Update on Hearts and Minds
Also, experienced players might beat the fight, but what about a casual player with green/yellow/exotic mixed gear who picks Thief, for example? There’s no way he can survive that. I strongly believe that the story mode should be something everyone can enjoy, but at the current state Hearts and Minds demands either high skill or optimal gear.
Exotics are good enough for everything in the game except high level fractals and even there it is more for the agony resistance than the stat increase.
Even with full exotics the chapter is unnecessarily hard. I’m emphasizing the point about fresh players/those who casually only play open world PvE; you need some serious game-reading skills during the fights, unlike in most content you come across if you don’t do fractals or raids. If the fight felt hard for me in full ascended and 1000+ hours played, it’s going to be impossible for someone who hasn’t played that much and just wants to start their journey with completing the story.
Yeah, gear doesn’t matter as much in that fight as the mechanics and doing them correctly. Not to say it isn’t hard, just that upgrading gear if you find it hard won’t necessarily make it much easier.
You don’t need ascended for the last chapter. I did just fine with exotics with all classes except for one class which had ascended. People over-estimate just how much ascended actually does for you and especially when it comes to survivability.
The issue with updrafts may have to do with ping.
The last chapter is nowhere near the level of raids. If you think otherwise then your first raid is going to give you a heart attack.
Exactly. But, worse: for me, it’s impossible, because I can’t see the updrafts. I’m virtually guaranteed to die as soon as the flying part starts. If I’m lucky and stumble upon an updraft by accident, then I might have a chance. But, that’s one time in 20, at best. So, when the rocks show up to knock you out of the sky, it becomes as probable as rolling 20 four times in a row (on a d20 die).
So, my only hope is to go with a party. But, then we have the idiotic penalty box. I’m a leech, who can’t possibly help my team. That feels really good inside.
NOT!
this!!!!
I have only tried it 2 times. wont go back. i shouldn’t have to do the WHOLE thing over every time i die. I wont. Im a casual, i just want to get the darn story done.
Sean, it really needs more checkpoints.
The penalty box is only an issue when you’re trying the instance in a party, right? Some (myself included) have no desire to ever play the story in a party (something I think they know by now) fixing the other defects would help us to complete the instance without frustration.
That’s a good point. I really would like to complete it solo anyhow.
So, maybe the penalty box doesn’t REQUIRE removal (as I originally state). But, it still sucks once you’re in it; I’m being nothing but a leech and just hoping somebody in the party can complete it. That really doesn’t feel good to me.
I really don’t get the objective of the penalty box. It doesn’t seems to be anything similar to that in the game. Not letting you play because you died? It feel very strange for the GW2 standard.
“Only problem with the Engineer is
that it makes every other class in the game boring to play.”
Hawks
that it makes every other class in the game boring to play.”
Hawks
Also, experienced players might beat the fight, but what about a casual player with green/yellow/exotic mixed gear who picks Thief, for example? There’s no way he can survive that. I strongly believe that the story mode should be something everyone can enjoy, but at the current state Hearts and Minds demands either high skill or optimal gear.
I think just getting there with that kind of gear is rare. (This is at the end of HoT, after all.)
But, I have full ascended gear, and I still have no chance against it. I can beat the bosses, but flying kills me almost every time.
I really don’t get the objective of the penalty box. It doesn’t seems to be anything similar to that in the game. Not letting you play because you died? It feel very strange for the GW2 standard.
Yeah. It should only be active in challenge mode if at all. It’s not like the instance really scales on normal mode with more players, and it can easily be done solo, which make you wonder what it’s purpose is for. If it does get removed completely, revive orbs should be disabled on challenge mode.
You don’t need ascended for the last chapter. I did just fine with exotics with all classes except for one class which had ascended. People over-estimate just how much ascended actually does for you and especially when it comes to survivability.
The issue with updrafts may have to do with ping.
The last chapter is nowhere near the level of raids. If you think otherwise then your first raid is going to give you a heart attack.
No one has stated you need ascended for it, nor has compared it to raids.
I personally feel like story should offer minimal frustration and challenge. It should be an introduction to the game and its lore and characters, something that new players can complete with minimal teeth grinding, chilling and enjoying. Maybe a little challenge at the end.
Let’s say a new player starts playing the game, decides they like it and then they buy HoT. They will realize that the expansion itself is a challenge; the zones, max-level mobs, meta-events etc. So naturally they want to start things off with the story.
The story itself is also challenging, but within acceptable levels. Nothing, however, prepares you for the final chapter. It’s uncomparable to any other content a new-ish player has experienced so far. It’s challenging for veteran players, and nearly impossible for fresh ones, who don’t fully understand what different stats mean, what skill rotations to use etc. They may not even know when they should be dodging. Throw in a penalty box that resets the fight when you make a mistake, and there you have it: a full-blown nightmare. As I’ve said before: the story already has an extreme mode. I feel like the “casual” mode should indeed be casual: something that can be somewhat easily completed before venturing further into Heart of Thorns.
I wouldn’t consider myself as complete Casual because sometimes I have a LOT of time at hand, but I’m an alt-o-holic and cannot decide on a character to really focus, tend to take extensive breaks once I don’t feel like playing anymore (months long, sometimes a bit more than a year) and have a really fickly gaming habit (i.e. sometimes I can play for hours, sometimes I simply switch between characters doing nothing and log out after a few minutes). So, I guess it’s like not “achieving” any substantial skill power-up for lack of better words.
I completed Hearts and Minds once after an handful of attempts, thanksfully without bugs! If I had to describe the whole chapter in one word, it would be “tedious.” Simply because you have to fight Fatty Dragon from Phase 1 onwards again. Maybe it felt more tedious because I was playing on a Rabid Condi Druid, which on the other hand let me tickle away on its HP when I had to dodge or run. I don’t feel as confident on classes I really am terrible with like Thief, Engieer, Mesmer, let alone trying it on Migraine Mode <shudders>.
A genuine question that I have- has the difficulty always been a concern? I remember completing the last mission fairly quickly after running through the story the first time, when HoT first came out. Found a full party, went in, did it and left. Never really seemed excessively challenging outside of the one or two times we had to reset, but we completed it and were happy with it.
I’m asking because it seems that the complaints have increased substantially in the past month. Perhaps I’ve just never noticed posts complaining about it, but it seems like a fairly recent development to me. Are the bugs that are always being mentioned a recent development?
You don’t need ascended for the last chapter. I did just fine with exotics with all classes except for one class which had ascended. People over-estimate just how much ascended actually does for you and especially when it comes to survivability.
The issue with updrafts may have to do with ping.
The last chapter is nowhere near the level of raids. If you think otherwise then your first raid is going to give you a heart attack.
No one has stated you need ascended for it, nor has compared it to raids.
I personally feel like story should offer minimal frustration and challenge. It should be an introduction to the game and its lore and characters, something that new players can complete with minimal teeth grinding, chilling and enjoying. Maybe a little challenge at the end.
Let’s say a new player starts playing the game, decides they like it and then they buy HoT. They will realize that the expansion itself is a challenge; the zones, max-level mobs, meta-events etc. So naturally they want to start things off with the story.
The story itself is also challenging, but within acceptable levels. Nothing, however, prepares you for the final chapter. It’s uncomparable to any other content a new-ish player has experienced so far. It’s challenging for veteran players, and nearly impossible for fresh ones, who don’t fully understand what different stats mean, what skill rotations to use etc. They may not even know when they should be dodging. Throw in a penalty box that resets the fight when you make a mistake, and there you have it: a full-blown nightmare. As I’ve said before: the story already has an extreme mode. I feel like the “casual” mode should indeed be casual: something that can be somewhat easily completed before venturing further into Heart of Thorns.
You were tiptoeing around ascended armor was needed when you said optimal gear.
As far as nobody comparing it to raids, you’re wrong. See quoted post below.
Aside from the bugs and poor design choices, Hearts and Minds seems to represent a disconnect between the audience that the content is designed for and the difficulty level. Who was your audience for this? Seems like it was made for raiders despite your story generally being billed as casual solo content designed for all players.
I did this as a zerker necro knowing that it’s intended for sturdier characters and expected to die a lot. I was expecting to die because I can’t face tank for long, there’s only so many times you can dodge, and because you’re supposed to have an elite spec, not because I kept getting dropped clear out of the air into AoE because of broken updrafts. In the end the boss fell over of his own accord, seemingly without needing my help to die. What happened, salad-dragon?
The last story instance isn’t any more challenging than the rest of the missions or even the final instance of the personal story. Mordremoth barely does any damage to you as a glass cannon.
(edited by Ayrilana.1396)
For those dwelling on the penalty box, while I agree with you that it is an annoying thing to deal with in the fight, check the dev response above that says the coding to remove it would be too complex for this project.
You may wish to focus on smaller changes that could improve the experience, and highlight those so the devs can see them in the thread without having to wade through a zillion requests for something they’ve already told us we cannot have.
As far as nobody comparing it to raids, you’re wrong. See quoted post below.
I said the difficulty leads me to believe the encounter is aimed more at a raider audience than at a casual one, not that this is a raid or of raid difficulty. As in one that is more skilled, more knowledgeable, and likely better geared. One that may also be more interested in doing the story as a group and fighting through bugginess.
Mordremoth barely does any damage to you as a glass cannon.
I wasn’t talking about the damage Mordremoth did to me. He actually did plenty when he hit me or I mistakenly stood in the bad. I was talking about the damage I did to him- I hardly touched him during the entire fight. The NPC’s could have handled it while I just ran circles kiting the adds… which is more or less what happened.
As far as nobody comparing it to raids, you’re wrong. See quoted post below.
I said the difficulty leads me to believe the encounter is aimed more at a raider audience than at a casual one, not that this is a raid or of raid difficulty. As in one that is more skilled, more knowledgeable, and likely better geared. One that may also be more interested in doing the story as a group and fighting through bugginess.
Mordremoth barely does any damage to you as a glass cannon.
I wasn’t talking about the damage Mordremoth did to me. He actually did plenty when he hit me or I mistakenly stood in the bad. I was talking about the damage I did to him- I hardly touched him during the entire fight. The NPC’s could have handled it while I just ran circles kiting the adds… which is more or less what happened.
Which is you making a comparison between the two. A comparison doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re saying they’re identical.
It’s a a slight grind in some spots of the fight. This drags the fight out longer than what you would expect. I wouldn’t recommend having the NPC’s do all of the damage though as that will just drag it on so it takes over an hour.
You mean the NPCs actually did something besides stand around? O_o
Who was your audience for this? Seems like it was made for raiders despite your story generally being billed as casual solo content designed for all players.
Unlike other MMOs, ArenaNet is for the gamers rather than the casual majority. People have been complaining about the solo difficulty from the beginning. The game was never meant to be casual, as in easy, it was meant to be casual friendly in the sense that your time wasn’t being wasted. This instance roughly takes 20-30 minutes.
I did this as a zerker necro knowing that it’s intended for sturdier characters and expected to die a lot.
Necro is by default a sturdy profession, as it has a high health pool, a backup health bar and life leech, making it one of the easiest professions to play.
I think just getting there with that kind of gear is rare. (This is at the end of HoT, after all.)
It’s probably a lot more common than you’d expect. Unlike other MMOs, GW2 doesn’t provide you with the gear you need. For those simply following the story, you’re going to end up playing through HoT in rares, no earrings/accessories, and exotic head and gloves. Personally, this is how I play all my alts through HoT.
One of the problems with threads like this is the term “challenging content.”
What is it?
Ive asked this question many times and have yet to get a sensible answer.
The bottom line is that “challenging content” to some players is impossible content to others, as everyone in the game doesnt and never will have the same degree of skill.
One of the problems with threads like this is the term “challenging content.”
What is it?
Ive asked this question many times and have yet to get a sensible answer.
The bottom line is that “challenging content” to some players is impossible content to others, as everyone in the game doesnt and never will have the same degree of skill.
Challenging content is side/optional content regardless of how you view it should be in the game.
Using GW1 as an example since they did it properly they had two types of maps. If you played the story path in GW1 it cut through certain maps and certain paths on those maps. Mob density and so forth along that story path was easier because it was made so for people who just wanted story. Then there are maps that don’t even get touched through the story these maps were optional and were faster routes when traversing the maps lacking vendors and any sign of civilization usually people would actually pay other players to run them through those areas on alts. Gw1 also had vanquish mode but the off beat maps had higher mob density with a higher grade as well with greater rewards to be found. You had to travel through them to find elite skills, elite armor vendors, or special instances.
World of Warcraft even has roads but those roads don’t exist in the timeless isles and other locations.
One of the reason why HoT was so difficult and failed so badly was because they didn’t seperate anything they never did the very basic step of separating the story path and making challenging more difficult content optional and on a seperate map. They did it once properly with the centaur farm area the bitter cold area doesn’t count do to elixir gating the area. If they made an entire map with no storybimportance akin to the centaur area or an entire map akin to the bitter cold with a slow map wide degen then that would fix a lot of the issues. A lot of the people screaming HoT isn’t hard simply don’t comprehend the need for basic seperation needed from the story based areas and maps as is done with every MMO including GW1.
One of the problems with threads like this is the term “challenging content.”
What is it?
Ive asked this question many times and have yet to get a sensible answer.
The bottom line is that “challenging content” to some players is impossible content to others, as everyone in the game doesnt and never will have the same degree of skill.
Most of the time challenging content = ‘gameplay I personally like’ used to justify personal preferences as better than others.
I think my two major points of criticism are as follows:
-i think the fight is extremely hard compared to the rest of the hot story. I dont have any issues with the difficulty itself, but there is literally no noticeable buildup that leads to that difficulty spike. In my opinion thats pretty bad design.
The second thing is the updraft stuff. The updrafts are really hard to see.
Humans aren´t real
One of the problems with threads like this is the term “challenging content.”
What is it?
Ive asked this question many times and have yet to get a sensible answer.
The bottom line is that “challenging content” to some players is impossible content to others, as everyone in the game doesnt and never will have the same degree of skill.Challenging content is side/optional content regardless of how you view it should be in the game.
Using GW1 as an example since they did it properly they had two types of maps. If you played the story path in GW1 it cut through certain maps and certain paths on those maps. Mob density and so forth along that story path was easier because it was made so for people who just wanted story. Then there are maps that don’t even get touched through the story these maps were optional and were faster routes when traversing the maps lacking vendors and any sign of civilization usually people would actually pay other players to run them through those areas on alts. Gw1 also had vanquish mode but the off beat maps had higher mob density with a higher grade as well with greater rewards to be found. You had to travel through them to find elite skills, elite armor vendors, or special instances.
World of Warcraft even has roads but those roads don’t exist in the timeless isles and other locations.
One of the reason why HoT was so difficult and failed so badly was because they didn’t seperate anything they never did the very basic step of separating the story path and making challenging more difficult content optional and on a seperate map. They did it once properly with the centaur farm area the bitter cold area doesn’t count do to elixir gating the area. If they made an entire map with no storybimportance akin to the centaur area or an entire map akin to the bitter cold with a slow map wide degen then that would fix a lot of the issues. A lot of the people screaming HoT isn’t hard simply don’t comprehend the need for basic seperation needed from the story based areas and maps as is done with every MMO including GW1.
That is answering the wrong question.
The question was “what is challenging content?” not “where doesn’t challenging content belong?”.
What it is and where it belong are completely unrelated.
Dear ArenaNet, it’s very obvious how many things is wrong with the Mordremoth fight, Bugs affect the Mechanics which are pretty much how you construct a fight in any game.
- There are reports of bugs linked to how the Penalty Box affects the fight. In general it is not a Raid… It takes a long time to complete the instance and there’s only the option to Restart the current fight a player is in (BY DEATH) or Restart all 3. This is punishing the people whom experience a lot of Error.
- Maybe you should have a system like Precocious Aurene where it saves where you are in the story. There should be save points after entering the First Fight (Eir/Canach/PaleTreeAvatar), Enter the Second Fight (Eir/Canach/PaleTreeAvatar), Enter the Third Fight with Mordremoth. If you could do something like this in the future for the fight it would help a lot.
- The BreakBar is very confusing in every single fight, and most casual players won’t think to bring skills with Soft CC or Hard CC, ‘cause it is a story instance that doesn’t require players to bring specific builds, they don’t put a BreakBar as priority in their mind; unlike Raiders it means Life or Death. I have had the BreakBar stop progress in the last phase of the Mordremoth Fight, just standing there… As the player I was helping is sitting in the stupid Penalty Box, feeling sorry he died.
I know the players are going to be demanding a lot of changes from you. But the whole instance needs to be fixed and partially overhauled in order to fix a ton of already existing issues.
I personally don’t want this to be like Zhaitan, where we get a Easy Button attached to a Cannon on a kitten Air Ship.
This is the end game boss of the Heart of Thorns Expansion, it’s content that Players are going to still play a few years from now. You should care a lot more about Fixing story bugs and keeping it a good reminder of where you’ve been. Now it’s attached to a Ascended Weapon Reward, which is more motive for future Casuals and other to play through this Content. – Please fix more than just Horrible Bugs.
Keep on Topic, this is about the Hearts and Minds instance, Bug Fixes, Encounter, Ect. Only.
“I don’t take insults from a tree! Have at you, leafy!”
(edited by Tearthy Flame.1463)
One of the problems with threads like this is the term “challenging content.”
What is it?
Ive asked this question many times and have yet to get a sensible answer.
The bottom line is that “challenging content” to some players is impossible content to others, as everyone in the game doesnt and never will have the same degree of skill.
Well for starters challenging content must be fair. Once you are dealing with cheating enemies(or designers) there is no point in talking about challenge.
Break bars are a game mechanic so should be included.
I seem to remember there being checkpoints as we purposely wiped at the end of when I was the only one with CC skills and couldn’t break the bar on my own with the scaling. We wiped, started the boss over, but it quickly transitioned to the final phase.
Break bars are a game mechanic so should be included.
I seem to remember there being checkpoints as we purposely wiped at the end of when I was the only one with CC skills and couldn’t break the bar on my own with the scaling. We wiped, started the boss over, but it quickly transitioned to the final phase.
I think that’s less of a checkpoint and more of a bug. I had the same thing happen to me once (very abruptly warped from halfway through phase 1 to the last phase); another time, the fight just went through the whole thing again.
Break bars are a game mechanic so should be included.
I seem to remember there being checkpoints as we purposely wiped at the end of when I was the only one with CC skills and couldn’t break the bar on my own with the scaling. We wiped, started the boss over, but it quickly transitioned to the final phase.
I think that’s less of a checkpoint and more of a bug. I had the same thing happen to me once (very abruptly warped from halfway through phase 1 to the last phase); another time, the fight just went through the whole thing again.
Oh. Well I don’t see any issues with adding a checkpoint after the first two bosses. That’ll more or less split the instance in half.
Are you talking about bosses or phases? There are definitely checkpoints after each boss but there isn’t any on the phases except maybe that last phase but since that last phase is the easiest thing in the whole instance there was never a need to check.
Are you talking about bosses or phases? There are definitely checkpoints after each boss but there isn’t any on the phases except maybe that last phase but since that last phase is the easiest thing in the whole instance there was never a need to check.
I’m referring to the two bosses that you choose to fight at the beginning. Checkpoints between phases would be a bit too much.
Huh. I guess not many people know about the technology in the Precocious Aurene story instance.
As you progress through the instance and do the different challenges, if you Leave the instance for whatever reason, DC’ing or other. If you’re at the Ooze and the Maze challenge and leave, when you enter again you will be in the same spot as you were when you left. You do not lose progress. You can get back to your place and continue the fight. This feature is applied to start the player at the beginning of the Challenge they left. I doubt everyone knows about it, it’s a hidden feature but it exists.
If this tech could be applied to at least Hearts and Minds, it would make the story easier to do over several play sections. Because for some players it can be difficult to make time and do that long instance.
“I don’t take insults from a tree! Have at you, leafy!”
Are you talking about bosses or phases? There are definitely checkpoints after each boss but there isn’t any on the phases except maybe that last phase but since that last phase is the easiest thing in the whole instance there was never a need to check.
I’m referring to the two bosses that you choose to fight at the beginning. Checkpoints between phases would be a bit too much.
Then why would they need to add any checkpoints? The checkpoints are already there.
I disagree with the notion that the chapter is “Unacceptably Hard”, for the most part – In fact, I hope all boss fights are of similar difficulty (And wish they all had the reset on player defeat. Being able to win a fight fairly through the whole this is really satisfying)
The one issue I have is the Defiance bars on the bosses. Defiance has NO place in Solo Content – it should strictly be a mechanic for allowing single group-content monsters to stand against a group without being permanently stun-locked (Then again, I hate the new defiance mechanic because of its change). It makes Thief a ridiculously hard fight because of the class’s reliance on soft control effects to deal and avoid damage effectively, which Defiance completely ignores.
Are you talking about bosses or phases? There are definitely checkpoints after each boss but there isn’t any on the phases except maybe that last phase but since that last phase is the easiest thing in the whole instance there was never a need to check.
I’m referring to the two bosses that you choose to fight at the beginning. Checkpoints between phases would be a bit too much.
Then why would they need to add any checkpoints? The checkpoints are already there.
I originally said that but then someone suggested it was a bug.
Break bars are a game mechanic so should be included.
Only if they work properly. I don’t remember this mission well enough, but the vast majority of break bars in HoT can’t be broken by a single character. There simply aren’t enough skills available to do it before it regenerates.
Checkpoints between phases would be a bit too much.
I strongly disagree.
Checkpoints between phases would be a bit too much.
I strongly disagree.
The fight isn’t that long and it would make the achievements very easy to get.
Ever see the Tom Cruise movie Edge of Tomorrow where he could go back to a certain point of time (i.e. Checkpoint) after dying. Imagine if instead of that certain checkpoint it would instead have been after certain sequences. This would remove the struggle and any effort as you could brute force yourself to the next checkpoint.
Imagine SAB trib mode if you could have a checkpoint after every obstacle. Same thing.
Are you talking about bosses or phases? There are definitely checkpoints after each boss but there isn’t any on the phases except maybe that last phase but since that last phase is the easiest thing in the whole instance there was never a need to check.
I’m referring to the two bosses that you choose to fight at the beginning. Checkpoints between phases would be a bit too much.
Then why would they need to add any checkpoints? The checkpoints are already there.
I originally said that but then someone suggested it was a bug.
I assumed you were talking about the fight with the Mind of Mordremoth, not the mini-boss fights before it. The mini-bosses all have checkpoints once you’ve beaten them, which makes sense. The bug I mentioned (the boss jumping from phase 1 to the final phase, after a wipe) is one that happened on Mind of Mordremoth.
Break bars are a game mechanic so should be included.
Only if they work properly. I don’t remember this mission well enough, but the vast majority of break bars in HoT can’t be broken by a single character. There simply aren’t enough skills available to do it before it regenerates.
They can be as long as you don’t have other people around scaling things up. Assuming the fight was meant to be soloable in the first place. In the case of Mordremoth during the last phase I have broken its bar solo when scaled for 3 or 4 people. Had to use Tornado but most other classes have equally “good” elites.
To a lesser extent this is why it sucks to have more people around for the wyvern at the end of the noble’s chain and the jaka itzel chain, wyvern matriarch and vinetooth prime.
(edited by Khisanth.2948)
I made it on challange mode yesterday. Four members of my party get killed in the third updraft bug. I survived and finished last phase but i get other bug… I didn’t get achivment and now I trying to proof that i made it with ticket.
The thing I’ve personally seen quite a bit, but hasn’t really been addressed here yet, is that there is no good way through the “Take to the skies or get under cover!” phases. Both the “updrafts”(that aren’t really updrafts) and Braham’s shield are buggy/gitchy, or whatever you want to call it. They will both fail to do what they’re supposed to do and instead cause characters to insta-die. If either of these could be fixed to work consistently, it would solve so much of the unnecessary difficulties with this encounter. No one has brought up that the shield would be a viable alternative to the “updrafts”(that aren’t really updrafts) if it worked. When updrafts seemed to be bugging a lot we tried Braham’s shield and it insta-killed us more consistently than the updrafts. If only one of these options could be made to work consistently, the message at the beginning of the phase could be changed to “Don’t glide, get under Braham’s shield” or “Don’t take cover under Braham’s shield, walk into the updraft’s instead”.
Also, dividing the chapter into two(fighting you way to Mordremoth, and actually fighting Mordremoth) and putting several working checkpoints in the fight would help immensely.
So far, the only thing brought up consistently here that Sean has said is not doable is taking out the “Penalty Box”. I’m hoping that means that adding check points and fixing “updrafts” and the break bar are doable.
Lastly, let me add my voice to all the others raised against The Penalty Box. – This was a horrible thing to do to players. Especially when there are buggy, glitchy mechanics that can put you there. Who thought that having players sit watching the fight, unable to help or get back in the fight, was a good idea?
Please Sean, if you’re still watching this thread, please take this back to the rest of the Anet staff: Please do not do anything like The Penalty Box again. If the fight is so badly busted that you need something like that, then please slip your release date and take the time to redo the fight so that it works properly.
Also, this is the second time that ArenaNet has shipped a paid GW2 release with the end boss fight(the most crucial part of the product) in a “sub par” state. You’re 0 for 2, and this reflects quite poorly on ArenaNet. This trend needs to change.
The thing I’ve personally seen quite a bit, but hasn’t really been addressed here yet, is that there is no good way through the “Take to the skies or get under cover!” phases. Both the “updrafts”(that aren’t really updrafts) and Braham’s shield are buggy/gitchy, or whatever you want to call it. They will both fail to do what they’re supposed to do and instead cause characters to insta-die.
I don’t think the shield was ever meant to work for players. Someone probably added teh “get under cover” part so it makes sense for the NPCs to be able to just stand there. At least that is the only reason I’ve ever come up with on why the shield never works.
Also because the shield would make the glding completely pointless besides for getting the achievement.
Having just played this again, the dialog goes like “Shield yourself or take to the skies!” and “Cover up or get off the ground!”. The wiki doesn’t mention a “take cover” option at all. Maybe it is just there to justify the NPC’s standing there and not taking damage. So the lines are just pointless and confusing, and have no real reason to be in.
The “updrafts” bugged for only 1 person this time. But the Penalty Box makes that much more of a problem than it would be otherwise. It’s a horrible feeling, only able to watch and not act.
Heh I guess I am too much of a natural slacker to care about that penalty box
It is more like “go forth my minions and go slay the potato while I go make a sandwich!”
The fight isn’t that long and it would make the achievements very easy to get.
So, your argument is that because they poorly designed the achievements, that should prevent them from fixing a major problem in the battle itself?
They can be as long as you don’t have other people around scaling things up. Assuming the fight was meant to be soloable in the first place. In the case of Mordremoth during the last phase I have broken its bar solo when scaled for 3 or 4 people. Had to use Tornado but most other classes have equally “good” elites.
To a lesser extent this is why it sucks to have more people around for the wyvern at the end of the noble’s chain and the jaka itzel chain, wyvern matriarch and vinetooth prime.
I thought I read somewhere that battles don’t start scaling until a fifth person is in combat.
They can be as long as you don’t have other people around scaling things up. Assuming the fight was meant to be soloable in the first place. In the case of Mordremoth during the last phase I have broken its bar solo when scaled for 3 or 4 people. Had to use Tornado but most other classes have equally “good” elites.
To a lesser extent this is why it sucks to have more people around for the wyvern at the end of the noble’s chain and the jaka itzel chain, wyvern matriarch and vinetooth prime.
I thought I read somewhere that battles don’t start scaling until a fifth person is in combat.
I would have to say it is inconsistent at best. In VB I see lv82s and elites spawning when it is just me or one other person around.
One place where the scaling is extremely noticeable is the skritt captain event in Ember Bay. If I am the only person there then I can break its bar with 1 thrown bottle. If another person shows up it requires more bottles. Sometimes other players are your worse enemy in PvE.
The problem isn’t entirely new. We noticed similar issues while trying to do Temple of Balthazar with a few people before HoT was ever mentioned. I forgot the exact numbers (though we were maybe 5 people total) but just one person more or less made a noticeable difference in how many stuff you had to deal with for the defend event in the central assault just before the escort to the temple.
They can be as long as you don’t have other people around scaling things up. Assuming the fight was meant to be soloable in the first place. In the case of Mordremoth during the last phase I have broken its bar solo when scaled for 3 or 4 people. Had to use Tornado but most other classes have equally “good” elites.
To a lesser extent this is why it sucks to have more people around for the wyvern at the end of the noble’s chain and the jaka itzel chain, wyvern matriarch and vinetooth prime.
I thought I read somewhere that battles don’t start scaling until a fifth person is in combat.
I would have to say it is inconsistent at best. In VB I see lv82s and elites spawning when it is just me or one other person around.
One place where the scaling is extremely noticeable is the skritt captain event in Ember Bay. If I am the only person there then I can break its bar with 1 thrown bottle. If another person shows up it requires more bottles. Sometimes other players are your worse enemy in PvE.
The problem isn’t entirely new. We noticed similar issues while trying to do Temple of Balthazar with a few people before HoT was ever mentioned. I forgot the exact numbers (though we were maybe 5 people total) but just one person more or less made a noticeable difference in how many stuff you had to deal with for the defend event in the central assault just before the escort to the temple.
I try to help out in any nearby events for this reason. Often these days I am venturing back to the jungle to grab any missing POI’s or the like for map completion, ankitten ot focusing on events. But me just being nearby oftentimes seems to count for the event and I realize I am unintentionally making it harder for those trying to do it just by being there.
Oh wow … I have totally forgotten that there is in fact a fight that is much more poorly done than Hearts and Minds. If anyone is feeling masochistic go redo the last fight of Hidden Arcana.
It also fails on “if you are doing to make a boring fight at least have the courtesy to keep it short”.
Thank you for making the fixes, and for making them so promptly. I just read the patch notes, and haven’t had a chance to play through it again. But I thought I’d put up a thank you just for making the effort.(and for doing it quickly)