Guild Wars 2

Logged in today after a few days break, level 50 D/D thief.

So I’m in Diessa Plateau, I see there is a world event.. kill the giant. Ok, I go in hoping that by now ANet have fixed the 1 shotting BS but alas, first I try daze to rupt his stomps, doesn’t work. Then I try blind, doesn’t work. Then I try dodging, very iffy but works for a while.

Start using Death Blossom, with some timed intervals watching the bosses movements to prepare for stomp, and found that I died while in a Death Blossom. Twice, mid animation. After running from the WP a few times, already frustrated after 5 minutes in the game I logged off.

No idea who thought of all this 1 shotting but by now it’s pretty old. Really really old. I never liked this in WoW, or any other game I’ve ever played, and I hate getting punished by attacks that I simply can’t dodge at times. DB is supposed to dodge attacks but I can’t actively use endurance during it so I was f’d both times due to the mechanics of the boss.

This gives me 2 options. Range, or log out. Or a 3rd option that would never happen, infinite endurance. Seriously guys, fix melee. I’m not going to bother playing a game that punishes me for playing my way when it boasted about being able to for so long.

Been a long time GW fan, played GW1 for 6 years along with WoW. I always loved GW for being that unique game and always something to play when the grind and hilarious unbalanced pvp overwhelmed me in WoW. But I can honestly say in GW2’s current state, WoW is the better game.

Sure it has had years of polish and GW2 has only been out for whatever amount of time. I get that. I’m just saying, maybe fixing melee should be on the list of priorities because to me it’s completely broken. For the love of christ remove all the 1 shots. At least make it two.

It really feels like a slap in the face when I go down in 1 hit in every meta event or dungeon when sometimes it’s purely impossible to avoid the damage. That will be the end of this rant… delete or flame idc. I just hope something major changes, because I am not looking forward to pandaville. Till then I’ll be patiently waiting, at level 50, to progress to 80 without getting angry.

inb4 bad, game isn’t for you, etc.

I don’t mind the dodging, but i do have two problems with this annoying one shot mechanic.

First: You don’t know how long the charge up time is until you experience the attack, which means you almost have to die to learn when to dodge.

Second: When the enemy is half inside of a wall or covered by spell effects it is much more difficult to see what they are doing in order to dodge it.

I agree with the op, as a warrior with probably double your hp (24k) I still find myself forced to use my longbow on trash pulls in arah ex. I wouldn’t say it’s horrible to do so but it sort of feels like I am forced to at times, some players have said this game favors range over melee and it’s very easy to see that. You can stack as much toughness and vit as you want but you are still going to die to 1 hit mechanics, acid pools, you name it. Just sharing my xp as a melee. My bro quit his rogue for a necro because he cannot stand to be 1 hit day in and day out, and that’s even using his short bow, thieves just don’t have the hp pool to absorb ranged attacks and that’s just the mechanics.

I agree that 1-hit ko’s have to go, but why stick to melee? You have 2 weapon slots and weapon swap for a reason. The game isn’t designed to be played 100% melee. If you have trouble dodging certain things, swap to ranged for a while. Then again if you “go down in 1 hit every meta event or dungeon”, you should look into upgrading your armor/traits and build more defensively because then it’s not only the games fault.

Melee is harder but also more rewarding. (More damage and AoE)

At least with big bosses you can sometimes see telegraphed attacks, with small ones not really.

Honestly why they don’t allow us to see target of target or our target’s cast bar in a game so heavily based around dodging and interrupting skills to stay alive is just baffling.

Waar Kijk Je Naar.8713:

I agree that 1-hit ko’s have to go, but why stick to melee? You have 2 weapon slots and weapon swap for a reason. The game isn’t designed to be played 100% melee. If you have trouble dodging certain things, swap to ranged for a while. Then again if you “go down in 1 hit every meta event or dungeon”, you should look into upgrading your armor/traits and build more defensively because then it’s not only the games fault.

Melee is harder but also more rewarding. (More damage and AoE)

“Play it the way you want to play it”

Hasn’t this been thrown around for years now, by both fans and ANET?

Mercucial.6759:

Honestly why they don’t allow us to see target of target or our target’s cast bar in a game so heavily based around dodging and interrupting skills to stay alive is just baffling.

They want Guild Wars 2 to be an action based game and thus have people focus on the actual combat, not an UI castbar. That is what I read in an interview anyways.

Murderin.8269:

I don’t mind the dodging, but i do have two problems with this annoying one shot mechanic.

First: You don’t know how long the charge up time is until you experience the attack, which means you almost have to die to learn when to dodge.

Second: When the enemy is half inside of a wall or covered by spell effects it is much more difficult to see what they are doing in order to dodge it.

I have the same problems, on smaller bosses it’s impossible to see anything because of the spell effects. On bigger bosses, and even the smaller ones, when you fail to dodge you just die. That’s it. And you hope that someone revives you, but usually when they try the boss 1 shots them as well because of course you’re extremely vulnerable while reviving. I have to WP and run back.

I loved the whole idea of removing trinity in the beginning but now I am seeing it’s actually not as fun as knowing someone has your back like in WoW or GW, if I make a stupid mistake I can be helped by a healer or a tank can take whatever aggro off me. But here I’m all alone, even with in huge events, because everyone is focusing on themselves not others.

Isn’t that counter to what they wanted with all this community talk or is it supposed to be every man for himself? Pretty lame if you ask me.

simple answer: when the occasion arises. Ranged weapons till the distance closes and switching to your melee weapon in, well, melee seems like a reasonable system. A game where you actually switch weapon according to situation, a shocking thought. I´d say having 5 skills bound to the weapons you use seems like a strong indicator for a more situational kind of play than in other games…

The immense amount of spell effects filling my screen are my biggest obstacle to seeing what the boss is doing and knowing when to dodge. I hear they are working on a slider to reduce particle effects. Hoping this will resolve the issue.

Shootsfoot.9276:

The immense amount of spell effects filling my screen are my biggest obstacle to seeing what the boss is doing and knowing when to dodge. I hear they are working on a slider to reduce particle effects. Hoping this will resolve the issue.

Agree with this…with a big DE, there is so much " visual noise" with the spell effects that it becomes nigh impossible to see any cues from the mobs that you could react to.

I melee probably around 80% the time as a thief, be it in general PvE, dungeons, or WvW. That giant event in particular kind of sucks though and nobody should ever do it. It’s actually pretty easy to dodge his attacks but it’s like a ten minute slog and you’re bound to slip up eventually. Not worth ranging it either. Ten minutes of plinking away for one DE reward? No thanks. Screw that guy. There are similar ones in harathi and orr that should also be avoided at all costs.

That same boss if im thinking right killed me a dozen times as a warrior, I figured out after the 3 time that I should go ranged but as a warrior some times I cant help my self and run in for a few hits and die. I have come to accept that some bosses 5 times my size can likely one or two hit me if im close enough. Some people cant accept that I guess to each his own.

Last night I fought a level 45 Veteran as a level 41 Warrior. Not truly taxing as a DE boss, but I managed to kill it while pulling 2 adds and never let my health drop below 3K (currently have 6K).

I am finding this game is truly teaching me how to fight and take as little damage as possible. I constantly switch between range and melee, never staying still (I have topped using GS so I can be more mobile), and using my utilities as much as possible. It really is satisfying to kill a tough opponent in this game as you always earn that kill.

However, the 1 shot stuff has to go, or limit it to be rare and easily determinable no matter what.

Ordika.9513:

Last night I fought a level 45 Veteran as a level 41 Warrior. Not truly taxing as a DE boss, but I managed to kill it while pulling 2 adds and never let my health drop below 3K (currently have 6K).

I am finding this game is truly teaching me how to fight and take as little damage as possible. I constantly switch between range and melee, never staying still (I have topped using GS so I can be more mobile), and using my utilities as much as possible. It really is satisfying to kill a tough opponent in this game as you always earn that kill.

However, the 1 shot stuff has to go, or limit it to be rare and easily determinable no matter what.

As a warrior, (and I generally go sword/mace and hammer or axe/mace and hammer) I usually have no isssue with world mobs, Im up to lvl 52 and I rarely die in open world pve, even when facing veterans and champions, they just take longer to kill.

The issue is that WORLD mobs dont 1 shot you and are fine, dungeon mobs and a few event mobs do 1 shot you and they punish being melee, it is a bad system. I’ve started a mesmer in frustration, though I still intend to level the warrior to 80 and use him, just no longer as my main.

I used to have a problem with melee, but then I starting thinking maturely. I can’t have the attitude “I’m entitled to play however I want and if I can’t play a certain way, then this game is imbalanced!” Man, I’m disappointed about my initial reaction. The whole point of the weapon switching system is to use and abuse it. Give yourself a ranged offhand weapon, learn it, master it. Then learn to use it with great synergy with your melee weapon. My Mesmer Greatsword and Sword/Sword combination is a beautiful example. Start off with Greatsword, and when they close in finish them off with sword/sword.

Take a moment to learn the animations and timings of enemies. My Guardian never had a problem fighting Undead Giants in Orr, and he melee’s 99.99% of the time!

As Picolo would say to Gohan in TFS Abridged; DOOOOOOODDDDGGEEE!!!!

EDIT; I’d also like to say there are traits that provide you with 1 second of vigor every time you crit. Get it and abuse it. 1 second can turn into 5 seconds with a lucky stroke of crits. This alone provides melee with amazingly large amounts of dodging capabilities.

Taerik.3405:

Ordika.9513:

Last night I fought a level 45 Veteran as a level 41 Warrior. Not truly taxing as a DE boss, but I managed to kill it while pulling 2 adds and never let my health drop below 3K (currently have 6K).

I am finding this game is truly teaching me how to fight and take as little damage as possible. I constantly switch between range and melee, never staying still (I have topped using GS so I can be more mobile), and using my utilities as much as possible. It really is satisfying to kill a tough opponent in this game as you always earn that kill.

However, the 1 shot stuff has to go, or limit it to be rare and easily determinable no matter what.

As a warrior, (and I generally go sword/mace and hammer or axe/mace and hammer) I usually have no isssue with world mobs, Im up to lvl 52 and I rarely die in open world pve, even when facing veterans and champions, they just take longer to kill.

The issue is that WORLD mobs dont 1 shot you and are fine, dungeon mobs and a few event mobs do 1 shot you and they punish being melee, it is a bad system. I’ve started a mesmer in frustration, though I still intend to level the warrior to 80 and use him, just no longer as my main.

While I covered both your points, my point, that while the game does teach us how to survive as we play, including mechanics that can’t possibly be survived is counter to that design aspect.

You can include 1 shot mechanics, but only if the person has to go AFK to basically be hit by it.

The dungeons I’ve run, there’s 1-shot range and aoe attacks, too. So it’s not just melee who’re needing a revive when they’re caught sleeping.

I think the worst is that too often you can’t see the mob or the effects, cuz of all the glitter-spam and/or the mob is in a wall.

I’m not a fan of 1 shot mechanics either. My biggest worry is that I often cant tell WHAT it is that is killing me. Was it a 1 shot? Bleed? Fire? What?! Before I can figure it out, I’m down on the floor.

I think this could all be solved by making it more obvious when a big one shot mechanic is about to be or has been executed. Make conditions more obvious and bad AOE areas more noticeable.

BTW: I’ve done a few dungeons and sometimes I see a pulsing red target under my feet that moves with me. Anyone know what that is? I cant seem to figure it out.

Waar Kijk Je Naar.8713:

I agree that 1-hit ko’s have to go, but why stick to melee? You have 2 weapon slots and weapon swap for a reason. The game isn’t designed to be played 100% melee. If you have trouble dodging certain things, swap to ranged for a while. Then again if you “go down in 1 hit every meta event or dungeon”, you should look into upgrading your armor/traits and build more defensively because then it’s not only the games fault.

Melee is harder but also more rewarding. (More damage and AoE)

You completely missed the point lol.

A good example is the first boss in CM story. He spins, does his fire stuff. Run away. Now there is a choice of range/melee. However, you come back into melee range and he is shooting his missiles which you have to dodge. There is no animation for it. He just spins around 180 instantly and shoots the missiles at you point blank range. If you’re the first target of the missiles, you die. Zero chance to switch out to ranged or dodge since there is no animation for the missiles.

We are talking about things that don’t give melee a chance to run away. At this point, skill isn’t even a factor.

The next mob (door guard) hurts a lot. He 3 hits you roughly. But it gives you a chance to run away and you have the option to heal up and jump back in or go range.

One shot mechanic is completely ridiculous. It reminds me of D3 where they stated it was a challenging experience, but 1 shot =/= challenging. Challenging is actually taking the time to develop some strategies on the AI’s part and having to figure out the strategies and counter them, or mechanics.

I repeat. 1 shots are completely and utterly ridiculous, can’t believe it’s in the game. Fix immediately or a large part of the player base will fade away once they actually encounter how annoying it is.

DirtyHoudini.2917:

One shot mechanic is completely ridiculous. It reminds me of D3 where they stated it was a challenging experience, but 1 shot =/= challenging. Challenging is actually taking the time to develop some strategies on the AI’s part and having to figure out the strategies and counter them, or mechanics.

There are strategies to avoid getting one-shotted.

Fix immediately or a large part of the player base will fade away once they actually encounter how annoying it is.

It’s always hilarious when people post these things.

Eochaidh.4106:

DirtyHoudini.2917:

One shot mechanic is completely ridiculous. It reminds me of D3 where they stated it was a challenging experience, but 1 shot =/= challenging. Challenging is actually taking the time to develop some strategies on the AI’s part and having to figure out the strategies and counter them, or mechanics.

There are strategies to avoid getting one-shotted.

Fix immediately or a large part of the player base will fade away once they actually encounter how annoying it is.

It’s always hilarious when people post these things.

Because dodging is definitely a strategy that makes an encounter “challenging”. No doubt you’ve been suckered into believing what makes something challenging.

DirtyHoudini.2917:

One shot mechanic is completely ridiculous. It reminds me of D3 where they stated it was a challenging experience, but 1 shot =/= challenging. Challenging is actually taking the time to develop some strategies on the AI’s part and having to figure out the strategies and counter them, or mechanics.

I repeat. 1 shots are completely and utterly ridiculous, can’t believe it’s in the game.

Exactly, a better way would be to reduce you to 70 or 50% health so you think “oh crap maybe I should look out for that animation next time, that hurt!” Instead of “umm… how did I die?.. that was lame.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

while one-shots maybe a bit harsh (maybe 2 attacks would be better?), I like the idea. I find the standard Trinity approach silly, you have a human sized character being pounded by monsters the size of houses chipping away 5 percent health? No. I like how monstrous enemies are as deadly as they are supposed to be. There are a lot of strategies you can apply, maybe it IS a good idea to attack certain monsters with ranged weapons – you rarely see marines attacking tanks with knives. For your information, you can get oneshotted in ranged just as often depending on the specific enemy. Also the class thief doesn´t really strike me as the major contestant for being the Sigfried type, going toe-on-toe with giants. Warriors and Guardians are a bit more sturdy. To sum up, I think melee vs. dangerous monsters is fine the way it is, it requires a lot of the player and that is a good thing in my view.

The one shot crap isn’t limited to melee — it bones ranged, too.

In a team-based raid, I understand one-shot mechanics. But in a random world fight where anyone nearby is supposed to just run over and participate…a shot mechanic is stupid.

Here’s the reason these event one-shots suck:

1) You see an event, you run over to participate. As soon as you get in range, BOOM, dead. Are players really expected to be intimately familiar with every ability of every event boss in every zone? Ridiculous. At least one or two deaths is pretty much unavoidable you first few times doing these fights.

2) Visual Noise. In a zerg, there’s SO MUCH crap going on that you often times can’t see what the boss is doing. Lame.

3) Unpredictability. The whole premise behind a one-shot kill is that it should be readily and easily avoidable to anyone with A) an understanding of the ability and paying attention. I already pointed out in #1 that A isn’t really viable, since there’s dozens of these fights. And B is tough because of #2. Plus, sometimes it’s not easy to determine what exactly is it that aced you. And sometimes even when I KNOW what to avoid, and I take the appropriate steps to avoid it, I’ll still get instagibbed! Why? Because it’s me and 25 other random dudes that just ran over and jumped into the fray. There’s no cohesion, no strategy. So there’s no reliable control of the boss. I’ll position myself to avoid a conal ability, but all of a sudden the boss spins around and nukes me.

4) Rezzes. You’re pretty much punished for trying to rez anyone. It’s a virtual certainty that you’re gonna get boned by whatever it is that killed the guy you’re rezzing. Even if you’re watching out for the fire and try to move the instant you see it on the ground beneath you, it’s like you almost have to have superhuman reactions to get out of it in time. I’ll move as fast as I can and think I’m going to live, only to get drilled down by the DOT because my heal is already on cooldown.

These one-shot abilities are just so brutally and inexcusably out of place for an encounter that’s intended to cater to whichever random players just happen to be nearby. HORRIBLE design decision. Ugh.

The bosses are already easy with the amount of players currently in the game. If they couldn’t easily kill you then what would be the point of them really? They’d just be like any ordinary trash mob except you’d spend 10 minutes killing them while watching TV.

Diablo.9301:

Mercucial.6759:

Honestly why they don’t allow us to see target of target or our target’s cast bar in a game so heavily based around dodging and interrupting skills to stay alive is just baffling.

They want Guild Wars 2 to be an action based game and thus have people focus on the actual combat, not an UI castbar. That is what I read in an interview anyways.

Hard to focus on the action when the targets health bar is so friggin large, and gives so little info.

Giant wasn’t that bad of a fight imo
You want a HORRID fight go to the Asura start zone……HATE Hate hate that stupid Fire elemental OP as HECK

well i play with my warrior always on melee exept for a few fight and i think the problems i see its that a lot of melee player try to go with glass canon gear thinking that if you kill it fast you will not die.

I have using the knight’s draconic set and i havent had a lot fo that one shot dead on the boss i have fighting.

I think we melee nedd to have a more balanced gear than range and not go full damage gear but thats just me XD

Sry my english