Guild Wars 2

I just hit 31 on my highest character and was pretty eager to do the first dungeon. I’ve been a dungeon rat for a very long time, it’s one of my favorite things to do in any mmorpg. So I figured when I didn’t see any UI element for finding groups that it was simply not available until you were elegible for the first dungeon.

Well I’m there now, nothing popped up so I went poking about google to figure it out (something that shouldn’t be neccisary for a new player really) only to find out that 1 – a random mail I got from an NPC was actually my introduction to dungeons, though nothing about that letters contents gave any hint of that and 2 the only way to get groups for dungeons seems to be shouting in area chat or posting on third party forums.

I was really taken aback by number 2, that’s something I haven’t seen in years and it feels really really out of place in a modern game. It’s clunky, it’s time consuming, and it ensures that only the most popular content is doable in a reasonable time frame.

Is there really not even a way to search for people flagged for wanting to do a particular dungeon or any dungeon? even on your own server? Is spamming chat and praying really the best they could come up with?

I’m not asking for cross-server-queueing a la WoW (though I think that systems fine if its server specific instead of cross server), but even just a way to search for people interested in the content would be nice – a basic LFG system. Even my first MMO over a decade ago had that.

Perhaps I’m just missing something?

There is a LFG function on your Friends List, but it’s not very good.

Everyone that isn’t running with guildmates or friends is using http://gw2lfg.com/
Excellent site, over 3.6 million groups have formed over the last couple months using it.

Generally takes a minute or two to get a group.

Karizee.8076:

There is a LFG function on your Friends List, but it’s not very good.

Everyone that isn’t running with guildmates or friends is using http://gw2lfg.com/
Excellent site, over 3.6 million groups have formed over the last couple months using it.

Generally takes a minute or two to get a group.

Thanks for the link, I suppose that’s something at least. Though the idea of having to resort to third party websites for what should be a basic in-game utility is really really jarring in 2013..

Just feels like a really glaring oversight.

Quxudais.5142:

Karizee.8076:

There is a LFG function on your Friends List, but it’s not very good.

Everyone that isn’t running with guildmates or friends is using http://gw2lfg.com/
Excellent site, over 3.6 million groups have formed over the last couple months using it.

Generally takes a minute or two to get a group.

Thanks for the link, I suppose that’s something at least. Though the idea of having to resort to third party websites for what should be a basic in-game utility is really really jarring in 2013..

Just feels like a really glaring oversight.

Not so much an oversight as it is a low priority feature.

Remember this is a fresh game and they are all about building community at this point. And the community in this game is one of the greatest I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing with

Also, these dungeons are hard. Not some mindless little loot chute like in WoW. Better to go with friends and guildies, at least for your first times through.

Quxudais.5142:

Karizee.8076:

There is a LFG function on your Friends List, but it’s not very good.

Everyone that isn’t running with guildmates or friends is using http://gw2lfg.com/
Excellent site, over 3.6 million groups have formed over the last couple months using it.

Generally takes a minute or two to get a group.

Thanks for the link, I suppose that’s something at least. Though the idea of having to resort to third party websites for what should be a basic in-game utility is really really jarring in 2013..

Just feels like a really glaring oversight.

The major ideal about GW2 is that its made to be with friends so just running dungeons with random ppl take a lot of the friend playing. They are making one i just hope its nothing like was in WoW randomly grouping up that a program chose never having to talk at all in game with other ppl to do any thing in that dungeons. I cant even think of a reason to play an online game if you do not talk to any one during events.

Jski.6180:

Quxudais.5142:

Karizee.8076:

There is a LFG function on your Friends List, but it’s not very good.

Everyone that isn’t running with guildmates or friends is using http://gw2lfg.com/
Excellent site, over 3.6 million groups have formed over the last couple months using it.

Generally takes a minute or two to get a group.

Thanks for the link, I suppose that’s something at least. Though the idea of having to resort to third party websites for what should be a basic in-game utility is really really jarring in 2013..

Just feels like a really glaring oversight.

I cant even think of a reason to play an online game if you do not talk to any one during events.

That’s been my experience with every PVE event in GW2 up to this point across multiple characters =/ no one talks, they just zerg in one direction or another.

Its why I was looking forward to small group dungeon play.

As for the dungeons being hard, doesn’t bother me. My other true MMO is TERA, dungeons will turn you into paste if you dont have the reflexes to dodge out of attacks (nearly full action game combat).

My first MMO i really dedicated time to was FFXI, which required (at the time) a group of 6 people to do anything after level 12ish for 90% of the classes – including just leveling. As a result I’ve really craved the truly social aspects of the games I’ve played since, though I’ve never found one that really had its level of community forming.

Still, new game or not – not having an LFG feature of any kind is really really strange. Saying it’s low priority is even stranger honestly. Seems pretty integral to me, but I don’t have any friends that play this game regularly enough to care about dungeons.

I mentioned the difficulty since I saw you’d posted just yesterday that you were having a bit of trouble with mobs in the open world that were at your level.

Quxudais.5142:

As a fellow new player I have to second this, I’ve found leveling to be more often then not a frustrating experience on most of the classes I’ve tried.

Ranged Mobs seem to be massively over powered, it’s like they were designed with full action combat in mind – the idea that a good player could avoid 90% or more of their damage. But GW2 is not full action, it’s a hybrid between old hotbar mmo combat and new actiony combat.

On my thief I routinely come upon ranged enemies my level or even a level or two lower that can take off nearly 1/3rd of my health in one or two basic auto-attacks, which most spam once a secondish for what I’ve fought.

Melee mobs are nearly as bad but they can be kited, though it would be nice not to have to run in endless circles just to kill standard mobs.

The whole damage system seems really overtuned at low levels and it’s severely limiting my desire to even try getting certain classes up despite the fact I enjoy them.

The mobs and bosses in the dungeons are more like Champions in the open world. But if you’ve got a handle on things since then – great! Jump on in and don’t look twice

The dungeons are a lot of fun, especially the Fractals.

Karizee.8076:

I mentioned the difficulty since I saw you’d posted just yesterday that you were having a bit of trouble with mobs in the open world that were at your level.

Quxudais.5142:

As a fellow new player I have to second this, I’ve found leveling to be more often then not a frustrating experience on most of the classes I’ve tried.

Ranged Mobs seem to be massively over powered, it’s like they were designed with full action combat in mind – the idea that a good player could avoid 90% or more of their damage. But GW2 is not full action, it’s a hybrid between old hotbar mmo combat and new actiony combat.

On my thief I routinely come upon ranged enemies my level or even a level or two lower that can take off nearly 1/3rd of my health in one or two basic auto-attacks, which most spam once a secondish for what I’ve fought.

Melee mobs are nearly as bad but they can be kited, though it would be nice not to have to run in endless circles just to kill standard mobs.

The whole damage system seems really overtuned at low levels and it’s severely limiting my desire to even try getting certain classes up despite the fact I enjoy them.

The mobs and bosses in the dungeons are more like Champions in the open world. But if you’ve got a handle on things since then – great! Jump on in and don’t look twice

The dungeons are a lot of fun, especially the Fractals.

It’s more that having support from other players plus more abilities by 30 yourself makes it easier it seems (and my main as an engineer seems to have the utility to make up for the games poor balance so far). I still feel that from a solo perspective damage models are greatly overtuned for this games avoidance methods (slow recharge dodges and a handful of utility skills). It makes the leveling experience early on feel decidedly uneven across classes as the OP of that particular thread was saying.

From what I can tell, the game has no avoidance stats – no parry or block buffs – you are meant to take the damage you can’t escape via a dodge or avoid/absorb via weapon/class skill (aside from very specific projectile attacks that can be faked out via strafing) and that’s fine. But if you have that kind of mechanic, you can’t make the standard auto attack a ranged mob does once a second hit like a truck, as the games very nature means you cannot avoid every hit. This is especially true at low levels when you do not have the needed tools, it makes for a frustrating starting experience.

At the time I made that post I was trying a thief alt in the plant people starting zone, fighting nightmare court bow users – their standard arrow shot seems to only be dodge-able via ability use, you can’t avoid it just by movement and you don’t have enough abilities to not take any hits under 10. It didn’t feel difficult so much as tedious and unenjoyable.