Guild Wars 2

I think mine might be Uncategorized, even though I’m terrible at the jumping sections. It was one of the first I ever did, still dazzled by the opening cinematic, and the environment so clearly fit the “haphazardly conjured fragments of reality floating in the ether” theme. The easy fights don’t hurt either ;-) I see that one come up as a daily, I never think “ugh, maybe I’ll just skip it”. Wish I knew more about the poor little asura at the top though!

I like a few of them.

I like aetherblade because it’s got nice pacing and never feels like a chore.
I like Molten duo because it’s quick.
I like CM 100 because it is probably the most difficult fractal and has mechanics that you need to do to succeed.

jade maw my fav

I love nightmare fractal and the new swampland

Jellyfish. /15char

Nightmare CM

Nightmare, more specifically challenge mote. Easily the most engaging content in the game, nothing comes close in terms of difficulty.

Molten boss.

water fractal

In this order:
1: Nightmare
2: Nightmare CM – the only reason this isn’t number 1 is how much trouble many pugs have with breakbars
3: Chaos
4: new Swamp
5: Molten Boss
6: New Snowblind
7: Thaumanova

Benjamin Arnold.3457:

1. The one you guys haven’t seen yet
2. Nightmare
3. Bloomhunger
4. Thaumanova
5. Chaos
6. Snowblind

I’m a little biased.

That’s my order except for chaos (I’m not a fan of the boss fight — it’s either laborious long or boringly easy)

Benjamin Arnold.3457:

1. The one you guys haven’t seen yet
2. Nightmare
3. Bloomhunger
4. Thaumanova
5. Chaos
6. Snowblind

I’m a little biased.

did you (help) make all of those??

Benjamin Arnold.3457:

1. The one you guys haven’t seen yet
2. Nightmare
3. Bloomhunger
4. Thaumanova
5. Chaos
6. Snowblind

I’m a little biased.

I hate you > < .Any chance we can get any new on the fractal? The raid team used to give like a word or 2on how was w4 coming along. Could we get something like that for the fractal?

Benjamin Arnold.3457:

1. The one you guys haven’t seen yet
2. Nightmare
3. Bloomhunger
4. Thaumanova
5. Chaos
6. Snowblind

I’m a little biased.

Hype intensifies!

The nightmare fractal, i remember on release day trying the cm and my heart was pumping like crazy L I T T E R A L L Y the best experience i had in game so far.

Swampland and nightmare for me.

Benjamin Arnold.3457:

1. The one you guys haven’t seen yet
2. Nightmare
3. Bloomhunger
4. Thaumanova
5. Chaos
6. Snowblind

I’m a little biased.

Oh my god I can’t wait to see the new one, especially after this comment. Though I have to disagree on chaos, its one of my least favorites and I don’t really know why.

I don’t love Chaos because it doesn’t feel different enough from the other Fractals; it feels too samey because of the reused assets and mechanics. I also think the Gladiator boss fight is one of the most tedious with the fewest meaningful mechanics (all he does is beat you with his sword, activate his shield, and periodically use a CC skill later in the fight).

My favorites right now are, in order:

1. Snowblind
2. Nightmare
3. Aetherblade
4. Swampland
5. Thaumanova

The ones I hate the most for a variety of reasons are as follows, in order:

1. Aquatic Ruins
2. Molten Furnace
3. Chaos
4. Uncategorized
5. Underground Facility

Benjamin Arnold.3457:

insanemaniac.2456:

Benjamin Arnold.3457:

1. The one you guys haven’t seen yet
2. Nightmare
3. Bloomhunger
4. Thaumanova
5. Chaos
6. Snowblind

I’m a little biased.

did you (help) make all of those??

Not Chaos, that was Elijah Miller. I was working on the Snowblind and Swampland reworks as he built it.

Ahh you were the one responsible for the nerf on Mossman. Poor fellow! All he wanted was a hug!

100 cm all the way…. i really hope the cm mechanics get established thoroughly in a lot of fractals and ideally replace the old cm’s with decreased healing, as time goes on fractals can become boring especially with a good group where everything outright melts.

All time favourite: Mai Trin – except that cannon phase is pretty boring – but the boss itself is great.

Urban
Mai trin
Molten

Those are my fav Love Urban I think because it was the first fractal I ever did its also really easy with decent cc from the group. Love Mai trin also primarily for the concept of getting to fight her and the fight itself is really fun (take a condi cleanse!). I think everyone loves molten just because its fast.

I would like swamp better if there weren’t bugs with my pet in the first phase: the mobs follow a different logic from all other mobs, and relentlessly attack my pet even if it’s on passive, stowed, on the hiding rock, or “dead”. Which keeps me in combat. Which makes it really hard to run the wisps. I’ve taken to telling PUGs this and going straight for the speed gun to help the farthest runner instead. I like the Bloom encounter though; I like how it’s challenging, yet gives great rewards for even modest improvements in skill.

Also nightmare, as everyone has said. I rarely PUG 100CM, but its existence means the t4 playerbase is generally overtuned for normal mode, so when it comes up as a daily we smash those snakes (and robot) like dollar store loot pinatas. I adore the MAMA music as well.

1. Uncategorized
Very first one I ever did (waaaaay back when it was 4 random ones at a time) also one of the few I successfully soloed. finally I really like the mystery surrounding it.

2. Thaumanova
Since I was late for the LWS1 party this one really helped me understand the ins and outs of Scarlet and her armies. Also as an Asura main I enjoyed getting the backstory for the ruins in Metrica and since the rework the mechanics are amazing.

3. Nightmare
As many would agree this is one of, if not the best fractal in existence today (though Benjamin already teased that this spot is not unrivaled ) It proves how much the team has improved on encounter design and even if the Fractal and the Raid team don’t work together directly one can definitely see that they are learning from one another and don’t make the mistakes the other one has encountered.

1. Nightmare (CM)
Even the normal mode on level 100 is amazing, the CM is far better paced tho and one of the most engaging content in the game.

2. Snowblind
Short, but very fun fractal, the Light the fire part is quick but fun (no more weird #1 spamming at the fire).
The Ice Elemental fight promotes coordination in the group, if you get your reflects right in the group you never hit the blizzard phase.
The endboss porting away makes more sense now, and it is important to kill certain adds which give a shield to the boss. We need more mobs that effect each other, instead of the usual “pull together and kill and we are done”.

3.Swampland
Some people are sad about Mossman, i also think he should be slighty of a more challenging fight, but not a huge issue at all.
Bloomhunger fight is fun and engaging.
I just wish the timer at 25% should be shorter again, we usually have all 4 wisps together and have 10 seconds or more left.

Aquatic
Volcanic
Mai Trin

In general I like fractals that don’t have mechanics requiring more than 1 people. I like fractals that can be soloed or carried by 1 person. So for example dredge, chaos, 100CM, swamp etc are a big no no.

1. Underground Facility (specifically the last fight)
2. Chaos
3. Mai Trin

Sublimatio.6981:

Aquatic
Volcanic
Mai Trin

In general I like fractals that don’t have mechanics requiring more than 1 people. I like fractals that can be soloed or carried by 1 person. So for example dredge, chaos, 100CM, swamp etc are a big no no.

I can understand that all 3 can possibly soloed (can uw be solloed?) But mechanics that dont require more than 1 person wut? If so i can go afk on the corner while that 1 person removes the shoeld stacks from Mai trin.

I’m pleased to see nobody answered Cliffside yet
Most annoying fractal imo. If they put the hammer on your PvE skill slot it would actually be ok, but I just hate carrying it all the time.

zealex.9410:

Sublimatio.6981:

Aquatic
Volcanic
Mai Trin

In general I like fractals that don’t have mechanics requiring more than 1 people. I like fractals that can be soloed or carried by 1 person. So for example dredge, chaos, 100CM, swamp etc are a big no no.

I can understand that all 3 can possibly soloed (can uw be solloed?) But mechanics that dont require more than 1 person wut? If so i can go afk on the corner while that 1 person removes the shoeld stacks from Mai trin.

yes all fractals i wrote can be soloed, and many others.
i dont look at it the way you do. i prefer if fractal doesn’t enforce few-player mechanics on me because then i dont have to rely on other people to complete the content.
this is the most annoying thing in gw2 to me when i can’t complete content because of bad players blocking my progress.

Sublimatio.6981:

zealex.9410:

Sublimatio.6981:

Aquatic
Volcanic
Mai Trin

In general I like fractals that don’t have mechanics requiring more than 1 people. I like fractals that can be soloed or carried by 1 person. So for example dredge, chaos, 100CM, swamp etc are a big no no.

I can understand that all 3 can possibly soloed (can uw be solloed?) But mechanics that dont require more than 1 person wut? If so i can go afk on the corner while that 1 person removes the shoeld stacks from Mai trin.

yes all fractals i wrote can be soloed, and many others.
i dont look at it the way you do. i prefer if fractal doesn’t enforce few-player mechanics on me because then i dont have to rely on other people to complete the content.
this is the most annoying thing in gw2 to me when i can’t complete content because of bad players blocking my progress.

well yes but this doesnt answer why you like Mai trin since even 1 player can kitten up your progress

no they can’t. that’s why i like mai trin. i can just solo her if people around me are clueless

Best fractals:
1. Solid Ocean
2. Molten Duo
3. Thaumanova Reactor (Except the turret chamber)
(X)
14. Volcanic
15. Snowblind
16. Aquatic Ruins (due and only to the fact of a lack of upkeep in UW systems)
Worst fractals

Please note this is not best in technical aspect, but in my personal experience of
fun-ness. I can argue that some maps are just plain horrible simply because no way in 500 years can I enjoy them with a pug, some maps are more pug friendly than others, but some maps that I have never been able to clear with pugs would be almost half of them, because some maps demand a level of cooperativity which you just won’t get with a pug

Best:
1. Urban
2. Solid ocean

Most hated:
Bloomhunger. Horrifying tier 4 carry-the-whisps-to-be-done-in-short-time results in 30 minutes of tries where every single thing aggroes + mossman + flux bomb + traps + tripwire = no thanks, I’ll just do other dailies. Gorilla tree is annoying but not that bad.

Nightmare. Because there are still people that run T4 who can’t break the bar. And I can’t survive CM as I can’t carry, as not good enough.

Uncategorized

Mostly because I main a guardian and that fractal really goes well with the utility of the class. Well, I suppose most instanced content prior to HoT did. Good old times.

Entenkommando.5208:

Most annoying fractal imo. If they put the hammer on your PvE skill slot it would actually be ok, but I just hate carrying it all the time.

Having the hammer be on your special action key slot would be spectacular. They could have it charge (activate the action key) when you are near something that dies. Ben, please do this!

Entenkommando.5208:

I’m pleased to see nobody answered Cliffside yet

I like the current cliffside. It’s just harder-to-do with inexperienced people than most of the other fractals. I can help just about anyone with all the encounters (including the boss fight and neck seals), but haven’t found a reliable way to manage the seals on the torso.

Benjamin Arnold.3457:

Rising Dusk.2408:

Entenkommando.5208:

Most annoying fractal imo. If they put the hammer on your PvE skill slot it would actually be ok, but I just hate carrying it all the time.

Having the hammer be on your special action key slot would be spectacular. They could have it charge (activate the action key) when you are near something that dies. Ben, please do this!

How would you drop the hammer if it was no longer a bundle? Making it a SAS seems like it would nullify the hot potato mechanic.

Have to agree, i dont feel like having 4 different special action keys just for the hammer, when the bundle works so much better.

Scrap the hot potato mechanic since it’s not fun.
Special action key = fun

Definitely swamp. Nothing wrong with that one. Definitely nothing wrong with that one. It’s by far the least annoying and pug friendly of all the fractals.

Sublimatio.6981:

Scrap the hot potato mechanic since it’s not fun.
Special action key = fun

Not true, it adds a different element of challenge. Additional mechanics are a great thing. Strictly doing damage to bosses is not fun.

I was hoping they would add more of it to the Fractal too. Maybe during the final fight.

Warcry.1596:

Not true, it adds a different element of challenge. Additional mechanics are a great thing. Strictly doing damage to bosses is not fun.

I was hoping they would add more of it to the Fractal too. Maybe during the final fight.

Of course layers of challenge are good and desirable but not the hammer, it’s annoying. I would like to see a different mechanic with the Special Action Key to make up for the hammer. Challenging and fun is the way to go.

Sublimatio.6981:

no they can’t. that’s why i like mai trin. i can just solo her if people around me are clueless

you can solo her yes thats not what im saying im saying her mechanics require more that 1 person if you arent soloing the fractal

no? she only needs some of the shield taken down to be killed. you dont need 2 or more ppl to do that.

Sublimatio.6981:

no? she only needs some of the shield taken down to be killed. you dont need 2 or more ppl to do that.

ok you will be on her and i will go to the other side of the room gl getting that shield down ^^

zealex.9410:

Sublimatio.6981:

no? she only needs some of the shield taken down to be killed. you dont need 2 or more ppl to do that.

ok you will be on her and i will go to the other side of the room gl getting that shield down ^^

Are you intentionally missing the point ?

The entire Mai Trin fractal can be solo’d.

zealex.9410:

Sublimatio.6981:

no? she only needs some of the shield taken down to be killed. you dont need 2 or more ppl to do that.

ok you will be on her and i will go to the other side of the room gl getting that shield down ^^

i will follow you very closely and CC mai trin when she’s in the aoe. luck? not really.