I’ve been playing since the original beta and this is my first post on the official forums. I’m usually content to sit back and watch these things play out, but I feel the need to raise my voice here. First, I’d like to thank Arenanet and its developers for an amazing game. The increased responsiveness from the devs during this beta has been amazing. I feel like the playerbase and developers are more connected than we’ve ever been before. So please take the time to listen to and consider the issues I and other players have regarding the current difficulty.
Put flatly, Verdant Brink’s difficulty in BWE3 is too easy. When I took my druid into that first story instance and then into the map itself I was shocked by how easy it was. At first I thought maybe it was a difference in my strategy, familiarity with the area, or the class, but something didn’t feel right. When night was about to fall and my map was just finishing planting the bombs in the blighted tree I figured we wouldn’t complete Diarmid in time. If we did, it would be due to an amazing effort by everyone there. Then Diarmid died in like 10 seconds.
Personally I enjoyed the difficulty in BWE1 and BWE2. I can’t say for certain whether BWE2 was easier than the first as I had experience with the enemies and zone on the second go around that may have affected my perception, but I spent more time in BWE2 and it felt good. It was challenging, but didn’t feel like being squeezed through a meat grinder.
As I understand it, one of the core tenets of Guild Wars 2 is content does not become obsolete. Even if you are level 80 you can still go back to Wayfarer foothills and enjoy yourself without 1 shotting everything. It will be easier than otherwise, but its still there to do. That means, even when HoT releases, there’s still the entire core game that should be worth doing. I’m sure there will be new players who want to rush to 80 to play the new content because almost every other MMO has taught them than an expansion invalidates everything before, but here that content should still matter. A new player should start their trek from their starter zone to Lion’s Arch and following their personal story make their way to Orr. From there they experience the post release content like Silverwastes (which they’ll have to go through to reach any HoT content). All this time they’ll be moving through increasingly difficulty content. So my view is all this should be preparing them for an even greater challenge. During BWE3 I think Verdant Brink is easier than the Silverwastes so we’ve gone backwards.
I’ll echo the sentiment of others in this thread. During the past beta events it felt like we were in the dragon’s domain. We were unwelcome there and progress though the jungle was earned. Each new waypoint was a victory inching us closer to the dragon. It reminded me of my first time in Orr, pre-nerf, being around 70 in a mix of blues in greens. You didn’t want to set out alone, you wanted to move in small groups. I never formally partied up, just players helping each other without exchanging a word because we all wanted to see what was hiding beyond that gate.
Masteries felt important because it felt like some of the developers have said, that you’re mastering the jungle. So while running past mobs was a bad idea in VB, you gained access to gliding and mushrooms that allowed you to bypass them, making it easier to traverse the jungle.
So please, reconsider this move. At least bring difficulty back in line with BWE2. The game needs such a challenge in the open world. Even if VB is supposed to be the “starter zone” of HoT, if the other areas are as difficult as BWE2 was, the current difficulty will do nothing to prepare players for it.
). the underlying content is the problem not the mobs.