacks that deal massive damage with small attack animation done amongst a lot of particle effects. The actual mechanics of boss fights are more often than not laughably simple.

@LordByron kitten i hate it when quoting is broken) – like i said, i roll a thief. i’m pretty kitten squishy. but the only annoying one-shots i remember are from snipers in caudecus manor, and you can try and obstruct them, or even better, use some anti projectile/projectile reflection skills, or blind them.

I don’t care whether story mode is hard or not, not when I can’t even find a group to play after spamming lfg on the map channel. Esp. for the later dungeons CoF, HotW, CoE, Arah.

Good luck trying to find people who want to do story mode for dungeons.

Nobody wants to do story mode and everybody only wants to do explore for tokens.

Someone may find this funny but I thought Story mode was for solo players. Imagine my surprise when I entered my first dungeon today just to be turned into pulp.
What do we do now ArenaNet? I want to finish all dungeons but need 4 more people to do that. The problem is I don’t want to wreck my nerves over a bunch of teens who don’t care about the story, who are running around aimlessly, smashing things and doing exactly the opposite of what has to be done.
Why don’t you make some kind of a setting that allows solo players to enjoy the marvellous story you have created without the need to put up with ignorant younglings.

I, for one, would be eternally grateful.