Guild Wars 2

Hi,
I am “attuned” (wait a second, this could segway into gear treadmill, right?) to FoTM level 3. I am performing an experiment to see how easy it is to get a group for FoTM lvl 3.

I understand it is not peak hours right now, however let me point out that I’ve been able to get groups at this hour for TA or COF without a problem.

So, around 7am I asked in Map chat for a FoTM lvl 3 group. Waited 10 minutes, no response, not even one person looking for level 3. Many people are looking for 6+.

It is now 8:50am, Im spending another 10 minutes asking for the same thing with no such luck. I’ll report back in an hour or two with similar results Id imagine. Im going to log in every 1-2 hours to see if I can get a group, only sticking around for 10 minutes or so to see if there is a soul in sight to run lvl 3 with me. Chances are, since most people are much further, I wont have any such luck.

Edit: I will probably continue this throughout the day and evening where I can…since I do have a life and cant be logged in 24×7. I will update this original post each time. Whether I find a group or not I’ll update the thread. Just curious to see how difficult it is to find a group throughout the day.

7:00am – No group
8:50am – No group
10:23am – Found a group for lvl 3(25 minutes).
11:52am – No group

its so hard to find PUG that has a low level scale in FOTM, because everyone wants to/have to be in higher level, i myself just login after 1 week of not playing and looking for level 1 scale

no one ever wants to help someone with low level fotm scale

7am… and you got nobody.. 7am.. ?
8.50am and still nobody..

Are you serious or trolling. What do you expect at a time where maybe 1% of the population is online?
Personally I log in maybe 9.30 and first thing I do is my dailies…

I purposely waited until Sunday night to try the new dungeon – it took me over an hour to find a group for Level 1 that was comprised of 3 80s, a 62 and a level 21 (yes 21). Sad.

the sad part is that no one that has a high level of fractal scale wants to help/lend a hand to low level fractal runner,

Xericor.9103:

7am… and you got nobody.. 7am.. ?
8.50am and still nobody..

Are you serious or trolling. What do you expect at a time where maybe 1% of the population is online?
Personally I log in maybe 9.30 and first thing I do is my dailies…

Hey maybe read the entire post? I understand its not peak hours, which is why I’ll continue doing this throughout the day. Before this past week it took less than 5 minutes to get a group for any dungeon I wanted. Im going to do this every few hours for FotM, level 3, to see if I can get a group all the way through the evening hours. We’ll see what happens but I have an idea.

I read the entrie post, and gl to you sir.
I feel you have already made your mind up that you are not going to get a group, and are going to troll this thread.

I would advise maybe joining a guild and running with guildies or friends
If I have friends or guildies on and I get a game in 5 minutes, does that have any more or less sway than your own experiment?

All my friends that played the game have left to WoW. I left the guild I was in because I could not play most of Saturday, however before I did they all progressed past level 5.).

Being in a guild should not be the only way to experience dungeons. This is, at the core, a dungeon just like AC or COF. One shouldn’t need to be in a guild to experience this. It isnt a raid.

its pretty hard to find any low level group. players on scale 1 are pretty much screwed allready. I’ve tried several times, always more than 1 hour and no chance. And it won’t get better in any way, since there is no reset. So you have 2 choises: Jump on the gear grind treatmill right now, or beeing left out forever and from all future content. Easy as that.

Alicse.9854:

its pretty hard to find any low level group. players on scale 1 are pretty much screwed allready. I’ve tried several times, always more than 1 hour and no chance. And it won’t get better in any way, since there is no reset. So you have 2 choises: Jump on the gear grind treatmill right now, or beeing left out forever and from all future content. Easy as that.

true, once you are left out, you are left out forever, this dungeon is not for the casual players,

maybe if i will not play for another 3 weeks, and try out this dungeon, every one else will be at least at level 10

and i will not find any player who is willing to run a level 1 fractal

Others have created similar threads this past weekend. I need to ask again. This is new content. How can it be hard to get a group for the new hotness dungeon only after 2 or 3 days?

That makes no sense. Especially since I saw people forming groups for Story mode for at least a month after launch. I still see people asking for it but not as much.

The fact you cannot get a group quickly for lvl 1 Fractals implies there is an issue with the design. Either many people are skipping the content or the design is discouraging helping others out. And was this not the game that built its core design to encourage cooperation, inclusion, etc.

Oldgrimm.8521:

Alicse.9854:

its pretty hard to find any low level group. players on scale 1 are pretty much screwed allready. I’ve tried several times, always more than 1 hour and no chance. And it won’t get better in any way, since there is no reset. So you have 2 choises: Jump on the gear grind treatmill right now, or beeing left out forever and from all future content. Easy as that.

true, once you are left out, you are left out forever, this dungeon is not for the casual players,

maybe if i will not play for another 3 weeks, and try out this dungeon, every one else will be at least at level 10

and i will not find any player who is willing to run a level 1 fractal

I Whole heartedly disagree with your first sentence. I am a casual player, just because of real life and time constraints. Do not mistake casual with noob. I know what Im doing and can hold my own just like you or anyone else. Just because I dont have 5 sets of exotics and I dont have 10 hours to play each day doesnt make me(or anyone like me) a noob. Since when did casual become synonymous with “noob”?

dalendria.3762:

Others have created similar threads this past weekend. I need to ask again. This is new content. How can it be hard to get a group for the new hotness dungeon only after 2 or 3 days?

That makes no sense. Especially since I saw people forming groups for Story mode for at least a month after launch. I still see people asking for it but not as much.

The fact you cannot get a group quickly for lvl 1 Fractals implies there is an issue with the design. Either many people are skipping the content or the design is discouraging helping others out. And was this not the game that built its core design to encourage cooperation, inclusion, etc.

Just think logically. Player-gated content, where the individual sets the gate for the group’s content. If everyone passes you in level, who will be there to run with you at the low levels? IT might not be a huge problem today, although I think it already is, but in a few weeks or months, definately. There is no reset.

the difference of story mode and explorable mode is that if you have a member who has not yet done with story mode he/she can still run explorable given that other members have explorable mode,

i hope this new dungeon changes its mechanics, that even if you did not accomplish level 11, that you can still access level 11 given that one of the members have level 11 fractal, even if you have level 2 fractal

I agree. I don’;t understand why Arenanet went along with this. It makes no sense. Maybe the lead designers were gone for the weekend and are coming into the office this morning to realize the reality of their error. Hopefully people like Colin Johansen see a thread like this, and the 50 like it, and address it. We the community deserve an explanation for the half truths and errors in their decision making. This whole weekend was a disaster.

dalendria.3762:

This is new content. How can it be hard to get a group for the new hotness dungeon only after 2 or 3 days?

Everyone that cares to is still advancing as fast as they can. Why would they hold themselves back for someone they don’t even know? It actually DOES make sense that it’s harder to find the low levels right now.

Give it a while for people to back off from their mad rush to higher levels and I’m sure there will be some willing to take a “breather” and do a lower run here and there. It’s silly to assume that the whole idea is a disaster just because you can’t find a PUG at your leisure.

Oldgrimm.8521:

the sad part is that no one that has a high level of fractal scale wants to help/lend a hand to low level fractal runner,

Sorry, but that is the way the dungeon is build up. Helping low level fractal runner may take up to one hour. That is one hour that you can’t use for leveling up by yourself.

I also hate the system and I’m often forced to run at lower level, because no one is playing at my level. For me this is nearly wasted time.

BadHealer.3608:

Oldgrimm.8521:

the sad part is that no one that has a high level of fractal scale wants to help/lend a hand to low level fractal runner,

Sorry, but that is the way the dungeon is build up. Helping low level fractal runner may take up to one hour. That is one hour that you can’t use for leveling up by yourself.

I also hate the system and I’m often forced to run at lower level, because no one is playing at my level. For me this is nearly wasted time.

I agree. A waste of time if you go to a lower lvl. The group should be able to determine the level they want based on the max level a member has finished. Or, a weekly reset. It is definately needed.

Weekly reset on Sunday nights at 7:30EST. After that, people run the dungeon, and try to get as high as they can throughout the week…maybe getting to 15-20(who knows how far people will go). On the following sunday, levels are reset, and everyone is on equal footing to play. Id imagine by sometime wednesday or Thursday night there will be very few low lvl fractals running, but thats far better than what we have going now.

a sad part also is that, any returning players that have not touched this dungeon will find it hard to look for a group/ a guildmate/ that is willing to devout their time running a low level fractal…

but i guess i need a guild that is willing to run a low level fractal in the future, since as of now, everyone in my guild is rushing/ competing for a high level fractal

Logging in now to see if I can get a group for a low lvl 3 FoTM. I will update my original post to reflect the result in 10-15 minutes.

I think the biggest problem with FotM is that you can only play at the minimum level that any one player has achieved rather than the reverse…. There’s no system in place to really make it worthwhile to even go back and help since you need to beat lvl 4 to achieve lvl 5 and so forth.

The two things I would tweak to the system to make it less of a hard gated effect:

1. The highest level your party can go is the highest level any player has achieved
2. An “xp” system for the fractal levels that’s tracked in the hero tab.

The idea being that regardless of doing a lower lvl fractal, you still get credit towards progression. However, if you have someone who’s in the higher levels, he/she can basically “power level” you through so long as you can perform at his/her level.

So let’s say the following:

Lvl/xp req/xp for finishing

Lvl1, 0, 100
Lvl2, 100, 200
Lvl3, 200, 300
Lvl4, 300, 400
…
Lvln,(100*n)-100, (100*n)

So if I’m level 6, but can’t find a group for level 6 to instantly jump up to level 7, I can still get to level 7 by doing some combination of the lower levels.

Similarly, if I’m lvl 2 and I hop on board with a level 10 group, I can basically jump from lvl 2 to lvl 5 and only need to do one lvl 1 run before I’ve unlocked lvl 6.

I don’t think this totally solves the problem, especially in the long run scenario, but it certainly mitigates the effect in the short run.

For everyone that cant get groups:

1) Join a guild
2) Make a guild group
3) Go to LA
4) Enter FotM
5) Profit

Note: if you cant get a guild group, you need to join a better guild. Its called Guild Wars for a reason and you can even join multiple guilds.

Konfuzfanten.6503:

For everyone that cant get groups:

1) Join a guild
2) Make a guild group
3) Go to LA
4) Enter FotM
5) Profit

Note: if you cant get a guild group, you need to join a better guild. Its called Guild Wars for a reason and you can even join multiple guilds.

Why is it called guild wars? Do guilds war with eachother? I dont see it. Its just a title.

I totally agree with the OP… the more time pass the more I feel I’m playing Caste Wars 2.

First, I lose some sweet loot items just because for personal reasons I couldn’t log on in time for the 1-time event and when I did – after around 1 hour of Connection Failed errors – it was over already.

And now I realize I will never manage to get a high FotM level simply because I’ve lost the starting “train” because I was busy exploring the other new content.

Without a cross-server LFG service, that dungeon is just for a few people.
And the most horrible thing the developers have done is to instigate the people to kick out others just because they haven’t unlocked the appropriate difficulty level.

Quite disappointing for a game been described as a naturally social game that encourages casual cooperation among players, instead of rivalry

Konfuzfanten.6503:

For everyone that cant get groups:

1) Join a guild
2) Make a guild group
3) Go to LA
4) Enter FotM
5) Profit

Note: if you cant get a guild group, you need to join a better guild. Its called Guild Wars for a reason and you can even join multiple guilds.

I don’t see how this negates the gated community effect…. it just gives you a better opportunity to find people willing to take a few steps backwards in order to go forward. I mean I wanna help my buddies out… but it sucks that I’m going to have to run lower fractals 7 or more times just so that they’re at my level; whereas my proposal above could shave that to more like 3-4 runs.

Look me up of on Gandhara …
Im looking for a lev 1 party but so far not had any luck :-(

Char Name – Lotus Dream

Konfuzfanten.6503:

For everyone that cant get groups:

1) Join a guild
2) Make a guild group
3) Go to LA
4) Enter FotM
5) Profit

Note: if you cant get a guild group, you need to join a better guild. Its called Guild Wars for a reason and you can even join multiple guilds.

Agree’d, but people are having a hard time understanding this lol, i now have a guild just dedicated to FotM’s, it is nice to have poeple to run with of all level ranges, at all hours of the day.

It has taken me less than 5 to 10 minutes for each level of fractal from one to four.

OP is full of kitten.

Bruno Sardine.2907:

Konfuzfanten.6503:

For everyone that cant get groups:

1) Join a guild
2) Make a guild group
3) Go to LA
4) Enter FotM
5) Profit

Note: if you cant get a guild group, you need to join a better guild. Its called Guild Wars for a reason and you can even join multiple guilds.

I don’t see how this negates the gated community effect…. it just gives you a better opportunity to find people willing to take a few steps backwards in order to go forward. I mean I wanna help my buddies out… but it sucks that I’m going to have to run lower fractals 7 or more times just so that they’re at my level; whereas my proposal above could shave that to more like 3-4 runs.

i agree, for example i have level 24 fractal, would i be willing to grind 23 levels of fractal to help a level 1 fractal runner? i will think several times, and my answer would be/ probably No, because its time consuming, and drop rates are lower in rate low-level fractal

right now im trying to find a lvl 4 group. 30 mins passed, no luck. and my messages became suppressed.

going to play my ps3 i guess, because its no fun staaying in LA for kittenload of time and spamming the same message over and over again.

i hope its really the reverse, the highest fractal level will be in use rather than the lowest fractal,

it’s so horroble. No way to get into this. Just plain elitism and the community isn’t very nice anymore. The comunity has allready been redered “hateful” with this update. I’ve seen ppl got kicked from groups, becaurse the had noth enought account medals (only 900) or for not beeing lvl 80 and all this. It fells like the WoW comunity allready in decent points, or at least as they are descriped buy others, course I would never play a crap like WoW. And sorry, such a comunity is really not what I was looking for. I know there are a lot of “nice” guys here and I don’t mean to attack anyone personaly. Its just how it feels right now. Take a lock at LA mapchat ~ 100% elitism. I really trieded to give this all a chance, but as more as I try, as more dissapointed I become.

I’ve allready got some infractions for mystirous resons. The way to deal with angry costumors is just, well unique.

If FotM was set to the highest completed person in the group, then it would completely defeat the purpose of the entire thing. The whole POINT of it is that you have to work your way up. It is a pure progression thing for PvE players with nothing better to do, or that just want something “hardcore” to work on with the higher levels.

There is no reason for the amount of negativity thrown at FotM here. What you people complaining want is a completely different type of dungeon. Don’t try to take away something that plenty of people are enjoying just because it doesn’t suit your taste. Not every single thing in the game is catered to every single player.

I swear, every time I see posts like the ones here bashing FotM it boils down to “I can’t have my way so I’m gonna throw a tantrum.” You could use the same “Well I can’t participate how I want so this needs to change” attitude and claim that all content should be solo-able. If you don’t want to take the MASSIVE EFFORT to guild up for this like other people have mentioned, then it looks like you’re stuck spamming LFG for PUGS and it’s your own fault.

I don’t really see LFG an issue for any MMO. There will be times when you’ll be able to find a group in a matter of seconds. Some days more. Tonight at 1am Oceanic, I typed in chat LFM FOTM LVL1. I got 4 replies in about 30 seconds. 2 Players went afk so we had to restart twice. Went back to Lion’s Arch. After “LF1M FOTM LVL1” someone replied within the minute.

The point I’m trying to make is that people look to far into these things. Everyone is going to have a different experience and it doesn’t take too much of an effort to start your own group.

Rakhar.4615:

If FotM was set to the highest completed person in the group, then it would completely defeat the purpose of the entire thing. The whole POINT of it is that you have to work your way up. It is a pure progression thing for PvE players with nothing better to do, or that just want something “hardcore” to work on with the higher levels.

There is no reason for the amount of negativity thrown at FotM here. What you people complaining want is a completely different type of dungeon. Don’t try to take away something that plenty of people are enjoying just because it doesn’t suit your taste. Not every single thing in the game is catered to every single player.

I swear, every time I see posts like the ones here bashing FotM it boils down to “I can’t have my way so I’m gonna throw a tantrum.” You could use the same “Well I can’t participate how I want so this needs to change” attitude and claim that all content should be solo-able. If you don’t want to take the MASSIVE EFFORT to guild up for this like other people have mentioned, then it looks like you’re stuck spamming LFG for PUGS and it’s your own fault.

The way the current fotm scaling is set up makes gates the community into hardcore and “casual”. There are threads and threads containing links of interviews with arenanet devs saying there will be no grind, its all fun, no treadmill, all relevant, all accessible.

Oldgrimm.8521:

the sad part is that no one that has a high level of fractal scale wants to help/lend a hand to low level fractal runner,

I do.

And I have.

cesmode.4257:

The way the current fotm scaling is set up makes gates the community into hardcore and “casual”. There are threads and threads containing links of interviews with arenanet devs saying there will be no grind, its all fun, no treadmill, all relevant, all accessible.

It’s not like it’s mandatory here. The only reason to grind it is so that you can get to higher levels and…well, if you want to get to higher levels just to do it then why would you complain about doing it? If you don’t want to get to the higher levels, then why would you try to in the first place?

Again, it’s something to keep the PvE players busy. It’s not mandatory. It’s not game-breaking. The world is not coming to an end (No, not even on Dec 21st).

I was looking for a level three group yesterday and it took me a while. I tried early in the day and nothing. Later in lions arch there was just a group of guildies who needed one more so i went. Now i gotta try to find a level 4 for my progression. I’d much rather be able to go with the highest level in group. Just makes more sense.

As for no one at higher levels going with level 1s. I have ran so many lvl 1 runs with people because there wasn’t a group for me. The armor repair costs were insane because no one would listen and kept dying. However, i did do it because i’d rather not do nothing because there is no one running my fractal level.

I may just join a guild who does a lot of dungeons. Instead of just being in my own to avoid other people