Guild Wars 2

Since PvE should always mirror aspects of PvP, but not perfectly though.

Mainly a complaint of lack of boons used by common mobs in open world PvE, while playing with classes that can remove boons or convert them into conditions.

What I’ve found so far, Boons are pretty much restricted to PvP and Raids. Open world PvE mobs rarely use boons, apply 1 boon on themselves that does nothing (either ½ second Might or Swiftness on super fast mob moving on already max speed) or apply “boon-like imitation” that can’t be removed or is removed by other game mechanic.

Really hoping an upgrade to existing mobs, but most likely gonna happen in next expansion…

Deer with 50% fury and quickness uptime won’t be a joke!

I’d love to see more mobs with boons. +1 op

A mob with boons is harder to kill.

Can´t expect someone (aka people complaining about HoT being to hard) fighting harder mobs outside of a raid.

~kek lel

Jethro.9376:

A mob with boons is harder to kill.

Can´t expect someone (aka people complaining about HoT being to hard) fighting harder mobs outside of a raid.

~kek lel

Eh… not particularly. It just makes the fights more interesting.

Sartharina.3542:

Jethro.9376:

A mob with boons is harder to kill.

Can´t expect someone (aka people complaining about HoT being to hard) fighting harder mobs outside of a raid.

~kek lel

Eh… not particularly. It just makes the fights more interesting.

That´s what i meant. All of a sudden players need to use skills twice to kill a mob.

I can already hear the rant about it taking to long, killing enemies and the inability to solo farm.
Personally i would love enemies not being just weak/defenseless sponges.

My Necro wishes regular mobs had boons. I remember a long time ago setting her up with interesting skills…… which turned out to be completely useless in PvE.

……back to autoattacking.

Sartharina.3542:

Jethro.9376:

A mob with boons is harder to kill.

Can´t expect someone (aka people complaining about HoT being to hard) fighting harder mobs outside of a raid.

~kek lel

Eh… not particularly. It just makes the fights more interesting.

Indeed fights would be much more interesting, some mobs simulating a better A.I removing condi, evading,, having boons etc.

Jethro.9376:

A mob with boons is harder to kill.

Can´t expect someone (aka people complaining about HoT being to hard) fighting harder mobs outside of a raid.

~kek lel

This. Its a game where you need nothing just key 1. arenanet has attracted and conditioned a crowd which thinks that every fight where the greatsword wont mow through the enemy like through butter is too hard and unbalanced, bugged and unfair i want my money back game design you little kittens!

+1.
Foes need to be more interesting, and corruption, boon striping builds should be useful in PvE.

The only mobs that use notable boons are those dredge gong player dudes, and they spend like 10 seconds buffing up

It wouldn’t really make much of a difference in HoT since everything is done in big groups.

I would like it if this caused people to spread out to do more than what they copy and paste from meta builds and actually do some personal testing of their class xD

reikken.4961:

The only mobs that use notable boons are those dredge gong player dudes, and they spend like 10 seconds buffing up

They’re one of the better designed core enemies for that, though. If they just had a 1/2sec cast shout, you maybe get an interrupt off. The longer execution time, which also grants longer boons, allows more opportunity to interrupt with an appropriate player-side penalty for not doing so.

I agree with the OP, overall. More boon-casting enemies would allow for more skilled play and add benefit to those character builds that play on boon stripping/corruption. They could be more dangerously synergistic with their allies and reduce the need for singularly powerful monoliths that the game seems so fond of.

Think of it, instead of one champ with overblown attacks that, for some players, is an “easy” dodge/aegis/block/dodge/repeat string, there are 5 veterans with lower damage but launch into 25 Might stacks, Protection, Fury, and Regen. (Side thought: Regen doesn’t get used enough by enemies in general. Poison is mostly a semi-laughable PvP condition..) The damage potential amps up and is controllable, vaguely similar to the risen abominations (except the “control” there is “don’t get hit for five seconds”).

The thing is, leveling up killing low level mobs where you don’t have to pay attention and look for a mob’s cast bar to interrupt it or for boons to strip or corrupt, ends up killing mobs by either autoattacking or by spamming skills at random, since none of the skills matter. Why should I care in regular PvE what my skills do when they don’t “do” anything besides dps?

Some mobs do use boons, like the Risen Abomination and the Dredge Disaggregator. Perhaps the suggestion should be, “More mobs should use boons.”

IndigoSundown.5419:

Some mobs do use boons, like the Risen Abomination and the Dredge Disaggregator. Perhaps the suggestion should be, “More mobs should use boons.”

I did better and changed the topic name abit to reflect that: “ALL mobs should use boons”

Since every profession available to players does so, so should mobs reflect that on some extent.

Agreed. Boons on enemies would be good. Letting enemies remove conditions would be a welcomed.

If you also give every class reliable access to boon removal then sure. Otherwise no thx. It’s like being required to play necro or mesmer in the old lv 40s fractal where each attack gives the enemy a boon

Jethro.9376:

Personally i would love enemies not being just weak/defenseless sponges.

That’s more of a question of battle system in general, but slapping regen / protection / stability on trash mob is just going to slightly increase killing time for that mob and not make the fight any more interesting. Majority of the professions have no convenient way to deal with boons.

Intelligent uses of them sure. Random use just turns an uninteresting fight in to a tedious fight.

I liked how in GW1 nearly all the mobs had a profession (same as the players) and could use nearly all the same skills we could.

Of course, being balanced for instanced content is completely different from open world content, but still, I kind of wish that concept was carried over to this game.

reikken.4961:

The only mobs that use notable boons are those dredge gong player dudes, and they spend like 10 seconds buffing up

They’re why I run sword/dagger whenever I gather in Dredgehunt Cliffs.

Anyway I don’t think more boons is the solution but more offensive abilities, interrupts, AI, and removing levels entirely and upgrading all gear and mobs to level 80 (it’d be a stat hidden from the player’s view) and then rebalance drops to accommodate the new challenge and lack of levels (so all tiers of mats drop from all maps).

Jethro.9376:

A mob with boons is harder to kill.

Can´t expect someone (aka people complaining about HoT being to hard) fighting harder mobs outside of a raid.

~kek lel

They are already ‘hit sponges’.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Why should I care in regular PvE what my skills do when they don’t “do” anything besides dps?

Back during Queen’s Gauntlet when everyone was farming bags, I was on a warrior alt and some typical black dyed twilight wielding warrior asked me how I was dodging while the gambit prevented it. I found that hilarious. (whirlwind)

Most people don’t need to care, because nothing matters when you stick with the zerg.

Healix.5819:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Why should I care in regular PvE what my skills do when they don’t “do” anything besides dps?

Back during Queen’s Gauntlet when everyone was farming bags, I was on a warrior alt and some typical black dyed twilight wielding warrior asked me how I was dodging while the gambit prevented it. I found that hilarious. (whirlwind)

Most people don’t need to care, because nothing matters when you stick with the zerg.

I remember back when there was an interrupt daily. I had to look up which skills did an interrupt because I had never used one to interrupt a mob attack.

I would too like to see more PvE mobs have boons, but not all of them.

Hard to tell if thread is serious or not. Adding boons to mobs is a good idea, but seems to me most people here just want to beat their chest about how superior they are to all the other players. Maybe try focusing on the topic instead of spewing hate and vitriol towards the casuals? Probably too hard.

I explained this one ages ago.

Gw2 has mostly super easy ,hits you once in 3 second, mostly no “special attacks” and the ones that do have them are usually the ones that applies root, cripple, perhaps a few bleeds and poison, nothing that keeps you on your toes as they still deal barely any dmg to you.

And that was the main reason everyone was ever going with just full zerker gear. Specially inside dungeons.

However drytops came with some new improved mob ai and abilities, silverwaste pushed it a step further and hot well..people complained about how hot mobs 1 shot everyone….

I agree with improving the ai and giving more abilities that do have a impact in the core tyria.

Lets not forget guild wars 1 where ALL mobs had used the same skills, sometimes even empowered skills that the players used.
Imagine a bandit that cloak and dagger-backstaps in queensdale?
Imagine a ogre that uses “sick em!” and uses rapid fire with his longbow?
Imagine a flame legion shaman using meteor showers and lava fonts.

Those were the everyday encounters you can see in gw1, and i wish there was more of such things inside gw2.

Im happy with hot mobs as they are tho

mtpelion.4562:

I liked how in GW1 nearly all the mobs had a profession (same as the players) and could use nearly all the same skills we could.

Of course, being balanced for instanced content is completely different from open world content, but still, I kind of wish that concept was carried over to this game.

I completely agree with this. Eventually you get to know the different types of enemies and which ones need boon/hex removal, interrupts, etc. so it required an adjustment of skills. I miss hexes. Currently we have defiance bars which should make people adjust skills but in the end most people do nothing, and in many cases don’t need to.

Ambika.6257:

mtpelion.4562:

I liked how in GW1 nearly all the mobs had a profession (same as the players) and could use nearly all the same skills we could.

Of course, being balanced for instanced content is completely different from open world content, but still, I kind of wish that concept was carried over to this game.

I completely agree with this. Eventually you get to know the different types of enemies and which ones need boon/hex removal, interrupts, etc. so it required an adjustment of skills. I miss hexes. Currently we have defiance bars which should make people adjust skills but in the end most people do nothing, and in many cases don’t need to.

Until we got to WoR and dervishes started looking like monks …

Foes should be able to use boon, so may need to tune down damage and hp to balance things out. It will make pve so much more interesting.

So +1 to this

I could support this, but only for regular mobs in level 80 maps and vets and higher in the rest of Tyria. This might also require a reduction in mob HP, base damage and CC abilities as well – because no matter how well intentioned and fitting these changes might be, if they boil down to ‘longer fights for the same junk drops’ it will not go over well.

They need more skill variety. I’m afraid of getting smacked down for saying it but I wish mobs were more like they were in GW1. They tended to roam in packs and higher level ones had all sorts of nastiness that blended together.

Yes, please. More mobs that use boons to make things interesting instead of just more health and/or toughness.

Vyrulisse.1246:

They need more skill variety. I’m afraid of getting smacked down for saying it but I wish mobs were more like they were in GW1. They tended to roam in packs and higher level ones had all sorts of nastiness that blended together.

I’d rather have 2-3 regular mobs in a pack that synergize instead of a single vet/champ/elite with 5-sec CC skills and one-hit-KO attacks.

Since many people here want “more intelligent” mobs, let me tell you that there was a patch in beta when mobs used to dodge attacks and everyone was annoyed so they changed it back. If they ever give boons to the mobs, expect a lot of whining!

I really want to use my Necro’s Focus in PvE but it might be a better idea to give different effects to skills in PvE and PvP like some skills in GW1. Not sure why Anet won’t do that, we have such a small number of skills compared to GW1…

Mea.5491:

Since many people here want “more intelligent” mobs, let me tell you that here was a patch in beta when mobs used to dodge attacks and everyone was annoyed so they changed it back. If they ever give boons to the mobs, expect a lot of whining!

I really want to use my Necro’s Focus in PvE but it might be a better idea to give different effects to skills in PvE and PvP like some skills in GW1. Not sure why Anet won’t do that, we have such a small number of skills compared to GW1…

Think of the whining as birthing pains. Mindless DPS people will just have to adapt and learn to approach mobs with tactics and some small bit of planning. :P

Vyrulisse.1246:

Mea.5491:

Since many people here want “more intelligent” mobs, let me tell you that here was a patch in beta when mobs used to dodge attacks and everyone was annoyed so they changed it back. If they ever give boons to the mobs, expect a lot of whining!

I really want to use my Necro’s Focus in PvE but it might be a better idea to give different effects to skills in PvE and PvP like some skills in GW1. Not sure why Anet won’t do that, we have such a small number of skills compared to GW1…

Think of the whining as birthing pains. Mindless DPS people will just have to adapt and learn to approach mobs with tactics and some small bit of planning. :P

People love to adapt if game gets even esier, people will whine if need effort.

GW2 is designed to be the antagonist of a game that requires strategies, just look at skill and balance concept. :| aoe spam, much AA with cleave,ment to mindless blob and tune for damage output.

It really is a good idea since ArenaNet gave nerf to the mobs of HOT, enough of the Tyria that is easy to kill …. even need boons,dodge,block,reflect.

Mea.5491:

Since many people here want “more intelligent” mobs, let me tell you that there was a patch in beta when mobs used to dodge attacks and everyone was annoyed so they changed it back. If they ever give boons to the mobs, expect a lot of whining!

I really want to use my Necro’s Focus in PvE but it might be a better idea to give different effects to skills in PvE and PvP like some skills in GW1. Not sure why Anet won’t do that, we have such a small number of skills compared to GW1…

Some of the bandits in Queensdale still dodge out of AOE attacks.

It’s very annoying. I have to wake up out of my autoattack sleepwalk and think for a second.

/s

This always bothered me because Sword/Dagger on Thief stole boons but there were never any to steal in PvE. Pretty much the Dredge are only ones who use boons. I find it odd that some of Thief’s weapon sets were basically designed for PvP only from the start.

@Just a flesh wound.3589 CC them before use AOE.

That is the reason some of players want more mobs with harder A.I, by using evades/boons it makes better fights (as much i hate condi design….)

Also more mobs with boons would help condi builds with the corruption or coverting them to condi.

Oh gee, as a mesmer I could use arcane thievery, but wait, they have no boons…sigh,, another PvP skill wasted in PvE.

Those are the small game design tweaks that make games great and fun, skills work, having some builds towards pvp only, while other builds dont work on pvp or WvW and some dont even work on any of those modes, this really needs to be adressed.

As the game progresses mobs should become harder and use all the things we can.

HOWEVER I believe a large segment doesn’t want it too hard.

Personally I want the game to wisely get progressively harder and use all those things. I still have many challenges beyond me in the game so I’m good, but a general design rule, I like that method. I believe that is their aim to, the only deviation is from negative feedback.

One thing they need to be good with is kitten difficulty correctly and award loot accordingly. That is how you sell harder content to a much larger crowd, harder = more lootz. The patch seems to have made it better in general terms of more loot, but perhaps it could still be measured and matriculated better according to true difficulty.

Aeolus.3615:

@Just a flesh wound.3589 CC them before use AOE.

That is the reason some of players want more mobs with harder A.I, by using evades/boons it makes better fights (as much i hate condi design….)

.

I wasn’t being serious. Edited post to add /s

FrostSpectre.4198:

Since PvE should always mirror aspects of PvP, but not perfectly though.

Mainly a complaint of lack of boons used by common mobs in open world PvE, while playing with classes that can remove boons or convert them into conditions.

What I’ve found so far, Boons are pretty much restricted to PvP and Raids. Open world PvE mobs rarely use boons, apply 1 boon on themselves that does nothing (either ½ second Might or Swiftness on super fast mob moving on already max speed) or apply “boon-like imitation” that can’t be removed or is removed by other game mechanic.

Really hoping an upgrade to existing mobs, but most likely gonna happen in next expansion…

There are mobs in Orr that have boons, most in HoT had boons. But people complain when the content is too tough. Remember when mordem wolfs had retaliation? People complained they where too hard to kill. They no longer have retaliation.

BrotherBelial.3094:

There are mobs in Orr that have boons, most in HoT had boons. But people complain when the content is too tough. Remember when mordem wolfs had retaliation? People complained they where too hard to kill. They no longer have retaliation.

I remember that. They really did have less teeth after the Retal was dropped.

There were two things that made it irritating.

1. They attack in groups, so the retal damage was usually 2-4x as much. For as much damage as they could churn out with backstab and retaliation, they still had too much HP.
2. The moment you stripped it, they added more stacks. Boon clear/corruption was a uselessly token effort at that point. Like many monster abilities, the cooldowns are far too short for the effect given.