Guild Wars 2

Mobs respawn too fast in this game.

I am punished for exploring, because the quick respawn means fighting my way both into and out of every area, especially caves and fortresses.

I am punished for trying to challenge myself and access difficult areas, because I simply can’t kill the mobs fast enough to proceed before the first ones respawn and aggro.

I am punished for killing veterans, because the normal mobs around it respawn before I can kill it.

I am punished for using dodges and kiting in combat, because I am much more likely to aggro the respawns behind me.

A few months ago a dev posted that the base respawn rate is something like 90-120 seconds. This is simply too fast for a solo player.

Mobs should have a dynamic respawn timer that checks the number of players in the area. At the very least, the amount of time should be increased significantly for leveling zones beyond the starter zones. These zones are often deserted on my realm. No one needs the mobs to respawn so quickly there.

The timer ruins immersion and makes me reluctant to explore all the amazing areas that the designers created. It makes every area feel like a grind instead of an adventure. This game is extremely well done, but the timer sours my experience in every play session. Please change it.

Yeah, we know.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Enemies-respawn-too-fast-in-my-personal-opinion/first

Still not fixed.

That’s the thread. Thanks for linking.

What’s disappointing to me is Jeff Vaughn’s comment there that a 2 minute maximum timer is fine for most areas.

It is not fine when a zone is barren of players. It makes me feel like I’m up against an endless army wherever I go. There’s nothing fun about that.

“But the games not barren of players, I’m on x server and me and my guild <insert name here> are ALWAYS there and there’s ALWAYS players on that specific event or nearby, this is another whinge thread”

-Usual dude.

oops forgot to add “INB4”

I find it challenging, often frustrating, but I feel the game SHOULD be challenging. I’m not a critter hunter, walking around forests with my .22, plinking rabbits and squirrels. I am an adventurer, travelling into a dangerous and untamed world with a sword, a shield and some courage.

I don’t want enemies nicely lining themselves up in a row for me to shoot/stab like some console game. I want to walk softly and carry a very big stick because I am outside the safety of my fortified city.

This isn’t Duck Hunt. And one does not simply walk into Mord-Orr. One runs, with bloodthirsty beasts at his back and worse ahead. He uses his wits, his skills and his blades to survive. That’s how it should be!

The very reason I don’t solo Orr.

Frankly getting in over my head is how I learn the game. I have no problem with a character dying. To me that is part of the game, next time I don’t die. Something else will kill me but that as I said is the enjoyable part of game. The cost to repair is not huge, the loot you will get is not good but enough for the few silver no matter what level you are. I run greens in Orr since that is the set I put the most Magic Find on. Did not have a huge problem before the fix and don’t have a huge problem now. Do I still die there? Yes. Does it impact my enjoyment? No.

Dying is fine. I don’t mind it. I also enjoy challenge and I’m not asking the game to be easy. What I dislike is the tedium of killing the “same” mob multiple times.

Why should I have to fight more mobs as a solo player than a group does, simply because it takes longer? The opposite should be the case, and would be if a dynamic spawn timer existed.

I’d rather ANet make all the mobs more difficult to kill and increase the spawn timer. I want to fight the mobs that have been placed in an area once and then be able to move on. This could be more challenging, in theory, and certainly more interesting than the current implementation.

The game was sold as one that made you feel like you had an impact on the world. I can’t think of anything that undermines this more than never being able to clear even a small area for any length of time.

no it does not. your wrong…

I find it challenging and fun..

Wow, I’m honestly surprised that this isn’t annoying to more people. If people actually do like this then I won’t fight against it. I guess I’m just playing the wrong game.

Driftwood.4736:

The very reason I don’t solo Orr.

Funny thing is, after Orr has been reworked, it’s actually easier and less crowded than some starting areas.

Not specifically mentioning Orr, but there are definently certain areas that make me feel rushed because I have to race in – fight an assortment of mobs for an objective, then race out before the area re-spawns the baddies: and even then, 90% of the time, baddies re-spawn anyway, and I end up dead, having to retry. Not a complaint here, but Grengarm I agree with you 100%.

One way to deal with massive enemy spawns and not worry about the timer as much; Find someplace to LOS the enemy, a rock or a cliff, and run there, then wait for them all to run up to you. AOE them down in 10 seconds, now you got 110 seconds to explore. Vets are still a problem, but even if the normals respawn, you can reuse this method to nuke them all down.

Zyst, it’s good advice. I’ve done this and it works, but I find it a bit silly when we have to write things like “You now have 110 seconds to explore.” I want time to appreciate the craftmanship of the zones, and time to find hidden areas, secrets, easter eggs, etc. Instead, the respawn timer never lets me take a breath. I’m constantly aware of it. Other MMOs that I’ve played (and there are quite a few) never made me feel this way.

What…? Are you playing like…glass cannon condition damage double axe ranger or something…? Or a condition damage character without any condition damage? Open world PvE is not exactly “too difficult”… Old Orr was an issue, and it was mostly an unrewarding boring nuissance, more than “OMG THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE”. And that was changed…

I’ve leveled 4 characters to fully exotic 80 now: Ranger, Necromancer, Warrior and Thief. Most of the time I was in areas above my own level and using whatever gear I could find, most of the time that meant using white and blue gear, with a couple of greens here and there, bellow my own level. I can’t remember any area in the game that is notable for aggressively fast respawns. So either your concept of “fast respawn” is extremely slow, or you’re doing something horribly wrong with your builds or play style that you can’t kill average things within even the most mediocre of times.

I never said it was too difficult. I just find it tedious to deal with constant respawns while I solo. Adding two more normal mobs to a fight is trivial, but it’s aggravating to kill the same mobs twice over.

I play mostly during offpeak times. When there’s at least one other person in the area, it’s fine. But when you’re solo for entire zones at a time as I often am, it’s just frustrating and immersion-breaking.

But I seem to be alone in this sentiment, which is surprising to me.

There is a fine line between challenge and tedium.

Challenge is when you do not know if you will win a fight.

Tedium is that you know you will win a fight, but even winning 50 of them will not get you one step closer to the actual goal.

The OP is talking about tedium, not challenge.

Grengarm.4691:

Wow, I’m honestly surprised that this isn’t annoying to more people. If people actually do like this then I won’t fight against it. I guess I’m just playing the wrong game.

No, it is annoying. I enjoy challenging games, but when the enemy respawns too quickly, it becomes frustrating and no longer fun.

Clearing out an area by yourself is satisfying for me, but I can never get that feeling because of the respawn time.

I play solo and this thing is extremly frustrating when on my back in some cave respawn mobs which i cant kill to fast…

Well, I’m glad to hear that I’m not alone in this, at least. It spoils my enjoyment of the game, and I’d like to know if any changes are being considered.

There is one area in Timberline falls, where there is a cave with grawl. Inside the cave is a skill point. Try taking all of the grawl out before they respawn, I could not get in the cave without help.

Miss Pink Floyd.9730:

There is one area in Timberline falls, where there is a cave with grawl. Inside the cave is a skill point. Try taking all of the grawl out before they respawn, I could not get in the cave without help.

This is an interesting one. Have done it both solo and in a group, a group is the best option. Solo you need to use both slow grind kill everything and also run past leash of mobs. If you kill slowly until you are within a short distance of skill point, run past this enough so some of the mobs drop off, then work back you can take it. You can also try running past everything from the start but this usually winds up with you dead.

Yeah this happens too often, thats why I’m leveling all my alts in the lower level 1-15 zones before I move them up a tier. Sometimes they pop-up out of nowhere to traverse part of the map like in Frostgorge with the grawl.

Ran into some respawn oddity down in Timberline Falls. I was fighting a couple of ettins (hate how they seem to step just out of melee range ever so often) and finished off one. Before i was able to take down the second one the first respawned on me, even tho the remaining ettin was at 1/4 health by the time the first one dropped.

This was near Stromkarl waypoint btw.

I only bought this game a couple of weeks ago and i’m starting to wish a hadn’t bothered.

Every area is the same. I’m trying to kill a difficult mob and i get killed by respawns. I’m trying to avoid damage and i get killed by respawns. I try to make my way through a cave or building and i get killed by respawns.

I was just fighting a skill challenge mob and was only just edging it out in HP. What’s the point in making the mob match my character’s skill level if it’s totally undermined by three mobs appearing out of thin air on top of me?

I am in total agreement with this. as a solo leveller i can’t possibly make it into certain areas. it’s not that i die, that hardly ever happens, its that by the time i kill one group the group behind them has respawned, wandered toward me, and joined the fight. so i kill of the first group, move on the to respawned group, and by the time i kill them off the first group has respawned. it forms an endless cycle. its like the red queens race, if i play absolutely perfectly i’ll remain in the exact spot I’ve been in for the past ten minutes, but if i make even a single mistake i’m pushed back to the entrance of whatever area i’m in.

I’ve found dredge and ettins to be particularly prone to this issue. i just completed a “heart” in dredgehaunt where i barely moved from the questgiver’s location because the nearby patrols respawned so fast.

one of the most egregious examples i’ve found was an attempt to get to a skillpoint in an ettin cave (I don’t remember the exact location). I killed the three or four on the way into the cave and saw there was a veteran guarding the point with 2-3 normal mobs nearby. I went ahead and pulled them 1-2 at a time but by the time one was down those behind me had respawned. ultimately rather than being able to clear them my kills became slower and slower as i had one then two then three and finally four ettins on me simply because of respawn. I killed around 20, that’s each one four times, before finally giving up and calling in some help.

mind you, i don’t mind getting help, but i prefer to do it when a task is hard, not impossible. impossible is a measure of game mechanics, hard is a measure of skill.

Grengarm.4691:

Mobs respawn too fast in this game.

I am punished for exploring, because the quick respawn means fighting my way both into and out of every area, especially caves and fortresses.

I am punished for trying to challenge myself and access difficult areas, because I simply can’t kill the mobs fast enough to proceed before the first ones respawn and aggro.

I am punished for killing veterans, because the normal mobs around it respawn before I can kill it.

I am punished for using dodges and kiting in combat, because I am much more likely to aggro the respawns behind me.

A few months ago a dev posted that the base respawn rate is something like 90-120 seconds. This is simply too fast for a solo player.

Mobs should have a dynamic respawn timer that checks the number of players in the area. At the very least, the amount of time should be increased significantly for leveling zones beyond the starter zones. These zones are often deserted on my realm. No one needs the mobs to respawn so quickly there.

The timer ruins immersion and makes me reluctant to explore all the amazing areas that the designers created. It makes every area feel like a grind instead of an adventure. This game is extremely well done, but the timer sours my experience in every play session. Please change it.

That’s not too fast. Adapt.

Seriously. I hate jumping puzzles and dungeons, but even those aren’t really all that hard when you break it down.

It’s not really all that hard to fight a veteran and some other mobs solo. Use aoe to hit them all?

GuzziHero.2467:

I find it challenging, often frustrating, but I feel the game SHOULD be challenging. I’m not a critter hunter, walking around forests with my .22, plinking rabbits and squirrels. I am an adventurer, travelling into a dangerous and untamed world with a sword, a shield and some courage.

I don’t want enemies nicely lining themselves up in a row for me to shoot/stab like some console game. I want to walk softly and carry a very big stick because I am outside the safety of my fortified city.

This isn’t Duck Hunt. And one does not simply walk into Mord-Orr. One runs, with bloodthirsty beasts at his back and worse ahead. He uses his wits, his skills and his blades to survive. That’s how it should be!

Yeah exactly, and if you know what you’re doing, it’s not all that difficult to take on large groups of mobs.

If everyone needs to have absolutely everything handed to them, there’s no game anymore.

Miss Pink Floyd.9730:

There is one area in Timberline falls, where there is a cave with grawl. Inside the cave is a skill point. Try taking all of the grawl out before they respawn, I could not get in the cave without help.

Timberline Falls seems to be the worst zone for fast respawns. Much worse than Orr IMO. I know the cave you speak of, I decided to skip that one and go back if I want world completion on that alt.

You lost me at “I am punished for trying to challenge myself”. Seriously? Isn’t that the point of a challenge?

Pennry.9215:

You lost me at “I am punished for trying to challenge myself”. Seriously? Isn’t that the point of a challenge?

Obviously someone is not up to the challenge!

ophidic.1279:

Yeah exactly, and if you know what you’re doing, it’s not all that difficult to take on large groups of mobs.

If everyone needs to have absolutely everything handed to them, there’s no game anymore.

100%. I think a lot of people in this game are of the mindset that everything should be achievable easily, as long as it gives them a sense of challenge in order to maintain their ego. Like fighting a wolf bare handed, but as soon as it looks like the wolf might win, someone shoots it with a blunderbuss.

I had an SP that annoyed me the other day, the lvl 40 Harpy in Fields of Ruin. First time it waxed me. Second time I got its adds, it killed me. 3rd time it got stuck up a tree then killed me. 4th time I got it with the last bit of my health left.

Apart from a little swearing when it got stuck (and my mic was on open channel with guildmates listening… oops!), I beat it through determination and changing my tactics to suit the opponent. I felt like I had accomplished something, and isn’t that the point?

Grengarm.4691:

Mobs respawn too fast in this game.

I am punished for exploring, because the quick respawn means fighting my way both into and out of every area, especially caves and fortresses.

I am punished for trying to challenge myself and access difficult areas, because I simply can’t kill the mobs fast enough to proceed before the first ones respawn and aggro.

I am punished for killing veterans, because the normal mobs around it respawn before I can kill it.

I am punished for using dodges and kiting in combat, because I am much more likely to aggro the respawns behind me.

A few months ago a dev posted that the base respawn rate is something like 90-120 seconds. This is simply too fast for a solo player.

Mobs should have a dynamic respawn timer that checks the number of players in the area. At the very least, the amount of time should be increased significantly for leveling zones beyond the starter zones. These zones are often deserted on my realm. No one needs the mobs to respawn so quickly there.

The timer ruins immersion and makes me reluctant to explore all the amazing areas that the designers created. It makes every area feel like a grind instead of an adventure. This game is extremely well done, but the timer sours my experience in every play session. Please change it.

It’s tough but not impossible and certainly challenging and I like it for the most part. I solo a lot as well and it’s about the only time I find I have to really play my class just right, using certain abilities at the right time etc instead of just snoozing through content. I’ve definitely felt the way you feel sometimes so I do empathize but when I step back and look at it, I think I would be sad if they changed it. Just like Orr, I find it so boring now I never go.

i think some people here are missing the point. its not about difficulty. i would LOVE it if some of these mobs were more difficult. the issue is entirely in the tedium of grinding the same groups over and over again because of their respawn rate.

some of you say “just use aoe and it’ll be fine!” without realizng that not every class has a perfect aoe setup and sometimes even that isnt enough. if you see a cave filled with a line of five to six enemies your thought shouldn’t be “well, if i’m to have any hope of clearing this i’ll need to charge in headfirst, aggro everything in sight, and then kill them all at the same time.” that’s a patently ridiculous strategy from any standpoint EXCEPT fast respawns.

a more appropriate method of increasing difficulty would be for each enemy to be a good deal harder to kill while perhaps providing increased exp to offset.

for those of you who still don’t get it let me put it this way: no matter what i do i will never have enough DPS or aoe DPS to kill four ettins and a veteran ettin. its not that its difficult, its that i can keep myself alive and continuously kill ettins for all of eternity, but no matter how long i do this for unless i have an extremely overpowered amount of aoe DPS i will never manage to kill them all before they begin to respawn. there’s no degree of difficulty to staying alive in that situation. i could do it for as long as you want me to. there’s just no point because in the end i’m running on a treadmill.

First, how long have you been playing?

I started on opening night: August 24th, 2012 at 9:00pm PDT. Before that, I played in all of the Beta weekend and stress test events in the months leading up to the game’s release.

Fast respawning mobs and no safe spots stressed me out. I felt the same way as you – how can I get anywhere like this?

Somehow, I still found my way to Straits of Devestation and the Balthazar zergs. My toon never seemed to be able to keep up with the group and I was always getting lost.

I learned about jumping puzzles in WvW. There is now a pile of broken keyboards in my closet.

Dungeons. I watched those blooms, in Twilight Arbor, snuff out my life more times than I can count.

Now, it’s just over six months into the game… and I’ve got:

1. 100% map completion.
2. Five toons at level 80
3. A complete Miniature collection (except for the new Laurels and Guild Events ones)
4. A small group of people I adventure with.
5. Almost everything I need to make my Legendary weapon.

My point is: I’m a pretty slow learner. It took me six months to get my skill level up (and understanding of the game mechanics) to a place where the problems which you point out… ones that I experienced as well… are not problems anymore.

I suggest..

Take your time. Research on the wiki. Plan ahead. Find your safe spots.

…and along the way, don’t be afraid to ask for help from other players.

If I can do it, you can do it.

What used to be painful and stressful is now wonderful! I’ve logged in excess of 1000 hours and still have lots of adventure ahead. The latest patch had me cranky about the increase in difficulty for Orr mobs (adding Champs/Vets), BUT, I know that a few weeks from now, I will be slicing through them like the proverbial hot knife.

And if you need help… send a message to “Cheri Wonderland” and if I’m around, I’ll be happy to!

Allisa

I agree with the OP because my typical scene for Orr play is:
- find small mob (e.g. walk 2 feet to find 2-3 risen)
- kill mob
- mob respawns as I kill the last one
- kill mob again
- mob respawns as I kill the last one… and so on.

I am never in danger while killing the mob and I’m now getting some descent drops which is great for farming until DR kicks in, then I’m screwed.

However, believe it or not I actually like this (except DR), so I don’t want the devs to change it because I’m happily farming the 1 mob over and over and I don’t have to move to earn about 1 gold. Heavy mouldy bags anyone…