Guild Wars 2

I honestly don’t have a problem with mobs hitting hard in dungeons particularly when I was given an ability that makes me invincible (rolling). However, what bothers me is that many damaging abilities (particularly in dungeons) are not telegraphed.

Couple Examples:

Ascalon Catacombs (I think thats the name, first dungeon) hunter ghost’s spike trap stacks 8 bleeds, cripples, and deals significant damage. It’s also instant cast and invisible until it hits you (at which point it is too late).

Cad Manor first boss (Golem) missile barrage is not telegraphed, is occluded by the camera when you are in melee, strikes incredibly fast, and one shots everyone I’ve ever seen it hit.

This lack of warning also extends to unavoidable attacks that I have experienced with event bosses. I had a high toughness character take 20k damage from a boss in an Orr event with no warning. Sadly I had 12k health.

Basically, I believe that if an attack is gonna hit extremely hard there should be an animation that telegraphs that it is coming. A good example of this are the giant boss characters that stomp. You can fight one of those without taking any damage because he raises his foot before each stomp telling you to roll.

The rangers in ac throw a ball to where the trap is gonna be.
That golem in CM has the same animation every golem has for skills like that.

But my opinion is basically just that your examples were bad, there are sadly still quite a lot of badly telegraphed attacks in the game, particularly basic attacks. These can kill a melee in 3-4 hits and are often not obvious enough to not be occluded by spell effects in certain situations (If you have a party that likes flashy spells).

I agree that the visual tells are often hard to see with all the particle effects flying around. Some animations could use work, but most of the time it’s just a matter of getting used to it.

I completely agree with this. We need to be given a chance to react. Not having the intention of a mob painted to us in colors, but just, you know, announced clearly and in time.

Currently I find this the weakest area of Guild Wars 2, at least for the pace that I’m moving through the game. I’m only 45, trying to take this mmo slow, it has so much to offer.

The particle effects completely ruin the tactics of group play. I love combat with a friend or two. The combat feels great, I can see most telegraphs, the combat flows nicely.

But, step into a dungeon (let alone a dynamic event) and all that is tossed out the window. There is little to no visual room for tactical play. This is extremely hard on melee characters. This really needs to be addressed to improve (or completely restore) the flow and tactics in group combat in this game.

The golem in CM does not give adequate warning. I know it roughly follows that laser beam thing but exactly when and where the rockets will go..who knows. And if you are melee you prolly are going to die. I my mesmer I can sometimes just kinda wing it and press the evade sword attack…..but I really cant do it reliably.

After this patch that golem shoots more rocket volleys than before, it was way way worse. Why give us HP bars if the bulk of what we are dealing with is one shotting?