Dungeons in this game are just plain bad – the recent release of the fractal dungeons have cemented my lack of confidence in this current group of designers to fix the issue.
The swamp fractal is basically the in-game equivalent to pulling the handle on a slot machine – all luck. Even if by some miracle it all comes together – it fails in its most basic objective – its just not fun.
There is so much in this game that is done right – its a shame they missed the mark so widely in this regard.
I deeply regret this wasted investment of time, money and effort.
i find it fun, but that may be because i am an ele, eles cantrips abilites are immensely helpful, especially the teleport one, i can easily do the farthest one nearly faster than the closest one.
its a whole lot harder to do without an ele or mesmer. a mesmer has its portal. eles have cantrips
my best is in 2 tries, and that’s only because of lack of communication and my teammates put the wasps in the closest ones
I’ve tried this one with a static group on voice comms who don’t drool on their computers. Without one of the two classes with portal abilities, this is only completable through sheer luck.
In a game that claims to have classes highly flexible in the roles they can fill, it’s just plain stupid to make one of the “Paths” of this dungeon 100% dependent on having the right classes in the group.
That said, I’ve found that for the most part, the Fractals dungeon as a whole fails in its objective of being fun. This joke of a Fractal, players who DC can’t get back in and are just screwed (and leave the group short a player), group can’t leave to pick up replacement manpower if needed…
I’ve tried this one with a static group on voice comms who don’t drool on their computers. Without one of the two classes with portal abilities, this is only completable through sheer luck.
In a game that claims to have classes highly flexible in the roles they can fill, it’s just plain stupid to make one of the “Paths” of this dungeon 100% dependent on having the right classes in the group.
That said, I’ve found that for the most part, the Fractals dungeon as a whole fails in its objective of being fun. This joke of a Fractal, players who DC can’t get back in and are just screwed (and leave the group short a player), group can’t leave to pick up replacement manpower if needed…
Untrue. You may not be able to complete it but that doesnt mean everyone cant. Up your game.
Just because I am feeling charitable let me give you a tip. There are 3 wisp. That leaves 2 extra players not running a wisp. What are they doing? Here it comes… rdy? They run in front of the 2 farthest wisps and set trap off before the runner gets there. Any kind of stun removal gets them free of the trap instantly. Load up your stun removal utilities that EVERY CLASS HAS MULTIPLE of and this becomes cake.
Now tell me again about your group having no droolers.
Untrue. You may not be able to complete it but that doesnt mean everyone cant. Up your game.
This statement is not true – no matter how well you perform in this particular fractal, if at least two others skill levels are not lacking you’re out of luck.
I’ve tried this one with a static group on voice comms who don’t drool on their computers. Without one of the two classes with portal abilities, this is only completable through sheer luck.
In a game that claims to have classes highly flexible in the roles they can fill, it’s just plain stupid to make one of the “Paths” of this dungeon 100% dependent on having the right classes in the group.
That said, I’ve found that for the most part, the Fractals dungeon as a whole fails in its objective of being fun. This joke of a Fractal, players who DC can’t get back in and are just screwed (and leave the group short a player), group can’t leave to pick up replacement manpower if needed…
Untrue. You may not be able to complete it but that doesnt mean everyone cant. Up your game.
The majority of the posters in the thread agree that this is typically only completable through luck or through using very specific skills not available through most classes. You are in the minority in having completed it. Up your reading comprehension ability.
Theres a ton of poor people in the world as well. Does that mean no one can work hard and get rich just because more poor people cant do it?
See above post with the tip I gave and the other tip in the other swamp fractal is too hard post. These two tips make this fractal a joke.
Thank you for helping me make the point that you shouldn’t have to be ‘this guy’.
Voice communication and a static group make a lot of instanced dungeon content easier, even trivial – but if the lack of these is a barrier to entry level content completion it is certainly a design flaw by most definitions.
The majority of the posters in the thread agree that this is typically only completable through luck or through using very specific skills not available through most classes. You are in the minority in having completed it. Up your reading comprehension ability.
Well there a bunch of people in this thread that think its doable and some say its the easiest in the game.
Honestly though if you have team members who listen and can follow instructions its extremely doable. Yes if they’re contrary kitten you will fail but same goes for most content in most games. IMO there are two basic requirements that once satisfied will allow you to complete the fractal easily:
1. 3 runners, 2 supports. Figure out who does what. I play guardian, sometimes I support by giving stability and speed buffs to the runner and aggro mobs away. Other times I run myself and use shield skills and trust my support to help clear the way.
2. If a wall appears in front of you, 90% of the time there’s a part allowing you to jump over it. If not, no worries, reset and repeat. In fact you can keep resetting until you get a wisp distribution that you’re comfortable with.
I’ve done this multiple times with no issues in 100% PuGs. You just need to figure out who is doing what and have a simple countdown before starting the run.
Theres a ton of poor people in the world as well. Does that mean no one can work hard and get rich just because more poor people cant do it?
See above post with the tip I gave and the other tip in the other swamp fractal is too hard post. These two tips make this fractal a joke.
Thank you for helping me make the point that you shouldn’t have to be ‘this guy’.
Voice communication and a static group make a lot of instanced dungeon content easier, even trivial – but if the lack of these is a barrier to entry level content completion it is certainly a design flaw by most definitions.
Believe me id rather be “that guy” than the person making this thread. Keep on screaming its impossible tho while “this guy” is beating the fractal.
The majority of the posters in the thread agree that this is typically only completable through luck or through using very specific skills not available through most classes. You are in the minority in having completed it. Up your reading comprehension ability.
Well there a bunch of people in this thread that think its doable and some say its the easiest in the game.
Honestly though if you have team members who listen and can follow instructions its extremely doable. Yes if they’re contrary kitten you will fail but same goes for most content in most games. IMO there are two basic requirements that once satisfied will allow you to complete the fractal easily:
1. 3 runners, 2 supports. Figure out who does what. I play guardian, sometimes I support by giving stability and speed buffs to the runner and aggro mobs away. Other times I run myself and use shield skills and trust my support to help clear the way.
2. If a wall appears in front of you, 90% of the time there’s a part allowing you to jump over it. If not, no worries, reset and repeat. In fact you can keep resetting until you get a wisp distribution that you’re comfortable with.
Hope this helps!
Quoted for emphasis. This fractal isn’t all that hard. I’ll take it over the Grawl fractal’s boss any day.
Theres a ton of poor people in the world as well. Does that mean no one can work hard and get rich just because more poor people cant do it?
See above post with the tip I gave and the other tip in the other swamp fractal is too hard post. These two tips make this fractal a joke.
Thank you for helping me make the point that you shouldn’t have to be ‘this guy’.
Voice communication and a static group make a lot of instanced dungeon content easier, even trivial – but if the lack of these is a barrier to entry level content completion it is certainly a design flaw by most definitions.
Believe me id rather be “that guy” than the person making this thread. Keep on screaming its impossible tho while “this guy” is beating the fractal.
Not impossible, just stupid.
You should probably read posts prior to replying to them. Don’t let your lack of comprehension stop you from chest-thumping though.
The best dungeon so far, it’s not as repetitive as others, there is enough variety and challenge to keep me going and go for the highest level possible. Swamp fractal literally takes minutes. Just learn to run the wisps, it’s so easy.
Wait until you hit level 20. Without 15 resist agony instantly kills you. Not downed, kills!
Also swamp is really easy because you can jump over the trees that block you. You don’t need a mesmer ever. The team I run with we portal because we got tired of it after getting to level 20. Imagine how many swamps we went through.
Basically this is easy with an experienced group who have access to voice and challenging to very hard for inexperienced PUGs relying on party chat.
I guess this is an example where inbuilt voice comms would be helpful. Maybe ANet should make a deal with Mumble or another vendor to have it integrated.
Most people that I’ve run with would rather re-start the fractal than grind against this one, but then I’m just a regular player so probably have no business airing my opinions here.
Grawl boss? Piece of cake by comparison … and actually quite fun.
It’s incredible how bad some people are and then blame the game. I’m not an Elemetalist neither am I a Mesmer. I can do the far ones without issues. lvl 10+ even
1) all traps can be jumped over and are predictable in the nature of where they are placed… if you still fail to see them then jump all the time and avoid 95% of them with just the use of the space bar
2) you could dodge through traps too, or to save a few seconds when rolling forward or to avoid some mobs
3) most vines that close & those walls can be jumped over, just try it out before taking the wasps you just need to stay calm and use your head
It comes all down to personal skill (= use your class to it’s benefitis and know your class strenghts and possibilities while understanding the game mechanics) and to have decent team coordination.
I have seen 3 ele’s and a mesmer fail on the swamp at lvl 1 in recovering the wasps, for hours and hours and eventually gave up. It should have been so easy for them but still… I guess they will complain too.
Swamp is the easiest fractal in the game. And yes it’s tons of fun just like the 8 others.
The swamp fractal is IMO the easiest and shortest one, even for pugs, but then again I play dungeons on my elementalist. I take the wisp furthest away, and so long as I have two other competent people who know what stability and/or condition cleanse is, then it’s np.
Of course, that’s about a 50/50 chance. I am finding out that most people have no idea what their abilities do. I hate the Underground fractal the most, because trying to coordinate with 3 randoms to kite and position the boss, while interrupting the heals immediately from range, while another random guy hits the switches is a nightmare
The swamp fractal is IMO the easiest and shortest one, even for pugs, but then again I play dungeons on my elementalist. I take the wisp furthest away, and so long as I have two other competent people who know what stability and/or condition cleanse is, then it’s np.
Of course, that’s about a 50/50 chance. I am finding out that most people have no idea what their abilities do. I hate the Underground fractal the most, because trying to coordinate with 3 randoms to kite and position the boss, while interrupting the heals immediately from range, while another random guy hits the switches is a nightmare
You mean the dredge endboss. I had a nightmare group yesterday at lvl 11. Two people from our group barely understood english and didn’t listen to team instructions. Hey failed on every aspect of the boss mechanics and totally made our party break up because it was impossible to finish with those 2 doing the wrong actions all the time. I didn’t understand how they ever reached to lvl 11 playing so bad.
The swamp is really easy and if you are stuck on that one or frustarted by the amount of team coordination required then I guess fractals arent for you. They sure won’t be for everyone at higher levels. But it helps a lot to learn from others to improve your own game, if you are open to that.
I’ve done just earlier the swamp in 3 minutes or so whit pugs.We were 2 thieves and 1 warrior but the classes doesn’t matter that much since ..I realy can’t be bother to change traits or utilities for that particular situation so i’m in no better possition than any other class and still find it cake.The problem is you , not the dungeon.
Its either super easy or super hard depending entirely on if your party members know how to do it.
You will definitely want to switch your skills around before running the wisps. (for example, if i’m supporting and not running, i’ll make sure to put on a warhorn with quick breathing trait, and wear my shouts remove conditions armor. if i’m running a wisp i make sure to put balanced stance on my bar, as well as even rampage – the most useless warrior skill finally has a use!) The easiest way to beat this though is of course……… mesmer. They tend to make anything puzzle/trap related completely trivial.
Call me when this game gets fixed…. if it ever does….
Maybe it’s because I run with a static group of people that aren’t idiots, but I find the swamp fractal to be pretty easy. The first time we did it, it took us like 10 time to get it right, but now we usually get it one the first or second try.
The swamp fractal is by far the shortest and easiest out of all 9.
And I don’t even claim to be good at it, I still have plenty of problems with the traps.
But even with that it’s never taken me more than 2 or 3 tries to succeed.
That’s with PUGs, or guildies,
with or without voice chat.
I suspect the reason people are having problems is because they just grab the wisp and run a bee line to the goal praying that they’ll magically be transported past the traps.
No.
Pay attention, focus on avoiding the traps.
It seems like everytime there’s something in this game that isn’t straight combat, people complain.
Every time my group got into swamp my teammates are like “woohoo” and I was like “meh”. Two of them would just stand there and watch, while the rest of 3 including me, as a mesmer, do all the job.
Still, the easiest and most desirable dungeon from all 9.
Honestly though if you have team members who listen and can follow instructions its extremely doable. Yes if they’re contrary kitten you will fail but same goes for most content in most games.
And this is the problem. If you do it perfectly, then of course it’s easy. Everything is. The problem is that no matter how great you may be, if you end up with a team that does not include at least three also great player/class combos, you have no hope of getting this one.
“If you spent as much time working on [some task] as
you spend complaining about it on the forums, you’d be
done by now.”
Honestly though if you have team members who listen and can follow instructions its extremely doable. Yes if they’re contrary kitten you will fail but same goes for most content in most games.
And this is the problem. If you do it perfectly, then of course it’s easy. Everything is. The problem is that no matter how great you may be, if you end up with a team that does not include at least three also great player/class combos, you have no hope of getting this one.
Soo instead of putting forth some effort and finding people that are decent at the game and not pugging the content, youd rather they lower the difficulty so that you can put forth as little effort as possible to beat the fractal? Pugging has always and will always be grouping with the most common and less skilled people in the game. You might get a good player every now and then but mainly its the people who arent very good. you know this and everyone else knows this. Why put yourself in that situation?
Want to be able to reliably beat the fractals? Find other people who want the same. it isnt hard. just takes a little effort on your part.
Doing it perfectly is an exaggeration. I end up plowing into plenty of traps and still manage to complete it in on the first or second try. All you really need is to wait for everyone to be in position and have a nice easy 3-2-1 countdown in chat.
This basically comes down to not skill, but rather knowledge and a little bit of luck. As an alt-o-holic I have repeated the lvl 1 and 2 fractals on 8 toons and pugged them all. Three of those 8 I have taken past lvl 10. Here’s what I have learned……Once you get to lvl 4-5+ the majority of players have already learned enough about said fractal for it to be completed easily. However, and this is a big however, the players on the lower end of fractal lvl most likely have not learned the ins and outs of the swamp. Therefor for them, it is by far the most frustrating. Ofc things become easier with repetition, but lets not forget about those who have not had the same amount of play as us.
On a related note fractals are becoming harder and harder to pug as the player base is separating due to lvls. Thus adding to the frustration of failed instances. Who enjoys lfg for extended periods of time much less getting inexperienced players where knowledge plays such a role.
Imo they should tone it down at the beginning lvls, then ramp it up via random trap location spawn and the like as the lvl progresses.
Half of my groups just disband on swamp. This is only easy if you only play with same people or have right classes for this. I have seen some guys just run past everything and not getting stuck once.
I play as norn guardian. Because of the size and having camera zoomed out i can’t see even one trap. Jumping over traps sometimes won’t work, i will trip anyway. I keep sliding from the trees because there is apparently only one pixel you need to jump on. Maybe if i was asura necro or something i would post too how easy this is.
Get a guardian and mesmer in your group. Portal plus a runner with a speed boost and condition removal = two wisps in the bag every time. But in all seriousness, just watch where the red circles and traps appear and then don’t step on them.
Soo instead of putting forth some effort and finding people that are decent at the game and not pugging the content, youd rather they lower the difficulty so that you can put forth as little effort as possible to beat the fractal?
Yes, that.
I really don’t mind when skill and creativity is expected of me. I don’t like it when the game expects me to expect skill and creativity out of whichever four people are interested in doing Fractal Level 2 at 10am on a weekday.
Imo they should tone it down at the beginning lvls, then ramp it up via random trap location spawn and the like as the lvl progresses.
Yes, this too. Like have NO traps from lvl 1-5, just make the challenge in getting the wisps where they’re going in time. Maybe don’t even have the monsters at lvl1 (aside from the boss). Ease people into the challenge factor.
I play as norn guardian. Because of the size and having camera zoomed out i can’t see even one trap.
Yeah, I play an Asura, but even so the level is so dark that traps are barely visible. I can see them when I’m standing still, and most of the time when I’m moving, but there are some that are just completely invisible in the swamp water.
“If you spent as much time working on [some task] as
you spend complaining about it on the forums, you’d be
done by now.”
Lol Swamp is the easiest especially with Bloomhunger as boss. We always laugh when it comes up because we know we are gonna complete it within 10 minutes. (Current fractal 35)
Tips:
- Equip condition removal utillity
- Equip condition removal signet
- ALWAYS KEEP JUMPING, whilst carrying
- Keep swiftness on
- If you can keep stabillity on
- Jump the tree roots to get over the barricades
- Countdown from 3 to 1 before starting.
Even without a mesmer portal it is doable from every location as every class…
I’ve done this many times successfully with pugs. Maybe you just have bad luck. That or your groups just plain suck. It’s a simple division of assets. Put two people at the harder/farther sections and one at the closest. Once you get it down you can do it in one attempt. I hardly think your innability to promote teamwork and complete a challenge is Arenanet’s fault.
This has been both BY FAR the easiest fractal I’ve gotten (full PUG, 1st time, no problem) and the most frustrating fractal I’ve gotten.
And it’s really all down to RNG and communication.
But the easiest time I’ve had in here was with a full PUG and no voice, and the hardest time I had was a partial PUG with 3 on voice (other 2 PUGs).
It’s an example of bad RNG. It’s RNG where the wisps are, and RNG where/when the walls pop up, and RNG (to a point) if the camera will be helpful.
RNG? Your joking right? The wisp spawn in a 3 pattern set and ONLY those places. The traps are in the exact same spot every time. Every class has stability and at least 2 condition removal utilities. The walls spawn in the exact same place depending on where the wisp placement is. All of this is so far from rng it isnt funny. Fact is, your not paying attention enough to notice this. It isnt the games fault your not a good player. Its yours.
I’ve done this many times successfully with pugs. Maybe you just have bad luck. That or your groups just plain suck. It’s a simple division of assets. Put two people at the harder/farther sections and one at the closest. Once you get it down you can do it in one attempt. I hardly think your innability to promote teamwork and complete a challenge is Arenanet’s fault.
It is when they give missions that require teamwork.
The traps are in the exact same spot every time. Every class has stability and at least 2 condition removal utilities.
Thieves don’t have any stability (except during our elite). Neither do Engineers or Necros (at least not reliably), and with several of the other classes they can’t activate it with their “hands full.” As for condition removal, some are more flexible than others.
i had troubles with this fractal only with bad groups. you know – ppl derping around, dont watch under their feet, not using conditions removal etc.
with a good group it takes from 1 to 3 tries to finish whisp event. easy. even without mesmer.
Nobody’s talking about “with a good group.” We;re talking about how to complete it with the worst possible collection of misanthropes one can find. What so you do then, without losing any progress you’ve made to that point? It’s poor strategy to always hope for the best possible set-up.
“If you spent as much time working on [some task] as
you spend complaining about it on the forums, you’d be
done by now.”
Maybe the content shouldn’t be completable with a fail group? ._.
Maybe it’s a good thing that there’s one thing in this game that isn’t such a cakewalk that the reward is spoonfed to every PUG that wants to give it a shot.
I still don’t find it difficult to get through the swamp,
But I appreciate that something is more complicated than “Walk from Point A to Point B and kill 25 Mobs then a boss. Open Chest, port out”
The swamp traps are in a fixed location, some of the paths require you to use a certain strategy and route (spiders one for example needs you to stay away from the eggs until you’re ready to set the group off, then just prior to the go signal run past the eggs, grab the wisp and then carry it to the drop zone). I’m guessing that those who are having the hardest time with this are (a) have done it only for the first few times and have not learned the tricks/trap or (b) using groups with poor communication or party members lacking common sense (like failing to pull the drake off a runner, not helping with the skelks, reviving in bad conditions, not paying attention to what’s going on, etc). A group I ran with completed the swamp on the 3rd try — the previous group before that was 30+ tries before people started giving up (however we all started learning the tricks and i’m confident we couldve got it with a few more tries)
The swamp has become very easy for a lot of groups and if you have a decent group it’s actually the fastest and easiest one. Personally I’m happy when I get that one because the dungeon takes about 20min less then.
After being out for a week or so people are getting the hang of it and it goes really fast. So yeah, I like it… certainly not a final straw for anything.
“Our Time Is Now”
Waylon- lvl 80 Guardian
Trism – lvl 80 Engineer
Maybe the content shouldn’t be completable with a fail group? ._.
If that’s the case then they should provide better players. Look, I don’t know what the solution is there, but if I end up in a bad pug that can’t work together, then fine, but that shouldn’t mean that I can’t advance.
The swamp has become very easy for a lot of groups and if you have a decent group it’s actually the fastest and easiest one.
Maybe so, but it’s impossible to gt into those groups, because they’re shouting “LFM Fractal Lvl10” or whatever, and do not respond to “LFM Fractal Lvl2”. All the “good” groups have moved on and left behind anyone who didn’t grind the fractals like crazy over the weekend. Now you’re lucky to get 1-2 “decent” players that have half an idea what’s going on or can at least learn as they go.
Remember, this is NOT like the other dungeons where any pug you get has a chance of getting someone who’s done this a hundred times. If they’ve done it a hundred times, they’re likely nowhere near the level you’re doing it at.
“If you spent as much time working on [some task] as
you spend complaining about it on the forums, you’d be
done by now.”
