Guild Wars 2

Hm… I think they have a little much health but other than that I don’t see a problem… in orr the undead also had a lot of health for normal mobs…
The mobs still seem hit for kinda normal amounts that are about equal to orr and have one or two heavy hitting attacks that you need to interrupt/dodge/block/reflect. Especially the small karkas. They are basically worthless as soon as you avoid their initial salvo.

The elites? Well, I guess they aren’t meant to be soloed, especially the veteral karkas with their insane armor that you need to shoot off before getting to phase 2. Still not much of a problem, it is not like there is nothing but those around.

I play Engineer and don’t find it hard but challenging I like it…

Xyos.2740:

I agree, I went there on my Ele and got one shotted by a red circle on the ground. No, not an AOE… something under the ground. One shot… that was all.

I got one shotted by this too. It was one of those burrower worm things that you see in many other zones, except this one is truely brutal.

The creatures that really got my goose were those confusion spamming red drakes. The confusion stacks were just brutal, and cleansing didn’t seem to help much.

MithranArkanere.8957:

They have some neat mechanics, but overall their damage and defense are too high.
Specially their damage.
It’s so high, that they can kill themselves when you reflect that attack that spits several water bullets, giving mesmers a massive advantage against them.

And guardians. Just saying. ^.^

But ya, back on topic my main concern is that since the zone pretty much requires 2+ people working together (more for the big guys), what I noticed was that the loot rewards were not worth the effort/time/coordination. It’s more profitable to run around in Orr.

Why are the rewards there so measly?

So here is the trick to karka.

Attack at range. Wait for barrage. Dodge to the side. You can easily walk around the subsequent blasts that are off target. or take 1 hit. Then it’s a matter of killing it and removing weakness to make that easier.

That’s the trick to karka.

Besides wall of reflection/other reflection skills which are OP of course.

It’s rather difficult, but that’s fine. It’s the only zone that is actually somewhat challenging, unlike Orr. I hope to see hard-mode for other zones as well.

edit: I agree on the loot, tho. So far, it’s kinda lacking, considering the increased difficulty.

I think there is a massive disparity between the amount of effort it takes to kill the new zone’s mobs versus the reward you get. Their health pools and damage are far too high, as well.

My guess is it’s balanced around warriors.

Freaking insane if you ask me.

Kaemrys.5320:

I think there is a massive disparity between the amount of effort it takes to kill the new zone’s mobs versus the reward you get.

That is a problem indeed.

I got to the top of the big JP then went across for the other small chest and took out the champion (me and 2 others), i got a level 76 blue weapon as a reward.

Orr isn’t looking so bad anymore. I don’t mind it being harder, just not like one shot dead harder.

I like the difficulty, where I actually have to think and react based on the monster and what it does, possibly even switch in a different skill instead of the setup I used the last 2-3 months. Not a huge fan of the zone visuals but thats a matter of taste. I wish it was a real zone with skill challenges, vistas and so on. It feels unfinished as it is now (also small but that was announced to be the case).

P.S. I also second that the constant pulls in Orr are most annoying.

If your finding the Karka hard than I suggest you avoid the eastern coastline like the plague. The guardian drakes in that area make minced meat out of you. Don’t stop to fight them unless its ranged from a good distance or just run; cause they’ll pull you in and stomp your kitten

PurpleBoo.3961:

The thing that confuses me is that I keep getting hit by DoTs and have no idea what is attacking me. No red circles on the ground, no direct attack from the mob. Difficulty overall is OK. I do have to check the level, since some are 84s but the 80’s I can solo, barely, most of the time (with a ranger). Guardian dies fast. 1 shot death every time in the maze where you collect golem parts, with any character.

Me too! I swear I was going nuts, sometimes the dot is 3-400 damage per tick and sometimes it is 1000+ dmg per tick, I am trying to figure out what is causing it but I have no idea at the moment.

Okay so I just played the new zone for maybe 60 minutes or so? I’ve played as level 80 elementalist with a little over 15k health. D/D cantrip build. Also, as a level 31 staff mesmer (scaled health was a little over 16k).

This zone is much harder than orr, but not impossibly so. It does take more effort to do the zone especially if melee. This isn’t bad though. If you are having trouble…I’d say practice, create a more defensive build/armor, or use range. However, it is doable even in berserker armor (that’s most of my gear). I do think that some abilities need to be adjusted. The confusion for one and the worms definitely need to be redone. The one thing this zone did right by me? MORE MOB SPACING. THANK YOU! The one thing that disappointed me? Not much mob variety. I’d love more variety in mobs.

It’s tough, but not impossible. Anti-condition skills are a must for this area, especially against Red Drakes.

Mesmers should be using feedback or mimic as soon as they approach a Karka.

I’m glad to see there are some people that like a new difficult zone. I for one am fed up of the game just ‘giving’ access to content to everyone for the sake of it and making people work at it. I went there with my level 80 guard and the only mobs I had problems with were the veteran karkas, and that was more due to the spawns that I wasn’t being able to kill as young karkas were getting in the way.

This is how end game zones should be, just maybe with a bit of a better reward to encourage people back to the zone once they’ve explored it.

Wait, this is hard? I can solo the veterans for the events with some difficulty, but the young Karka’s are pretty kitten easy

as a necro can solo vets… normal mobs are easy they just have 1 attack that hits hard and a little more health (im level 74)

Skykiller.3160:

The new zone is HARD! I just logged on after missing the main event and decided to check out the new zone. So I got to the new zone saw a Karka and said “Hey! Lets kill that to see what kind of loot I get!”. Needless to say one volley from that young Karka took off half my health and I have like 26k health. Mind you I didn’t die but it caught me off guard lol.

Also the most basic mobs seem to have ALOT of health. In Orr I can take on 3-4 mobs by myself with no issues but in the new zone I get destroyed by trying to take on 2 mobs by myself. I’m finding myself running away from everything in Southsun Cove unless I’m I’m doing an event with a decent amount of people.

Now, I’m not trying to sound negative but I’ve been seeing people everywhere in the zone dying like crazy. Also, I understand that this is only the 2nd level 80 only zone to be added to the game but it just seems like a very large jump to go from Orr difficulty to Southsun Cove difficulty which is a very large increase of difficulty. Some people may disagree with my take on the new zone but please understand this is just my opinion/ feedback on the zone.

On a side note, I LOVE the artwork in the new zone! Looks awesome in every way!

Don’t quote me on this because I’m not sure if it’s true or not but I was told the monsters in the new area are level 82 where as the stuff in Orr is only lvl 80. That would explain the difference in difficulty.

Skykiller.3160:

The new zone is HARD! I just logged on after missing the main event and decided to check out the new zone. So I got to the new zone saw a Karka and said “Hey! Lets kill that to see what kind of loot I get!”. Needless to say one volley from that young Karka took off half my health and I have like 26k health. Mind you I didn’t die but it caught me off guard lol.

Also the most basic mobs seem to have ALOT of health. In Orr I can take on 3-4 mobs by myself with no issues but in the new zone I get destroyed by trying to take on 2 mobs by myself. I’m finding myself running away from everything in Southsun Cove unless I’m I’m doing an event with a decent amount of people.

Now, I’m not trying to sound negative but I’ve been seeing people everywhere in the zone dying like crazy. Also, I understand that this is only the 2nd level 80 only zone to be added to the game but it just seems like a very large jump to go from Orr difficulty to Southsun Cove difficulty which is a very large increase of difficulty. Some people may disagree with my take on the new zone but please understand this is just my opinion/ feedback on the zone.

On a side note, I LOVE the artwork in the new zone! Looks awesome in every way!

ArenaNet got tired of listening to people complain about Risen, that’s why.

KIDDING!

Sprawl.3891:

as a necro can solo vets… normal mobs are easy they just have 1 attack that hits hard and a little more health (im level 74)

True my lvl 30ish necro can solo vets there the only thing I had trouble with was the burrowed worms I’d dodge twice then they’d kill me in a corner after I couldn’t dodge anymore. though I didn’t try kill all the creatures (like the sharks).

Whatever Arenanet…you got your hard core boys who like the challenge. Wife and I are out of here. What? Orr was not enough? Let’s make the new zone hard too! Good luck. and Good bye. BTW, we don’t raid…just like exploring and having fun…no fun here…
New zone can suck my kitten! there you didn’t have to filter it.
Can’t believe i spent the money i did…oh you can check…

SSY.2046:

Sprawl.3891:

as a necro can solo vets… normal mobs are easy they just have 1 attack that hits hard and a little more health (im level 74)

True my lvl 30ish necro can solo vets there the only thing I had trouble with was the burrowed worms I’d dodge twice then they’d kill me in a corner after I couldn’t dodge anymore. though I didn’t try kill all the creatures (like the sharks).

yes those are annoying. The best thing I found was use spectral walk so you can run around for a decent amount of time with speed and get out and wait for it to come back up again. Without speed i didnt even try running around in there (talking about the gather golem part event).

finding the new island a bore – gank mobs who kill fast, repop fast, have more attacks than I can possibly dodge, and drop trash. spending time and silver, not seeing any return on investment. its like anet knows people will consume the new content quickly so they purposfully made it over the top … if there were decent rewards then fine, might be worth it – but seriously – not a single yellow and most mobs drop grey or white if they drop anything at all. so far – not worth playing at all imo.

I like it myself. Sure, you can’t just faseroll everything in sight, but who cares? The mob density isn’t near as bad as Orr, you can actually run around and get places. Amazing concept, that.

That said, it’s a fun little on-off, just like the mad king labyrinth. I honestly consider them the same, there’s just no reason to do the new zone besides the experience. The drops are junk, nothing farmable. So people will just be back to Orr in a couple days.

Well the good thing about the karka is that they have a chance to drop t6 blood. Being an elementalist I do not find the volley attack of the young karka to difficult. I just reflect it back and let them kill themselves or block it with swirling winds (off hand focus). The main thing I hate about the karka is that 1min retaliation buff veterans have. Still it is another place for me to get orichalcum at.

@icecat4528 Rares are difficult to get unless it is a zerg type of event with multiple mobs. Otherwise you can spent an hour in the zone without seeing any. That is what it is like for me when I do a gathering runs in Orr.

People, do you even look at your screen?
It´s pretty clearly stated that those worms cannot be attacked while they burrow, which is always. That place is basicly just a dodge course.

Secondly, if my 14k hp berserker/mf geared ele doesn´t die in one hit, nothing dies.

Thirdly, having trouble with mobs that have strong closerange abilities ( drakes, and karka ranged attack, it´s really short ranged)? Equip a ranged weapon, and no more trouble…well if you actualy know what the dodge button does that is.

blind is a great condition guys xD

As an 80 necro, its difficult but in a good way.

I don’t know if I’d spend much more time there, though; so far, I don’t see loot or event reasons to stay.

i play with mouse only , have a cast T.T … the zone its fine the only problem i have are the small fast thingy ; cant cast while running due to cast on my hand. Sry to say but if you have problems there you re not adapted to the game yet. Rather than complaining use the zone as a training ground. Tbh if you have problems there i would never invite you to a dungeon with me.

What im in rage is that i cant go do fractals with this hand & after reading the forum posts of how awsome it is ….. kitten you A net , couldnt you w8 4 2 months more :P

I rather like the idea that I need to be more careful where I place my feet in zones. I decided after joining in a group event in this new area, that I would drag guildies with me. heheheh…I am not the best player so I have to think of things to help me.

A lot of my guild mates are wonderful players and actually help me out a lot. I think they think a 68 year old grandma playing this game is hilarious. I find it fun. It is a game, after all.

What I do not like are the terrible drop and reward rates all over this game. I don’t craft so I have some coin in my bank, but to farm for materials so someone can craft me something worthwhile is a daunting task. Drop rates need to be increased as well as the value rate of those drops.

New zone was a nice challenge at first but after figuring out the karka’s attack pattern, it’s a cake walk. Don’t make this zone any easier please.

This zone is kinda boring in terms of events though…. heading back to Orr.

stoffe.1920:

Heavy armor professions doesn’t fare much better. My 3250 armor guardian with defensive utility skills end up near death fighting even a single regular enemy in melee combat in this area. Unless I’m missing something it seems to be an Extreme Risk – Low Reward area to visit.

My 2900 Guardian leaves each fight with half health. I have 19k HP.

On topic:

I believe the difficulty is ok. I don’t see too many dead bodies on our server.

Great area, very difficult enemies, they hit extremely hard! I have tried 2 different characters and the drops are horrible. Without sufficient drop rate, I do not see this area getting much attention like Orr. I spent over 7 hours between 2 characters and at the end, I had maybe 8 or 10 junk items in my inventory.

Bottom line: Beautiful map, but drops really suck badly!

I like the zone (both in terms of general aesthetic design, mobs that can pose an actual threat if you mess up (rather than being pests attacking en-masse), and thank goodness for vastly improved mob placement), just that the loot drops are rather underwhelming (and there’s no equivalent to the temple/jormag events as far as I have seen) and thus don’t provide any real reason to stay despite the higher danger factor of the area. Even about half of the junk drops are 4b junk, when normally lv80 junk is ~16b.

I love that its this hard. Finally, you have to actually adjust your build in order to farm the area. I know everyone is going to hate what I am about to say next but, this also is probably an area where you will need to have on Ascended gear to farm all areas solo.

I see a lot of posts saying “It’s an MMO, get other people, blah blah blah”. That’s not what an MMO is supposed to be about.

What if all starting areas were like this? Would you play the game? Would you enjoy being 2 shotted by a Wurm or a Moa? Absolutely not. I do understand that the Karka are supposed to be a challenging enemy, however, saying “Play like me because I’m better than you and I can do it and Karka aren’t hard /troll” doesn’t necessarily make me want to play the game. The karka should be a fun experiences for all players, of all classes. An ele got 1 shotted by the dreadful volley those Karka have. Do you think it’s fun trying to kill something like that, only to have to pay a waypoint fee and repair your armor right afterwards?

I play a warrior, and I can kill the Karka, but it’s too risky to spend my time killing an enemy that has a super high defense, and an even higher attack. Its extreme risk for little profit.

IMO: This event is a waste of time.

Konner.7281:

An ele got 1 shotted by the dreadful volley those Karka have. Do you think it’s fun trying to kill something like that, only to have to pay a waypoint fee and repair your armor right afterwards?

Hello.
14k hp ele with berserker/mf gear here, no i´m not getting one shotted by it, k thanks bye.

And yes, it´s extremely fun playing when you have to pay attention to your enemies….shame that rewards in that zone dont match the risk.

It seems unlikely the karka will still roam freely over Southsun after tomorrow’s event is complete. It’s all about fighting them off and taking back the island, after all. So they should be hard — it’s expected zergs will be flooding across the map during this weekend, and whatever’s left behind once the events are concluded will hopefully be tuned for smaller encounters.

I play as Elementalist and this is not HARD, just learn how to dodge and use condition removal. If you now how to play you can survive aloooooooot.

My ranger was level 65 when I started this content, with green weapons and green/blue armor, specced for precision, crit and a little cond/toughness. The difficulty for me:

- Young karkas: easy to solo up to two at a time once I learned their attack pattern; I use a greatsword and the block is an excellent counter for their opening attack, when I’m on longbow/shortbow I dodge.
- Veteran karkas: very close to soloing one near Pearl Islet, random showed up last minute though I might have been able to finish her off on my own. Brought several of the big egg layers in Driftglass Springs down with a small group.
- Reef Drakes: can be trouble, due to confusion stacking – I didn’t know how to cancel auto-attacking quickly until today. But I can take one or two if I’m careful.
- Reef Drake Broodmother: kicked my butt when I tried to solo, mostly because I was swarmed by nearby drakes.
- all the rest of the regular enemies, including underwater: not troublesome.

Overall I’m not a very careful player but when I paid attention Southsun Cove became manageable. The key is, I think, careful pulls, damage mitigation of key skills via block/reflect, and condition removal. You have those, and you’ll get the hang of it pretty fast.

Also, I do agree the drops were mediocre, although I was happy to see ori nodes (although strangely my master mining pick couldn’t handle them) and t6 blood drops.

Konner.7281:

What if all starting areas were like this? Would you play the game? Would you enjoy being 2 shotted by a Wurm or a Moa? Absolutely not.
IMO: This event is a waste of time.

Except it’s not a starting area … not remotely, by a long shot. Ya gotta be level 80 ta run around the island, an’ ya gotta know what yer doin’. (An’ yer probably gonna want a buddy ta run around with ta keep things easy)

I’m ah person what doesn’ really like those “high end grind” things in games, but for somethin’ I’m gonna spend a day or two in, this was kinda fun. The young Karka ain’ really that hard with range weapons, can’ speak for melee. I don’ know if I’d even compare the area ta Orr for difficulty … maybe. But it’s what it’s supposed ta be, Monster Island.

That Worm event was drivin’ people crazy … all I can tell ya there is, keep movin’, keep dodgin’, grab the parts as ya run past em, an’ don’ stop for anything. (saw one downed character bring down 3-4 more characters what would stop at try to raise em … nice thought, but it was costin’ more in the long run) An’ ya don’ have ta dodge every time, before ya start screamin’ about runnin’ outa dodges … I was jus’ runnin’ through the area manic as hell an’ only dodgin’ in tight spots, an’ doin’ just fine.

And the new area looked great, I can’ wait for tomorrow’s end event.

They really aren’t all that hard, you just have to pay attention to the mob behaviors and learn to fight each one. I have a lot more fun in this zone as I can’t just auto-pilot some meaningless rotation to burn down mobs like I can in most other places. Fighting here actually requires a good bit of attention paid to what the enemies are doing. Basically, you’ve got to pay attention to what the enemy is doing, and counter that.

Young Karka: Bait the initial slow moving ranged attacks, then sidestep the attacks as they come in. You can literally avoid all damage from that volley just by strafing back and forth quickly to throw off its prediction. After the volley just beat them to death with whatever ranged or melee weapon you have handy. This works on most other slow projectile attacks in the game as well.

Reef Drakes: Again, bait/blind/block mitigate the first attack, and don’t stand around and get confused. These guys have a pull, so keep that in mind and save a dodge to hope out as soon as you’re pulled in if you don’t have a way to mitigate it.

Veteran Karka: When shelled, this enemy deals reactive damage when struck. It will “evade” (which, IMO should have its text changed to “block” in order to make this mechanic more clear) when it pulls all of its legs in so time big or crucial attacks right after it does so. The knockdown is a two-bounce AoE that’s easy to avoid. Don’t dodge when it jumps, as you’ll evade the initial impact but get hit with the “bounce” in stead dodge just before the impact and you’ll evade both bounces. As for the roll, it also has a fairly obvious telegraph and due to its linear path is extremely easy to avoid. Just think back to fighting boars. These large karka will sometimes lay eggs, which when left untouched will hatch in to swarms of hatchlings. Save your AoEs to deal with the eggs, as the resulting hatchlings will explode for decent damage, as well as attach themselves to you. Attached hatchlings function a lot like a mini-condition that’s unclearable, and are generally detrimental to your combat ability, so making the eggs, or if you mess that up, the resultant hatchlings your first priority in these fights is paramount.

You’ll have to deplete the HP bar of these twice, once to remove the shell, and once to kill the beast. Once the shell is gone you can be a bit more aggressive with damage as the reactive damage no longer applies.

I have a level 80 Guardian that uses a Mace/Focus and Scepter/Shield with full exotic cleric. My heal output is very high! It is a challenge and I have had no problems killing stuff in this area and haven’t died yet. Yes they hit hard and tactical dodging is important. However I agree that the loot is most likely bugged as I’ve not had a single drop. Not even junk.. Also others may find this challenging yes as others may find Orr challenging or hell a new player that has no idea wtf is going on may find Divinity’s reach a challenge, I don’t think it’s fair to start flaming and insulting people for bringing their legitimate feedback to the forum or dismissing their concerns as whining. Feedback helps developers improve the game however I’ve found that the vocal minority seem to be catered to a bit too much which was a negative point about the first game. I’m starting to think that none of the constructive criticism from the Halloween event was actually taken into consideration which is why this event has been a bit of a let down for many players which if you actually look at the forum make up the majority.. So instead of siding with the vocal minority just look through the forum and see what your players really want..!

Once again, the area is great some numbers need adjusting and the loot table looking at.
To those saying change your skills to adjust to the area, that’s great advice for players I would add that you look at the thing Arenanet has been promoting “Cross profession combo’s”. Many skills will remove conditions from you with each hit if you range attack through it.

Konner.7281:

I see a lot of posts saying “It’s an MMO, get other people, blah blah blah”. That’s not what an MMO is supposed to be about.

What if all starting areas were like this? Would you play the game? Would you enjoy being 2 shotted by a Wurm or a Moa? Absolutely not. I do understand that the Karka are supposed to be a challenging enemy, however, saying “Play like me because I’m better than you and I can do it and Karka aren’t hard /troll” doesn’t necessarily make me want to play the game. The karka should be a fun experiences for all players, of all classes. An ele got 1 shotted by the dreadful volley those Karka have. Do you think it’s fun trying to kill something like that, only to have to pay a waypoint fee and repair your armor right afterwards?

I play a warrior, and I can kill the Karka, but it’s too risky to spend my time killing an enemy that has a super high defense, and an even higher attack. Its extreme risk for little profit.

IMO: This event is a waste of time.

This is my problem as I’m an ele, yet with practice, I may be able to do it. The real problem is more of a technical one.

Its a good map to start doing what I wanted since release, to party up and have actual difficult fun… but my machine just can’t handle the map renders and closely packed players and mobs so I’m dead before even they start to render… If I had a good machine, I could at least get behind a few mobs with my dual dagger set up. No thanks Anet. I’ll come back when I can afford to run the map on a new tower.

As for the damage, it is very insane and may need some spacing issues of mobs handled.

Overall I do like the zone, but there are a few aspects of the mobs that could use some work. I think they’ve all been mentioned before, but I’ll add my own list to it.

The smaller karka’s volley attack.
Not really a problem at all with a single mob, since you can see it coming (it’s usually their opening attack anyway) and dodge most of the damage. But with a couple of them, you can’t really dodge more than a single volley. They can also be very dangerous in a group fight if one behind you decides that you look fun to shoot at.

The large veteran karka’s retaliation.
Close to 400 damage per attack (over 700 on a champion) with a 1 minute duration is just way too much. Mesmer is really the only profession that has a viable means to deal with this; several utility skill options. Necro has a skill as well, but only if they use a focus in one of their weapon sets. I was exploring Southsun on my guardian with guildmates; ranger, engi, ele, and thief. The thief and I both have traits that can (conditionally) remove a boon, but that would require significant (build-breaking) trait point redistribution to use.

I think the difficuly is great. I (Guardian) can take on two small Karka’s at once…but it’s a fight for my life. And it’s great fun. People getting one shotted by projectiles? Dodge it. Having trouble with bigger mobs, or groups? Get with a group yourself.

Please don’t ask for the difficult to be lowered. One challenging map in the entire game is surely not too much for you.

Valmarius.4150:

I think the difficuly is great. I (Guardian) can take on two small Karka’s at once…but it’s a fight for my life. And it’s great fun. People getting one shotted by projectiles? Dodge it. Having trouble with bigger mobs, or groups? Get with a group yourself.

Please don’t ask for the difficult to be lowered. One challenging map in the entire game is surely not too much for you.

The damage itself isn’t really the problem I see, it’s the timing of the volley attack. You can’t avoid it all using 2 dodges, which can make it a bit of issue with professions that don’t have a lot of endurance rebuilding options (like guardian). If a second mob aggros (or respawns) nearby, your main option for avoiding a hit has already been used up.

Speeding up that attack, or making it fewer projectiles with higher damage, would mean that you have to react faster to it, but could avoid it all in a single dodge. For those not reacting fast enough, the skill becomes even more deadly. This gives the same challenge/difficulty, but with a more reasonable way to skillfully deal with it.

I do like the challenge given in this zone, but I don’t like when the creatures abilites create a situation of “you’re going to take this damage, and there is nothing you can do to stop it”. The smaller karka present this situation in groups, and it is always there with the large karka’s perma-retaliation.

@Mr. Stealth

One thing I agree with you on completely is the retaliation. That goes beyond the simple fix of bringing a friend or three, and demands certain classes/builds. Not cool, but I can accept they’re meant to challenge groups, so there may be no way around it.

I really like the small Karka though. Even as Guardian, and decked out in Knight’s gear at that, I’m in big trouble if I take 2 of those sprays head on. Makes a real difference from just standing there swinging and watching everything around me die without giving me a scratch.