I know there will be some ready to say l2p, and enter on their forum defender horses ready to defend the game to the death, but I too love this game and this is just my honest opinion on what I have played all this time. I will just say, I did not find the content hard, maybe too easy, but read on.
I played beta, loved the game from then and still now. Leveled PVE, then got in to WvW, mixed both, really had a good time. That was until the WVW guild I was part of fell apart and so I stopped playing. I came back some time later as I was sick irl and had time to burn, I then leveled a second character, an engineer and loved it more than my warrior, so I was gripped on the game again. But WvW soon grew stale and I left again.
So recently, I wanted to feel the game again, as it has amazing atmosphere and a great soundtrack. I decided megaservers greatly improved my experience, and so, I wanted to do world completion again with my engineer. Up until the new areas and story, I had only a few issues.
Firstly, mobs with CC everywhere. I get you are meant to dodge, but I would rather dodge high damage skills than a CC, as if you get caught, you are stunned for 3-4 seconds, that time you aren’t playing the game, not fun. So many mobs have cripples, stuns, knock downs, backs and pull backs. Its cheap and a real drain on the experience. For example, I hate seeing dredge, destroyers, sometimes ogres AND especially purifiers in risen areas, although they have obvious moves, if you didn’t notice it and say, you are on your way to an event that already started…..You know the rest.
Secondly, this only seems to be a few creatures, mostly rock dogs, some mobs spike damage is far too high, especially in the new patch, the dogs there having a pounce on what seems a 2-3 second cool down, you can maybe get 3 dodges, and if its not dead and you aren’t in balanced gear, you are stuffed. I was OK on engie as I have blinds etc, but I really feel for other professions, or less wised up players.
Once I had completed all tasks and just had the cities (vistas, pois and waypoints) I was genuinely glad and relieved I wouldn’t have to come up against so much CC. That was until I stepped in to this new area.
Why have maps gone from open world, having a real atmosphere where events pop up and suddenly a handful of players who have never met band together to defend a point, to a zergfest like wvw has become? The rewards there aren’t even that great, its easier to make gold in other ways. I will say the map design is nice and the layout with minimal waypoints genius. But the mobs are a bit tedious. Destroyers with a cripple, dogs with that pounce again, oh, and get caught by more than one pounce, hope someone will revive.
Then, more specific to engineer, the mobs in this area move VERY fast. In the story too. For damage engineer is kind of stuck in a few builds. Please try throwing grenades at the first boss in this weeks story, or dogs bouncing all around your screen…. Not to mention retaliation. Throwing 3 nades, means 3 hits of ret, using flamethrower, same concept, we dont have viable access to a boon strip without taking away from our builds, that is if you can even remove it. And I know engies aren’t the only victim here. Do not give retaliation to mobs, I get it as a phase on some bosses, but not here.
And the story, wow…. The Vines were getting annoying as it was, attacking way too far away, having way too much health, now they have a short cool down pull, to stun….If the short cooldown wasn’t bad enough, there are tons of them in a boss encounter. What you don’t see, with all the CC and way too high spike damage, is that it doesn’t add to the challenge, it takes away from the fun. Look to other titles in this genre, they do not add CC to many mobs.
Please in future, consider less CC and reduce damage from dog pounces as an example. As much as players hate RNG, have a chance at better rewards in these maps, on ALL events, so doing them has a purpose, and players will do them all and not just hang about one area like the latest. I did not struggle to complete content, in fact it was very easy, but it was more of a chore getting through than an enjoyable experience like fighting Zhaitan.
I will also add at the end here. Take away the reliance on fractals. In new content, in getting ascended etc. Make it a side way to do these things, as a lot of players enjoy it make ascended armour available by other means, as a lot of players don’t enjoy fractals.